Chapter 661: War of Faith (5)

Watching a group of former friends and relatives attack and kill each other due to differences in interests, beliefs, or ideas is one of the many pleasures of the false god.

He had instigated such immoral things many times before, but unfortunately this time, the fun he wanted to see did not happen.

As soon as he finished speaking, the old man who had a look of grief on his face suddenly raised his body and looked in his direction sharply: "Who? Who is talking! Cathy?"

"Dad?" The girl named Cathy raised her head and patted her companion. "I didn't hear it. Did you hear it?"

"Neither do I..." The irritable man next to her received her gaze and looked around hesitantly, "Did I hear it wrong?"

Bai Jinshu: ...

Huai Jiamu pinched the bridge of his nose: "...You didn't block out the voices?"

The old man's reaction was obviously because he heard what Bai Jinshu said. Did he forget to block the conversation when he came in?

Bai Jin said: "...It seems that it only blocks the line of sight."

Blame it on his lack of business skills.

When they came in, they just remembered to block their sight. After that, they just leaned against the wall and watched the show. Their voices were very low and they were not noticed by those who were busy dealing with the cultists.

Who arrived first? Just now he wanted to get closer to see the fun on a whim, but he heard some talking instead.

But even though he has problems, let's take a step back and say that others are not wrong, right?

"Tsk," Bai Jinshu looked at the old man in front of him critically, curling his lips in dissatisfaction, "He's almost dying, but his ears are still very good."

This sentence intentionally did not block the sound.

"I heard it again." Sure enough, the old man's face changed several times, and he took a few steps forward, and his voice suddenly became more serious, "There seems to be someone here!"

In an instant, the remaining few people looked over.

Bai Jinshu stood in front of them, his arms folded across his chest, as if to see what they could come up with.

"I definitely heard someone talking over here just now..." The old man's cloudy eyes moved around where Bai Jinshu and Huai Jiamu were, "It seemed like they were talking about something, young people... heretics..."

“Uncle Lawrence,” the man who had been irritable before quickly showed a trace of panic in his eyes when he heard this. “Could it be that the temple heard about Bernard’s situation and sent someone over…”

"But I remember this..." The mayor's daughter Cathy hesitated and looked at the building behind her, "It should be an empty warehouse..."

There are many vacant warehouses on Silver Tear Island, most of which are used to dry fish during the fishing season. These warehouses are only open for use during the whitebait fishing season. They are usually closed at other times and few people go in.

"Those big shots shouldn't go to the fish drying warehouse," the man muttered in a low voice, as if with some expectation, "It smells fishy in there. We don't like to go there normally, and those big shots definitely won't go there either. There must be no one in there..."

"Cough cough." Bai Jinshu coughed twice with a sense of evil humor, and watched with great amusement as the three people in front of him instantly jumped away like frightened birds and looked at each other in horror.

Huai Jiamu: ...

Huai Jiamu silently cast a look of disapproval.

We agreed to investigate the god of tides and fertility, but now we are just playing around.

"Oh," the false god blinked, trying to get away with it, "this is also an investigation."

Isn't this an investigation into how Poseidon's followers treat pagans?

"I heard it, too! I heard it, too!" The man stepped back in fear, pointing at the room and shouting, "There's someone here! There's really someone here!"

"Impossible!" Cathy gritted her teeth nervously and refused. "My father is the mayor. If the temple preacher comes here to arrest Bernie, he must be informed!"

"So they can't find your father!" The man grabbed her shoulders and shook her several times, pointing his other hand at the old man next to him, "Uncle Lawrence is with us! Where else can they find him? They must have come directly here! We should have handed him over to the temple in the first place!"

"Then...then..." Cathy was dizzy from his shaking. She stumbled twice and spoke hesitantly, "We left someone guarding the door..."

"The people we left behind are also from the Temple," the man trembled unconsciously as he spoke, "those big shots from Lianzhou City... won't care about our lives."

“Bernard, Bernard,” he turned around and grabbed Bernard, who didn’t know what was going on, and pointed impatiently in the direction behind him, “Why don’t you leave quickly, leave Northrend now, and don’t stay with us.”

"Ah...ah?" Bernard was stunned. "Is it that serious?"

“What else?!” The man glared at him, his tone a little broken. “Now that you believe in the Goddess of Light, of course you can’t stay in this town. Are you still staying here to get us held accountable by those big shots? Why don’t you run away!”

This tone sounds much more lively than before, it seems that he is really panicked.

"You think this is a small matter!" the man said as he quickly untied the hemp rope that bound Bernard. "Bernard, are you mentally ill? You mentioned other gods at the festival! Do you know that as soon as you mention them to others, they will report you?"

"But...but I have always been able to..." Bernard was a little confused and didn't realize what was happening.

"You are in Hydrania now!" the man emphasized through gritted teeth.

"Tsk tsk," Bai Jinshu had already retreated back to the wall where he had just been. He leaned against the wall with his hands spread out and clicked his tongue twice. "Look, the clue is here. It seems that the relationship between the Foundation's advance team is pretty good."

According to common sense, different sects are absolutely mutually exclusive, and there will definitely be some friction and conflict, either overtly or covertly. This is normal in the ordinary world, but in a place like the [War of Faith], such contradictions and conflicts will only be infinitely magnified and not reduced.

Every believer is now a precious resource. Mentioning other gods at one's own ceremonies is robbing one's own resources. This behavior is absolutely intolerable to any god or sect.

But Bernard, who came from the gathering place of the Goddess of Radiance, took this as a common practice, which could only mean one thing -

Huai Jiamu: "The Foundation's advance team has formed an alliance."

It was precisely because of this that Bernard did not realize that he had crossed the line.

These gods took advantage of the time when they arrived first and chose the most suitable location for the development of their sect. Now they are trying to consolidate the number of their believers by forming alliances and occupying the advantageous location. They are probably the group whose faith is most difficult to shake in Theodilance.

"Hmm..." Bai Jinshu touched his chin, "I hope the other contestants who are preparing to face them are fine."

After praying for his competitors in a very half-hearted manner, Bai Jinshu finally remembered those people who were frightened by his malicious words.

In just a few minutes, the pagan Bernard was urged to leave quickly.

"But my parents are still in Northrend. What will happen to them if I leave..."

"Why do you care about that?" The man said in an incredible tone, "Do you think I let you go for your own good? I'm doing this for my own good! You'll get us into trouble! You'll get all of us into trouble!"

Bernard was stunned: "Then do you want to come with me..."

"And then I'll go with you to your place and be arrested as a pagan?" Cathy twitched her lips, and finally couldn't help herself, "Bernie... Bernard! Why were you reported? It's because you don't believe in the Father God, you believe in your Goddess of Light, but we are all believers of the Father God, we are no longer the same kind of people!"

"Hurry up and go, hurry up..."

Before she finished her words, footsteps were heard again at the intersection.

This time, it was no longer just a passing god's evil pleasure.

While several people were still arguing about whether to leave, the real disaster had already arrived. A group of people in white robes walked into the intersection.

Compared with the locals who seemed to make a living by fishing, with brown skin and freckles all over their faces from years of wind and sun, the visitors seemed to be living a life of exceptional luxury, or in other words, they looked like "noble bigwigs".

The leader was a man in a white robe with his hair braided with golden threads. When he saw the people in front of him, he clasped his hands together and said, "May the tides and abundance fill Hydrania."

"May... may tides and abundance fill Hydrania." Several townspeople hurriedly stood up and responded, standing straight in front of him awkwardly, like students who were punished for doing something wrong.

Or, they did something wrong.

From the moment this group of people walked in, Bai Jinshu reinforced his Word Spirit again. Now, no one present could see him and Huai Jiamu, nor could they hear what they were saying.

Although scaring these townspeople made the false god want to have fun, he still knew what was more important.

He and Huai Jiamu are now trying to disguise the attention of the Sea God, in order to hide him from the public. If they scare him when the people from the temple come, then the news that "other gods have appeared in Hydrania" will be spread, which will not be worth the loss.

Before casting the spell of words, he was somewhat worried. If the person coming was some magical creature related to the gods, or a believer who had received certain gifts, the specifications of his spell of words for ordinary people might not be enough, and he would need to use some real force.

But when these people stood in front of him, Bai Jinshu immediately realized that he was worrying too much.

There was no sign of these people having received any gifts, so they should be ordinary people. If they had to be called extraordinary, it would be that they were too out of place compared to the townspeople here, and they were "big shots from big cities."

The first person in white robe who spoke was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties. He was thin, and the nasolabial folds on both sides of his cheeks that had drooped with age were almost vertical, making him look particularly unkind.

Considering the crown prince on the podium today, these people might be noble officials of some status from the capital.

Does the fact that noble officials personally dealt with the pagans mean that in just a few months, the belief in Poseidon had entered the national power structure, and that the country had begun to deeply integrate with His sect?

This speed is a little faster than he imagined. According to normal development, this stage should not come so early.

Bai Jinshu made a few guesses in his mind and continued reading.

The white-robed men who came here also received reports. The person who initially reported Bernard to these townspeople actually reported it more than once. In addition to the mayor, he also told the matter to a big shot who might be from the capital.

These people would show no mercy to a pagan.

As expected, the white-robed leader said a few words of praise and immediately turned his attention to the people behind them: "We received a report that there is a pagan here..."

"Bernard is just..." Cathy wanted to argue, but before she could finish her words, she suddenly stopped under the gaze of the leading preacher.

Unlike his friendly neighbors in the town, this big shot was thin and had the white skin that only pampered aristocrats had. The two nasolabial folds that drooped with age made him look particularly inhuman.

When he stared at her with his eyelids drooping, it didn't seem like he was looking at a fellow human being, but rather, as if he was looking at some animal.

Under his gaze, Cathy felt like a fish being scaled and skinned, and in the next second she would be hung on a wooden pole with a hook through her lip.

"Girl," the big man sighed pretentiously, looked at Cathy's clothes, and threatened casually, "You are a devout believer, you still have your parents and family here, don't ruin it all for a pagan."

"As I recall, your father is the mayor here, right?"

This almost makes the subtext of "If you get involved again, your father's position will be affected" clear.

"Cathy..." The violent man just now also pulled her sleeve slightly, signaling her to shut up. She had to lower her head, silently expressing her obedience.

"After checking, it turns out that this is indeed a pagan who mentioned other gods at the Father God Festival." The big shot nodded with satisfaction at her tact. "Bernard, right?"

Bernard was controlled and paused, then nodded tremblingly. Even if he was stupid, he should now understand that he was in trouble.

"Don't be nervous, we won't do anything to you." He raised his chin and gave a perfunctory smile as if to give alms. "Father God, you have never felt the grace of the God of Tides and Fertility, so you made such a wrong choice."

"We will send you to the kingdom of God the Father. When you feel the grace of God the Father, you will return to his embrace and come back to us."

"The kingdom is... the temple in the square fountain?" Bernard asked tentatively.

Hearing this, a strange smile flashed across the faces of several people in white robes.

“…It could be.” The leading figure looked at him lazily and motioned for the people around him to lift Bernard up. “Now, let’s go change our clothes.”

The servants behind the big shot took Bernard away. Before leaving, he turned back and gave the mayor a warning look. It was not until the dark-skinned old man sat back down as if he could not bear such a gaze that he turned around and left with satisfaction.

"Cathy...Cathy." It was not until the people had left for several minutes that he finally seemed to react. He turned around and grabbed his daughter's arm.

"Get out now and go to Bernie's house!"

Bernard's parents are already very old, and the consequences would be unimaginable if they knew the news.

"This matter must not be spread to his family!"

【Author’s words】

Bernard's nickname is Bernie, not a typo.