Fran Belon and his priest Clergy hid in the church district and directly locked the district gates, a panicked and instinctive retreat that might have been the most foolish decision he made in his life.
He handed over the outer city district and also shattered the final cohesion of the Holy Light.
After that, three days passed.
The heretical trial, completely out of control and akin to a farce three days ago, ended with the total blockade of the church district, and subsequently the entire city was enveloped in a strange atmosphere.
The civilians gathered around the execution platform by fire watched with their own eyes as the church district gates closed and continued gathering for a long ti, but ultimately no one committed reckless acts like storming the church or overthrowing the priests. On the contrary, they eventually dispersed sparsely. However, Amber was very aware that it was only the crowd that dispersed, as the flas in people’s hearts had already been ignited.
The following three days were days for the flas to burn brighter and fiercer.
For three consecutive days, the Cecil Clan’s "flyer bombardnt" continued without interruption. Every morning, noon, and evening, a round of bombardnt would arrive punctually, and the scattered flyers, carried by specially made launch tubes, would appear over Lu’an City, then dispersed by magic power, showering the entire city.
The flyers would not only scatter in the outer city district but also in the inner city’s church district, and this ti, the priests of the church district finally completely abandoned efforts to clear away these flyers.
They allowed these flyers to drift all over the city, even covering the roofs and courtyard of the church. They allowed the outer city to completely lose control and seed to have entirely abandoned the idea of restoring order.
The people of the outer city began to openly collect the flyers that landed in the city, started public discussions about the priests in the church, gathered on the streets and alleys, connected between households, and during the day, wave after wave of people ca to the square in front of the church district, watching the locked gates with fierce eyes, then at night, countless flickering candlelights moved between the streets, with conversations openly attacking the church erging from their shadows.
The curfew system had completely failed, and the outer city was plunged into a strange mix of calm and excitent, indifference and madness, as if a sweet blood scent was spreading in Lu’an City, yet in the city’s center, in the church district, everything was strangely silent.
Since Fran Belon entered the cathedral, no priest or Church Knights had seen the bishop erge from it again...
The night of the fourth day had fallen, and in a secret location near the square, Intelligence Agency operatives were gathering in a room, the swaying candlelight illuminated the small room as the agent nicknad "Skinny" stood by the table, reporting the intelligence just gathered:
"The church district gates are still sealed. From the high grounds in the outer district, the situation of the minor cathedral can be seen, but the movents within the cathedral remain completely unknown. Fran Belon seems to have locked the cathedral within too..."
Another Intelligence Agency operative stood up: "No indication of the church district priests attempting to flee has been found..."
"Civilians have autonomously blocked every intersection. We spread rumors that the cathedral’s priests were preparing to flee, and it appears these rumors have proven effective."
"So Church Soldiers left stranded in the outer city district voluntarily disard themselves. They ca out from several stations in the outer district, tied themselves up, and walked to the streets to seek food from civilians—we managed to guide residents to share so food with those Church Soldiers, now they’ve beco one of us."
Amber listened to her subordinates’ reports while quietly fiddling with the dagger in her hand, seemingly waiting for sothing. Her long elf ears slightly twitched in the air and occasionally sharply turned towards a certain direction, with a sowhat absent-minded expression.
One mber finally noticed their leader’s condition and couldn’t help but curiously asked: "Boss... are you listening?"
"I’m listening," Amber waved her hand casually, then her ear twitched again, "but let’s pause for now. We have guests tonight."
The Intelligence Agency operatives exchanged bewildered glances, while Amber flicked her wrist, the poisoned dagger she had just been fiddling with quietly put away, and almost at the sa mont, a knock on the door abruptly sounded.
"Go open the door—don’t use force."
The operative standing near the door received Amber’s instruction and imdiately advanced to open it—though Amber said not to use force, the agent subconsciously placed a hand at the waist where a protective dagger was kept.
The door opened, revealing a middle-aged man dressed in ordinary linen clothes, tall and skinny, with short curly brown hair, looking like a civilian standing at the doorway, two more people stood behind him, also dressed in rough fabric clothes, attired as civilians.
The tall skinny man glanced into the room, his face clearly carrying a hint of vigilance and nervousness, while the operatives in the room also watched the "guests" at the doorway with guarded eyes, nearly at the sa ti, every one of them instinctively tensed their muscles:
The three standing at the door, despite being dressed in coarse linen clothing, could not possibly be civilians—their skin was full and glossy, despite showing tension, their eyes were bright, indicating none had gone hungry in recent tis. Such characteristics... could only belong to those from the church district!
Just as the atmosphere suddenly tightened, Amber’s voice erged from the depth of the room: "Let them in, I knew they would co."
The agent at the door focused on the three people in front and slightly stepped aside to allow them entry. Once the trio entered the room, the operative quickly leaned out to scan the situation outside, confirming no one was lying in ambush or following before swiftly retreating and closing the door.
The three newcors found themselves under the gaze of multiple eyes, arriving before Amber as the latter surveyed the leading tall skinny man, monts later breaking the silence: "I thought you wouldn’t appear—then I would have to resort to my backup plan."
The tall and skinny man revealed a wry smile: "... We’ve been searching for you for so long, yet didn’t expect you to be concealed so close to the church district, right under our noses."
"The more dangerous the place, the safer it is, just as the more devout the place, the less faith there is," remarked Amber casually, causing the tall, skinny man’s face to twitch slightly. She continued without giving him a chance to retort, "Introduce yourself, my subordinates are curious."
"...Sevin Terry," the tall, skinny man paused for a mont, then spoke with slight hesitation, "a low-level cleric, administrator of the Western Minor Cathedral. These two are my friends—Amir Crit and Kellman Ronnie."
Amber nodded, casually explaining to her subordinates beside her, "This person nad Sevin Terry is here at my invitation. I secretly slipped him a note, arranging for him to co."
The Intelligence Agency agents in the room were sowhat surprised, but since they were all personally trained by Amber, they realized almost instantly what these three priests coming out from the church district ant. Thus, no one questioned, but instead quietly observed the situation as it unfolded.
"To be honest, I thought you would co alone," Amber looked at the clergyman nad Sevin Terry, a playful tone in her voice, "When I heard three sets of footsteps, I almost sentenced you to death."
Sevin Terry ignored Amber’s implicit threat and instead curiously asked, "Why choose to contact specifically?"
This tall, skinny middle-aged priest was the sa one who had worn a sackcloth robe, walked barefoot, and was supervised by a Disciplinary Monk during a heretic trial in the square. However, he wasn’t the only priest punished at that ti, which made him particularly curious.
Amber casually replied, "There was once a priest nad Wright who preached in the southern borders and passed through Lu’an City."
"Wright...that big guy?" Sevin Terry expressed brief surprise before quickly understanding, "Ah, then I get it...so he’s indeed with you guys. I rember him; ever since the Divine Arts reform, you seldom see such classical priests like him. How’s he doing recently?"
"Not bad, the God of Holy Light discarded him, then he discarded the God of Holy Light, and now he creates his own Holy Light, and he’s even teaching others how to create their own Holy Light," Amber shrugged, "I can’t explain everything about him in a short while, but I’ll tell you one thing: Wright once said, if there were still a few people holding onto their conscience in Lu’an City, Sevin Terry would surely be among them. That’s why you were chosen."
"Holding onto one’s conscience has beco a rare trait among clergyn now?" Sevin Terry’s tone was filled with imnse sarcasm, yet after the sarcasm, his expression quickly returned to normal. He looked at the short half-elf in front of him and the Intelligence Agency agents in the room, his expression unusually complex, "You...or rather the Duke behind you, what do you really want?"
Amber smiled faintly, responding with subtlety and politeness, "We want the Holy Light Church to get lost."
Sevin Terry’s skin twitched once again, "Aren’t you afraid I’ll report you at the cathedral right away?"
"Don’t say sothing that stupid, it would make doubt Wright’s judgnt as well. At this point, you should be able to see the situation clearly, right—should we be worried about your report? Also...do you think the Holy Light Church can still gain a foothold in the southern borders?"
Sevin Terry’s expression wavered between different emotions. He seed to want to refute sothing, but before he could speak, Amber suddenly picked up a sheet of paper from the nearby table and handed it to him, "Take a look."
Sevin Terry took the paper out of curiosity. Initially, he thought it was another flyer printed by the Cecil Clan, but when he saw the content, his expression froze.
It was a newspaper, dated yesterday, with a line in large font on the first page:
"Lu An City Shrouded in Evil, Millions in the Southern Borders Look to Leaders for Reestablishing Holy Light Order"
Below the startling headline, Sevin Terry saw a breathtaking scene: in a vivid black and white image, Church Knights and Church Soldiers of Lu An City were dragging beaten and barely alive civilians towards the Execution Platform by Fire.
This scene of heretic trials, which had beco all too common in recent years, appeared exceptionally grim and terrifying due to the photographer’s angle and the ambiance of the square.
"This is a newspaper—I don’t know if you’ve heard of it while being isolated, but I can tell you, it spreads throughout the southern borders, issued twice a week. Do you think there were a lot of flyers in the city these past few days? In fact...those flyers were just scraps leftover from printing these newspapers."
Sevin Terry despairingly let go of the newspaper in his hand, all his persistence and wishful thinking evaporated.
So...those terrifying, overwhelming flyers in Lu’an City were just the tip of the iceberg of all Cecil Clan’s actions.
Just thinking about how long these people had been lurking in Lu’an City, and how many situations they had transmitted out of the city using so magical power, made this clergyman shiver.
And all of this...was orchestrated by that terrifying founding hero, Gawain Cecil?
"Banishing the Holy Light...what can you gain?"
The devoted priest of the Holy Light finally spoke, his hoarse voice even scaring himself.
"You’ve got it wrong, we never intended to banish the Holy Light from the start," Amber imdiately corrected him, "The only thing we intend to banish is the church—by banishing the church, the people can truly receive the Holy Light."
"Banish the church?" Sevin Terry suddenly felt his sinking heart skip a beat, as if he grasped a key point, "You an to say..."
"The new Holy Light Order...ha, I never expected to discuss such things with a priest of the Holy Light, but it’s my job— we will establish a new Holy Light Order, and for this, we just need your small cooperation."
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