When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#647 - People cannot be slaves voluntarily!

Not only Lufiel departed with her ferry, but also aristocratic students like Silvanik, as well as the latest issue of the "Truth Gazette."

The ferry docked at the edge of the Wild Spider Forest, and bundles of newspapers wrapped in kraft paper were loaded into covered carriages using hemp ropes.

Two old horses neighed, galloping along the mortar road on the Saint-Machine Court - Jeanne d'Arc Fortress highway.

Not only carriages loaded with newspapers, but also those carrying woolen cloth, mortar, peat, and other goods were speeding along the road.

The coachmen, wearing thick woolen robes and water pouches filled with beer around their necks, lined up on the wide road, crudely sharing newly heard vulgar jokes.

From the Wild Spider Forest on South泽 Lake to Jeanne d'Arc Fortress was about 120 li (approximately 37 miles). It took Horn and his companions a full 10 days to travel that distance, but after the mortar road was built, the coachmen could easily complete the arduous journey in just one day.

Once the Erno River was fully constructed, this time could even be reduced to half a day or even a morning.

These coachmen would set off in the morning and arrive at Jeanne d'Arc Fortress by evening, where they would diverge outside the city.

Those carrying mortar and woolen cloth would head towards the industrial district docks in the south, while those carrying newspapers and peat would head towards the docks within the city.

The dockworkers picked up bundles of newspapers and tossed them into the ship's hold in a relay fashion, while the peat had to be processed into honeycomb briquettes before being loaded onto the ship.

The flat-bottomed mail barges would set off at night, passing through the starry sky and lights reflected in the water, sailing along the dark waterways propelled by the autumn wind.

However, things were different now than in the past. Except for a few bridges that could not be removed, most of the tax card bridges used for collecting taxes were dismantled one by one.

Therefore, in just 3 days, or even less, the latest issue of the Truth Gazette would appear in the dock area of ​​Rapid Current City.

The Truth Gazette would even arrive in Rapid Current City before Lufiel, and be delivered to the newsboys who were anxiously waiting at the docks.

The Saint Father Society specifically established a fund in Rapid Current City to recruit orphans from the almshouses to serve as newsboys, and even arranged for them to learn to read.

These orphans, wearing ragged linen clothes, each with a cloth bag, shook the newspapers in their hands and began to shout along the streets.

"Newspaper, newspaper!"

"The latest Truth Gazette!"

"Today's newspaper has 4 pages, more content for the same price!"

The window on the second floor of the hotel suddenly opened, and the head of a young monk poked out: "Newsboy, bring me a newspaper."

Throwing a half-dinar Rapid Current City cast copper coin, Moudier obtained the latest issue of the "Truth Gazette."

Holding the Truth Gazette, Moudier did not return to the second floor, but sat directly in the restaurant on the first floor, ordered a bowl of oatmeal porridge and barley tea, and began to read while eating.

In the past, there would inevitably be a glass of beer on the breakfast table of the Thousand River Valley people, but after Melia came to power, she issued the "Frugality Decree."

One of the items in this decree was to prohibit restaurants from providing any alcohol before noon, and encourage citizens to report violations, with the reporter receiving one-third of the fine.

Therefore, these hostel restaurants had to replace beer with barley tea, but sometimes, they would also provide fermented barley tea to regular customers.

As an assistant monk in Kasha County, those who performed well as winter approached would be sent to Rapid Current City for training and exams.

Moudier, as one of the monks in training, naturally would not regard the "Truth Gazette" as an ordinary reading material, but as an important tool for the Papal Palace to convey trends.

It must be said that this issue of the "Truth Gazette" had a full four sixteen-page sheets, but still only cost half a dinar.

Moudier didn't read a single word of those messy news poems, and skipped directly to the theology section, only to find that it was still content of current affairs commentary.

Then he realized that the two extra sheets, densely packed with small characters, were actually supplements to the theology section!

At the same time that Moudier gasped, other priests and monks in the restaurant burst out with exclamations and the sound of spoons falling to the ground one after another.

Because these pages were less of an introduction to theological content, and more of a debate scene between various priests, theologians, and Saint Father Society monks, and the content was quite intense.

Previously, in the article "On the Mason Diocese," the topic of whether people voluntarily become slaves was already quite sensitive.

In the second issue, an anonymous theologian immediately submitted an article to the Truth Gazette titled "Refuting the Bipedal Freak" and it was published.

The main content was the old set of patches from the church, simply put, people can freely give up freedom, because freedom is essentially a right to choose, and the existence of the right to choose means that people have the right to choose not to exercise freedom, or even choose to give up freedom.

Therefore, people voluntarily becoming slaves is a full embodiment of freedom.

Originally, Moudier thought that this was just an extreme attempt by the Saintly Path faction, and after "Refuting the Bipedal Freak," it should have ended there.

But he didn't expect that the "Truth Gazette" not only didn't alleviate the situation, but instead increased its efforts!

Responding to this article "Refuting the Bipedal Freak" was a new author with the pen name "Mr. Horn."

Compared to the Bipedal Freak, Mr. Horn's words were sharper and more pungent, and he didn't even use polite words in the opening of this rebuttal.

"To this anonymous theologian, I only have one sentence: you have confused the internal essence of freedom with the external exercise of freedom! I don't know if you are stupid or foolish.

The act of choosing to give up freedom (voluntarily becoming a slave) that you mentioned is itself an exercise of freedom, so the so-called giving up freedom is logically impossible to achieve, just like you can't lift yourself up!

…On this point, we can look at the content of Saint George's conversion in the Gospel, which clearly states…

…This example further embodies the essence of freedom—he voluntarily chose to obey out of faith in God, rather than being forced to obey in a state of no freedom.

…If a person completely gives up freedom, then he cannot even complete the choice of faith, because freedom is the basis of all choices."

"Well said."

"Yes, that's right!"

As if the debate was in a tavern, many Saintly Path and Juan Noah faction monks and priests couldn't help but cheer.

The other monks who still believed in the old denominations said sarcastically: "How anxious, how anxious you are, isn't there more behind? Look, this yellow-robed ascetic is the real insight!"

Moudier, who was still drinking porridge, stopped, even if the oatmeal porridge cooled down, he had to concentrate on continuing to read.

"This Mr. Horn obviously failed to understand what is called the purpose of freedom.

Is freedom meant to let you enjoy happiness in the world? The highest purpose of freedom is not to maintain autonomy, but to allow human beings to choose good, to choose God…

…As Saint Pierre said in the Gospel, I am a servant of Messala, which is the ultimate destination of mankind!

Therefore, while choosing to give up freedom, people enter a higher level of freedom, namely true freedom.

…This freedom lies in completely getting rid of the shackles of self-will and obeying the absolute will of God."

Seeing this, Moudier was sweating on his forehead. As a Juan Noah faction, he had to say that these few tricks were almost conclusive, and he had to think carefully about how to refute them.

Simply put, it is clearly written in the Gospel that the saint said that he was the servant of the Holy Lord, isn't this voluntarily becoming a slave?

A burst of "straightening the source" with pity and arrogance sighs instantly came from the tavern.

However, their sighs quickly stopped, because people who read faster had already turned to the second supplement.

The second supplement featured a third author, who seemed to be a contributor as well, because it was the first time seeing this pen name - Moulin Rouge Master.

"If giving up freedom is regarded as a way to true freedom, then its essence still needs to be completed through freedom, so it is impossible to reach a true state of abandonment.

God gives people freedom not to let people deny their existence by giving up freedom, but to let people actively understand the existence of God through free choice.

Saint Pierre's servant metaphor is a moral awareness based on free will, not real enslavement.

Giving up freedom completely deprives this awareness, and then denies the meaning of man, isn't he refuting himself?"

This Mr. Moulin Rouge Master inserted a large section of logical arguments and examples in the article, but basically the first four sentences can summarize it.

But soon the tsking sounds in the restaurant gradually stagnated, because these assistant monks and citizens saw the end of the article.

"…If freedom is only used to be abandoned, then it loses its meaning as a gift from God, because it is only used as something to be abandoned, then why does God need to gift it again?

So, giving up freedom in any case denies the image that God gave to man - that is, being created according to the image of God.

The Holy Father created humans and other intelligent creatures according to his own image, whether it is the Elves or the Dwarves are part of human beings, human beings are the spirit of all things, this is what the Holy Father has decided.

If people can give up freedom like pigs and sheep, let them be slaughtered, then what is the use of human wisdom? Why did the Holy Father give mankind wisdom and freedom?"

"Therefore, a true believer should not only not voluntarily become a slave, but also forcibly restore the freedom of slaves and those who voluntarily become slaves, because this is a blasphemy against the grace of the Holy Father!"

Moudier's breathing stopped for a few seconds, on the last sentence of this issue of the newspaper.

"For the sake of the Holy Father, we should not hesitate to pay the price of using weapons, even if the unfree people are not on our land!"