Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

An opportunity at distributing emergency rations was a grand chance to harvest faith, an opportunity that Anthony, of course, would not let slip by.

Now that he had provisions, he not only planned to distribute them extravagantly but also intended to have Ange harvest faith in the process. All to avoid letting the Church of Light benefit from his good deeds.

This was a matter they had already discussed together. Once they heard the preparations were about to begin, everyone set out immediately, heading for the refugee camp.

Anthony had set up a number of refugee camps at the border of the Eastern and Western Districts, providing shelter for those who could no longer survive on their own. Anyone who could flee to the refugee camp was granted some life-sustaining food.

However, the most devastated were often not at the border between the two churches, but within the Western District itself, places where Anthony’s influence could not reach.

Yet it didn’t matter. With refugee camps in place, there was hope. Those who could no longer survive will do everything they can to escape, instead of resigning to their fate.

There were numerous obstacles and dangers along the way. For instance, some noble landlords would rather let their farmers starve on their lands than allow the disaster-stricken people to escape.

The reason was that when a part of the population died, the survivors would become cheap labour next year.

If they escaped, potentially all the people in their territory could flee, leaving no one to farm the land the next year. The landlords could have even more land, but it would be pointless. In the end, they would have to spend money buying people from the slave market.

The Mercenary Guild put up several bounties. The targets were those who hindered the movement of disaster-stricken people. The person offering the reward was Anthony himself.

As the acting pope of the Sacred Church, his name was a guarantee of trustworthiness. Nobody worried that he couldn’t afford the bounty.

However, Anthony was truly penniless. He had borrowed all he could and pledged all he could. Before the grain was harvested, he was a penniless man who couldn’t even pay interest.

But he was cunning. The reward he offered was not money, but…

“A chance for limb regeneration, for the head of Viscount Truk? Viscount Truk impedes the movement of disaster-stricken people, refuses to aid them, and leaves the public to starve to death. His crimes are heinous. Whoever decapitates Viscount Truk will receive a chance for Limb Regrowth.”

“My God, limb regeneration? The Great Restoration Technique? This is an Archbishop-level Divine Art.”

“Anthony was an archbishop before his reign. Could it be that he will make the move himself?”

“If a Viscount’s head can be exchanged for the Great Restoration Technique of limb regrowth, what would the bounty for a Count be?”

“Huh, there really is one. Count Hess. This Count Hess had people pretend to be thieves and killed over six hundred civilians in his territory. The reward for his head is… is… a chance for resurrection? Resurrection?”

The… the legendary Great Resurrection Technique? Are you kidding me? Isn’t it said by the Church of Light that the Great Resurrection Technique couldn’t be used due to a lack of materials?”

“Did Lord Anthony find the materials? See what conditions are needed. Let’s take this task and resurrect my grandfather. My grandfather was a Sword Saint. He died early without teaching me the Sword Technique; otherwise, I would have long been a Sword Saint.”

“Even if you become a Sword Saint, you can’t kill a count. Stop dreaming. Look at what conditions are needed… death within a day?”

Death within a day? There’s no chance for my grandfather, he’s been dead for fifty years.”

It must be said that Anthony’s bounty did cause quite a stir, but what was even more shocking was within the Church of Light. The reappearance of the Great Resurrection Technique, which had been lost for a thousand years, dealt a significant blow to all devout magicians.

They claimed to the outside world that they couldn’t perform it due to a lack of materials. But only these magicians knew the real reason: the Great Resurrection Technique had been lost long ago. About nine hundred years ago, the Church encountered some disasters. Many books were burned, and no one knew how to perform the Great Resurrection Technique.

Claiming a lack of materials was merely to save face for the Church. Now, Anthony surprisingly used this as a reward? Had he learned the Great Resurrection Technique?

Upon hearing the news, some bishops, priests, saints, and saintesses who had had good relationships with Anthony in the past came to see him at the Curia.

Anthony naturally brushed them off with vague answers. But those who were persistent received his request for food and money donations. Most of the visitors chose to beat a hasty retreat after hearing this.

Of course, Anthony knew nothing of the Great Resurrection Technique. He instead used Ange’s Face Purification Rebirth Technique. The necessary material was Demon Crystal essence. Even if it consumed twenty litres, it would only cost two hundred thousand Demon Crystals, much cheaper than the typical bounty on a Count.

As for casting spells, there was no need to worry. Ange could personally perform it under the name ‘Ascetic Monk An’

Of course, due to its time limit, the Great Resurrection Technique was just a gimmick; after all, who happened to die just a day ago and also happened to possess enough strength to kill a count?

By using the mass Great Resurrection Technique and offering a reward for killing a count, a sensation would be created. The attention of the entire plane would be drawn to this matter, so as to spread it to the entire plane. Everyone would thus know: don’t kill indiscriminately, don’t obstruct the refugees’ escape, and don’t let too many people die in your own lands, or else Lord Anthony would put a bounty on you.

For many old wily foxes who had connections with the church, the punishment from the Church was far less deterrent than the Mercenary Guild’s bounty.

Their ancestors had often acted like this in the past. It wasn’t the first year that there had been major disasters. There were also natural and man-made disasters before, like plagues, earthquakes, and floods. Many people died then as well, and there was never any punishment. Obviously, the gods didn’t care about these things.

On the other hand, the bounty from the Mercenary Guild was tangible, especially after the beheading of Viscount Truk one night. Anthony personally rushed to the mercenary guild and performed limb regeneration for the person who came to receive the bounty.

The reward recipient had their face covered, but their left hand was empty. Under the watchful eyes of all, Anthony led the said recipient into the healing room, and when they came out, they had their left hand back.

The whole process occurred under the witness of President Kage of the Mercenary Guild, who even saw with his own eyes the growth of the person’s left hand.

“This is too magical, too magical, Lord Anthony! The great restoration technique is indeed very magical.” President Kage was utterly astonished.

Anthony grinned and returned the nutrition fluid: “It’s the power of God.”

He confidently allowed Kage to watch and was certain that even if Guliani stood there, they would not discern the difference between the Face Purification Technique and the Purification Technique — they were both Divine Arts after all.

Unless a heretic was brought over, they would not be able to tell, from the absence of purification effects, that it was not the Purification Technique.

Apart from this, they had the nutrition fluid. Nobody could recognize from a bottle that it contained nutrition fluid. Even if the treated person recognized it and brought back the nutrition fluid for a trial with the Purification Technique, they would not achieve the effect of limb regeneration.

By then they would only suspect that they had misused the medicinal liquid and would not suspect the Purification Technique.

“Oh, praise the gods.” Kage quickly agreed and then tentatively asked, “Lord Anthony, do you truly master the Great Resurrection Technique?”

Anthony smiled slightly and took the question off course, “How is it? Do you have someone who has died less than a day ago for resurrection?”

On hearing this, Kage realized Anthony’s cunning. His question was purposeful. If Anthony admitted, they would then have to reassess Anthony’s strength.

If Anthony didn’t acknowledge it, it meant that his side had strong people who could use the Great Resurrection. The Mercenary Guild would have to reassess the strength of the Holy Church. These were all significant pieces of information, and there would be clients willing to pay a high price to purchase this kind of intelligence.

Unexpectedly, Anthony evaded the question with a counter-question, neither acknowledging nor denying anything.

When confronted with such a cunning… and practiced opponent, the honest Kage said, “If the resurrection slots can be transferred at will, some people are willing to accept the bounty and delegate us to indicate the revival targets.”

Anthony looked at Kage approvingly. Good calculation. In this way, the Mercenary Guild would control a Resurrection slot, which would be very significant.

As for why someone would delegate them to point out? Well, the Mercenary Guild had countless black-market teams. They didn’t need to bother outsiders.

After mulling over it, Anthony nodded, “That’s possible.”

The very night he said it was possible, Anthony received the news – Count Hess’s castle was attacked, and the Count had gone missing.

When Kage came to visit the next day, Anthony couldn’t help but jest, “You guys were quite quick.”

Kage said with a wry smile, “It wasn’t us.”

“Not you? Then who was it?” Anthony was stunned.

Kage replied with a grimace, “I don’t know, but someone has come to claim the bounty. They brought along a coffin, erected a tent at the guild’s entrance, and specified that the person inside the coffin be resurrected within the tent. Now the tent has been surrounded by mercenaries who heard the news.”

“Good lord, they’re really putting me on the spot, huh.” Anthony said.

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