Chapter 355 — A New Sanctuary
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
Seeing the priest Wright standing at the door, Gao Yang's first reaction was a touch of surprise—this reverend gentleman rarely came to see him under ordinary circumstances.
Gao Yang did keep a casual eye on Wright's activities; after all, this was the only missionary in the territory, and could be regarded as an extension of the Daystar Church in the Cecil Territory. Though the priest's style seemed a bit off, the mere fact of his connection to the Daystar Church made him worth Gao Yang's attention. Yet after observing him for a time, he found that Mr. Wright truly was a man who scrupulously observed the classical codes of the priesthood—nearly all his daily activities revolved around the church. Mornings were for prayers, blessing holy water, receiving the faithful who came to pray, and handing out sweet cakes (though it seemed he rarely managed to give any away). In the afternoons he went into the city to preach, and his basic method of preaching was to help every household with their chores, preaching the benefits of drawing near to the Holy Light while he worked—things like no more backaches or leg pains... In a few short months he had actually cultivated a small flock of believers...
Beyond that, the reverend gentleman had no other activities to speak of. On the few occasions he had left the city, one was after hearing that someone had been injured at the construction site, whereupon he ran off to help; the remaining times were after hearing that the workers' canteen wanted to improve everyone's meals, whereupon he went into the western forest and brought back a dozen or so bears. For several days afterward, a wilderness legend circulated through the logging town—that a giant had appeared in the forest and spent all day chasing bears across the hills and dales...
Recalling these exploits of the reverend gentleman, Gao Yang's mouth gave an involuntary twitch, but since he had just been playing satellite VR a bit too enthusiastically and was still in a state where he might vomit at any moment, his expression quickly snapped back to one of exceptional gravity (mainly because if he didn't keep it tight, he really would throw up). Looking at Wright, he asked mildly, "Mr. Wright, you have business with me?"
Wright, however, was startled by Gao Yang's grave expression. His first thought went to the refugees who had been taken in not long ago, and to the news that had presumably already reached the lord's ears—that the Daystar Church was pushing out the worshippers of foreign gods in the central regions. He connected these two matters with his own identity, and spoke up of his own accord: "My lord, I have not come to ask you to drive out those innocents."
Gao Yang had no idea where that came from. "Huh?"
Wright's face was serious. "Your expression is so grave—are you not pondering the persecution of those foreign-god believers?"
Gao Yang thought to himself that his grave expression was because he'd played too much VR and wanted to throw up—what did that have to do with persecuted foreign-god believers? But then he realized, and forcing a faint smile by tugging at the corners of his mouth, he looked at Wright with considerable curiosity. "You mean those Blood God and Shadow believers who fled here from the Holy Spirit Plain... You mentioned 'persecution' just now. It seems you don't quite agree with what your fellow churchmen on the Holy Spirit Plain have been doing?"
"I... still cannot believe they have grown so bigoted," a sorrowful look came over Wright's face, and his clay-pot-sized fists slowly clenched. "I listened to the accounts of those exiles' experiences, and the intuition granted by the Holy Light tells me those people are honest, but... I am still in doubt."