Arrangements

A knight riding a grey pony galloped into the village where the church was located.

As soon as he entered, he saw a scene that shocked him.

A long queue stretched out at the exit of a building, extending all the way to the other end of the village, and...

"Why isn't there any snow here? Did the villagers shovel this snow on purpose?" the knight asked, looking puzzled.

However, he didn't slow down. After asking the villagers about his target, he rode his horse directly to the side of the building where the queue was.

The crowd looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and fear. They were curious because they wondered why this person wasn't queuing up but had come straight here.

The terrified crowd recognized his attire; it was the exclusive uniform of the lord's knights. Seeing a knight in this place was truly astonishing to them.

The knight ignored the gazes of the crowd and instead looked directly at the second floor of the house. He walked toward the door, but stopped three meters away.

"I'm looking for the administrator here; the letter was sent by the lord of Snow Bear Territory as requested."

The knight behaved with extreme restraint, for before his departure, Blake had instructed him to be careful with his words and actions and to remain humble, even when facing the local people.

Even Blake himself didn't know what Fran and her companions' attitude was towards those people.

So when the knight arrived, although he didn't treat the people well, at least he didn't appear to be contemptuous, for fear of angering the mage.

The believers at the church entrance, upon hearing the knight's words, dared not delay and immediately ran upstairs to inform those above. The knight, however, remained standing motionless outside the church entrance.

Fran descended from the top of the church and arrived at the entrance. The knight looked up and saw the same Northern Lands Society mage robes that the lord had described, and he lowered his head slightly.

"Greetings, Your Excellency Mage. I have come to deliver a letter from the lord, containing the information you require."

The knight retrieved the sealed letter from a small pouch at his waist, stretched out his arms, and handed it to Fran.

After Fran received it, she opened it and saw the contents.

"I have lost territorial awareness of these three villages."

It was such a brief message, just as Fran requested. Presumably, Blake had thought it through carefully and knew that mages like Fran preferred concise reports, which is why he used such a short sentence in the letter.

Fran smiled, then put away the letter and looked at the knight who was still standing opposite Fran.

The knight stood still while Fran read the letter, and only after Fran finished did he ask:

"Your Excellency, are you writing a reply to the lord?"

Fran raised an eyebrow and then said:

"That's right, wait for me a moment."

Fran spoke, she went straight to the second floor of the church.

"What happened down there? Why did you go down?" Anna, who had finally gotten a good night's sleep, came out of the room with her eyes half-closed.

"The lord sent someone to explain the current situation in the territory, and I need to make some adjustments based on that."

"What are you planning to do?" Anna asked curiously.

"First, we need to send believers to join forces with the lord's people to stop those who want to come here."

Fran said helplessly.

Although she wanted to rely solely on this village to complete the task of expanding her followers, the circumstances no longer allowed her to do so.

First of all, Blake was truly surprised by how little control Lord Fran had over his territory, but Fran could understand it.

Even if Blake could gather so many men under his command, who would want to stay far from the center of the territory?

Especially since Snow Bear City is a large town, but the places they need to send out are really small villages.

No one would want to stay in such a terrible environment.

Moreover, even if guards were promoted from among the original inhabitants of those small villages, their loyalty could not be guaranteed.

Just like now, most of the people attracted to this church are relatively wealthy people from other villages. These are the fastest runners; if you asked them to be guards, they would be the first to run away.

And to be fair, a warm place where you don't need a fireplace is still incredibly appealing in the Northern Territory.

Even if these people are not interested in anything like religion, they still want to continue living here.

Those people want to come, but the problem won't be solved simply by their arrival.

Firstly, the warm area radiating outward from the church is rather small; even now, it doesn't cover the entire village.

Furthermore, with a continuous influx of people, the village simply didn't have enough houses to accommodate them all...

Therefore, whether for the future development of this place or for the good of these people, we cannot continue to let these people come; she is already at her breaking point.

"Oh, and we could also have these believers set up a small chapel over there. Only those who prove their piety can come here."

Fran slapped her forehead and then said.

Anna rubbed her eyes and, seeing Fran writing furiously, said:

"Are you suggesting that those people go to Snow Bear Territory to preach?"

Anna remembered Fran's words about sending followers to the Snow Bear territory, and combined with the strategy Fran had previously told her, she believed that Fran now wanted the followers here to develop their own followers in the Snow Bear Territory.

Fran paused, then slowly said:

"Yes, it's time. There are enough believers here; it's time for them to go out and have some activities."

After several days of development, everyone in the village had become a registered believer of the church, without exception. Now her goal was no longer to recruit people from this village and the surrounding area.

She needs these believers to help her develop more followers, and she will send them out regardless of their abilities.

Of course, a warm place to settle down is not enough for these believers who have left; what she can offer them is...

"We still need to discuss the specific terms for granting power with the Lord of Radiance..." Fran then looked at Anna and said:

"Oh, right, there's one more thing I need to entrust to you, which is to ensure these believers qualify as Profession. I'll give you a detailed set of regulations later."

Anna shuddered upon hearing this, and touched her head. This action wasn't because she was tired of Fran giving her another task, but because she was curious about something else.

"Can I really control those believers to become Profession?! Aren't those believers capable of becoming Profession on their own?"

Anna said in surprise, clearly quite astonished by the matter.

This is not her fault, because even those followers of the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents she encountered in White Dragon Port, or Aila who became an apprentice Profession in front of her, all had one thing in common.

That is, although it is a religious Sect, they become Profession because of their own behavior, at most their behavior is related to Deity.

Fran's statement that the method of becoming Profession could be manipulated by anyone sent chills down Anna's spine.

Could it be that the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents Profession she saw before were able to become Profession because they were allowed to Profession?

Or perhaps it was Fran who did something behind the scenes to make Ella a professional, right under her nose.

Fortunately, Fran denied her suspicions, saving her worldview.

"What are you talking about? Those believers who make contributions can naturally become Profession, but what I want you to do is help those believers who are less likely to become Profession to Profession so more quickly."

Fran has now founded a Sect that Lord of Radiance. The faith energy generated by believers can be bestowed upon a specific believer, enabling that person to become Profession.

The Sect that Fran founded is still in its early stages and doesn't have much spiritual energy yet. Those believers need to put in several times more effort than when they had plenty of faith to become Profession.

This is why Fran wants to grant some of the power to the Lord of Radiance —to reward those who have played outstanding roles but, due to the current limitations of the Sect's size, cannot naturally become Profession.

"Oh! I see!" Anna touched her chin shyly, unsure of what to do with her other hand, sometimes gripping the door frame, sometimes rummaging through her clothes to hide her embarrassment.

Fran continued writing furiously. After writing the last word, she picked out the paper from the letter she had previously opened and put her own letter inside.

In this remote and impoverished place, she had no envelopes or anything like that. She hadn't even thought she'd need them before she came, so she hadn't brought any and had to make do with Blake's envelope.

After Fran folded the letter into an envelope and then used the Ignition to draw the symbol of the Northern Lands Society on it, she looked at Anna.

"Oh, right, Anna, I have something else to do. I'm going back to the Northern Lands Society tomorrow. You stay here..."

Before Fran could finish speaking, Anna immediately bristled and said:

"You've left me here again, and sent me back to the Northern Lands Society..."

Fran offered a lot of comfort before Anna calmed down and accepted the arrangement.

"You promised you'd be back in about ten days, so I can go back to the Northern Lands Society to rest."

"Definitely! Definitely!"

Fran is returning to the Northern Lands Society to prepare for the Trial of the Sun. The situation in this territory is not yet satisfactory for Fran, so she needs Anna to continue guarding the area and overseeing things for her.