Chapter 853: A Great Collapse
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the wake of the few strikes in Worchester, news about them quickly spread throughout the entire country.
"Indulgences… Have you heard? The Church has been lying to us, they randomly got a bunch of illiterate workers to print the indulgences. Now that it has been exposed, those workshops have gone on strike!"
"How, how is that possible? Then what I"ve bought is…"
In a matter of days, from the rich n.o.bles, to the poor beggars, everyone in the Kingdom of Helius was discussing the matter. They did not even bother to treat it as a taboo topic.
Part of the reason why the news had spread so fast was that, on the day of the strike, a series of events had happened in Worchester.
In the evening of that day, there had been a huge crowd of people gathering at the entrance to the church, holding huge signs filled with slogans. They had protested the entire evening before the guards shooed them away. On the signs were written things such as "the lie of the indulgences", "exploitation of labor at secret workshops by the Church", "the five gold pieces from h.e.l.l".
Such a scene naturally drew a lot of attention, and after pa.s.sersby had made their inquiries, news of it spread like wildfire. It was barely an hour before the entire city was abuzz.
Worchester could be considered to have exploded on that day thanks to the news.
Many of them ran to the publicized location of the workshop and kicked the tightly closed doors open, discovering many unfinished indulgences immediately. Because of that, n.o.body doubted the authenticity of the protest. As for those who had spent their money, they ran in a huff to the entrance of the Church, causing the crowd of protestors to grow even bigger.
"I can"t believe it… Those priests are a bunch of liars! This is too despicable!"
"Good heavens, is that true? My family had spent G.o.d knows how long collecting money to let my grandfather get to heaven, collecting five gold pieces just before his illness came… What should we do?"
"Liar! Return my money to me! What right do you have to speak for G.o.d?"
Worchester had never been a place with a thick religious atmosphere; along with the series of conflicts prior to this, the good view of the people towards the Church had sunk quite a number of times. This time, it was the final straw on the camel"s back. The rebellious sentiment against the church in the entire city had completely exploded.
After the protestors at the entrance of the Church had dispersed, countless of people went onto the streets and mimicked the crowd of protesters; they came up with a variety of banners and placards, and shouted in loud voices on the streets. The church in Worchester was so frightened that the great doors were locked tight; the priests did not dare to show their faces, and, needless to say, neither could they stand out to clarify matters. That night, there were many physical altercations between fanatical believers and the crowds of protesters in the city. However, the government was completely unable to stop them, because the situation was too chaotic!
At the same time, Worchester, being one of the top trading cities, had extremely tight connections with many districts in the Kingdom of Helius. Naturally, the speed of the exposure increased even more with such a huge thing happening in Worchester.
Of course, it seemed that it took only two days for everyone to have heard about the incident since it first blew up. Such a speed was, to be honest, slightly abnormal. It had been so quick that it felt as though someone had been adding fuel to the fire.
In truth… Other than the marches of protest that had broken out in Worchester, the spread of the news concerning the incident had, indeed, been stimulated by people from the inside.
"It has become such a big deal…"
Benjamin stood in the attic of the academy"s Black Operation, drawing the curtains open as he peered out at the enraged crowd on the streets outside. He could not help but turn up the corners of his lips in a gloating smile.
He had never imagined that the incitement of the strike would happen so smoothly. Obviously, the resentment buried by the workers of the workshop was deeper and greater than he had thought. The moment he had gotten news of it, everyone had been immediately spurred into action.
The first crowd of protesters in front of the church were basically the Black Nightmare Society members, dressed up to act. At the same time, Benjamin had contacted the Black Operation of the Academy in various locations throughout the country. They had already prepared the rumors, and in an instant, it was as though a huge bowl of ink had been poured into a river: the Kingdom of Helius.
The cloudiness of the "river water" was even more serious than Benjamin had expected.
This time, unlike the incident with the posters, the Church seemed to have overstepped the limits of the people"s patience, truly enraging many people. It was not just Worchester; protests of various degrees appeared in many other cities. At least half of the churches in the Kingdom of Helius had to be shut down in an emergency. As for Havenwright, it was said that even the royal army had been mobilized, and the city gates had been sealed off. No one knew just how chaotic the situation was in there.
Up until then, the Church had not yet released an announcement to explain what all that was about. However, Benjamin was certain that the reputation they had built for so many years was completely ruined!
What explanation could they offer?
For example, the church in Worchester had not opened their doors for three days now. There was no sight of any of the priests. Different kinds of indecent human organs had been drawn onto the outer walls of the church, but no one scrubbed them off. It was very clear that the Church"s emergency response looked to be suddenly sc.r.a.pped off.
As for why it had been sc.r.a.pped off…
"You must quickly crack down on those mobs! As for those the dozens of workers who started the strike, where are they? Round them up fast!"
In the city hall, the priest walked in carefully and burst into the mayor"s office. It was only after the door had been shut that he dared to take off his outer cloak, revealing his long, priestly robes, and roared hastily at the regional person in charge.
However, the person in charge shrugged, giving him a helpless expression.
"We"re doing our best on the crackdown," he complained, "but the mayor had disappeared, and we haven"t been able to find him. There are also so many people causing a ruckus. I"m only a temporary person in charge, this is all I can do."
"So what? Things have been blown up to such proportions, if you don"t think of a way to solve it now, when the people on top begin s.h.i.+fting the blame down, none of you will be able to escape!"
Hearing that, the person in charge hastily nodded. "Yes, yes, yes… We will definitely think of a solution."
The priest was still unsatisfied. "You said the same thing when I came the last time, but within these few days, what on earth have you solved?"
""Sir, you are accusing us wrongly!" The person in charge said hurriedly. "There are so many believers in the city, and now that there"s trouble, we must send people to protect them, otherwise those mobs would tear down their houses! Don"t you agree, we"ve been so d.a.m.n busy these few days, you… Please, don"t worry, we will definitely do our best to stabilize the situation!"
"...If things are still not solved, I"d be back tomorrow."
"Yes, yes, yes, you can come over any time you wish…"
"Hmph…"
Finally, the priest put his cloak back on, hiding his long robes and face, before turning around to walk out of the office and leaving the city hall. After the priest had gone, the person in charge looked at the doors that had just been shut, and suddenly, the fawning, flattering expression on his face was gone. He gave a dissatisfied scoff.
Turning around, he took out a doc.u.ment from a drawer.
The t.i.tle of the doc.u.ment was a line of big words: "Emergency Management Procedures", and the inscription on the side showed that it had come from Havenwright. It had even been stamped by the exclusive badge of the royal family, which looked really fresh, as though it had just been delivered not too long ago.
The person in charge looked at it. All of a sudden, he walked over to the burning oil lamp and placed the doc.u.ment on top of the fire, watching coldly as it began to burn gradually… until it was turned into ashes.
After half a minute, he threw the ashes into the trash can. Acting as though nothing had happened, he took his seat again, shrugging and bowing his head as he pretended to be deep in work.
In between the administrative files that he browsed through, there seemed to be a small piece of paper stuck. On top of this paper, which was casually flipped past, one could vaguely see words like "invitation" and "nightmare".