Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

807
Although Backlund's curfew has officially ended, it is still an unspoken rule among the people.

Under the current economic conditions, more and more people are unemployed and there are more and more homeless people on the streets. It is said that the economic downturn caused by the impact of the war has led to a large number of people moving into the East District, almost refilling the houses that were previously emptied due to the "big smog".

Not only that, there were also frequent cases of people who were so hungry that they went astray. News of streetwalkers, homeless people, and men and women who lived alone being killed appeared in newspapers again and again, along with the looting of their belongings and food, which made the people of Backlund numb and panicked. Therefore, not many people would risk traveling at night, and even those who had to go out to work would often travel together.

but now--

The first wave of people who rushed out included believers of the Thunder Church, as well as some who rushed to a nearby food distribution point with the mentality of "let's give it a try" and "there's no way anyone would dare to cheat people in the name of the Thunder Church?"

Mrs. Starling Summer was also among them, running breathlessly with the lady she knew, and quickly ran towards the target street with the crowd. As they were older and housewives, it was difficult for them to outrun other workers or young people. Although they came out very early, when they came to the food distribution point with their hands on their waists, there was already a long line there.

After arriving at the destination, before even catching her breath, Stelin hurriedly distanced herself from her friends.

When it comes to food and life, even the best of friends have to be a little cautious. This is also one of the ways to avoid destroying the friendship.

The “middle class” is a self-numbing scam. The nobles and factory owners have enough money, connections and channels to deal with risks. The lower class people are used to surviving in risks. Only they, who usually live an upper-middle class life, interact with the petty nobles, and lack the money and connections to deal with large risks, are the ones who suffer the most from this long-term change. Housewives like them feel the catastrophe even more. With the reduction of necessary social activities such as banquets and dances, their contacts with friends have disappeared.

——The lady also tacitly distanced herself from Starling, and each of them fought for the front position of the team based on their own abilities.

Soon, Starling squeezed into the crowd that had not yet formed, and stood more than ten meters away from the food distribution point. Looking at the more than 20 people in front of her, Starling couldn't help but feel a little nervous. The bad memory of waiting for a long time in the morning but getting nothing resurfaced in her mind.

While waiting, Starlin looked around nervously, and she was pleasantly surprised to see several priests wearing dark clothes of the Thunder Church, with holy emblems of thunder and towers embroidered on their chests. Each of them was tall, and it seemed effortless for each of them to push a cart, which was mostly loaded with food crops, and a lot of flour and bread.

"so much!"

I've never posted so much food before!

The team burst into cheers and praises, and Starlin's breathing became rapid - so much! She must be able to take some back! - But the church said that it should be divided according to the number of people. What if the people in front of them are all large families with more than a dozen family members? I am not a believer in the God of Thunder, what if they don't give the food to me? Starlin's mind was dizzy. People around her began to pray to the God of Thunder for various reasons, and she subconsciously followed suit. The priests distributed the food, and she inexplicably had expectations for this god.

The first man left with a small sack of flour, some unclear crops, and a bag of bread.

The second person took away two bags of bread and a small bag of flour.

The two priests at the front were responsible for distribution, while the other kept recording in a notebook, occasionally pushing his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

Starling craned her neck to look forward. Not only her, but everyone was concentrating on the goods on the cart. People stared with wide eyes, afraid that the food would glow before it was their turn.

What made them even more frightened was that the supplies this time seemed to be more abundant than usual, which made people sweat.

In a state of trepidation, the food on the first cart was distributed after the ninth person in the team left. People nervously watched the Beyonders of the Thunder Church push up the second cart and take the food from it. Seeing these priests talking and laughing as they pushed the cart away, people couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope in their hearts.

Finally, someone couldn't help but said loudly:
"Your Excellency the Bishop!"

Although I don’t know what positions these priests hold, there is definitely no problem in calling them bishops.

"I am a devout believer in the God of Thunder."

The man who was speaking licked his lips nervously. He emphasized that he was pious, but he was a little nervous because he had never seen these priests who seemed to have high positions before. "I, I donated twenty pounds to the church. Please, how much of this batch of food is left?"

Hearing about the donations and devout believers, the people in the team immediately buzzed with discussions.

Starling's expression changed slightly.

For a long time, in Loen, the official relief efforts of the Church of the God of Thunder have been the greatest, but the conditions for receiving it at that time were limited to believers, or they had to convert to another faith on the spot.

In the beginning, not many people of other faiths went to collect relief food, but as misfortunes happened one after another, the emperor was lost, the number of relief points set up by the state gradually decreased, and the charity foundation without a political stance gradually became unable to protect itself. The charity foundation that was previously opened by the "rich Mr. Dantes" who was quite famous in Backlund to help orphans, patients, and some war wounded was forced to stop distributing relief because of the break in part of the funding chain. It is said that several of the directors have resigned and left.

The Beyonder who was asked looked at the believer, but not because of the insignificant 20 pounds:
"There are a lot more."

Seeing that the civilians around him turned their eyes to him, the Beyonder cleared his throat and said loudly:

"All this food is shipped from Feynaport - you should know Feynaport, right? It's a famous country of abundance!"

"Oh! Feynapotter, I know! It is said that wheat there can harvest several times a year, and everyone can afford bread..." Someone in the crowd immediately echoed.

"I remember the Corn Act. The grain from Feynaport was of better quality than Loen's own grain, and the price was relatively cheap. So with these imported grains, Loen's grain couldn't be sold..." Someone else whispered, "I know a grain merchant. He couldn't sell his grain, so all the grain rotted in the barn. In the end, his family was ruined and he committed suicide."

Starling listened attentively to the conversations of the people around her. She was annoyed to find that she actually knew nothing about these topics that had frequently come up at past banquets and were her topics of conversation.

"From Feynaporte?"

Starlin asked blankly, "Where is Feynaport? It seems to be on the far left of the map? It's so far away. It will take several days just to transport the food here and distribute it to different relief points, right?"

The male believer was very surprised by this answer:

"Why does Feynaporte want to give us food?"

If I remember correctly, at the beginning of the war, when the Feysac Empire declared war on Loen with great fanfare, Feynaport seemed to have shown his willingness to agree? Why did he give me food aid now?

Finally hearing this question, the priests of the Thunder Church all straightened their backs involuntarily, with proud smiles on their faces. The Beyonder who answered this question couldn't help but smile:

"Of course it's because of the might of the God of Thunder!"

"His divine power shook the sky and the earth, and also frightened the goddess who protected Feynaport. The goddess decided to sign a covenant with the great Lord and become an ally of Loen, so we used the airship to transport a large amount of food from Feynaport overnight."

"For a long time afterwards, people didn't have to worry about their livelihood. Praise the great God of Thunder, praise the Lord!"

what?
The crowd fell silent, almost in disbelief.

Starlin's head was also dizzy, filled with all kinds of things: airships? Of course she knew about airships, but she heard about them when Backlund was bombed. It turned out that this terrifying military weapon could be used to transport food? In addition, the God of Thunder really convinced Feynaport's Mother Earth, making Feynaport abandon Feysac and choose Loen as an ally, providing Loen with a large amount of food? The God of Thunder saved us? Is this true?
The Beyonders said something else, and the cheers in her ears brought Stalin back to her senses.

While Stelin couldn't help but feel excited, she suddenly became panicked:
She was not a believer of the God of Thunder. Now, would the other party give her relief food?
Under such circumstances, most people had no choice but to change their beliefs, convert, and enter the Church of the God of Thunder to attend at least two services. Gradually, because of the food and relief, they developed true faith and completely turned to the God of Thunder and Truth.

But both Starling and Luke were believers of the Goddess of Night. Although they were not very devout, it was a habit that had been passed down from generation to generation in the family... Time waited for no one, and Starling made up her mind after a little hesitation.

Lying about her faith would lead to punishment from God, but for the sake of her children and to get food to tide her over the difficulties, she was willing to change her faith.

In this way, she can come to collect relief on a per capita basis in the future, and Luke doesn't have to convert if he doesn't want to... Anyway, after marrying Luke, Mrs. Starling also chose to follow his surname because she was unemployed like those women who believed in Thunder.

"Next!" The priest in front who was in charge of recording shouted, "Next!"

The man behind Stellin was about to leave first, but Stellin got out of her thoughts first, suppressed her nervousness and excitement, and walked quickly to the small table with her skirt lifted.

"Name?"

"Starling Summer."

The bespectacled priest read out the name, and then quickly found the corresponding information in the thick manual in his hand.

"Four people?" The "reader" said to Starlin as if talking to himself, "Four people, two adults and two children, can receive one portion of flour, two portions of bread, and one portion of cornmeal."

A sudden surge of ecstasy surged in Starlin's heart, but it was immediately extinguished by the other party's next words.

“You are not a believer in the Lord.”

The reader raised his head and looked at Starlin through the gap above his glasses: "Your whole family are believers of the Goddess of Night. Well, you have never received supplies from the relief point set up by the Thunder Church before."

"I have decided to convert!" Starlin said immediately, "I have decided to convert, and I will persuade my family to convert!"

The reader laughed noncommittally, his movements slow, not taking Starlin's nervousness to heart at all.

"Logically speaking, the relief food here should only be distributed to believers of the Lord, or to compatriots who have at least participated in church activities and are willing to convert..."

He stretched out his voice, and Starlin's heart was swallowed up by despair bit by bit.

At this moment, the reader quickly wrote down her name, as well as the names of Luke and her two children. Then, he smiled at the lady whose face was a mixture of astonishment and sadness, and asked his companion to help bring food:
"Take these and return to your home, madam. Your children should be waiting for their mother's return."

"I shouldn't have done this. I would be taking a risk. Besides, if I gave more to other believers, our compatriots would have less food. But since you have converted, I will make an exception and give you the food. Mrs. Summer, there will be a collective prayer ceremony at the Holy Wind Cathedral this Wednesday. We thank God for giving us food and saving us from danger, and we also welcome a new goddess to become our ally. I hope that you, your family, and your children can appear at the seats of the Holy Wind Cathedral or in the square outside on that day."

"Yes, yes, thank you!"

Starling was so moved that she clutched her clothes tightly. Soon, both of her hands were used to hold the large portion of bread, and her pockets were full of things. She had no hands to wipe away the tears of joy and emotion.

"Thank you, thank you, praise the God of Thunder, praise the God of Thunder, He is the benefactor of our entire family, I will definitely bring them to the Holy Wind Cathedral!"

"You're welcome, Mrs. Summer."

The reader smiled and said humorously:

"I hope you have understood our doctrine in advance - the wife is the guardian angel of the family. The Lord protects us, and now you, as the guardian angel, should distribute the salvation given by the Lord to your family members who are waiting for you."

She smelled the unique aroma of grains from the bread in her hand, which stimulated her to swallow. She hadn't eaten for a day, but at this moment, the first thing that came to Starlin's mind was not the delicious bread, but the faith and gratitude she had for the God of Thunder.

The reader said goodbye to her politely, then shouted, "Next!"

The street lights also lit up one after another because of the sudden incident at night. There were many people on the street, as if time had gone back to the afternoon. Starling walked quickly with the bread in his arms for a long distance. On the road were people who had received food and were praising the God of Thunder loudly. In this atmosphere, Starling soon stopped being nervous, as if as long as the God of Thunder was still there, there was nothing to be afraid of.

Soon, Starling saw her husband coming towards her.

"Luke!"

She couldn't wave, so she happily ran two steps towards her husband, standing on tiptoe:
"Look, these are all given to us by the God of Thunder!"

She happily showed the food in her hands, imagining the children smiling, imagining the children's faces full of color, calling her mother beside her. But Luke remained silent. Starlin noticed his unnatural expression and tentatively said:

"Luke, let's convert to the God of Thunder. Together with our children, we will attend the Thunder Church's service this week."

“Luke, look at these foods…these are all given to us by Him. Only He can save us.”

Luke, who had become thinner, remained silent. His eyes swept over the fluffy, soft and fragrant bread, and over his wife's expectant face. Finally, he nodded slightly disappointedly and said:
"……it is good."

……

"Benson Moretti? A government employee. Why are we arresting him?"

A police officer looked over the information in his hand, and looked at the two "senior police inspectors" with dark blue hair in front of him with doubt. It was probably not his illusion, he felt that these two people were more like priests of the Thunder Church than police inspectors.

"It's confidential."

One of them said:
"Benson Moretti is involved in a national secret incident, so we need to protect him and his family member Melissa Moretti to prevent them from getting into trouble or being taken hostage, which could lead to the leakage of secrets."

The police officer was skeptical, but the two certificates from senior police inspectors were genuine and could not deceive anyone.

In order to avoid being charged with obstructing state affairs, he nodded and took the two police inspectors who suddenly visited him late at night into the police station. He opened the map and pointed out the location on it.

TBC
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I found a problem, and I must speak up for Klein in this article. (End of this chapter)