Sword of Dawn

Page 203

Wright ended the story, while Jibri, who was sitting opposite him, reacted a little slower—Miss Witch seemed to be accidentally touched by Wright's narration, so that she forgot for a moment that she should take over the following topic .

But fortunately, she was reminded by the technicians across the room in time, and quickly responded: "This is really a touching story, Mr. Wright... so about that little girl Emily... I think you should tell her the situation?"

The crowd gathered in the square became curious—could there be any miracles happening to the little girl who had died?

Miracles do happen.

Wright smiled towards the "camera", then he raised his hand slightly, and a hazy holy light emerged from behind him.

When the translucent girl with a spirit body appeared in the screen, the citizens in front of the magic net terminal kept exclaiming.

Under normal circumstances, the sudden appearance of such a little girl who is very close to a ghost would definitely startle people. However, with Wright's previous story as a foreshadowing, people were hardly frightened when Emily appeared. On the contrary, many people exclaimed in surprise:

"She's still alive!" "That little girl is resurrected?!" "Bless the Holy Light!" "No, she seems to be a ghost..." "I don't know! Haven't you seen those holy lights!"

Wright didn't know the situation outside, but he could guess that he summoned a small ball of holy light, fed it to the little girl floating behind him, and said with a smile: "I will always praise the holy light, because it Brought Emily back to this world. As you can see, Emily is a spirit body completely condensed by the Holy Light—her appearance just proves that my perception of the Holy Light is close to the truth. She It is a miracle of the Holy Light."

Emily quickly gnawed on the small ball of light, then suddenly showed a big smile to the camera, then she waved her hand, as if greeting the audience, a few seconds later, her The figure gradually dissipated in the halo around Wright.

Miracles of the Holy Light...

Tens of thousands of people gathered in town squares all over the place, feeling the miracle of this holy light at the same time.

The fact that the Holy See knights hurt innocents, the fact that the white knight "proves the way of the Holy Light with itself", the fact that the church is not holy, the fact that Emily is a miracle of the Holy Light...

The facts one by one easily entered the hearts of tens of thousands of people and took root in their hearts.

Chapter 0485 Dagger

Magic Web's first official program broadcast set off a wave in a quarter of the southern border—almost overnight, this incredible, novel content that allows people to see distant scenes and is open to the whole people Interesting things have become the focus of people's scrambling discussions, and in areas that cannot be covered by magic net communication, people also know the existence of magic net radio: the newspaper that was published quickly used a whole page to introduce this first A Magic Web broadcast, which explained to people the basic concepts of Magic Web communication, the basic concepts of radio programs, and the general content of the first issue of "Witch Time", and along with this issue of the newspaper, there is another thing :

A thin book called The White Knight.

This is a reading book with only a few dozen pages, and the paper and binding are very cheap and simple, which is completely different from those long, heavy and expensive scholar's books in the old days, but it is still a real book.

This cheap book that sells for only ten copper coins is the first book in the south for the whole people, and its content is also simple and plain-it tells the story of the birth of the white knight in the first half of the book in a novel-like way, and the second half is about the birth of the white knight. It is the author's reflection on the operation of the Church of the Holy Light and his understanding of the Holy Light. Between the lines, a way of the Holy Light that is completely different from the pastor's sermons and directly starts from "people" has attracted countless civilian believers. intense discussions.

Some people were deeply touched, and some were dubious, but there was no doubt that the authority of the Holy Light Church was gradually disintegrating among these people.

This is a natural result: Although the Church of the Holy Light has many believers, it is impossible for everyone to be a devout believer of the church. The understanding itself is very superficial and one-sided, and not very firm, of course it is quite easy to change.

After all, the new doctrine of the Holy Light is still "Holy Light", which sounds similar, and as long as it is "almost", most ordinary people will not bother to distinguish it seriously: they still have to focus more on themselves life.

Of course, there are unswerving supporters of the church among the civilians. Even though the government affairs department has completely blocked the missionary channels of the church, creating a vacuum of faith for two months, and with the propaganda power from newspapers and magic network radio, There will still be people who insist on the correctness of the old church, which is inevitable - but they are only a minority after all, and as time goes on, it is only a matter of time before they convert.

And for those alien believers who don't pay much attention to the belief of the Holy Light, their biggest feeling at the moment is "peace of mind", because someone finally stood up to control the extreme atrocities of the Church of the Holy Light-they didn't seem to notice that Se The "Faith and Church" section of the Searle Weekly not only discusses the content of the Holy Light, but also the common sense of the major churches has been subtly implanted in it... Or, they have noticed, but for most ordinary people As human beings, their sensitivity in this regard is far less than that of professional clergy.

In Lord Cecil's mansion, Gawain looked at the report Hetty submitted to him—it included the sales of the book "White Knight" and the distribution of newspapers in various places, as well as the news about the Monet program around Cecil City. There are many contents in the random investigation, but the general trend is basically not beyond his expectations.

"There will be more newspaper review articles and supplements in the future, and there will be regular magic net programs. Protestant propaganda work has also begun. Mr. Godwin Orlando has prepared articles, and the articles will be discussed The way to put forward in newspapers 'whether to establish a new order of the Holy Light'. In addition, propaganda and guidance personnel in various places have also begun to take action to ensure that there are enough people in areas with low literacy and no magic network signal Discuss the matter."

Hetty reported the progress of various tasks, while the old ancestor in front of her showed a satisfied smile.

"Very good," Gao Wen nodded, and put down the report material casually, "We should start this work from the lowest level of the people - those priests have been on top for too long, they don't even realize that the vast majority of ordinary people Talent is the foundation of their church, and once ordinary people lose their trust and reverence for the church, the collapse of the Church of the Holy Light will not require a single shot at all."

Standing behind Gao Wen, Rebecca listened to the conversation between the two with a cute face (she came to report the technical information of the Magic Web broadcasting system), and at this moment she couldn't help saying: "This is really possible. Get those magic sticks out of the Cathedral of Loane?"

"What we are doing now is to drive out the influence of those 'magic sticks' from the hearts of the civilians in the southern border, but this is a very long-term project," Gao Wen shook his head, "People's hearts are easy to shake, but they are not so Hurry up, the Church of the Holy Light has been active in Ansu for hundreds of years, and its influence is deeply rooted. It will take a long time to completely expel them from people's hearts. Making people question the church is the first step, and establishing a new church is the second step , and then we will need several years, or even more than ten years, to replace the old teachings with new teachings little by little, so that people can recognize this kind of changing customs from the bottom of their hearts. This is not something that can be easily done with a few newspapers and a few programs .”

"Wow——" Rebecca's eyes widened in surprise, "Does it take so long to change people's minds?"

Hetty glanced at the roe deer: "Nonsense, it took you eight years to correct the problem of painting a beard on the teacher's face, not to mention that now we want to change the minds of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people."

Rebecca stuck out her tongue: "Then... what about those priests in Luan City? When will they be kicked out?"

"They will leave before then - I don't plan to let them stay in the southern border for so long," Gao Wen said casually, "The influence of the Church of the Holy Light will take a long time to get rid of, but those priests are different... Get rid of them, All it takes is an outrage from the people."

Hetty couldn't help but frowned: "Can that guy Amber really do it..."

Gawain glanced at Heidi, smiled and shook his head: "To be honest, you underestimated her."

Hetty seemed dubious: "Is that so..."

"When fighting with people, Amber may be timid to everyone, but she has talents beyond your imagination when she is active at the bottom of society and brings her own hands to sabotage and infiltrate," Gao Wen said, pulling out a bag from the desk Stacked materials, "You should have seen the news from the officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau from the city of Luan, so you should also take a look at these things."

Hetty took the materials suspiciously, showing a look of astonishment while looking at them.

"People who support the cathedral and those who oppose the cathedral have begun to confront each other, and the group of priests has also seen a rift. Rumors about the former bishop Lemont are circulating in the small church area, and there are dozens of true and false rumors circulating along with it. False rumors and gossips, the cathedral continues to send discipline monks and Holy See knights to extinguish those rumors and promotional materials. When they extinguish one, two will emerge, and even the curfew, rationing, and search they carried out in the process , Interrogating these actions themselves will immediately become a new source of rumors and an unstable factor," Gao Wen said unhurriedly, looking at Heidi's expression, "Amber and her team have always been hidden in the crowd. When any incident happened, they immediately grasped the points that could attract people's attention and debate, and pushed a little bit at the most appropriate position... Then, the crowd's confrontation and mutual suspicion naturally occurred."

Hetty was dumbfounded, and Gawain continued slowly: "During this process, Amber and her team members captured almost all the moments when those priests showed their ugly faces, and these 'moments' have become the ones you and I saw. Pictures and videos, and after passing through Godwin Orlando's hands, these pictures and videos will become newspapers and leaflets distributed throughout the country, and in the near future will become a program broadcast by Magic Network. The anger of those priests will spread from inside the city of Luan to the outside of the city, and finally connect together."

Hetty raised her head and looked at Gawain with an expression of disbelief: "These...you taught her?"

"I taught her part, the most basic part, and then she took care of all the details by herself, and trained her subordinates to become experts in this field," Gao Wen said, with a little exclamation in his tone, "She Really... really good at wielding a poisoned dagger."

Hetty didn't know what to say for a moment, she only knew that for the first time she felt that the half-elf who usually looked annoying and cowardly... was a strong person.

Even a little chilling.

……

Amber is really good at using poison-enhanced daggers, and she herself has confirmed this more and more recently.

The destruction of Luan City is still going on, and it is gradually reaching a critical stage.

Antagonism and suspicion are spreading from the outer city to the inner city, and the shaking of the hearts of the people is no longer limited to the common people. Now, even those priests who believe in the God of Holy Light have a serious sense of distrust towards the cathedral .

In the hidden stronghold, members of the action team are reporting the latest situation: "Boss, it has been confirmed that a group of low-level priests have been publicly punished recently, and many people are locked up underground in the church area. Penance in the form of penance was carried out in greater numbers than at the last time."

In this regard, Amber just nodded as expected: "The second batch of leaflets sent to the inner city has taken effect."

One of his subordinates couldn't help sighing: "It's really unexpected... After the first batch of leaflets were destroyed, there are still priests in the small church area who will hide those promotional materials..."

"The gang of magic sticks are also human beings, since they are human beings, they have human hearts," Hu Po said casually as she watched the poisoned blade glow slightly blue-purple under the dim starlight, fiddling with the small dagger in her hand. "When the first batch of leaflets entered the city, the priests in the fringe areas might have just become curious about it, and were a little suspicious by the contents of the leaflets. However, they were still loyal to the church and the cathedral at that time. ——But the cathedral itself obviously doesn't think so. The people in the cathedral don't trust those low-ranking priests and priests. They magnify the influence that those leaflets may have had, and directly regard the people in the small church area as "shakers of faith." Potential heresy' view... and then the situation can only get worse."

"But then again, boss, how do you know how the cathedral will react? How do you know that the cathedral is bound to miscalculate the situation in the chapel quarter?"

Amber glanced at the subordinate who asked the question: "It's very simple. When the cathedral took action, I went to the chapel area."

"what?"

"The magic circle in the cathedral is a bit troublesome, but the small churches can't stop me," Amber said slowly, "I hid a large number of leaflets in various small churches before those discipline monks acted. The long blockade has ended A lot of high-pressure emotions have accumulated among those priests, and the appearance of leaflets has led to a decrease in their mutual trust. In this case, many leaflets suddenly appeared, even the managers of the small church, the first time they thought of It's not suspicion, but that other people in the church are hiding leaflets, because they themselves... are actually shaken in their hearts.

"The group of Disciplinary monks probably found thousands of leaflets from the small church area... But in fact, the number of leaflets that actually flowed into the inner city was less than one-tenth of that number."

Seeing the astonished and admired expressions of his subordinates, Hu Po just flipped the dagger in his hand casually: "You youngsters, you still have a lot to learn..."

She raised her wrist, and the poisoned dagger flew out soundlessly in the night. With a soft sound, the dagger was firmly nailed to a pillar in the house.

"It's almost time to send a message to the headquarters... No matter how slow the reaction of the people in the cathedral is, it's time to realize our existence at this moment, and we have to prepare for the next move."

Chapter 0486 Surrounding

Doing dirty work yourself.

Amber actually knew this from a long time ago.

After figuring out how the MIA operates, and understanding the basic concepts such as "infiltration, sabotage, and intelligence" described by Gao Wen, she anticipated what kind of work this special department might be engaged in.

The Military Security Intelligence Agency is a comprehensive intelligence department that operates to maintain the security of the homeland, but in many cases, the security of the homeland needs to be maintained by the insecurity of the enemy, but not all confrontations can be placed on the table. What is active under the table is the mission of the Military Intelligence Bureau.

What is just cause to Cecil is certainly not so righteous to the enemy, sometimes you need to assassinate, sometimes you need to poison, sometimes you need to shake and divide the enemy's interior, sometimes you need to steal and lurk ...Of course, all intelligence work is not necessarily so extremely dark. In many cases, the flow of information that is publicly disclosed is also an important source of intelligence for the Military Intelligence Bureau. But when the confrontation enters an extreme situation, the working methods will inevitably become dark .

But Amber doesn't care much about these, because her original career doesn't seem to be going anywhere...

On the contrary, she is happy to have someone who can realize her talents and use her talents in the right place - maybe what she and her minions are doing is not very fair, but at least, she can be sure of her actions Will bring peace and tranquility to more people.

The Church of the Holy Light on this land is a cancer. Since it is a cancer, it should be shoveled out with a knife.

Tensions in Luan City were on the verge of breaking out.

All kinds of rumors are constantly spreading in the city, and those civilians who have accumulated huge pressure from hunger and panic seem to have lost their minds, forgetting the coercion of superhumans, and began to talk about it in various dark corners Terrible things, every night, after the knights and soldiers patrolling the town go away, there will be chilling whispers in the corners of the musty alleys in the outer city, and when the sun rises, the outer city In some corners of the church there will be bold slogans directly attacking the cathedral, and even blasphemous heresy symbols.

The church area dispatched wave after wave of interrogation teams. Discipline monks wearing black robes and holy emblems even walked into every house directly to interrogate and even directly interrogate anyone suspected by them. Most of them were dying when they were taken away, and less than a third of them returned home safe and sound.

However, even though the knights and priests were exhausted, patrolling and arresting the streets and alleys day and night, the limited manpower could barely cover one-third of the urban area.

Even within the church area, the situation is deteriorating. The split between the low-level priests and priests has almost become an open fact. More and more small church leaders began to refuse to carry out orders from the cathedral. The authority of Lang, the temporary bishop, and some priests even began to doubt the strange words and deeds of the former southern bishop, Lemont, before attacking Cecil. Some people began to spread the news that Bishop Lemont was bewitched by the eternal sleeper, but the source of the news was hidden in the fog .

However, in such a situation where tension and high pressure coexist, more and more leaflets continue to appear in cities, and even in churches.

"The enemy has already mixed in! Their destruction is almost crazy! The threat is beyond imagination!!"

During an urgent meeting of priests, Fran Bereng waved his arms and shouted loudly with red eyes. This priest, known for his piety, stability, and majesty, lost his usual calm at this moment, which was unheard of in the face of the Cecilians. The way of destruction filled him with anger.

"We have sent all the Holy See knights, discipline monks, and exiled knights to the outer city, and we are collecting a large number of leaflets and heretical items every day," a priest stood up and said, "We still..."

"It's useless!" Fran Bereng interrupted the priest unceremoniously, "Those leaflets...they appear faster than we can burn them!"

"The saboteurs are lurking in the city, we must find a way to catch them," a discipline monk in black robe stood up, he is the leader of all the discipline monks, "they are very good at hiding, mixing in the crowd, all Unfamiliar faces are suspicious..."

"The strange faces also include the exiled knights and noble heirs who came here, as well as their vassal followers," another priest stood up and interrupted the leader of the discipline monks, "They are distributed in the current knight patrol and the inner city church. In the district, do these people also need to be investigated?"

The voice of the discipline monk was as cold as winter: "It's all doubtful, maybe the enemy sneaked into the city because of them."

Fran Bereng knocked on the table: "We are in the middle of the enemy's plot in this way—what they want is our division."

The priests fell into commotion, and a gloomy and tense atmosphere filled the hall.

In the unbearably suffocating atmosphere, Fran Bereng finally spoke again.

"We can't let the situation worsen like this," said the interim bishop with an unusually gloomy face. As a superhuman with powerful power, he finally had enough of the troubles caused by those stupid and weak ordinary people, " We will take actions that will deter everyone—door-to-door searches, and bring all suspects to the square. I will use the great divine words to detect their beliefs, and all those who waver will be executed by burning! In addition, bring those weak and wavering priests in the chapel district to the square, and let them watch their execution!"

There was an instant commotion in the hall, and a moment later, a priest stood up: "Bishop, are you sure you want to use the great divine word technique to judge so many people? It consumes a lot, and once it is used, I'm afraid... I'm afraid there will be a lot of people. Person identified as shaken in faith..."

Ordinary people themselves are not clerics with firm beliefs. Even in Luan, the city of the church, the common people at the bottom are just ordinary believers. After such a long period of blockade, pressure, and panic, even the priests The faith of the people is undergoing a great test, and the situation of those civilians will only get worse.

People who can be priests are not fools. Although they always talk about the omnipotence of the God of Light, they actually know people's hearts very well. In this bad situation, a great divine word Going on, how many civilians who are tested can maintain their faith and piousness?

However, Fran Berenger had his own considerations and made up his mind: "It must be done—we must prove the power of the Lord in front of everyone, and define this matter: Those who waver and slander the church, slander me I and the former bishop are all because their faith has been shaken and they have been bewitched by the devil. They are people whose faith has been shaken, so what they say is crazy and completely unbelievable."

Hearing the bishop's words, the priests in the hall couldn't help but nodded slightly in thought.

When the situation is gradually getting out of control, find a few targets, attribute all unstable factors to them, and then use reasons such as heresy, unbelief, and madness to characterize them, and then burn them with fire. It is the most effective solution in this situation.

At least in the past years, the effect of this "trial of heresy" has been unfavorable.

"Go and announce to the whole city, the highest martial law, tell everyone that their bishop will conduct a heresy trial in the square," Fran Bereng stood up, his eyes swept across the hall, and confirmed that no one expressed any objection, "Don't hide the news of God's Words, on the contrary, we must emphasize its effects - we must make those who lurk in panic, and let the people who are about to be judged be shaken, the more they shake... the beginning of the heresy trial It’s easier for them to be identified as heretics, and it’s easier for us to blame them for everything.”

The priests exchanged glances with each other, then bowed their heads in front of Fran Bereng.

The news quickly spread from the cathedral and began to spread to the chapel area and the outer city.

In an underground facility in the chapel area, a tall and thin priest was wearing a gray linen robe that he only wore when he was being punished, walking barefoot on the cold stone road.

The Discipline monk in black robe walked silently beside the priest.

A faint sound came from above. It sounded like the sound of many people walking around, and there was also a voice that seemed to be spreading instructions.

The priest in the linen robe couldn't help but stop, listened slightly, and raised his head after a while: "Alcott, what's that?"

The discipline monk replied indifferently: "It should be the notice of the heresy trial. Don't think too much, you can't interfere with this matter."

The priest in the linen robe opened his eyes slightly, and after a while, he whispered in a voice that seemed to be talking to himself: "In this situation, there is still a heresy trial... There is no way out, there is no way out... Alcott, you..."

The discipline monk interrupted the priest: "Save some energy, this matter is under the control of the cathedral."

The priest in the linen robe suddenly stopped talking and fell into a sudden silence.

After a long silence, he raised his head and looked at the dark and gloomy corridor in front of him. The cold corridor of the underground facility stretched in his sight, disappearing all the way into the depths of the darkness. The disciplined priest wearing a gray linen robe is walking forward under the supervision of the discipline monk.

The dark road is like the future of this city, sliding into darkness.

……

In the temporary stronghold of the officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau, all the action members gathered together, and Amber looked at the subordinates in front of her with a happy smile on her face.

"The 'Judgment of Heresy' is finally here, I thought they didn't plan to use it anymore. This thing has always been their specialty, and it's amazing that those magic sticks can endure it for so long."

An operator said: "The situation has deteriorated to this point, they will definitely use the 'heretic trial' to 'maintain order', and they must have been aware of our existence, this trial probably hopes to catch us Bar."

"Just use those idiots... If any of you are caught, I will deduct 80 years of your wages!" Amber pouted, then bent down, and carried a cloth bag by her feet to the table—— It seemed to contain something made of metal, and it made a rattling sound when it was placed on the table.

Under the curious gaze of his subordinates, Amber opened the cloth bag and took out the contents.

It is impressively assembled and packaged pieces of rune substrates, and it is a special model with a small size.

Hu Po distributed these rune base plates to her subordinates: "Take it, one for each person, and hide it close to your body."

A team member couldn't help being curious: "Boss... what are these things?"

"The good stuff on the hair - the Holy Light Resonance Node, part of the White Knight's equipment, but it has been specially designed so that it can be taken out of the White Knight's armor and run independently," Amber said, stuffing her base plate into her waist pocket Li, "Put it on, and you don't have to worry about the so-called 'judgment of heresy'."

The team members were amazed: "So powerful?"