Chapter 298
Chapter 298. Arrangements
A knight rode a gray pony into the village where the church was located.
The moment he entered, he saw a scene that shocked him.
A line had formed at the entrance of one building, stretching in a long queue all the way to the other end of the village. And...
“Why is there no snow here? Did these villagers specially clear away all the snow?” The knight revealed a puzzled expression.
However, his movements did not slow. After asking the villagers here about the person he was looking for, he rode straight to the side of the building where the line had formed.
The common people looked at him with curious and somewhat frightened eyes. They were curious because they found it strange that this person was not lining up and had instead come directly here.
As for the frightened commoners, they had recognized the clothing he wore. It was the exclusive attire of a knight serving the lord. Seeing a knight in this place truly left them somewhat shocked.
The knight paid no attention to the gazes of these commoners and instead looked straight toward the second floor of the house. He walked toward the entrance, but stopped three meters before the door.
“I am looking for the person in charge here. The lord of Snow Bear Territory has sent a letter according to her request.”
The knight behaved with extreme restraint, because before his departure, Blake had instructed him again and again to be cautious in his words and actions here and to remain humble, even when facing the common people of this place.
That was because even Blake himself did not know what attitude Fulan and her companions held toward those commoners.
So after the knight arrived here, although he did not show the commoners any particularly good attitude, at least he did not appear contemptuous. What he feared was angering that mage.
When the believer at the church entrance heard the knight’s words, he did not dare be negligent.
He immediately ran upstairs to notify the people above, while the knight stood motionless outside the church entrance.
Fulan walked down from the upper floor of the church and came to the entrance. The knight raised his eyes and saw the Northern Society mage robe, exactly as the lord had described, and he lowered his head slightly.
“Greetings, Mage. I came here to deliver the lord’s letter. This contains the information you requested the lord to inform you of.”
The knight took out a sealed letter from the small pouch at his waist, stretched out both hands, and handed it to Fulan.
After Fulan took it, she opened it and saw the contents written inside.
“I have already lost territorial perception over these three villages.”
It was only such a brief sentence, and that was precisely the kind of concise notification Fulan had wanted.
Presumably, after careful consideration, Blake had known that a mage like Fulan preferred simpler reports, which was why he had used this single sentence as the content of the letter.
Fulan smiled, then put away the letter and looked toward the knight still standing opposite her.
The knight had remained standing motionless while Fulan read the letter. Only after Fulan finished reading it did he ask,
“Mage, do you wish to send a reply letter to the lord?”
Fulan raised an eyebrow and said,
“Indeed. Wait for me a moment.”
As Fulan spoke, she went straight toward the second floor of the church.
“What happened downstairs? Why did you go down?” Anna, who had finally managed to get one peaceful sleep, walked out of her room with her eyes half narrowed.
“The lord sent someone over to explain the current condition of the territory. I need to make some adjustments based on the territory’s current state.”
“What are you planning to do?” Anna asked curiously.
“First, we need to send believers from our side to join forces with the lord’s people and temporarily stop those who want to come here.”
Fulan said helplessly.
Although she also wanted to rely only on this village to complete the task of developing believers, the situation no longer allowed her to do that.
First of all, Blake’s control over his territory was truly lower than Fulan had expected, though Fulan could understand it.
After all, even if Blake could gather that many people under him, who would be willing to stay in places far from the center of the territory?
Snow Bear City was at least a large town, but the places he would have to send people to were truly small villages.
No one would be willing to stay in such a harsh environment.
Moreover, even if guards were promoted from among the original commoners of those small villages, there was no way to guarantee their loyalty.
Just like now, most of the people attracted by this church were relatively wealthy commoners from other villages.
These people ran the fastest. If they were really made into guards, they would be the first to flee.
And, whether one said it or not, a warm place that did not require a furnace was simply far too attractive in the Northern Frontier.
Even if these commoners had no interest in faith or anything of that sort, they still wanted to come here and continue living.
Those commoners wanted to come, but the problem was not something that could be solved simply by letting them arrive.
First of all, the warm area radiating outward from the church was still somewhat small. Even now, it had not yet covered the entire village.
On top of that, commoners kept pouring in endlessly, yet the entire village did not have enough houses to accommodate them all...
So whether it was for this place’s future development or for the good of those commoners, she could not continue allowing these people to come. Her side was already close to being unable to bear the burden.
“Right, I can also have these believers establish a small church over there. Only those who prove their devotion as believers will be allowed to come here.”
Fulan slapped her forehead and said.
Anna rubbed her eyes. Seeing Fulan writing rapidly, she finally said,
“Are you planning to have those people go to Snow Bear Territory to preach?”
Anna remembered Fulan saying that she wanted to send believers to Snow Bear’s side. Combined with the strategy Fulan had previously explained to her, Anna believed Fulan now wanted the believers here to go to Snow Bear Territory and develop more believers.
Fulan’s pen paused, and she said slowly,
“Yes. It is about time. There are enough believers here now, so it is time for them to go out and move around.”
After several days of development, everyone in the entire village had become registered believers of the church, without exception.
Now, her target was no longer absorbing the commoners of this village and the surrounding area.
She needed these believers to help her complete the work of developing even more believers. Whether they were good at it or not, she had to send them out first.
Of course, for these believers who went out, a warm settlement naturally would not be enough to satisfy them. What she could give them was...
“I still need to discuss the specific regulations for bestowing power with the Lord of Radiance...”
Fulan then looked toward Anna and said,
“Right, there is one more matter I need to leave to you. You will be responsible for controlling which believers qualify to become Professionals. I will give you a specific set of regulations later.”
Hearing this, Anna’s body trembled. She rubbed her head. She did this not because she felt mentally exhausted that Fulan had assigned her another task, but because she was curious about another matter.
“I can control whether those believers become Professionals?! Do those believers not become Professionals by relying on themselves?”
Anna said in surprise. It was clear that she was extremely shocked by this matter.
She could not be blamed for that, because whether it was the believers of the Church of the Goddess of the Currents she had encountered in White Dragon Harbor, or Ella, who had become an Apprentice-Tier Professional right in front of her, all of them shared one trait.
That was, although this was a faith-based religion, they had become Professionals because of their own actions. At most, those actions were somewhat connected to a god.
What Fulan was saying was that this method of becoming a Professional could be artificially controlled. That made Anna feel a chill down her spine.
Could it be that the believer Professionals of the Church of the Goddess of the Currents she had seen before had only been able to become Professionals because they had been permitted to?
Or perhaps Ella, who had become a Professional right before her eyes, had actually become one only because Fulan had done something behind the scenes.
Fortunately, Fulan denied her speculation and saved her worldview.
“What are you talking about? If those believers make contributions, they can naturally become Professionals. But what I want you to do is help those believers who are less likely to become Professionals become Professionals more quickly.”
What Fulan had now established was a faith that worshiped the Lord of Radiance. The Faith Energy produced by believers could be bestowed upon a specific believer alone, allowing that person to become a Professional.
However, the faith Fulan had established was still in its early stage, and there was not yet much Faith Energy.
Those believers had to put in several times more effort than they would when the energy was abundant before they could become Professionals.
That was why Fulan wanted to ask the Lord of Radiance for a few quotas for bestowing power.
It was to reward a few people who had played prominent roles, but who were unable to become Professionals naturally because of the current limitations of the faith’s scale.
“Oh! So that is how it is!” Anna scratched her chin awkwardly. Her other hand had nowhere to go, so she could only grip the doorframe from time to time or fidget with the robe on her body to conceal her embarrassment.
Fulan continued writing rapidly. After she wrote the final word, she took out the paper from the letter she had opened earlier, then placed the letter she had written inside it.
In this poor backwater, she had no envelopes or anything of the sort. Before coming here, she had never expected that she would need something like that, so she had not brought any. She could only make do with Blake’s envelope.
After Fulan folded the letter into the envelope, she used Ignite to draw the symbol of the Northern Society on it. Then she looked toward Anna.
“Right, Anna, I have something to do again. Tomorrow, I need to return to the Northern Society. You will stay here...”
Before Fulan could finish speaking, Anna immediately bristled and said,
“You are leaving me here again, and you are going back to the Northern Society...”
Fulan spent quite a while soothing her before Anna finally calmed down and accepted this arrangement.
“You promised. You will come back in about ten days and let me return to the Northern Society to rest for a while.”
“Definitely, definitely!”
Fulan was returning to the Northern Society now because she needed to prepare for participating in the Trial of the Sun.
As for the situation in this territory, it had not yet reached a level Fulan found satisfactory, so she needed Anna to continue standing guard here and help her oversee matters in this place.