Chapter 852: We Quit!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"What on earth are you going to do?"
The people in charge of most of the places expressed suspicion when they encountered Benjamin and his companions once more.
"Our goal has always been clear. To restore His Majesty to the throne, pull the Church down and have them taste the bitter fruit of their crimes."
"Then... What else do you want us to do?"
"We have already established a secret organization to plan the overturning of the Church. We need you to join us, and when it is necessary, to use your authority to speak and publicly go against the Church."
"You want me to publicly speak against the Church? No no no..."
The operation this time was not more successful than the previous one. Even though the Church had not pinned the responsibility for the posters onto the officers, it was obvious that there was still fear in their hearts.
Only a few of them expressed that they would support the King unconditionally; they would not hesitate even if they had to confront the Church publicly. As for most of the other officers, there was a lot of hesitation in their words. When Benjamin invited them to join the Black Nightmare Society, they pushed and dragged the matter, with an expression on their faces that pleaded to be released.
From the looks of it, people from the capital had definitely come and beat them up.
Benjamin had no way to force the matter. It was impossible to rely on psychic powers to control everyone. Even the surviving worshippers from across the sea were unable to do it. Because of that, after they had visited most of the officers, they could only remember the names of the supporters and set off on their journey back to Worchester.
In actual fact, it was already quite good to have a certain amount of support.
In the meantime, Duke Collin had even sent them a few letters to inform them that the current situation in the capital was complicated. He was unable to extract himself, and whatever plans Benjamin had, it was best not to bring the King near the capital.
It seemed... The local governments in the kingdom were not the only ones in a mess; there were many things happening within the capital as well.
Benjamin considered it for a while, but he still decided not to go near Havenwright. He would still follow his own steps, and moreover, if nothing unexpected had happened, Grant had definitely returned. They had best stay away temporarily.
"What is the situation over here, in Worchester?"
After a few days, back in the outpost of the academy’s black operation, Benjamin asked the people in charge.
The person in charge answered, "It seems that the strike will still need some time, however... A lot of the members of the Black Nightmare Society have sent in a new recommended name list. According to them, these are also people who hate the Church to the core, and wish to join us."
Saying thus, he handed the name list to Benjamin. On it were written tight and cramped lines of information; there were almost a hundred people.
Seeing that, Benjamin nodded.
The internal department had recommended this; it was definitely the main source of the Black Nightmare Society’s expansion. He also believed that those members would not risk their lives to propose memberships for some unreliable people. After all, if news of them were to be exposed, everyone would be plunged into danger and be madly pursued by the Church.
"Make some arrangements for these people to be divided into batches. I will meet them on the ship." Because of that, he said, "Furthermore, you should do your best to undergo some intelligence training with these members so that they can adapt quicker."
The person in charge nodded immediately. "I understand, sir!"
Thus, the ship afloat outside of the port became the temporary headquarters of the Black Nightmare Society. Benjamin began to interview the new members in separate batches, and this local, underground organization in the Kingdom of Helius finally began to grow stronger.
Meanwhile.
"Move faster! Everyone of you is dawdling about, if the quota for today is not reached, would you still want your salary? Hey! Who is that? Don’t your eyes be wandering about! What are you looking at? Get to work quickly!"
In the city of Worchester, in a printing workshop at a remote location, there light was dim and the atmosphere heavy; a supervisor, dressed in black, walked past a low spirited worker, and suddenly began berating him fiercely.
With a start, the worker came back to his senses. He did not dare to say anything. All he did was nod numbly.
"Don’t daze about here. I pay you so much not to sit and stare here," the supervisor gave a cold snort, speaking in an unsatisfied manner. "If you do not finish this share before dinner, you won’t be eating."
Hearing that, the worker cowered and hurriedly lowered his head, operating the printing machines deftly and turning pieces of white paper into loose leaflets, full of pictures and words.
However, he could not help but remember what a friend had said to him a few days ago.
"What? The salary they pay you is so little? I’m telling you now, don’t you be cheated by them, that workshop isn’t even a place for people to print books. They are actually printing indulgences for the Church! One piece of indulgence can fetch 5 gold pieces. You are doing the Lord’s work, why is it that they aren’t willing to pay you a few copper pieces?"
When he had heard this, he was entirely stunned.
Just now, he had been staring blankly at the loose pages that had just been printed upon, looking at the words that he could not understand. He had thought that these things would be stapled into books, but... It was only then that he realized, the content of every page he printed was the same.
Furthermore, after conversations with a few other colleagues, they had discovered that everyone was printing the same things. It was impossible to set them into a book.
Could it be... that they were really printing indulgences?
Due to their family backgrounds, they had never even seen a real indulgence. However, there was no one in the Kingdom of Helius who did not know about that holy piece of voucher. Only special priests were qualified to go about the business of selling them, and no matter who they were, as long as they bought one, gold pieces would fall to the bottom of the box with some clangs, and their souls would rise to heaven in the future.
It was difficult for the workers to believe that the rough loose leaves they printed everyday... were the legendary indulgences. They could even feel their faith crumbling bit by bit.
Because of that, probably around yesterday, he had secretly hidden a piece of the printed stuff and copied some of the words from it onto another paper, bringing that to his literate neighbor. The reaction from his neighbor was... He did not even dare to think about it again.
"This word here means ’sin’, and this word says ’heaven’, right... Why are you suddenly asking about this?"
At the time, he had felt as though lightning had struck him. After being dumbfounded for quite a while, he quietly took the piece of paper back and went home without saying another word. Early this morning, he listlessly went to work.
There was no mistake about it. Those were indulgences.
He had not the change to share his discovery with his colleagues, but yesterday, there were others who had secretly brought things home; they had probably realized the truth long ago. When he arrived at work today, he also noticed that many people had strange expressions.
Everyone was slightly unfocused...
The supervisor had also noticed that, and had even took the whip out from his office, brandishing it in his hands with a fierce look upon his face. He paced about inside the workshop, scaring them so much that they did not even dare let out a deep breath.
However... He still could not help but wished to talk with that friend.
"Why don’t you guys protest against him? You do such important work, and yet the pay you get is less than the people moving goods at the port, and you’re even being lied to, like fools! I’m telling you, you should unite and protest against that supervisor. If they don’t raise your salary, you quit!"
Quit?
Thinking about the supervisor’s vicious face, his legs began to uncontrollably shake, for some reason. However, the scoldings rang in his ears, and he could not help but feel a fire in his heart.
The weather was hot, but the entire workshop was sealed up very tightly. Not even the windows were open. Everyone had their heads buried in work, in a dead atmosphere. Beads of sweat dripped profusely from their foreheads. Even their vision seemed somewhat blurry.
Smack!
"Do you want to die? I’ve told you not to let the sweat drop on the paper, it has just been printed, but now it’s useless because of your sweat. The cost for this... Are you able to afford the cost for this?"
A moment’s carelessness caused the worker to let a drop of sweat fall onto a freshly printed indulgence. In a moment, the voice, sounding like a nightmare, rang out behind him. At the same time, there was a searing pain on his back.
That stroke of whip almost brought him to the ground.
"I... I..."
Forcing himself to maintain his balance, he turned around and looked at the supervisor behind him through with a vision blurred with sweat. The supervisor was gritting his teeth; upon that swarthy face were narrowed, bloodshot eyes.
"You? What you? Do you still dare talk back to me? Do you know what you’ve just destroyed? Do you know how big a loss your single drop of sweat is going to cost our clients? If today’s quota is not done, are you going to motherf*cking bear the responsibility? You..."
"Get out!"
With a roar, the worker suddenly brought a fist out, crashing it violently upon the supervisor’s face. In that instant, as though a rooster had just been choked, the incessant droning immediately disappeared.
The supervisor fell to the floor, holding onto his face in disbelief.
The entire workshop fell silent at that very moment, and the noises of the printing machines stopped abruptly. Everyone turned their heads, looking at the supervisor as well as the worker, who had stood up. They did not look surprised, however.
It was as though... They had always been waiting for this signal.
"Do you take us as fools?" The worker clenched his fists tightly, trembling slightly as he walked towards the supervisor. He looked down at him condescendingly. "Indulgences. Five gold pieces for one. This is what we’ve always been printing, but you’re not willing to use even two copper pieces to appease us."
At that moment, the face of the supervisor was entirely dumbfounded.
There were about a dozen workers in the entire workshop. Right then, they stood up in unison, everyone staring coldly at the supervisor. The expression on the supervisor’s face changed again and again, from shock, to anger, to fear... Finally, he could only force out a few words, "You... What are you talking about? I don’t understand what you mean."
Hearing that, the worker turned around and picked up a huge batch of indulgences on the workbench, before throwing all of them, in a flutter, right onto the face of the supervisor.
"You don’t understand what I mean?" He took a deep breath, as though giving out a scolding with every fiber of his being. "We... We motherf*cking quit!"
The supervisor fell to the floor under the huge pile of indulgences, unable to react in the spur of the moment. Under his astonished gaze, the worker kicked open the big doors to the workshop without giving him a second look, and one by one, they walked out.
Every back, now finally straight and tall, vanished into the glaring sunlight outside the door.