As soon as he said this, Lei and Kasali, who were originally smiling, both had their faces darkened.
The person who said this was the current chief priest of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest. Since the death of the former chief priest Holly Riley, this old man who originally stood aside at the center of the church's power has turned around and become the head of the entire church. For more than a year, he has always been very low-key, keeping a low profile and rarely seeing people. He prays in the rebuilt temple all day long, making people feel that he is just a decoration.
But now, it turns out that he is not a decoration, he has just been waiting for the opportunity.
At this moment, he raised a "prayer" in public at the celebration, which immediately posed a problem for Lei and Kasally.
Praying can be a big or small thing. For example, visiting a temple in private to pray is simply not a big deal. As long as you don't go to a temple that has a grudge against your own gods, it won't be a problem at all. For example, Lei believes in the "Mask of the Void", but he also often visits the Church of the God of Wealth. Every time he goes, he has to pray silently in front of the statue of the God of Wealth.
This is just etiquette and proper etiquette.
But at a celebration, leading everyone to pray together is completely different!
Since the Church of the Harvest Goddess was hit hard, almost all the core masters were wiped out. Even the goddess herself suffered a big loss. They have basically lost their influence in Gars City. Especially in the process of rebuilding the city, the main contributor was the Church of the God of Wealth, which pushed them aside based on the foundation of their faith.
People in this world generally have very poor education, and the vast majority of civilians are not even literate, but they are not stupid. Who treats them well? Who helped them? They know it clearly in their hearts.
Faith is a matter of the soul and cannot be faked or deceived. It is an indisputable fact that the long-standing status of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest in Gars City is being gradually replaced by the Church of the God of Wealth.
If you want to restore your faith, the most practical way is of course to provide money and people to help residents revitalize the city. The Church of the Goddess of Harvest certainly has money and people, but now there are many conflicts within the church. Various local temples have seen opportunities and are looking for the possibility of replacing the Gars Temple as the main temple of the church. How could they possibly pay for help at this point? It’s a good thing if you don’t hold back!
If the new chief priest had enough prestige or strength, he might be able to forcibly suppress temples in various places. But he had neither, and could think of no other solution besides praying every day.
But not long ago, a friend from a friendly church visited him and gave him an idea.
"Inviting Kasali to lead everyone to pray to the goddess during the celebration?" The chief priest looked confused at the time, not understanding what this friend, who was always known for his wit, meant.
The friend smiled mysteriously, lowered his voice even in the private study room, and explained to him before he suddenly understood.
In terms of manpower and material resources, he really can't come up with it now. However, the Church of the Harvest Goddess has been entrenched in Gars City for so many years and has accumulated a very profound influence among the people. As long as you find an opportunity to use these influences, you can reshape your image and restore the previous bad influence.
And... if you operate it well, you can even occupy the magpie's nest and swallow up the fruits of the God of Wealth Church's hard work during this period!
The key to this plan is to take the opportunity to force the Lord of Kasali to lead everyone in praying to the Harvest Goddess to thank the Goddess for the harvest.
At first glance, this seems to be a matter of course, but on this occasion, the city lord led everyone to pray and thank God, which is tantamount to re-establishing the dominance of the Church of the Harvest Goddess in the religious world of Gars - after all, this is actually Gars. It is a long-standing tradition in the city, and almost every resident has participated in such prayers more than once. As long as they are reminded of the past and connected with the present, they will naturally resume their belief in the harvest goddess.
The hundreds of years of dominance of the Church of the Harvest Goddess and the hundreds of years of management of the Riley family are extremely deep foundations. As long as you find an opportunity to use this deep foundation, you will immediately have the magical effect of bringing the dead back to life!
Facing the silent Lei and Kasally, the chief priest showed a proud smile on his old face. With a wave of his hand, he asked the church personnel to prepare to start the prayer ceremony.
Of course he could see that the two of them didn't want to, but so what if they didn't want to? Don’t forget, the Lord of Kasali has believed in the Harvest Goddess since she was a child, and she is also a member of the church. Unless she had the courage to change her mind now and declare a change of faith and withdraw from the church, she would not be able to refuse this perfectly reasonable request.
Does this vase, which has nothing but beauty, have the courage
The chief priest sneered in his heart and was even more filled with joy.
During this period of time, many people in Gars, including Kasali, have alienated themselves from the Church of the Goddess of Harvest—it was the goddess who destroyed the city of Gars in the first place because she blew herself up in anger. Facing the enemies who are causing the destruction of their homes, it would be kind to not draw their swords against them. How can we expect them to still respect and believe in the goddess of harvest as they did in the past
But in the eyes of the chief priest, these people are ungrateful and ignorant! Destroying the city of Gars is nothing, everything they have belongs to the goddess! As a believer, it is natural to sacrifice your life for the gods, let alone a few houses!
So he was always angry in his heart, but he suppressed it, like a volcano quietly accumulating strength.
At this moment, seeing the leader of the Gars people in such a difficult situation, he suddenly felt the joy of revenge, which made him want to laugh.
Of course, it's not the time to laugh now. Only when everything settles and he can enjoy the fruits of victory with peace of mind can he laugh out loud without any scruples.
Kasali was very hesitant. Although she had no talent or knowledge, she could still tell who was good and who was bad. The Church of the Harvest Goddess has made almost no contribution to the city's revival, but now it stands up and naturally wants to receive the honor of the revival. This cannot be justified!
As for faith... She was not a very religious person to begin with. After experiencing that terrible turmoil and battle, she even felt fearful and alienated from all the gods. For more than a year, she carefully avoided any temple, because whenever she saw a temple, it would remind her of the terrible memories of the past.
From the god's point of view, it can be seen that there is no thread of faith in Kasali's body. At this moment, she is the so-called "unbeliever".
Whether out of emotion or belief, she was unwilling to pray to the Harvest Goddess, let alone lead everyone in prayer, attributing the fruits of everyone's efforts to the Harvest Goddess's blessing.
But... she didn't have the courage to refuse the chief priest's request.
Just as the friend of the high priest estimated, Kasali is just a vase after all. She received a literary education since she was a child and knew nothing about politics, military, martial arts or magic. The original intention of the city lord Joseph was to let his little daughter become an artist who is not involved in politics, marry to a friendly city, become the wife of the city lord, and live a stable life. .
Her father is a legendary strongman in his prime and can live for at least a few hundred years; her sister is the chief priest of the Church of the Harvest Goddess, and even if she does not enter the legendary realm in the future, she will at least be a high-level priest; her brother is a swordsman genius , also has a bright future; behind her is the powerful Riley family on the east coast, and the top commercial city of Gars on the mainland... With such a backer, she doesn't need to study hard and can just enjoy life.
But who would have thought that due to unforeseen circumstances, many of Kasali’s backers would fall overnight!
Now she is just a weak and lonely woman, but she has been pushed to the forefront by fate. It was like a piece of cooked fat, placed in the wild, attracting countless hungry beasts to stare at it.
If she hadn't been lucky and met a knight with an excessive sense of justice, and that knight was actually a legendary strongman, she would have been eaten by someone long ago, with not even a scrap left!
However, Lei could shield her from those malicious prying eyes on weekdays, but he could not support her at this time. After all... the chief priest's request is completely "reasonable".
This is the benefit of "justifiable words".
Kasali hesitated and looked at Lei subconsciously.
During this period of time, she had become accustomed to relying on this upright, powerful and handsome knight. No matter how big or small the problem was, as long as she asked him for help, she would definitely be able to solve it.
Just like Tang Monk always shouts "Wukong, save me" when he is in danger, Nobi Nobita always cries and goes to Doraemon when he encounters difficulties. Although the world is different, the feelings are the same.
Lei sighed secretly in his heart, took a step forward, and stood between Kasali and the high priest.
"The Lord of the City has been in poor health recently, and she needs to rest." He said.
How could the chief priest let Kasali escape so easily! He smiled kindly and said: "Not in good health? Then it is more important to pray! I pray for His Majesty's divine grace to restore the city lord to health."
He smiled harmlessly, but that smile made Lei secretly annoyed.
Unfortunately, this place is really not suitable for a big fight.
The chaos at the last celebration has left deep scars in the hearts of the people in Gars City. If something unexpected happens at the celebration this time, I am afraid that the hearts that have just been united will really fall apart!
He was so angry that his teeth were itching, and he couldn't help but silently pray to Sui Xiong, asking Sui Xiong to punish these bastards - it doesn't need to be more, just make them dizzy and "overwhelmed by alcohol"!
Sui Xiong received his prayer immediately, and couldn't help but smile with Weiye and Hemsala.
"The time has come!" he said.
Hemsala immediately sent a message, and with a gust of breeze, the seawater near Port Gars suddenly rolled, turning up a huge wave, but it did not spread around, but slowly rose into the air.
A melodious song came from the waves. The song was not loud, but it was ethereal and distant, making those who heard it feel as if they were caught and immersed in it.
The originally noisy square quickly became quiet, and only the sound of singing lingered in the air.
This is the most famous song in the world, the song of the mermaid, a true sound of nature.