Chapter 498 — Public Trial

"By Cecil law, even the lightest of their crimes merits hanging twice over. And to spread the New Church, to wipe out the influence of the old Church entirely, these diehard loyalists cannot be spared."

Amber looked thoughtful. "...You kept them alive until today just for this trial, didn't you?"

"Exactly—for this trial," Gaoyang nodded slightly. "And not only must there be this trial; its proceedings must be strict and just. Even if every single charge against those priests would be enough to kill them once, they must not die until the trial is over."

Amber quickly grasped Gaoyang's intent. "It's to establish 'order,' isn't it?"

"Indeed," Gaoyang breathed out softly. "Letting the mob and the White Knights beat those priests to death, or simply putting them to the torch at the trial, might be the simplest way, the most satisfying way to vent anger—but if we did that, we would be no different from a 'heresy trial,' and this great battle would become nothing but a muddled atrocity. No matter what, during the rebuilding of order in Mingyuan City, we must pass on some of Cecil's ideals to everyone, let them know that we are not the Daylight Church—the whole business of heresy trials must be cast aside utterly."

A voice came from behind Gaoyang and Amber: "So those clerics and priests, even in death, must die only after a just trial—that is the rule you have set, is it not?"

Amber turned her head to glance at the newcomer and raised a hand in greeting. "Oh, Priest."

Gaoyang looked at the tall, lean middle-aged cleric in white robes and nodded slightly. "Priest Severn Trey, is it not—thank you very much for the help you gave us in this operation."

The one who had appeared before Gaoyang and Amber was none other than the leader of the small cathedral district, Severn Trey.

He had not appeared beside the platform of the public trial, but had come here—seemingly for the purpose of meeting Gaoyang.

"The Holy Light guides us," said the tall, lean pastor, tracing the sign of the holy seal over his chest. He looked at Gaoyang with a trace of curiosity. "You are... not quite what I imagined."

Gaoyang smiled at this cleric whom Wright had praised so highly. "In what way am I different?"

Severn Terry answered without hesitation: "After hearing Miss Amber's description, I had imagined you would be a far gloomier, colder, more arbitrary ruler, one who would sacrifice every notion of 'justice' for the greatest advantage. But now it seems... your methods are harsh, yet you still hold to your own code of morality."

Gaoyang thought for a moment, then turned his head to look at Amber. "...What exactly did you tell them?"

Amber had been looking for a chance to slip away from the moment Severn Terry was halfway through speaking, but having considered the very real possibility of being seized by the collar and hurled off the city wall the instant she made a run for it, she had steeled herself and stayed put. Now she immediately began clamoring: "I didn't make anything up—I got all of it from what you teach me every day! I think it's this priest's comprehension and imagination that are the problem..."

"Go on, keep learning from Rebecca. Your intelligence hasn't gone up much, but your head gets more stubborn by the day," Gaoyang remarked bluntly, then turned to Severn Terry. "Whatever you took away from Amber's words, I hope you'll understand one thing: I am working to give this land and its people a better tomorrow. On that foundation, I bear the Holy Light no ill will."

"Wright told me the same, and I trust his judgment—and I trust what I see with my own eyes at this moment," Severn Terry bowed his head before Gaoyang. "Thank you for arranging this trial—you have shown me your 'righteousness,' and it does not conflict with the Holy Light."

Gaoyang accepted the clergyman's assessment without embarrassment, then turned and looked at the forest of pointed spires rising throughout the cathedral district. "We will be leaving soon. Xuanyue City... will remain a city of the Holy Light. Wright and I have already discussed it: Xuanyue City is to serve as a training and research facility for the Reformed Church of the Holy Light, for it holds the greatest store of Holy Light scriptures and the finest mana environment—a ready-made holy city. Since Wright will spend most of his time in Xuanyao City, he hopes you will administer the church here on his behalf. Of course, the way Xuanyue City is governed will change considerably. The cathedral will no longer be the city's highest authority. I will send men to establish a civil administration here, responsible for the city's operation and construction. Your purview will be limited to church affairs and the corresponding facilities."

Severn Terry nodded. "So long as the Holy Light may continue to be spread, I have no objections."

"Good," Gaoyang breathed a sigh of relief. "I will gradually transfer the White Knights' training facilities here, and I hope you and your colleagues will cooperate fully. As for that great cathedral..."

Gaodai paused there. He gazed at the distant spire of the great cathedral gleaming in the sunlight, and after a moment spoke slowly: "Give it a new name... call it the Holy Light Academy, to spread the new doctrine to all the people and popularize knowledge of the Holy Light. From now on, every institution that studies or teaches knowledge of the Holy Light shall be called a Holy Light Academy, and must be distinguished from churches, which spread doctrine and provide services to communities and neighborhoods."

Severn Terry's eyes shifted slightly, and he unconsciously repeated the word Gaoyang had used: "...Academy..."

Gaoyi smiled and regarded the priest quietly. "Exactly. Since it is a place for spreading knowledge, it should of course be called an academy."

Severn Terry met Gaosong's gaze, and in those eyes he seemed to glimpse the deeper meaning behind all of this—

Deconsecration.

The Holy Light was a body of knowledge; faith in the Holy Light was a culture; the cathedral would become a purely service-oriented facility—and as for faith in the God of Holy Light...

Would it become a history course taught in the academy?

After several seconds, Severn Terry's expression grew calm. He seemed at last to have set down some burden, or perhaps to have made a momentous decision about his life. He bowed his head once more. "As you have arranged."

The tall, lean priest departed. For a time only Gaoyang and Amber remained on the city wall, while below it the public trial of Luan's priests continued.

Gaoyang did not take Amber to task for "slandering" him behind his back, yet the half-elf lady herself was plainly somewhat preoccupied. After several false starts, Amber finally could not hold back: "By the way... that priest said you have your own code of morality!"

Hearing this transparent attempt to fill the silence, Gaoyang could not help the corner of his mouth curling upward. He glanced at her. "That's stating the obvious—who doesn't have a code of morality?"

Amber scratched her head—unfortunately she was not Rebecca, and no amount of scratching would strike a spark of wisdom from her skull, so she could only confess what was on her mind: "You once told me that so-called 'noble spirit' is all hypocritical, outdated nonsense, that the knight's code has fallen behind the times, and that the 'doctrinal virtues' every church promotes are soaked in the stench of money and power... You've cast all of that aside, so the justice in your heart... what does it actually look like?"

Gaoyang looked at Amber, at those amber eyes shimmering with an indefinable light in the sun, and he found that this fellow—still maddening, still noisy and still a coward—had in fact changed a little after this journey to Luan. Though he could not say exactly what the change was, it seemed this wild, untamable half-elf had finally begun to take her work seriously, and to seriously ponder his cause.