Chapter 383: Paladin on the Stake (5000)

The days in summer are always long.

Summers in the south are much hotter than those in the north, and the humidity is very high and a bit stuffy.

The members of the "Jiaoyang Project" are basically from the north.

These days they have been troubled by big rats, big cockroaches, and various mosquitoes from the south.

In the hotel of the New Holy City, several paladins of the Torch Church burned several giant cockroaches to death with fire.

Members of the Mother Goddess sect opened their creed.

This is Teaching 3: Hygiene Awareness.

The Mother Goddess showed the doctrine to the Paladins of the Torch Church's Novice Faction and introduced it as follows: "The great Dark Goddess of Fertility is a loving and merciful god. As long as we abide by doctrine 3, the Mother Goddess will bless us and protect us from disease."

"We are the Paladins of the Torch Church." The Paladin of the Novice said, "We cannot betray our faith."

The novice paladins know that as long as they abide by the contents of Dogma 3, the god of the Rand Messenger will truly bless them.

This blessing can greatly improve immunity to disease, and the novice paladins are well aware of this.

The summer in the south is hot and humid now, and they often have to go in and out of sewers, which are filthy places. They really need the blessing of the Mother Goddess to enhance their immunity to diseases.

But the paladins were unwilling to betray their faith.

"Don't worry about it." A member of the Mother Goddess sect said, "Mother Goddess is a benevolent and loving god. You don't have to change your faith. As long as you abide by the teachings, Mother Goddess will not be stingy in bestowing blessings."

This was what the Messenger of God Rand told them. No matter who they believed in, as long as they were willing to abide by the teachings of the Mother Goddess, the Mother Goddess would generously bestow the corresponding blessings.

Through the practice of the followers of the Mother Goddess sect, they have truly realized that this is real and effective.

The truth that Lord Rand told them was taken as their guiding principle.

The kindness of the Mother Goddess is therefore deeply rooted in people's hearts.

The Paladins of the Novice sect were persuaded, although they adhered to other sects and the teachings of the cult, which was somewhat heretical.

But they have already cooperated with Count Rand's Mother Goddess Sect under the leadership of Saint Karin and Archbishop Kahn, right?

This is already very unorthodox.

Maybe a few years ago, looking at themselves now, they would loudly denounce them as heretics, or simply think that they have been bewitched by cultists.

Now, it seems that there is no problem in changing a little bit? Besides, they really need the blessing of the Mother Goddess for resisting the epidemic.

The paladins of the Torch Church began to listen to the followers of the Mother Goddess Sect talk about the contents of Doctrine 3.

In fact, they more or less knew some of the contents of Doctrine 3 on hygiene awareness. After all, they had had a lot of contact with the followers of the Mother Goddess Sect.

But now that it involves a ceremony, I still need to listen to the lesson again to avoid any mistakes.

"When there is enough fuel for survival, water must be cooked before it can be drunk. The specific means of cooking is..." After asking the paladins to confirm that no one was eavesdropping, the believers of the Mother Goddess sect cleared their throats and began to teach the doctrine.

As the earliest follower of the Fertility Goddess sect, although this follower did not develop as fast as Thesserai, he also had a very deep understanding of the doctrine and Rand's ideas.

During the four and a half years that I worked with Rand, at least he was able to explain the doctrines with ease and with lots of witty remarks.

The paladins listened very carefully.

Then comes the ceremony.

After eating and going to the toilet, you must wash your hands, drinking water must be cooked, and no raw food is eaten except for a few ingredients specially authorized by Lord Rand.

When food is plentiful and you have some free time, exercise moderately and wash your clothes and body regularly.

The final step of washing clothes and body is that once you start, you must continue to do it, otherwise you are not allowed to wash your body.

The contents of these rituals are relatively complex and the time span is relatively long, but the specific contents are not difficult to perform and there is no religious requirement.

After the explanation, the followers of the Mother Goddess sect said: "The blessing of the Mother Goddess may not completely protect against diseases, but it is definitely effective, and as long as you are willing to adhere to the doctrine, the Mother Goddess will not take back the blessing."

The Paladin students all nodded.

Afterwards, members of the "Proud Sun Project" began to contact civilians and sell goods as normal.

But after a while, they felt something was wrong.

No paladins came to buy goods today. You know, the blended juice tea bags they sell are very popular and they sell a lot every day.

But not a single paladin came today.

After asking a fellow businessman in the commercial district, I learned that a traitor had appeared in the New Holy City.

Some paladins and clergy in the New Holy City felt that the sewer environment would cause the civilians in the "slums" to get sick and die, so they decided to give the civilians some herbs and let them escape.

But they had bad luck.

The traitors in the New Holy City have acted very carefully.

The traitors planned the route strictly and rotated guards to ensure that all the people guarding the city and patrolling that night were their own. But that night, the Grand Knight happened to pass by.

The Grand Knight returned from the entertainment venue in the New Holy City.

By chance, they encountered a Paladin and a Clergyman who were planning to release the civilians in the sewer in the dark.

The Grand Knight Commander is an undisputed top-level professional, and carries a number of powerful magical equipment with him.

A standard top-level professional is equivalent to twenty or thirty experienced, fully armed soldiers.

But what if you have powerful magic weapons, and you are not facing them at the same time in a narrow area, and they are not ordinary top-level professionals.

That will naturally be different.

Furthermore, the Grand Knight does not need to kill all these traitors and civilians by himself.

Therefore, the huge noise caused by the battle soon disturbed the paladins and other clergy who were sleeping or enjoying themselves in the city.

A large number of civilians who tried to escape were caught back, and the traitors who tried to let the civilians escape were also caught.

Letting some civilians escape is actually not a big crime.

After all, civilians are not that valuable property, and as long as there is not too much loss, it will not affect the operation of the New Holy City.

However, the problem with these traitors is that they betrayed the ideals of the New Holy City.

The New Holy City believes that only the Utilitarian Faction of the Torch Church is noble, and other Torch Church factions, or nobles, royal families, and even civilians, are all inferior.

They are only worthy of being paid money and provided with labor.

Of course, civilians and serfs must be of a lower level.

And these traitors who tried to let the civilians go clearly betrayed this ideal.

Now these traitors are heretics! The members of the "Proud Sun Project" still dressed as merchants and merchant guards and headed to the square of the New Holy City.

There are already a lot of people gathered here.

Nobles, messengers, merchants, paladins and clergy from the New Holy City, many people came here to watch.

There are several wooden pillars on the high platform of the square.

Tied to it were bloodstained priests and paladins.

"There's a traitor among us!" The Grand Knight Commander had slight bruises on his face. They actually dared to betray the faith of the Torch Goddess.

The Grand Knight did not declare the crimes of these traitors, only that they had betrayed their faith.

After all, it would not sound good to tell others that he was burned to death because he planned to release civilians.

There are nobles and merchants watching below.

If it gets out, it may affect the image of the New Holy City.

Although it is possible, due to the lavish money-making, the image of the New Holy City is no better.

The purpose of this burning at the stake was to deter some of the wavering members of the New Holy City Church.

The Grand Knight Commander walked to a stake and questioned the paladin tied to it in a voice that could not be heard by the audience: "Do you regret it?"

The Grand Knight was greeted with a sneer.

"Stupid! If I hadn't brought you here to build the New Holy City, you would still be working for that lunatic Karin." The Grand Knight was a little angry. Although he carried a lot of magic equipment with him that night, he was not wearing armor, which resulted in some minor injuries when he intercepted these traitors.

Moreover, he did not understand these people's thoughts. The ideas of the past were obviously no longer suitable for the present. Now, only wealth should be what the Torch Church pursues.

If you don't pay them, you won't be able to enjoy the favor of the Torch Goddess.

The Grand Knight also lost interest in talking more with these traitors.

Preparations for the burning at the stake have begun.

Since this burning at the stake had religious significance, the Grand Knight chose the sacred fire of the Torch Church as the source of the fire.

According to legend, this is the flame that the Torch Goddess originally gave to mankind.

Used for heating, roasting food, and cleansing evil spirits.

However, the Grand Knight knew very well that this was nothing more than a religious legend. This holy fire was not much different from the ordinary exorcism flames that the Torch Church sold to the nobles for exorcism.

It has a certain effect in dispelling evil spirits, but that’s all.

The Grand Knight Commander took the torch, started the fire, and then lit the dry wood under the stake.

There were quite a few traitors, but not all of them were caught and burned at the stake this time. The rest were imprisoned in prison.

The Grand Knight Commander plans to execute them in batches over several days.

A raging fire started.

Thick smoke and flames covered the victims.

Now it's time to listen to the screams of the traitors.

But it didn’t.

The Grand Knight Commander was a little surprised. How could these traitors endure this? The pain of the flames burning the body could not be endured by willpower alone.

Then the Grand Knight frowned again. These traitors seemed unharmed by the flames.

The Grand Knight's expression darkened.

He didn't know the reason, maybe he drank the fire-resistant potion in advance?

Or maybe someone did something to the Holy Flame? But the impact would not be too great.

The Grand Knight Commander just sneered.

He didn't bother to care what these people were trying to do.

unimportant.

Anyway, it seems that what they have done will not have any effect at the moment.

In any case, the most he could do was disgust him. It would be impossible for him to escape by doing so.

The Grand Knight drew the sword from his waist and stabbed it into the heart of the tortured traitor.

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Under the high platform in the square, among the audience, Walker also came here with everyone after disguising himself.

Walker was the traitor who was captured at the beginning. He was an agricultural talent discovered by Fenris, and he was willing to come to the New Holy City as a guide.

With Walker's help, the "Sun Project" has been going smoothly so far.

Everyone's reputation in the "slums" was steadily increasing, but because it was still a short time, they had not yet gained full trust, and they did not know about the escape plan that night.

Walker recognized the man on the platform who was being burned by flames.

That's his friend.

There are many paladins and clergy in the New Holy City who oppose the current utilitarian philosophy.

The person being burned on the stage is one of them.

When he was assigned to go undercover in the Earldom of Moon Phase, this friend gave him a good sword.

Of course, he didn't have many opportunities to use the sword.

But it is still a testament to their friendship, and the sword is still in the hotel.

Walker's original plan was to find his friends after gaining a foothold here to further promote the "Scorching Sun Project".

Walker was actually a little worried that his friend had changed his mind, so he planned to use the sword of friendship to persuade his friend to help.

As a result, his friend now took action first.

Now his friend was being roasted at the stake, and Walker could do nothing.

Walker gnashed his teeth and stared at the great knight commander in bright armor.

The teeth rub against each other, making a rattling sound.

The nascent Paladins of Project Pride noticed Walker's anger.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Calm down. We can't be exposed now."

Walker nodded.

Take a deep breath and calm yourself down.

The Grand Knight actually stabbed the "traitor" in the heart with his sword.

This scene made Walker furious, but he still could do nothing.

After the "traitor" died, the fire began to take effect, and the scorching flames burned the "traitor" of the utilitarian faction of the Torch Church into charcoal.

The members of "Project Pride" returned to the hotel.

After checking the soundproofing once more, an older Novice Paladin spoke up.

"I just inquired and found out that this is only the first batch of those who were burned at the stake. There are still many who are imprisoned in the cells. We can take the opportunity to rescue them." The older paladin of the Novice Faction said after thinking for a while.

Strictly speaking, this elderly Paladin of the Novice Sect was the leader of the Prideful Sun Project. He had just seen that the followers of the Mother Goddess Sect were very good at infiltration, so he readily listened to their suggestions.

Now it can be confirmed that, indeed, not all the followers of the Torch Church in the New Holy City are heretics who only care about money.

There are still believers who pursue justice.

Just like Walker, and Walker's friends.

They are even willing to give up their comfortable lives and try to release the civilians in the slums.

Then in the eyes of the nascent paladins, those people are their companions, and they are worth saving.

I just don’t know if it is possible to break out of the prison in this new holy city.

The older Torchlight Church's nascent paladin looked at Walker and said, "According to you, if we intend to rescue the captured paladins, where should we try to start?"

"I think there should be some believers who did not participate in the action for various reasons but also opposed the concept of the new holy city," Walker said. "I am willing to take the risk and contact them."

…

The rat man Quirrell returned to the sewer slums.

Of course, he also took part in the escape that night.

Although the rat people seem to be involved in a strange conspiracy, this does not affect their escape plan.

The sewers stink even more in the summer, and already humans and humanoids are getting sick.

The civilians here cannot eat clean food and are surrounded by dirty things all day long. It would be strange if they did not get sick.

They must escape as soon as possible, otherwise the probability of dying from the disease is too high.

But the escape failed.

I actually met the strongest man in this city, the Grand Knight Commander.

The good people of the Torch Church were taken to the stake.

As for these civilians, some of those who ran in the front were killed, and the rest were just whipped.

They did not suffer too much punishment because civilians were nothing more than property and tools to the upper echelons of the New Holy City and did not need to be taken too seriously.

Just kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

The ratman Quirrell and the traitor Paladin who was burned to death today were also familiar to him.

Back in the slums, the paladin discovered that the ratman Quirrell was smart and unique.

Later, the escape plan was also jointly formulated by the Paladin and the ratman Quirrell.

But it failed due to an accident.

The drunken appearance of the Grand Knight Commander that night proved that his appearance was really accidental and not someone's betrayal.

The originally well-thought-out plan failed.

On that chaotic night, the young paladin who was familiar to him told Quirrel that he had a friend who was now assigned to work away from home.

But it will come back sooner or later.

His friend is also a righteous paladin. If he wants to have hope in the future, he can ask his friend for help.

And this paladin hopes that the ratman Quirrell will tell his friend what is happening now and ask his friend not to act rashly.

And tell his friends to run away if they don't want to help the civilians.

The young paladin said that the philosophy of the New Holy City must be wrong, and that if the New Holy City continued to act in this way, it would sooner or later be punished by the Torch Goddess herself.

The now deceased paladin's friend was named Walker.

He was wearing a sword inlaid with flame patterns.

The dead Paladin and Quirrel described what the sword looked like.

The rat man Quirrell returns to his home in the sewers.

He was still dressed in rags as always, but this time, there were many more whip marks on his body.

Quirrell distributed the food to his wife and children.

During the meal, his wife looked at the whip marks on Quirrell's body with some concern and asked, "That lord..."

The rat man Quirrell shook his head.

"I... I don't know."

He knew that a "traitor" would be burned at the stake today.

This is the traditional punishment of the Torch Church.

Traitors will be regarded as evil and need to be cleansed with fire.

When there was no split, the Crimson King Karin would use fire to destroy traitors.

It’s just that Karin’s flames are more merciful, because in a split second, a person will be reduced to ashes.

Nowadays, the burning at the stake would probably be used for execution.

The reason why I use the word "estimated" is that as a captured civilian who was only fit to live in the sewers, he naturally had no right to watch the burning at the stake.

But he knew very well that there was no chance that the upright paladin would survive.

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(End of this chapter)