When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

"What's the date today?"

Inside the dimly lit tent, a swaying light slowly brightened.

"It's the sixth."

The black silhouette of a face was cast onto the tent wall, illuminated by the light.

Inside the tent, several boxes were haphazardly arranged. Among the piles of dry grass, the gleam of a chain flail and a deer horn sword reflected in the lamplight could be seen.

Within the fuzzy sphere of candlelight, a large, bearded face emerged from the darkness.

He had almost dark brown skin, a red beard on his lips, and stiff hair that was fluffy enough to push up his hood.

"It's already the sixth and still no rain. The water will probably recede. I feel like that fat Durdauf wants to run."

"Boss Tomley," said a young man with a face as pale as a corpse, his nose upturned and sharp enough to be a knife. "What did the Holy Assembly say?"

"The Great Flood one? How can we contact them! But that witch Carrie is in charge of managing our Rouen party's black market in Upper Rifford County. She can involve a whole bunch of people."

Tomley plucked a louse from his beard, threatening it fiercely, "If something really happens, do you think your Dia can escape? Brother Grampwen, this is not a joke."

Grampwen squeezed his wife Dia's hand tightly.

"This can't go on."

The third person knocked on a hollow wooden box. He was about fifty years old, with gray hair and a large, bulbous, alcohol-reddened nose. He was less than five feet tall.

He claimed to have dwarf blood.

"Durdauf himself eats well and lives in luxury every day, but the serfs are starving to death in droves. The monks are also setting up private gambling dens, tricking those armed farmers into selling their sons and daughters. Once Durdauf runs, and everyone gets scared, they'll probably riot."

"Old Brother Chilves is right, absolutely right!" Tomley said, shaking his head. "These days, they're spreading rumors about the Chosen One and Juan now. Sooner or later, they'll make trouble. Instead of letting them riot for nothing, we might as well use it for our own benefit."

At this point, Tomley and Chilves exchanged glances, revealing knowing smiles.

It should be known that Thousand River Valley is located north of Black Serpent Bay, bordering the three kingdoms of Noen, Lia, and France.

Black Serpent Bay is the main base of the entire Empire's secret parties.

For the secret parties of Black Serpent Bay, Thousand River Valley is their largest smuggling route, so naturally, they have supported a large number of local forces here.

These local forces' churches are repeatedly suppressed but never completely eliminated, often leading to mutually destructive situations.

Later, the archbishop of the Thousand River Valley diocese, in order to maintain stability, simply disobeyed the Pope's orders.

Helpless, this formed a tacit rule within the church.

Whenever a secret party launches an uprising, as long as no one of the priest or father level or higher dies, and one or two scapegoats are handed over, the remaining people can be forgiven.

Thus, whenever a bishop discovers secret party evidence or something similar, and the secret party discovers it, they will launch an uprising, destroy the evidence, and then randomly push out a scapegoat to take the blame.

Some bishops will even proactively notify the secret party when they receive evidence, asking them to help settle some accounts.

In this way, the church looks good on the surface, while the secret party gets the benefits.

As for why not really suppress them, it's naturally because the benefits are not proportional to the losses.

Moreover, ordinary people are timid and easily frightened, and they might accidentally light the powder keg.

Back then, a joke from the French king was spread as a rumor, resulting in the famous Bloody Winter riot, and the capital was besieged by rioters for ten days.

That scene is still vivid in my mind.

We can't investigate everything, can we? What if we really find something?

During the Green Coat Party's attack on the Earth Fortress Grand Duke incident, two grand dukes, five earls, and three bishops were implicated.

One of the bishops was even a former apprentice of the Pope. We wouldn't dare to imagine what would be found if we investigated further.

In the end, the priests and demon hunters who handled the matter were transferred or died mysteriously.

For the old secret party members who deeply understand this principle, fake uprisings and fake surrenders are essential skills.

They have survived countless times thanks to this technique.

"So, our goal is to create momentum, incite an uprising, take the opportunity to attack the monastery, capture Durdauf alive, and seize the witch Carrie," Tomley said, drawing a route map on the box with practiced ease.

"What about those two dogs, Danji and Jiro?"

"I've inquired. Jiro is going to investigate the secret party's whereabouts nearby the day after tomorrow. You also know about the remaining Danji, there's something wrong with him here," Grampwen pointed to his temple. "As long as we assure him that we won't harm Durdauf's life and pressure him with the lives of the common people, he will stand on our side."

"Who will take the blame?"

"Let's choose Madeland."

"Madeland?"

"Yes," Chilves nodded. "That fugitive. I heard he's a believer of Juan now and has a good relationship with the common people. A person like that, the High Fort Archbishop will definitely want his head."

Madeland is warm-hearted, reckless, and related to Juan now, who is a thorn in the side of the archbishop.

He is simply a born scapegoat.

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"Recently, isn't the legend of the Chosen One being spread again?" Tomley snapped his fingers. "Brother Grampwen, these days, please spread the word among the common people, associating the Chosen One with Madeland..."

"How can the Chosen One and Madeland be associated?"

"What's so difficult about that? Isn't the Chosen One the moonlight of the dark night? You just say white light in the rainy night. He's a fugitive who escaped in the rain, isn't that 'rainy night'? He leads people to revolt, isn't that 'white light'?"

Tomley continued, "Isn't the Chosen One 'Messiah's Stigmata'? He has a birthmark on his wrist, just say it's Messiah's chain pattern."

Seeing Grampwen's look of sudden realization, Chilves added with a smile, "These common people are born stupid and have limited knowledge. How can they remember those long words? If we modify one or two places slightly, will they be able to react?"

"I'm too familiar with this matter," Tomley said carelessly. "Back then, in Windmill Land, I described a dung heap as a miracle, and there were common people who believed it.

The important thing is not to make them believe in the miracle themselves, but to make them believe that others believe in it, and then they will come up with the reasons themselves, and the matter will be half done."

"Brother Tomley's words are true. The most important thing for us in this business is to be able to incite. If you can't incite with just your mouth, there must be people below to respond, spread the word, and talk big. Once those common people get carried away, they will believe anything."

Chilves patted Grampwen on the shoulder: "Listen carefully, learn carefully. How to end the matter and how to deal with the church is the key."

Chilves and Tomley, these two old foxes, began to explain the logic in detail to Grampwen, this newcomer.

Tomley and others intercepted the witch's evidence. The High Fort Archbishop was angry, but he didn't dare to kill Tomley and others.

He didn't have the courage to break the fragile balance between the secret party and the Thousand River Valley diocese.

But it was easy for the archbishop to torture them or cause Tomley and others to suffer unbearable losses.

Just rewarding you with a 'pilgrimage qualification' would cost you a lot of money to buy indulgences.

Catching the witch was a great achievement for the High Fort Archbishop. In order to divert his anger and prevent the credit from decreasing, Tomley and others had to make the 'credit' bigger.

"Once Durdauf is captured, we will 'be forced' to elect Madeland as the Thousand River Valley Pope according to the church's ancient election law."

Tomley snapped his fingers: "How about the gimmick of a Juan now follower pretending to be the Pope and spreading heresy? Sell a few more common people's heads. With the opportunity to capture such a high-level secret party member, His Excellency the Bishop will basically not be angry anymore."

"Let's think about this carefully, no rush."

"What about the time to act?"

Tomley walked around the candle twice: "Everyone acts separately tomorrow, and we'll act the day after tomorrow night, just when Jiro is away."

"Okay, then the day after tomorrow night!"