The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Chapter 370 The Church of the God of War

Recently, the number of believers in the Church of the God of War in Anjou has been increasing.

In fact, it's not just the Church of War; the activities of other cult groups operating in Anjou are becoming increasingly rampant.

Many factory workers who were burdened with debts they could never repay due to improper operation of machinery, or who were caught in the machines and lost everything from a finger to an entire arm, eventually turned to religion.

Even if you neither damage the machine nor are lucky enough to remain healthy, it doesn't mean you can live a stable life in the factory. The high-pressure environment and high expenses mean that workers in the workshop can't even afford the products they produce. This almost endless labor has led many workers to develop bad habits such as alcoholism and gambling.

This was unavoidable. Although Anjou's wealth had increased significantly, the security at the grassroots level was not effectively controlled. Moreover, the nobles and factory owners were practically in cahoots; it was considered a sign of conscience if they didn't deduct wages, let alone protect the workers.

In this situation, rather than saving money and waiting to be extorted by security guards and other people, it's more practical to spend the money directly, at least to gain temporary happiness.

It's not just workers who suffer; many other people in various professions also suffer. And among those at the bottom, workers are actually among the highest-paid.

While doing business with the factory owners in Anjou, Herbert kept a diary recording the current situation of the Anjou workers.

The previous trade with Karon was very successful. Although the cannon that Karon bought jammed at a crucial moment, it did not have much impact on the Avars' capture of the Castilian delegation. Moreover, Herbert said from the beginning that he could only get obsolete and inferior products, so jamming was perfectly normal.

So Caron didn't care about it. On the contrary, because Herbert's arms smuggling made Caron a lot of money, Herbert is now Caron's honored guest.

Herbert did not enjoy dealing with Caron, but instead used the pretext of wanting to open a factory in Anjou to visit and inspect many factories in the Anjou capital.

In Herbert's memory, the factories in Cape North were clean and tidy, and always brightly lit during working hours, while the factories in Anjou were basically only lit when they could be seen, and not necessarily when they couldn't be seen.

After investigating, Herbert discovered that the reason was that the magic lights in Cape were almost free because of the existence of the obelisk, while the lighting costs in Anjou were much higher. However, Herbert felt that even if the lighting costs in Anjou were similar to those in Cape, the factory owners would still choose to turn off the lights in order to save a little money.

Herbert didn't really feel anything special about these factory owners who exploited human labor to the limit. After all, Herbert came from an old noble family in the North. At least for these factory owners, everything they did was for profit. The former nobles even tortured people to death just for their own selfish desires and momentary pleasure.

"In order to make a living, these workers would even work multiple jobs. In addition to long hours and multiple jobs, their children also had to help support the family by working as child laborers in factories or cleaning chimneys for noblemen."

Herbert wrote down everything he saw and heard in his diary.

“Some lucky children who grow up will be recruited into military schools. I heard that recruiting a healthy child into a military school can earn a subsidy, but the actual subsidy that reaches the parents of those children is only one-tenth of what is advertised.”

"Against this backdrop, more and more people are joining the Church of the God of War and beginning to believe in the God of War. They believe that the God of War will protect the weak, and this is indeed the case. As long as you join the Church of the God of War, at least those hooligans and thugs will not come to cause you trouble."

Herbert stopped writing at this point, and the rest could not be written in his diary; he could only keep it silently in his heart.

The doctrines of the Church of the God of War seem to have undergone subtle changes recently, with some believers suddenly claiming that the God of War will descend to earth, granting his followers true power and protecting them from being bullied.

The common people were unaware of this, but Herbert, who had received an aristocratic education from a young age and was familiar with religion, knew very well that no god would descend directly to earth. God's affairs on earth were generally handled by agents such as saints and popes. The idea of ​​a god personally descending was usually used by evil gods.

And now, this claim has been openly presented within the Church of the God of War.

A sense of unease stirred within Herbert's heart. He decided that once this mission was over, he would return to his hometown and obediently follow the patriarch's arrangements. He hoped to use the merit he had earned to find an easier clerical job.

"My lord, the itinerary has been arranged."

Hearing the guard's voice, Herbert stopped thinking and put on his coat.

"I understand, I'll be right there."

Next came Herbert's final operation in Anjou: a new product launch and auction.

The auction venue was decorated with unparalleled luxury, so dazzling that even Herbert felt a bit overwhelmed. Herbert had previously been to factories in Anjou, and it was hard to imagine that this auction with its light show and those dimly lit factories were products of the same era.

After exchanging pleasantries with the nobles of Anjou and telling them how the governor had "persecuted" his family, Herbert took his seat.

For Herbert, this so-called new product launch was actually quite uninteresting, perhaps not even as interesting as the new technologies reported in the newspapers of Capet's capital.

And that is indeed the case. Those so-called new products were almost all things that Capet had already invented, or some attention-grabbing toys.

Some of the gadgets designed for the enjoyment of nobles were quite interesting, but it was clear that they had little research value and wouldn't bring Cape back. After calling out the price twice in compliance, Herbert yawned out of boredom.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now comes one of the highlights of this new product launch! The culmination of technology from the old empire, created by the great high-ranking professional and Lord Cassius!"

On stage, the host's voice was loud and clear, the stage lights flashed, and finally focused on the cages that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Ta-da! This is the culmination of Anjou technology: a human communication device!"

Several scantily clad, distinctive, and undeniably sexy young women were imprisoned in several iron cages.

Herbert continued to yawn. This kind of thing had been played to death by the nobles in the old aristocratic era and was really not interesting. But what the host said next almost made Herbert jump out of his seat.

"These girls have undergone special modifications by you gentlemen. As long as you press certain parts of these girls, you can have real-time conversations with your noble friends in the capital."