Chapter 13: Burnt

Some people die as lightly as a goose feather, while others become heavier than Mount Tai after taking a single punch.

Norton's death didn't cause even the slightest ripple within the Church. He was just an ordinary tool produced by the Church's assembly line - people like him died by the dozen every day, and no one was special.

But Father Mia getting punched? That was a major incident.

First, it revealed obvious flaws in the cultivation system. An assembly-line produced tool actually developing rebellious consciousness? This undoubtedly proved that the current training methods had problems. They needed even harsher oppression to crush all thoughts from these damned missionaries, ensuring no more examples like Norton would appear.

Second, Father Mia being punched severely damaged the Church's dignity and was the ultimate insult to God's holiness! In a God-worshipping church, God's subordinate got beaten up - wasn't this blatantly saying God was useless?

This was outright humiliation! Norton's crime was unforgivable!

"Crackle..."

The sound of burning wood accompanied thick black smoke behind the cemetery.

The corpse tied to the solid wooden cross had burned until it resembled charcoal, the aroma of roasted meat having turned into the smokiness of burnt carbon. A group of missionaries surrounded the burning cross, heads bowed as they recited from The Bible, their buzzing voices continuing incessantly like flies.

But this matter was far from over. The consequences of Norton's rebellious actions didn't just affect himself - even the missionaries and acolytes trained in the same batch as him, plus the six Church Knights involved in this incident, all needed thorough cleansing to completely prevent any future rebellious behavior from emerging.

The spirit of rebellion was terrifyingly contagious. It wasn't something that could be solved by just killing the rebel. Once the concept of rebellion emerged, it would make certain people realize that besides running away, there was another option: resistance.

It could be said Norton set an extremely bad precedent, representing a great irony to the Church's various oppression and desire-suppression methods over the past twenty years.

Where there's a first, there will be a second. The first Norton stood up, so there would be another Norton following suit. If not for the fear that killing all the missionaries here would cause the cathedral to cease functioning with even worse consequences, the Cardinal above Bishop Rosen might have ordered the complete slaughter of everyone at Holy Lord Cathedral.

Initially, burning corpses didn't produce smoke. Only after the meat cooked and charred would combustion occur and black smoke emerge.

As billowing black smoke began to swirl, Norton's barbecue stand finally completed this session's cooking.

Thanks to this era's backward technological level, even animal fat-extracted combustion oil poured over couldn't completely reduce human flesh to ashes, so Norton's body remained largely intact.

"Slosh!"

Five Church Knights brought wooden buckets and completely doused the remaining embers, then stepped forward together to remove the cross that had burned to charcoal along with Norton, who was now blackened like burnt carbon.

Norton's body had been completely cooked through by the flames, his entire flesh transformed into dried, charred carbon. When the Church Knights dropped him to the ground, it actually produced a crisp "crack" sound.

One blackened, charred arm broke off with a clear snapping sound.

Father Mia felt somewhat regretful, but since it was burned to this state, there was no need for further dismemberment. Burning to this degree completely eliminated any possibility of transformation into a vampire.

Honestly, it worked better than dismemberment.

But the required wooden stake still needed to be driven in, after all, formalities had to be observed.

"No need to put him in a coffin. Norton's soul has been corrupted by demons - he doesn't deserve God's forgiveness or glorious treatment! Of course, dismemberment is still necessary. Don't give any opportunity to a demon!"

Father Mia said with a gloomy expression, then strode away from the Ascension Ceremony venue. His punched eye hurt terribly and needed comfort from young boys.

Bishop Rosen's eyes swept gloomily over the surrounding Church Knights before he spoke: "After dismembering him, throw the pieces outside the city. When finished, the six Church Knights from earlier come see me."

The Church Knights, unaware of what fate awaited them, continued diligently completing their assigned tasks from the Church.

A wooden stake was driven into the chest of Norton's charred corpse. Since there was already a large gaping hole from the greatsword stab, the flames had caused this wound to shrink and expand, completely charring the internal organs and making the stake's insertion exceptionally smooth.

If this crispy corpse could still turn into a vampire, then the Church's research over all these years might as well be thrown into the latrine.

A small cart was pulled over, and two Church Knights reached to grab Norton's shoulders and legs to lift him onto the cart.

However, with just a slight exertion of force, Norton's charred right foot broke off.

Thanks to this era's backward technological level, even animal fat-extracted accelerant poured over couldn't completely reduce human flesh to ashes, so Norton's body remained largely intact.

The Church Knights grabbed Norton's thighs - which because of their meatiness hadn't burned completely through - and loaded his crumbling body onto the cart.

"Squeak... squeak..."

The wooden wheels of the cart made creaking sounds as they turned. Norton finally got his second opportunity to go out in this Central European Papal States territory.

Though last time he walked out himself, this time he was being pushed out.

The Papal States had held power for several hundred years - exactly how many hundreds, even the Pope himself couldn't distinguish clearly.

And the Papal States' territory was extremely vast - exactly how vast, even the Pope himself didn't know.

Because ever since the Holy Church was established thousands of years ago, it rapidly occupied the entire land. The existence of vampires made absorbing believers exceptionally easy for the Church.

As the Church's influence grew daily, its status steadily rose until a thousand years ago, it reached the point of divine right of kings. All kings had to receive the Pope's blessing to become truly legitimate rulers. Official source is novel_fі

As time flowed, successive Popes grew increasingly arrogant. Starting with training Church Knights, they gradually developed into a kingdom. To this day, although the Papal States hadn't expanded to become the sole power in the Western Continent, the other countries were already filled everywhere with believers and churches, with even some kings being the Church's most devout followers.

Thus the Papal States' ruled territories were somewhat blurred, but without doubt, it had become the Western Continent's most powerful nation, simultaneously representing the highest peak the Holy Church had reached over thousands of years.

However, the Holy Church's prosperity didn't equate to national prosperity. Instead, due to the Holy Church's various bizarre operations, the entire Western Continent suffered from unbearable living conditions and declining populations.

The city where Norton resided was a typical representation of this.