Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence

Chapter 694: Chapter 59: Mother Earth’s Holy Pool and the Dawn Pastoral Rite (Part 3)

”More importantly, the entire Dawn Church will feel the blessing of the Goddess. The monastery can produce a high-level potion infused with divine grace, and the Essence Souls can once again wield their abilities.”

Oh~ Su Li exclaimed in admiration. In that case, the effect of this ritual is indeed quite powerful.

This means that after the ritual is completed, the realm under the protection of the Dawn Goddess will be slightly enhanced. For instance, a plot of land that initially produced 300 pounds of wheat, an apple tree yielding 400 pounds of apples, or a monastery that produced 4 potions a year, would see an increase to 330 pounds of wheat, 440 pounds of apples, and 5 potions respectively after the ritual.

Additionally, against this general enhancement backdrop, the training effects for church nuns are specifically strengthened, infusing new nuns with more Divine Grace, thereby enhancing their capabilities.

One must admit that based on this effect of Divine Grace, Reya continues to display her generous traits.

Vandar then urged, ”Lord, if you wish to perform this ritual, you must act swiftly. The Dawn Pastoral can only be executed when the Goddess’s blessing is most intense in spring. By the time the Summer Solstice arrives and Tal takes over the annual rings from the Goddess, only other rituals can be conducted.”

Su Li pondered slightly and asked, ”How do you plan to allocate these nuns nurtured by the Dawn Church?”

With the expansion of the Dawn Church, their influence and political status are clearly on the rise.

Even Su Li has to make certain political compromises with them.

For instance, with these 24 trained nuns, their status becomes somewhat different.

The benefits are undeniably there, as they are church nuns, Su Li doesn’t have to bear any training, maintenance, or salary expenses for them.

However, the downside is that they do not follow Su Li’s commands. As clergy and armed forces of the church, they only take orders from the church.

From this perspective, the territory is increasingly resembling an empire’s internal domain. Within the empire, as the economy prospers and the church expands, the Lord finds it hard to directly interfere in church affairs.

In fact, many territories see the Great Shepherds or the Grand Knight Commanders clashing with certain Lords, and in severe cases, the Grand Leaders and Shepherds outright refuse to execute the Lord’s orders. (Of course, such behavior would exacerbate rifts, leading to serious political conflicts, possibly resulting in the church being exiled and declared an unwelcome religion by the territory.)

Vandar, as the Shepherd Leader of the Dawn Church, naturally wishes to enhance the church’s authority. Yet, he is practical and understands that missionary work within the Hesse Territory must maintain good relations with the Lord. After all, the Reya Church is not renowned for martial prowess and hopes to foster good ties with supporting Lords.

He then said, ”We will incorporate 50% of these trained nuns into your High-level Directly Affiliated Attendants, Lord, but their station must be near suburbs and villages.”

Su Li pondered for a moment; this essentially meant expanding the church’s control zone, integrating them into the High-level Directly Affiliated Attendants and then stationing them, surely leading to the expansion of Dawn Churches.

However, after some thought, Su Li did not refuse. His estates were expanding; besides Jorn Shallow Bay, he also had several confiscated and newly built farms, indeed requiring more guidance from Dawn Church nuns.

Su Li nodded and then asked, ”What about the remaining nuns?”

”The remaining nuns will be allocated to various villages free of charge to guide the villagers, but in return, we hope you allow us to establish the Reya Watch Court within the Dawn Church. This would grant the nuns the right to collect 5% of the grain yield in the name of the Goddess. Of course, we do not seek to seize the grain tax but to ensure reserves for timely aid to civilians during calamities, fulfilling Reya’s requirements.”

Reya’s requirements, this divine magic Su Li still remembered; Reya’s priests would sing a subtle harmony, gathering the long-standing grievances from the earth’s depths — demanding compensation from those who failed to express gratitude to Reya. Where the song drifted, all powerful Natural Spirits and human-like beings not having offered sacrifices to Reya or another nature deity/Reya Church since last spring equinox would gain a layer of fatigue. If five or more entities were affected by this divine magic, the land within the influence of Reya’s Divine Grace would lose fertility, becoming barren for the next 10 years.

Accommodating Reya’s requirements is something Su Li always recognized.

As for the Reya Watch Court, Su Li actually endorsed this institution, even though it somewhat undermines the judicial authority of the territory, it truly is a good thing, somewhat like the ancient Central Plains’ charitable granary system.

That is, a relief-type granary set up in counties and lanes where each household in a village had to store a certain amount of soybeans, wheat, and millet during abundant years. In years of disaster, all residents who contributed charity grain could withdraw food per their share, preventing families from being reduced to selling land to survive.

Moreover, this system is indeed not managed by the government but supervised by local gentry and elders, with the government merely filing records to prevent clerical intervention, ensuring ”grain does not leave the countryside.”

In the Hesse Territory, the Dawn Church is indeed the suitable entity to implement this system. Their church is more focused on ordinary people and the impoverished. This system also aids the fragile small-scale farming economy in weathering various disasters and upheavals, preventing many of the lower class from being frequently reduced to slavery at the slightest turmoil.