Chapter 142: In the Name of the Lord

As he spoke, Landon’s eyes turned red, filled with pain and rage.

His entire body trembled.

George fell silent.

He hadn’t expected that a theocracy established upon the Holy Scriptures and extended through the Nation Founding Manifesto would turn out like this.

He suddenly wanted to meet that flag-bearing man, that Zezel.

Was this the Heavenly Kingdom on Earth he had sought to create, the one he had wished to see?

And the act of eating human flesh…

George suddenly felt a surge of fury.

This was blasphemy. They were committing evil in the name of the Lord.

Landon didn’t stop speaking. He said:

“Even when the local gentry exploited us in the past, every family still had enough to eat.”

“At that time, there were still weedy fields, and we could graze our sheep.”

“But after you came, you took away our last bite of food, took our sheep, and robbed the land of its life.”

“Compared to your Holy Scriptures, your priests cry out judgment upon heresy.”

“You’re the ones who more closely resemble that evil.”

“Your Lord is the greatest evil.”

Every syllable he spoke was pure anger and hatred.

George let out a heavy breath and restrained his own fury, saying,

“I’m very sorry I didn’t come sooner, to witness your suffering.” George slightly bowed his head, offering Landon an apology.

“But I still hope you can trust me.”

“The Church of the Sanctuary and this theocracy are not the same.”

“Although we do not have such vast lands, we have built churches and monasteries where believers can worship.”

“Our Sacrament is merely plain white bread—an act of mercy granted by the Lord to the hungry.”

“We oppose evil and sin, but we do not inflict painful torture upon others because of it.”

“I understand that these people have committed revolting acts in the Lord’s name, so you cannot place your trust in me.”

“But I ask you, at the very least, for the sake of me lessening your brother Igor’s suffering, do not treat me as an enemy.”

Landon froze, then his anger intensified.

“Stop lying! You frauds.”

“You must’ve already killed my brother Igor. He endured so much torment, and now I can’t even hear his groans of pain.”

He shouted angrily.

George kept his distance from Landon, stepping aside and giving space.

“I only asked the Lord to ease his suffering and let him sleep peacefully. He needs rest now,” George said.

“You can check on him. I promise I won’t come near you.”

Landon still eyed George with suspicion.

“He is your brother Igor. And you’ve seen my power,” George said.

“If I truly wanted to harm you, the dagger in your hand wouldn’t be able to stop me.”

Landon hesitated upon hearing this.

He still remembered the speed he had felt when George carried him.

Cautiously, still watching George, he slowly approached Igor.

Upon seeing Igor’s face bearing a smile, his chest gently rising and falling, and even hearing soft breathing sounds—

When Landon looked back at George, the hostility in his eyes had diminished somewhat, though it was now mixed with greater confusion.

“Seems like you’ve confirmed your brother Igor is still alive,” George said.

“He probably won’t sleep for long. The Lord only eased his pain to make him a little more comfortable.”

“And the proper degree of pain helps preserve his life. Though it hurts, it proves he’s still alive.”

Then, after some hesitation, he took out his Holy Scriptures and placed them on the ground.

“This is my Holy Scriptures. If you can read, I’d like to ask you to check whether it matches what you’ve seen and what those priests have spread.”

“If you can’t read, I’ll read it to you later.”

“Of course, I also hope you won’t vent your anger by tearing up my Holy Scriptures.”

“I’m going to find some food for you. The situation here is far worse than I imagined, so I’ll be staying for a while until the problem is resolved.”

As he spoke, anger appeared on George’s face as well.

“They dared to commit such evil under the name of the Lord. As a Servant of the Lord, I cannot turn a blind eye.”

After speaking, George suppressed his fury and said to Landon,

“Your brother Igor isn’t in a condition to travel, and given the current situation, you can’t take him away from here either.”

“So I hope you’ll rest here for a while. Later, I want to hear from you what exactly went wrong with this sinful theocracy.”

After George left, Landon looked at the sleeping Igor, then hesitated and picked up the Holy Scriptures George had placed on the ground.

He was literate. His full name was Landon Avery.

He was the illegitimate son of the village’s local gentry—one of the favored illegitimate sons.

His father once considered putting him in charge of a merchant caravan trading with the Principality of Patlin.

But before that could happen, the theocracy’s people came.

Landon had no choice but to hide. It was his brother Igor who had helped him.

Otherwise, he would’ve been killed alongside his father.

Upon opening the Holy Scriptures, he saw rather ugly handwriting, inscribing words so familiar that Landon, just reading them, felt a surge of fury and the urge to rip it apart.

Besides those words, there were even smaller, uglier notes—like travelogues written by that man calling himself a Temple Warrior, George.

As he read on, he forgot to look at the sacred texts and became immersed in George’s recorded adventures.

It wasn’t until George returned that he came back to his senses.

“Looks like you can read—you’ve been through the Enlightenment Ritual,” George said with a smile.

Though slightly prejudiced, George had noticed that those who underwent enlightenment were often smarter and more thoughtful than ordinary folk.

He carried a brown python on his back.

It was the only edible thing he could find.

He had traveled a large circuit.

But just as Landon said, this land had lost its life.

He hadn’t found any prey or fruit.

It was only through the use of Prayer Technique, seeking the Lord’s guidance, that he had found this edible python.

“I searched for a long time to find this,” George said, drawing his sword to skin it.

“Have you finished reading the Holy Scriptures? Is it the same as what you’ve heard before?” he asked.

Landon looked a bit embarrassed. He hadn’t read much of the Holy Scriptures.

“Ahem, well, I haven’t finished reading, but the contents match what those priests preached.” Landon paused, then continued,

“They’re all equally seductive, like they’re trying to bewitch the soul.”

“Is that so…” George’s expression turned grim.

“Looks like I’ll need to write to the Bishop,” he said.

And just as he finished speaking, the sound of flapping wings came from above.

Looking up, they saw a white dove circling.

George couldn’t help but smile, and from inside his armor, another white dove emerged, gazing at its companion in the sky.

George raised his finger, and the white dove from above landed naturally on it.

“Good child.” After removing the message tied to its leg, the dove hopped onto George’s shoulder and gently bumped beaks with its fellow.

Opening the message, George found it brief due to the paper’s constraints, so he finished reading quickly.

But after reading it, he furrowed his brow.

Corleon had only asked him to go to the theocracy’s capital. There, he would find the answers he sought.

At the same time, he was to send the details of what he had seen here via white dove to Marl.

George knew Marl and the others were handling the werewolf situation in the Marquis Demitri’s Territory.

But George had moved too fast, and the warband led by Marl hadn’t caught up, so they had yet to meet.

After storing the message, George hesitated and looked toward Landon.

But the latter was now staring at the white dove on George’s shoulder, gulping.

George now understood what the Bishop meant at the end of the letter: “Do not eat the white dove.”

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