Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 479 - 478: Besieged City

The prolonged siege is the greatest blow to morale and cohesion, and this is true for everyone—even the church clerics whose faith and stance were originally firm are not exempt.

When the situation is stable and there are no significant conflicts of interest, the church can maintain a semblance of balance and unity among its factions. Despite the factions’ presence both inside and outside the cathedral, and the entangled interests and conflicts among various clerics and priests, at least everyone tries to uphold a superficial unity for the sake of their fellow church members—simply put, they give face to the Holy Light, and conflicts are kept from the public eye to safeguard the overall interests of the church.

However, when the church no longer brings any benefits and even becomes the source of threats, this superficial unity will start to fracture from within.

Not everyone supports the orders from the Plains of the Holy Spirits. Former Southern Archbishop Leimont may have the highest authority in the Lu’an Grand Cathedral, yet he cannot unite all the Holy Light clerics—Southern Church, as the diocese on the kingdom’s borders, always harbors the hidden danger of significant internal divisions.

Native pastors have always resisted directives from the Plains of the Holy Spirits. The Young Pastors Faction, newly promoted in the past two years to expand the diocese’s influence, often clashes with the Elders Faction in the cathedral. Lower-echelon priests wish for more autonomy in this land far from the church’s center, while higher clergy are constantly worried about the "barbaric, crude, uncivilized" rural priests who preach recklessly and alter the doctrines. Moreover, some conscientious clerics strongly oppose the church’s increasingly malevolent actions over the past two years...

In the face of heavy contradictions, former Southern Archbishop Leimont led almost all the top forces in the church to partake in the war against the Cecil Clan, which was actually a reluctant decision.

If he could defeat the oldest family on this land and achieve higher prestige among the coalition of over forty aristocratic forces during this war, Bishop Leimont would undoubtedly solidify his position in the diocese, and most of the undercurrents in Lu’an Grand Cathedral would be calmed—if it weren’t for that place being filled with those transcendents of Cecil Clan, his success rate would be considerably higher.

However, unfortunately, he failed.

His failure even led the entire Southern Church to stand against the Cecil Principality, putting the faith of Holy Light at risk of being forcibly eradicated on this land.

The clerics who initially did not support Bishop Leimont’s risky move naturally became resentful, and due to Leimont’s origins from the Plains of the Holy Spirits, a large number of native pastors began to waver. As the situation in Lu’an City worsened, and the shadow of insufficient supplies loomed, the order in the Outer City District deteriorated day by day, amassing enormous resentment among the lower-echelon priests. They couldn’t bring their families to the Inner City District like those powerful clerics; they themselves were living in the "Small Chapel District" adjoining the Outer City District, and the chaos in the Outer City District had inevitably influenced them, growing increasingly severe...

At this critical juncture, the pamphlets circulated within the city undoubtedly exacerbated every situation.

Almost everyone could see it was the "conspiracy" of the Cecil Clan—but what does that matter? Is what’s said on the pamphlet false?

The upper echelon holds the power to interpret doctrines, middle-level clerics accumulate vast wealth through indulgence money, meanwhile the archbishops of the Plains of the Holy Spirits live comfortably in rich lands while pointing fingers at the difficult situation in the southern borders. Now a crisis has arisen, the bishop is dead, a large group of church knights have also perished, the enraged Cecil Clan has blockaded the entire church, yet everyone in the church is supposed to bear the consequences—who wouldn’t be angry?

Bishop Fran Belon, with a grim face, crumpled the printed material in his hand and burned it to ashes using Holy Light, while he quickly calculated in his mind—

The propagandistic material from the Cecil Clan, though crude in language, is deadly because the content inside is almost entirely true.

Anyone who has close contact with the Holy Light Church and can slightly touch upon clerical circles can discern the truthfulness of these contents.

These items are being circulated secretly, and in four days they shouldn’t be able to spread throughout the city... Hence, it is imperative to halt the fermentation of these items immediately.

He looked at the cleric in front of him: "Immediately inform the Disciplinary Monk Order to confiscate all the pamphlets circulating between churches—moreover, let those exiled knights and the church knights go to the Outer City District and conduct a house-to-house search. Anyone holding such pamphlets, regardless of their reason, must immediately surrender them, and those who refuse to surrender them will all be treated as heterodoxies."

"Yes."

"Additionally," Fran Belon further added, "Anyone who actively surrenders or reports those hiding them will be rewarded with rations."

The church knights from Lu’an Grand Cathedral and the exiled knights who sought refuge there quickly sprang into action.

The gates of the long-sealed church district opened, fully armed knights rushed out, starting to search house-to-house for "heretical evidence," clerics guarded by knights walked to the streets using Divine Arts to shout warnings to all commoners hiding the propagandistic materials, and during this process, chaos in the Outer City District suddenly grew increasingly severe.

Those "experienced" knights couldn’t avoid causing any harm when breaking into private residences to search for materials.

Not only did the Outer City District begin to grow chaotic, but the atmosphere within the inner city’s church district also immediately grew tense.

The Disciplinary Monks, wearing black robes with tattoos on their scalps, walked silently into small chapels one by one, beginning to interrogate all monks and lower-echelon clerics. Numerous pamphlets were uncovered from the corners of those chapels or from those priests, and priests who hid pamphlets were immediately punished—first with unified confinement, followed by whipping and Divine Arts penalties.

The Transcendent members of the church cannot be punished in front of commoners. To maintain the dignity of the church, all punished priests must be kept in confinement rooms after receiving their penalties, only released after they complete thorough repentance.

In only one day, thousands of propagandistic materials were confiscated from various areas within the city, some were pamphlets, others were flyers—Bishop Fran Belon was utterly astonished when he saw the huge pile of printed material; he didn’t anticipate the quantity being this large.

The printing quality of these materials was so exquisite, with clear text and orderly layout, it’s nothing like those crude wax plate printed products. He couldn’t fathom how the Cecil Clan managed such exquisite printing—and printed so many copies.

But regardless, these items must be immediately destroyed.

All confiscated propagandistic pamphlets were gathered together and sent outside the church district to the large square for public burning. The pass messages in hooded cloaks ran three circles around the city, driving all commoners from their homes to watch the spectacle at the square.

The large square was overcrowded, the driven-out crowd consisted of thousands of commoners with numb expressions and sunken cheeks. Due to insufficient food supplies, people from the Outer City District have been in a state of semi-starvation for almost half a month, with the incessant hunger gnawing at everyone’s heart. They actually didn’t want to come to the square—lying at home on their beds might help slightly reduce physical consumption, whereas gathering here... everyone could only grow hungrier.

However, the swords of the Knights and the spells of the priests are irresistible; they must come, whether they wish to or not.

The wooden platform in the center of the square was set up, and the confiscated pamphlets were packed and carried by strong soldiers who threw them onto the platform. A tall man in priest robes came to the front of the stage, his severe gaze sweeping across the entire square. The Holy Light surged beside him, gradually spreading the pressure of a Transcendent.

The commoners in the square were intimidated, falling silent as a wordless deathly silence pervaded the atmosphere.

The tall priest looked upon the scene with satisfaction and disdain, then raised his magic wand high: "You confused and foolish people! Without the guidance of the Lord, you would not even realize you are sliding into the abyss of dangerous sin!

"The Cecil Clan is bewitched by devils, and they have spread this devilish influence into the city!

"Look at these blasphemous documents—they were found in your backyards, your neighbors’ homes, from your own bedrooms! Your eyes aren’t bright enough, your wisdom insufficient, so you can’t recognize that these things are actually contracts signed with devils by the Cecil Clan—

"They sent these contracts into the city to harm you! You were once favored by the Holy Light, but these devilish contracts have polluted you, causing the Holy Light to depart.

"Only flames can purify these blasphemous documents. By voluntarily bringing these documents here and witnessing the purification ritual, you can still be saved—but the most incorrigible among you will be purified with the devil’s contract!"

A few more strong soldiers came up and pushed a bound man onto the stage. A slight commotion occurred in the gathered crowd, but most people merely watched numbly, hardly reacting.

The tall priest looked at the numbed crowd below, then at the bound man—a ragged figure who had been beaten to the point of losing consciousness, his face bruised beyond recognition.

This was just a homeless man caught near the city gates for recklessly bumping into soldiers and having pamphlets on him, leading to his arrest.

The biggest advantage of such a homeless man is that no one knows him, and no one would plead for him.

"This man hoarded a large amount of devilish documents and refused to hand them over!" The priest raised his magic wand, pointing at the semi-conscious man, "He even spread the content of these documents, bewitching those around him, urging them to question the Lord and the church!"

The crowd finally had a bit of a stir as if someone was truly frightened by the priest’s words, while the bound man suddenly started to struggle, trying to yell something—but a soldier beside him immediately punched him in the stomach, causing him to fall back into a semi-conscious state from the severe pain.

The priest frowned at this momentary surprise and waved his magic wand: "Push the blasphemer into the pile of devil’s documents!"

The soldiers immediately dragged the tied man to the center of the stage, pushing him into the pile of promotional materials, forming a "mountain." A Disciplinary Monk in black robes stepped forward, pouring flammable grease on the book pile and the man.

Whispers filled the crowd, some nervously retreating, others murmuring prayers, while others bore twisted, excited looks, craning their necks to see the commotion on stage.

Someone suddenly heard low muttering behind them: "Isn’t that Old Sam... Old Sam doesn’t even know how to read!"

The person who heard the muttering immediately turned to look for the speaker, hoping to gather more details, but only saw a departing back.

Someone nearby curiously whispered, "What’s wrong?"

"The man about to be burned is apparently named Sam, and he can’t read."

A few people in plain burlap clothing jostled within the crowd, as they passed, their murmurs gradually spread:

"The person on the stage seems to be named Sam—and he’s illiterate!"

The commotion grew, the low murmurs turned into a buzzing noise. Although the scale remained small, the priest on stage finally noticed these unusual noises. A strange feeling rose in his heart amidst the vague unease, he decisively abandoned his preplanned sermon, raising his hand to summon a ball of Holy Light.

"Those who defy the will of the Lord deserve purification!"

The searing Holy Light ignited the grease, setting ablaze those pamphlets denouncing the Holy Light church’s dark secrets, setting alight illiterate Sam.

The bound man writhed in the blaze, screaming in agony. The crowd watching the awful scene collectively stepped back, a hubbub of voices arose from all directions. A person with a burlap sack over their shoulder, looking like a farmer, stood closest to the execution ground. Seemingly stunned by the scene, he remained frozen until the retreating crowd stirred him into a stumbling retreat.

The priest on stage wore a sullen expression; the air was filled with the stench of burning, and the disturbance of ignorant commoners below intensified his foul mood. It was then that an extremely faint wave of Magic Power suddenly emanated from a direction beneath the stage.

The priest immediately looked towards that direction, but aside from terrified, foolish commoners frantically retreating, he saw nothing.

Perhaps it was just an illusion.

The priest waved his hand irritably and, surrounded by attendants and Escort Knights, turned and left the scene.