With a slightly nervous and curious feeling, Giply arrived at the feudal lord’s mansion located in the center of the Cecil South city district.
This forr "witch," with a healthy tan complexion, a good face, a slight understanding of magical skills, and once having made a living with her quick wit and con artistry among adventurers and local thugs, sat anxiously in the reception room, guessing what the mission directly assigned by the leader would be — she had once t Gawain Cecil Duke, but that was at the Intelligence Agency’s graduation ceremony for first batch agents, where she stood with a large group of fellow trainees on the plaza, swearing allegiance to the Duke on stage. At that ti, she never thought she would one day be sitting here, receiving orders one-on-one from the leader.
Would it be a highly dangerous mission? A highly difficult mission? Or sothing very special that requires specific personnel to complete?
No matter how she thought, Giply couldn’t figure out any decisive difference between herself and ordinary intelligence agents — the business level of first batch agents was about the sa, and due to being fast-tracked, first batch agents in many professional skills were even inferior to newcors trained later, especially since she had been dispatched abroad for so long, she was severely out of touch with the local training and needed urgent catching up...
There wasn’t anyone else in the room, only the leader’s chief maid accompanying her, and as a maid, the young miss obviously wouldn’t casually converse with guests. In such slightly awkward silent tension, Giply unknowingly drank another cup of tea until the next second when she put the teacup down, the sound of water pouring ca from the side.
The chief maid held a big teapot, filling the empty teacup in one breath, then displayed a sowhat dazed smile to Giply: "Please enjoy."
"Ah, thank you..." Giply said instinctively, only belatedly realizing she had unknowingly drunk several cups already and couldn’t drink anymore. However, sohow, just a glance at the little maid nad Betty gave her an inexplicable "ntal pressure" — though the maid was rely staring blankly, Giply couldn’t shake the feeling that "not drinking the tea poured by her was criminal."
Strange psychological pressure... just what you’d expect from soone close to the leader.
Giply blinked and instinctively reached for the nearby teacup. However, before she picked it up, the door to the reception room suddenly opened.
The leader appeared there.
Almost becoming another victim of Betty’s teapot, Witch Giply hurriedly placed the teacup down, stood up, and respectfully yet smoothly saluted: "Salutations, Duke."
Gawain waved his hand nonchalantly: "No need for formalities — apologies for the wait, I was preparing so things. How was your trip to the royal capital?"
Giply imdiately felt a bit nervous, awkwardly folding her hands at her stomach and slightly lowering her shoulders, one of the few "upper-class conversational postures" she learned during her studies at the Intelligence Agency: "It went smoothly, sir, the base in the royal capital has been handed over to subsequent personnel and the report has been submitted."
Gawain sat down at his designated spot, noticing the "senior agent" who seed to be around Aunt Heidi’s age was sowhat tense, he couldn’t help but smile: "Great — relax, you can sit and speak."
Giply sat down in front of Gawain, and the latter surveyed the "witch" from top to bottom, speaking unhurriedly: "Giply, no surna, born in the Peibo Region, a little versed in magic, once a mage apprentice for a very short ti but fled to the Leslie territory after her ntor died in a vendetta — lived by divining and selling talismans, code na ’Witch,’ correct?"
Although Giply was still a bit nervous, she had slightly cald down and nodded: "Yes, that’s my past."
"Amber specifically recomnded you; she said you have remarkable talent," Gawain said. "Allegedly, you’re articulate, highly adept at con artistry, and also quite shrewd and adaptable..."
Giply’s expression suddenly turned bizarre and awkward. She never thought her forr boss — of course, also her current boss — would use any pleasant words to recomnd her, given that the boss’s head virtually lacked pleasant words, notoriously sharp-tongued and hated by both gods and ghosts, surviving due to exceptional escape skills. But hearing these words used to describe subordinates coming from Cecil’s ruler... was quite stimulating.
Fortunately, Gawain quickly relieved the "witch" lady: "Don’t be tense, I understand Amber’s wording habits. I can filter and discern your true areas of expertise. You have talent in speech craft and presumably know quite well how to evoke resonance and recognition with words, don’t you?"
Giply was sowhat embarrassed: "Just so... unimpressive stuff."
"This is a talent that cos in handy, and I have a mission for you that requires your talent. I must remind you, this task will have a profound impact on your career as an intelligence agent, but it’s truly important," Gawain said, casually grabbing a stack of papers from the side, "Take a look at these materials."
Giply curiously took the papers and was surprised to see they contained vivid images. Her first thought was of oil paintings, but she quickly realized the realistic black-and-white drawings were unlike any artist’s work. The images depicted weren’t artistic landscapes or portraits; instead, they were scenes devoid of artistic rit and thoroughly unpleasant.
She saw priests with ferocious faces and disciplinary monks beating the populace, soldiers dragging residents from their hos into the streets, persons in priest robes directing soldiers to burn houses, and Church Knights confiscating property from the hands of civilians while bloodied people pleaded helplessly on the ground...
Many of the images weren’t very clear, and the angles were not the most suitable, giving the impression of being secretly and haphazardly recorded. This very angle provided viewers a powerful sense of imrsion, as if everything was happening right before their eyes, in the here and now.
And more importantly, even in the least clear images, the ferocious expressions of those priests, church officials, and Church Knights were the most vivid and complete.
Giply felt a strong sense of disgust and resistance growing within her heart—because she had witnessed these scenes in real life and had even once experienced them.
A witch fleeing from another place, not truly a Transcendent, yet possessing so magical skills, using "sorcery" like divination to "bewitch the populace," being excluded and condemned by the local church was normal. If cri involving supernatural powers occurred, she would be the first suspect, often facing expulsion and beating—even on quiet days, she would be extorted by the church or the leader’s people...
Many people believed in the Holy Light, but in this world filled with religions, there were also many who rejected it, especially among those at the lower levels of society, where non-believers were common and Giply was among them, more of a "mage apprentice."
Gawain saw the changes in Giply’s expression and calmly picked up an ancient magical device from the side—a simplified Magic Web Communicator, with very few magic runes on its triangular base but a high-quality Projection Crystal embedded at its top.
Gawain placed the device on the table and activated it under Giply’s curious gaze. "Take another look at these images."
The magical device activated, projecting images stored in the crystal—this ti, Giply saw dynamic scenes directly, witnessing church mbers beating civilians in the streets.
The images were short and shook violently, clearly recorded in a frantic and covert situation.
As a mage apprentice, Giply wasn’t surprised by the magical device’s ability to project images; she was curious about the content of the images. "Sir, these are..."
"Things that have happened and are happening in Lu’an City," Gawain said solemnly, looking into Giply’s eyes. "I ask you, after seeing these pictures and videos, if you were to tell more people what you saw and thought and make them aware of the Holy Light Church’s dark side, what would you say?"
Giply seed to understand her task. While pondering, she said, "Too direct criticism and curses might be effective for those already opposed to the Holy Light Church, but for neutral people and supporters of the Holy Light Church, it might have the opposite effect. Stating facts in the most neutral way, straightforwardly declaring ’the church has always been this dark’ as fact, would gain the most resonance. Additionally, you could relate the victims in these images to the audience of the propaganda, making them realize they too could at any mont be the ones beaten, plundered, or subjected to fiery trials. If you wouldn’t mind fabricating so additional information, I could even create an entire series of backgrounds beyond these images..."
"We don’t need to fabricate anything, we only state facts," Gawain said calmly, "We only need to state facts, that’s enough."
"Just stating facts can achieve the effect you desire," Giply said imdiately, but then furrowed her brow. "It’s just that there are so many people in the southern borders—those who believe in the Holy Light, those who believe in Otherworldly Gods, non-believers... it’s a considerable number..."
As a smart person, Giply had completely guessed the leader’s intention. As soone who did not believe in the Holy Light herself, she had no resistance to this matter. Now her only curiosity was how her mouth, normally only capable of persuading two or three people, could achieve what the leader required—
The leader specifically summoned her here and collected these materials (though she didn’t know how they were gathered since she hadn’t had the chance to see the printing factory and Magic Web Communication devices in the territory yet), undoubtedly aiming to strike at the Holy Light Church across the entire southern borders, sothing not achievable by a couple of eloquent individuals.
Gawain looked at Giply’s face and slowly smiled. "What if your voice could be heard by everyone in the southern borders?"
Giply looked up in shock, eting Gawain’s eyes, then thought of the extraordinary things that had already happened on this extraordinary land. All her surprise turned into "the ancestors’ cunning operations will definitely succeed, so don’t question it, just do it" mindset. "...If such a thing can truly be achieved... then I’d better prepare well."
"Then prepare, Miss Giply," Gawain stood up, saying each word slowly and clearly. "A new war has already begun."
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