After soothing everyone’s emotions and handing the situation here over to Beckerze, Muxuan continued walking towards Kamani.
He had to admit, every time they welcomed new people, just a few improvised words like that would make the number of followers soar.
Just in that short while, his cat height had shrunk by another centimeter.
Helpless as he was, Muxuan couldn’t really say much about it.
Arriving before Kamani, Muxuan spoke in a low voice, “Are all the confiscated pollutants here?”
“Your Eminence, they’re all here! As for whether any refugees are still hiding pollutants… we’ll need to search them further.”
Kamani replied immediately.
Currently, the refugees were only being registered and counted; they hadn’t been settled in yet. And to maintain order, there wasn’t enough manpower to search them for now.
Muxuan nodded and said, “Now that Gryphind has returned, let them maintain order. You all go search, and once you’re done, settle them temporarily in the south.”
The south side was the part of the village where construction hadn’t begun. The other areas were already allocated, and there was no way they’d make the original villagers give up their hard-earned places to these refugees and send the villagers off to barren land.
With no spare houses at the moment, the refugees would have to make do for now. Even lying on the ground was still more comfortable than being in the black fog.
After all, at least they wouldn’t need to worry about being attacked by weird beings at any moment.
“Your will, Your Eminence.”
Muxuan bent down and picked up a ring from the pollutants on the ground to inspect it.
He had spent dozens of strands of faith power to create this sanctuary of light, so the contamination from the pollutants here was suppressed to an extremely low level.
But even so, Muxuan had no intention of putting the ring on his finger and taking unnecessary risks.
“I’ll take all of these with me. The effects and costs will be told to Bishop Beckerze, and he’ll be in charge of distributing them. If you find any more pollutants, send them over here immediately once the refugees have been settled.”
As he finished, a surge of radiant power flowed from within him, forming a translucent membrane that wrapped up all the pollutants on the ground.
“As you command.”
Kamani’s sword was very heavy, so he couldn’t salute in the style of a cruciform sword. Instead, he stood his greatsword upright and saluted with one hand.
Muxuan had no other arrangements. He took the pollutants and headed back to his own quarters.
After Beckerze finished handling these matters, they would still need to discuss the issue with the goblins.
However, as the number of people in the village increased, manpower was gradually running short. More people would need to be brought in…
He sighed, feeling increasingly overwhelmed by these endless affairs, and grew a little irritable.
Arriving at his own dwelling, Muxuan dumped all the pollutants onto the floor in one go and tapped his finger on his staff.
“My beloved Goddess, could I trouble you to take a look at these items’ effects and costs?”
This time, Muxuan put on a bit of sincerity.
After all, he’d already asked the Goddess to do so much. Even though he was recruiting followers for her, it was still better to be humble—who knew what would happen if the Goddess held a grudge and settled accounts later?
In that space, the Goddess was currently holding a paper doll in Muxuan’s likeness, jabbing it continuously with a finger-thick shaft of light.
Her cheeks puffed out, and she kept muttering, “How much longer… Little Saintess…”
Upon hearing Muxuan’s sincere voice, the Goddess finally stopped what she was doing. A faint smile appeared on her face.
“My devoted Pope…”
…
Muxuan’s lips twitched as he heard the Goddess’s voice.
After a very unpleasant exchange, Muxuan finally managed to sort out the properties of these pollutants.
He immediately blocked off the Goddess, took the stack of paper Beckerze had sent him from the table, and wrote down the effects and costs of all the pollutants.
However, what surprised Muxuan was that unremarkable-looking badge.
A badge of the House of Purple Thorn… this thing seemed to be from the Sixth Epoch.
Muxuan felt fortunate that those who held the badge hadn’t discovered its true use—otherwise, the suppressing halos alone would never have been enough to resist it.
On the back of the badge was a tiny needle; once it pierced the skin, the badge would frantically absorb the blood of the wearer. In a short period, it would cause the pierced one to become twisted and strange, granting them immense strength, while simultaneously causing the blood of every living thing in the surrounding area to congeal…
Even if suppressed, it would still slow the flow of blood, causing dizziness from poor circulation.
How long it lasted would depend on how long the pierced one’s blood could sustain it.
A very dangerous pollutant, with some ability to deal with weird beings, but more likely meant to target living things. In other words, if one wanted to use it, they had to make absolutely sure there were no allies nearby.
He’d better keep this one for himself—handing it out to the knights would be far too dangerous.
He picked out three highly dangerous pollutants to keep for himself, intending to let Beckerze distribute the rest to the knights.
As for those three high-risk pollutants, they must be reported, and the reason for their use must be explained before an application could be approved. The application must be submitted by the Cardinal Bishop to the Pope.
Rubbing his brow, Muxuan dismissed the idea of appointing another Cardinal Bishop for now. Never mind whether there was anyone suitable; if only the upper ranks were established, the entire Church’s operations would be meaningless.
There should be a few more bishops set up underneath.
He would choose them after tomorrow’s prayer, and reap another round of faith power in the process.
Tomorrow’s main focus was still on selecting knights. If they wanted to expand outward, the number of knights had to be increased. As for bishops, only one needed to be sent over.
Looking at the dusky sky outside the window, Muxuan rubbed his brow again.
This barrier would dim the light with the passage of time; if there were only bright light all day, it would seriously affect sleep.
The scene outside the window now made Muxuan unexpectedly relaxed. Dusk was always the most evocative time, the easiest to let the mind wander.
It was getting late…
Knock knock——
There was a knock at the door, and Beckerze’s voice sounded from outside.
“Your Eminence, it’s me, Beckerze.”
“Come in.”
Muxuan stood up and slowly walked toward the door.
Seeing Beckerze enter with a stack of papers, Muxuan felt a headache coming on. Fortunately, Beckerze was handling these things—if he had to do it all himself, he’d die of annoyance.
“Your Eminence, a total of one hundred forty-three people have been registered and all settled in the southern part of the village. I think it’s time to put the expansion plan on the agenda.”
Beckerze was well aware of the Church’s current situation and made his suggestion.
“Of course. We’ll hold prayer tomorrow, and arrangements will be made then. I’ll need you to pass the word along later.”
After that, Muxuan and Beckerze discussed many issues, finalized some matters, and raised a few problems that couldn’t be solved for now. At last, Muxuan handed the list of pollutants over to Beckerze.
“These are the effects and costs of the confiscated pollutants, verified by the Goddess’s radiance. Unless Kamani finds any new pollutants later, this is all of them, including those taken from Buzhachi and those still in Hel’s possession.”
“Except for these three, whose use requires my approval, the rest are for you to distribute to the knights. Be sure to keep the mid-risk pollutants for yourself—give them out at your own discretion if someone applies. The records of high-risk pollutants are only for those at bishop rank or above to know.”