The next night.
"Are these...these goods the posters His Majesty mentioned?"
Standing in the warehouse, looking at the newly arrived goods by the caravan, in just a short moment, the mayor of Hendry Town felt like he was enlightened, and finally remembered something that he had been unable to remember before.
He promised the king—to put these posters up in the town!
All the lost memories came up in an instant, and the mayor's head was a little dizzy, but he immediately thought of what the king had said to him, so he took a deep breath, mustered up the courage, and slowly opened the box containing the goods.
He picked up a poster and glanced at it twice before his expression changed involuntarily.
"This this… "
The fear that arose made him immediately stuff the poster back and subconsciously look around to make sure there was no one else in the warehouse. Although it was only a glance, he clearly realized that even if one person saw the content on the poster, the head on his neck might not be saved!
He couldn't help but become a little hesitant at this moment.
His Majesty was framed by the church, and he did have a duty to come forward, but... just... Once such a dangerous thing was done, it would inevitably cause an uproar in the country. Can he really escape from it
However, after a long struggle and hesitation, the mayor took the poster out of the box again.
There was no turning back for him. Even if he directly destroyed this box of things, he still met with the king. If the church investigates, he will die no matter what. After being involved in the struggle among the upper class, their only choice was to stand in line and help the king regain power, so that they could escape the punishment of the church.
- He is not the kind of fanatical believer. He swore an oath when he was in office, and he should indeed stand with the king.
"Hank, call Tom and Klein and come with me to the warehouse. Keep your voice down. I have a special task for you to do tonight."
He still followed the steps in the plan, went to the guard's dormitory in the middle of the night, quietly woke up one of the guards, and finally returned to the warehouse with the three people.
"Mayor, Mayor... It's so late, what's going on?" The sleepy guard said as he yawned, half asleep.
"The latest order from above requires you to post these notices on the streets." The mayor said without changing his face. "I saw that you are all very hard-working, so I asked you to come here. Be quick with your actions. If you have extra salary, don't tell others." .”
The guards were a little confused, but cheered up when they heard the extra pay. They walked to the box, opened it slowly, picked up the stacks of posters without thinking, and walked out. They saw the dense words on it, but they couldn't understand it. They guessed that there might be something going on in the royal capital. This was a new announcement.
Different from previous notices, there are some simple paintings on the poster, depicting images like wizards and priests. The guards only thought that this might be a wanted order, warning everyone that there was another dangerous mage on the loose.
In short, they didn't think much about it, and at what time in the morning, they took the posters and glue and walked towards the street.
The silent streets were deserted, and no one knew what was happening in this small town. And more importantly, at the same time, similar scenes were repeated in various places in the Hori Kingdom.
"You don't have to worry about the content, just post these things on the street."
"This is the latest prayer from the priests. The painting above is just for decoration. Leave it alone and stick it on the street for me to complete the task before dawn."
"Well... it's almost done. I think... I'd better pack up and hide first..."
Half a million posters scattered in various places are actually not too many. In a smaller village, only a dozen or so posters can be posted. Benjamin doesn’t expect the effect of waking up and flooding the mountains and fields. Generating topics through large-area radiation is his only goal.
And tonight, he also sent the order to members of the academy's ANBU.
"Start building momentum tomorrow, start by discussing the content of the poster, and then spread all kinds of negative news about the church, half true and half false, whatever you want, the more you spread, the better!"
After gradual development, there are about a hundred Anbu members lurking in the Horli Kingdom, which is a bit small, but each one is an elite mercenary who is well versed in intelligence work. And with them as catalysts, things will definitely have the greatest impact.
It was a busy night for many people. Some people are still kept in the dark and are busy putting those posters on the walls; some people are walking around to find out the news; some people have already started to pack up their belongings and prepare to escape...
But for many people, this is just an ordinary night. When they slowly woke up from a good night's sleep, it was a new morning.
—like most of the priests in this country.
"Hmm... why does it seem a little noisy outside this morning?"
In the town of Hendry, the priest woke up from his pure white bed. In the hazy state, he seemed to hear a slightly noisy sound outside. He was a little confused, but after taking a look at the time, he gradually calmed down.
It was still early, and there was still more than an hour before morning prayers.
So, he slowly sat up from his bed, clasped his hands and began to pray, thanking God for giving him a peaceful sleep last night, and hoping that God would bless him with a new and beautiful day... This is a homework he must do every day, and it is also something every priest will perform. Responsibilities. He closed his eyes and started chanting, it was as simple as eating and drinking.
However, while he was praying, the noisy sounds outside never stopped, which disturbed him and made him a little upset.
What happened? The climate has been very stable recently, and it's not the harvest season yet. Could it be that... someone's old man is seriously ill again
The priest couldn't help but feel a little bored. However, he quickly calmed down and felt that all this was actually a test from God to them. Only by being patient and dealing with such trivial matters can he show how devoted he is to God.
Ten minutes later, after praying, he got up from bed, washed, dressed, and tidied up his posture in an orderly manner... In people's hearts, they are God's spokespersons. Of course, they must always maintain a perfect posture without any flaws.
It probably took the priest nearly an hour from waking up to going out. During this hour, the noise outside waxed and waned, but never stopped.
Finally, the priest opened the door.
"Okay, okay... everyone, please stop making noise. God likes silence. No matter what problems we have, they are God's tests for us. You should deal with them calmly, not like this."
He looked at the many people gathered outside the door and said slowly.
However, the priest soon noticed that the strange looks in these people's eyes as they looked at him walking out of the house seemed a little different from their usual awe and worship.
What's wrong
The atmosphere was a bit tense and the priest was confused.
"What happened?" As soon as he came out, the crowd fell silent, and no one spoke for a long time. Therefore, he could only ask again.
"... Father, please go to the street and take a look... and you will know." Someone said in the silence.
The priest frowned.
Hesitating, what are you doing
He was actually a little impatient in his heart, but because of his image, he nodded and walked slowly along the street. The crowd outside the house silently opened a path for him. People looked at him with eyes that made him feel uncomfortable.
But soon, he saw a notice on the street around the corner.
... Calling it a notice is actually not appropriate. Although most of it is written in words, there are also some colorful pictures on it, which are very eye-catching on the dusty walls.
But when the priest approached in confusion, he only looked at it for a second, and his expression changed drastically.
"This... who did this?"
The title of the notice is very eye-catching - "Crime Committed by the Church", typed in bright red font, like a row of shocking blood letters. What follows is a list of crimes one after another, imprisoning the king, intimidating the nobles, extravagance and waste... It is marked in red letters that this year just decorating the church cost about 50,000 gold coins in taxes. But at the same time, cities in the southwest of the kingdom had just experienced a round of drought.
Although there is not much description, every crime on the poster is clearly listed, and there are clear numbers or examples as support. The priest only glanced at it for a few times before a surge of anger suddenly arose in his heart. He wanted to tear it off the wall, step on it and curse.
W-what the hell!
What made him even more angry was that the remaining half of the poster was trying its best to express the similarities between magic and divine arts. Perhaps due to limitations of space and audience, it does not compare the differences between the two in a lengthy article, but uses pictures to simply express the meaning of "a mage is not a devil".
- There are two little figures painted on it, which can be easily identified by their clothes. One is a mage and the other is a priest.
Priest: "Magic is the power of the devil and can cause terrible disasters!"
Master: "Why do you say that?"
Priest: "God told me."
Master: "But God also told me yesterday that the people in the church have their noses in the sky and only know how to show off. The people he hates the most are you."
Priest: "Nonsense! How could God talk to you? What proof do you have?"
Mage: "Then what proof do you have that all magicians are demons?"
Priest: “…”
The short and simple debate is presented in the style of comics, which seems extremely novel in this era. When the priest of Hendry Town saw this, he almost became angry. He wanted to say something but couldn't. After all, he had never seen anything similar in his life.
His whole body was shaking, and he rushed forward to tear it off, but found that the thing was very sticky. No matter how hard he pulled it, he could only tear off a small strip, and there was no way to tear off the whole piece.
But he didn't care, his eyes were red with anger, all reason had been forgotten, and his whole body was stuck to the wall like a gecko, destroying the poster like crazy. He tore it open for three minutes, with blood coming out from his fingers. Then he suddenly thought that he could use divine magic, and then used holy light bombs to directly collapse the entire wall.
He was breathing heavily, looking at the ruins in front of him. His clothes were full of stains, his hair that had just been tidied was like a chicken coop, and his whole face was red.
On another wall about dozens of meters away from him, there was another poster, intact.
A few more streets away, there’s more, more…
The crowd gathered around, but they didn't dare to get too close. They just looked at the priest's back from a distance and fell into silence again.