Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 483 - 482: First, the Newspapers

The priests of Lu’an City are unaware of what is happening outside the blocked city walls. In fact, even without the blockade, they would not notice the infiltration and destruction starting from the grassroots. Since the public execution by fire in the square that day, Lu’an City has temporarily quieted down. The priests of the Grand Cathedral believe that burning those propaganda materials solved the problem, at least timely preventing further destruction by the Cecil Clan. However, in reality, a more powerful force is brewing beneath the calm façade—in every corner of this blocked city.

Some mysterious rumors started spreading through the city. At night, people secretly gathered in houses to discuss the increasingly scarce food supply and the locked doors of the church district. Some said they saw cartloads of food being transported to the church district. Others claimed that the underground of Lu’an Grand Cathedral stored enough food to feed the entire city for a year. Meanwhile, more disturbing news suggested that the city’s priests were already preparing to flee. These varied rumors spread like wildfire overnight, quickly spreading throughout the outer city district.

And more flyers and pamphlets began entering the city through secret channels amid this undercurrent surge.

The burning and public execution in the square indeed had a strong intimidating effect, shaking many civilians. Immediately after the appearance of new flyers, many chose to voluntarily submit them, while others secretly kept them. The second batch of flyers not only exposed the Holy Light but also described another kind of beautiful life: a more enlightened faith, a more prosperous life, and a Holy Light belonging to everyone. These things had an indescribable attraction for the people of Lu’an, who had long endured life under high pressure and blockade.

Thus, while many flyers were voluntarily submitted, another portion of flyers entered more secret channels, spreading in unnoticed alleys, in the dim night, among the hungry and fearful people. They may spread more difficultly, but they left a deeper impression in people’s hearts. In this process, Lu’an City is gradually splitting in ways that are hard to detect.

The priests of the Grand Cathedral probably could never understand why these flyers had such great appeal to civilians. However, the Intelligence Agency operatives conducting destructive actions in the city deeply understood it all: before the rise of the Cecil Clan, no group of Transcendents or aristocrats had ever spoken to the people with a human attitude, even if it was just a few words printed on paper, a few greetings, a few encouragements, or a few promises. The warmth they carried was invaluable in this cold era.

The civilians of Lu’an City are considered upper-class among civilians. They are wealthier, more decent, and have a higher literacy rate than average civilians, but they are still just civilians. In this era of distinct social hierarchy, they remain the lowest class in Lu’an City. In times of peace and prosperity, they may live better than people elsewhere. But when the situation becomes difficult, their living conditions plummet, and this huge gap exacerbates their dissatisfaction, deepening the divide between them and the priests in the city.

Of course, the Grand Cathedral is not forever unable to detect all this—there is a multitude of connections between the church district’s edges and the outer city district. As new flyers were discovered and submitted, the high priests finally became cautious. They were astonished by the quantity and replenishing speed of these flyers and promptly began conducting searches and inquiries in each area. During this process, Lu’an Bishop Fran Belon specially convened a citywide assembly and conducted a sermon in the square, telling everyone that the difficult situation in Lu’an City was caused by the blockade of the Cecil Clan. They were the culprits inviting such hardships. He called upon everyone to maintain piety to the Holy Light and loyalty to the church, facing the current difficult situation with utmost resilience.

It was considered a successful sermon. Fran Belon slightly restored some civilian confidence. However, following the end of the sermon, dozens of civilians suspected of privately discussing the church and flyers suffered public whipping, and as the whip fell, more people only accumulated resistance and resentment towards Lu’an Grand Cathedral.

Perhaps the city blockade was by the Cecil Clan, but it was the monks who wielded the whip and plundered the food. For most ordinary people, they hardly cared about the details of this confrontation—they only cared about their own lives.

More image materials were promptly transmitted out of Lu’an City, sent to Cecil Homeland, and to the printing factories of the four new industrial cities in the southern borders, transforming into tens of thousands of newspapers distributed throughout the southern borders.

With the application of industrial printing machines, the circulation and frequency of the Cecil Weekly were greatly increased. It can now be published across the whole region, and from one issue per week, it has become two issues per week, occasionally adding a special issue.

The increasingly widespread Cecil Weekly now has more and more readers. Merchants use it to sniff out business opportunities, scholars use it to accumulate knowledge, and literate civilians rely on it to understand grain price fluctuations and decree changes. Even those who cannot read gather around those who can, listening to others read newspaper content to understand the changes in this land because this information is closely related to their clothing, food, shelter, and transportation.

Benni, living in Carol City, is a person closely connected with newspapers. On the first and sixth days of every week, he makes sure to arrive early at the place selling newspapers, getting the latest issue of the Cecil Weekly before anyone else, and often getting many many copies.

Because he is a Newsboy.

This is a new "profession," though it’s not even considered official—a batch of children was recruited in the newly established general knowledge schools by officials from the Administrative Office to quickly distribute newspapers and reduce the pressure on the newspaper bureau. The recruitment criteria were poor families with good academic performance. These children go out to work on Monday and Saturday mornings when there are no classes. Although half-day earnings aren’t much, they’re still a valuable supplement for them and their families. Benni, having learned some spelling abilities from his father, had good grades in school and received this precious job.

In the early morning, even as the first line of sunlight hesitates on the horizon, the newly installed Magic Crystal Street Lamp hasn’t gone out yet, and Benni has already arrived at the newspaper bureau’s gate, with a queue behind him numbering over a dozen people, half of whom are half-grown kids like him.

Greeting his friends, discussing new things happening in the city or talking about the teachers in their general knowledge school, time passes unknowingly, and Benni enjoys this easy and pleasant feeling—though hard to pinpoint, he knows the arrival of the Cecil Clan changed everything in the city. Many adults seem anxious about the city’s transformations, but Benni finds life quite nice now.

Shortly after the first ray of sunlight ascends the horizon, the newly built mechanical clock two streets away chimes, marking the first timekeeping of the day. Accompanied by these chimes, the Magic Crystal Lamps lining the roads extinguish one by one, and the newspaper bureau’s door opens accordingly.

Soon after, Benni receives the newspapers to deliver and sell today—he has prepared two large satchels, one filled with newspapers ordered by others, the other with newspapers ready for retail.

Rich people—such as merchants and scholars—hope to see new newspapers immediately. They usually spend a few extra copper coins for a month-long "subscription service," having newspapers delivered directly to their homes by specialists. It’s said that such work is done by professional postmen in the southern big cities, but local postmen in Carol aren’t sufficient, so the news delivery task has also fallen to the Newsboys.

Benni strides briskly with his heavy satchel towards the street, quickly completing his task of delivering newspapers in his designated street area, then finds a quiet place, draws out a newspaper and starts reading earnestly.

This counts as slacking off, yet in an unnoticed street corner, no one would trouble him for this.

Benni doesn’t worry that reading the newspaper will prevent him from completing his sales task for the day—because more and more people are reading newspapers, and it has always been in short supply.

At least for now, it’s like this.

Benni reads earnestly, finishing the first edition news and current affairs before starting to read a new section that recently caught his attention.

The name of this section is "Faith and the Church".

This is a newly featured section that first appeared on the Cecil Weekly three issues ago during a special edition.

In the initial two or three issues of the newspaper, the content of this section was not unusual, mainly consisting of classic religious anecdotes and easy-to-understand fables, as well as some common knowledge about religious rituals and the gods. Whatever the subject matter, it was always intriguing for Benni—he read them as interesting stories.

But this time, the content seems a bit unusual. Benni didn’t see those short stories and fables but instead a full-page article with a striking headline:

"The Operations of the Northern Church of the Holy Light—Where Does the Clergy’s Wealth Come From".

Benni was somewhat curious, but just as he was about to continue reading, a curse from nearby interrupted him: "Damn it!"

Benni was startled. He turned his head and saw Old Tom, who lived in the same district—this elderly cobbler was clutching a newspaper, looking very angry, and cursed again: "I don’t believe it!"

Benni shrank back; he was somewhat afraid of the old man: Old Tom was a believer in the Holy Light—devout and stubborn. It was said that he donated half his estate to the church after his wife died, living a frugal and isolated life. As a cobbler, Old Tom’s craftsmanship was beyond reproach, but as a stubborn and reclusive old man, he was very difficult to get along with.

The children were all quite scared of him.

At this moment, Old Tom continued to curse under his breath. He seemed very dissatisfied with the content of the newspaper. Yet between his curses, he couldn’t help but pick up the newspaper again, almost reading one sentence and cursing one time.

The more Benni looked, the more scared he became. He felt that this solitary old man was probably truly out of his mind, so he quietly planned to back away, preparing to leave discreetly. But before he could take a step, the quirky old cobbler called out to him: "Kid! Do you think the stuff in this newspaper is rubbish?!?"

Benni immediately shrank back again. He dared to look up, ready to respond casually just to leave, but at the instant he raised his head, he was shocked into a freeze—

He saw the eccentric, reclusive widower glaring with his bloodshot eyes, his usually ice-cold face twisted in pain.

"It’s all rubbish! It must be rubbish!" Old Tom clutched the newspaper, which was crumpled into a ball in his hands, but his voice began to tremble, "They told me... told me... when the Gold Coin jingles, my name is recorded in the kingdom, and Marsha would be waiting for me there..."

Benni blinked. He didn’t know what the old cobbler was talking about, yet his gaze drifted to the newspaper in his hands, where the words written by the "White Knight", a "theological commentator", were clearly visible:

"...They (the Priests) are adept at using unverifiable promises to trick believers out of their money. One of the most common claims is that when the Gold Coin jingles, you can reserve a place in the kingdom or send the soul of a recently deceased loved one there. However, this has no connection to the teachings of the Holy Light.

"In the Holy Light Canon, the redemption of the soul is clearly stated, yet the Priests never allow ordinary people to see this part or explain it in detail..."

Old Tom’s emotions seemed to have finally stabilized a bit. His eyes were still very red, but he no longer cursed. Instead, he picked up the newspaper again and quickly read through the contents.

"Blargh."

He spat to the side, then seemed to hesitate about whether to throw the newspaper away. But in the end, he stuffed the newspaper into his clothes and slowly hunched away.

Benni watched this scene in bewilderment. He then noticed more people around him holding newspapers.

People gathered in groups, discussing the contents of the newspaper. Some looked worried, some appeared angry, and some were simply confused.

No one seemed to react as intensely as Old Tom, yet clearly everyone was very concerned about the newspaper’s content. Many without a newspaper seemed to be asking others about it.

Benni thought for a moment and suddenly knew what he had to do.

He raised the newspaper high, shouting loudly, "Selling papers! Selling papers! The new Cecil Weekly! Have a look! Inside info on church operations! First-hand news!"