Seeing Pastor Wright standing at the door, Gawain's first reaction was a little surprised that this pastor rarely came to see him.
Gao Wen usually pays a little attention to Wright's activities. After all, this is the only missionary in the territory, which can be regarded as an extension of the Church of the Holy Light in Cecil Territory. His connection with the Church of the Holy Light is worthy of Gawain's attention, but after a period of observation, he found that this Mr. Wright is really a person who abides by the precepts of classical priests. Almost all his daily activities are It revolves around the church, praying in the morning, blessing the holy water, entertaining the believers who go to the church to pray, distributing cookies (although it seems to be rarely sent out), and going to the city to preach in the afternoon. The basic way of preaching is to help each family Each household worked, and while working, they preached the benefits of being close to the Holy Light, such as no sore waist and no pain in the legs... In the past few months, he has developed a group of believers...
Other than that, this pastor has no extra activities at all. One of the few times he went out of the city was when he heard that someone was injured on the construction site, so he ran to help, and the other few times he heard that the workers The cafeteria wanted to improve food for everyone, so they went to the west forest and hunted more than a dozen bears. When they came back, there was a wild legend in the town of the lumber mill.
Recalling the pastor's deeds, Gao Wen's mouth couldn't help trembling, but because he just played satellite vr too much and now he is still in a state of wanting to vomit at any time, his expression soon became extraordinarily tense Seriously (mainly because he vomited without straining), looked at Wright and asked lightly: "Mr. Wright, do you need me?"
Wright didn't know why Gawain's expression was so serious. He just immediately thought of the refugees who had been taken in not long ago, and the news that the Church of the Holy Light was crowding out believers of other gods in the central region, which should have been heard by the lord. , So he associated these two things with his own identity, and said proactively: "My lord, I am not here to ask you to expel those innocent people."
Gao Wen didn't know where this sentence came from: "Huh?"
Wright looked serious: "Your expression is so serious, aren't you thinking about the persecution of those believers of alien gods?"
Gao Wenxin said that his serious face was because he felt sick after playing too much vr, and it had nothing to do with the persecution of the believers of Ability God. Wright: "You mean those blood gods and shadow believers who fled here from the Plain of the Holy Spirit... You mentioned 'persecution' just now. It seems that you don't agree with the actions of your fellow church members in the Plain of the Holy Spirit?"
"I... still can't believe that they have become so paranoid," Wright showed a sad expression on his face, and slowly clenched his casserole-sized fists, "I have listened to the experiences described by those exiles, and the intuition brought by the Holy Light Tell me, those people are honest, but... I'm still skeptical."
"I have heard that the improvement of divine arts has made it easier for the new generation of priests to grasp the power of the Holy Light, so the old method of rigidly adhering to classical virtues in exchange for the affinity of the Holy Light has gradually become obsolete. This kind of belief has become a kind of skill, so I am not surprised at the rate of degeneration of the clergy in the most prosperous and most prone to corruption in the central region," Gawain leaned back on the back of the chair, his eyes deep Looking at Wright, "Of course, I also understand your wavering and doubts. After all, you accept the same Holy Light teachings as them, but you are completely different from them."
Wright seemed to hesitate for a moment, but under Gawain's gaze, he still stated his purpose: "My lord, I hope to go back and see for myself."
"I guessed it," Gao Wen said lightly, "then who is going to take care of your church?"
"I'm here to tell you about this," Wright nodded, "I promised those exiles that they can go to the church for help at any time, but now I can't help but want to go back to the Plain of the Holy Spirit, so I I hope you can send someone to temporarily manage the church. There is no need to hold any ceremonies, just keep the church open and someone to clean it, so that the believers have a place to go if they want to pray. And I left enough amulets and holy water in the church , I will come back before these things are consumed."
Then, the pastor saluted Gao Wen solemnly: "I hope you can agree to my presumptuous request."
Looking at Wright with a serious face, Gawain couldn't help but nodded with a slight smile: "The operation of the church is also a part of the territory's affairs, and your willingness to hand over the church to the management of the government affairs hall is also a manifestation of your adaptability to Cecil's law. I agree, you can leave at ease."
Wright bowed his head deeply: "Thank you for your understanding."
Looking at the only priest in the city, who also had a painting style quite to his liking, Gawain couldn't help asking: "When are you going to leave? Do you need an escort or any other help?"
"Thank you for your generosity. I set off in the last two days, but I don't need help," Wright shook his head, "How did I get here, and how can I go back, and the congregation helped me raise the travel expenses, so I can still take a caravan car go."
Gao Wen casually took out a blank document from the stack of papers at hand, wrote something on it, and then said while printing Duke Cecil's seal: "Go to the business district to find the clerk there, The day after tomorrow, a caravan will leave for the Holy Spirit Plain, and they can take you along. This is your official document."
After receiving the documents, Wright saluted again to express his thanks, and was about to leave, but before he left, Gao Wen suddenly stopped him again.
"General Cecil accepts believers from various sects who have been persecuted and can be proven innocent," Gao Wen looked into Wright's eyes, "as long as they are willing to abide by the rules of Cecil's beliefs and obey the rules of this land , people who have been exiled can also find asylum here. Can you accept this?"
Wright hardly hesitated: "It is reasonable to protect the innocent in this way is also one of the teachings of the Holy Light."
But then the pastor showed a worried look: "But my lord... You must know that once you accept those exiles openly and on a large scale, it will greatly stimulate the Church of the Holy Light. Although you are now Accepting a small group of exiles can still be used to cover up the past after all, but accepting exiles on a large scale is a completely different concept."
"Of course I know," Gao Wen said with a normal face (the VR sequelae gradually improved), "but I don't think that Cecil needs other people's permission to accept the refugees. And I don't believe that the priests who expelled the refugees would do anything for this matter." The Plain of the Holy Spirit is chasing here, unless those refugees are really the so-called "evil god's favored ones." For what reason those refugees were exiled, I think those priests who collect the ransom money know it well."
"Since you have made plans, then I won't say more." Wright looked at Gawain's face and swallowed all the words of dissuasion. He gave a deep salute in the form of a believer of the Holy Light, turned and left the study.
After Wright left, Amber's figure gradually emerged from the window, and the half-elf lady said with a raised tone: "Although he is a believer in the Holy Light... but this Wright is quite interesting."
Gawain sensed Amber coming in just now, so he wasn't surprised at all. He just turned his head and glanced at the half-elf: "The things are put away?"
"It's been put away, and the door to the treasure house has been sealed according to the containment rules," Amber waved her hands. "Speaking of which, what do you think of the recent changes in the Church of the Holy Light?"
"On the surface, it seems that he was stimulated by the activities of the cultists, so he took a drastic 'purification' action, but in fact, I think this is just a well-founded and premeditated expansion and embezzlement," said Gao Wen He snorted softly, "Since the establishment of the sacred covenant, various sects have maintained peace for seven hundred years, but not everyone wants to keep it so peaceful forever. And for sects composed of mortals, eternal peace itself is not Too possible. Each church wants to develop, expand its influence, and earn glory for its own gods, but there are only so many potential believers and land available for missionary work, and conflicts are inevitable. I believe that each sect secretly They all have a heart to become the only one in the world, but the sacred covenant is always pressing on their heads so that they can't move, but if there is a chance"
"So the Holy Light Sect can't help it, right?" Amber curled her lips, "It's really a simple and easy-to-understand process. But to be honest, are you really not afraid of provoking those priests with brain problems? They are super difficult to deal with Yes!"
Gao Wen smiled slightly, stood up from behind the desk, and walked slowly to the map of the southern border hanging on the wall of the study.
"Let's be exciting. The Cecil family in the southern border has declined, but they have been operating on this land for 600 years before they fell. The command I left in the past stated that the church must not exceed the king's authority. The family is ruined, but at least they did a good job in implementing this order, this southern region is not the world of their Holy Light Church, nor is it the world of any church!"
Amber blinked, stared blankly at Gao Wen for a few seconds before muttering: "It turns out that besides the nonsense that you told the king after drinking too much, you also left a reliable ancestral teaching... But how did you think of it back then?" Leave such an order? At that time, you thought that the church would develop and threaten the local government?"
"I... I wasn't so prophetic back then," Gawain smiled lightly, but he couldn't help but recall the scene in his dream with the lantern, the leaders of several major sects wearing spacesuits and setting off to find the Kingdom of God. , and after that, the Druids of the Holy Spirit School, the Church of Dreams, and the Church of Storms degenerated into the three major dark sects. Finally, Selina Geerfen, who had become the leader of the cult, came to his mind. He sighed softly , "If you have seen the three dark sects seven hundred years ago caused too much turmoil after their sudden fall, you will understand why the kings and lords of our generation are so wary of uncontrolled church arming... It's a pity, seven hundred years later, the kingship has not improved much, and the power of various sects is getting stronger day by day, and even cults are getting stronger day by day."
Amber stood beside Gao Wen silently for a while, and then sighed: "Hey..."
"Why do you sigh?"
"I didn't know that when I saw you sigh, I also sighed."
"..."
Not long after that, as the merchants of the Cecil Chamber of Commerce walked around and the secret activities of the officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau, a new news spread quietly.
It spread first in the South and then all the way north, word of mouth among those displaced by ransom payments, heresy trials, and conversions:
Cecilland is the "new sanctuary"...