Chapter 491 — In the Darkness

"Then I must be going back," Sevin Terry said, rising to his feet after the discussion was done and giving Amber a cleric's salute. "Too long away from the church district and I may be discovered."

Amber nodded, but just as the three clerics were about to reach the door, she suddenly called them back from behind. "About your declining Holy Light power... the Cecilian have a solution."

To ensure that the "inside agents" in the church district remained reliable, she had decided to reveal a little "bait" in advance.

Sevin Terry indeed stopped at once, an expression of disbelief on his face. "You are serious?"

A decline in power caused by wavering faith had always been an unsolvable phenomenon for the clergy; basically one could only rely on the passage of time or a breakthrough of the self to heal it, and most people never healed in their whole lives, at best remaining in a state where their divine-art power stood still. And yet these Cecilian... actually had a way?

"It was not spelled out too clearly in those leaflets, but Wright did indeed find a new path of the Holy Light, and this path... everyone has a chance to try it."

Sevin Terry's eyes grew excited. Nothing could move a devout believer of the Holy Light more than a chance to draw near to it once again. "What does it require?"

Amber thought for a moment, then looked uncertainly at the somewhat slight frames of the three priests before her. "Can you lift a forty-jin warhammer?"

The three priests looked at one another, baffled. "...Huh?"

"In any case, start by building up your bodies," Amber said, stroking her smooth chin thoughtfully. "Then work on your ability to take a hit. Run eight kilometers a day under load, haul some bricks, and the like—in a month or so you ought to make passable battlefield priests..."

After the three utterly bewildered clerics had left, the temporary stronghold fell quiet for a time.

A Military Intelligence Bureau operative wore an expression of admiration—not, of course, admiration for Amber having talked the three clerics into exercising, but admiration for what their chief had said to Sevin Terry earlier. "Chief, your talent for bluffing has not gone downhill."

Amber waved a hand carelessly. "When has it ever gone downhill? It was simply of no use over in Xuanyao City."

Amber, who bore the nickname "Queen of the Tavern," who had once made a name for herself among the outlaw mercenaries and adventurers of the southern frontier, who had led a whole pack of thugs and scoundrels in fleecing the markets — how could such a woman possibly lack a silver tongue? How could she not have a full repertoire of tricks for talking a dead man back to life?

Scraping a living on the wildest, most backward frontier of the Kingdom of Ansu, dealing day in and day out with every sort of person imaginable, this half-elf thief was utterly at home in reading faces and playing on hearts. Without that gift she could never have mapped the whole underside of Frostgate City in so short a time, still less have engineered destruction on such a scale.

She simply did not use it ordinarily — only because there was no occasion for it.

"Still, boss, some of what you said back there had a real whiff of His Grace about it—"

"Obviously. When I get a moment to myself I use it to grab some sleep — why would I waste it chewing over something that dull?" Amber rolled her eyes. "A good deal of it was what Gao Yang... what the Duke says all the time. I just copied it over as the situation allowed. But you can't take it and apply it by rote. Some lines only work on the right audience. Like that priest today — he's of common birth, he has a conscience, he understands what the poor suffer, and he can see through the rot of the Daystar Church. He came looking for a way out that would actually work, so those words landed on him. Put another man in his place, and the very same words could ruin everything..."

"We understand, we understand," the subordinates nodded again and again, and then one of them asked, "So what now... time to contact the rear?"

Amber grunted assent and looked at the tall, gaunt man standing in the corner of the room. "Skinny, switch on the Mageweb communicator — internal channel eight. Grey Wolf, take the door."

The miniaturized, custom-built Mageweb communicator was set on the table, and with a faint hum the intricate, precision-made magical device came to life. Amber waited patiently a moment, then saw the crystal atop the communicator bloom with a soft light, and a holographic projection swiftly took shape above it.

It was Gao Yang's face.

"The oil in the pan's already boiling," Amber said, baring her teeth at the projection. "Time to flip the table."

Gao Yang nodded within the projection. "All going smoothly?"

"Everything by plan. But there are a few things I need to report..."

Gao Yang listened quietly to all of it, committing every word to memory, and when the report was done he let out a slow breath and regarded the communicator before him. "Understood. I'll make the arrangements on this end ahead of time. Watch yourself over there."

The projected Amber waved a hand in impatience. "Rest easy, rest easy. If it really comes to trouble, don't you think I'll run? A coward like me..."

...

Gao Yang looked helplessly at this impostor who was so brazen about her own cowardice, shook his head slightly, and cut the connection.

Then he lifted his head and looked at the other Mageweb device in the study.

Above that device floated a scene from out of doors —

Countless people had gathered on an open ground; the torches in their hands and the far-off glow of magic crystal lamps lit this assembly in the night, and from the image came angry slogans and a din of countless voices. Uniformed constables kept order on the scene, while several white knights stood at the center of the crowd, addressing the people in loud voices — armored in heavy white plate, radiant holy light coiling about them, thick iron-bound scriptures hanging from chains at their waists, of exceptional stature. They were the most conspicuous figures in the frame.

The voice of the witch Gipuli came from off-screen: "...This is New Tansan. The excavation work continues. Thirty minutes ago the engineering team found a new cellar..."

"...If Viscount Andrew had not been building the new district here, these things would likely have stayed sealed away..."

"...According to witness testimony, these cellars are one of the secret treasuries the Church of the Blazing Sun established in the southern frontier. We have already found in them large quantities of gold and silver vessels, all of it the property of the faithful — part of it voluntarily donated, but a far larger part amassed by the Church through indulgence fees, heresy trials, the confiscation of commoners' property, and the seizure of the assets of other churches. From the ledgers and records we previously recovered from nearby churches, the local Church had promised that these goods would go to repairing icons and churches, distributing disaster relief, and raising orphans; in fact, more than ninety percent of it became the private property of the church..."

"The White Knight commander, Mr. Leit, says he has never in his life seen such shamelessness..."

A moment later, Gipuli's voice came again, suddenly: "Breaking news — Daedalus, the chief magistrate of Horsman City, has just released a startling announcement. Staff of the government hall, while clearing out an old orphanage that once belonged to the Daystar Church, discovered a great many human remains... believed to be the orphans who went missing in the Horsman region over the years..."

The crowd in the projection stirred; incensed citizens pressed in around the white knights, and the white knights raised their heavy power warhammers high, shouting slogans for the expulsion of the old churches.