Work Prophet
Chapter 67 - 28: The First Believer

Chapter 67: Chapter 28: The First Believer

Since their encounter on the stairs, Ona seemed to have reached some kind of tacit agreement with Li Yu and never came to trouble him again, even nodding in acknowledgment when she saw him from a distance.

Her change of attitude was also noticed by others in the castle, especially by the maids, servants, and guards, most of whom had served the Arias family for a long time.

Although Ireya had become the new master of Green Field, they all knew that the old man lurking behind the scenes still controlled the entire family.

Seeing her extend goodwill to Li Yu, everyone naturally became more respectful to this peculiar foreigner who came with Ireya.

Particularly as the events that unfolded in Rock Snow City gradually made their way back to Green Field, the various rumors about Li Yu suddenly multiplied.

Many were curious about his magical methods and the Saturday behind him, but for the time being, no one wanted to delve any deeper.

Li Yu had been in Green Field for a while and had roughly figured out the situation here.

One must admit, the Silver Moon Church had done an admirable job cultivating believers across this land; from noble lords to common folks, they generally worshiped Goddess Pexia of the Silver Moon.

For the nobility, the Silver Moon Church adopted a strategy of nurturing followers from infancy, proactively sending teachers like Anton to castles and mansions across the western territories to teach the children of noble families to read—and these teachings are often free. The Lord only needed to provide food and accommodation, so very few nobles would refuse.

In the process of learning the Universal Language, the teachers from the Church would concurrently instill in their students a reverence towards Pexia, cultivating them into followers of the Silver Moon Goddess.

Once anyone among them becomes a Lord, they will inevitably continue to spread the faith of the Silver Moon Goddess in their own territories.

As for the young ones who have lost the struggle for inheritance or who knew early on that they had no hope of competing for lordship, the Silver Moon Church still opened its doors to welcome them, allowing them to go to the Temple to continue their education.

Among these individuals, the standout ones could become Priests and join the upper echelons of the Church. On the Bratis Continent, Priests also hold a very noble status and are much adored by the common folk. They become a link between the Silver Moon Church and the major noble families, closely connecting both sides.

The Silver Moon Church also took care of the common people, organizing various sacrificial activities in different areas where villagers and citizens offered grain, fruit, and livestock to the goddess in exchange for her protection and blessings.

Additionally, some kind-hearted Priests also offered medical treatment and midwifery services for free. In times of poor harvest due to disasters, the Church would distribute food relief.

Although there were scandals of Priests desecrating young girls or boys under the guise of blessings and some merchants that paid money to put their guilds under the name of the Silver Moon Church to avoid high territorial taxes... overall, the reputation of the Silver Moon Church among the nobility and common people was still quite good.

Moreover, the worship of Goddess Pexia in the western territories has a history of over two thousand years, with two out of every three people being followers of Pexia.

Considering the existence of non-believers and barbarians, one can say this penetration rate is quite astonishing.

People living in these lands had grown accustomed to living under the protection of Pexia’s lineage. It was difficult for outsiders to break this inertia.

Li Yu had tried to demonstrate some Divine Arts in front of the four children and the little maid, both deliberately and inadvertently, eliciting gasps of astonishment; yet his watch’s faith counter still read zero.

The children were already thoroughly convinced of Li Yu’s identity as the Prophet, but convincing them to forsake Pexia and switch allegiance to Saturday was obviously still a challenge.

Li Yu was somewhat prepared for this, his adversary being a local religion with a long history and a vast organizational system, and having allies everywhere.

As an outsider, trying to take over alone was not an easy task.

Although Li Yu believed that through long-term interaction and subtle influence, those around him would eventually become followers of Saturday, such a method was inefficient.

Upon reflecting, Li Yu quickly realized where the problem lay.

In comparison to Pexia, Saturday was a bit too advanced; the doctrines he initially drafted might quickly attract a large number of followers in modern times, possibly even taking over several office buildings at once.

However, in this medieval-like era, with terribly low productivity, farmers had a pitiful seeding-to-harvest ratio of only 1:4, meaning that planting one pound of seeds would yield only four pounds of crops.

In such harsh conditions, most commoners’ only wish was to have enough to eat and not go hungry, let alone care about having days off.

Take the four little ones around Li Yu, for example: they were willing to assist Li Yu in exchange for two meals a day, plus the extra joy of one silver coin per month, but the two days off were entirely incidental.

Even after returning home, they would not use those two days to rest but continued to help their parents with farm work.

As for the nobles, being the supported ones, they wished nothing more than for their serfs to work around the clock, to be virtually rooted in the fields, so they had even less reason to support a two-day weekend.

After realizing the issue, Li Yu had no intention of giving up on Saturday.

Some things, if not ingrained from the beginning, would later have to be bought with blood and life, and still not be secure.

Since human greed knows no bounds, it is better to put a shackle of faith around the neck early on.

It was productivity that was in question, and Li Yu had no shortage of methods to improve productivity.

Once he got the land from Ireya, he would set about increasing its yield, demonstrating the benefits of believing in Saturday through practical actions to those around him.

He did not believe that the followers of the Silver Moon Goddess would remain indifferent in the face of tangible gold and silver.

However, to achieve this, in addition to land, he also needed manpower.

During these days, Li Yu also took the time to visit Dias’s land and saw that Miss Rabbit had not lied; the land there was fertile and the environment pleasant.

Standing on the hillside, one could see the long, narrow strips of cultivated land below, one after another, densely packed, but alas, all abandoned.

On the entire territory, only a few families remained, not even enough to form a village.

The old butler Fosto had already agreed to help Li Yu recruit some free citizens to farm the land, but the western frontier had been relatively peaceful over the past two years with no major disasters, resulting in good harvests, so not many farmers were compelled to leave their homes to rent land elsewhere.

Even if Li Yu was willing to offer a very low tax rate, the more he did so, the more the farmers worried about potential traps.

However, on the third day after the surveillance was installed, the faith column on Li Yu’s stagnant list of fifty-xun finally changed from zero to one.