The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Most people in the port of Valennia didn't feel anything special about becoming citizens of New Castile. After all, in the world of Soren, people in some places could change their nationality three times a day, as long as they could survive.

Or rather, in this era, there were very few countries that could understand the household registration system. After all, everyone was just farming for the nobles, and generally only the local nobles knew exactly how many people were in their territory.

Apart from the fleet of ships docked outside the port, the harbor seemed no different from usual. Workers were still busy at the docks, and there seemed to be more passenger ships coming and going than usual, making the harbor appear more crowded.

If there is any difference, it is probably that the priests and nuns of the empire began to preach in the port.

May the goddess protect you.

In an open space surrounded by various equipment and stones, a pastor bowed to a disheveled beggar and handed him an egg.

"thanks, thanks."

The beggar wanted to kneel down and kiss the ground at the pastor's feet, but the pastor bowed and helped him up.

"There's no need for that. Neither our sect nor our empire practices kneeling."

The pastor continued, “We are going to build a church in the harbor. If you are unemployed, come here tomorrow. There will always be something you can do, and we will provide you with food.”

Upon hearing that there was work and meals provided, the beggar was momentarily at a loss for words, and continued to say in a hoarse voice, "Thank you, thank you."

He didn't know many words, so he could only keep repeating this sentence to the pastor.

In this era, the church's practice of giving away eggs to believers is akin to a game-changer. Not to mention the low productivity of Sauron, even on the continent of Mu, this strategy is virtually invincible.

However, those attracted were mostly casual believers, some of whom might not even be believers at all, and were simply there for the eggs. But this didn't matter to the members of the Goddess Cult, since the important thing now was to expand their influence.

Unlike the continent of Soren, which lacks divine magic, the priests and nuns sensed the goddess's gaze upon this land. Therefore, these clergy were not in a hurry at all, and even knowing that many of the applicants were spies, they still accepted them without hesitation.

Why was the Dragon Church able to quickly defeat the local religions and become the largest church on the continent of Solon? Because other religions do not actually have gods, but the Dragon Church does have dragons.

The same applies to the Church of Goddess; the clergy truly have a deity above them who has awakened and is becoming increasingly active.

Some local gangs in the port of Valennia are gathering men to cause trouble at the Church of Goddess. After all, the church has shown great disrespect to the local gangs. When those gangs lowered themselves to cooperate with the Church of Goddess, the church simply ignored them. Not to mention, the shops that believe in the Church of Goddess have even started refusing to pay protection money.

If this continues, even the local bullies will starve.

The air in the harbor was filled with the salty sea breeze and the noise from the tavern. Black Shark had just taken his gang members to the tavern for some cheap liquor. Although the liquor was tasteless and everyone knew how much water had been added, it was all about the psychological suggestion. After drinking it, the henchmen would seem to become fearless and ruthless.

At this moment, Black Shark went out on the street, constantly fiddling with the musket in his hand. Although he was a professional, his social class was not high, and for him, this thing was still the most useful.

"Come on, brothers, let's show those charlatans what we're made of!"

Black Shark couldn't understand such complicated matters as the Imperial Fleet and New Castile. All he knew was that he had been ordered to sabotage the missionary missions, and he would do it as usual.

Black Shark led a group of menacing-looking henchmen out of the alleyway. They carried sticks and daggers, their target clear: not the missionaries, but the ordinary people collecting eggs, as well as the strange equipment the missionaries had prepared and the stones for building the Vatican.

After all, we may have to cooperate with these missionaries in the future, and it would be bad if we hurt someone.

"You, what are you going to do?"

A farmer woman who was queuing to collect eggs had barely asked a question when she immediately realized who these thugs were. Just as she was about to run away, the thugs grabbed her and slammed her to the ground. They threw the eggs she had already collected onto the ground and stomped on them. They even snatched her vegetable basket.

The chaos quickly spread, and the group immediately began to smash, loot, and burn ordinary people, as well as equipment and stones. Black Shark knew very well that as long as chaos was stirred up, the people in the harbor who had just received their eggs would soon join in the looting. Once the people were taken hostage, they would be unable to resist. After several such incidents, the church could no longer operate in the harbor and had no choice but to cooperate with the authorities.

But at that moment, a sharp gunshot seemed to pierce through the crowd, bringing everyone to a standstill.

Soon, more and more gunshots began to ring out, so densely that Black Shark found it somewhat unbelievable, after all, their muskets had to be reloaded after each shot was fired.

Amidst the screams of the crowd, Black Shark quickly spotted the scene ahead.

He saw all his underlings lying on the ground groaning in pain, riddled with bullets, some of whom had died on the spot.

A priest, still holding his scriptures in his left hand while reloading with one hand in his right, blew out the gunpowder and said, "Who preaches without a musket?"

The priest looked up and saw Black Shark.

"Am I right?"

It was only then that Black Shark noticed that although the missionaries seemed unprepared, they were actually all fully armed.

"Yes, yes."

Black Shark, with his muscular face, gave an awkward smile and stopped fiddling with the musket in his hand, instead quietly placing it behind his back.

"Who, who preaches without a musket?"

Not only were the merchants of the empire carrying muskets, but the missionaries of the empire were also carrying muskets. Moreover, the missionaries' muskets seemed to be even more terrifying and advanced, and the missionaries themselves were also more well-trained than the merchants.

A nun in a red robe appeared among the priests and nuns at some point and said, "Go and gather the injured people together for treatment. We must make amends to them and let them feel the grace of the Goddess."

Immediately, the red-robed nun said to Black Shark in the distance, "Hey! You deal with the corpse!"

Upon hearing his name called, Black Shark shuddered for some reason.

"Okay, okay sir."

Soon after, a crackdown on organized crime swept through the port. The local tyrants' anticipated power struggles and exchanges of benefits didn't materialize. Countless gangs were wiped out in the ensuing infighting. The empire, employing ruthless methods, began a bloody purge of those who disobeyed, killing the so-called local bullies until they were completely subservient. Some speculated that the grey-robed Grand Tutor was behind it, but some bolder observers at the scene only saw a nun in a blood-red robe and several soldiers in massive armor.