"I'm a priest of the Church of the Storm. Praise the Lady!" Marguerite raised her head slightly, sized up Connor, and said softly, "I'm a priest of the Church of the Storm.
She whispered, "The Church of the Storm?" Hearing Marguerite reveal his identity, Connor was shocked, but he immediately said, "Praise the Lady. May the Lady be with me!"
The Church of the Storm and the Religion of the Earth were the two orthodox religions of the Kahman Empire. Apart from these two, any other religious organization in the Kahman Empire was considered a cult. In the Kahman Empire, the Kahman Empire's nobles, capitalists, and other ruling classes were in a state of mutual dependence and support with the Church.
The Church had to abide by the Empire's religious laws and was not allowed to interfere in the Empire's internal affairs. At the same time, the Empire's constitution stipulated that not only did the Church enjoy tax exemption and the privilege of having independent armed forces, but the Church's authority was completely decided by the Church. The Empire's administration was not allowed to interfere.
Among the two major Churches, compared to the Religion of the Earth, which had a relatively moderate doctrine, the Church of the Storm appeared to be more powerful in all aspects. And in the Empire's West Coast, within the Church of the Storm's traditional sphere of influence, even the Empire's administration was affected by them.
Connor remembered that George had told him that two months ago, the famous textile merchant in Loen City, Guachetino, had made a joke about Bishop Constantine of the Church of the Storm at a banquet in Loen City. The Church of the Storm had called for a strike of a few hundred workers in his three factories! At first, the textile merchant Guachetino was a tough nut to crack. He didn't want to lower his head, so he held on. But the strike lasted for a week, causing Guachetino's textile factory to lose a total of ten thousand pounds.
Guachetino couldn't take it anymore. He wanted to get someone to mediate with Constantine, but Constantine ignored him. Guachetino had no choice but to strip naked in front of the Loen Church of the Storm and kneel for an entire night before reluctantly meeting Constantine. As for the final outcome, Guachetino kissed Constantine's boots in front of all his workers and publicly donated ten thousand pounds to the Church of the Storm. Only then did the strike in his factory end.
Although this incident ended with the Church's complete victory and ruthlessly smacking the capitalists in the face, it seriously intensified the conflict between the ruling class represented by the local capitalists and nobles in Loen and the Church. George had secretly told Connor that the House of Commons in Loen City was secretly submitting a petition to the headquarters of the Church of the Storm in the Empire's capital, Bernabéu, requesting to replace Constantine as bishop and give Loen's Church of the Storm a new bishop!
"Mr. Connor, are you also a believer of the Goddess?" Connor only said it casually for the sake of the occasion, but Marguerite seemed to be a little serious as she looked at Connor in surprise.
"I …" Just as Connor was a little hesitant and trying hard to organize his words to explain all of this, the dance music played by the band in the banquet hall slowly came to an end. A handsome young man jumped to Connor's side and looked at Connor and Marguerite. He smiled and said, "Connor, so you know Miss Marguerite?"
"Young Master George, I just met Mr. Connor!" Marguerite smiled and explained to George, then immediately turned to Connor and said, "I'm very happy to have a dance with a gentleman like Mr. Connor!" After saying that, Marguerite took a deep look at Connor and floated away.
"Connor, do you know? You're amazing! I wanted to introduce Marguerite to you, but I didn't expect that you would give me such a surprise! " George sat on the sofa in the corner of the banquet hall with dim lights. He patted Connor's shoulder and winked at him.
In the face of George's teasing, Connor didn't care at all. He forced a happy smile on his face and pondered for a moment. He picked up an orange from the table in front of him. As he peeled the orange, he pretended to ask casually, "George, since this Margret appeared at your father's birthday party, you should know where she came from, right?"
Hearing Connor's question, George pointed at Connor with a meaningful smile on his face. "I know you're a playboy, Connor. Your sweetheart, Rebecca, just went missing, and you're already thinking of falling in love with someone else?"
Connor paused for a second while peeling the orange. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. George always thought about sex, but it was good that George thought that way. He didn't need to make up a story to deceive him, so he didn't bother to explain. He stuffed the peeled orange into his mouth and mumbled, "Tell me, who is that angel?"
George looked around cautiously and found that no one was paying attention to him and Connor. He immediately lowered his voice and whispered, "Do you remember what I told you? Do you remember what I told you about Guacetino?"
Connor nodded. How could he forget something like that?
"Half a month ago, seventeen nobles led by Marquis Harry in the House of Lords and nineteen members of the House of Commons led by the wealthy businessman, Mr. Dell, for a total of thirty-six people, secretly proposed to the headquarters of the Church of the Storm to dismiss Constantine. If the Church of the Storm accepts their proposal, they will donate a hundred thousand pounds to the Church of the Storm in the name of the two houses of Loen City. If the Church of the Storm refuses, then all the properties under the thirty-six members of parliament will stop donating to the Church of the Storm indefinitely!" George tried his best to keep his voice calm, but Connor could still sense the excitement in his voice.
In the current era, the most important reason why the Church was able to stand up to the ruling class of the Empire was the trust that the masses of the lower class had in them. Compared to the king who ruled them, the people were more willing to believe in the god they believed in. Unfortunately, more than ninety percent of the clergymen who were the embodiment of holiness in the hearts of the people and followed the will of the Goddess of the Storm to walk the earth were people who appeared to be compassionate on the surface, but were secretly robbers and prostitutes.
The donations that the nobles and capitalists gave to the Church of the Storm were, in fact, protection fees. They protected their factories and manors from strikes! And as the lives of the clergymen became more extravagant over the years, they asked for more and more "donations" from the capitalists and nobles!
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