Work Prophet
Chapter 102 - 18: Roast Swan and Sparrow Pie

Chapter 102: Chapter 18: Roast Swan and Sparrow Pie

Simple observance of the Double Rest might not have much market in the Bratis Continent, just like Christianity did not sweep the world simply through Sunday services.

However, elevating it to the pursuit of a better life becomes the most basic human instinct.

No matter when or where someone is, what color their skin is, or what status they hold, what language they speak, as long as they are alive, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t hope to live a better life.

The promise of Christianity to go to heaven after death, or Buddhism’s idea of escaping the cycle of rebirth through cultivation (though very few monks actually achieve it, most followers still hope to be reborn into a better life) is also, in some sense, a promise that believing will lead to a better life.

It’s like your boss clapping you on the shoulder and saying, Xiao Wang, keep up the good work, now to 996 might be hard, but just hang in there, and you will surely get a promotion and raise later!

While it’s not advisable to encourage or promote such pie-in-the-sky strategies, having an imaginary pie is still somewhat better than having none at all when resources are limited.

This was especially true considering the low productivity of the times in which these churches were, where people went hungry one day and were full the next, occasionally suffering from natural and man-made disasters.

For the lower classes, whether they believed in God or Buddha, life was equally miserable, but having faith at least gave them something to look forward to, didn’t it?

Life is like that; sometimes being too aware of being hammered can be a bad thing.

However, Li Yu and his Double Rest Sect were different.

They already represented the most advanced productivity, so they didn’t need to indulge in illusions, they just frankly declared to their believers that believing in them would enable them to live a better life in this life itself.

And indeed, it turned out to be true; once the first red brick houses were built and the crops harvested abundantly, every lizard person could personally experience the benefits of venerating Saturday, and naturally their faith would grow firmer.

This is also a second essential element that makes up a religion—religion’s emotional and experiential aspect.

A religion that keeps growing must be able to inspire strong religious feelings in its believers and form a certain ideological system.

This is why Li Yu made establishing the Land God Kingdom on earth the first mission of the Double Rest Sect.

Firstly, of course, it stemmed from the need for missionary work; Li Yu needed lizard people, after living a better life, to go out and actively promote the benefits of believing in Saturday, turning into a natural propagating force.

Secondly, Li Yu also needed to unite people of all different races and from different regions under a sacred sense of mission.

Just like a certain big brother who is no longer with us did.

This had to be done because the Bratis Continent is home to a variety of races—humans, Half-Beasts, Dwarfs, Elves... the relationships between them are complex, not to mention the various contradictions that exist between different social classes and regions over the long term.

Even just focusing on Green Field, lizard people and common people were like fire and water to each other.

If the Double Rest Sect wanted to grow and expand later, without a grand and widely acceptable goal to unite everyone and seek common ground while preserving differences, it would have been hard to really coalesce and have enough organizational strength.

Beyond this, external aspects of religion also include behaviours and activities.

For example, the unique biweekly rest of the Double Rest Sect, and how Li Yu communicated about Saturday in front of Miss Rabbit and Jude, the initiation ceremony he held for Hera, and the "Divine Country" promotional video he is currently showing to the lizard people, all fall within this category.

Additionally, Li Yu was planning to arrange several leisure and entertainment activities unique to the Double Rest Sect, and introduce mindfulness meditation as a spiritual practice (relaxation) for the sect, to increase the sense of ritual and mystery, but there was no rush for these, they could be implemented gradually.

Last, there was the organization and system of the sect.

For now, on Saturdays, the sect had only one key Prophet, Li Yu. It had been manageable when he only had four students, but now, with the addition of the lizard people, Li Yu was starting to be overwhelmed.

Just keeping up with the various production and construction progress on the sect’s territory was enough to keep him busy, not to mention having to preach doctrines among the lizard people and engage in ideological construction.

But there was no choice, these were tasks that currently, no one else but him could handle.

Even if Li Yu could form a team immediately, it would be of no use, so he had to make do for the time being.

Moreover, the low literacy rate among the believers was a problem, including the Prophet himself, who were all illiterate.

Some of the lizard people might have been farmwives living in the Green Field before being abducted to the swamps. They could still speak Universal Language, but many of the male lizard people only spoke their own local dialect.

Any communication with outsiders was basically reliant on axes and knives.

Therefore, although education was not an urgent issue, it needed to be scheduled soon.

Li Yu handled all the accumulated work from the two days he was away, arranged the upcoming production plans, and then explained the doctrines to the lizard people.

Only then did he ride his horse toward Teacup Castle.

Li Yu had even planned to ride a bicycle regularly to exercise, but on his very first day, the lizard people had taken away his bike wheels.

Although they were returned later, one tire had burst and one wheel was deformed, probably used by a previous owner as a shield against some heavy weaponry.

Then the wheel was lost, and so was the person, leaving Li Yu with no one to hold accountable.

Moreover, the land he had been given, which used to be close to Teacup Castle, had been relocated to the far western edge of the swamp, greatly increasing the distance. If Li Yu continued to cycle, he figured he wouldn’t get anything else done but ride back and forth, which would take up his whole day.

So, he didn’t bother bringing the remaining parts over and just got new wheels fitted, leaving the bike in its original universe.

Now, he was still relying on horses for transportation.

After riding for a while, he had mostly gotten used to it, except for a bit of bumpiness and chafing on the inner thighs; everything else was manageable.

However, by the time he arrived, the banquet had already started.

The guards at the gate were now very familiar with Li Yu, and no one stopped him as he entered the castle.

Li Yu rode breathlessly up to the open space in front of the stone castle, which was quite lively, with several long tables set up to cater to the nobles’ entourages and people singing and playing music.

Li Yu dismounted, and immediately a servant came forward to take the horse’s reins. Li Yu thanked them and headed straight through the crowd to the second floor.

As soon as he stepped through the door, he heard a woman’s voice chattering non-stop, "These dishes are all too ordinary. The last time my uncle hosted a banquet, one dish was made with beaver’s tails, and it supposedly took a hundred beavers’ tails to make...

Oh yes, and my sister, on the day of her wedding, there was a dish of roasted swan, and the swan could even spit flames from its mouth, which was quite a sight."

She then looked towards a member of the Royal Family next to her, who seemed quite drowsy, and sweetly said, "Sir Leo, I heard that in the Royal Capital there’s this famous Sparrow Pie, and when you cut into the pie, live sparrows fly out, filling the room and chirping away. Is it true?"