In Sak City, the crowds stood in neat rows, one after another, waiting for God's blessing.
While it's called a blessing ceremony, it's actually just the local Church keeping a list of people to verify their identities and then assign them jobs.
Why did things turn out this way?
The main reason is that Norton has moved into Sak City.
As God, He naturally treats His people well in order to spread His nobility.
"Tear this place down! Damn it, replace it all with images of God!"
"These portraits are wrong too. This isn't His Majesty Norton. Clean them up immediately!"
"Where's the little white stick? Where's the little white stick? That's His Majesty's emblem! Without it, who would know this is His Majesty Norton!"
A group of Church members dressed in pristine white robes stood proudly, hands on their hips, pointing at the Church relics scattered around them, directing a group of registered Sak City residents to destroy them.
Painters, surrounded by a crowd, were dipping various dyes into the old paintings of God, and then repainting Norton's pure white and holy image on them for people to admire.
In this way, Norton would officially become the God in people's minds, rather than a vague and fantastical deity.
Of course, subsequent Church scriptures still need to be replaced until, in the end, all the words or writings about God that the people of the Southern Continent immediately think of are those of Norton. Perhaps this is when they can truly reach the point of replacing God.
Meanwhile, the removal of Church relics and images of God from the Church allowed the New-Type Vampire to finally enter the city and serve His Majesty.
It must be said that Duoxia's ideas have always been very correct.
Although Norton has no desire to rule now, he continues to exercise power for his own purposes, which will inevitably create irreconcilable conflicts with the royal families and ruling classes of the various countries in the Southern Continent.
Norton's actions not only conflicted with the ruling class, but also deeply conflicted with the Holy Lord Church.
Sak City Church.
The church, which is quite large, has two rows of classic Church pews for believers to gather and celebrate Mass.
The Mass of today is quite different from what it used to be, evolving into a silent ritual of confession and prayer similar to that on Earth, which also reflects the decline of the Holy Lord Church.
The dome is tall, but the hall is so enclosed that sunlight cannot penetrate, making it somewhat dim. Therefore, a dozen or twenty candles are always lit on the altar in the center of the hall to provide illumination.
The candlelight was dim and yellowish, yet it created a classic church atmosphere.
In the vast hall, only an elderly priest in his robes knelt on a prayer cushion, clutching a thick Bible in his hands, his face filled with fear as he offered the last prayer of his life.
"May the Lord punish this deceitful Vampire, may the Lord be holy and burn away this devil with eternal original sin..."
"Crunch..."
As the priest prayed, the sound of the door hinges clicking softly rang out, very gently, yet it made the old priest's body tremble violently.
His face was completely filled with fear and despair, and the sound of his prayers was urgent and panicked.
"May God punish this imposter; he is guilty, he is the original sin..."
A soft laugh rang out from the open doorway; the sound was pleasant and melodious, but to the priest it sounded like the whispers of the devil.
"I am guilty, father..."
Like an echo of a grand musical movement, it resounded in the hall and slowly approached the priest.
As these ancient words were born, a pale finger traced across the gate of the Holy See, seemingly gentle yet incredibly sharp, carving a deep scratch into the metal covering it.
Norton, who could have easily walked without making a sound, deliberately increased the force of his footsteps, intending to crush the mind of this perverted priest with his heavy stomping.
If he hadn't sensed the presence of a boy in the church, he might not have resorted to such methods.
"Pat... pat..."
The heavy footsteps made the kneeling priest tremble as if he had suffered a stroke, and the growing fear in his heart made his legs go weak.
However, perhaps because people with stronger faith tend to be more eccentric, despite his fear, he still clung tightly to the Bible and showed no sign of yielding to Norton.
"You demon, how dare you defy the heavens! You have committed the primordial sin, and God will never forgive you... You will ultimately be dragged into Hell by the Primordial God of Death!"
"Boom!"
The priest, kneeling on the ground, trembled, but his words grew ever more resolute and powerful.
Even after a thousand years, the Church members still possess this admirable quality of fearlessness in the face of danger, which Norton couldn't help but admire sincerely.
However, amidst the priest's angry shouts, he suddenly flipped open the Bible in his hand, revealing a flintlock musket already loaded with gunpowder!
As the priest's voice grew louder and Norton drew closer, he suddenly leaped up from the prayer mat, raised his gun, and pulled the trigger at Norton, who was now not far behind him.
With the roar of muskets, wisps of smoke rose from the muzzles.
"Bang!"
A lead bullet, fired within a three-meter radius, hurtled towards them. However, accompanied by a soft sound, a pale hand had somehow appeared, raised in a delicate, finger-picking gesture.
The bullet that had been fired from the musket was now right between Norton's clenched fingers.
"Flintlock muskets, has technology advanced to such a level now?"
That's true. The slave trade has already begun; the age of piracy is just around the corner. And you, Father, are quite the modern one, no longer needing a cross for exorcisms!
Norton sighed slightly, then tightened his fingers, causing the lead bullet he was holding to explode into lead dust, but it didn't leave a trace on his pale skin.
However, his behavior terrified the priest to the extreme. He stretched out his hand, pointed at Norton, and kept expressing his fear, unable to utter a complete sentence.
"You, you, you..."
However, Norton's pale body was already close, and he reached out and put his arm around the priest's neck.
"Sizzle!"
"Aaaaaah!!!"
The sound of teeth piercing flesh filled the air, and the sound of swallowing blood continued incessantly.
The candlelight flickered inside the hall, illuminating the image of God Shepherding Sheep Picture painted on the central wall.
A single tear of blood slowly flowed from the corner of the eye of the white lamb embraced by God...
-
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Norton of the Southern Continent: promises are like farts, just like the author.
If this were a thousand years ago, given his reputation, the people of this city might not have trusted him to dismantle religious relics and erase murals of God.
The guerrilla strategy mentioned by Duoxia can only be implemented in the former Southern Continent.
The reason for this is that he is notorious for his despicable behavior, such as backstabbing, going back on his word, and using any means necessary.
However, in the Southern Continent, where this historical gap has not yet been filled, Norton's current holy and perfect appearance, along with his reputation for coming from the back mountain of the Holy See, is enough to win the favor of a considerable number of believers.
But this only represents the believers, not the Church members.
After all, compared to the mindless believers of the Southern Continent, the Church's higher-ups were extremely wise.
However, for Sak City, which has few high-ranking officials and no real power, Norton's current presence is indeed something they have no chance of resisting.
Blood Clan Progenitor Norton, who lived more than a thousand years ago, officially settled in Sak City.
With Norton's arrival in Sak City, he proclaimed himself God and performed acts of enlightenment.
To steal God's Existence Level is easier said than done. One needs to construct the image of a benevolent God in the minds of others, so bestowing great grace is essential.
Norton was quite adept at this, after all, the Blood Court humans had been governed in the same way a thousand years ago.
However, the human race a thousand years ago did not receive education on gratitude, which led them to go against the grain after they became carefree and multiplied. They began to slander Norton Zonger, and even spontaneously formed various small groups to hold so-called alliance councils, where they published insulting words against Norton and made sarcastic remarks in books and documents, making it resemble the online environment of the previous life.
This reveals the depravity of human nature, but it also serves as a wake-up call for Norton.
To prevent this from happening, Norton decided to overturn the old upper echelons and give the lower-level employees the power to work and eat their fill, so that the upper echelons would not be able to slander him, and the lower-level employees would not have the mind or the experience to slander him.
Specifically, this manifests as the transformation of the previous privileged and wealthy classes into Fifth-Generation Vampire, making them Norton's slaves.
In contrast, beggars and poor people who used to go hungry were able to receive land from Norton's requisition and use it to cultivate for a living.
They need to be able to eat their fill and have something to do, instead of spending their days idly gathering together to slander Norton.
Such a typical tactic was once used by the Papal State. If Norton hadn't intervened and stopped its development before it was fully realized, perhaps in the end, no one in the Boya Empire or even the Blood Court would have obeyed his orders.
After all, conviction is far more steadfast than death!
But that alone is not enough.
To truly portray himself as God, one would need to revise the Bible and engage in some commercial promotion from his past life. For example, Norton occasionally holds fan meetings to demonstrate his divine power and make people's faith more steadfast.
However, there's no rush; we should proceed step by step and develop slowly.
Just as he was able to use the passage of thousands of years to erase the very foundation of his Norton identity by building wonders, now that he wants to become God, his plans naturally extend to the future.
No, it shouldn't be too far removed from the future either.
After all, judging from the current historical trajectory, we may truly reach the modern era in another six or seven hundred years. If we have cell phones and the internet by then, Norton's actions will be posted online and ruthlessly fabricated.
Abraham and Elizabeth led the Vampire to develop methodically according to Norton's will.
The only remaining question is why, since Norton's resurrection, no one in these Southern Continent kingdoms has been searching for them?
That shouldn't be the case. His Majesty Norton is the core of the Southern Continent and even the Garden of Eden. With his resurgence, shouldn't the other countries be on high alert? Even if they don't try every possible way to deal with His Majesty Norton, shouldn't they at least send someone to receive him?
Why has no one come to explore or visit it to this day?
Abraham was puzzled, feeling that His Majesty Norton was not highly regarded in this Southern Continent.
For these ancient remnants, they may truly believe that they are the center of the world. For example, Duoxia, who was revived at the same time, attaches great importance to the revival of Norton and even regards sealing it as his lifelong belief.
However, for the various countries of the Southern Continent today, their political leaders and even royal families are not really concerned about whether Hajinuo will be revived, even if it means the Pope's death.
In fact, Abraham had misunderstood.
Because everyone is really, really busy. Every day they are busy with all sorts of diplomacy, politics, military affairs, ocean shipping, domestic development, finance and taxation, and the infighting among interest groups... The fact that a mere resurrection of Old Deng can stir up such public opinion is already quite significant.
If it weren't for the Vampire' ability to achieve immortality and the Pope's death, Norton's resurrection probably wouldn't have even had a chance to be presented to the Emperor.
The Imperial Palace of the Aodelan Empire.
As night fell, a grand banquet was held in the palace's back garden.
The sole purpose of today's banquet is for the nations to divide the pie of maritime interests in order to reduce friction and competition among them.
In reality, it's not surprising that Norton wasn't valued; it's not that the emperors of various countries were incompetent. With the advent of long-distance trade, all sorts of new things were emerging every day, and inventions and cultures were changing rapidly. Countries were simply too busy.
A steady stream of luxurious carriages passed by on the official road outside the palace of the Aodelan Empire.
The entire main road was blocked off, Aodelan soldiers, dressed in blue trousers and red shirts, stood on both sides of the street, carrying long, narrow flintlock rifles and maintaining order.
Tonight's banquet is attended by many important figures.
For example, Miles XIII's cousin, the Empress of the Madrid Empire; Miles XIII's nephew, the Crown Prince of the Aidebao Empire; Miles XIII's nephew, the Crown Prince of the Kaimen Empire, and so on.
Nowadays, the countries of the Southern Continent are somewhat similar to the Europe Empire era, with all the royal families being related in various ways. Whether it's war or a meeting, it's all family disputes or family banquets.
They all came as representatives of their respective countries to negotiate with Miles XIII on the division of maritime trade.
At the same time, royal families from various countries would bring their eligible men and women to this banquet to get to know each other and develop relationships...
The social hierarchy in the Southern Continent is now completely solidified. The upper class consists entirely of relatives, and although they are at odds with each other, they also keep the lower class in check, making it impossible for them to have any chance of overthrowing the regime.