Chapter 450: Profit
The sea breeze blew over the sea, the waves surged and a huge fleet was sailing forward. On the broad deck of the flagship, a nun in formal attire felt more uneasy after hearing the words of the priest in front of her. After hesitating for a while, she spoke.
"Eh... the great master personally arranged... and many important people attended the welcome banquet? This... isn't it a bit too grand? We are just here for pilgrimage... I think, I don't think it's necessary to make it so troublesome..."
"Why not? Sister Vanya, you have just become enlightened and enlightened hundreds of thousands of ignorant people in Xiashu, allowing them to recognize the true truth of this world and convert to the glory of the Holy Spirit. You have done such a great deed, so you deserve a grand welcome banquet."
Looking at the nervous nun in front of him, Andre spoke in a comforting tone, but after hearing his words, Vanya's expression didn't seem to be relieved much.
"Um... I just did what I should do. For Xia Shu and the others, I wanted to help them a little out of pity and self-help, but I didn't expect that it would actually help them realize the true meaning of the Holy Spirit. This result is something I didn't expect... I, I really didn't expect that I would make things turn out like this..."
Vanya said this, and she looked like a child who had done something that caused an unexpected commotion, looking uneasy and at a loss. Listening to her words, Andre paused slightly, then his expression became a little serious and he spoke.
"Sister Vanya, no matter what the facts are, no matter whether you have thought about educating the ignorant people of Xiashu beforehand, now that the people of Xiashu have all declared their conversion, you are the indisputable enlightener and the first minister. This is beyond doubt, and you should not doubt yourself.
"Now all the newspapers have started to report your achievements, so no matter who you are in front of, you must remember your identity as Pastor Xia Shu, don't you understand?"
Facing the nun in front of him, Andre spoke seriously. Listening to the other party's words, Vanya trembled slightly, then nodded and spoke.
"I'm tired..."
"Oh, don't be nervous, Sister Vanya. Go back to the cabin and have a good rest. It's best to be in the best condition to welcome the welcome banquet." Andre smiled slightly in a relaxed tone, and then continued to speak to Vanya. After hearing the other party's words, Vanya responded respectfully.
"I understand, Father Andre. I will be back soon."
Having said this, Vanya turned around and left the deck, returning to the cabin. After passing through a long corridor, she finally returned to her cabin. The moment the cabin door was closed, Vanya leaned against the cabin door and breathed a sigh of relief.
"This is the first time I've been in such a spotlight. I'm so nervous. I didn't expect this to have such a big impact... Not only did the university arrange a banquet, but it was also reported in the newspapers..."
Covering her chest, Vanya thought nervously in her heart that although she had been reminded before, she was still a little unprepared for such a big commotion.
Vanya thought that on the surface she was only persuading some marginal people to convert, just like the Tivian Church would organize people to spread the Three Saints' teachings in some extremely remote places. She was just doing the same thing with them, and although it was laborious, it would not cause such a big fuss that it even alarmed the Ivig Archbishop.
Recalling the grand ceremony when the church navy came to pick her up during her time in Xia Shu, Vanya still felt a little flustered. As a person who grew up in the church and was an ordinary reader half a year ago, she could not help but be flattered to receive such special care and treatment.
"According to what Dorothea-san said before, when I return to the church fleet, I have to act as surprised and nervous as possible about what happened to Natsuki. At first, I was worried whether I could perform well... But looking at the current situation, I don't think I can perform well..."
As she walked to the bed in the cabin, Vanya sighed in her heart and said that in this situation, her nervousness and anxiety came completely from the bottom of her heart.
'I really don't know what will happen after I arrive at Adelia. I hope the impact of this incident will pass quickly. It feels... uncomfortable to always attract everyone's attention...'
Thinking of this, Vanya sat down on the edge of her bed. After taking a few glances at the sea view outside the window, she took out her own holy book with a little uneasiness, opened a page, and began to write on it.
"Miss Dorothea, I'm sorry to bother you again. I have some new information to report to you. I heard from the classroom on the ship that I will arrive in Adelia the next day. There will be a welcome banquet arranged by Ivig University. At that time, I may have to face university-level figures directly. I don't have any problem with that, right..."
…
At the same time, on the other side of the sea, an ordinary passenger ship was sailing on the vast ocean. In a first-class cabin of the passenger ship, Dorothy, wearing a red dress with the characteristics of a marine uniform, was sitting inside, staring at the "Wenhai Navigation Guide" in front of her with a serious expression, looking at the latest news that Vanya wrote to her.
"Natsuki's conversion did not expect such a big reaction from the church. Not only did multiple newspapers in multiple countries report it at the same time... even a relatively large church in a certain area was alarmed and arranged a banquet... I did not expect that..."
Dorothy thought so in her heart as she looked at the familiar handwriting on the "Wenhai Navigation Log". Then she looked at the headlines of a pile of newspapers from different publishers placed next to the "Wenhai Navigation Log". The news reported on them were all about pilgrims in distress, the Holy Mother Sisters preaching the gospel, and the conversion of marginalized people.
These were all bought by Dorothy at various places in Troyes before boarding the ship, in order to verify the church's propaganda efforts regarding Xia Shu. To be honest, they were much stronger than she had originally imagined.
Dorothy knew that converting hundreds of thousands of marginalized people would have a relatively large impact on the church, but she did not expect the impact to be so great. From what she knew now, the church had conquered multiple countries and cities on the northern coast of the sea and used the media to report on Xia Shu's incident at the same time. After revealing the secret content, it promoted the incident as a successful modern bishop's missionary story.
The church has been promoting this incident on a large scale, seemingly trying to turn Vanya into a new saint and Xia Shu's conversion into a new age holy story. Dorothy could see that many passengers on the ship were having heated discussions after reading these reports, and many devout passengers with deep religious feelings even began to get excited about the content, calling Sister Vanya a new age saint.
'It feels a bit strange that the church has been so aggressive in promoting Xia Shu's case. They were just about to send a fleet to destroy the entire island a while ago. Just a few days after announcing their conversion, they started to publicize their achievements so loudly before they had fully figured out the matter. It feels a bit wrong...
'They are rushing to publicize the preaching of Saint Vanya so loudly. Aren't they afraid that when they encounter stubborn marginalized people like Xia Shu in the future, they will be decisively purified because of the previous publicity? Besides, the danger of the pilgrims indirectly reflects the poor escort of the church knights. Such a high-profile publicity of this matter will actually have a bad impact on some other departments of the church...'
Sitting on the bed in the cabin, Dorothy looked at Vanya's response in the "Wenhai Navigation" and thought, she put herself in the shoes of the church and thought that Xia Shu's incident should not be publicized so quickly and so high-profile. Although the church's influence has been expanded, the religious ideas of the Three Saints... especially the ideas of the Holy Cross have been promoted. But from another perspective, it also limits the legitimacy of the church's direct use of force against the marginalized pagans in the future, and also exposes the dereliction of duty of some departments in the church.
Dorothy spoke on behalf of the entire church and said that she would indeed publicize Xia Shu's conversion, but not so quickly and in such a high profile. At the moment, this situation should be very beneficial to some people in the church, but for others, they might not like it so much.
In Dorothy's opinion, the church's situation is a sign of internal divisiveness. They are so determined to purify and so determined to promote gentle education. This situation is likely the result of internal power struggles.
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