Chapter 844: The Satire Comic
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The next night.
"These… Are these posters the goods His Majesty was talking about?"
Standing in the warehouse and looking at the goods that had just been delivered by the caravan, in a few short moments, the mayor of the town of Hendrie recalled what he had not been able to before, as though he had just been enlightened.
He had promised the King: He had to put up these posters in town!
All the lost memories surged up at once. The mayor felt a bit dizzy, but he immediately remembered what the King had told him. Taking a deep breath and gathering his courage, he slowly opened up the box containing the goods.
He picked up a poster. With just a few glances, his face changed involuntarily.
"This… This…"
A horror welled up in him, causing him to instantly stuff the poster back in. He instinctively looked around, making sure that no one else was in the warehouse. Although he had only taken a look, he clearly realized that if even a single person laid their eyes on the content of this poster, he was afraid that he would not be able to keep the head atop this neck of his!
At this moment, he could not help but hesitate.
His Majesty had been set up by the Church, so he did have the responsibility to step forward bravely, only… Only… Once such a dangerous thing was done, there would be a great disturbance in the kingdom. Would he really be able to absolve himself from that?
However, after a long, indecisive struggle, the mayor took the poster out from the box once again.
He could not turn back. Even if he were to immediately destroy this box of things, he had still met the King. If the Church investigated and found that out, the only thing he would face was death. After being dragged into this power struggle, their only choice was to take their stand properly and help the King regain his authority. Only then was it possible to escape the punishment of the Church.
He was not a fanatical believer; he had made an oath when he undertook his position. Indeed, he should be standing on the side of the King.
"Hank, get Tom and Klein up, follow me to the warehouse. Be quiet, tonight, I have a special duty for you."
Still obeying the steps in the plan, he made his way to the guards' bedrooms at midnight and quietly woke one of the guards up. Finally, he brought the three of them back to the warehouse.
"Ma-mayor… It's so late now, what's going on?" The guard yawned, his eyes half-open as he spoke sleepily.
"The latest order from the higher-ups. You're to stick these posters up in the streets," The mayor did not change his expression, saying. "I've seen you guys work fast and efficiently, that's why I've asked you to come. Work quickly. There will be extra payment for this. Do not tell anyone else."
The guards were somewhat confused, but upon hearing that there would be extra payment, they perked up. Walking to the boxes, they slowly opened them up and, without thinking, walked out with batches of the posters. They saw the tightly packed words on the posters, but they could not understand them, thinking that something must have happened at the capital again, and this was the latest notice issued.
The difference, however, when compared with previous notices, were the simple drawings on the posters, drawn to look like figures of mages and priests. The guards merely felt that this was possibly a wanted poster, warning everyone that some dangerous mage was in the open again.
Whatever it was, they did not give it a second thought. In the early hours of the morning, they brought the posters and glue to the streets.
The quiet streets were devoid of people. No one knew what was going on in this small town. More importantly, at the same time, similar sights were continuously replaying in various places all over the Kingdom of Helius.
"You don't have to bother with the content, just put these things up in the streets."
"This is the newest prayer by the honorable priests, the drawings on them are for decoration. Don't mind them, just stick them up properly for me in the streets. Finish your task before daybreak."
"En… The posters are more or less up, I think… I'll just pack things up now and hide away for now…"
Half a million posters were actually not a lot, after they had been distributed to various locations. A smaller village could only put up ten of them. Benjamin was not expecting the sort of impact where the news would spread across the mountains and the valleys once they woke up. His only goal was for enough exposure over a vast area to produce a topic of conversation.
Tonight, he had sent out his orders to the members of the Academy's Black Operation, in different places.
"Start a rally tomorrow. Cut into discussions about the content of the posters, and spread all sorts of negative information about the Church, half-truths, lies, anything goes. The more you spread, the better!"
After progressive development, the members of the Black Operation hidden in the Kingdom of Helius were about a hundred. There were not many, but every one of them was an elite mercenary well versed in intelligence work. With them as catalysts, the greatest impact would definitely be produced.
Tonight was a busy night for many people. Some were still in the dark, busy sticking the posters up on the walls; some were walking around, listening for rumors; some had begun packing up their valuables, ready to make their getaway…
Nevertheless, for even more people, this was only a typical night. When they slowly wake up from the night's sleep, it was a new day yet again.
For example, most of the priests in the kingdom.
"En… Why does it seem a bit noisy outside, this morning?"
In the town of Hendrie, the priest woke up from his clean and white king-size bed. In his daze, he seemed to hear a slightly noisy clamor outside. He felt somewhat confused, but after glancing at the clock, he slowly calmed down.
It was still early, approximately an hour until the morning prayers.
Thus, he lazily sat up in bed and put his hands together, beginning his prayer. He thanked god for giving him a good night's rest, and hoped that the lord would bless his new and beautiful day… This was his homework that must be done daily, and the duty that every priest would perform. He closed his eyes and chanted. It was as easy as eating and drinking.
Only, during the process of his prayer, the clamoring outside had never ceased, disturbing him and making him feel rather irritated.
What on earth was happening? The weather had been stable recently, and it was not yet time for the harvest. Could it be… Whose old folk had fallen seriously sick this time?
The priest could not help but feel rather fed up. However, he quickly calmed his heart down and felt that this was all a test from god. It was only through patience while dealing with such trivial matters that he could express how devoted he was to god.
After ten minutes, with the prayer done, he got out of bed and methodically washed up, got dressed, tidied himself up to look more distinguished… They were the representatives of god in the hearts of the people, so they must, of course, maintain their perfect posture at all times. There must not be a hint of blemish.
From the moment he woke up, the priest spent almost an hour getting ready to leave. Within this one hour, the noise outside fell and rose, but never stopped.
Finally, the priest pushed the door to his house open.
"Alright, alright… Everyone, please do not make any more noise. God loves quietness. Whatever the problem might be, it is a trial from god for us. All of you should face it calmly, not like this."
He looked to the many people who had gathered outside the door, speaking slowly.
However, the priest was quick to notice that the people who watched him walk out from his own house had strange looks in their eyes. They seemed a bit different from the usual look of awe and respect.
What was going on?
The atmosphere seemed a little strange. The priest was very puzzled.
"What on earth has happened?" The moment he came out, the crowds fell silent, and no one said a word. Because of that, he could only open his mouth and ask the question again.
"...Honorable priest, take a look at the streets… And you'll know." Amidst the silence, someone spoke.
The priest furrowed his eyebrows.
What was this hemming and hawing all about?
He was actually feeling quite impatient by now, but as he was restrained by his image, he nodded and took slow steps along the street, walking out. The crowds outside his home quietly made a path for him. They watched him, their expressions making him feel somewhat uncomfortable.
However, very soon, he saw a notice at the corner of the street.
...It was not accurate to call it a notice. Although most of it comprised of words, but there were also some colorful pictures on it, stuck on the grey walls. It stuck out like a sore thumb.
When the priest had stepped forward uncertainly, it only took him a second before his face changed.
"This… Who did this?"
The title of the notice was extremely eye-catching: "The Crimes of the Church", typed out in bold red, like a row of gruesome, bloody words. Right after that were column after column of lists of crimes: Imprisoning the king, intimidating the nobles, extravagant wastage… There were red words on top noting that this year, about fifty thousand gold pieces in taxes had been spent on just the decorations for the cathedral, although, at the same time, the southwestern cities in the kingdom had just experienced a drought.
Although it did not go into details, every crime was listed clearly on the poster, with definite numbers or examples as evidence. The priest had only taken a few looks before a fire erupted violently in his heart, wanting to tear it down savagely from the wall and step on it, yelling out loud.
What, what the hell was this!
What made him even angrier was the bottom half of the poster that attempted to express the similarities between magic and the divine arts. Perhaps, due to the limitation of space and the target audience, it did not go into a long discussion about the difference between the two, but used pictures as an aid to express simply that "mages are not devils".
There were two small figures in the picture. It was easy to see, from their clothing, that one was a mage, and the other a priest.
Priest: "Magic is the power of the devil, it will cause horrible catastrophes!"
Mage: "What do you base that claim on?"
Priest: "God told me so."
Mage: "But god told me yesterday that the noses of the church members are high up in the air, and they only know how to put on an act. The people that he hates the most are you."
Priest: "Nonsense! How could god speak to you? What proof do you have?"
Mage: "Then what proof do you have that god says mages are devils?"
Priest: "..."
It was a short and simple argument, but presented in the genre of a comic. In such an era, it was extremely novel. When the priest of the town of Hendrie saw this, his face was contorted in anger. He wanted to speak, but he could not get himself to say a word; he had never seen anything like this in his life.
His entire body was shaking as he pounced up, wanting to tear it off, only to discover that this thing had been stuck on too firmly. No matter how he clawed and pulled, he could only tear off a little piece of it. There was no way to pull the entire poster off.
He did not care, however. His eyes were already red with fury, and all rational had already been tossed to the back of his mind. His whole body was on the wall, like a gecko, as he ravaged the poster in a mad craze. He tore at it for three minutes, until blood was coming out from the tips of his fingers, before he remembered, with a violet jolt, that he could use divine spells. With a Grenade of Holy Light, he immediately blasted the entire wall apart.
Gasping savagely, he looked at the rubble before his eyes. His clothes were full of dust and stains; the hair he had just gotten done so neatly looked like a chicken coop, and his entire face was flushed red.
On another wall, about ten meters away from him, was another poster. Stuck on the wall, complete and unharmed.
A few streets away, there were more, and more…
The crowds gathered around, but did not dare come too close. They only watched the back of the priest from a distance, once again falling into silence.