"The priest is here!"

When such shouts erupted in the audience, everyone looked at the church door.

Dressed in a long white robe that symbolized the sanctity of the soul, and a belt representing the "yoke of God" on his shoulders, Todd slowly walked up the stairs to the high platform. Looking up into the distance, the hundreds of faces with different expressions in front of him made him feel slightly dizzy.

Closing his eyes and contemplating himself, Todd secretly pinched his palms with his fingernails, and then opened his eyes and shouted to the people at the highest volume: "Lambs of God, sons of the highest." We are gathered here today to hold this 'tea party' to proclaim the goodness and love of God the Salvation!"

Some people whispered in the audience, it turned out that the "tea party" was the church's evangelistic meeting, but there was something to eat and drinks to drink. But soon, the priest's next statement completely overturned their judgment.

"I looked at the history of the land beneath my feet, and I was shocked! The increasing wars, the piling up of bones, the uninhabited wilderness, the powerful ignoring the admonitions of the Father and the dissuasion of the Church, using power and life as a game, soldiers and weapons as bargaining chips. In front of the light of the "Radiance of the Holy Father", he deliberately disguised his blindness and turned a blind eye. What a desolate and miserable thing it is!"

The priest's words stunned everyone, it was completely different from what they had imagined the sermon would be. There are no Bible stories, no salvation prayers, and they actually pointed the finger at the Kingdom of the Silver Ring.

Todd's remarks were not over: "Some of you have fled here because you can't afford to pay taxes, and some of you have left your country because you have been oppressed. Who took you in, gave you shelter, gave you food, was a good and loving Father, and who freed you from taxation and servitude, and gave you the paradise of Twilight? a servant of the Father, the One, Holy, and Catholic Church!"

The believers in the audience recalled what happened in their hometowns, where the lords launched wars to impose heavy taxes, and the nobles used their power for personal gain to oppress the good.

Raising his hand to the far east, the priest greeted the sun and said: "Almighty and Exalted Lord, all who believe in Him, love and obedience, all are equal. Amen!"

The people of Twilight Town lowered their heads reverently, crossed and said in unison, "Amen!"

For Todd, the presentation was a difficult "sideline".

It is an indisputable fact that the Church is increasingly divided with the Kingdom of the Silver Ring. There are two specific things that can be seen: the struggle for control of the Monastery of San Cidro, and the looting of the Crystal Relic when it first enters the Silver Ring. In his mind, these events were just appearances, but in fact, the biggest contradiction between the church and the kingdom should be the silver mines in the North Quarry. According to the abbey library, the Kingdom of the Silver Ring was the richest of the kingdoms in the west. How could the North Quarry not be angry when it accounted for almost two-thirds of the total income of the Kingdom of the Silver Ring, and the wealth that the Kingdom contributed to the Church every year was less than one percent of the total income?

When he was in the monastery, Todd, as a monk, was still able to meet the two sides of the "asceticism" and the "church faction", each of which was not offended, one was because people were soft-spoken, and neither the Silver Ring Kingdom nor the Church of the Heavenly Father paid much attention to him, and the other was because the monastery itself did not participate in the struggle between the church and the world, which played a certain buffer role.

But when it comes to Twilight, things are completely different. With the advent of the Crystal Relic, the increasing concentration of population, and the expansion of industry, there is no doubt that this coastal town will become the focus of attention of the Church and the Kingdom of the Silver Ring in the future. The way of betting on both sides of the past has become extremely unrealistic.

Todd fully considered his background, position, experience, and power contrast, and finally decided to choose the church as the object of "taking sides", and this "tea party" speech was the first step.

After talking about "standing in line", he planned to start talking about the topic.

Gesturing, he asked Sassoon, the representative of the farmers, to step up to the high platform.

The old man trembled and climbed up, looking at the dense crowd of people in the audience, his lips trembling and his legs trembling. The lines that I had repeatedly confirmed and prepared with the priest couldn't recite a word of nervousness on the field.

Todd frowned deeply, originally intending to let the old farmer talk about his miserable situation and gain the sympathy of the residents of Twilight. Now it looks like we'll have to do it ourselves.

"Residents of Twilight, while you are enjoying life, there is a group of poor people living beside you, struggling between life and death. A few days ago, they borrowed money to buy seeds, and all the crops they had worked so hard to grow died in the fields. Todd pointed to Sassoon, who buried his head in his chest, and singled out one or two representative stories about the tragic events of the farmers.

In the midst of the sighs of surprise, pity, and sadness from everyone in the audience, Todd's next sentence frightened everyone so much that they almost jumped from the spot.

"But I don't think they deserve sympathy!"

The people's eyes widened, some reached out to support their foreheads, and some opened their mouths wide. They could never have imagined that the priest, who had been known for his kindness and humility, would speak ill of a group of humble farmers!

After a pause, Todd looked around at the expressions of everyone in the audience, nodded and continued: "Because when they are working, all they think about is food and clothing and harvest, but they have forgotten the duty of a believer-piety, and they have forgotten what kind of place 'Twilight Town' is. This is a place of refuge granted by the Church to believers, and it is a place of miracles that Heavenly Father bestows on his children!"

Land of miracles?

People began to talk loudly about the term, some began to question the priest's statement, but there were also pious people who were convinced that whatever the Son Todd said must be true.

In the wave of human voices, a group of catechumens carried a wooden table covered with white cloth to the high platform.

Todd walked down from the platform to the well in the square, and the crowd followed him, automatically splitting a path and merging up. He shook the wooden handle next to the well, and under the gaze of everyone, he fetched half a bucket of water from the well, refused the help of the believers, and carried it up the high platform with both hands.

He put the bucket at his feet, grabbed the white cloth with both hands and lifted it, and on the white tablecloth lay a gray clay basin, about twenty centimeters high, and full of dirt.

"I know some of you who doubt Heavenly Father's blessing on Twilight and whether piety can actually work miracles. Words are not intentional, and I can prove it to you with facts. With that, Todd scooped up the water from the well with a wooden spoon and poured it down the edge of the clay basin filled with dirt.

In less than 30 seconds, a crowd closer to the high platform suddenly shouted behind them: "It's sprouted! The plant in the pot has sprouted!"

The astonished people stood up and crowded to the high platform like a tidal wave.

In the clay pot, two emerald green young leaves, sandwiched between flower buds, emerge from the soil and grow at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Todd poured water on the plant in the center of the pot, and the holy white smoke floated out of the pot into the air, and the bud gradually bloomed, giving birth to a small pale blue flower.

"Land of Miracles!"

First there was a whisper, then a cry, and finally the whole square fell into a carnival.

Our town of Twilight is a sacred place blessed by Heavenly Father!