kingdom of nations

Chapter 309 The Great Punishment (Part 2)
"And then what? And then what? Did he run away?"

“Well… in that situation, it’s understandable that he ran away.” Faced with the children’s eager questions, the old man answered in a slow, almost irritating tone. This answer clearly did not satisfy them, and some of the older children even began to criticize the “little thief,” calling him an ungrateful wretch.

Who rescued him from the plague?
He received such a great favor, yet instead of thinking about how to repay it, he became a treacherous traitor.

“Everyone wants to be a hero, children,” the old man said, not angered by their rebuttal. “But back then, the Roman Catholic Church was not as weak as it is now. On the contrary, it was a terrifying and enormous monster, whose tentacles reached into every aspect of people’s lives, leaving no corner untouched.”

He looked at the children, the oldest of whom were only teenagers. In other words, they had not been under the shadow of the church since birth. They had not tasted the bitterness of that time, and of course, they did not know the ferocity and despicable nature of that monster.

Before that, the Papacy had ruled humanity for over a thousand years. But with the discovery of the "Chosen Ones," their power reached an unprecedented peak.

At that time, the popes were even able to contend with the kings. No, it could even be said that they became kings of kings to a certain extent. They stifled science, monopolized medicine, and made all civilization and knowledge bow down to the priests. They deliberately made the people ignorant, including even those noble knights, lords and kings.

Even if society stagnates as a result, they don't care at all; they only care about their own self-interest.

“You should also know that human desires are always endless. Sometimes I find it hard to imagine what the world would become if they continued to rule it.” The old man suddenly smiled. “Perhaps, as the Messiah said, in the end all people will become savages with rigid minds, crafts will be lost, records will be corrupted, and the knowledge passed down orally will also be lost, deformed, and distorted.”

"How is this possible? Doesn't anyone resist?" the children asked, puzzled.

"Yes, someone rebelled, which is why the world is the way it is today. How lucky you, or rather, how fortunate we are! There is indeed a tolerant and benevolent gaze watching over this place. He did not abandon humanity, even though humanity is fickle, forgetful, and foolish. He still sent the Messiah to save us."

"Thank you, Messiah!" the children said in unison, but they were still more concerned about the "little thief" the old man had mentioned. Although the Bethlehem plot was recorded in their books, they had never heard of this story before.

"Didn't that little thief expose the Church's conspiracy to the Messiah?"

The old man shook his head. No, he was gone. He had probably used up all his conscience and courage in this life. But Messiah remained remarkably calm upon hearing his words.

Yes, by the time he learned that his enemies had set this trap for him, there was nothing he could do to change it. His enemies knew him very well, as did his closest friends and family. Their plans had been in place long before Baldwin, the King of Arrassal, launched his expedition against Damascus.

There were three people in charge of this matter: Manuel I, the Byzantine emperor; Alexander III, the Pope; and Bohemond, the Grand Duke of Antioch.

"Perhaps Count Raymond of Tripoli was also involved."

“But there’s no clear record of this, and I don’t think I’ve seen it either,” a girl interjected.

"Oh, have you gotten that far yet?"

“I’ve learned something, sir. Although I’m a bit short, I’m already a ninth grader.”

“Oh, that’s amazing.” Although Messiah has been trying to promote education, learning is still not something that everyone can afford, even in the Holy City.

"Let's talk about that petty thief. Why did you say his denunciation was completely ineffective?"

"As I said before, the enemy had been preparing for the siege of Messiah for a long time, but their attack came in a flash, almost without any disguise, just so... naked."

The papacy appeared without warning in Arrassa, Antioch, Nalissa, Tripoli, Acre, Jaffa... The archbishops of Antioch and Tripoli even summoned people to the largest square in the city to hear the papacy's message they brought.

At that time, the plague in Bethlehem had not yet completely disappeared, and more than three hundred people had already come forward to accuse the Earl of Edessa, the Knights of Bethlehem, and the Lord of Cyprus of witchcraft against them. They described his alleged crimes in great detail, including all the obscene methods that were familiar and unfamiliar to people.

Among them were knights, servants, craftsmen, and even the humblest peasants. And their stories were so similar that it was impossible not to believe them. Or rather, those with the capacity for thought would realize that this was a persecution of those involved and dare not speak out; while those who did not know how to think would simply blindly follow.

Those priests were so adept at stirring up the emotions of the believers—you know, people back then had almost no education, and the only thing they could listen to was the preaching of the priests, which was almost an instinct ingrained in their bodies.

Many more people, especially those in power—whose interests were already severely affected by the Messiah's actions at the time—were not only deprived of their privileges, but the Messiah even stripped some of them of their privileges.

The old man pointed to the least noticeable of the children: "Are your parents farmers?"

The child rubbed his hands awkwardly, but he still raised his head and bravely stepped forward.

"Yes, sir, my father was just an ordinary farmer."

"Did your father ever talk to you about the past?"

When Messiah was still just a squire, even in the Holy City, a knight could kill a farmer without being punished—although legally he could not kill an innocent person, he could arbitrarily pin any crime on a commoner, such as theft or 'attacking a knight,' and they could hang any farmer they encountered from a tree or slit their throats at will.

Their only concern was whether the lord who had lost the property would come after them; even so, they would only have to pay a few silver coins.

“Do they really have such great power? But all the knights I’ve met have been very kind,” a child said.

"That's because from the very beginning, the Messiah chose those around him."

What you see now are the best few wheat seedlings he selected from thousands. But in the subsequent wind, rain, and thunder, many more perished or grew into unsightly weeds, forcing the Messiah to personally pluck them away.”

At this point, the old man's tone became somber, as if recalling something unpleasant. He quickly changed the subject, "...You should have read in your books that the Messiah believed that there is good and evil in human nature, and whether one ultimately becomes a good person or a bad person depends on their initial education—and at that time, people's education almost entirely came from the teachings of priests and the example set by their parents, so they were inevitably influenced to some extent..."

Even the Messiah admitted that he too was influenced by emotions. Therefore, he believed that the law was the most rational and just thing, not some flesh-and-blood person—or even how we view everyone, whether they are Christians, Isaacs, or Saracens… the old, children, men, women, for us, the only distinction is between good and evil, criminals and the innocent. Everything else, whether faith, age, gender, or identity, is not within the scope of consideration.”

"The Isaacs?" a child asked hesitantly. "Aren't they all hermits living in the desert?"

"That was just one of the remaining Isaacs; there aren't many Holy Lands left."

“My grandparents hated the Isaacs,” the girl said. “They betrayed Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver and the Messiah for thirty pieces of gold.”

The old man chuckled, almost blurting out something like, "Our Messiah seems to be worth more," but thankfully he stopped himself. He believed that even if the Messiah heard this, he would only laugh it off and wouldn't take it to heart. Otherwise, how could he be the Messiah?

"In fact, in order to completely defeat the Messiah, his enemies expended a great deal of manpower, resources, and effort."

You may not know this, but initially, they prepared not three hundred, but one thousand witnesses.

“A thousand. I heard that only 5,672 people were infected with the plague at that time.” The girl asked in surprise. She was able to state the number so clearly because this event was recorded in the historical books of that time, as well as in the biography of the Messiah written by Saint Longinus. “Does that mean that one in five people betrayed the Messiah?”

“Yes, although these sinners are unforgivable, we must also make a fair analysis based on the circumstances at the time.” The old man comforted the children who had suddenly become indignant: “At that time, the church was the sole master of human thought, and a person could not be separated from the various sacraments performed by the church from birth to death.”

If a person cannot obtain identity from the church, their death in society is almost inevitable. Even if they survive, they are a savage, more terrifying than a leper. No one dares approach them, and they cannot approach anyone. They have no parents, no relatives, no marriage or children; they are a wild beast walking upright, vulnerable to abuse, hunt, and even murder. They also fear hell. After all, according to the priests, it's too easy for people to go to hell; women are born with original sin. Men, too, are not entirely innocent. Many sins could prevent them from ascending to heaven—not regularly performing sacraments, not fasting, not paying taxes, and so on. For an ordinary person, simply ensuring their survival is difficult enough; there will always be times of carelessness.

The priests would then use these consequences to make a big deal out of the sins they were about to commit, as if they were about to fall into hell and suffer eternal torment until the end of the world.

At that time, the technology that the Messiah presented was indeed beyond their imagination. They could not understand what they saw, nor could they understand how their illness was cured. They could only think that it was either a miracle given by God or a trick of the devil.

When the priests claimed it was the latter, they believed them, not to mention the thirty gold coins.

"That's quite a sum," the old man said with a mocking smile. "A serf might never have seen a single coin in his life, not even a copper coin. They're lucky if they can eat their fill of bean porridge. A free man or a craftsman might only earn ten or so silver coins a year. And a wealthy banker or merchant might only earn around one hundred to five hundred gold coins a year."

Genoa's annual income is around 30,000 gold coins.

In order to make his fabricated charges come true, they generously offered thirty gold coins per person. According to their original plan, a thousand people would receive these gold coins. Although some of them might not receive them, or they might mysteriously disappear from their hands after receiving them, they did offer this price—the entire annual income of Genoa.

But of these more than a thousand people, more than a hundred died of the epidemic and could not rise from their graves to give false testimony for them.

But of the remaining eight or nine hundred people, nearly two-thirds refused to testify for them, either out of conscience or faith. They firmly believed that this could not be a trick of the devil, since they had not seen a pitch-black spirit standing in front of them, asking them to sign their names on parchment and sell their souls.

In short, they changed their minds, and whatever their reason, I admire them greatly.

He glanced at the children's incredulous faces and laughed. They hadn't been through that time, so they didn't know how much courage it took to make that decision back then.

"But for the priests, these three hundred-plus people were enough. They quickly organized a court and conducted a trial in absentia for the Messiah."

The verdict was clear: he was found guilty of conspiring with the devil, practicing witchcraft, defiling holy sites, and blaspheming the cross and icons. The Pope's decree was issued almost immediately. Yes, as you have read—it was excommunication.

The children booed softly. "Isn't anyone going to argue with them? Besides, the Messiah's power has never left him."

"This brings us to the methods employed by the Church that you may not be familiar with, but which are very familiar to our generation—the control over public opinion allows them to arbitrarily distort the truth and turn black into white. Children, in the past hundred years, hasn't there been a single knight or priest who wanted to break free from their control?"
However, they were all branded as devils by the church.

"What good is power? Even if they radiate a holy white light, the priests can easily claim it's a trick of the devil."

"They are absolutely vicious."

"This may have been the gift of those Roman priests, far exceeding the blessings they received. To this day, we still cannot ascertain whether the fact that Patriarch Heraclius of Alaszalo contracted the plague and suffered a stroke was intentionally orchestrated."

But he was later assassinated by Assassins, which must have been at the behest of the Messiah's enemies.

They knew that as the Messiah's teacher, Saint Heraclius would surely stand up for him—for the sake of his only student (besides Baldwin), he would surely try every means to manipulate public opinion, win over the hearts of the people, and persuade those knights and lords to force the Roman Catholic Church to change its original judgment, at least to change the major excommunication to a minor excommunication that forbids participation in sacraments, or even to self-excommunication—that is, to fast and practice asceticism to repent of sins, but whose social status is not affected.

It must be said that they did the right thing. Even before Patriarch Heraclius had awakened, some priests and monks, including Bishop Andrew of Bethlehem at the time, were already advocating for the Messiah.

They believed that the witnesses' testimonies were unreliable.

Bishop Andrei even stepped forward, claiming that all the treatments were carried out under his watchful eye and control.

Moreover, half of those witnesses were Isaacs, and everyone knows that the words of Isaacs are like the venom of a viper, which not only directly affect the credibility of the testimony but also completely taint it.

His words did have some effect. But the problem is, those who love the Messiah won't despair simply because it's the Pope's will.

“There must be some worldly forces helping them,” a boy said solemnly. The old man nodded. “But that’s not the right word. It’s not helping, it’s collusion.”

Almost immediately after the Pope announced the decree of the Grand Excommunication and sent it to the Holy Lands, as well as the Franks, the Apennines, and Germany, the Archduke of Antioch and the Count of Tripoli issued a declaration of support for the Pope's decree.

The Grand Master of the three major knightly orders, including the Knights Templar, also accepted the Pope's decree.

Although he is said to have argued with the Pope's messenger about this, the Knights Templar have always been the Church's sharpest sword—and he could never turn against his master.

Following the Knights Templar, the Knights of Goodwill acknowledged the Pope's decree.

"Wasn't Gerrard their founder?"
And Gerald at that time... wasn't Santa Damara a member of the Gerald family?

"The Order of the Good Samaritans had long since broken free from the control of the Gerald family. Moreover, the patriarch of the Gerald family was in Bethlehem at that time, and there were quite a few people in the family who opposed him. He could also be said to have been betrayed by his own relatives and friends."

Although he regained power over the Gerald family a few years later, at that time he was indeed just an old knight trapped by his daughter.

Oh, and we haven't yet talked about the other most important person: Saint Baldwin.

“We know him! Saint Baldwin! The half of the Messiah!” Children have read his story. He can be said to be the Messiah’s lifelong regret and a wound in the hearts of many.

"He was the Grand Master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. Not only did he refuse the Pope's decree, but it could even be said that if it weren't for the ministers' obstruction, he would have burned the document on the spot."

He then disregarded the advice of Queen Mary and others, and went to Bethlehem. Thereafter, he stayed with the Messiah, protecting him as King Arazarus to prevent him from being harmed before things took a turn for the better.

"Did anyone actually do that back then? He saved the whole of Bethlehem."

"So what? There will always be noble people and despicable people."

The children wanted to ask more questions, but were interrupted by a clergyman who rushed over. They saw that although he was dressed in black, he wore a red sash, and knew that he was an important person—although things were certainly not like they were decades ago, they still quickly ran away.

"archbishop!"

The priest, panting, ran to the old man and quickly bowed: "Please, sir! Don't disappear again—if anything happens to you..."

“This is Bethlehem,” the old archbishop said with a chuckle. “What could possibly happen? Besides, even if I were to fall here—that would be a rare blessing…”

“Look,” he stood up with the priest’s help, “look there, that’s the Church of the Nativity. There once stood there a little thief made a decision that would change his life forever…”

(End of this chapter)