Chapter 842: Preparation for the Half Million
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After the four of them, including the King, had quietly left the mayor’s house, the mayor felt somewhat dazed.
"Wait, I... Is there something I’m unable to recall?"
He looked at the empty house, feeling as though something was not right. He could vaguely remember that he had just met a very important person, and had made a crucial promise, but he simply could not remember what they were.
What was this about?
The mayor felt somewhat shocked and fearful, even. His subconscious was instinctively telling him that he had best not speak of the matter to anyone, or he would surely get into big trouble. At the same time, he vaguely felt that the important person he had just forgotten should soon reappear.
And he needed to accomplish a very important task for him.
"...Forget it," After trying to remember what it was for a long time, the mayor still could not think of anything. He could only shake his head and toss the matter to the back of his mind, leaving it for another day.
At the same time, outside the town.
Benjamin had already set off, bringing the King and the two siblings with him as they continued to fly towards their next target city.
To prevent information from leaking out, after the mayor had made his promise, Benjamin had requested the two siblings to seal up his memory of that particular event, adding another layer of security.
No one knew if the Church would extend their search here, and considering their ability to extract memories, if the information were to be leaked, the impact of Benjamin’s plan would be greatly reduced.
As for what his actual plan was...
"Varys, print half a million posters for me. I will give you the details of the contents in a while," He activated the transmission woodpiece while hurrying on his journey, saying, "Remember to only use the equipment in the academy to print them. The process must be kept secret, not the least bit of news can be leaked out!"
This was the first message to be conveyed. Right after that, he delivered the content of the posters over. Thus, the preparation to be done outside was more or less completed.
The task he had requested the mayor to undertake was actually very simple: To secretly put up the posters all over the small town.
It was not that he had never done anything similar prior to this, only, this time, his plan was not as simple as putting up posters all over a city. He was taking things to the next level: He wanted to put up the posters all over the Kingdom of Helius.
If he wished to use the influence of the King, then the bigger the impact, the better it was, of course. The Church claimed that magic was the symbol of the devil, the Church claimed that an evil mage had kidnapped His Majesty the King... In this country, it had always been the Church alone who had the authority to speak. Now, however, the wheel of fortune had turned. It was their turn now.
This was an opportunity of a lifetime. Perhaps it would be very difficult for them to cleanse the reputation of mages all at once. However, with at least the authority of the King on their side, mages could leap out from the personification of the devil and make it possible for them to be acknowledged by the general public. Then, when the people slowly feel that mages were not devils anymore, then how could the Church claim supremacy and trust?
If he wanted to get rid of the Church, he must of course steal away the foundation the Church had amongst the people, and dig out their roots.
Thus, Benjamin moved quickly, bringing the other three people with him like a flash of lightning and flying in between the cities. They were not picky at all; no matter a village or a city, they snuck in and immediately found the person in charge. First, they got the King to make them agree and make their promise. Then, they used psychic powers to cause a temporary amnesia in the leaders.
The people in authority had a certain amount of power over the security of their territories. Because of that, it was necessary for Benjamin to obtain their help, to get the posters up all over the Kingdom of Helius.
He had planned everything. After preparations were done, the half a million posters would be snuck into the goods of merchants, and distributed to various places. By that time, the psychic spell cast on the people in authority everywhere would fade, and they would regain their memories. When they recall the promise they had made, perhaps they might regret it, or feel afraid... However, by the time things had escalated to that stage, there would be no turning back for them.
The Church had issued a notice: Those who kept the whereabouts of the King secret would face immediate execution. They had seen the missing King, but had not reported it to the Church; this was tantamount to cooperating with the criminals. There would be no way for them to explain things properly, so it was impossible for them to regret it now.
Also, after every conversation and promise made, they had agreed to specially seek out a few illiterate guards in the city who would put up the posters in all the streets, big and small, two hours before dawn broke.
After that, there would be an explosion to witness.
Benjamin was very excited, but the task before them was not a small matter at all. There were so many towns and cities in the Kingdom of Helius that it was impossible to cover them all in a week. At the very least, they would cover what they could. It was a herculean task for them, indeed.
It had only been two days when the King looked a bit listless.
"Can... Can we rest for a while?"
It was obvious that he had never experienced flight before. After yet another descent, he began throwing up somewhat violently. Benjamin had to use the Elemental Order- Heal to get his blood going again, ensuring that he could meet the other city mayors in his best mental state.
"Don’t you want the people in a few more cities to see the true face of the Church, Your Majesty?" He encouraged. "The people of the Kingdom of Helius have been asleep for too long. Now, only you can wake them up, Your Majesty."
After a bout of treatment, the King was forced to get up. He gave a long sigh, nodding.
In actual fact, other than the psychic spell used during their first contact, the subsequent interactions between him and Benjamin had been normal. Benjamin could sense that although the heavy hatred in the King’s heart towards the Church had been buried very deeply before, now that it had been unleashed, it was impossible to be suppressed again.
They did not need to use the psychic power of suggestion anymore, and neither did they have to control the spiritual imprint in the King’s mind. They were already able to get the King to act according to their plans. The enemy of the enemy was a friend; by then, the King should have deeply realized this problem.
They were in the same boat now. It was no longer possible to separate.
Thus, within a week, they spent all their efforts on travelling hurriedly and persuasion, handling every city in about half an hour. By the time their preparation work was coming to an end, half of the authorities in the Kingdom of Helius had gone through a confusing loss of memory.
However, at the same time, the Church also continued their hunt for them. Many times, Benjamin had sensed the priests flying past them in the sky, looking around, and he had the urge to rush out and kill them. However, to avoid alerting the enemy, he controlled himself.
He wanted to create the fabrication of him having brought the King out of the Kingdom of Helius.
Only, to avoid being seen or heard by the Church, they were forced to bypass and give up some cities. In the end, if one were to look at a map of the Kingdom of Helius, the settlements where the leaders had sworn to cooperate were basically concentrated to the south of the capital. It looked like the two separate pieces of land drawn out by the conservationists and the radicals who claimed the territories as their own.
Benjamin was not really satisfied with such an outcome, but he still felt that it was enough.
"The printing of the posters is complete. We have hidden them in the carriages of the merchants and have sent them near the Crusader Gateway. With your say so, they can be sent into the Kingdom of Helius at any time," Such was the transmission delivered by Varys.
Benjamin nodded.
There was half a day left, and they could use it to visit more cities and get the support of more people in authority. However, there were other people he needed to meet today.
Landing in the village next to Perseus Lake, he got the two siblings to take the King and hide. As for himself, he walked once again into the tavern secretly operated by the Wood family.
He had not once contacted the nobles of the capital during the past few days. They must be a nervous wreck by now.
Benjamin felt as though he had been keeping them in torture until such a time as this, and he considered that the time was already ripe to make use of their powers now.