Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 156: In The Deep Sea

The briefness and understanding in missionary Wright’s reply instead left Gawain stunned for a good while. He had initially prepared a big pile of justifiable, well-grounded, and polite excuses to cope with the missionary’s ceaseless chatter. The contents included and were not limited to ‘the territory has no money to sustain a church’, ‘the territory has no money to provide for priests’, and ‘you’ve got to spend money to buy the bricks for the church’; but he didn’t expect this suspected-gladiator-turned-cleric missionary to actually forget it just like that… He actually dropped it just like that…

This big brother couldn’t be an undercover agent from the dark sects that infiltrated the Church of Holy Light, could he?

“You’ll drop it just like that?” Even Amber could not help but burst out. “You do not plan on persuading more?”

“The way of the Holy Light tells me that if I do good, the Holy Light will naturally illuminate hearts. If I do not do good, even if I speak till my tongue breaks, it wouldn’t work.” The big fellow used his hand to draw an emblem of the Church of Holy Light on his chest. He had a face full of stubble and muscles, yet he forcefully pushed out a holy and pure image. “So it’s all right even if you all are not interested. It’s not too late to approach me again when you’ve gained an interest.”

“You’re really such an interesting fellow.” Heidi shook her head in disbelief. “Say, you’re from the central region, right? Why would a Church in the Plains of the Holy Spirits send you to the end of the southern borders to preach? And they only gave you a document… Where are your attendants and guards?”

The present was no longer the era where it was the dawn of civilization and the various sects were canvassing with difficulty in the wild. Even missionaries who traveled everywhere no longer moved alone like an ascetic monk, especially missionaries setting off from the rich Plains of the Holy Spirits. Basically, they would move about the world with a considerable number of attendants and guards. As such, those contingents were also known as ‘moving churches’, which meant that the armed personnel, the servants, and the priests of a church were all present. However, this Mr. Wright had walked from the Plains of the Holy Spirits here with just a tattered document. Don’t mention attendants, even his traveling expenses and food were earned by selling his own hard work.

This sudden trance gave one a feeling of the unreal as if this missionary had walked out from the primitive era in history books.

And Wright only smiled offhandedly after hearing this question. “I got on my way alone. The bishop gave me a document and told me to come to the south to preach, so I did. As for attendants and guards… For a minor low-level cleric like me, where would I get attendants and guards? Besides, I don’t need them either.”

With that, he displayed his muscles. “Many paladins are no match for me. Many attendants aren’t as efficient in working as I am. Then what do I want them for?”

He then lifted his head to look around, realizing that a new batch of bricks had been sent to this building site. He stood up and dusted off his pants. “Looks like there’s work to be done again. Do you all have any more questions? If not, I’ll go help unload this batch of bricks first.”

Gawain had an odd expression. “…Please go ahead.”

Wright waved his hand. “Then I’m coming. Ah yes, don’t forget to help me pass on the document to your feudal lord. I need to get the lord’s permission before I can build a church and preach publicly.”

Gawain was at a slight loss of whether to laugh or to cry. “Don’t worry, I will definitely pass it on.”

Wright nodded and turned to walk towards the building site but turned around again after taking two steps. “Oh yes, there’s something I forgot to ask.”

Even Heidi found it both funny and annoying. “Please fire away.”

“Where do I go to eat after work?”

Heidi sighed. “…Just follow the workers. Everyone who worked gets food, to one’s fill.”

Only after the missionary had left far did Amber mutter softly, “I’d thought people from the Church of Holy Light would definitely find trouble when they see me. In the end, why is it such a foolhardy… weird person.”

“Don’t be delusional about persecution. He doesn’t even know who you are. Why would he find trouble with you?” Heidi darted a look at Amber and then looked towards Gawain. “Ancestor, are you going to allow this… ‘missionary’ to preach in the territory?”

“We’ll first observe him for two days,” Gawain said coolly. “Send a clerk and get his basic information registered properly. Then arrange lodging for him according to the criterion of technical migrants —— have it near the administrative area. At the same time, pay close attention to his movements. If this person isn’t problematic… allow him to preach and move within the laws of Cecil.”

Gawain himself was estranged from the gods and beliefs in his heart, but he did not intend on stopping people from carrying out religious practices in the territory ——because religious practices were the ‘established facts’ of this world. Theurgies were a part of local productivity Eighty to ninety percent of the populace in the territory had beliefs: either in the Goddesses of Fertility and the God of Holy Light, or gods in the domains of craftsmen, commerce, knowledge, and warriors. The majority were shallow believers, while a small group were pious believers. In such a context, preventing a missionary from the Church of Holy Light from practicing in the territory was both meaningless and would even breed doubt in hearts.

And as long as this strange, candid missionary had no questionable points or blemishes in his background, his arrival would instead be a good thing. Gawain still remembered what Veronica mentioned the last time, and he believed that it certainly wasn’t as simple as a casual mention for the Saint Princess. She would approach him again sooner or later. However, if the territory had built a small church recognized by the Church of Holy Light before that, he would have sufficient reason to decline the infiltration by the church from the capital.

A church that a wandering missionary built with financial aid from the local feudal lord would be much easier to control than a church directly commanded by the capital’s church.

As these random thoughts spun in his mind, Gawain returned to his tent.

Looking at this tent that he had been staying in for several months already, he was also rather emotional at heart.

It was indeed time to move out of here, into a residence made of bricks.

At the least, the new residence that he designed would have an official study, bedroom, storehouse, and all kinds of laboratories. Whether it was for living or carrying out magic research, it would be much more convenient than things were in this tent.

However, it was simply unknown why Amber also appeared to be delighted that Gawain could move into his new residence as soon as possible. The last time Gawain had asked her out of curiosity, in the end, the latter came up with a heap of strange remarks: ‘I haven’t climbed through the windows into a house for a long time’, ‘this tent of yours doesn’t even have a door that can be pried’, ‘without a basement and vault, how could it be considered an aristocrat residence’ and more… Truly odd.

Gawain had no choice but to give Amber a round of knocks on her head to correct her shortcoming of saying strange things, but it seemed like there wasn’t much effect.

Several reports regarding the population and the territory’s expansion of new residential areas were placed on the desk. Gawain sat down at his desk and began his daily work.

With the inherent appeal that an ancient hero had and Gawain’s factual prestige from protecting his people and leading by example, the measures that he promulgated were executed very quickly on this land. Even acts — like planning town roads, constructing waterways before building houses, prohibiting the relieving of oneself on the streets, and more — that were difficult to advance in this setting and also difficult to explain to the residents had received very good implementation. It seemed like people didn’t really care about the objectives of such acts (even though Gawain had dispatched people to continuously explain and publicize the significance of every policy); instead, it seemed like, as long as it was something that the feudal lord said, it would definitely be right.

But Gawain knew that the execution efficiency brought by such blind faith could not be relied on for long. It would inevitably be repeatedly expended through the process of promulgating one policy after another, one law after another. To sustain such an efficiency, there were only two ways.

First, as far as possible, let the new policies and laws engender beneficial results that could be seen with the naked eye. At the least, make the people believe that the improvement in livelihood was driven by those policies and laws. This way, they would be willing to follow the new laws.

Second, advance education. Let the whole populace understand deliberation and distinction; let them be able to truly understand what the feudal lord was saying and in this premise, still continue to support the laws and rules of the territory.

The second could, on top of maintaining the current execution efficiency, also greatly raise the efficiency of every job in the territory.

But… where would they find the teachers? Especially in Gawain’s plan, to carry out Beyonder-knowledge education for the entire populace, such teachers would be even more difficult to find.

The average person who could read and count could perhaps be hired using money, but those who truly possessed knowledge, who could carry out relatively high-end education, were very difficult to find. It was unlikely that they would be willing to patiently explain what were runes and calculations to a group of noisy ‘lowly peasants’; even paying money wouldn’t work.

Perhaps he should inquire from Jenni; she might know some Beyonders in the upper class who were extremely down and out… With the spirit that poverty gave rise to the desire for change, those starving Mages should be easier to buy over…

……

Meanwhile, in the open sea extremely far in the east of the continent, the storm was gradually breaking up.

The wild and turbulent water elements returned back to the atmosphere and ocean. Nearly all the energy accumulated in the atmosphere had splashed onto the island earlier, blowing the entire island into pieces. And now, that remaining energy was stabilizing together with the water elements, slowly returning to the arms of nature.

The blood of heretic cult believers painted the sea red; the metallic scent attracted the predators of the ocean, yet those predators only lingered apprehensively on the periphery of these waters, not daring at all to draw near to this place that was still emitting a dangerous aura.

The Sons of the Storm were ultimately unable to withstand the true storm. Before the natural calamity raised up by the army of sea demons, they did their best to resist for a very, very long time. But ultimately, they were still forced to give up this ‘miracle area’.

With the lives of close to a third of their believers as the price, they forcefully pushed a way out in the raging ocean and escaped this place.

Now this island was back in the sea demons’ hands once more.

There were still many huge and frightening hideous monsters roaming the sea surface. Those bodies covered with carapaces and spurs and filled with the glow of magical power looked intimidating, but soon, these giant beasts sank into the water. Moments later, some female figures surfaced.

They had beautiful faces, elegant and well-proportioned bodies, as well as eyes filled with intelligence and spirituality like humankind’s. However, minute scale-like structures could vaguely be seen covering their cheeks and arms. These scales weren’t scary; instead, it brought an unusual, alluring aesthetic. And in the process of stirring the seawater, the lower halves of these females would occasionally rise out of the water surface ——but they were long tails resembling water snakes or the rear half of fishes.

Some even had tentacles with sucking discs like octopuses.

These intelligent beings in the water stared at the island left behind after the heretic cult believers evacuated, but they weren’t interested at all in those so-called sacred articles and altars that the heretic cult believers had risked their lives to defend to the last.

A sea demon with long sky-blue colored hair gazed in the direction of the island, while another sea demon surfaced, swimming towards this leader with long sky-blue hair. “Those deranged humans have escaped, General Vanessa.”

The sea demon called General Vanessa frowned. “Truly baffling living beings. I remember they weren’t this crazy a few hundred years ago. Why is there no way of even communicating now…?”

“It’s probably because they are unable to live in the sea, and it’s so oppressive living on land that their brains have been damaged.”

“Forget it, it’s not important.” The sea demon general shook her head. “Since those mad humans have run away, we can continue working.”

“Then…” An eager expression appeared on the young sea demon soldier’s face. “We’ll go down and continue digging the squid?”

The sea demon general laughed and nodded hard. “Mm, continue digging the squid.”

“Continue digging the squid!” “Dig the squid!” “Big squid!”

The sea demons’ cheers merged into one. Following that, water foams appeared as they swung their water snake, fish, or octopus-like tails and rushed to the bottom of the sea, continuing the work that they’d long planned to carry out in these waters——

Go to the deep sea, to the seabed, to continue digging the ‘big squid’ that had died down there for unknown reasons, whose fragments of its body covered the entire seabed and were endless no matter how much they dug…