Proselytizing Activities
"My Lord has said that those who incite others not to resist in times of crisis, and those who distort the truth, shall be punished by my Lord's followers."
The former treasurer was led to the gallows in the center of town by a group of Gray Robes, a thick rope around his neck, and stood on a movable door panel.
His hands were tied behind his back, making it difficult for him to move his fingers. It was impossible for him to untie them by himself, especially with those Gray Robes standing by, their eyes filled with hatred.
It seems that his death today is a foregone conclusion.
As soon as the Gray Robes operating the trapdoor presses the lever, his spine will be torn off by his own weight, ending his life.
He wanted to speak at this moment, to rally the people below, in order to buy himself a chance to survive.
But when he tried to speak, he couldn't make a sound no matter what he did; the Gray Robes hadn't sealed his mouth.
But those Gray Robes used some method that made it impossible for him to utter a sound no matter how wide he opened his mouth, even though his tongue was still moving.
Below him, unnoticed, a large crowd was buzzing with discussion.
Many people recognize this former treasurer; they know he's the one who said yesterday he'd help everyone ask the lord questions.
No one knows why this person is now tied to the gallows, but public discussion has not entirely sided with him.
This is because the faith in the Lord of Radiance already had some foundation among the people, and under Fran's special arrangement, those believers who favored the Lord of Radiance had already crowded to the front.
Some of the believers were promised benefits, some were confused and devoted themselves to the Sect of the Lord of Radiance, and some saw it as an opportunity.
They all spoke in unison.
"That damned Demon, he actually deceived us..."
"May White Flower City be spared disaster after the Demon's death."
"Great Lord! Please punish the Demon before us."
In White Flower City, the square where the gallows were placed was rather narrow, barely enough to accommodate most of the residents.
This resulted in the area being almost entirely blocked by the true followers of the Lord of Radiance. When the residents who were notified and heard about the major events that had occurred arrived, they only heard the words mentioned above.
They were bewildered but impressed. Although they didn't know what had happened and the words of the people in front of them seemed somewhat illogical, they chose to remain silent for the time being.
They hid in the back row, and many people only saw one person on the gallows. Some recognized him, but due to the shouts of the believers in front, their voices were drowned out.
Some of them couldn't recognize it at all, and when the Gray Robes above held a thick book and read its contents in a strange tone, some of them even read along.
It wasn't until the Gray Robes at the front closed his book and slightly shifted his gaze from the former treasurer on the gallows that many people realized, "Oh, it was him."
Before they could react, the Gray Robes who controlled the trapdoor pulled down the lever.
The former CFO died on the gallows, his eyes wide open, his face filled with terror.
At the moment of his death, the people at the front of the crowd, who were practically new believers in the Lord of Radiance, cheered.
It was as if news of the distant war had been resolved at this moment, as if they had truly punished a ' Demon '.
This joy is highly contagious. After all, people are always looking forward, and when they see people ahead raising their hands and shouting, most will follow suit.
Brian stood on the side of the square, looking at the scene, and nodded in satisfaction.
This plan to punish those who might cause trouble for the nobles was proposed by him, Fran reviewed it and found no problems.
The nobles within White Flower City are a problem they must now deal with.
Fran's meaning was quite clear: in her territory, people either obeyed her personally or they worshipped the Lord of Radiance and obeyed her from another direction.
She could not allow a group of people to continue enjoying the privileges of feudal nobility and to profit from them.
Furthermore, in her view, these nobles were of no value, and she did not need to win their support, even though they should control a large number of people.
However, Fran only allowed a portion of the nobles to contribute resources in exchange for the right to live freely under her rule.
As for the remaining nobles, she planned to kill some and disperse the rest among the commoners.
This hanging was arranged by Brian on the spot; he knew what the believers truly wanted.
In fact, the most difficult way to get people to trust you is to explain the reasons and the pros and cons to them.
The simplest way is to tell him that he can succeed by doing this, it's very easy and there's absolutely no difficulty.
Because not everyone is rational about how things unfold; their fantasies are extremely simple. If you talk about something too complicated, they won't want to listen at all. Only lying can satisfy their easily attainable fantasies.
Now, Fran is telling Finley not to stop the anxiety of impending war from spreading among the people, while Brian is turning his attention to the disobedient nobles.
He told the people that as long as they killed the nobles, the war would not come.
He didn't even explain why these nobles were called ' Demon,' or what the connection was between ' Demon ' and such a war.
He simply had the believers say that killing the Demon would prevent war, and many people below thought the same thing.
After all, the killing of the ' Demon ' was done by these believers in gray robes; they didn't have to do anything at all, just watch the ' Demon ' die and cheer along.
It was so easy that these people couldn't help but fantasize that by simply cheering, they could prevent the worst-case scenario from repeating itself.
Of course, if an army were to breach White Flower City, the atmosphere that Brian has painstakingly built up would crumble, since even the grandest fantasies are inevitably fragile in the face of reality.
However, Brian trusted Fran's methods. After all, the Lord's Proxy was a mage from the Alliance. He didn't know exactly what Fran would do, but he believed that as the Lord's Proxy, she could definitely handle this small matter.
After all, besides being the Lord's Proxy, Fran has another identity: a mage of the Alliance. I personally witnessed Fran walk out of the Northern Lands Society, where everyone called her the mage of the Alliance.
"My lord, this is the treasury officer of our River Valley City..."
"Very good. Go outside and register at the table covered with the white cloth. The great Lord will remember your merit..."
"... yes."
In the River Valley City, a believer dressed in a grey robe, after dismissing a servant who had come to him for refuge, looked at Anna standing to the side.
Anna was wiping the longsword in her hand with a coarse cloth, removing all the blood and grime.
"Lady Anna, this is the official in charge of the River Valley City... the one in charge of the grain reserves..."
The believer's words ended there; he did not continue, for in a feudal territory, those who managed the grain reserves were unlikely to have clean hands.
Moreover, this official's reputation wasn't particularly good among either nobles or commoners, and this position just happened to be useful for Anna and her companions.
"Drag him out and gather the people..."
Anna was stunned for a moment. She didn't usually care much about how these believers preached, but this time Fran had specifically instructed her to preach to the people after conquering the River Valley City.
"Execute this notorious man in the square, and afterwards distribute some basic rations..."
Anna turned to look at the believer who had explained the specific method. He spoke eloquently, seemingly quite skilled in such matters. When Anna looked at him, he smiled sheepishly.
"I'm sorry, Lady Anna, these are just some of my personal methods..."
Anna interrupted him and said directly:
"It's okay, just do it this way... By the way, how did you know to do it this way?"
Anna raised her question, and the believer slowly answered:
"This is the experience I gained from Lady Aila and other outstanding believers when I began my missionary work in the Snow Bear Territory of the Northern Territory..."
"Of course, this all originated from the teachings of the Proxy."
Anna raised an eyebrow, offering no unique insights into these remarks.
"Then take this officer with you and gather the people around dusk. The sooner the better, since we have fewer people at night and might not be able to stop anyone from causing trouble."
"Yes, Lady Anna."
The believer responded, dragged the obese official to the ground, leaving bloodstains on the floor, and walked towards the door.
The official reacted violently the moment he was found by the believer, so the believer had to resort to some extreme measures to calm him down.
The official's face was still covered in blood, obscuring his original features. However, Anna believed that the locals would recognize him once they saw his figure.
Anna checked the silver-white longsword in her hand one last time. Now that there was no dirt on it, she put it back at her waist with satisfaction.
After finishing her work, she remembered the believer who had dragged the administrator out, which made her raise an eyebrow again.
"I really don't understand why Fran waited so long. Wouldn't it have been better to just organize these believers, capture a town, and send them in to spread the faith?"
Anna recalled today's battle. In Anna's opinion, Fran could have simply arranged for her followers to conquer the next town after defeating the previous one, without having to do so many miscellaneous things.
She even felt that even without those strange weapons, as long as she gathered the Profession among her followers, she could lead them to conquer River Valley City.
Anna simply underestimated Fran's intentions.