Free Web NovelChapter 66: Here Comes NAO-WACH Pt. 1
Fate looked around him and decided to ignore the feeling of being watched. He was sure it was just his imagination.
But seeing so many people wearing red in his city made Fate look at Ruby and her red hair and say, "Ruby, there are a lot of people wearing red in Valoria today. But your beautiful red hair is still the sun in my sky."
Ruby could not hold back her laughter, saying, "Ha ha, Fate, you sure know how to make a woman feel appreciated. I can think of someone who deserves to be the sun in the sky far more than I do."
Fate, curious about this statement, asked Ruby, "Oh really, who do you think should be the sun in the sky?"
Ruby, the skillful yandere that she is, changed the subject on Fate without giving him the obvious answer. "Fate, where do you want to have our picnic?"
Fate, none the wiser, answered Ruby with a smile on his face and said, "I think we should go to the countryside and enjoy a moonlight picnic since it’s so late in the day already."
Ruby’s eyes began to sparkle with anticipation.
As they were almost out of the city gates, Fate stopped Janus and looked at a cow and a giant man who were busy beating a priest in the street. They held him upside-down like a human piñata as a rain of silver and copper crowns fell from the priest’s robes.
Unaware that their new lord and Ruby had stopped to observe them, the tax-collecting duo had moved on from collecting taxes at the church to collecting taxes from the Church of Divine Promises’ new mobile sin forgiveness stations scattered on street corners throughout Valoria.
Imagine Sir Cut-n-Run and Sir Moo-Rlboro’s surprise when they discovered this was a new ploy by the church to bring in revenue. The priest they encountered so far claimed, "Why go to the church for your sins to be forgiven when the church can come to you? For a massive donation of shiny valuables, your sins can be forgiven today too."
Sir Cut-n-Run held up this priest in the air as he said to Sir Moo-Rlboro, "I’m telling you, Mike, these sly bastards are getting more and more greedy by the day. It boggles the mind how much effort we have to go through just to make sure they stay honest."
Sir Moo-Rlboro nodded his head in agreement as he took another whack at the arrogant priest.
*Whack*
"Ahh, you bastard cow, you won’t get away with this. Wait until I report this to my new supervisor, Priest Joe. He is a direct subordinate of Bishop Gary Oldman."
*Whack*
*Jingle jingle*
More and more money continued to fall from the priest’s robes as he was beaten mildly. Honestly, he was not being hurt that badly. What priest can’t take a good beating from his believers when it rains on a holiday and you can’t watch your favorite sports game? No, the pain this priest is suffering is far worse than a few bruises. He is losing his donations and with them his chance to climb to a higher position in the church.
The poor priest tried to catch a few of his silver crowns with his teeth as he cried, "No, my advancement money! The church said that if I could gather fifteen gold crowns today, I could receive my level one divine powers. Now how am I supposed to make more money by scam healing nobles’ stomach issues?"
The commoners hearing this began to talk in the background. One of them said for the audience’s benefit, "That priest has not even received his level one divine blessing yet. Divine blessings start at level one as the weakest and level twenty as the highest."
Listening to this explanation, one of the commoners looked at those around him and said, "The church seems to be trying to take advantage of us. Have any of you noticed lately how many of these mobile sin forgiveness carts these priests are pushing around? I think they are up to no good."
The man who said this was immediately slapped in the head by another commoner who said out loud for all to hear, "Idiot, it’s our honor to give donations to the goddess of life, Vespera. Besides, saying stuff like that will get the church inquisition after you. Then you will be labeled a heretic by the church, just like Duke Fate Grimsever, the merciless slaughterer of innocents."
Every commoner present nodded their heads in agreement as they looked around to make sure the city guard was not lurking nearby.
Fate heard this while sitting on his horse Janus and sneered. He had just lowered taxes on these dicks three times in the last two weeks. Yet they still want to call him a killer. Fate sighed. These maggots are truly ungrateful wretches. Fate was glad he only focused his energy on the poor and refugees, those who needed the most help. They will remember the one who helped them the most.
Ruby, at this moment, was silently taking notes on who in this crowd needs to disappear tonight for a bit of reeducation. Perhaps she needs to make Fate’s name even more feared so that they don’t dare speak badly of him. If the Faithful heard this, that man’s throat would be slit in some back alley. This is exactly why Ruby and Amara are selective on who can join Phoenix Rising. She only takes in those who can properly and fanatically worship her husband.
The audience continued to talk poorly about Fate, saying worse things about him and forgetting about the church. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
When Sir Cut-n-Run and Sir Moo-Rlboro were done with the priest and dropped him into a nearby dumpster, they turned to look at the growing crowd. Sir Cut-n-Run squinted his eyes, then he recognized the men causing trouble for his lord in the audience. These three "normal" men had divine power present in them.
With a loud laugh, Sir Cut-n-Run yelled at these ingrates, "So, a bunch of rats have gathered to watch the show. Well, I don’t blame you. I happen to be someone who does not just blame the rat but also its weak mice brethren who follow the rat’s lead. So, let me introduce myself to you all. I’m Sir Cut-n-Run, and this is my bovine brethren, Sir Moo-Rlboro. Now that introductions are out of the way, I can say I am a tax collector in service to Fate Grimsever, and when the need arises, I’m also known to be a garbage collector. So congratulations, all of you are now being given an on-site audit for loitering, you bunch of trash."
Then, coming out of nowhere, dozens of city guards surrounded the rats and their mice. As they all cried tears of gold while being forced to turn out their pockets to pay their fines.
Seeing all of the gold crowns piling up on the ground, the priest that got robbed cried out, "All of you have so much gold but you only gave me your copper and silver coins. Why?"
One of the commoners cried in response, "Waaahhh, we want to be forgiven for our sins but not as much as we want to keep our money. I had a date tonight, but not anymore. Who wants to date a broke man?"
Fate, seeing this, could not help but burst into laughter. "Ha ha ha!"
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