"I've heard about you from Rat a long time ago, Mr. Hamilton, good morning."
In the morning mist, three people standing and talking in front of the Dawn Church greeted each other.
Although Bishop Owen looked old, he spoke with great energy. He looked Shad up and down, and lamented to Father Augustus that young people today are more energetic than those in their generation.
Bishop Owen was quite talkative and easily led Shad into the issue of the Holy Prayer Festival activities they had just discussed.
The Holy Prayer Festival is the busiest time for the Dawn Church every year, but every year they have to come up with something new. The Orthodox Church is not a pedantic organization that does not know how to keep up with the times. For example, this year, the church plans to produce some simple promotional materials to distribute to pagans in addition to the traditional religious activities, church visits, religious story performances in the church side hall, and large-scale sermons and lectures in the Dawn Square every year to spread the influence of the Holy Prayer Festival and the Dawn Church.
“What propaganda did the church ultimately choose?”
Xia De was very curious about this and asked the two elderly people.
“It has the widest impact on the atmosphere, and once you get it, you will never throw it away and will cherish it even more.”
Father Augustus said, and then Bishop Owen, who was near the wall, smiled and handed the thing in his hand to Shade:
"Mr. Hamilton, how about you tell me this from your perspective?"
Xia De stretched his head to look, and saw a silver coin in the bishop's old palm.
"silver?"
He turned the coin up, and the side facing up had the number "1053" and the words "Holy Prayer Day", and the side behind had Mr. Liming's holy emblem. He tiptoed twice and was sure it wasn't pure silver.
An old gentleman walked out of the church next to him and greeted Bishop Owen, and looked at Shad curiously. Judging from Bishop Owen's response, the old gentleman had the title of Viscount.
Father Augustus introduced to Shad:
"It's not pure silver. The center of the coin is mixed with some alloy. It's just a commemorative coin. According to the market price, it can be exchanged for about 4 shillings and 7 pence. But the cost is not particularly high. We cooperated with the Church of the Lady of Creation and used the special metals they sold to us at a low price, which offset part of the cost. Those alloys are leftovers. They were originally commissioned by the Kingdom of Delarion to... ahem, I can't say that."
Father Augustus said with a smug tone:
"We have prepared 20,000 coins, and will distribute them along with promotional leaflets near Dawn Square on the day of the Holy Prayer Festival. This does not violate the coinage policy of Delarion, but can only be regarded as a small commemorative coin. Detective, what do you think of this idea?"
"That's a pretty good idea."
The stranger praised the idea, and then saw densely packed cursive letters on the side of the coin, which together meant:
Light and shadow follow the dawn.
This sentence is usually used as the opening or closing sentence in the prayers of the followers of the righteous god Mr. Liming.
This behavior, which is equivalent to directly distributing money, is simply the most powerful propaganda method. The cost of 20,000 coins will not exceed 8,000 pounds, which is nothing for the wealthy Orthodox Church.
He originally thought that he might be able to come up with some good ideas to help the Augustus priests, but no idea was better than giving money directly. Especially, the kingdom did not intend to pursue the issue of coinage rights.
"However, we still need to do a good job of publicity in advance, and let as many people as possible know what will be done on the day. Also, we need to be prepared for what to do if too many people come and the 20,000 coins are distributed and people who come later have opinions. I think it would be better to distribute them in different time periods, such as 5,000 in the morning, 5,000 at 10 a.m., 3,500 in the afternoon, and 6,500 in the evening. This ensures that people in each time period have a chance."
Shade said casually while observing the details of the coin. Father Augustus looked at him in surprise.
"That makes sense. We were actually planning to give out one-shilling coins if the number of people coming exceeded our expectations."
The church had more money than Shad thought.
"But people need to realize that God's grace is not unlimited. Generous giving cannot impress people, but conditional gifts can make people understand God's strictness and love."
Xia De concluded that he had seen this idea of "limited edition gifting" a lot in his hometown.
Even Bishop Owen looked at Shade with some surprise. He waved goodbye to the Viscount and was very satisfied with Shade's ideas and opinions. So he asked with a smile:
"Mr. Hamilton, young people with ideas like you are rare. By the way, have you studied theology?"
The bishop examines the teachings.
"No, I have a low level of education."
After saying that, he winked at Father Augustus, hoping that he could get away with this topic. He was not the original Shade, and this kind of question could cause problems no matter how he answered it.
"Detective Hamilton's background is not very good, but I have always believed that humble origins can reflect the value of a person's hard work."
Father Augustus tried to change the subject, but when he saw that the bishop wanted to ask Shade a question, he asked Shade first:
"However, Detective Hamilton is indeed a young man with a lot of ideas. Not only what he said just now, he also often asks some interesting questions. Even if he doesn't study theology, he is still happy to think about life and the world. Oh, poor young man, if he had the money to go to a higher college, maybe he could become a university student."
"Mr. Hamilton, what questions have you pondered?"
Bishop Owen had a good impression of Shad, and at this moment, he was aroused by the words of Priest Augustus, so he asked Shad with a smile.
Father Augustus wanted to smooth things over, but Shade thought about it and shook his head. Not all questions should be avoided. He was very interested in discussing issues with theologians in a world where gods truly existed.
Then he pretended to be thinking, and then raised his head slightly as if looking at the sky:
"Standing in this world, there are always many thoughts. For example, I once wondered whether our world has a name."
"Oh? This is an interesting question. Why do you think so?"
Bishop Owen frowned and asked inquiringly.
At this time, the three of them were still standing at the door of the church, and the church's imposing door was right beside them. The morning mist made this morning seem a little gloomy, and people kept passing by the three of them, but because of Xia De's question, the three of them focused their attention on the next words:
"Bishop Owen, Father Augustus, you see, cities have names, countries have names, and even compared to the New World, our place is called the Old World. So, does this world have a name?"
The name that Shad refers to is not the "material world", but the name of a wider world.
"As far as I know, our world has no name and is usually simply called the world..."
The old bishop nodded and said, and priest Augustus beside him also echoed:
"Neither religious texts nor myths give this world a name. That's very interesting, detective. What's the point of this question?"
Xia De considered his words carefully, trying to make his thoughts clearer. He had thought about these things many times since he came here:
"You see, only when people realize that there are two cities will they name their own cities; only when the great geographical discoveries fifty years ago discovered the New World did they call the current continent the Old World. So, whether this world has names like 'Azeroth' or 'Ionia' also has to do with whether people recognize the existence of another world... ... If the world has no name, then it means that, at least in the current cognition of gods and humans, the world is unique."
He hoped that he could express what he wanted to express clearly, but he felt quite regretful when he said this. Knowing that this world in the midst of the steam age had no name, it meant that it would be very difficult to find the way home from the worldview of this world.
"This is... really interesting. Few people can think about the relationship between man, God and the world from such a high position."
Bishop Owen said after a long while, and the old man looked at Shade with a different look in his eyes. For outsiders, thinking about this question is very common, but for people in this world, it is a kind of thinking that almost jumps out of the world;
“Wonderful ideas, very theological thinking!”
Bishop Owen hesitated for a moment, and seeing that Father Augustus was still thinking, he asked kindly:
"Mr. Hamilton, maybe you could really study theology... By the way, which god do you believe in?"
"Faith? I..."
He was surprised by this question and asked himself:
“What do I believe in?”
Why are you asking me
Outsiders had never considered such a thing before, and it would definitely not work to say that they were non-believers at this time. Among the five options of the Orthodox Church, Mr. Liming first ruled out that this lie would be easily exposed by the bishop in front of him, and among the remaining four options, it seemed that each one was possible.
He winked at Father Augustus, but the latter seemed to have no other options. So he could only bite the bullet and say:
"I should actually be considered a light believer of the Lady of Creation. I really like the outstanding contributions that the Church of Creation has made in steam machinery in recent years."
"Shallow believer, have you ever considered converting to my Lord Mr. Dawn?"
Bishop Owen asked again, this kind of question is an insult to devout believers, but it doesn't matter to shallow believers.
"For the time being... maybe... I need to think about it."
There was uncertainty in his tone.
"That's a pity, but Mr. Hamilton, you can learn more about our faith from Father Augustus. He might be interested. An outstanding young man like you will definitely be helpful to the development of the church... ... I won't say much. It's better than filling the wall of non-believers after they die."
Bishop Owen expressed regret over this.