Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 486 - 485: Dagger

The first official broadcast of the Magic Web program caused a wave in a quarter of the southern borders—almost overnight, this incredible magical network that allows people to see distant scenes and is open to the public became the focus of discussion. In areas not covered by Magic Web Communication, people were also aware of the existence of this broadcast: quickly printed newspapers dedicated an entire page to introducing the first Magic Web broadcast, explaining the basic concepts of Magic Web Communication, the basic concept of the broadcast program, and the general content of the first issue of "Witching Hour." Alongside this newspaper came something else:

A thin book, called "The White Knight."

This is a reading material with only dozens of pages, and its paper and binding are both cheap and simple, quite different from the long-winded, thick, and expensive scholarly books of the past, yet it is still a genuine book.

This cheap reading material, selling for just ten copper coins, is the first book in the southern borders aimed at the general population, and its content is also simple and plain—it uses a novel-like approach in the first half to tell the story of the birth of the White Knight, and the latter half reflects on the operation of the Holy Light Church and offers insights on Holy Light. Between the lines, a path of the holy light, directly starting from "man" which is completely different from the old pastor sermons, triggered intense discussions among numerous civilian believers.

Some were deeply moved, some half-trusted and doubted, but there was no doubt that the authority of the Holy Light Church was gradually collapsing among these people.

This is the inevitable result: although the Holy Light Church has many followers, not everyone can be a devout believer. The majority of ordinary people following the church are simply seeking peace of mind, and these shallow believers have very limited understanding of the Holy Light Scriptures, often superficial and unstrong, hence conversion is relatively easy.

After all, the new doctrine of the Holy Light is still "Holy Light," which sounds about the same, and as long as it’s "about," most ordinary people will not spend much effort distinguishing seriously; they focus more on their own lives.

Among the civilians, there are certainly firm supporters of the old church, even though the Administrative Office has completely blocked the church’s preaching channels, creating a two-month vacuum of belief, and there is a force of influence from newspapers and Magic Web broadcasts, there will still be people who insist on the correctness of the old church. This is unavoidable—a situation that cannot be avoided—but they are a minority, and with time, their transformation is just a matter of sooner or later.

For those who don’t pay much attention to the Faith of Holy Light and are followers of Otherworldly God, their greatest feeling at this moment is "comfort," for finally someone stood up to control the radical acts of the Holy Light Church—they don’t seem to notice that within the "Faith and the Church" section of the Cecil Weekly, not only are there discussions about the Holy Light, but also, the common sense of major churches is subtly implanted... or rather, they notice, but most ordinary people are far less sensitive to these aspects than those professional clergymen.

Inside the Cecil feudal lord residence, Gawain looked at the report submitted by Aunt Heidi—the report covered the sales statistics of "The White Knight" book, the circulation of newspapers in various places, and random survey results of the Magic Web program around Cecil Castle, with a lot of content, but the general trend did not completely surprise him.

"There will be more newspaper commentary articles and additional issues, as well as regular Magic Web programs. The New Church’s publicity and warm-up work has already begun, and Mr. Godwin Orlando has prepared the articles, which will be published in the newspaper in a discussion form, raising the question of ’whether to establish a new order of Holy Light.’ Additionally, the local promotional guides have already started to act, ensuring that there are enough people discussing these issues even in regions where literacy is low and Magic Web signals cannot be received."

Aunt Heidi reported the progress of various tasks, while the old ancestor in front of her showed a slightly satisfied smile.

"Very good," Gawain nodded, casually placing the report materials down, "We should start this work from the most grassroots people—the priests have been high on their thrones for too long, they didn’t realize that the ordinary people are actually their church’s foundation. Once the ordinary people lose trust and reverence for the church, the collapse of the Holy Light Church won’t need a single shot."

Rebecca, standing behind Gawain, listened to the conversation between the two with a curious expression (she was here to report technical intelligence about the Magic Web Broadcasting System), and couldn’t help but interject: "Will this really be able to drive those scoundrels out of the Luan Cathedral?"

"What we are doing now is driving the influence of those ’scoundrels’ out of the hearts of the southern borders’ civilians, but this is a long-term project," Gawain shook his head, "Minds are easily swayed, but not so quick. The Holy Light Church has been active in Anzu for hundreds of years, the influence is deeply rooted; to completely expel them from people’s hearts will require a long time. Making people question the church is the first step, establishing the New Church is the second step, and after that, we will need years, even ten years, to gradually replace the old doctrines with new ones, making people innately recognize this change of habits and customs, and that won’t be achieved with a few issues of newspapers and programs."

"Wow—" Rebecca widened her eyes in surprise, "Changing people’s thoughts takes such a long time?"

Aunt Heidi glanced at this naive girl: "Nonsense, it took you eight years to change your habit of drawing beards on teachers, let alone now we want to change the thoughts of hundreds of thousands, even millions of people."

Rebecca stuck out her tongue: "Then... how about the priests in Lu’an City? When can we drive them out?"

"They will exit the stage before that—I never intended to let them stay in the southern borders for so long," Gawain casually said, "The influence of the Holy Light Church needs a long time to be removed, but those priests are different... expelling them requires just one people’s anger."

Aunt Heidi couldn’t help but frown: "Can Amber really accomplish it..."

Gawain looked at Aunt Heidi with a smile and shook his head: "Honestly, you underestimate her."

Aunt Heidi appeared half-convinced: "Really..."

"In a one-on-one fight, Amber might be scared of anyone, but in social underground activities, leading her own people to cause havoc and infiltration, she has a talent beyond your imagination," Gawain said as he drew a stack of documents from his desk, "You should have seen the information sent by the Intelligence Agency agents from Luan City, then these things you should also take a look at."

Aunt Heidi took those materials with curiosity, and while reading them, revealed a look of astonishment.

"The supporters and opponents of the cathedral have already begun to oppose each other, and cracks have appeared within the priestly group. Rumors about the former bishop Leimont are spreading in the small chapel district, along with dozens of other rumors, both true and false. The cathedral continually dispatches Disciplinary Monks and Church Knights to extinguish these rumors and propaganda materials. As soon as they quash one, two more spring up elsewhere. Even the actions of curfews, rationing, searches, and questioning during this process have immediately become new sources of rumors and instability," Gawain said, watching Aunt Heidi’s expression, speaking unhurriedly. "Amber and her team remain hidden among the crowd, seizing on any point that can arouse attention and debate at the first moment an event occurs, and with a slight nudge at just the right spot... then, naturally, the crowd’s opposition and mutual suspicion arise."

Heidi was speechless with amazement, while Gawain continued leisurely, "During this process, Amber and her team have captured almost all the moments when those clergymen revealed their disgraceful situations, and these ’moments’ have turned into the images and visuals you and I have seen. Once these images and visuals pass through the hands of Godwin Orlando, they transform into newspapers and pamphlets distributed throughout the territory, and soon they will become a program on the Magic Web Broadcasting System, spreading the anger from the priests in Luan Grand Cathedral to outside the city, eventually forming a vast network."

Heidi raised her head, looking at Gawain with disbelief: "Was this... taught by you?"

"I taught her a part, the most basic part, then she managed all the details herself and trained her subordinates to become masters in this area as well," said Gawain, with a hint of admiration in his tone. "She’s really... very skilled at using a poisoned dagger."

For a moment, Heidi didn’t know what to say; she only knew that it was the first time she saw the usually annoying and timid half-elf... as someone powerful.

Even somewhat chilling.

...

Amber was indeed very skilled at using a poisoned dagger; lately, she herself has become increasingly convinced of this.

The sabotage operations in Lu’an City are still continuing and have gradually reached a critical stage.

The emotions of opposition and suspicion are spreading from the Outer City District to the Inner City District. The wavering hearts are no longer limited to the common people. Now, even those clergymen who follow the Faith of Holy Light have developed serious distrust of the cathedral.

Inside a hidden base, members of the operation team reported the latest situation: "Boss, it’s already confirmed that a batch of low-level priests was recently publicly punished, and quite a few people were confined in the chapel district’s underground for penitent reflection in the form of ascetic practices. Their numbers exceed the last time."

To this, Amber merely nodded, having expected it: "The second batch of pamphlets sent into the Inner City District is taking effect."

One of the subordinates couldn’t help but marvel: "It’s truly unexpected... After the first batch of pamphlets was destroyed, there were still priests in the small chapel district hiding those propaganda materials..."

"Those godmen are humans after all. Since they are human, they have a mind," Amber casually fiddled with the small dagger in her hand, watching the poisoned blade emitting a faint bluish-purple glow under the dim starlight. "When the first batch of pamphlets entered the city, priests on the periphery perhaps only became curious, with the pamphlets’ content sparking a tiny bit of doubt. However, at that time, they were still loyal to the church and the cathedral. But the cathedral itself apparently didn’t think so; the cathedral’s people didn’t trust those low-ranking monks and priests, enlarging the possible impact those pamphlets could have had, regarding the residents in the small chapel district as ’potential heretics with wavering faith’... Then the situation could only worsen."

"But speaking of which, Boss, how did you determine how the cathedral would react? How did you know the cathedral would incorrectly estimate the situation in the small chapel district?"

Amber glanced at the questioning subordinate: "Very simple, when the cathedral took action, I went to the small chapel district."

"Huh?"

"The cathedral’s theurgy circle is a bit troublesome, but the small chapels can’t stop me," Amber leisurely said, "Before those Disciplinary Monks took action, I hid a large amount of pamphlets in various small chapels. The long-term blockade had already accumulated a lot of high-pressure emotions among those priests, and the appearance of the pamphlets lowered their mutual trust. Under these circumstances, a sudden emergence of many pamphlets won’t make even the managers of the small chapels immediately suspicious; rather, they will assume someone else in the church is hiding the pamphlets because, in their hearts, they are also wavering.

"Those Disciplinary Monks probably found over a thousand pamphlets in the small chapel district... but in reality, those that actually flowed into the Inner City District amounted to less than one tenth of that number."

Seeing the astonished and admiring expressions of her subordinates, Amber merely carelessly flipped the dagger in her hand: "You greenhorns, there’s still much you need to learn..."

She raised her wrist, and the poisoned dagger flew silently through the night, embedding itself firmly into a pillar inside the room with a soft thud.

"It’s about time to send a message to headquarters... No matter how slow to react the cathedral’s people are, they should realize our existence by now. We need to be prepared for the next phase of actions."

(My brain feels like it’s trembling!!)