Chapter 478 — The Siege

The great square was packed with a sea of people—thousands of commoners, numb-faced and sallow and gaunt, herded there: owing to the insufficient food supply, the people of the outer city had lived in a state of semi-starvation for nearly half a month, and the ceaseless gnawing of hunger ate at every heart. They did not want to come to the square at all—lying on a bed at home might at least conserve a little energy, whereas gathered here... they could only grow hungrier and hungrier.

But the knights' blades and the priests' spells could not be defied; come they must.

A wooden platform was raised in the center of the square, and burly soldiers carried up great bundles of the confiscated pamphlets and flung them onto it. A tall man in a priest's robe came to the front of the platform; this towering priest swept the whole square with a stern gaze, holy light surging around him, slowly radiating the oppressive presence of a transcendent.

The commoners in the square were cowed, falling instantly silent, and a wordless dead hush spread across the square.

The tall priest looked upon the scene with satisfaction and contempt, then raised his staff high: "You bewildered, foolish people! Without the Lord's guidance, you have no idea that you are sliding toward a深渊 of danger and sin!

"The Cecils are possessed by demons, and they have spread the demons' bewitching power into the city of Xuanque as well!

"Look at these blasphemous writings—they were found in your backyards, in your neighbors' homes, in your own bedrooms! Your eyes are not bright enough, your wisdom not great enough, so you cannot even realize that these things are in truth the contracts the Cecils signed with demons—

"They sent these contracts into the city to harm you! You were once blessed by the Holy Light, but these demonic contracts have defiled you, and the Holy Light will forsake you.

"Only fire can purify these blasphemous writings. You have willingly handed them over and now stand here to witness the rite of purification, so you may still be saved—but the most hopeless among you shall be purified together with these demonic contracts!"

Several more strong soldiers came up, shoving a bound man onto the platform. A slight stir passed through the crowd gathered below, but most only watched numbly, with scarcely any reaction.

The tall priest swept his eyes over the numb crowd below, then looked at the bound man—a ragged wretch, beaten senseless, his face so bruised and swollen that his original features were barely recognizable.

He was merely a vagrant caught near the city gate; he had recklessly jostled some soldiers, and pamphlets were found on him, so he had been seized.

The great advantage of such a vagrant was that no one would recognize him, and still less would anyone cry out on his behalf.

"This man hid a great quantity of demonic writings, and refused to hand them over!" The priest raised his staff and pointed at the man, who had already lapsed into a dazed stupor. "He also spread the contents of those writings everywhere, bewitching those around him, making people question the Lord, question the church!"

At last a stir ran through the crowd again; it seemed some really were frightened by the priest's words. But the bound man suddenly began to struggle, straining his neck as if he wanted to shout something—yet the soldier beside him instantly drove a fist into his belly, and the agony sent the frail man sinking back into half-consciousness.

The priest frowned at this sudden mishap and swept his staff through the air: "Cast the blasphemer into those devils' documents!"

The soldiers at once dragged the bound man bodily to the center of the platform, then shoved him into the "hill" formed by the heap of propaganda materials. Another disciplinarian monk in a black robe stepped forward and poured flammable grease over the pile of books and the man alike.

Murmurs rose from the crowd; some drew back in fear, some whispered prayers, and others, more disquieting still, wore twisted, excited looks as they craned their necks to watch what was happening on the platform.

Someone suddenly heard a low mutter behind him: "Isn't that old Sam... old Sam can't read!"

Those who caught the mutter at once turned to find the speaker, hoping to learn more details, but all they saw was a retreating back.

Beside them, someone's curiosity was roused, and they asked in a low voice: "What's going on?"

"The man about to be burned up there seems to be called Sam, and he can't read."

Several people dressed in coarse, ordinary burlap shoved and jostled their way through the crowd, and wherever they passed, whispered discussion began to spread:

"That man on the platform seems to be called Sam—and he can't read!"

The commotion grew from small to large; the whispered discussion turned into a humming, rumbling sound. Though it was still small in scale, the priest standing on the platform finally noticed these unusual stirrings. A strange feeling rose in his heart, and amid this vague uneasiness he decisively abandoned the sermon he had originally prepared, and at once raised his hand to summon a globe of holy light.

"Those who defy the Lord's will shall be purified!"

The searing holy light ignited the grease, setting alight the pamphlets and flyers exposing the dark secrets of the Yaochen Church, and setting alight Sam, who could not read.

The bound man writhed in the fire, letting out ghastly howls, while the crowd watching in the square stepped back as one before this terrible scene, and voices of discussion rose from every direction. A man with a burlap sack slung over his shoulder, looking like a farmer, stood closest to the execution pyre; he seemed frightened stiff by the spectacle of the burning, standing there blankly until the people around him began to retreat, whereupon he too stumbled a little and fell back with them.

The priest standing on the platform wore a gloomy face; the stench of burning in the air and the commotion of the ignorant rabble below filled him, already in a foul mood, with particular irritation. And just then, a very, very faint ripple of magical power suddenly came from somewhere beneath the platform.

The priest immediately looked in that direction, but apart from a crowd of terrified, foolish-looking commoners hastily retreating, he found nothing at all.

Perhaps it was only an illusion.

The priest waved his hand irritably and, surrounded by his attendants and guard knights, turned and left the place.