Work Prophet
Chapter 305 - 63: The Division of the Church

Chapter 305: Chapter 63: The Division of the Church

As Hirodod had expected, the other five High Priests did not agree with his suggestion, but Hirodod hadn’t expected these people to stand by his side in the first place.

In fact, his previous words were not meant for them.

This discussion on how to deal with the Double Rest Sect wasn’t only for High Priests; over a hundred Priests were present, although they hadn’t had a chance to voice their opinions before.

It wasn’t until Priest Hesiod spoke, "Alright, everyone, feel free to put forward your thoughts," that the conversation continued.

A group of priests looked at each other before Sethis, an old priest, stood up from the ground and respectfully bowed to the six men before he spoke.

"Forming an army is out of the question, for it is the foundation of the Church in the western reaches. Moreover, the goddess teaches us to keep away from violence."

"But what if our lives are threatened—who will protect us?" someone immediately retorted.

"Perhaps... we could hire some guards and mercenaries," Sethis suggested.

"Those guards and mercenaries are barely enough to handle the thieves in the city. In the wilderness, when faced with a larger number of bandits, they will abandon you to save their own lives, not to mention when facing a real army."

Sethis knew that the other party was telling the truth, so he shifted his approach and said, "I think our main focus should still be on persuading the other nobles of the western reaches to thoroughly explain the dangers posed by Merlin and his Double Rest Teaching Institute, and isolate the Arias family as much as possible."

"How? Ireya is now an Emperor-appointed Dragon Slayer Knight, and the Arias family has just rescued the western reaches with the Double Rest Sect... Those nobles have always cared about their reputations; no one is going to act against the Arias family at this time."

"We don’t need them to act. We just need to properly block the Arias family, keeping those guys from coming out of Green Field," another priest spoke up.

And his words received quite a bit of agreement.

Whether they liked it or not, Silver Moon Church’s failure in Green Field had already occurred. Now, more and more people there were adopting the Sabbath, especially under Double Rest Sect’s despicable ’egg’ missionary efforts; the Silver Moon Church was completely unable to resist.

Most of the priests in the grand hall today had visited the Arias family’s territory and competed with the Double Rest Sect for followers, having personally experienced the effectiveness of these tactics.

Although no one said it aloud, they had all implicitly accepted that Green Field was now of the Sabbath; it was irretrievable.

Fortunately, there weren’t many people there. It was a loss they could afford. The key was how to properly defend the other areas, especially those near Green Field.

A blockade was necessary to prevent the missionaries from the Double Rest Sect from coming out again and randomly enticing outsiders.

Of course, it would be best to also impose economic restrictions, encouraging nearby lords to stop buying products from the Double Rest Sect and the Arias family, thus cutting off their funds and preventing the Double Rest Sect from thriving.

However, the latter part would probably be difficult to accomplish. The Arias family’s carrots weren’t a big issue; they were generally consumed by commoners, who could simply stop eating them or buy them from someone else, thanks to their high replaceability.

But whether it’s pepper or the giant dragon blood from the Double Rest Sect’s side, those are quality goods, especially the latter, which, they say, is nearly being fought over in the Royal Capital.

There’s simply no worry about not having buyers, and the nobles of the western reaches are all scrambling for it—it’s impossible to stop.

Despite discussing back and forth, the priests didn’t come up with any viable solutions. Then, High Priest Kerkwon noticed Quintus sitting in the corner, lost in his thoughts with a distracted look, and spoke,

"Quintus Priest, it seems you were the last to return... Have you perhaps discovered some method against the Double Rest Sect?"

"No, I just went to listen to the preachers from the Sabbath," Quintus said.

"What?" Priest Kerkwon was startled, "Why did you go to get eggs too...?"

"No, I just wanted to see what Merlin was truly up to."

"What does he want to do?"

"Establish a Land God Kingdom."

"Hmph, such nonsense is only used to deceive those rural fools," Priest Kerkwon disdainfully said.

"But he seemed very confident, saying he would make the life of his followers better than before, and he even wants to compete with our Silver Moon Church," Quintus reported truthfully.

"The amount of wealth in the world is fixed; if some become richer, others will become poorer. How does he plan to improve the lives of so many followers? Rob the surrounding nobles? Ah, that should indeed suit the taste of those lizard people."

Quintus didn’t know how to answer; this was also where he was confused. Moreover, the Double Rest Sect had a strange rule, necessarily allowing their followers to work for five days and rest for two, thus reducing the working time even further.

Even those farmers who couldn’t recognize a single character knew that to make money, one needs to work hard and be diligent.

With spring planting approaching, Quintus wanted to visit the land of the Double Rest Sect to see how Li Yu would fulfill his promise, or if it was just as Priest Kerkwon said—merely deceiving those farmers who followed him.

Moreover, Quintus reminded others to be wary of the various odd missionary methods of the Double Rest Sect.

For instance, using singing as a method of preaching; those songs carried curses in their melodies. Once listened to, it’s hard to forget, continuously echoing in one’s mind, unforeseeable and unavoidable.

Then there’s that Universal Language teacher named Anton, who deeply hated the Silver Moon Church. While preaching, he also continued to criticize Pisya, and crucially, that guy’s preaching skills were pretty high.

Quintus reckoned that even he himself might not be able to best him.

There was also preaching through beauty—recently, a very handsome young man joined the Double Rest Sect, which was very lethal for female followers...

The priests of the Silver Moon Church were by now somewhat numb to Li Yu’s unpredictable actions. Fortunately, based on Quintus’s feedback, these new methods of preaching were not as ruthless as distributing eggs.

But the Church didn’t have much time left, and everyone felt a pressing urgency, God knows what other strange tactics that guy named Merlin had up his sleeve.

The priests supporting the formation of an army had increased somewhat but still hadn’t gained a decisive advantage, as everyone else couldn’t think of any other good methods to counter the Double Rest Sect.

The long-standing inertia still inclined everyone to maintain the Church’s traditions, not wanting to break them lightly. Moreover, five out of the six high priests had already declared their opposition.

In the end, until dusk, when the sun set, the discussion had not made any substantial progress.

Hirodod was not surprised by this result; he once again retreated into silence, just quietly observing the arguments without interjecting.

When the sky darkened, he left the Temple and returned to his own place. While Priest Kerkwon was the first to get up, he walked very slowly, as if deliberately waiting for someone.