Work Prophet
Chapter 76 - 37: This Works?

Chapter 76: Chapter 37: This Works?

At Ireya’s insistent request, the guard eventually opened the city gate and let Li Yu into Teacup Castle.

Once inside the city, Li Yu also took off the giant lizard head he had been wearing on top of his head.

The thing was quite heavy, almost weighing about two pounds even after being processed. Wearing it on the head all the time, the neck could easily become sore from the pressure.

Miss Rabbit at this time also ran down from the city wall. In fact, Li Yu’s face still bore many of the primitive totems that the lizard people had painted on for him, yet once he removed the giant lizard head, the girl recognized him immediately.

Thus, Miss Rabbit could no longer control her emotions and sprinted over, hugging Li Yu tightly and burst into tears, saying, "You were left there last night, and I, I thought you were already dead..."

"What you say is not entirely wrong," he replied.

Li Yu’s emotions, unusually, also went through fluctuations, and a complex expression flashed across his usually very calm face.

Indeed, last night was a night full of shocks for him.

Since his arrival on this continent named Bratis, it was the first time he had completely lost control over his own situation.

Although as far as the outcome was concerned, he hadn’t suffered any losses; on the contrary, he had gained a substantial amount of unprecedented riches.

But the process during that time... Li Yu no longer wanted to recall it.

Jude, at this time, also came over, but unlike Ireya, he still held his War Axe in his hand, sizing Li Yu up and down several times and even letting Black Beauty sniff at him.

Seeing that Black Beauty showed no hostility, he finally sheathed his axe and said in amazement, "How did you get mixed up with those lizard people, and it looks like you even became their king, leading them to raid the Arias family."

"I’m not their king, nor are they any lizard people. Although the people living on this land have always called them that, in reality, it is just one of their disguises," Li Yu explained, shaking the giant lizard head he was carrying on his back.

Jude leaned in and then realized that the giant lizard head was worn on Li Yu’s body like a piece of clothing, but only the outer layer was real. The inside had been completely hollowed out, then stuffed with twigs and small stones to fill it out into the shape of the giant lizard when it was alive.

"Interesting," Jude clicked his tongue in wonder. "The Arias family has been entangled with those lizard people for hundreds of years and has not discovered their little secret?"

"These lizard people place great value on their companions. When they come out to raid, unless they are completely wiped out, they will also try to take the bodies of their fallen back and carry them to the swamp," Fosto explained.

"Moreover, they are very poor, living in the swamp with no money or riches, so nobody searches them. Plus, the Evil God they worship has a legend of resurrection, so to prevent them from coming back to life, we usually burn the bodies immediately."

Alisa was still in shock, "You said those lizard heads are fake, they are humans, this... this how is this possible? The records about the lizard people can be traced back tens of thousands of years, even older than the most ancient families of the Red Lion Empire, and their existence has quite a bit of evidence, although they later vanished from the continent."

"Lizard people may truly exist, but those living in the Gai Gu Swamp are definitely not them," said Li Yu. "Those humans disguised as lizard people did so just to scare away others who wish to enter the swamp. Unfortunately, you have indeed been deceived by them for several hundred years."

"......"

"Isn’t the Gai Gu Swamp a place of death, how could so many people emerge from there?" someone asked.

"To outsiders it’s dangerous, and hardly navigable, but for those who have lived there for generations, it’s not only not a place of death, the resources are quite abundant."

"Of course, their tribe has flourished to its current size, which is just about the carrying capacity of that swamp, forcing them to make the cruel decision to kill some of the elderly and disabled children to survive."

"Cruel and brutal heathens," Anton lamented, "how is this any different from beasts?"

"Whenever you’re about to judge someone, remember that not everyone in this world has the privileges you do. They can’t cultivate the swamp, they’re just doing everything they can to ensure their tribe’s survival."

Anton, rebuked by Li Yu, blushed and was at a loss for words, especially after hearing that—Whenever you’re about to judge someone, remember that not everyone in this world has the privileges you do.

Although he was reluctant to admit it, Anton felt enlightened by those words, as if he was receiving instruction from the high priests in the Church, which was completely different from his own realm of thought.

But the problem was that Li Yu was a heathen.

And speaking of heathens, something else quickly came to Anton’s mind.

"Why, why do those lizards, er... the creatures living in the swamp worship you, did you convert to their Evil God to save your life?"

"Not at all, they converted to Saturday," Li Yu said, "or, more precisely, they realized the god they had been worshipping was just an incarnation of Saturday."

"Incarnation, what is an incarnation?" Anton asked, puzzled.

"Well, it’s another name, another form, but essentially they’re the same thing."

"That’s possible?!" exclaimed the Universal Language teacher, stupefied, "You’ve converted those lizard people into believers? Just with your words?"

The lizard people from the Gai Gu Great Swamp had a history of raiding and killing for over a thousand years, both the Arias family and the lords before them had found it rather troubling.

Of course, the Silver Moon Church had also considered resolving this nuisance, since over the years, many believers of Pisya had been slaughtered by those lizard people, and it wasn’t appropriate to just ignore it.

As the Great Swamp had complex terrain, military force had been proven ineffective, and so the Silver Moon Church decided to look for other methods of resolution.

Someone suggested that they should try to bring those lizard people into the goddess’s embrace too, turning everyone into a loving family, so there would be no more robbing among kin.

This proposal was quickly supported by the majority—the Church always welcomed more believers, and successful conversion would further enhance the Church’s prestige in the western lands and deepen the faith of its followers.

So the Silver Moon Church began to send missionaries to the Gai Gu Great Swamp.

Of course, it was like throwing meat buns to a dog; none returned: male priests were brutally murdered and female priests... Some rumors claim they’re still alive, but have faced even more tragic fates, so the Church strictly prohibited any mention of this dark past.

After all their attempts came to naught, the Silver Moon Church branded the lizard people as fanatics of the Evil God, their minds utterly corrupted by evil, becoming puppets of the Evil God and beyond the reach of the goddess’s light.

Yet now, they had all been converted into followers of Saturday by this man claiming to be the Prophet.

The impact of all this on Anton was far greater than the revelation that "lizard people weren’t actually lizard-like," and shook his longstanding worldview to a certain extent.