Pressure brought motivation. Faced with the heavy pressure that was already within reach, the people of the Dare clan did not even want to waste a single night. After eating a little, under the protection of their most reliable subordinates, they stealthily arrived at the Void Mask Shrine.
The paladin on night watch discovered them. At first, he thought that they wanted to attack and was startled. When Baron Dare came out and explained the reason, the paladin, who was as strong as a bear, understood what was going on and brought them to see Priest Karabar.
Next to the prayer room, Priest Kabbalah slept in a small room with four bare walls. He was not a fan of luxury by nature. There were no furnishings in the room, not even a table or a stool. There was only a thick wooden board on the floor, on which there were bedding and books. It served as both a bed and a desk.
He was very strong. Even in his sleep, he could feel many people approaching and naturally woke up. When he learned that Baron Dare had brought his trusted clansmen to visit in the middle of the night, he could not help but be a little stunned.
I only came here to develop the church. How did things develop to the point where even the lord wants to convert to His Majesty? Isn't this a little too big of a step?)
There was a famous saying on Earth, "If you take too big a step, you will pull your balls." As a healer with divine arts, Priest Karabar was not worried about pulling any parts of his body. However, he really had a headache now.
Especially after he had a detailed discussion with Baron Dare and learned the whole story, he felt even more troubled.
(What the hell is this? Why is it that when the aristocrats and merchants of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins are fighting, a lord comes to us? What does this have to do with us? You are a lord, shouldn't you naturally belong to the aristocrats? Oh... it seems that he really can't naturally belong to the aristocrats, because his main income comes from business... Then why don't we just stop the smuggling business for the time being? After all, after they convert to His Majesty, they also have to reorganize their various businesses...
He thought about a lot of things, so much so that his eyes were like mosquito coils, but he still could not figure it out.
After a deep sigh, he said to Baron Dare, "Lord Dare, I understand your situation. But this is not a trivial matter. I better ask His Majesty... "
"Of course, of course!" Baron Dahl nodded with a smile on his face, like a fat chicken eating rice.
Priest Kabala went to the changing room, took a bath and changed his clothes. After everything was ready, he went to the prayer room and lit up the fragrant wood shavings that emitted a soothing aura. Amidst the smoke of the burning wood shavings, he knelt in front of the altar and prayed silently.
After a while, Sui Xiong answered his prayer.
"So it's this matter … Sure, as long as they are willing to turn over a new leaf, I can protect them." Sui Xiong thought for a while and agreed. "However, my protection for them is limited to preventing the aristocrats or merchants from attacking and assassinating them. If it's because of their business conflicts or previous hatred, I won't protect them."
Priest Kabala told Baron Dahl about Sui Xiong's reply. Baron Dahl remained silent for a while, then indicated that he wanted to discuss it with his clansmen.
So they borrowed a room in the temple and began to discuss in it.
This time, they did not discuss for long. About ten minutes later, Baron Dahl visited Priest Kabala again and expressed his acceptance of His Majesty's conditions.
Although they did not receive complete protection, which made them feel a little uneasy, the attitude of His Majesty the Void Mask proved that he was reliable in another way — as experienced people, be it Baron Dahl or his clansmen, they would rather believe in those who would carefully discuss the conditions before doing things than those who would take everything on their own.
This was because the more careful consideration and the more detailed the conditions were, the more serious they were. As for those fellows who took everything on as if their mouths could run a carriage, not a single word of their words could be trusted!
Since the conditions were settled, the Dahl family returned to the castle with peace of mind. Although it was almost dawn, it did not prevent them from sleeping soundly.
On the other side, the clergymen of the Church of the Void Mask were busy.
Originally, the Dahl family had a mixture of beliefs. Some believed in the God of Aristocracy, while others believed in the Goddess of Wealth. Now that they were going to collectively convert to the Void Mask, they naturally needed a formal and grand ceremony.
Not only that, many of the Dahl family members were bad people. In order to accept these believers, they had to arrange for them to atone for their sins.
"Atonement" was not something that could be done by buying a certificate of atonement like in the Middle Ages on Earth. It was also not like some bearded men who could go straight to heaven as long as they killed a few heathens, no matter what evil they had done. In this world, atonement was a very serious and serious matter. It involved a rather difficult process that required a high price.
First of all, those who decided to atone for their sins had to undergo a period of fasting and bathing, allowing their body and mind to enter a state of peace and tranquility. In this state, they had to personally narrate their crimes one by one, and accept punishment according to their crimes. The punishment included, but was not limited to, beatings, burns, and various physical or magical pain.
This painful and difficult process could sometimes last as long as a month. When the whole ceremony was over, they had to accept a task. Only when they completed this task with a kind and serious attitude could they be considered to have truly completed the whole atonement process.
As long as they could complete the whole atonement process, even the most heinous bad person could change their alignment from evil to neutral. After that, as long as they earnestly did good deeds, they could become good people sooner or later.
However … in this world, there were very few bad people who could truly complete the whole atonement process.
On one hand, this process was indeed accompanied by great pain. The more serious the crime, the more severe the pain. Most bad people were the kind of people who were strict to others and lenient to themselves. They could not bear the pain at all.
On the other hand, even if they were willing to bear the pain, few churches were willing to carry out the atonement ceremony for bad people, because it meant that they would become a part of the church, and their actions would be related to the honor of the church.
Even if they were willing to atone for their sins, few clergymen were willing to believe in bad people.
The only church that was keen to carry out the atonement ceremony for people was the Church of the God of Redemption. That group of people preached that "no matter how bad a person is, as long as he is willing to change, he will be able to pay for his sins one day." They were also keen to persuade bad people to atone for their sins and accept redemption, even if it was repentance before death.
But the bad guys were not willing to do that, because if they accepted the "redemption" when they were dying, it meant that their souls would belong to the God of Redemption after death, and they would do all kinds of good things under his arrangement to atone for their sins.
This kind of thing was very, very difficult.
In the end, only a few of the higher-ups of the Dare family were willing to accept the atonement ceremony and become the core believers of the Church of the Void Mask. The rest of them only bowed to the statue of the Void Mask, accepted the baptism ceremony conducted by Priest Kabala, and then left.
"That's good." Seeing them leave, Priest Kabala was disappointed, but he could not help but let out a sigh of relief.
As long as he was responsible for the atonement of a few people, both the difficulty and the trouble that might be involved in the future would be greatly reduced.
As for those who left … they walked their own path and made their own choices. No matter what happened, they could not blame others.
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