Chapter 189: Predicament
Sarah and the others returned to their church. Seeing the crazed people in the courtyard, their moods soured even further.
"That Baron!"
Priest Otto recalled how Duane had intimidated him earlier, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
"I think he did it on purpose, deliberately saddling us with this mess!"
Sarah sighed. She had the same suspicion, but at this point, it was out of their hands.
"The Baron has tied caring for them to the Church Court’s doctrine. If we do a poor job, it will damage the reputation of both the Church Court and us personally."
She said helplessly, "Since we’ve already agreed, let’s just take good care of them."
With that, she looked at the youngest girl.
"Jesse, you’ll be in charge of this. It’ll be a bit tough, but I don’t have any better ideas."
Jesse nodded. "Actually, the Baron wasn’t wrong. Helping the weak is what we’re supposed to do."
Otto said with a laugh, "Right. Your faith is so pure!"
The three of them hadn’t been raised as believers from childhood. They had only been recruited and trained by Clement because they possessed the Light Attribute.
It couldn’t be helped. Clement was essentially starting from scratch in the Pruck Kingdom, so he didn’t have time to recruit 100% faithful believers.
Still, some people wholeheartedly believed his rhetoric about pursuing light and justice.
For example, Little Priest Jesse right here was one of them.
Sarah heard the sarcasm in his words. As their leader, she had to give him a reminder, or perhaps a warning.
"Otto, you need to be more careful about what you say from now on."
"Duane is a Baron of the Kingdom. He can meet with the King, and he can also meet with the Lord Bishop. If he tells the Bishop what happened today, you know the consequences."
"And don’t forget, Duane is the master of Black Forest Island. We’re living in his Territory right now!"
Otto’s expression tightened. The thought that he might lose his position as a Priest because of Duane’s disapproval sent him into a panic.
"Y-yes, I’ll definitely be more careful in the future!"
Sarah’s tone softened a bit. "Before we came, I didn’t think this trip to Black Forest Island would be difficult or complicated, but now things seem different than expected. Everyone, let’s work together and strive to spread the Holy Radiance across this island as soon as possible!"
The others quickly agreed.
But just then, Benson, the Captain of the Guard Knight squad, arrived at the door.
Manny asked, "What is it?"
Benson was a Middle Level Warrior and the son of a vassal to the Haydon Clan. He held Manny in high regard.
"Knight Commander, a few injured islanders are outside. They’re asking for the High Priest to treat them."
Sarah’s eyes lit up. Healing wounds and dispelling illnesses was one of the best ways to gain believers.
"How were they injured?"
Benson replied, "One was working in the fields and a hoe took a chunk of flesh out of the top of his foot. Another was cutting firewood in the mountains, rolled down a slope, and was cut by a sharp rock."
Otto chuckled. "What a coincidence."
Sarah ordered, "For injuries like these, Otto, you go treat them. And mind your image."
"Fine, I’ll be careful."
Otto turned, put on a benevolent, kind-eyed smile, and strode outside.
Soon after, he returned to the hall with a dark expression and sat down in a chair, thoroughly dejected.
"What happened?" the others asked, completely baffled.
Otto said angrily, "These people actually think we’re going to treat them for free!"
Generally speaking, the Holy Radiance Court charged a fee for treating the injured.
This fee wasn’t fixed; it was determined based on the injured person’s financial situation.
But no matter what, they would always get at least a pound of grain.
But when Otto had just started to ask, the person said:
"The Lord said you’d treat us for free. He didn’t say anything about paying, did he?"
Otto was stunned on the spot. That’s why he had come back into the hall.
"High Priest, what do you think I should do?"
He asked anxiously, "If all our treatments are free from now on, we’ll have trouble just feeding ourselves on Black Forest Island."
In other places, Lords would pay a tithe of grain to the Church Court. Part of it would be sent to the King, and the rest would be kept by the Church Court itself.
But Black Forest Island was different. The King had exempted Duane from taxes, which made it even more impossible for them to collect any.
Therefore, Sarah and the others had to find a way to cover their own food, clothing, and lodging.
Sarah immediately felt a headache coming on. "We have to figure out how to pay next year’s fifty-Gold-Coin castle rent ourselves..."
If they couldn’t pay the rent, she suspected Duane would just kick them out. After all, during their earlier conversation, the Baron hadn’t shown any regard for their dignity.
The High Priest looked at Manny. "Knight Commander, do you have any good ideas for this? If we can’t even solve our own survival problems and have no choice but to return to the Royal Capital, it will become an indelible stain on our records!"
She felt that as the eldest son of the Haydon Clan and heir to a Viscount title, Manny should have a better understanding of how to deal with Duane.
But what good ideas could Manny possibly have?
However, he also knew they absolutely could not go back in disgrace like this. It would severely damage the Church Court’s prestige.
"Everything here belongs to Baron Duane. We have no fields, no forests. If we want to survive, we can only find other means."
Manny said thoughtfully, voicing his opinion.
"We can treat minor injuries for free. But for Magic that consumes a lot of energy, we can state beforehand that we’ll be charging a certain fee."
"Also, Black Forest Island surely has no Magic Potions. We can procure them from the Royal Capital and sell them here."
At this, he looked at Sarah. "High Priest, don’t you know how to make Magic Potions?"
"I can indeed make a few types of Magic Potions, but I don’t know if Black Forest Island has the necessary Magic Plants. Even if it does, would Baron Duane allow us to use them?"
Manny said, "This is where we can cooperate with the Baron. He provides the Magic Plants, we’ll be in charge of brewing the potions, and we’ll split the profits."
Sarah nodded slowly. Magic Potions were not cheap. If they could really cooperate with Duane, then next year’s rent and their daily expenses would be covered.
But she felt that something wasn’t quite right, though she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
Manny thought for a moment more, then added, "Black Forest Island is threatened by Demon Beasts. There’s no need for us Guard Knights to stay cooped up in the church."
"We can operate under the banner of protecting the populace and have the Baron assign us a zone to defend. In return, he can pay us a fee for our hard work."
He continued speaking, silently admiring himself for coming up with this plan.
"With these two methods, I don’t think establishing a foothold on Black Forest Island will be a problem. As long as we can establish ourselves, we can gain believers. And with believers, things will only get better and better from there!"
For a moment, Sarah and the others were filled with confidence.
"Otto, do as the Knight Commander said. Go and send the injured people outside on their way."
Sarah decided, "Tell them that minor injuries like these will be treated for free. But also let them know that for more serious injuries, we will have to charge a fee due to the greater toll it takes on us."
"Fine!"
Otto got up and left. He was still annoyed by the fact that he wouldn’t be getting something out of every treatment.
If Duane knew what this group was thinking, not only would he break into a satisfied smile, he might even shout gleefully in his heart:
’Come on, all of you, come and work for me!’