Work Prophet
Chapter 264 - 22 Spending... Spending Money on Missionary Work?

Chapter 264: Chapter 22 Spending... Spending Money on Missionary Work?

The Double Rest Sect was still adopting the traditional missionary method.

Priests were sent deep into every village, every household to preach, which allowed the missionaries to fully engage with their targets and tailor strategies accordingly, adapting as necessary.

The downside was that this method was far too inefficient, and given the armed forces currently available to the Double Rest Sect, it was impossible to provide adequate protection for each monk.

Therefore, Li Yu decided to take a different approach, dividing Green Field into four ecclesiastical districts and gathering the villagers from within each district in one place whenever it was time to proselytize.

This way, the missionaries from the Double Rest Sect wouldn’t need to go into each village individually; they could preach in groups of dozens at a time, which significantly reduced the dangers they might encounter while sharing a single guard detachment, lightening the security pressure on the Black Dog Guards.

"Hmm, your idea isn’t bad, but the problem is, how do you plan to gather the people?" Miss Rabbit raised a question, "I could order the serfs, make them listen to your preaching, but that would only apply to the farms owned by our family.

"Besides, there is no such precedent on the Bratis Continent, or perhaps I could incorporate it into their corvée labor..." Although the Arias family had become wealthy, Ireya still felt a pang at the thought of wasting so much labor.

Li Yu shook his head and responded, "There’s no need for that, using orders wouldn’t be effective, and it might even elicit resistance from the citizens, making missionary work even harder.

"Then what do you plan to do?"

"Very simple, distribute eggs."

"Distribute eggs?"

"Eggs are just an example, it doesn’t have to be actual eggs. We could also distribute bread, malt beer or simply give out cash. Could you write a letter to Frodo, the vice-chairman of the Golden Fleece Commerce, and ask him what’s languishing on the shelves in Black Stone City?

"If the price is tempting enough, the Double Rest Sect might consider making bulk purchases to use as gifts for villagers who come to listen to the sermons."

Lady Ireya was dumbfounded at the suggestion, "Spend... spend money on proselytizing? That doesn’t seem appropriate."

In her perception, she had never heard of a church doing something like this. There were plenty who raised funds through missionary work, like the Silver Moon Church often did, claiming it would win favor with the goddess Pisya.

And Noble Families like the Arias family would even pay an extra sum each year to sponsor various festivals and sacrifices, to show their reverence for the goddess.

The idea of a church paying its faithful was something she had never heard of before.

Even though it wasn’t her own money being spent, she instinctively felt it was wrong; it seemed too wasteful. Losing money with each preaching, who could withstand that?

"It’s not really that much," Li Yu explained, "I’ve calculated it, and if it’s half a loaf of white bread per person, it would cost less than three Gold Lions for a hundred people, thirty Gold Lions for a thousand people, and three hundred Gold Lions for ten thousand people. Green Field has just over twenty thousand people."

"Six hundred Gold Coins a day, isn’t that a lot?" Miss Rabbit was shocked once she did the math.

Since she had been in business partnerships with Li Yu, she knew quite well about his financial situation.

Together, they sold pepper, and after an entire cycle, they could only make three hundred Gold Coins; Li Yu took two hundred, and Miss Rabbit barely made one hundred. Furthermore, this was a business that only happened once every twenty days, and along with the money earned from selling "giant dragon blood", that was essentially all the income they had initially.

By the time of the great battle with the Black Dragon, that money had been spent every last penny; the real wealth for both came later, thanks to the wave of likes and coin donations from various noble families after the Dragon Slayer feat, as well as the rewards from the Figrola family.

Not only had they helped the Arias family and Double Rest Sect upgrade their weapons and equipment, but they had also received a fair amount of money and a large quantity of materials. The Figrola family alone gave ten thousand Gold Coins, which Ireya had split evenly with Li Yu.

So however much money Miss Rabbit had on hand, Li Yu should have an equal amount.

The girl calculated in her heart that if all those materials were converted into money and used for Missionary work, it seemed they could only maintain it for two or three months.

This consumption was terrifying, and it was only within Green Field.

With her understanding of Li Yu, Ireya believed that he wouldn’t be content with just peacefully residing in one corner. However, expanding further would mean astronomical expenses.

"It won’t take that long," as if he had seen through her thoughts, Li Yu explained, "According to my estimate, as long as the Missionary Sabbath doesn’t make any major mistakes, reaching twelve or thirteen sermons should convert over half of the believers.

"After that, the frequency of Missionary work can slow down, changing to the normal once every Friday, and there won’t be any need to pay additional fees."

"What about the remaining people?" the girl asked again.

"They will be influenced by the people around them. As long as there are enough followers of Double Rest Sect around him and they live better than he does, he will gradually convert to Saturday as well."

...

Since they had already planned to wage war with the Double Rest Sect, aside from secretly sending out the Black Armored Cavalry to smear the Double Rest Sect’s reputation and intimidate their Sabbaths, the Silver Moon Church naturally had actions in the open as well.

Following Jile, up to dozens of Priests had rushed to Green Field one after another, and the figure of a Priest could be seen in almost every small village, something previously unimaginable.

In the Western Border, a Priest’s status was not inferior to that of Nobles. Many common farmers would rarely have the chance to encounter such important persons in their lifetimes, nevermind them setting foot in their village.

Eating the same simple food as the villagers and sleeping on the same straw piles they had once lain on.

Every morning when they saw them, they would even smile and call out each person’s name, personally telling them about the goddess’s mercy and justice, and patiently answering all the doubts in their hearts.

For a time, all villagers were moved.

Especially the older believers, who couldn’t help but burst into tears. Those who were somewhat hesitant recognized their past mistakes with the Priests’ help, felt ashamed of their previous vacillation, and returned to the embrace of the goddess.

In just a few days, the Silver Moon Church had reversed its previous downtrend, stabilized its footing in Green Field anew, and, taking advantage of the fact that the Double Rest Sect’s Sabbaths now dared not go out, they had sounded the horn for a counterattack.

Even bold and fearless young Priests dared to preach on Double Rest Sect’s territory. Even though he had only started talking and hadn’t said much before being tied up by the lizard people, gagged, and thrown out.

However, his daring act inspired many people, significantly boosting the morale of the Silver Moon Church’s side.