Work Prophet
Chapter 380 - 138: Show Off a Little

Chapter 380: Chapter 138: Show Off a Little

"Programming, what is programming?" Ireya asked curiously.

"It’s a type of Creation Magic that exists in the void, but the activation conditions are quite harsh—it requires a specific Holy Artifact," Li Yu explained.

Miss Rabbit didn’t quite understand but felt it must be powerful since it involved the void and creation.

It seemed that this first Servant had something special, no wonder he was sent over on a Saturday.

Not wanting to appear ignorant, Ireya pretended to understand and nodded, commenting, "Good, he’s the talent we urgently need right now."

"However, it will take a few months before he can be of use," Li Yu said, "I will have Mary teach him the Continental Universal Language first."

"That’s alright, the Silver Moon Church is greatly weakened due to the Hirodod incident, and the Life Church is far away in the Royal Capital, so we have plenty of time now."

......

Early morning. A light fog spread through the forest.

The galloping hooves of horses trod on dew-laden grass stems as the guards of the Arias family raced towards the farms and villages within their territory.

As per tradition, when executing a death row inmate, news had to be spread throughout the territory in advance so the locals could come and watch.

This was partly because entertainment was scarce in those days, and watching an execution was considered a form of amusement. Additionally, it served as a deterrent—if anyone thought about committing a crime, they would remember those who had been beheaded.

But this time, because Li Yu had requested the execution be carried out the following morning, there was a tight schedule.

Many who lived far away could not make it in time; fortunately, they had another spectacle to look forward to.

At dusk, the Prophet Merlin of the Double Rest Sect would personally preside over the summoning ritual of Heroic Spirits, selecting departed souls from the Divine Country to descend upon the Bratis Continent.

To continue serving the Church and Saturday as Servants.

This news had actually been secretly spreading through Green Field a month earlier but had only been officially confirmed by the Double Rest Sect today.

It once again caused a significant stir among the believers.

People dropped what they were doing and hurried to Teacup Castle, eager to witness this miracle with their own eyes.

Due to the high public demand, the Lady ultimately decided to postpone the execution originally scheduled for the morning to noon, to allow more people to watch.

As for the location of the execution, it was about two miles south of Teacup Castle.

There was a forest there, and a giant stone about the height of a person, relatively flat on top, where the heads of the Raimondi family’s convicts had historically been executed.

That giant stone, now stained brown with blood, was referred to as the Blood Platform.

However, those who arrived there this time found that next to the Blood Platform, there suddenly appeared a wooden frame.

The wooden frame was about three people high and had a wooden board in the middle, with a rope hanging from the top part.

Hanging was not too common in the west, mainly because there weren’t many people in the west and there was no need for such a method to execute criminals en masse and quickly.

Moreover, the lords of the west, particularly the male lords who wanted to demonstrate their bravery, still preferred beheadings—often stepping into the arena themselves or having their attendants do it on their behalf.

The last time hanging had been used was by the Raimondi family of Duolin City, when Shapiro ordered the execution of the entire newly assembled army of the Silver Moon Church, twenty thousand strong, to avenge his father and brother.

Due to a shortage of executioners, some of the condemned were hanged.

However, the situation with the Arias family was clearly different from that of the Raimondi family – Green Field did not have many death-row inmates.

Seeing Lady resorting to hanging came as a surprise to many.

But ever since Ireya had converted to the Sixth Day of the Week beliefs, Green Field saw changes almost every day.

Whether it was new farming tools, new cultivating methods, those beautiful red brick houses and paper, or the now customary five days of work followed by two days of rest, these changes proved to be more impressive than the alteration in the method of execution.

Thus, there were not many objections raised about it, the only regret being that hanging was not as bloody and sensational as beheading, hence not as eye-catching.

The most discontent ones turned out to be those convicts awaiting their own executions.

One convict, after seeing the gallows, cursed the Lady as a coward who dared not see blood, and Miss Rabbit did not indulge him.

She had the guards bring the convict to the blood platform. Then she borrowed a sword from Thomas who stood nearby, and headed up onto the platform herself.

With a responsible attitude, the lady had practiced on a small tree nearby before stepping onto the platform.

The Lady was no less decisive. She lifted the treasured sword and struck at the fir tree with a serious expression, as if facing a formidable opponent.

After three strokes, the convict on the blood platform started crying. He expressed his deep recognition of his previous mistakes and tearfully begged the Lady to hang him instead.

Although beheading seemed simple, it actually required a high level of skill.

Those who could behead with a single swing either had excellent swordsmanship or outstanding strength; the latter was a gift among Half-Beasts, but Ireya was a woman.

Moreover, she had never practiced swordsmanship before. Her stance might have seemed fierce, but one swing only managed to slice a bit of bark off, far from enough to sever a neck.

More troubling was that her three swings aimed at the same spot all hit different places, with some even striking far off the mark, making it unrealistic to hope that she could compensate for her lack of power with quantity.

If she truly proceeded with the execution, she would probably have to hack dozens of times without killing the target, who would only be left to wail in agony on the ground.

What should have been a simple execution would have turned into a drawn-out ordeal. Who could bear that?

So even the previously defiant convict had cowered, fortunate that the Lady was still merciful. After showing off a bit, she did not trouble him further and returned the sword to the Knight.

The time being almost right, Ireya then signaled to commence with the execution.

The focus of this morning was on hanging Jie Qi, but hanging just Jie Qi seemed to lack something.

After all, many people had rushed over from their homes upon hearing the news, giving one the impression that it was hardly worth calling everyone out for such a minor affair.

Hence, Miss Rabbit set up three more convicts to warm up the crowd.

Soon, the first convict was brought by the guard onto the gallows, a rope placed around his neck. The Lady publicly announced his crimes, and unlike in TV dramas, did not ask for his last words, as such questions had already been asked in the dungeon.

Ireya then decisively ordered the execution. A guard operated the mechanism, removing the plank under the convict’s feet.

His body immediately dropped. Theoretically, if the weight of the body and the length of the rope were correctly calculated, it could break his neck, disrupting his central nervous system and causing rapid death.

But in reality, neither the Arias family nor the Double Rest Sect had the expertise in this area, which led to a problem with the length of the rope, causing the convict to struggle for quite a while before he finally perished.