Chapter 403

Chapter 328: Fundraising

John smiled and put away the holy emblem. He continued to look at Cleric Miller and then proceeded to say,

“On behalf of my wife, I thank you, Cleric Miller. However, I still have some matters that I need to trouble you with. My son is fourteen years old, a time when he is very curious about the outside world. After arriving in the New World, my precious son will surely run around out of curiosity. I am worried that if there is no Holy Son to protect him during his adventures, he might encounter danger.”

John said this to Cleric Miller, while at the same time he took out another 300 pounds in cash and continued to put it into the donation box. When Cleric Miller saw several large bills being thrown into the donation box, he looked straight at them with his eyes. Then, he took out another holy emblem from his own person.

“Ah… A child around fourteen years old in the New World, indeed, it is possible to encounter some unknown dangers. But I believe that as long as this holy emblem is with him, the protection of the Holy Son will always be by his side. Under the protection of the Holy Son, your son will certainly grow and achieve great things in the New World.”

As he spoke, Cleric Miller handed the holy emblem of the Holy Son to John. John happily accepted it and said with emotion,

“Thank you very much, Cleric. With the protection of the Three Saints’ holy emblems, our family will definitely be able to live peacefully in the New World.”

“Hehe, it’s nothing. The holy emblems are prepared for the most loyal and devout believers. Mr. Evans, the faith you just displayed is enough for you and your family to receive the protection of the holy emblems. Having such a devout believer like you is also a blessing for us.”

Cleric Miller responded. At this moment, John was about to say something when he noticed the three altars of the Three Saints under the colored glass windows in the distant hall. On the altar of the Three Saints, there was a smaller and more distant altar dedicated to the Savior of Radiance. After a slight pause, he suddenly remembered something and said,

“Oh, respected Cleric Miller, since I have already obtained the holy emblems of the Three Saints, I can set up a small complete Radiant field at home in the New World. I heard that these three holy emblems can be used as small altars of the Three Saints. Now, I only need one more holy emblem of the Savior to meet the requirements for setting up the Radiant field, and it will be complete.”

John said this. From his tone, it seemed that he had originally not planned to obtain the holy emblem of the Savior of Radiance. Seeing that he already had three holy emblems of the Three Saints, he decided to make it complete.

After hearing John’s words, Cleric Miller nodded and responded,

“Hmm… What you said makes sense. Since you have already obtained the holy emblems of the Three Saints, getting one more holy emblem of the Savior would allow you to imitate the church and set up a Radiant field at home… Mr. Evans, please wait a moment, I’ll be right back.”

Cleric Miller said this, then turned and left the scene. Not long after, he returned with a new holy emblem in his hand.

“I apologize for keeping you waiting. This is the holy emblem of the Savior. It has been a while since it was distributed, so I had to search for it for a while.”

As he spoke, Cleric Miller handed the holy emblem to John. The emblem was a simple abstract sun, containing nothing inside. Cleric Miller directly handed it to John without waiting for him to put more money into the donation box, as if he was giving the holy emblem away.

“Thank you very much, Cleric Miller. On behalf of myself and my family, we sincerely thank you,” John thanked Cleric Miller after receiving the emblem. Cleric Miller smiled and replied,

“It’s nothing. For a faithful believer loyal to the Lord, these are things you should deserve, Mr. Evans. May you and your family have a smooth journey in the New World.”

Cleric Miller finally said, then he and John exchanged a few more pleasantries before John bade farewell and left the church. After descending the long staircase to the square, he left the Church District.

At the entrance of the Church District, John waited for a while, stopped a carriage, and got on. After turning left and right in the North City area, he finally stopped by a bridge. After getting off, he looked around and saw a young man. He walked up to him and gave him all the holy emblems he had.

The young man then walked alone on the street for a while, eventually stopping beside a carriage. After opening the window, he reached his hand in and quickly withdrew it before leaving swiftly.

Inside the carriage, Dorothy, dressed in a lady’s suit, sat inside. She held the four holy emblems in her hands and inspected them one by one using her spiritual vision. Frowning slightly, she muttered,

“d*mn… The total spirituality within these four holy emblems is barely noticeable. Just this can sell for 300 pounds each? These deities really are a scam. With this money, I could buy one or two storage items from a crooked merchant.”

Dorothy complained as she checked the spirituality within the holy emblems. She knew they contained spirituality but did not expect it to be so little. Originally, she planned to use the extra holy emblems as storage items, but now it seemed futile. The combined “Lamp” power of these four items was less than one storage item.

“It seems that for the Radiant Church, ordinary people can only get high-level placebos as holy emblems. It’s just a way to extort money… Spending nine hundred pounds on such trivial items…”

She said angrily, puffing out her cheeks, but eventually sighed and said,

“Alright… Although I spent a lot of money, the main goal was achieved… First holy emblem… acquired…”

Muttering, Dorothy carefully examined the holy emblem of the Savior of Radiance among the four. Although the spirituality was slight, it was still a genuine holy emblem made by the church itself, a necessity for her ascension ceremony.

Obtaining this holy emblem, Dorothy had spent considerable effort. For ordinary people, Radiant Church holy emblems were not unattainable. As long as they contributed to the church, they could obtain the holy emblem. This was the rule of the church. For ordinary people, Radiant Church holy emblems were symbols, talismans, and high-level objects of faith.

For ordinary people, the most common way to contribute was through fundraising. As the saying goes, “A jingle in the donation box sends the soul to heaven.” In terms of exploiting faith to gather wealth, the Radiant Church had a long history, often even more ruthless than the White Stone Craftsmen Guild’s capitalist merchants.

Since Vania had just gone through the Smith incident and was under the attention of both the An Yin Bureau and the church, for her safety, Dorothy did not ask Vania to help obtain the holy emblem of the Savior of Radiance. Instead, she manipulated a zombie puppet to act as a donor, forcing the donation of the holy emblem.

Dorothy had previously investigated that obtaining a holy emblem through donations required anywhere from one to two hundred pounds, with the safest amount being three hundred pounds. To ensure stability, Dorothy donated a total of nine hundred pounds, doing it three times.

Dorothy didn’t initially request the holy emblem of the Savior of Radiance because the faith in the Savior was an absolute minority within the Radiant Church. Generally, the public almost never skipped the Three Saints to directly believe in the Savior. If the zombie puppet John directly asked for the Savior’s holy emblem, it would raise suspicions.

This might involve the heretical sect “Savior’s Incarnation Sect,” which claimed that the Three Saints were false and believed only in the Savior.

After careful consideration, Dorothy had John go through a circuitous route, starting with the Holy Father, then obtaining the Holy Mother and Holy Son, and finally using the reason of needing one more to complete the set to get the holy emblem of the Savior of Radiance from the cleric without any suspicion. After all, completing the Radiant series of holy emblems would allow her to achieve a milestone, which made sense to do.

If she had directly asked for the Savior’s holy emblem, she would likely have been considered influenced by heretical thoughts and subjected to a thorough inspection, exposing her zombie puppet.

Even in the public entrance of the St. Hymn Cathedral, the church had arranged powerful Radiance Lamps to work. To pass through the Radiance Lamp, Dorothy consumed 4 points of “Shadow,” more than what she had used at the An Yin Bureau.

This was still the public open area of the Church District. Who knows how strong the detection capabilities were in other confidential areas. Therefore, once her zombie puppet was inspected, it would inevitably be exposed. Dorothy’s 10 or so points of “Shadow” would be insignificant against the church. Thus, Dorothy could not let John be suspected when obtaining the holy emblem. In the end, she succeeded, but at the cost of nine hundred pounds.