Willing labor reform always comes after a profound awakening.
As the squad leader, Duolin quickly led his four men to begin work after receiving Ed's orders.
Although two of the four were missing an arm, one was missing a leg, and the other had a penetrating wound in his abdomen, they were still able to move around freely under Ed's miraculous vine bandages. This even slightly exceeded the recovery capabilities of the Tree Worship Church's Low Tier healing spells, making their surrender all the more justifiable.
With such reliable abilities, how could they be bad people?
No way!
More than an hour later, the villagers had collected all the items worth taking from the ruins, while Ed's players had neatly piled up the usable wood, waiting for the others to arrive with a wagon to transport it away.
The mission completion rewards were distributed immediately, and everyone's virtual accounts now had a small amount of money added again. As for Seraphina, Ed planned to use Little Green to create a loop after the players logged off today, so that the panels he provided for the players could be linked to Seraphina's contracted account...
As the sun gradually set, Ed and the newly surrendered Holy See guards led the way, while the players helped the weak villagers of the Tree Worship Church, intending to take this opportunity to increase their trust points so they could accept any hidden quests that might exist in the future.
Duolin looked at the smiling faces of the Elite Warrior, but he couldn't find any pain in them for losing a friend. He clearly remembered that one of the Elite Warrior had his head bitten off by the monster in the wooden house.
That body must have been destroyed or left forever in those ruins...
To remain so optimistic even in a world like this requires a truly strong and resilient spirit...
Thinking this, Duolin led his "horse" closer to Ed was walking at the front.
Upon seeing the terrifying monster, these four-legged Hoofed Beast quickly scattered in all directions, only returning bit by bit towards their master after the battle was over.
Ed's mount, the Hoofed Beast whose bones were visible on its rear, was still leisurely grazing around the castle. Therefore, Duolin, as his subordinate, dared not ride a horse while Ed was walking. His team members also valued this etiquette highly, and apart from the one with the missing leg who was lying on the horse's back, none of the others chose to ride.
"Your Excellency, I have something I'd like to ask for your opinion on..."
Ed turned to look at Duolin, whose attitude and tone were exceptionally humble:
"What is it? There's no need to be so formal. The Second Holy See's organizational structure is currently very flat."
Ignoring the parts he didn't quite understand, Duolin looked south and slowly said:
"Your Excellency, the five of us only arrived in White Wax Town last night. Our reason for going out today is to inspect the diocese. Normally, we should return before dark, and even if something delays us, we must be back in White Wax Town before nightfall tomorrow..."
"But now that you have shown us the truth, I simply cannot pretend nothing happened and face those despicable blasphemers again. Yet if I leave and never return, Yiden will once again petition the provincial church and the Holy See..."
Ed fell into deep thought. This was indeed a problem, and even if the five of them went back, their empty sleeves and trousers would say something, so some things couldn't be kept secret. But Ed could choose to let that old man Yiden know a small part of it...
"Yes, I understand your thoughts."
Ed patted Duolin on the shoulder:
"I want to ask you something first."
"Speaking."
"If you have enough food and water, how long can you fight or work?"
After a brief moment of thought, Duolin replied:
"I can probably last three days and two nights, and they can easily last at least two days and two nights. We won't be in any real danger beyond that time limit, it just might affect our performance in battle."
So that's how it is. They really are the guards carefully trained by the Holy See; they're truly formidable.
Ed looked at Duolin. Even with the help of Little Green, he couldn't tell the exact level of these guards because he hadn't yet built an algorithm in his mind that could quantify various attributes such as combat ability and physical fitness. Therefore, although his players had improved a lot since they first came to this world, none of them had broken through to level one.
This couldn't go on, Ed felt he had to put this matter on the agenda as soon as possible.
I have a plan.
Ed approached the garrison captain beside him and whispered a few words in his ear...
"Oh, is this really alright, Your Excellency...?"
"Of course there's a problem. Imagine if you were Yiden, would you rather see Duolin and the others far away from you or constantly in front of you?"
"Those who have already betrayed and those who have not yet betrayed will certainly behave differently in this matter."
"So this is also a way of proving that I wasn't lying, and that Yiden and his group did indeed have a problem."
Duolin nodded thoughtfully. The plan Ed had just devised for him was quite simple:
In the eighteen hours before leaving the castle, Duolin and the others must do their utmost to prepare materials for building simple houses for as many villagers as possible. After completing their treatment, Duolin and the others can return to White Wax Town once.
These Pure Ones didn't want to see Yiden's birth for even a second, and the apostates didn't want any naive innocents ruining their plans. Therefore, Ed suggested that Duolin inform Yiden that he had identified several villages frequented by the apostates and would be staying near the Shattered Castle soon. While apprehending the apostates, he would also attempt to conquer the castle and claim the territory for the Holy See.
For those with nothing to hide, the departure of five high-level combatants is certainly something they don't want to see. But if they have something to hide... they might just wish that Duolin would never come back.
Therefore, Yiden's reaction will be the final link in this series of PUA tactics. With his Shattered memories, Ed believes that old Eden will not let him down.
The villagers of Upperstream Village were not in good health to begin with, and today they experienced a series of dramatic emotional ups and downs. Their physical strength had long been exhausted from wailing, praying, and searching through the ruins.
In fact, the villagers didn't find anything useful, but each of them found their own seed jars accumulated over the years, because Bishop Adrian, who never lied to them, had once said:
Any difficulty can be entrusted to those Elite Warrior; it is a test and a tempering for them, and the price... is only a seed.