The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Chapter 53 Clean and hygienic

Soon, the scene was taken over by Lena's knights, and the entire camp was placed under martial law.

Holy water was also brought over, along with Lila and several maids who were absolutely loyal to the Lars family. The level of martial law was so high that even Caroline could only return to the territory with Laurie first.

After Lind and Isa discussed it, the holy water was poured into a large wooden tub as if it were free.

"Lady Flora, please go first."

Flora looked on with a puzzled expression as bottle after bottle of liquid was poured into the large wooden tub, and asked, "Little Isa, what's this?"

"You'll see once you come in."

Seeing Isa's constant urging, Flora had no choice but to try anything, so she took off her tattered nun's clothes. Lind, being a gentleman, came to the outer edge of the camp and, as usual, squatted down on the ground with Rena to review the battle.

The icy touch quickly filled Flora's entire body, and her vibrant red hair gradually spread out on the surface of the holy water. At first, Flora had no idea that it was a whole bucket of holy water, because it was so counterintuitive.

Every bottle and every drop of precious holy water must be carefully preserved; there's no such thing as holy water being sold by the barrel.

As the coolness spread through her wounds and the curses, Flora, who was gradually regaining her senses while soaking, suddenly stood up and glared angrily at Isa.

"Where did this holy water come from?!"

Flora tried to suppress her emotions, but her voice, though not loud, still carried anger.

Upon hearing this, the other nuns and refugees all looked over. Holy water? That huge tub of water Lady Flora was soaking in was holy water? How could that be?

Flora's anger had turned into sobs. She held up the holy water that was constantly leaking from her hands and questioned Isha: "Do you know how many people this little bit of holy water could save? Have you forgotten how I taught you? Isha, you could have used so much holy water to save even more people!"

Before Flora could continue speaking, another carriage was suddenly pushed in from outside the camp, and two maids skillfully unloaded a wooden barrel full of holy water and moved it next to Flora.

Flora suddenly stopped speaking, staring dumbfounded at the two buckets of holy water beside her.

Indeed, Flora, no longer in a daze, could now clearly see that the two buckets beside her, which were being poured into wooden tubs like river water, contained incredibly precious holy water—holy water that the most devout nuns and priests could only obtain in exchange for a whole month of prayer.

Isa personally carried one of the nuns and refugees most severely affected by the plague and curse into the two wooden tubs.

"Thank you, Goddess! Thank you, Goddess! Thank you for this miracle bestowed upon us by the Goddess!"

The nun, feeling the continuous healing power of the holy water, prayed to the goddess with great excitement.

But Isa interrupted the nun, saying, "These are not miracles bestowed by the goddess. They were all produced by that Gray Collar lord. You should thank the Gray Collar lord, not the goddess."

The room fell silent immediately; everyone suddenly stopped talking.

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting a little strange, Flora immediately picked up where Isa left off and continued, "Thank you, Goddess, for sending the Lord to save us. Thank you, Lord. Praise be to the Lord."

Everyone immediately followed Flora in praying: "Thank you, Goddess; thank you, Lord."

Seeing the nuns and refugees with expressions of relief, Isa realized how blasphemous her words had been.

Moreover, it almost pitted Linde against the goddess, but fortunately Flora "corrected" it, protecting everyone's faith and thanking Linde.

At the same time, Isa shouted to everyone, "These are not holy water, but the lord's ancestral potions. The lord took them out to save everyone. Once these are used up, they will all be gone!"

The nuns understood immediately, and the refugees, though they didn't know what the words meant, nodded silently. Although the barrels of medicine being brought in didn't seem to be running out, the refugees were still very happy.

A simple soak won't cure it. To truly remove the curse and plague, long-term treatment is needed. The amount of holy water or potions required for the subsequent treatment is astronomical. Does the lord have that many potions passed down through generations?

But who cares? That's what the lord said. The final interpretation rests with the Gray Collar authorities. Linde plans to shift all the blame to the original owner's ancestors, since the original territory has been destroyed, and even if someone wanted to investigate, they couldn't.

As the maids, wrapped up tightly, entered and began to wipe the nuns and refugees' bodies with holy water, the nuns and refugees, who had been in despair, immediately rekindled their hope for life and even began to liven up a bit; at least no one was contemplating suicide anymore.

Soaking in holy water alone cannot cure the disease, but it has greatly alleviated Flora's pain. Even though the unsightly sores and curses are still on her body, Flora has begun to regain her former saintly demeanor.

As the holy water was continuously being transported over, Flora remained in a state of utter shock. If her mind hadn't become increasingly clear, Flora would have truly doubted whether this was a dream woven by the goddess herself.

"Little Isa, is everything you said true? Are they all really produced by that lord?"

Isa and Flora told the story of the holy water's origin, but they didn't mention how it was made, and even blamed it all on Lind.

"That's right, Lord. You can make a bottle of holy water every three minutes. All of these holy waters are made by you."

"Huh? Are you sure that lord is a man? Isn't he the chosen saint? He's practically a walking miracle!"

Flora even had the urge to run out and check it out; it was too shocking. If the church found out, they would probably tie Lind up and take him back.

"Is the lord really not the goddess's illegitimate son?"

Flora asked the exact same question that Isa had asked back then.

"Lady Flora, that's incredibly disrespectful to the goddess!"

Issa, who once had the same question, instead began to criticize Flora.

"I'm sorry, by the grace of the goddess, but this is really..."

Flora turned her head and saw that the maids had already begun to explain the rules of the gray and white collar to the nuns and refugees.

Many people have already started to cry, regarding the gray-collar workers as the earthly kingdom of goddesses, and Linde as the new representative of goddesses.

There were even rumors circulating that the lord had received a divine revelation and unearthed a holy spring—or rather, a magical potion he had dug up from his own homeland—to save everyone.

Although she was shocked and bewildered by the endless supply of holy water from the gray-collar workers, Flora was actually quite clear-headed about the Church of the Goddess of Light, because she had thought about it a lot along the way.

Does the Scarlet Saintess Flora still believe in religion? Looking at the dim holy light in her hand, Flora said that she was still the devout saintess, but even she probably doesn't believe it.

But Flora did not give up her faith. She even spoke up for the Goddess of Light before, because Flora realized that people still needed faith. People who had just experienced the hell of despair needed a stable and righteous faith to support their spirits.

The goddesses they once worshipped are the easiest for these people to accept.

Unbeknownst to them, Flora and the other refugees had already divided the goddess and the Church of the Goddess of Light.

It's acceptable to have faith in a goddess, but it's not necessarily acceptable to have faith in the Goddess of Light.

If Linde were to appear now, claiming to have received an oracle from the goddess and to become the new pope, this group of people would probably bow down in worship.

This is also Flora's ultimate answer to the question she has been pondering all along—the goddess has abandoned the Church, which is now disobeying the divine oracle and gradually degenerating. Now we should follow the goddess's guidance, not the Church.

To put it bluntly, it's really a matter of the final interpretation of religious texts and oracles.