When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#437 - Rapid City People's Congress (Part 2) (4k)

“Some people have recently been saying that we should execute the former Governor of Rapid Falls, Catherine,” Horne said slowly and deliberately. “This is completely a rumor!”

The crowd below visibly breathed a sigh of relief. After all, if Catherine were killed by them, even though she was a witch, the people of Rapid Falls would lose some of their right to be respected.

In this era where reputation is collateral, if the reputation of the people of Rapid Falls is ruined, it would mean that their business would be affected to some extent.

“But this does reflect a portion of public opinion.”

Horne left the podium and walked to the front of the high platform, gazing at the faithful believers before him. “Therefore, I have decided to entrust the decision of whether to expel or retain former Governor Catherine to the Holy Father.”

The so-called Holy Father's judgment is the same as the method used to elect the Pope, “Although we are elected, this reflects the will of the Holy Father.”

If the Pope of the Holy See can use it, why can't Horne use the same method?

“We, the Salvation Army, have always believed in restoring the ancient ways of the Holy Path and respecting the people while repelling outsiders,” Horne said, leaning his elbows on either side of the podium. “Therefore, according to the ancient assembly of believers, each person will hold a grain of wheat and place it in the baskets representing expulsion and retention, to see the Holy Father's judgment.”

In the early days of the assembly of believers, the early Church of Misella often used this method to achieve internal consensus.

Since wheat grains were too small and prone to error, Horne changed them to relatively larger beans for easier weighing and calculation.

For these ordinary civilians, this method was quite novel.

“Where are my beans? No, where are my beans?”

“You should have said so earlier; I already ate my beans.”

“Hey buddy, those beans have a layer of paint on them; aren't you afraid of being poisoned?”

“This isn't fair; those who pay more taxes should get more beans!”

“Buying beans, one dinar per bean, buying, buying... Hey, hey, what are you doing? Ah, stop hitting me, stop hitting me.”

Watching the black-clad soldiers knock those who were buying beans or trying to bring their own beans from the store to the ground and drag them away.

The city councilors could only climb down from the wooden platform and go to various places to maintain order, telling them that the Salvation Army only recognized red-painted beans and not to try to cheat anymore.

Under the leadership of the black-clad soldiers and respected village elders such as the councilors, the citizens finally began to orderly drop red-painted beans into the baskets.

Two wicker baskets were placed next to each bonfire. Under the guidance of the councilors and black-clad soldiers, they lined up and dropped the beans one by one into the baskets.

This voting method was naturally quite crude, with beans rolling out of the baskets and others being stained with dust and saliva.

But as long as there were enough voters, this small error would not have a significant impact on the final result.

Watching the chaotic voting of the believers, and then looking at Catherine, who was wearing a hood and holding an umbrella in the hot weather, Cici couldn't help but walk to Armand's side:

“Can this really clear Catherine's reputation as a witch?”

Armand said confidently, “Don't worry, His Majesty wouldn't really let them exile Catherine. I've arranged everything; let's see how these citizens choose.”

In fact, Horne's purpose was quite simple. After thinking about it, he decided to give the citizens of Rapid Falls a chance.

At the same time, it was also giving Catherine a chance to see what these citizens were like.

If the citizens could overcome the Church's thought-imprint and keep Catherine as governor, then Horne was willing to give their courageous stance more freedom.

For example, giving them a status similar to a special economic zone, only taking away part of their sovereignty, and leaving them with some financial power.

But if they were still influenced by the Church's narrative of the binary opposition between "witch-church," then don't blame Horne for using the Holy Father's invisible hand and the Holy Son's visible hand.

Let the citizens see what it means to grasp with both hands and be firm with both hands.

The black-clad soldiers carried the baskets filled with beans back and forth, pouring basket after basket of red-painted beans into the prepared wooden container.

The round beans fell into the wooden container with a rustling sound, and the surrounding people's eyes were fixed on the large scale, which was one person tall.

When the last basket of red-painted beans was poured into the wooden container, the scale, which was thought to tilt, actually maintained a strange balance.

The bronze pointer swung left and right on the vertical line, causing everyone's hearts to rise and fall with trepidation.

One second, two seconds, three seconds... Time gradually passed.

As the scale gradually returned to balance, in the frustrated and angry gazes of Mitney and Carl, the pointer still tilted slightly towards exile.

Although it was only a slight angle, it still pointed to exile.

Mitney, who was counting beside the scale, felt a sinking in his heart. After measuring the angle, he said with difficulty, “It, it's leaning towards exile.”

In other words, the groups in the city who wanted to exile Catherine and retain Catherine each accounted for about 50%, but those who held the opinion of exile were slightly more.

For a witch who everyone was shouting to kill, 50% support was already very good.

Catherine's face under the shadow of her hood darkened a bit. She actually had a trace of expectation; it was truly ridiculous.

“I knew everyone didn't want her to stay.”

“I demand a re-election; the previous one was not standardized and had too many errors.”

“Yes, and such an important matter should require more than two-thirds to pass.”

“Enough already; are we electing a Pope? Is everyone not going to eat or sleep, staying here and voting slowly with you?”

The exile faction and the retention faction began to argue, some demanding a re-election, some demanding that the original judgment be maintained, and others wanting to go home to eat.

Looking at the noisy citizens, Horne sighed. Although it was only a slight difference, the citizens of Rapid Falls had already made their choice.

“Waaaaaah——”

The loud shout from the stage spread out with the transmission monks, the echoing old cry spreading out like waves.

The citizens raised their heads from the argument and looked towards the high platform, only to see Horne trembling all over, his eyes and mouth tightly closed, his arms constantly doing a freestyle swimming motion in the air.

Of course, he didn't perform the twitching and ferocious face from before. First, the citizens couldn't see it, and second, the citizens had high aesthetic standards and didn't need to create a terrifying atmosphere like that.

This is? The Holy Son's so-called "Holy Father's descent"?

Many citizens' faces showed unnatural expressions, even with a hint of contempt. This method was good enough to deceive villagers and laborers, but they still wanted to deceive them?

But as Horne trembled and made embracing motions, the surrounding Salvation Army soldiers began to fire their guns as a signal, and most of the people present began to sing hymns, and things changed.

Those laborers and vagrants were led to sing along, and those citizens who considered themselves rational and clever became stiff in place and became the odd ones out.

As the singing reached its climax, Horne's body stopped trembling. He put his hands behind his back and pulled out nasolabial folds on his face again, imitating the past.

“When you see me, why don't you bow?” Standing at a corner of the high platform, Horne looked at the empty space in front of him and shouted in a drawn-out tone.

After one shout, the black-clad soldiers all knelt on one knee, while the other laborers learned the posture of the Holy Father Sect monks and knelt down in a five-body prostration.

Only those citizens didn't know whether to stand or kneel, still staring at Horne uncomfortably.

Horne didn't force them because they would kneel down themselves in a while.

“Believer Idelman, did you… have intercourse with your dog yesterday?!”

“I, I didn't.” In the eyes of the crowd, Idelman subconsciously retorted.

“Do you think I don't know?” Horne put his hands behind his back, his voice hoarse and old. “Isn't that dog yellow and black? Its name is Karasha, that's the nickname you gave it.”

The voice was not loud, but it was like thunder. The believer Idelman knelt on the ground with a thud, and sweat visibly seeped into his back.

The surrounding people immediately took a few steps back in disgust, trying to distance themselves from this Idelman.

Horne squinted his eyes, not looking at the believers under the stage, but he could accurately point out one of them: “Believer Dang Qi Ge, you communicate with the devil, do you think I don't know?”

“Believer Bressoir, you…”

After continuously pointing out seven or eight names, the black-clad soldiers quickly appeared and took away three or five of them. In broad daylight, they were directly held against the head with a holy gun and exploded.

Shattered skulls and brain matter were scattered all over the ground, and the citizens finally recognized the current situation.

In this situation, they had to believe even if they didn't want to.

This time, when Horne's head turned in which direction, a large group of people immediately knelt down. They didn't want to have their little secrets exposed in public.

The latest novels are first published on Liu Jiu Shu Ba!

This information was of course not provided by the Cheka. They had only been here for a few days, so of course they didn't have such strong intelligence capabilities.

This was provided by the Megde Merchant Guild.

“You, why are you here? Your souls shouldn't be in your bodies!” The Holy Father's majestic voice echoed in the square, as if words were really coming from the sky.

“You, should have your heart pierced by a knight! But you are still alive, who saved you?”

“You, should have your head pierced by an arrow, but you are still alive, who saved you?”

Torches flickered, war flags fluttered, and the melodious chimes of the Rapid Falls clock tower in the distance were mixed with the last ray of red light of the setting sun.

The light shone obliquely on Horne's face, and his angry eyes made many citizens' bodies itch strangely.

“Who saved you!?”

One stern rebuke after another, mixed with the evening wind, made many citizens unconsciously lower their heads like a storm.

They knew Catherine's achievements very well, and even knew the truth about Horne's identity as the Holy Son.

But they had no ability to resist. The only one who had the ability to resist was standing in the shadows behind Horne wearing a cloak.

The citizens finally realized how important Catherine was.

“Misella believes that you can see through the devil's tricks and distinguish clearly who is the devil and who is the saint, but alas, she loves you too much and guessed wrong.” Horne put on a majestic look, “Since we are voting, I will also cast a vote!”

Saying that, Horne strode to the side of the wooden container, pinched a grain of sand from the ground, and lightly threw it into the wooden container of the retention faction.

“Creak—” The sound of wood breaking came.

In the exclamations that rose and fell as everyone suddenly raised their heads and focused their attention on the scale, the scale miraculously tilted towards the retention faction in the next second.

But Horne only threw a grain of sand into the retention container.

The wooden container on the scale fell like a meteor, breaking the lever and smashing heavily on the ground.

The dust from the wooden container falling to the ground dissipated, and Horne coldly stared at the people in front of him, vaguely mumbling, suppressing his voice to be both majestic and distant: “This is the vote I cast, Catherine, innocent.”

The wooden container that crashed to the ground smashed into the hearts of everyone in the square. They looked at the infinitely majestic Horne and then looked at the black-clad soldiers with unkind expressions around them.

They immediately felt that something was wrong, but none of them dared to stand up and point it out. After all, the current situation was that most of the citizens, laborers, and craftsmen present were kneeling down.

And those city councilors were still bowing their waists, slowly and softly persuading: “If Catherine is exiled, who can put pressure on the Holy Son who is protected by the Holy Father for us?”

“Call Catherine, call quickly.”

The eerie silence lasted for a very short time. Under the leadership of the monks of the Holy Father Sect, someone shouted again.

“The Holy Father's grain of sand is a mountain!”

“Praise the Holy Father!”

“Catherine, innocent.”

With a series of chain-reaction-like shouts, the originally suppressed atmosphere finally became solemn and sacred.

The monks of the Holy Father Sect in the crowd immediately began to sing hymns loudly, and the city councilors knelt on the hard floor tiles and sang loudly.

This song seemed to be contagious, spreading down one after another. In a few minutes, nearly ten thousand believers present sang hymns in unison.

The hymns surrounded the square for a full seven or eight minutes, but strange "bang bang" sounds came from the roofs on both sides.

A peculiar floral fragrance accompanied by a gentle breeze brushed across their faces. Catherine suddenly felt an itch in her ear. She reached out and touched it, and it was a petal.

Looking up, she was stunned for a moment. A dozen or so clusters of petals scattered, slowly falling from the air.

Yellow, white, red, patches of petal rain fell from the sky, falling on people's heads, shoulders, and ears.

Some citizens even forgot to think, staring blankly at the falling flower rain in front of them.

In the sound of hymns, the victory bugle call suddenly sounded, falling like a waterfall on everyone's ears along with the petals.

It seemed that only at this time were people cheering and celebrating for their war hero, for this "witch" Catherine who had protected the entire city.

Just as Catherine was staring at the petals in her palm, a rough but slender hand covered it. She raised her head, but could only see the back of Horne's head.

Being held by this rough hand, Catherine even stumbled to the front of the high platform.

Before Catherine could react, Horne took her hand and raised it high.

“From now on, there will be no more witch Catherine, only Saintess—Catherine!”

“Saintess Catherine!”

“Yes, Saintess, we love you.”

“Catherine! Catherine!”

Holding Horne's hand, Catherine did not respond to the cheers from the stage.

She just stared blankly at Horne's face, which was trembling as if electrocuted.