Sword of Dawn

Page 191

The great businessman Corder sat in his house. The tea brought by the maid was already cold, but he still didn't take a sip. His mind was disturbed, and his eldest son was sitting in front of him.

"Father, did the government affairs office come again yesterday?"

"Yes," the big businessman said in a muffled voice, "I still want me to sign the "Commercial Agreement". They still want to build a factory on the open land in the south of the town, and they want me to lobby the people there... ..."

"You still haven't signed?" The eldest son frowned, "Father, that's the lord's man..."

"Well, of course I know that he belongs to the lord, and I dare not offend," the big businessman sighed, "Even if they ask me to spend a third... a quarter of my wealth to repair the city walls and castles Ah, but they only want me to sign the agreement, and let me stand out... This is absolutely impossible."

Money can be made again when it is gone. Every businessman must learn to use money to satisfy the lord's requirements, especially in the prosperous Carroll Territory. The big businessman Kodd, who has long relied on the lord's favor to make his fortune, said this He understands it very well, but facing the commercial contract proposed by the Cecil people, this big businessman who is ready to use his family wealth in exchange for safety seems hesitant.

"Father, you'd better agree, it's no good to confront the government affairs department—although they seem to be very talkative now, but who knows how long their patience will last, if you don't sign, they might drive us all away go out……"

"Spending money is a business. When the business is over, it's over. Signing is for a lifetime. It's not so easy to sign," the big businessman sighed. The eldest son is not stupid in doing business, but he still has too little experience in life. "Do you know how many businessmen are watching? Who signed it? If most people didn't sign it in the end, then what's the difference between the signer...in the business circle and being exiled?"

"The Cecils have already occupied this place. From now on, the entire southern border will belong to Cecil. Everyone will sign it sooner or later."

"...I know, of course I know," Cod smiled wryly, "I will sign it sooner or later, so I want to wait a little longer. I really don't want to be the first to sign. The weapons of the Cecils are powerful, but there are still... "

Before the big businessman finished speaking, the door of the room was suddenly pushed open, and his second son happily ran into the room waving a roll of paper: "Father! Father! Signed! Signed!"

Kodd could hardly hear the word "signature" now. He stood up the moment he heard the word, and shouted loudly: "What are you signing!! Who asked you to sign?!"

"Sign? Ah! It's not me, it's not me!" The young man glanced at the atmosphere in the room, at the astonished brother and at the angry father, and after quickly reacting, he waved the newspaper in his hand, "It's a noble from the southern border, The aristocrats of the southern region have signed it—look, there is even a picture on the front page of today’s newspaper!"

"What paintings, what headlines..." The big businessman Cod stepped forward and snatched the newspaper from his second son. He knew this kind of "newspaper" invented by the Cecilians. With the excellent intuition of the businessman, he The moment he saw this thing, he realized its significance. It published important timely information for merchants, so since the regular messenger carriage appeared in Carroll, he ordered his second son to He had to buy a new newspaper immediately, but he couldn't think of any information in the newspaper that would be so shocking that his young son, who had always been cowardly and meek, would be so excited.

And after unfolding the newspaper, he understood.

He saw that black-and-white "painting", that lifelike "painting", which is obviously a scene left by some kind of magic, a real event, the power of magic recorded this event, and Sebastian The "Magic Industry" of the Syls made countless copies of this record and sent it to all the places under their rule - including Carroll in the north.

"The principality signed a treaty, and all the old lords in the southern border swear to uphold Cecil's law..." the big businessman Cod muttered to himself, and then suddenly realized the message conveyed by this newspaper.

"Sign...sign!" cried the big businessman, "quick, maid, get me my coat, I'm going to the State Council - damn, that old Donny lives next to the State Council, if he doesn't have morning The habit of reading newspapers... I must be the first!"

The two sons were taken aback by their father's violent reaction. They looked at each other and asked in astonishment, "Father?"

"There's no time, now is the time to make a statement," Kord said quickly as he took the coat that the maid hurriedly handed over. When he was halfway through the coat, he suddenly remembered something, and turned his head to stare into the eyes of the eldest son, "Pal , you immediately go to the south and find Weiler—tell him that I bought his land!"

Chapter 0459 New Teachings

In the evening, the setting sun was already leaning against the horizon on the west side, and the huge sun disc coated the western forest with a layer of golden-red bright edges, and the glow that spread along the clouds was like a curtain across the entire sky. Dye the whole city with the same golden red as the forest.

Gao Wen was walking with Amber on the way to the Church of the Holy Light. The bells representing the end of the day's work came from several main bell towers in the city, echoing in the streets and marketplaces.

"Hey—it's time to get off work!" Amber's ears perked up, listening to the bell in the air, with a happy expression on her face, "Then I won't accompany you..."

Gawain grabbed the half-elf lady by the collar and dragged the girl back to his side: "Don't make trouble—you don't get off work according to this timetable. Speaking of which, it's so difficult for you to go to church Didn't you say that the church Wright manages doesn't have the atmosphere that makes you uncomfortable?"

Amber was held by the collar by Gao Wen, and she twisted and twisted vigorously while muttering: "But Wright is very annoying, he always tells me something to be honest, steady, not stealthy, not lazy, no, no, no, no, no, no. Well... I'm not a believer of the Holy Light, why should I listen to him..."

Gawain glanced at the girl: "If you say that... I am determined to tie you up in the Holy Light Church to receive a good education."

Amber: "...Hey, I have a bad temper, look at my mouth shape, look at my mouth shape - don't hit me after watching my mouth shape..."

Gao Wen suddenly wondered if it was a wrong decision to take Amber with him when he went out - he regretted bringing this annoying guy with him.

But when he went out, there was no Amber by his side to cheer him up... He felt very bored.

It's such a head-scratching contradiction.

The door of the church was ajar, and there was a faint voice coming from inside. It seemed that a sermon was being delivered. Gawain looked down at Amber, and signaled the girl not to make trouble after entering with his eyes, and then gently pushed open the door of the church.

A calm and peaceful atmosphere lingered in the church. Gawain saw Pastor Wright wearing a very simple short robe standing on the podium, telling the story about the birth of the Holy Light, and a dozen of the leaders who came to listen Sitting on the benches on both sides of the aisle, a small translucent figure with a shimmering light all over his body also sat on the chair with everyone, and raised his head in the same way as if he was listening carefully. It's just that every time I listen to a few sentences, I start to twist and look around, obviously I didn't pay attention to it at all.

Gawain took Amber and sat down in the back row in silence. Wright had already seen them and paused for a while. Gawain nodded slightly to indicate that he should not care and let him continue to preach.

Wright's calm and soft voice echoed in the church: "...when the 'eternal night' lasted to the seventh day, the first holy light was born in the darkest hour, a horse breeder with a passion for light He prayed for the light to come, so the Holy Light responded to him, and the light descended in the black mist..."

This is a story about the birth of the Holy Light, and everyone who believes in the Holy Light knows it, but when Wright told this story, he omitted all the empty, unreasonable praise for the God of the Holy Light, and used the most simple and straightforward The words deduce the most simple story - the first person to pray for the Holy Light has changed from a chosen "God of the Holy Light" to an ordinary horse breeder, and the motivation for praying for the Holy Light has also changed from "praising the God of the Holy Light, "Fight against dark heresy" has become "I hope to go outside the dark mist of eternal night to find herbs to heal my family."

This kind of change may be a huge provocation in the eyes of professional Holy Light priests, but for those civilian believers who don't know much about history, and have never even read any Holy Light books, they don't think so much , they just find this new story more interesting, so they listen attentively.

But a special little listener was not so serious. On the seat in the front row, a small figure with a glimmer of light all over her body suddenly floated up. She looked around curiously, and then floated with a bright smile. Walking up to Gao Wen, he waved back and forth in mid-air to greet him.

"Hello, Emily." Gao Wen said in a low voice.

"Hee hee..." Emily let out a melodious chuckle, and then floated down on the seat beside Gao Wen.

Gao Wen noticed that part of the little girl's body was "fused" with the seat.

Obviously, Emily, as a spirit body, does not sit in a certain place safely like a real body, she just pretends to be sitting and floats in the position of the chair, squatting in mid-air ...

But she seems to be enjoying it.

On the pulpit, Wright's preaching is still going on: "... People's yearning for light is in line with the way of the Holy Light, so those who pursue the light will be favored by the Holy Light. In the presence of the Holy Light, horse breeders and the Pope are also Equal, because the morality of the Holy Light is higher than the high and low measured by money and status, just like the flowers, plants, trees, birds and animals on the plain can't tell the heights in front of the mountains... If you pursue the higher morality, status It doesn’t matter how expensive it is.”

"What the big man said is interesting." Although Amber chanted all the way before, she listened carefully to two sentences of Wright's sermon at this time, and shook her head to comment, "Although I don't like the kind of stern-faced and prudish looks, but what he said is much better than the magic sticks in other places."

Gawain nodded slightly: "There are still some limitations...but overall it's not bad."

Emily raised her head, lost her mind for a while, and suddenly a word came out: "...boring."

Amber was stunned for a moment, staring dumbfounded at Emily who was floating on the chair and pretending to be sitting: "You can talk?!"

"Yes," Emily blinked, then suddenly stared at the back of Amber's head, stared at it for two seconds before saying, "Sister, there is a black light on your head..."

"Hi, it's okay, I'm the God of the Night, that's the blessing given to me by the goddess," Amber waved her hands indifferently, and then looked at Emily curiously, "The last time we met, you just floated around and Smiling, I thought you couldn't speak..."

Emily raised her head again, with a look of wandering in the sky. After a long time, she suddenly laughed and flew to the roof lightly.

Wright's sermon also came to an end: "...each of us has the right to pursue the Holy Light, just as everyone can yearn for the light, the Holy Light will shine on everyone, not just on the heads of priests and priests— —People donate to the church for the sake of righteousness, not to 'buy' the holy light from the church, because the holy light is inherently in everyone's heart...

"As long as you follow virtue and act with justice, love, tolerance, and integrity, everyone is blessed..."

The small figure jumped down from the roof, fluttering like a fallen leaf and "smashed" on Wright's shoulder. Emily looked happy, raised her translucent arms and waved them, following the crowd in the church. People greeted each other: "Huh-ah, today's talk is over!"

Wright's face was a little embarrassed, and while trying to get Emily off his shoulders, he nodded to the people in the church: "That's all for today."

The people who listened to the sermon couldn't help laughing. They responded to Emily's greeting with a smile, and they all stood up and prepared to leave. Some of them didn't notice that the lord was sitting on the chair in the back row until then, so they hurried Salute to Gawain.

Gawain responded to them one by one. After the last believer left the church, he came to the pulpit and nodded slightly to Wright: "It seems that everyone has gotten used to Emily?"

"At first she scared the people who came to the church - she always hid on the roof, and then suddenly jumped down," Wright said dumbfoundingly, "It took me a lot of work to explain Emily's origin to people." , now people are not afraid of her."

Emily poked her head out from behind Wright's shoulder, looking around.

Gao Wen stretched out his hand and tried to touch Emily's head - it had a wonderful hand feeling, his hand could pass directly through Emily's body, but there was still a slight resistance, before touching the little girl's hair When touching Silk, he could feel an obvious heat coming from it, which was the temperature brought by the gentle holy light.

Wright volunteered: "She seems to be stabilizing—a lot physically and mentally."

Gawain nodded: "Did Kamel say anything?"

"Master Kamel said that she is in good condition, just pay attention to observation. Besides, I mainly avoid her from being outside in the sun for too long..."

Gao Wen was a little surprised: "Can't bask in the sun? Isn't she a holy light spirit body? Why is she afraid of the sun like the undead?"

As soon as Wright heard it, he knew that Gawain had misunderstood, and quickly explained: "Oh, it's not because she's afraid of the sun, but if she gets too much sun, she will become very bright, and it can't get dark at night, so I can't sleep at all..."

Amber next to her suddenly exclaimed: "Are you sleeping with Emily?!"

Wright couldn't add any more embarrassment at once, explaining dumbfoundedly: "The room is divided, but after she falls asleep, she will involuntarily float around the whole church..."

Gawain thought for a while, then patted Wright on the shoulder seriously: "It's not easy for you."

"It's okay—she's floating a lot better now, and I can put a cloth over her eyes."

"I came to you today because I wanted to talk to you about the teachings of Protestantism and the spread of new teachings," Gawain pulled back to the topic in time before the topic became more and more distorted. He took Wright and Amber to a nearby Sitting down on the bench, he said casually, "I heard your sermon just now—you seem to be trying to tell believers the doctrine we discussed last time."

"Yes, I sorted out what you talked to me last time," Wright nodded, "Give back the 'classic interpretation power' to the believers, emphasize that religious leaders do not equal absolute authority; dilute the image of the God of Holy Light, and at the same time use A more universal and easier-to-accept moral concept will gradually replace the original strict canon; emphasizing tolerance, keeping pace with the times and self-restraint, removing all extreme, stubborn and xenophobic content in the original teachings, Expand the potential believers that the new teachings can cover as much as possible. The current new teachings are all based on these three points.”

"Do believers accept it?"

"A lot of people were confused at first, but they still accepted it. There were only a few staunch believers who showed resistance, but I believe their resistance can be softened," Wright said, with a look of mixed emotions on his face. "The vast majority Ordinary believers are common people. Before they came to Cecil, they were poor people who didn’t even know the words and hadn’t read a single scripture. The local priests believe in whatever they say, and the local priests don’t care how pious these people are. As long as the magic is in the hands of the church, those ordinary believers can obediently pay for the magic, and those priests will be satisfied... …In this case, it becomes very easy for us to promote new teachings.”

"The real obstacle is not the people, but the vested interests. The priests of Luan City are the ones who will resist the new doctrine the most," Gao Wen said, "So our plan is going to the next step."

"You just order."

Gawain paused for a moment, and looked seriously into Wright's eyes: "You know the new printing factory in the city, right?"

"Of course, I went to visit it - it was indeed an incredible scene."

"Guess what the priests would do if one hundred thousand leaflets and pamphlets with new teachings were thrown on the city of Luan?"

Chapter 0460 Psychic Stamp Phenomenon

Wright did visit the printing factory, and was impressed by the amazing printing machines in the factory—the main purpose of his visit was actually to try to print a batch of new scriptures to assist in missionary work—but he was still rejected by Gao. The number Wen proposed was shocking.

Obviously, the "printing of a batch of promotional materials" in his previous concept is not on the same scale as Gao Wen thought.

What Wright initially thought was that he could print hundreds or thousands of copies of the scriptures, which would be enough to distribute in the church.

Although being the No.1 "White Knight" in human history, although he has embarked on the road of reforming the Church of the Holy Light, and although he has been at the forefront of everyone in the teachings of the Holy Light, his starting point After all, he was just a low-level missionary, and his vision and imagination were severely restricted by his past experience.

But Gao Wen believes that all of this is not a problem - as time goes by, anyone's vision has the opportunity to improve.In the face of the future wave of magic and the era of the magic industry against it, no one's vision is enough.

"One hundred thousand copies is just an expected figure. Even for an industrial printing machine, this is not a small order, but it is by no means impossible to achieve," Gao Wen said of his thoughts, "We need all kinds of Propaganda, from the simplest leaflets to Protestant brochures with complete teachings. The most satisfying thing about Luan City is that it is a "clergy city". Even the common people, the more well-to-do, the devout, close to the church, have a very high literacy rate—otherwise our leaflets would be of no use.”

Amber next to him was also taken aback by Gao Wen's thoughts at first, but at this moment, he had some doubts: "But having said that, you can defeat those magic sticks by throwing the new doctrine into the city of Luan? Wouldn't it be the other way around? Stimulate the nerves of those magicians and make them fight against Cecil even more fanatically?"

"Of course some of them will be stimulated to oppose us more firmly, but there will definitely be some who agree with our teachings, or at least question the past practices of the Church of the Holy Light," Gao Wen said unequivocally to Amber's question. Unexpectedly, he explained patiently, "The Church of the Holy Light is so big, it is impossible to have only one Wright, and even a team of only a dozen people will have differences due to different ideas. Do you think that the tens of thousands of people in the entire Luan City really I personally feel that there is nothing wrong with what the Church of the Holy Light has done in the past year or so?"

Amber stroked her chin: "emmmmm...what you said makes sense..."

"What the lord said is indeed the truth," Wright said with a little emotion, "The Church of the Holy Light is indeed corrupt, but I believe that there must be people with conscience among the middle and lower missionaries. And my new teachings, although In the eyes of fanatical conservative believers, it is deviant, but in fact, within the Church of the Holy Light, there has always been a debate about whether the power to read classics should be graded, and whether the Holy Light belongs to the minority or the majority. It's a contentious topic..."

Amber's eyes widened in surprise: "You guys are still arguing about this? I thought your church was full of diehards from top to bottom—except of course you, you belong to the Berserker faction."

"Berserker..." Wright choked for a moment, then smiled wryly, "Of course there will be arguments. The Church of the Holy Light may be corrupt, but we are not without the ability to think. The low-level priests have always wanted to study the classics, The power to explain the teachings is for personal benefit, and the argument that 'the Holy Light belongs to the majority or the minority' is because of the fundamental teaching that 'the God of the Holy Light cares for everyone'. In addition, the Church of the Holy Light There are many, many contradictions, and although I don’t like factional struggles, it’s not like I haven’t seen them.”

"Wow..." Amber exclaimed exaggeratedly, "It seems that your church is much more complicated than I imagined..."

Gao Wen crossed his arms and said, "A religion that has lasted for so many years and expanded to such an extent cannot be uncomplicated."

Afterwards, he stroked the beard of his chin thoughtfully, and said slowly: "But having said that, to shake the Church of Holy Light from a spiritual foundation, printed matter alone is not enough... Wright, regarding the spell of Holy Light, your How is the research going?"

"I'm just going to report this part to you," Wright showed a complex look on his face, and then slightly turned his head to Emily who was napping on his shoulder, "Emily—go get the piece of metal in my room bring the board."

Emily let out an ethereal chuckle, and then she turned into a stream of light, and quickly flew towards the door behind the main hall, and it didn't take long for her to fly back—empty-handed.

However, just when Gawain began to wonder if the child hadn't found what Wright wanted, he saw Emily poking her hand into his stomach—the little translucent spirit girl was digging out something in his stomach. After a while, he first took out a spinning top carved in wood, then a handful of smooth colored stones, and finally a palm-sized rune substrate.

The little girl smiled happily, holding the rune baseplate in both hands and handing it to Wright.

Amber stared dumbfounded: "How did she... hide things in her stomach?!"

"I only discovered it by accident," Wright said while taking the rune substrate, "There are always some small objects in the church that change places or disappear for no reason. After observing, I found out the reason: Emily is a spirit She is a spirit body, but she can carry some small and not too heavy things, and because she is a spirit body, her body has no clear 'boundary', so she hides everything in her stomach. To be honest, I I don't know what she's hiding in her belly... Last time when the reading shelf on the pulpit broke, she spat out a handful of nails..."

amber:"……"

To be honest, Gao Wen was no less surprised than Amber, but at least he had quite a few guys with wonderful styles under his command, and he also saw one crop after another of strange beings during those years hanging in the sky Therefore, he quickly calmed down, took the rune substrate with a serious and indifferent face, and observed it carefully.

This is indeed a rune substrate - the base material is the second-generation standard blank template produced in the rune foundry, but in its guiding area, what is engraved is not the common elemental runes, but the holy light magic A divine rune that is only used in .

This is a "Holy Light Substrate".

"With the help of Director Kamel and Director Jenny, I refactored the first rune-based Holy Light spell and commissioned the rune foundry to make this substrate," Wright said of the The birth process of the base plate, "It discards all the rune words that are connected to the God of Holy Light, which can ensure that the entire spell-casting process has nothing to do with gods, and is completely based on mortals."

Gawain looked at the lines and patterns exuding a pale golden luster on the rune board, and couldn't help feeling excited: "You...you really succeeded?!"

"It can only be said that it was partially successful..." Wright said cautiously. He took back the rune substrate from Gao Wen and handed it to Amber with a confused face, "Miss Amber, try to stimulate it."

Amber took the substrate in a daze, without turning a corner: "You let me choose a dark night god to release the holy light?! How can I do this!"

Gawain couldn't help knocking the shame of the elf on the head: "Let's not talk about whether your self-proclaimed Night God's Choice is real or not, have you forgotten the principle of the rune substrate? Just inject magic power, and who asked you to cast spells yourself? gone."

"Oh, that's right..." Amber finally came to her senses. She scratched her hair and looked at Wright with some anxiety, "I mean, this thing won't explode after it's activated? Let me tell you that my defense is extremely low... ..."

"It's just a Holy Light spell," Wright said dumbfounded, "I promise."

Amber pouted: "Okay, then I'll try."

This is probably the most wonderful experience this half-elf lady has ever had in her life. She, who has always claimed to be the God of the Night and is quite resistant to the Holy Light, has the opportunity to use her own power to release a Holy Light spell, which makes her still feel like She was a little eager to try, so although she was very unhappy on her face, she still held the rune substrate firmly and began to inject magic power into the copper matrix on its edge.

The light golden lines on the rune substrate immediately brightened, and the runes lit up one after another—but just as a white radiance was about to condense in those runes, it disappeared automatically.

"Hey, I didn't break it—" Amber quickly threw the substrate to Wright, "There seems to be something wrong with this thing."

"In fact, there is no problem with it." Wright smiled bitterly, and re-injected magic power into the substrate, and almost instantly, a mass of pure holy light condensed on the substrate: a fully formed holy light technique.

Emily, who was floating next to her, let out a happy cry, stepped forward to pick up the ball of holy light and left, then flew not far away and gnawed it: this is her "biscuit".

"Eh..." Amber stared at Emily dumbfounded, and then looked at Wright, "The holy light just now... Are you sure you didn't release it yourself and pretend that the substrate was not broken?"