Quick Wear: Random Cheats

Chapter 108: The Burned Earl Witch (20)

As long as Ding Shui is willing to cooperate.

The whole thing went very smoothly.

Later, Harry and the others felt that the kings' work efficiency was too low. They spent half a month rebuilding the Temple of the Ancestral Witch at the ruins of the Temple of Light, and the ruins had not been cleared yet. They had no choice but to do the work themselves to speed up the progress.

So the Temple of the Ancestral Witch, which might have taken two or three years to build, was finally completed in less than a month. This was because Harley and the others did not participate in the first half of the month and were too busy to help.

After the temple was completed, Steward Hansen delivered the kings' letters of advice. The gist of it was, "We're all lowly creatures, and without an emperor to rule over us, life is unbearable. We can't get by, and we can't sleep soundly every day." And since your contributions are so great, it would be a shame not to become a pope. Please don't reject our prayers. Please become pope!"

Of course, due to the different ages, educational levels, and even customs of the kings, the specific content of the letter of persuasion would definitely be different, but the general meaning is this.

The process was inseparable from the help of Harley and others.

Ding Shui got goosebumps all over his body when he saw it.

Although the overall operation is a bit rough and unskilled compared to the Eastern Continent, the level of civilization here is probably like this, so we can't force it!

So Ding Shui could only cooperate and express his understanding:

"Well, I understand what you mean. Call Harry and the others in. I want to hear what each of you thinks. Don't worry about anything. Just tell me what you really think and what I would do if I really became the Pope.

What do you want to do? What do you want to get?

Hearing this, the butler Hansen couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart, because he felt that he was a little unsure of Ding Shui's attitude. He didn't know whether she was willing or not to say this, and he didn't know if it would affect Ding Shui's attitude and decision if they told the truth later?
But even though he was nervous, he still had to obey orders and call Harry and the others over.

After everyone gathered, Ding Shui repeated the question again.

"My Lord Earl, although I have selfish motives, I do believe that you are worthy of the position of Pope. I also believe that there must be a Pope, otherwise the world will inevitably be in chaos.

Please listen to me carefully explain it."

Harry was obviously prepared, or rather, she really felt that way, so she didn't feel guilty at all:

“Let me first talk about my selfish thoughts.

My late husband and I only had one daughter. After my late husband passed away, the title did not go to my daughter. Instead, it was snatched away by a cousin of his from the same clan. At that time, my daughter and I were slandered as witches and were almost burned to death.

It was you who saved us, mother and daughter.

Before, when I had no power, I felt fortunate to have my daughter and I alive. But thanks to your protection, I gained some power, and not only did I successfully avenge my husband, but it wasn't difficult to get my late husband's baron title back. All I had to do was show up.

But I always feel that doing so is too empty.

It feels like a dream.

The titles obtained through the certification of the Holy See and the recognition of the King are far from being as reassuring and stable as they were in the past, because we were born too recently. We only have strength but no power, let alone a deep-rooted and stable power.

I think you should understand what I mean.

Without a strong, hereditary power, I would always feel uneasy. Even if I secured this modest baronial title for my daughter, the future wouldn't be very stable. If I died, or if I were unable to attend to her, I felt my daughter wouldn't be able to keep the title.

I just hope that something unexpected happens to me someday.

There are also people, or forces, who can support my daughter and prevent her from being bullied by others.

The Vatican back then didn't have any magical powers, at least not in the last few hundred years, but they had this kind of confidence. I definitely hope that in the future my daughter will also have this kind of confidence so that she won't be bullied.

I remember that you were bullied in the same way.

So you should be able to understand me."

When talking about selfishness, Harry's emotions became a little heated, mainly because it was difficult not to recall the past experience and the fear that followed. The current situation felt like a dream, and he was also worried about the future.

Hearing this, not only the other witches nodded.

Ding Shui was also silent.

If I put myself in my original body's shoes, it's true, and I should be able to empathize with Harley's emotions:
"I can understand your selfishness!"

"Let's continue talking about other things. Do you have any other selfish motives? If not, please tell us about your other ideas."

"Of course, I have some selfish motives myself, and I want to be the best. I cannot deny that, but I hope you can believe that no matter how selfish I am, I will be absolutely loyal to you.

Even if you let me die now.

I just hope you won’t take your anger out on my daughter!”

Harley continued to show her loyalty.

"I understand. Please continue!" Ding Shui really believed what Harry said, because this is how people are. Who doesn't want to be a superior person? Those who resent those who are superior to them are because they are not superior to them and are not part of the rentier class.

After becoming a rentier class.

There are only a few who betray their class and curse themselves.

"Thank you for your understanding. I will now discuss other matters besides my own selfish motives. It's too far away, and I'm not very familiar with the history before the Vatican, but I do know the history of the period when the Vatican's power declined.

During that period, various countries fought against each other, nobles bullied the people at will, wars were everywhere, and cannibalism became the norm. It can only be said that the world was like hell.

Brothers killed each other, fathers killed their sons, and even princes and dukes rebelled. Many people died every year, and many countries were destroyed. For a time, there were less than ten countries left in the entire Western Continent, and this was just the decline of the Church.

Once the Church disappears, there will be no one to suppress and control the greed of the kings and nobles, and I am afraid that lives will be lost again.

The reason why there are so many countries today is that after the Holy See became strong, it forcibly helped some destroyed countries to restore their independence. If you don't become the Pope, I am afraid that the situation after the decline of the Holy See will be repeated.

Even worse.

It's even possible that a dictator will emerge in the end!"

After all, the Western Continent has never been unified, so Harry naturally thinks that unification is wrong and maintaining the current situation is the right thing to do. How can they conquer each other and destroy other countries? That is other people's countries.

Isn't it enough to just beat them into submission and ask for some compensation?

Ding Shui was somewhat speechless, but he didn't refute anything. After all, this was the majority opinion here. It seemed the Vatican was following the same principles as the Zhou Emperor, and had maintained them for two thousand years. The only difference was that the Zhou Emperor was governed by the Zhou rituals, while the Vatican was governed by the faith in the God of Light.

After the Zhou emperor no longer had a powerful army, the ability of Zhou rituals to restrain the princes became increasingly weak. The same thing happened after the failure of the Holy War and the death of a large number of paladins.

However, the Zhou emperor never rose again.

The Holy See rose again and again.

Successfully blocked the unification of the Western continent.

Harry continued, "Besides that, the Vatican also has a certain role in restraining the nobles. If a noble goes too far, the priests or bishops of the Vatican can unite the people, report and condemn them, and thereby gain more public support and demonstrate their own righteousness.

Of course, if the priest or bishop goes too far.

Local nobles also had similar powers.

Although they are more likely to collude with each other, at least it can prevent them from doing evil openly. Even if they do evil, they have to do it privately and secretly.

There is a certain degree of protection for the people.”

"Now that the Church has disappeared, many of the rights and taxes it once controlled are being gradually eroded by some nobles. However, no matter how despicable the Church is, it only has a small number of people. There are also some who truly believe in the God of Light and are willing to do good deeds. When they encounter a particularly great disaster, they will be able to help.

Some black bread will be distributed as a relief measure.

But few nobles are willing to do this, because they don't need a particularly good reputation, they just need to avoid being condemned by everyone. Once the money originally collected by the Church is in their hands, it is basically impossible to return it. "

"From what I've observed, there are already signs of chaos everywhere. If this continues, chaos will break out sooner or later.

So please become the new Pope! !"

Having said that, Harry half-knelt down and prayed. The other witches also thought it made sense and prayed devoutly as well.

They had no idea of reform and even felt that there was nothing wrong with the original situation. The problem was with the Holy See. It was the Holy See that had become corrupt and had colluded with those nobles, which led to a host of problems.

As long as those of them with conscience take over.

Then the problem no longer exists.

"Get up, it sounds reasonable, but we are short of manpower. If you really insist on doing this, I'm afraid everyone will be very busy.

At the same time, you must fight against those nobles.

And I'm bound to be pretty strict.

If one day you can't bear the temptation and fall into depravity, becoming corrupt with those nobles, I will definitely not hold back. In that case, are you still willing?"

Ding Shui, faced with so many different races, felt no sense of belonging and was too lazy to bother. But now Harry wanted to crown her and push her to the top. Even if she didn't refuse, she had her limits. She couldn't control what happened after death, but while she was alive.

There is absolutely no room for any sand in my eyes.

When she was a count, she only had to be responsible for her subordinates. If she becomes the Pope in the future, she will definitely be responsible for the people of the world, so this point must be made clear.

So that people won’t say later that she didn’t warn me in advance.

When saying this, Ding Shui took a special look at the butler Hansen next to her. Among these people, the one she was most worried about was this butler. After all, this butler had a criminal record and had embezzled thousands of silver coins in the past.

But I haven’t done it recently, so I can’t say for sure about the future.

Compared to the butler Hansen who was frightened by Ding Shui's gaze, Harry and the others hardly hesitated and said that it was okay. They would definitely work hard to stabilize the situation, not collude with the nobles, and so on.

Seeing this, Ding Shui didn't know what to say:
"Alright, set a date, and I'll officially ascend the throne as the Pope of the Elemental Church. While there's nothing wrong with simply calling it the Witch Church, the word 'female' is somewhat restrictive, so let's name it after the elements. And our official name from now on will be Elemental Witches. We'll be called Elemental Witches based on the type of witchcraft we master.

I am the original witch and the Pope of Elements.

But there's no rush to officially ascend the throne. Let's discuss what to do after the ascension. We can't just ascend the throne impulsively."

These witches, or rather, the Elemental Church, possessed nothing but power. They lacked manpower, resources, and followers. They couldn't simply expect the kings of various countries to be completely obedient and not disobey.

To put it bluntly, even if the king is obedient, it will be useless because the nobles and officials below may not all listen to the king. The characteristic of their feudal aristocracy system is that the king only has absolute control over the areas directly under his jurisdiction, including taxation.

This must be a powerful king.

Whether the other nobles would obey, to what extent, and how much tax they were willing to pay all depended on their mutual negotiation.

There are less than forty witches in total.

It is simply impossible to achieve the control of the Holy See of Light. It is pure wishful thinking. The consequences of lip service and deliberate disruption are obvious.

And Harley and the others definitely didn't have much hope.

After all, that's their level of knowledge.

So next, Ding Shui mainly told them what kind of problems they might encounter in the future and how to solve them, how the Elemental Church should gradually grow and develop under the current situation, and that there was no need to force too much control at the moment, and that they could do it slowly later, etc.

After listening to Ding Shui’s nearly three-hour explanation.

Harry and the others were a little embarrassed, but they could also understand why Ding Shui had been a little embarrassed and reluctant before. It seemed that they had taken things for granted.

I thought that as long as I had the ability, I could do whatever I wanted without having to worry about others resisting.

I didn't expect there were so many twists and turns.

If they really did what they wanted, they would definitely mess things up, making their Elemental Church a joke, or they would be helpless and furious, killing people wantonly and leaving behind a reputation for brutality.

"Why is it so troublesome?"

"The prestige and deep-rooted influence of the Church of Light weren't built overnight. I remember that in the beginning, they relied on disaster relief, bread distribution, and helping the deceased with their salvation, among other activities, to gradually build a good reputation and expand the scope of their faith.

Becoming bad and vicious was something that happened later.

And only some of them have gone bad.

It was a bit naive of us to think we could achieve success overnight.”

"The key is that there are few witches. The Church of Light alone has over a hundred cardinals, enough to place two in each of the nearly fifty countries, rotating them around.

And we don’t have one in one country.

"Since we can't do everything ourselves, and until we have enough qualified helpers, we'll probably have to rely on the help of nobles. If we rely on them, who knows if they'll be more willing to listen to the original nobles or us? If they act insincerely, it will damage our reputation."

“It feels like we’re holding the pope back.”

"It seems that some things really cannot be rushed. The most important thing right now is to develop manpower. Before we have enough available manpower, we must not issue any orders lightly. Otherwise, the slightest mistake will damage our reputation.

The ones who benefited were the nobles who had done the harm."

At the end of the discussion, it was decided that ascending the throne to become Pope must be carried out, and the Elemental Church also needed to be established, but there was no need to rush into other matters.

Through Ding Shui's detailed explanation, they already knew how powerful each one was, and they also knew that this matter could not be rushed.

The first thing to do is of course to move.

Take away everything in the castle, including the people living in the castle and the dormitory buildings outside the castle. Those who are unwilling to leave must stay.

Then the witches came forward and descended on the palaces of various countries, demanding that they send important figures of their country to worship at the Temple of the Ancestral Witch. All the specifications were one level higher than the normal enthronement of the Pope of the Holy See of Light.

Although this process would definitely be much simpler and more convenient if the witches directly brought the kings of the major kingdoms to the Temple of the Ancestral Goddess to attend Dingshui's coronation ceremony, it could be done in one day, and there would be no need to wait for about a month like now to get everyone here.

But this involves a question of majesty.

Let the witch bring them directly to the Temple of the Ancestral Goddess. Even if they are brought here by force, they must be asked to come. But if they come here on their own, it would be a pilgrimage.

Now I am not as anxious as before.

Of course we can’t just do it as a makeshift troupe.

Rules and other things must be established first.

This month's waiting period was perfect, allowing Ding Shui and his team to slightly renovate the Temple of Light and train more witches. They had to first establish the overall framework of the Elemental Church. Even if they didn't have as many members as the Church of Light, they had to ensure that every duchy had a witch in charge. Then they could gradually expand the organization; otherwise, it would be too shabby.

Because the witches trained this time weren't required to possess exceptional martial prowess, they were primarily activated with water and wood-attributed organs, and taught healing and self-protection techniques. They could then return to the various churches, performing acts of kindness and healing.

Ding Shui does not intend to turn the Church of Elements into a huge and bloated power institution. Instead, he wants to build it into a charity and supervisory institution, with charity being the priority, while supervision does not need to be arranged too hastily.

It would be what everyone wants to do if we waited until those nobles became more and more unruly before starting to supervise them. This would be much better than interfering with the supervisory power from the very beginning.

To sum up, don't interfere with power, focus on doing good things, gain a good reputation, and win the hearts of the people.

Wait until the common people can no longer bear the harassment of the nobles.

I hope they can help make the decision.

By then, you will have no choice but to do so.