Chapter 763 Fighting Fire with Fire

Early the next morning, Duanmu Huai went to the town again, but this time, his dress was completely different from before.

"See how I look like?"

Duanmu Huai stood in front of Matthew, proudly showing off the clothes he had asked the Fulwig family to make overnight. To put it simply, this was an ordinary priest's costume. The robe and cross looked no different from the priest's uniform. the difference.

but……………

"Uh...I think...it's okay?"

Matthew looked at Duanmuhuai and had nothing to say for a moment. This dress looked like a clergyman when worn on Duanmuhuai, but when worn on Duanmuhuai and wearing sunglasses, he looked like the kind of gangster boss in the movie. style.

"But MASTER, do you really want to do this?"

This is also the result of Duanmu Huai's discussion with the other three people last night. It is not easy to dig deep into the ground to find the core of this singularity in such a small town, but Duanmu Huai can do the opposite and intensify the situation. The changes in this town are just like when a washing machine spins, the vortex will drain the water to both sides to expose the bottom below. Accelerating the transformation can also cause a similar reaction in this town, thus actively exposing the core.

This is naturally not an easy task, but... Duanmu Huai is familiar with this method!

Just kidding, who is he? He is the Grand Inquisitor of the Tribunal. The targets of the Tribunal are heretics, aliens and demons. Duanmu Huai has spent most of his time fighting aliens and demons, rarely encountering real heretics. But this does not mean that he does not know how to deal with heresy and judge heresy.

And this is what Duanmuhuai wants to do in this small town.

He would initiate heresy trials in this town in the name of the church.

Yes, witch hunts and heresy trials are one above the other, two magic weapons that stabilized society in the Middle Ages. In fact, contrary to what people think, witch hunting was mainly born among the people, and the religious courts basically had little control over it. This is why Duanmuhuai mocked that if the witch was really capable of killing all the farmers, most of the witches were burned in civil courts, except for those involving high-level politics like Joan of Arc.

Heresy trials are the true nature of religious trials.

After all, heretics are more hateful than heretics.

Compared with the relatively "simple" witch hunting, the heresy trial is actually more terrifying and has a wider impact.

Witch hunting is primarily limited to women, and it must be proven, just like the farmers who accused Matthew before, saying that their children had a high fever after coming into contact with Matthew. To put it simply, this is like a criminal case. No matter how bizarre it is, you must have a victim to prove the existence of the witch.

In other words, witch hunting is more or less about some evidence. No matter how unreliable the evidence is, at least you have to have it instead of just pointing out that other people are witches.

But the Inquisition was completely different.

Because the heresy trial tests thoughts and words, it does not pay attention to physical evidence. As long as you speak, it is evidence.

What is heresy? Heresy is a view that runs counter to mainstream thought. So the question becomes, how do you know that you are contrary to mainstream thought?

In fact, believers are often no different from fans. They always have their own thoughts and opinions on the stories explained by religion. Whether they are shepherds, millers, or beggars on the roadside, they all have their own thoughts and opinions on the same story. Views are also different.

In fact, it’s quite normal. In modern times, everyone will have different understandings of a movie, a novel, or a comic after reading it. But now there is the Internet, so it can be spread out. In the past, the circulation area was narrow, so it could only be circulated locally. Then the question arises - how does a farmer in a remote Italian village know what the mainstream thoughts of the Roman Catholic Church are?

Of course he came up with what he thought and felt made sense.

It is said that there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people. To put it to the extreme, these thousand Hamlets are all heretics.

Especially since the people in this small town are very religious, the problem is even more interesting. Most people think that fanatics are puppets, but in fact the more devout the believers are, the more they have their own ideas. On the contrary, only those who generally have less religious beliefs will follow the mainstream thoughts - after all, it doesn't matter what you say, and he doesn't care.

On the contrary, it’s the fanatics who don’t recognize this. They are just like the chefs in the anime. As long as you don’t understand the background setting a little bit and don’t agree with them, they will accuse you of being a heretic and a noob. He's an idiot who doesn't know anything but just follows the trend.

After all, no one knows XX better than them, right?

Even the chefs would quarrel with each other, and the quarrels would become even more fierce.

The same is true for religion.

If religion is compared to an animation, then most believers are just casual fans, while fanatics are die-hard, fanatical fans - and they are the kind who can take action offline and have the power to take action.

This is why heresy trials basically end in massacre. You can change a person's behavior, but it is difficult to change a person's mind. Especially for this kind of religious fanatic, his belief is equivalent to his life. If you can change his mind, it is basically the same as killing him.

So there is no need to waste time and burn it immediately. Simple, convenient, fast and pollution-free...well, it seems to be a bit polluting.

For Duanmu Huai, he is here to turn this town into a crematorium.

"Then, I'm going."

"Please be careful, MASTER."

The previous two actions were all caused by Fiore or Matthew, which triggered the witch trial, so of course Duanmu Huai could not take her with him this time. Only Medea and Irisviel, who can transform into spirits, follow Duanmuhuai, while Matthew is responsible for supporting outside.

Walking into the town again, everything here looked completely the same as before. People were still busy working, but in Duanmu Huai's eyes, they were like NPCs in those towns in sandbox games. When the player enters the town, they are also walking around, giving the player a very prosperous feeling in the city, but in fact where did these NPCs go...

That depends on whether the production team really does their best.

Duanmu Huai raised his eyebrows, then withdrew his gaze, followed the street to the central square at the intersection, and then walked into the church door.

"Hello Stranger."

Entering the church, the pastor in front walked over. He was the pastor who led the team last night, but looking at him now, it seemed as if he didn't know Duanmu Huai at all.

"What can I do for you?"

"I am the Inquisitor from the Inquisition."

As Duanmu Huai spoke, he walked forward and took out a letter of appointment from under his cloak - of course it was a forgery. For a magician, it would be no problem to forge a letter of appointment from hundreds of years ago. .

"The Inquisition received a report that there is a heretic hiding here, and I was ordered to come here to investigate the matter."

This kind of thing was actually very common in the past, because communication and transportation were not developed at that time, so going to the church to file a complaint required capital. To put it simply, no one would risk the danger of bandits and bandits and travel countless kilometers to the church to have fun. Unlike now, anyone can call and report a false police report, so generally such a report would not be heard by the church. They will all be taken seriously.

"heresy?"

Sure enough, when he heard this word, the pastor suddenly panicked.

"Lord Judge, I assure you, here are all loyal believers, we..."

"That's for me to decide, not for you."

Duanmuhuai glared at the pastor coldly.

"Pass this message on and I will immediately begin investigating and collecting evidence."

"……………yes……………"

The priest could only remain silent. After all, he did not want to be regarded as an accomplice of the heresy.

Very good, it seems that the rules of this place are indeed formulated this way.

Duanmuhuai breathed a sigh of relief when he found that the priest in front of him was obedient. According to Irisviel and Medea, every step of any magician's ritual has its own inherent meaning. Since this town is imitating a religious belief, they must be consistent with the imitated religious belief in every aspect.

If this is the case, then Duanmu Huai's appointment letter will not be opposed or overturned. On the contrary, it can also help Duanmu Huai "integrate" into this running ceremony.

Now it seems that their suggestion was correct.

"Dang...Dang...Dang...Dang..."

As the bell rang, busy residents in the town also gathered. They came to the church door and formed a circle, watching Duanmuhuai and the pastor uneasily. Under the gaze of the residents, Duanmu Huai took a step forward, stared at the people in front of him, and then spoke.

"Lambs of the Lord! You must listen carefully. I am Duanmu Huai, the great judge from the Tribunal. There is only one reason why I am here, and that is that the church received a report claiming that in this small town, There are heresies that blaspheme the glory of the Lord!”

"………………!!"

Hearing Duanmu Huai's words, the people below were in an uproar. Everyone was shocked and looked at each other uneasily. Duanmuhuai stood in front, staring at them.

"The glory of the Lord cannot be blasphemed! Any heresy will eventually be completely destroyed! If your belief in the Lord is still extremely devout, then tell everything you know! Remember, heretics are cunning and evil! They will use You will wrap up the evil in your heart with sweet lies, and you will use high-sounding words to hide your blasphemous thoughts! Heretics are among you! I will immediately start an investigation to find those who blaspheme the glory and majesty of the Lord!"

"……………………"

After saying this, everyone below fell silent, while Duanmu Huai snorted coldly.

"Anyone who has clues can come to the church to find me and report to me. Remember, it doesn't matter even if it's just a few clues. The sooner the heresy can be found, the sooner the town can be restored. The gift and glory of the Lord!”

After saying this, Duanmu Huai turned around and walked into the church.

Everyone stared at Duanmuhuai's back, and after he left, they dispersed in whispers.

"What should we do next? MASTER?"

Back in his room, Irisviel's voice emerged from Duanmuhuai's ears, and Duanmuhuai sneered.

"It's very simple, just find the heretics."

"But it doesn't necessarily happen?"

"It does not matter."

Duanmu Huai waved his hand.

"Whoever I say is a heretic is a heretic."

Speaking of this, Duanmuhuai showed a ferocious smile.

"Believe me, the Inquisition is professional in this regard."