Chapter 196 - The First Church (1/2)

There was now a mysterious new guest at the territory, but this was merely a small part of the chit chat after dinner for the majority. In fact, the impact it had on the civilians couldn’t even compare to a newly built house in the xx area. Especially right now —— many people were paying attention to a new building on the east of Knight Street.

The Cecil territory’s first church was finally being built.

Cleric Wright used more than two month’s time and finally passed the feudal lord’s appraisal, attaining permission to preach on the Cecil lands; as well, a piece of land was allocated to him, along with materials, equipment, and personnel needed for the construction of the church. This Cleric was clearly delighted and erupted with immense enthusiasm and work efficiency at once, making this small church spring up at an astonishing speed —— of course, this also had to do with his adept skill from carrying bricks for two months at the territory.

The newly completed little church looked very simple from its outer appearance. Although it also consisted of spires, a small tower, a prayer hall, and various facilities necessary for a church of the Holy Light, everything revolved around practicality and adequacy. The kind of extravagant style of putting gold and inlaying silver on the walls in the churches of the central region was absolutely nowhere to be seen, but it could still be described as a beautiful new building. With the church itself, together with the small public square in front, as well as the neat brick houses of Knight Street in the background — the territory’s first street that could be described using “modern town” finally took shape.

And before the church officially opened its doors, the feudal lord even specially arranged for a small “launch ceremony” for it.

This was a rather bizarre arrangement in the eyes of the civilians —— the great figure of the territory coming forward personally and organizing an activity for the launch of a building. This was very rare in the past.

At other places, there wouldn’t be any solemn ceremony with the appearance of a new facility. Usually, there were only some crass customs established through repetition from the people: a jar filled with ale would be smashed at the entrance before a craftsman shop was opened; on the one hand, it was for celebration, and on the other hand, it was using the aroma of ale to publicize and notify people that a new shop had been opened, while the priests and clerics of the various churches would organize some religious activities after a new church was completed. The clerics would preach at the entrance and give out wheat cakes. Whereas, when racecourses, theaters, and the like established by aristocrats were completed, there would be some celebrations, but they were all balls and cocktail parties for the upper-class figures, nothing to do with civilians at all.

The ceremony known as “ribbon-cutting” that Gawain had arranged was novel and baffling to the people.

However, the civilians of this era would not think deeply about matters that appeared to be unrelated to their lives. In any case, the feudal lord’s arrangements were simply right, and to them, novel happenings in the territory were something to be happy about —— especially when this was a church that could bring convenience to their lives.

Lots of crowds were gathered at the small public square in front of the church. They curiously watched the church doors that were still tightly shut, as well as the feudal lord and company who stood in front of the doors: Gawain, Heidi, and Rebecca stood right there, and beside them was the Cleric Mr. Wright, who had a distinctive presence. Apart from them, the rest were just some soldiers responsible for maintaining order at the scene.

For the sake of adapting to the aesthetic taste of the masses and conventions of this world, and to create an even more important “symbolic significance”, Gawain redesigned a new set of so-called “ribbon-cutting” procedures. He gave orders to attach a symbolic colored knot on the doors of the church and to also set up a blocking rope on the steps leading up to the entrance, representing that this building was still sealed. And when the sun rose to the highest point, he would appear here and open up the church as the feudal lord.

Amidst the countless curious and reverent gazes, Heidi took a step forward. With the support of magic, her voice that was gentle but loud enough to ring through the crowd entered every person’s ears. “Today is a day worth celebrating. —— The missionary of the God of Holy Light, Mr. Wright, has brought the morals of the Holy Light for everyone. Our feudal lord, Duke Gawain Cecil, believes that the way of the Holy Light is beneficial to the territory and as such, approved the construction of this church and personally sent his congratulations for the implementation of the morals of the Holy Light. —— I will now read out the feudal lord’s decree:

“Through the application of the missionary of the Holy Light, Wright Awiken, I, Gawain Cecil, feudal lord of the Cecil territory, have ruled that spreading the way of the Holy Light on this land is legal and beneficial. I hereby permit missionary Wright’s preaching and approve the construction of one church.”

Following that, with the civilians’ gregarious and spontaneous applause, Gawain cut the blocking rope, while Heidi and Rebecca undid the colored knot on the doors of the church.

Cleric Wright watched the full course of this ceremony with curiosity. He felt that there was some significance in this ceremony, yet he ultimately wasn’t a “true clergyman” who was good at scheming. As a missionary who was considered to have been thrown out with a kick by the central region church, he had been spreading religious doctrines according to his own understanding and way the whole time, so he quickly stopped thinking on it —— it was a good thing so long as he could preach without a hitch. The feudal lord even came personally to give his congratulations; that was something even better. As for the matter about “the God of Holy Light needing Gawain Cecil’s permission to construct a church on his land”… it didn’t matter, since the church had already been built.

To be honest, Wright even felt that the Cecil territory suited his own tastes even more: at other aristocratic territories, he needed to approach the local feudal lord for permission too. Although essentially every feudal lord would agree, there was never a place that was formal and solemn like the Cecil territory. Instead of saying that the feudal lords of other aristocratic territories had permitted him to develop on their territory, it was more like they completely blithely took on an uncaring attitude. The so-called “feudal-lord permission” was merely a show of going through the formalities; it was a mutual compromise between the church and aristocratic influences and a show of respect on the surface. However, here at the Cecil territory, this “permission” seemed much more formal.

Wright liked such places where the rules were clear and definite because he had seen too many instances where chaotic rules had led to the suffering of the people —— many people would complain that it was because the feudal lord set too many rules that caused life to be difficult, but few people realized that what led to a hard life weren’t the rules, but carelessly and constantly establishing rules that even the feudal lord himself did not plan on abiding by.