Stop Hypnotizing Me, Antagonist Princess!

Heavenly Principle Church, inside the church.

"May my Lord bless you, dispel all your sickness, and bring health to your body and mind."

Looking at the devout elderly believer in front of him, the Moselle bishop in black robes said with a smile.

After the believer in front of him had left, he looked at the few remaining people inside the church, and his expression gradually became subdued.

After a busy morning, he finally finished today's confession duty.

Accompanied by a priest, he quickly left the church.

As he walked, he casually asked, "How is the situation with the Tierus side?"

"My lord bishop, they have been unusually silent lately, seemingly staying inside their estate all day, not going anywhere."

"Have they met with anyone noteworthy?"

"As of now, we don't know, but there shouldn't be any oversights."

"Don't be too careless." Moselle suddenly stopped, "I just received news that because of the accidental death of the Mosgla family heir, the Second Prince is furious and has decided to come to Orn City in person to question the murderer."

"Judging by the time, it should be within this week. I do not wish for His Highness to witness a mess filled with oversights upon his arrival."

"Understood!"

Just then, a clergyman in a hurry suddenly ran up to them.

"There's… there's been trouble, my lord bishop."

As he spoke, he leaned close to Moselle and spoke quickly and softly.

Throughout this process, Moselle's expression darkened.

In the end, he suddenly punched a nearby stone column: "Bastard! How dare they, that group from the Slan Sect? How dare they?!"

"A bunch of fools! They've really messed up my big plans!!!"

The bishop, usually poised and genteel, disappeared.

In his place was a look of fierce anger.

"Do you think you can safely take root in Orn City with Tierus's protection? Watch out, or you may not see tomorrow's sun!!!"

Moselle bishop grumbled vehemently to himself.

Of course, these words were more bluster than anything.

After all, it was only with the support of those behind him that he could barely compete with Duke Tierus over taxes, and most of the time he still had to play it coy.

If the Slan Sect truly had the protection of a Duke Family, how could a mere district bishop like him touch them?

The true power had always been not in him, but in the existence behind him.

After a long while, Moselle bishop finally calmed down.

He took a deep breath, calming the irritation in his heart.

"It doesn't matter. If it's just this one church wanting to make a scene, then let them."

"As long as the rest of the churches stand united, their scheming will be nothing more than a pitiful and laughable clown performance."

Moselle thought, naturally.

Alas, he overlooked something.

Sometimes, alliances formed through external forces, though they seem stable, are actually riddled with hidden fissures.

Once someone makes the first move, the whole edifice can topple like dominoes.

And then it's beyond reversal.

...

In the evening, after a day's work, Lamonta arrived at the confession room of the War God Cathedral.

As a common believer, he could only meet with a priest.

After confessing, he felt a slight purification and relief in his soul.

So he decided to bid farewell to the priest.

But as he turned to leave, Lamonta suddenly seemed to remember something and asked, lowering his head, "Mr. Priest, regarding what happened on the City Square today, does the church have any thoughts?"

As a follower of the War God, he looked down from the bottom of his heart on the languid followers of the Slan Sect, always feeling that it was a heretical belief that should disappear from the world.

Of course, such thoughts came from the irreconcilable blood feuds between the countries behind the two churches.

Some points of conflict and hatred were also subtly instilled into people's minds through the doctrine.

So even within the Saint Laurent Empire, friction was common between the followers of both sides.

Clearly, for the majority of the War God Cathedral's believers, being overshadowed by the Slan Sect was a source of great shame.

Hearing the question, the priest paused for a few seconds before replying in a formulaic manner, "The Lord has His own plans."

After seeing off Lamonta, the priest was silent for a moment before hastily proceeding to visit the district bishop.

"Lord Luke, all the believers who came for confession today basically asked about that incident."

"I know," the bishop named Luke said with some annoyance, "Not only them, even the patriarch there sent a message, questioning why there was such a significant fluctuation in the faith anchor point here in Orn City."

"Damn it, the Heavenly Principle Church really has done us in!"

The priest tentatively asked, "So, shall we make any changes?"

Hearing this, Bishop Luke fell into silence.

"The Empire has been at war so frequently in recent years that the supply of the Power of Faith is often unstable," Luke muttered, "And the total amount of the Power of Faith directly determines the state of the Heavenly Father."

"So for us, what's most important is not money, but to hold tightly to this pure source of Faith in Orn City, and maintain the stability of the people's faith."

"Speaking of which, the person who set up this game is really formidable, playing the art of division and manipulation to the extreme, utterly shameless."

"Even if you know there's a pit in front of you, you still have to jump into it."

Bishop Luke said through clenched teeth.

After a moment, he waved his hand and said to the priest, "Since they just want money, let's satisfy their demand."

"The Slan Sect donated twenty thousand Gold Coins? We shall donate thirty thousand… no, fifty thousand!"

"Let the entire city see just how generous and kind our War God Cathedral really is!"

The next day, City Square was crowded once again.

Looking at the donation box emblematic of their own church filled with twice the amount of Gold Coins as that of the Slan Sect, many of the War God's believers suddenly stood taller, as if basking in reflected glory.

Not long after...

The news that the War God Cathedral had thrown fifty thousand Gold Coins to provide living support for discharged disabled soldiers quickly spread throughout the city.

From this moment on, the precarious balance was completely shattered.

...

The following night.

Inside the Silent Church, all the clergymen gathered together, discussing major matters with grave expressions.

They worshiped the Bright Moon Goddess.

Due to the special nature of their doctrine, the Church placed great emphasis on women's rights and status, with nearly ninety percent of their believers being local women from Orn City.

However, this also led to a fundamental conflict with the ideas of the War God Cathedral.

After all, one side respected women's rights and advocated for independent personality.

While the other side promoted female obedience to their husbands and viewed the husband as the authority, a clear embodiment of patriarchy.

Quite naturally, when these two collided, even if it was not a clash of fire and water, they were still mortal enemies.

This was the conflict and prejudice brought by differing doctrines.

Besides the coexistence of the three main churches of the Saint Laurent Empire itself, other faiths had deviations in ideology to a greater or lesser extent.

"I propose we ignore the demands of the Heavenly Principle Church."

"There have already been plenty of female believers crying out that those War God followers who like to stir up domestic violence are recently picking fights everywhere, acting like they've gone mad."

"As one of the three main churches of the Saint Laurent Empire, we absolutely cannot let foreign faiths trample over us!"

"But the Heavenly Principle Church..."

"Since when did the Silent Church become a subsidiary of theirs?"

"Good, that's the decision, then."

The following day, the news that the Silent Church exceeded the War God Cathedral with a donation amount of seventy thousand Gold Coins and topped the list caused another heated discussion.

At that time, only six days had passed since Lynn's agreement with Duke Tierus.

...n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

On the seventh day, because of the example set by the Silent Church, the Fertility Church, which had been scorned by its believers, came forward with eighty thousand Gold Coins and set a new record for the highest donation.

On the same day, the War God Cathedral added twenty thousand Gold Coins to their donation amount, settling for second place.

...

On the eighth day, the Desolate Sect, which was at odds with the Fertility Church, joined the battlefield.

At the same time, the Silent Church, Fertility Church, War God Cathedral, and the Slan Sect each made additional donations to various extents.

These clergy from the churches were seemingly blinded by the overarching trends and simply couldn't stop.

After all, if they backed down now, not only would they be outdone in terms of the amount, but it would also render their initial investments utterly fruitless.

Although they resented Lynn, the instigator of the current situation, down to their bones.

But given the circumstances, they had no choice but to follow through with gritted teeth.

...

On the ninth day, apart from the Heavenly Principle Church and a few others who were still observing, the remaining twelve local churches all fell into this pit and couldn't turn back.

This once again sparked a frenzy among the people.

At this moment, the majority of the glass donation boxes in the City Square were filled with Gold Coins.

...

On the tenth day, only the Heavenly Principle Church still maintained an empty state, while the other eleven churches had all fallen.

And in a corner unnoticed by anyone.

A notice bearing the likeness of Lynn Bartleion quietly made it onto the blacklist of all the churches.

...

"Good lad!!! Damn, you're a genius!!!"

Late at night, within Augusta Manor, Duke Tierus's laughter thundered through the heavens.

How could he not be overjoyed?

In just a short six days, the previously barren donation boxes had been filled with Gold Coins from various churches.

A rough estimate was that one donation box could hold about one hundred thousand Saint Laurent Gold Coins, and out of these twelve boxes, apart from the Heavenly Principle Church which had none, most were filled.

The few that weren't filled still had at least fifty to sixty thousand Gold Coins.

By this calculation, that was almost nine hundred thousand Gold Coins in income!

Originally, Duke Tierus had expected to collect five hundred thousand Gold Coins in taxes from several border cities combined.

But now, everything was in disarray.

Just from Orn City alone, nearly one million had been shockingly gathered!

This also indirectly showed how much the parasites clinging to the Empire's branches had siphoned off over the years.

It was truly an exhilarating faith kidnapping!

At this moment, Duke Tierus looked at Lynn with a burning gaze.

He suddenly felt an urge.

An urge to whisk him away to the military to serve as a deputy officer.

Because this kid was truly talented.

He had fulfilled their agreement in just ten short days, something even he had not expected to happen.

Watching Duke Tierus's expression at the moment, Lynn, however, remained very calm.

Seeing this, Duke Tierus suddenly stopped his laughter, "It's finally over, but how come, kid, you don't look happy at all?"

"Over?" Lynn shook his head, "This is hardly the beginning."

"The fattest sheep, I haven't even touched yet."

After all, the current Lynn had merely fulfilled his promise to Duke Tierus.

However, the trial set by the Doomsday Witch had yet to bear fruit.

Although the events of these past few days were enough to shake the faith of the Heavenly Principle Church's followers, it was far from weakening the Power of Faith.

To change the future, Lynn decided to add more fuel to the fire.