Chapter 126 Revenge
The Church's retaliation was swift and fierce. The Inquisition began a large-scale roundup of townspeople who had interacted with the students. Due to the series of incidents, members of the White Tower Youth Association had recently become extremely cautious, refusing to leave the campus unless absolutely necessary. However, the Inquisition went so far as to fabricate various charges and subsequently arrested a dozen ordinary students outside the school.
The faculty and students of Baita University were filled with shock and anger. Several professors wrote a joint letter of protest to officials in Baita Town, but the response they received was, "According to the law, the Inquisition has the right to detain citizens suspected of heresy, as long as the innocent are released within one month."
In a month, the corpses would have become rotten. These officials clearly did not want to interfere in the struggle between the Holy See and the Society.
The seminary itself has also been severely criticized. Recently, several archbishops have questioned the authority of the Baita University seminary: "It is true that theologians have sworn an oath to the Okunsele River to ensure fairness and impartiality - but how can the students they teach be sure that what they say is true?"
One cardinal has even publicly stated that if blasphemy cannot be avoided in seminaries, he will suggest to His Holiness the Pope to rethink the legitimacy of the existence of "seminaries".
The tense atmosphere was like a shadow hanging over everyone's heads, until the tragic news came: a junior high school student who had just enrolled was publicly arrested by the Heresy Court on the charge of "suspected of having heresy" for simply mailing a letter home from school. Unexpectedly, the child died "accidentally" in his panicked struggle and resistance - the anger of all the teachers and students in the school finally broke out completely, the students began to boycott classes, took to the streets to march and protest.
The enraged students seized the Church of Light. Several priests, caught off guard, were tied up and thrown into the open space in front of the church. Their once spotless, exquisite white robes were now stained with mud from the trampling of boots. Several leading students from the White Tower Youth Association began publicly reading out the charges against the other party: corruption, seizure, deception, frame-up, and adultery. As the crowd gathered, the flames of hatred and revenge were brewing, perhaps just a gust of wind would turn them into a raging sea of inferno.
Sometimes things develop like sand building a tower, and sometimes they collapse like mountains. At least before the arrival of winter, no one had ever imagined, nor dared to imagine, that the white-robed priests of the Radiant Church would kneel in front of the common people in such an embarrassing way.
The Inquisition did not arrive immediately to disperse the demonstrators because they themselves were in deep trouble.
Just last night, another prominent figure died under mysterious circumstances, in a tragic manner, leaving behind no trace of his last message. The string of assassinations has rattled all the Judges—remember, this was a low-level Lord's Prayer-level sorcerer. The culprit might be Owl, given its renowned twitchiness. But worse still, if it wasn't Owl, it could only mean that there's another powerful figure in Baita Town with unclear goals and unclear positions, and powerful figures are all madmen.
When they heard about the students' street protests, they were unsure whether it was a trap or a decoy. With no response from their superiors and internal chaos, they had missed the perfect opportunity by hesitating—by now, nearly half the town's inhabitants, young and old, were on the streets. Even the Judge was apprehensive about a dozen sorcerers and warriors dealing with a crowd of thousands that appeared to have lost their minds.
The Vatican asked the local police department to send people to disperse the demonstrators, but those bastards who received salaries and bribes in vain only denounced the civilians' audacity, and in the end they always ended up complaining about the police department being understaffed and powerless, making it clear that they were going to allow the conflict to escalate.
In front of the Church of Light, students specially invited the victims and their relatives and friends to come forward to identify the victims.
At first, no one dared to step forward. But as time went on, more and more townspeople flocked to the Church of Light to support the students. The messenger of the Divine Path became the target of public judgment, while the chains of light from the Inquisition and the sheriff's club never appeared. The crowd gradually grew in courage, and soon the first person stepped forward, followed by a second, a third—until a long line formed.
The priests who were identified fell to the ground in embarrassment. Some priests cursed at the crowd, accusing them of being heretics who had been bribed to defile the Holy See. However, as the victims stood up one by one, some even came forward with physical and witness evidence to identify the priests, and some even burst into tears while speaking. The evidence was conclusive and irrefutable, and the priests' faces gradually turned pale.
The enraged crowd grew restless, and soon some began shouting "Trial," demanding that the Church publicly punish these priests for serious crimes according to church law. The shouts spread like a tidal wave. The demonstration continued late into the night, and only then did the exhausted crowd gradually disperse. The captured priests were taken back to the custody of the White Tower Youth Association. The Church never responded.
The people of Baita Town, whose anger could not be vented, gathered at the door of the Church of Light again early the next morning - but this time, what was waiting for them was the prepared Inquisition.
"You wouldn't harbor such foolish expectations as 'the Church would be wary of civilian casualties.'" The professor heard Ole's voice in his ear. He glanced coldly at the place where the voice came from. It seemed that there was no one there - but the Shadow Chaser had already blended into the crowd.
"Don't be ridiculous." The black-haired young man said expressionlessly, "You might as well wait for the day when I will be afraid of your brain."
The brief, lively bickering quickly ended before it even began. The Judges, clad in armor, stood before the Church of Light. The sunlight shone on their gleaming armor, revealing a terrifying sacredness and majesty. For a moment, the townspeople hesitated and paused.
The Judge's cold eyes reflected a series of extremely ordinary faces, so ordinary that it was almost impossible to tell them apart. Normally, they would never see these vulgar faces, because ordinary people would only bow their heads in awe before them, timid as mice, docile as lambs, and lowly as ants.
But the faces before him were like a silent, dark ocean, and the source of that ocean was the impassioned, foolish call of a group of students taking to the streets—they were just students, and even most of them were ordinary people, easily killed in their eyes—but why not act now? Why not cast a spell on the crowd before him and enjoy the humble creatures' fleeing and screaming?
A man walked out from the crowd. He was tall and thin, wearing glasses, looked like a scholar, and was wearing a half-worn coat. His slightly curly black hair stuck to his pale forehead.
"I'm Nova, an ordinary theology professor at the Theological Seminary of Baita University." The other party introduced himself very calmly, and the surrounding townspeople were slightly agitated - many people recognized him, the famous editor-in-chief of the "Limin Daily".
"Stand back!" a judge shouted sternly.
The other party ignored him. As he approached slowly, several chains of light suddenly brushed past the man's toes and smashed down, immediately stirring up a large cloud of snow mist and a burst of panicked shouting - but when the snow mist dissipated, the pair of smoky gray eyes still clearly revealed the reflection of the judge in front of them.
"I swear on the Okansele River that what I say next is the truth."
The scene gradually grew quiet, and everyone stared at him with wide eyes—who would start by swearing an oath to the Okansele River? But the black-haired young man's voice was unwavering, and every word fell like thunder.
"I want to accuse the Inquisition of corruption, betrayal of light, and collaboration with blasphemous heretics. They killed the Earl's son, Bill Fam, and falsely accused White Tower University student Madel Rabbi, causing him to be branded a heretic and forced to commit suicide."
Silence reigned, the air almost frozen, and everyone present began to doubt their own hearing. The Inquisition collaborating with heretics? This was simply the most absurd joke in the world.
But now the joke seemed to be coming true. Ivan Adrian, the president of the White Tower Youth Association, pushed a staggering man out from the crowd and then took off the sack on his head.
Aisen Pass stared blankly into the void. It seemed that Shadow Chaser had indeed taken good care of him.
Adrian, under the spotlight, couldn't help but feel suspicious. He even thought he was having a nightmare that night because after seeing the Shadow Chaser fall, he somehow fainted. When he woke up, he found that he was still alive, and the Masons were still alive. Even when he couldn't help but feel sad and mourn for the young and lively Shadow Chaser, the guy patted him on the shoulder from behind, giving him a big start.
——At that time, he almost thought that the bizarre legend that "believers of the God of Night and Death can be resurrected" was actually true.
When Adrian learned the professor wanted to meet him, he was apprehensive, convinced he must be a prominent figure with a special identity and a great mission, lurking at White Tower University disguised as a theology professor. But when he saw him, his mind went blank, and the first thing he said was, "Are you finally going to kill me and silence me?"
...Then he clearly saw the disdain and contempt in the gentleman's eyes.
The mysterious figure who had once been his professor offered him two choices: one was to sign a soul contract, withdraw from the White Tower Youth Club, keep his testimony secret, and the Shadow Chaser would no longer protect him. The other was to fully assist in the operation, sternly warning him that it would be dangerous, but he would do his best to protect his life.
Adrian felt himself trembling with excitement. The prospect of a foreseeable future had him agreeing to the second option almost without a second thought. However, when he calmed down and chewed the biscuits he had managed to snag from the professor, Adrian realized that this was clearly a disguised form of "silencing someone."
...But the sad thing is that he even agreed with the other person's "coldness" and began to feel that he was a complete fool for having previously thought that this person was "noble."
When Adrian came to his senses, he saw Aisen Pass open his mouth under everyone's gaze.
"I swear by the Okensele River..."
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