Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 478 - 477: The True Priest and the False Priest

Looking at the large warhammer Rebecca pulled out, Gawain knew he had been overly optimistic about this roe deer’s mental state.

Did she think all the priests in the world looked like Wright?!

However, Rebecca herself didn’t think anything was wrong. She was still enthusiastically introducing the magic-conducting warhammer she specially made for the White Knight—honestly, this hammer, made of pure white alloy steel and engraved with numerous sacred runes on the hammerhead, with a handle wrapped in sacrament ribbons, was indeed a pretty impressive weapon. The fusion of religious elements and magic-conducting machinery surprisingly created a striking beauty—perhaps in Rebecca’s mind, as long as a weapon had these features, even if it were a morning star, it could be called priest’s equipment. And now, Gawain was only grateful that Rebecca at least made a warhammer, not an actual morning star...

Then he saw Rebecca happily twist the handle of the warhammer, and the alloy handle locked by machinery snapped open, revealing the internal chain: "And ancestor, look here, if you open this, it can still be used as a morning star!"

Even Amber, who usually had a very flexible mind, couldn’t keep up with the silly roe deer’s thought process. "Why would a war cleric need a morning star?!"

Rebecca instantly and seriously corrected, "It’s for a White Knight, not a priest!"

"Even for a White Knight..." Gawain felt a bit drained looking at his little granddaughter and the magic weapon that had been recombined into a long-handled warhammer, "...can ordinary people truly use such a weapon?"

"Rest assured, the selection of White Knights will adhere to the strictest standards," Wright immediately stepped forward and said earnestly, "A robust physique brings unwavering faith, and only those with strong bodies can have the ability to protect their comrades on the battlefield and fight against evil—I believe as a brand new Holy Light profession, as the first generation of pioneers for the New Holy Light Faith, the White Knight must possess formidable strength."

Gawain glanced up and down at this strong man: "...Can I ask what your criteria for selecting White Knights are? I mean, in terms of physical fitness."

Wright showed a slight smile, with an expression of serene peace as if the Holy Light had descended: "Those who can withstand three punches from me without falling."

...It always felt like this new profession had completely nothing to do with priests anymore!!

"Well, you do have a certain point..." Although Gawain felt awkward, his rational mind quickly accepted Wright’s view: he couldn’t plan the new profession of White Knights according to the fixed impression of priests. Looking at things from actual needs had always been the development path of the Cecil Clan. And speaking of starting from the needs, he couldn’t help but ask a question, "Mechanically Powered Warhammer is indeed a good close-combat weapon, but the battlefield of the future is dominated by long-range combat. How do White Knights respond to long-range attacks?"

Rebecca nodded: "There is—because the output of the White Knight’s armor is larger, and the energy system of the vambrace and the armor is integrated, creating greater space, their vambrace is equipped with high-power twin-linked sacred impact hand cannons, and they will also carry a considerable amount of crystal grenades for emergencies."

Kamel then supplemented on the side: "Sacred Impact is the most stable and optimal rune structure spell of mid to low-level Holy Light damage series. Currently, we only use it on hand cannons, but we can consider a path similar to the Rainbow Cannon to create more powerful Holy Light weapons in the future."

Speaking of this, this Arcane Master paused: "Actually, we didn’t intend to produce Holy Light weapons at first—we initially planned to directly use heat-ray guns. Heat-ray gun technology is mature, with high component interoperability, and its power is quite sufficient. If we specifically customize a Holy Light weapon for White Knights, the production of components would bring new pressure to logistics. But later we found out that integrating conventional magic bases and Divine Arts base, combining with Inversion Circle base in too narrow a space would lead to considerable magic interference, and the energy system would become overwhelmed due to excessive waste energy, so we had to adopt the current approach."

Gawain nodded slightly and carefully examined the weapon system on the White Knight armor—thanks to more excellent Weight-Reduction Runes and more advanced forging techniques, the vambrace in White Knight armor was larger than regular Magic Armor. On the streamlined vambrace’s front end, you could see the recessed firing port for the focusing crystal, which was noticeably larger than the heat-ray guns.

Due to a lot of magic weapons design experience, and since White Knight armor was basically remodeled on the framework of Magic Armor, this set of equipment cannot be considered complete new product development. Yet the style remains fresh, Gawain circled the platform, suddenly realizing that once you accepted its setting... it’s quite engaging.

This is perhaps how a White Knight should be.

He couldn’t help but start comparing in his mind:

The fake war cleric, from the northern parts of the mountain range, weak-bodied monks, dressed in defenseless cloth robes, holding obstructive prayer books, fighting with flimsy short rods, secretly casting spells behind allies, entirely helpless when closed in by enemies.

The real war cleric, from the Cecil Clan, loyal and strong White Knights, donned in heavy armor, engraving prayers with steel stamps on the helmet, wielding the heavy Mechanically Powered Warhammer, field barriers open charging directly into the fire line, invincible in close-quarters—no need to chase enemies as a single hand cannon shot sends heresies to their demise.

With healing spells and purification spells on hand, shouting on the battlefield, "Your doctor daddy is here!!"

Gawain stroked the stubble on his chin, couldn’t help but mutter softly, "Always feels like it’s really bullish..."

In the future, war clerics might become the strongest infantry of the Cecil Clan.

Standing next to Gawain, Amber immediately twitched her ears. The long elven ears allowed this half-elf lady to always capture Gawain’s "down-to-earth expressions" the first time he couldn’t help but utter them, she immediately leaned over and whispered, "Old man, you’re not paying attention to your image again."

Gawain glanced at this half-elf, and likewise whispered, "Watch your mouth or I’ll silence you."

"Tch..."

Gawain cleared his throat twice and looked at Wright and the others in front of him: "In short, equip them quickly, Nicholas Egg, you take charge personally if the production line isn’t in place—You can temporarily set other tasks aside; first, we need to arm the first White Knight squadron—Lu’an City has been quiet for too long."

Nicholas Egg bobbed up and down: "Understood."

Gawain thought for a moment, then looked at Amber beside him.

This half-elf seemed like she wanted to put on an annoyed look, but she obediently lifted her head: "Is it my turn to work?"

"It’s time for the Intelligence Agency to work."

...

Lu’an City indeed had been quiet for a long time.

However, it was a quiet filled with fear, a quiet hiding tension, a quiet that kept people awake at night.

After sustaining such silence for so long, an undercurrent finally began to stir, yet this undercurrent couldn’t break the tense and oppressive atmosphere within the city; instead, it spread even greater unrest throughout the entire city.

No one cared about the feelings of ordinary civilians, and Fran Belon was no different, but the interim bishop could detect the change in the atmosphere within the church district: in this enclosed district, occupying half of Lu’an City and composed of a grand cathedral and dozens of small churches, a negative emotion different from the previous tense atmosphere was spreading, shakening those lower clergymen and even some priests and deacons in charge of small church affairs.

After morning prayers ended, Fran Belon, the interim bishop, once again noticed the whispers of lower clergymen in the shadows of church pillars, observed priests hurrying through corridors, and felt the omnipresent Holy Light sending vague warning signals his way. As a devout follower of the God of Holy Light, he did not ignore such enlightenment-like revelations and immediately summoned a high-ranking priest responsible for the daily affairs of the district.

"Something is off with the atmosphere in the church district over the past two days," Fran Belon said in the corridor of the Saint Lu An Cathedral to the high-ranking priest who had responded to his call. "Investigate and see what’s going on."

The high-ranking priest evidently noted the subtle change in atmosphere as well. Without asking further questions, he immediately took the order and left.

Fran Belon didn’t wait for long; before the evening prayers that day, he saw what the high-ranking priest had gathered.

"Bishop, some origin unknown... pamphlets have somehow entered the city," the high-ranking priest said, handing over a stack of what seemed to be very cheaply made paper to the ’Bishop of Lu’an,’ his face showing an ugly expression, "These... are filled with intolerable defamatory language."

A dreadful premonition surged in Fran Belon’s heart as he silently accepted the papers. What unfolded before his eyes were neat, not handwritten, sentences, yet the grammar was so straightforward and crude that it made one frown instinctively.

The high-ranking priest continued explaining beside him: "...Initially found in the Outer City District, scattered everywhere after being thrown in over the city walls and fences. Civilians brought them home, and later, some family members of lower-ranked clergy brought them into the Inner City District, beginning to spread among the small churches."

Fran Belon looked at the contents of the pamphlets with a dark expression - the identical writing on these pamphlets reminded him of printed materials, but the print quality was clearly beyond his understanding. The pamphlets’ contents contained nothing profound; instead, what was written was so simple and straightforward that even someone just learning basic words could read them smoothly. Yet, these simple and straightforward contents were extremely disturbing.

This was the first time he saw such things: the workings of the church, the essence of Indulgence Money, the reasons and interests behind high-ranking priests monopolizing the right to interpret the scriptures, the development and corruption of the church... Things that should be considered taboo were written out in such a plain and straightforward manner, and yet printed on cheap paper and distributed everywhere!!

Where did this come from? How did it get in?

The first question was easy to answer; they definitely came from the Cecil Clan. As for the second question...

Fran Belon suddenly regretted stationing most of the Holy Church Army and Exiled Knights in the Inner City Church District...

Only after a full dozen seconds did this interim bishop break the silence with a grim expression: "How long have these things been circulating in the church district?"

"The earliest might have started circulating four days ago."

With a face ashen with anger, Fran Belon asked, "Why did no one report this immediately?! These things... are sheer blasphemy and slander!"

The high-ranking priest hesitated for a moment, but ultimately spoke: "All the pamphlets circulating into the Inner City Church District ended up in the small churches on the outskirts..."

Fran Belon blinked, suddenly understanding.

Small churches in the outskirts are places where lower clergy gather, managed by priests who are either of lower status or somewhat marginalized.

They inherently lacked zeal towards the church, possibly even harboring some rebellious inclinations.

In the prolonged isolation, the faith of those lower priests and clergy began to waver; they were nothing like the devoted ones in the grand cathedral... They were vulnerabilities, easy to breach.

Moreover, lower clergy and priests didn’t hold the rights for scripture interpretation and had nearly no authority in sharing Indulgence Money or independently organizing heterodoxy trials...

The pamphlets highlighted the scripture interpretation rights and the shadowy interests of the current church, not only mentioning them but doing so in the most unsparing way.

The Duke, who had once aligned with devils, had finally made a move, but in a totally unexpected way.