Work Prophet
Chapter 362 - 120 Salon and Comic Strips

Chapter 362: Chapter 120 Salon and Comic Strips

After returning from Black Stone City, Li Yu found a place to plant those soap pod tree seeds and hired two farmers to carefully tend to them.

He then recalled all the Sabbaths he had previously dispatched.

There was no helping it; the surrounding lords were quite wary of the Double Rest Sect. Even if the Sabbaths managed to infiltrate their territories successfully, they would be quickly discovered as soon as they started missionary work, leading to them being escorted out by the guards.

And that was the best-case scenario. In worse cases, they would be attacked by local Pisya followers.

Although missionary work has always been a high-risk job throughout history, involving many sacrifices, the Double Rest Sect was currently short-handed in all aspects, and Li Yu did not wish to see his Sabbaths suffer any more substantial losses.

However, even though he recalled his people, Li Yu did not give up on preaching; he simply adjusted the strategy.

On the one hand, he continued to use the previously successful method of distributing eggs for preaching.

He set up several prize collection points on the borders of Green Field to attract nearby villagers to come and listen. Additionally, fearing that too few people knew about it, Li Yu also installed speakers on drones to announce from village to village.

Faced with the Three-eyed Divine Bird that constantly buzzed in the sky, the guards didn’t have much to do.

Once they drew their bows, those oddly-shaped iron birds would quickly ascend to a safe altitude. Moreover, Li Yu intentionally spread rumors suggesting that those who shot down a Three-eyed Divine Bird would be cursed by Saturday.

This discouraged the guards even more from taking action, and even if pushed by their superiors, they would purposefully miss their shots.

Besides the trademark missionary methods of the Double Rest Sect, Li Yu also began to sponsor the Arias family’s Salons.

When Miss Rabbit first heard Li Yu’s proposition, she suspected there was something wrong with her ears.

"Are you saying you plan to give me money just for dining and entertaining?"

"Exactly. You are now a Dragon Slayer Hero, and the Arias family is no longer as obscure in the West as it once was. You should start making some social connections," Li Yu said.

"Hmm, that makes sense, but hosting banquets and balls can be very expensive. I already paid a lot of money upfront for the new farm tools," the lady’s thriftiness kicked in.

"Don’t worry about the money; the Double Rest Sect can cover it," Li Yu said. "How does twice a month sound?"

Miss Rabbit’s heart skipped a beat, and her long ears began to twitch, but she still said, "Is it really alright to do this? Your side must also be spending heavily, right?"

"Don’t worry about me. My textile and paper mills have already started operating, and new factory buildings are under construction. We’ll have money soon."

Seeing Lady still hesitant, Li Yu added, "This can be considered helping me too."

"Can just dining and drinking really help you?" Ireya widened her eyes in surprise.

"Yes," Li Yu affirmed, "If the Double Rest Sect wants to spread across the West, it cannot do so without the support of the western nobility. Yet, most of the noble families in the West don’t understand the Double Rest Sect. Your Salon can be a window for that."

"Oh, by the way, I never asked what a Salon actually is," Ireya added.

"It’s a kind of private gathering among the upper class," Li Yu said.

"So we gather to talk about Saturday, then would you come to preach to us?"

"No, initially there’s no need to be too purposeful and cause resistance," Li Yu said. "How about this, next time I’ll bring you a projector, and for the first salon, you can use it to show some clips to the guests, like our Dragon Slayer video."

"If anyone shows interest in these things and asks you about them privately, you can elaborate then; otherwise, just run it like a normal noble gathering, talking about poetry, literature, politics, the economy... As the only lord in the West to have converted to the Sabbath, that alone says a lot."

Li Yu paused, then continued, "As for the guests, try to invite younger people primarily, to have more in common. If they are heirs to their families, even better, but it’s also fine if they’re not; as long as two to three out of ten of these people develop an interest in the Sabbath, then it’s worth it for the Double Rest Sect to sponsor the salon."

Miss Rabbit nodded and took notes.

Afterward, Li Yu went to find Fitzwilliam and introduced him to woodblock printing.

The principle of woodblock printing is simple: one only needs to carve the text on a wooden board in relief, apply ink on the carved plate, and then press paper onto it to complete the printing.

Since Li Yu already had paper, it made sense to reveal the printing technology as well.

This way, not only could educational materials be printed for schools, but also comic strips could be created.

Li Yu selected four skilled artists from among the Sabbath followers and had them draw the doctrines of the Double Rest Sect into easy-to-understand comic strips, and considering the literacy rate in the West, he instructed the artists to minimize text use and make the meaning clear through the images alone.

He then handed the finished drawings to Fitzwilliam to make into printing plates and quickly printed thousands of copies, which were distributed to the villages surrounding Green Field as a cultural promotional tool.

Initially, Li Yu was worried that the villagers might destroy the comic strips, but in reality, after a week, at least eighty percent of the comic strips had been preserved.

Mainly, paper had always been a luxury on the Bratis Continent, and regular farmers rarely had any, so the villagers who received the comic strips generally cherished them.

Furthermore, their usual entertainment was scarce, and these small books with stories told through a series of images were both novel and entertaining, so they attracted the attention of most people.

Many who finished reading their own copies actively traded with others for ones they hadn’t seen, inadvertently learning all of the Double Rest Sect’s doctrines in the process.

The effect was so good it even exceeded Li Yu’s expectations; indeed, vivid illustrations always catch the eye more easily than dry text.

So Li Yu redoubled his efforts, having Fitzwilliam print an additional three thousand copies, bound them together, and this time even included a book cover, making the final product look even more exquisite.

Even the Lady couldn’t help but stay up late to binge-read, and after finishing, she took a hundred copies, planning to give them as gifts to guests attending the second salon.

Meanwhile, the female elf Shafu Li opened the first shop in Green Field as agreed.

She chose a location about half a mile from Teacup Castle, and on the opening day, not many customers came, mostly representatives from merchants’ associations who had received advance notice; yet all the goods on the shelves sold out in less than a quarter of an hour.

The merchant associations who didn’t manage to buy anything were very dissatisfied, especially with the white paper that was as white as snow and surprisingly tough and lightweight; many offered a high price for it.

Regrettably, for now, Li Yu’s paper factory had limited production capacity, and a portion of the white paper was being used to make comic strips, so those who missed out could only wait for the next opportunity.