"May the Gods bless you, generous and kind sirs."
"May the Gods also bless you, please take today's aid."
Hero Anleisi, hired by the Holy Light Church, handed a bag of relief supplies to the gaunt farr before her. The supplies, once taken ho, were only about the size of a fist, but their weight was enough to support the farr for several more days.
After receiving the aid, the farr displayed an agility that didn't match his appearance, darting away like a rabbit. It seed he was wary of others eyeing the supplies in his hands.
Anleisi watched him leave. If it had been her first ti distributing aid, she would have found it puzzling. After all, this place was guarded by the Holy Light Church's army. Who would dare to steal his aid?
But now she was used to it. In such situations, she would just glance over, turn her head, and say to the endless queue before her:
"Next."
A new civilian ca before her, bowed reverently, and said:
"May the Gods bless you all..."
"Thanks to the Gods' grace..."
"The God's blessing..."
One prayer after another drifted past Anleisi's ears, leaving her numb both physically and ntally.
Because how much genuine faith these prayers, spoken just to receive aid, contained was anyone's guess. Truly devout individuals were probably few and far between.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but start to wonder, wondering why the Archbishop, and even the higher-ups, issued commands that confused her to all the Holy Light Church's troops.
The order from the Holy Light Church's headquarters demanded all units to increase their level of concern for the local residents of occupied cities, to show care in whatever way possible.
And the other two churches, the Dark Moon Church and the Return to Forest Church, issued similar orders almost simultaneously. It seed the leaders of the three churches had reached a consensus and acted only after agreeing.
Anleisi initially thought this was just a routine strategy to appease people's minds, not taking it to heart. A symbolic raising of banners, a few photos of civilians, and a report would suffice.
But soon after, a convoy carrying supplies arrived at her location. These supplies were labeled as "relief" to be distributed to those affected by war, requiring local troops to assist in the distribution.
If it were just this, Anleisi wouldn't be so puzzled. The three churches' logistical supplies were like saturated bombardnts; frontline troops rarely faced material shortages. If these were willing to be distributed to civilians, so be it.
However...
"Why can non-believers and heretics receive aid too?"
Traditionally, aid was a benefit for those who believed in the Three Great Religions, distributed to these faithful individuals.
But this ti, the order from the three churches expanded the distribution scope beyond the followers of the Three Great Religions to everyone!
No matter your faith or who you believed in, as long as you were in need, you could receive aid as long as you prayed for the distributor when collecting the relief!
Even those prayers could simply beco "Gods bless," without needing to specify the Holy Light God, Dark Moon Goddess, or any other specific deity.
This asure might be to prevent the distributors from harboring discrimination or to ease the recipients, but Anleisi still found it odd.
Though the three churches are not short on supplies, is their abundance enough to distribute them to the public like this?
"Well, since it's an order from above, I won't say much."
Anleisi muttered to herself and continued distributing the supplies.
Several other mbers of the unit were doing the sa thing, each forming different distribution points.
The noisy crowd at the end of the line gradually turned silent as they moved forward, as if under the gaze of Gods, not daring to speak loudly until they received aid from the Church, after which they dared to say, "Gods bless."
The relief distribution had been ongoing for almost a week; it started shortly after the Demon Clan's uprising attacked Hepa Town, and within less than a day, the headquarters issued such an order.
During this week, Anleisi observed sothing interesting.
As these civilians said, "Gods bless," they grew increasingly natural and accustod to it, so even unconsciously turning it into a catchphrase, unaware of the change in their speech.
The Scaroon people habitually pointed to a specific God while praying, but after a week of aid, their prayers naturally shifted to the more generic "Gods bless."
Who knows which God they were praying to for protection? Anyway, as long as you said it, aid was available, so the more, the better.
According to Anleisi's observations, this influence had spread throughout the town she was stationed in.
Would other towns with aid distribution see the sa changes? It was likely they would.
The Church had truly transford these people.
For a brief mont, Anleisi involuntarily had this thought in her mind. She shook her head, not wanting to dwell on the Church's affairs. After all, these were just business to her.
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