There was one thing that Isabella noticed most prominently when she joined Club Faith back at Ecclesia"s Magic Academy. There was a clause that in doing so, she also joined the Church as a registered Member.Upon joining, the Church promised this; their members would never go hungry. They might ask some work of her, and they had plenty of gardens in need of tending, plenty of floors that needed sweeping and lots and lots of stained gla.s.s windows that could use cleaning… but the point was, no matter how poor or badly off, an accepted member of the Church would be at least given food if they were ever in dire need. When hungry, they would be fed. When thirsty, they would be given a drink. When naked, they would be clothed. When sick, they would be visited or outright tended.
Of course, of whom much was given, much would be asked in return, for the laborer was worth his reward; and the promise was specific to Church Members, not the regular Church-goers. Simply going to church didn"t make you a member; there were requirements and qualifications and rituals and confessions and vows to go through, just the baptism alone was done over a weekend camp…
The point was this; Ecclesia"s Church of Light took care of its own. They sought to make sure all their members were cared for.
That simple promise had gotten rather difficult in this season of chaos. More and more, the demands of the public for magic and mana began to pressure the Priests and Priestesses of the Church, especially since they were seen as charity workers who used Light Magic. Various aristocrats and wealthy Ecclesians even started demanding the exclusive mana and services of these Priests to the detriment of the chapels and congregations they served.
It was at this point that the leadership of the Church suddenly declared a ma.s.sive missionary movement into the Unreached Regions and mobilized practically their entire airship fleet. This fleet went ahead to prepare the way, as it were, and played a crucial role in the defense of the Wildlands. This was the very same fleet that blasted the Spectres off from Dragon Lake.
Afterward, they left a detachment to patrol the perimeter while the rest of the depleted fleet turned their efforts toward bringing the missionaries over…
Those missionaries, incidentally, included the vast majority of the clergy and their families. It also included every willing partic.i.p.ant from the Church Members who had magical abilities. Needless to say a huge portion of those who could use magic wanted to get away from the turmoil and violent demands brewing all across the Midlands and Eastern Continent. They brought their families, friends, pets…
It was a huge movement. Over the course of a few days, the Church brought in thousands of Priests, Priestesses, Members, their families and luggage. Their ma.s.sive airship fleet was unable to handle all of the pa.s.sengers and cargo; they had to charter other ships, using Church-owned enterprises and subsidiaries (like Club Faith) to offer good money for transports to the Wildlands. Not many accepted that job, but among those which did was the Quartermaster of the Red Fang, a crippled boy who used a customized exoskeleton Frame to walk named Loh…
Mindy loved it. The job was easy money, the pa.s.sengers were Magic Academy students who could help power the airship, and the destination was her own home.
George, however, was aghast. "The Church of Light is coming here?! The WHOLE Church?? We"re talking about thousands of people! Can we even manage that many refugees?"
"Thousands of people with at least a little bit of magical ability." Darian pointed out. On behalf of Doom, for the sake of Fel"s pleading, due to the requests of the Temple Knights, somehow or the other, the job of broaching the subject to KarGoth"s leadership had fallen to him. "They"re not exactly refugees either. They"re bringing over tons of stuff, including tools and supplies. Think of them as skilled settlers, colonists daring to brave the Wild Frontier just like before."
"They"re basically running away. That makes them refugees."
"I"d rather call them immigrants."
"What are we even going to do with thousands of Priests? We"re not particularly religious in the first place! We don"t need thousands of churches in KarGoth!"
"So let them settle their own towns, or join the mining towns or Song Chen"s Great Port. Think about it; thousands of Light Mages with Healing Magic! Thousands of capable Scroll-Casters! Think of how many of our own are injured and in need of medical attention! Think of the injured Wilds!"
"Fine, so we could use the healing magic, and we could use the manpower, especially in clearing out the Spectres. But then what? What happens when all the injured are healed and all the Spectres are mopped up, and we"re left with thousands of jobless Priests on our hands?"
"Find them other jobs. Have them bless the farms or something. Many of them are experienced teachers. The Church will take care of its own. Let them figure it out themselves."
George paused. "Can they lay railway tracks?"
"Not the Priests themselves, perhaps, but they have plenty of family and friends and affiliates among their number who could. At worst, the Temple Knights have been known to take on road-building tasks together with the Iron Legion. Railway tracks are basically just another kind of road, aren"t they?"
George sighed. "Somehow, I wonder whether the Church will be as cooperative as you make them out to be. Why did they even come here, of all places?"
"Isn"t it because it"s peaceful here? There"s plenty of room, the greatest threat of the Wilds have become friends, and most importantly; we owe them." Darian pointed out. "We owe them big."
"I was wondering why they were so willing to help us fight off the Spectres. Now that I think of it, spending a bit of mana to buy homes for thousands of people suddenly sounds like a huge bargain on their part." George sighed. "Fine, let them come. But they have to follow our rules, got it?"
"Sure."
***
The Church wasn"t the only one calling in that favor.
"You want to bring in how many?!"
"Roughly five thousand. Look, I"m desperate." Marcus grimaced. "These are the families of the Iron Legion, the families of the fallen. I can"t leave them in Itarim! They"re facing riots, attacks from foreign countries, attacks from the Midlands Wilds, their ports are blockaded by the Deep Emperor, their airships can barely function without fuel, their mages are exhausted and taking any chance they can get to escape to places which offer better security and better pay. Itarim is falling apart and we need someplace safe for our women and children at least."
George spluttered. "But it"s dangerous here! These are the most dangerous lands in the world!"
"Ah, but the dangers are on our side now. The Wilds have become our friends. That changes everything." Marcus pointed out. "Look, I"m not asking you to take care of them. They"ll see to their own needs. They only need protection from the Wilds."
George sighed. "Fine. Bring them in."
***
Even Ashdalians were coming over.
"Charlie, why are you bringing refugees here?" George protested.
"I didn"t know where else to bring them!" Charlie admitted. "They"re mages, and the families of mages. Anywhere else in the world, they"d be turned into walking power plants for whatever magical devices. But out here, practically every child in the trees has the ability to use magic. Every family has multiple Scroll-Casters. Most households are entirely capable of handling the mana needed by their own devices by themselves. Very few places, like the hospital, ever uses more devices than can be manually handled by their own people. The most important thing is that order is maintained by the Wilds, so it won"t fall into chaos even if there was no mana left in the world. The Lords, Kings and Emperors of the Wilds don"t use any mana devices at all. They"re not even human. Therefore, they might eat someone, but they"ll never imprison him and force him to work to empower devices all their lives."
George sat down with a groan. "Fine. Bring them in. But next time, can you bring construction workers instead? We need to build railroads."
"Not from Ashdale, I can"t. Ashdale is building railroads too." Charlie paused. "But I think Deutero could definitely help out in that area."
***
Ten days later, Charlie came back with six Deutero Sky Galleons full of pa.s.sengers and their belongings.
"Um… you didn"t say how many construction workers you needed…"