Chapter 366: The First Government Ordinance
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
From the passing of the King to the lift of the ban, a few series of government orders were issued all across Ferelden, the beginning and the ending took around a few days.
But, being one of the more important cities in Ferelden, Rayleigh did not consume as much time. On the second morning, the bulletins were already posted along the streets. There were almost no flashy clothing to be seen in the city, every house had a black flag in front of their doors that waved with the wind.
Ferelden was still a young kingdom. Even though it was not long ago, they just experienced the sudden death of the old king and the splitting of the country, after building a new kingdom, their first king has passed on, to the citizens, it was still sad news.
Thus, most of them did not notice the sudden rise in numbers of priests walking around the streets.
They had thick books in their hands, and were dressed in plain robes, which was suited for a mourning country. They did not try to preach to people, just slowly carrying on with their business in front of the Mages’ Freemasonry’s previous headquarters.
Ferelden’s Mages’ Freemasonry did not exist anymore, their remaining branches had been all shut down. As for what would happen after they closed down, seeing the surrounding workmen and priests….., one could already tell.
They wanted to convert all of these places into churches.
"Sir, are those priests from the Church?"
At the corner of a street, a few mages hid there, peeking their heads out, observing all of this in secret. Tony had a panicked expression and asked this.
Benjamin sighed and nodded.
Who would have thought?
Killing the King, spreading rumors....at first, Benjamin did all this to slow down the Church’s influence on Ferelden. But, the Church’s absolution was unexpected. Under the pressure of rumors and peers, they just destroyed Aldrich along with the Mages’ Freemasonry, and even used this opportunity to become one of the forces behind-the-scenes in Ferelden.
The night before, when he heard the news from the assassin, he could not believe it yet. But today, after receiving news from Snow, and with bulletins all over the streets, he could not help but believe.
"Teacher Benjamin, why does it feel like…..we helped them instead?"
At that moment, facing the questions of his apprentices, Benjamin could only laugh bitterly.
What could he do?
He was helpless as well.
But, with proper thought, the Church’s moves was a sign of retaliation. But in reality, it was like a forced action they had to take-----even though they burned all of the people from the Mages’ Freemasonry in a pit, and even lifted the ban, but they were not prepared at all for Ferelden accepting the Church.
In this country, the mages still had their foundations. With no oppression to the mages, and if suddenly new rules came out without any reason, even with logical excuses, the mages would definitely object.
Thus, what Benjamin did still had effect against the Church.
Seeing these people rush to build the churches, he could see the Church was being forced. They had no reason to declare that mages would be banned, so they could only build churches, then later on preach forcefully against the mages.
This was much easier to deal with.
At this moment, Benjamin already had plans to deal with them.
At least, with the Church in front of him, these people will not be able to build it perfectly within thirty years.
"Sir, we can’t let them preach in our city."
"Rest assured." Benjamin nodded, "I won’t let the Church have their way so easily."
Even though it was not good to start conflict with the Church directly, he still had tricks he could pull to stop the Church.
Under these circumstances, the influence of the ‘Crows’ would be greater than they expected.
Of course, these were only in the small details, and they would continue on, but not cause a huge effect. What was more important now was how to use the mages to retaliate.
Thinking of this, Benjamin patted the mages on their shoulders and led them away.
Half a day later.
"Mage Benjamin, you’re not wrong at all! The Church has started their work."
In a secluded house in the city, Vinci and Benjamin were meeting in secret. From the moment he walked in, he was already this panicked.
Benjamin only smiled.
"...Mage Benjamin, me denying your request previously, it was my bad." Vinci saw this and was silent for a while, as if he was regretful, but then said, "But, the Church has already put pressure on us, we have to do something!"
Benjamin heard this and nodded.
But, he did not speak, he only took out the ‘Freedom of Promoting Magic’ booklet out, and placed it onto the table.
"..."
Vinci’s face was rather unsightly.
"Do we really have to distribute this?"
Benjamin nodded.
Vinci sighed and said: "Alright…...with the enemy so close, but yet you are still so adamant, I will believe you this time. No matter if it’s Rayleigh or Ferelden, I have connections. If you print it out, I promise you I can make sure this book soon reaches into every corner of the kingdom."
Benjamin heard this and finally smiled, saying:
"Then it’s up to you, sir."
From another angle, the Church’s move actually helped them a lot.
At least, for the mages in Ferelden, they had yet to see the power of the Church, thus not putting them in their sights. With this, the mages would care more, and it would allow Benjamin to do more.
"Right, Mage Benjamin." Vinci took out a small notebook, then said, "Are you planning on going to Snow? This morning, a few mages that had connections with the royal family left to advise the Queen to remove that ordinance."
Benjamin frowned. "Advise the Queen?"
Vinci nodded and said: "Yes, a few of the mages know the officers and have relations with Snow, some of them have met the Queen personally. They think this government ordinance is unreasonable and they want the Queen to remove it."
"Are they mad? Call them back." Benjamin shook his head and showed and expression of panic, "The royal family is already under total control of the Church, the Queen does not have her freedom anymore. A quarter of the military rights are already under control of the Church, the others are still undecided, but if the Church uses the Queen to put their own orders, they would be under control as well for sure."
Saying this, Benjamin stopped for awhile, then continued, "Under these circumstances, going would equal to suicide."
Vinci was stunned.
"That serious?"
Benjamin nodded.
"But…..they should have arrived by now."
Benjamin heard this and sighed, saying helplessly: "Then you can start mourning for them already."
A government that has yet to experience a war would be like this, utterly naive. The government ordinance is already in place, they think they can just go win the Queen over, thinking that the royal family has yet to be controlled?
The Church would only wish for more mages like these, making it easier for them to clean up.