Wright's short and concise answer stunned Gawain for a long time. He had prepared a lot of reasonable and polite excuses to deal with the missionary's nagging, including, but not limited to, "the territory has no money to maintain the church," "the territory has no money to support the clergy," "you have to buy the bricks and tiles of the church yourself," and so on. He did not expect that this missionary, who was suspected to be a gladiator turned priest, would just let it go … Let it go just like that …
Could this big brother be a spy sent by the Shadow Church to the Church of Holy Light?
"You're just going to let it go?" Even Amber could not help but ask. "You're not going to persuade him again?"
"The path of the Holy Light tells me that if I do good deeds, then the Holy Light will naturally shine on people's hearts. If I don't do good deeds, then no matter what I say, it won't work." The burly man drew the emblem of the Church of Holy Light on his chest with his hand. Although his face was full of stubble and muscles, he still looked holy. "So it doesn't matter if you're not interested. It's not too late to come to me when you're interested."
"What an interesting guy." Heti shook her head in disbelief. "You're from the central region, right? Why would the church of the Holy Spirit Plain send you to the Southernmost Region to preach? And they only gave you a document. Where are your attendants and guards? "
Now, it was no longer the era when civilization was still in chaos, when various sects were struggling to survive in the wilderness. Even the traveling missionaries no longer traveled alone like ascetics. This was especially true for missionaries who set off from the rich Sacred Plains. Basically, they would bring a considerable number of attendants and guards with them. Therefore, such a group was also known as a "moving church", which meant that a church had armed personnel, servants, and clergymen. However, Mister Wright had come all the way here from the Sacred Plains with only a tattered document. Not to mention attendants, even his travel expenses and food were earned by his own efforts.
He felt as if he had traveled through time and space. It was as if this missionary had walked out of the Savage Era in history books.
But after hearing this question, Wright just smiled carelessly. "I traveled alone. The bishop gave me a document and told me to preach in the south, so I came. As for attendants and guards … I am just a lowly priest, where would I get attendants and guards? Besides, I don't need them."
As he spoke, he showed off his muscles. "Many Saint Knight can't beat me in a fight, and many of my followers can't work as well as I do. So what do I need them for?"
Then, he looked around and found that a new batch of bricks had been sent to the construction site. He stood up and patted the dirt off his pants. "It seems that there's work to be done again. Do you have any questions? If there's no problem, I'll help unload this batch of bricks first. "
Gwen had a strange expression on his face. "… As you wish."
Wright waved his hand. "Then I'll go. Ah, by the way, don't forget to help me pass the document to your lord. I need his permission to establish a church and preach openly. "
Gwen was a little dumbfounded. "Don't worry, I'll pass it on."
Wright nodded and turned to the construction site. But after taking two steps, he turned back again. "By the way, there's something I forgot to ask."
Even Heti didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "What is it? Ask away."
"Where are we going to eat after work?"
Heidi sighed and said, "... Just follow the workers. Everyone who works will have food to eat. They will be fed."
After the missionary was completely gone, Amber muttered in a low voice. "I thought the people of the Church of Holy Light would come looking for trouble when they saw me. But it turned out to be such a silly … weirdo."
"Don't be paranoid. They don't even know who you are. Why would they bother you?" Heti glanced at Amber and then looked at Gwen. "Ancestor, are you going to allow this … 'missionary' to preach in the territory?"
"Observe for two days first," Gwen said faintly. "Send a clerk to record his basic information, and then arrange a residence for him according to the standard of skilled immigrants. Arrange a place near the administrative district. At the same time, pay more attention to his movements. If there's no problem with this person … then allow him to preach and carry out activities within the legal scope of Cecil. "
Gwen himself was estranged from the belief of the gods, but he didn't intend to prevent people from carrying out religious activities in his territory — because religious activities were an "established fact" of this world. Theurgy was also a part of the local productivity. Eighty to ninety percent of the people in his territory had their own beliefs, either the gods of fertility and the God of Holy Light, or the gods of craftsmen, commerce, knowledge, warriors, and other fields. Most of them were shallow believers, while a few were devout believers. Under such a background, it was neither necessary nor meaningful to prevent a missionary of the Church of Holy Light from operating in his territory, and it would also make people suspicious.
Moreover, as long as this strange and upright missionary didn't have any doubts or stains on his background, then his arrival was actually a good thing — Gwen still remembered the matter that Veronica mentioned last time. Moreover, he believed that the Holy Lady Princess wasn't just casually mentioning it. Sooner or later, she would come to find him again. However, if before that, he established a small church in his territory that was recognized by the Church of Holy Light, then he would have sufficient reason to refuse the infiltration of the Captical Church.
A local church established by a wandering missionary with the financial support of a local lord was much easier to control than a church directly under the command of the Captical Church.
While thinking about these things, Gwen returned to his tent.
Looking at the tent that he had lived in for several months, his heart was somewhat moved.
Indeed, it was time to move out of this place and into a brick and tile house.
At least, the new house that he designed had formal study room, bedroom, warehouse, and various laboratories. Whether it was living or magical research, it would be much more convenient than here.
However, for some reason, Amber seemed to be very interested in Gwen moving into the new house as soon as possible. Last time, Gwen curiously asked her about it, and the result was that the latter said a bunch of strange things, such as "I haven't entered the house through the window for a long time", "There's not even a door that can be pried open in your tent", "What kind of noble house is there without a basement and a treasure house", and so on … It was really strange.
Gawain had no choice but to knock on Hu Po's head to correct her strange words, but it didn't seem to have any effect.
Several reports on the population and the expansion of the territory's new residential area were placed on the table. Gwen sat down at the desk and began to do his daily work.
Relying on the inherent appeal of the ancient heroes and the factual prestige of Gwen taking the lead to protect the people, the measures he promulgated were implemented quickly in this land. Even the planning of town roads, the construction of sewers before the construction of houses, the prohibition of urination on the streets, and other measures that were difficult to push forward in the current era and difficult to explain to the people were implemented very well. It seemed that the people didn't really care about the purpose of these measures (even if Gwen had sent people to constantly preach the significance of each policy), but as long as the lord said it, it must be right.
But Gwen knew that the efficiency of implementation brought by this kind of blind trust could not be relied on for a long time. It was bound to continue to be worn down in the process of the promulgation of one system and law after another, and there were only two ways to maintain this rate of implementation.
First, let as many new systems and laws as possible produce visible results. At the very least, let the people believe that the improvement in their lives was driven by those systems and laws, so that they would be happy to follow the new laws.
Second, promote education, let the people know how to think and distinguish, so that they could truly understand what the lord was saying, and under this premise, still support the fief's laws and rules.
The second way would not only maintain the current rate of implementation, but also greatly increase the efficiency of every work in the fief.
But … where would he find teachers? Especially in Gwen's plan to educate the entire population about Extraordinary knowledge, such teachers were even harder to find.
Ordinary people who could read and count could be hired with money, but those who were truly knowledgeable and could carry out high-end education were hard to find. They would not be willing to patiently explain runes and calculations to a bunch of noisy 'lowly paupers', even if they were paid.
Perhaps he should ask Jenny. She might know some of the Extraordinary professionals who were extremely down and out in high society … In the spirit of 'poverty leads to change', those starving mages should be easier to buy …
At the same time, far to the east of the continent, in the distant sea, the storm was gradually dissipating.
The raging water elements had returned to the atmosphere and the ocean. The accumulated energy in the atmosphere had almost all splashed onto the island reef, blasting it into pieces. Now, the remaining energy was stabilizing along with the water elements, gradually returning to the embrace of nature.
The blood of the cultists dyed the surface of the sea red, and the smell of blood attracted the predators in the ocean. But those predators only patrolled the periphery of the waters in fear, not daring to approach the place that was still emitting a dangerous aura.
In the end, the Children of Storms could not resist the real storm. In the face of the natural disaster caused by the siren army, they managed to hold on for a long time, but in the end, they had to give up this' miracle domain '.
At the cost of almost a third of the cultists' lives, they forced a way out of the turbulent sea and escaped this place.
Now, the island reef was back in the hands of the sirens.
There were still many gigantic and terrifying behemoths patrolling the surface of the sea. Those floating behemoths were covered in shells and bone spikes, and their bodies were filled with magical radiance. Soon, these behemoths sank into the water, and a few moments later, some female figures floated up from the sea.
They had beautiful faces, elegant and well-proportioned bodies, and intelligent eyes like humans. But their cheeks and arms were faintly covered with fine scales. These scales were not scary, but gave people an unusual sense of demonic beauty. And in the process of stirring the sea, the lower body of these women would occasionally surface — it was a long tail like a sea serpent, or a fishtail like a fish.
Some even had tentacles with suckers like an octopus.
These intelligent creatures in the water looked at the island reef left behind by the cultists, but they were not interested in the so-called sacred relics and altars that the cultists were desperately guarding.
A siren with sky-blue hair looked in the direction of the island, while another siren floated up from the water and swam to the blue-haired leader. "Those mentally ill humans have run away, General Vanessa."
The siren called General Vanessa frowned. "What a strange creature. I remember they were not so crazy a few hundred years ago. How come they can't even communicate now?"
"Probably because they can't live in the sea and live on land all day long. Their brains are dead from boredom."
"Forget it, it doesn't matter." The siren general shook her head. "Since those mentally ill humans have run away, we can continue to work."
"Then …" The young siren soldier looked eager. "Shall we continue to dig for squid?"
The siren general smiled and nodded. "Yes, continue to dig for squid."
"Continue to dig for squid!" "Continue to dig for squid!" "Big squid!"
The sea monsters cheered loudly. Then, they stirred up waves and swung their tails like sea serpents, fish, and octopuses as they rushed to the bottom of the sea to continue the work they had planned to carry out in this sea area.
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