Chapter 972 Secret Visit
Leon heard that the refugees used to hide their faces under a hood when they first arrived in New Capital.
Even those who decided to take the north reclamation job still hid under their hoods when they first arrived at the camp and during work.
"Nearly every refugee was quite conscious of their appearance when they first arrived. Over the last three days, more and more of them are beginning to show their faces openly," Supervisor Owen reported.
"It's as if they built up their confidence from working here."
"I don't think that's it," Leon furrowed his brows.
It was strange for people to build confidence in showing their appearance so quickly simply by doing labor work.
Moreover, Leon could sense a strange vibe surrounding the refugees who showed their faces. They had a fanatic or feverish look in their eyes.
He had seen those kinds of eyes before…
'The eyes of a religious believer!'
Leon became startled after recalling where he had seen those eyes. His expression turned serious in the next instance, which subsequently startled Faelyn and Supervisor Owen.
"What's the matter, Your Highness? Did you realize something?" Supervisor Owen asked shortly after.
"The empire has been infiltrated by religion," Leon solemnly uttered.
"By religion? Is that bad?" Faelyn was baffled by Leon's serious mood, which seems to imply that religion is bad.
However, Faelyn didn't see anything wrong with people having a religion.
After all, the elves worshipped the Elder Tree as their deity and guardian for as long as she could remember.
"Religion in and of itself isn't necessarily bad. After all, everyone needs something to believe in, especially in difficult times. Religions that promote good health and behavior are especially good," Leon admitted.
"Then…"
"However, to any monarchy, an uncontrolled religion is a tumor. It wrestles the people's faith from the royal family and empowers those in charge of the religion. Furthermore, a bad religion could even promote violence," Leon stated.
"And right now, we don't know what kind of religion these refugees have been led to believe in. But seeing how they have this fanatic look in their eyes, I doubt it is the kind of religion the empire wants."
"Isn't that really bad then?" Supervisor Owen uttered with shock.
"The empire is developing so well thanks to the people's unity. If there are conflicting views in people's beliefs now, the empire could be divided by disputes and even violence. No, we have to stop them from spreading their unknown religion!"
"Hold it right there," Leon quickly stopped Supervisor Owen from leaving.
"Nothing good will come out of you capturing the refugees blindly. Others might even think you purposely target the refugees because they were originally from kingdoms that wage war on the Crawford Kingdom."
"After all, not all refugees have been converted into this unknown religion. You need to increase patrols and watch them. Find the ones who are secretly preaching to the refugees. They are the ones we want."
"Understood, Your Highness. I was too hasty just now," Supervisor Owen replied before noticing that Leon did not plan on staying. "Are you leaving, Your Highness?"
"Yeah," Leon confirmed with a nod.
"Since someone is spreading this unknown religion in the empire, I need to alert my father about this matter. After all, the people from this unknown religion must be preaching in other parts of the empire."
The condition of New Capital was very good.
Thus, Leon did not have to worry about the preachers converting the empire's original citizens and the elves. It wouldn't be easy since the people's faith in the royal family was very high.
Leon was even an idol of worship to the people.
However, it was a different story for everyone else that had been living beyond the old Crawford Kingdom's borders.
They didn't have the World Tree's protection against the Cataclysm.
"Let us head back to New Capital, Faelyn," Leon uttered after opening up the Dark Passage with his spatial ability.
"Mm!" Faelyn nodded.
Shortly after, the two stepped inside the Dark Passage and disappeared off to the other side of it, returning to New Capital in a matter of a few breaths.
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Meanwhile, in the far east of the Human Domain, the King Lutheran Geyser received a sudden secret visit from Elizabeth and Darlene. Accompanying them were four Paragon-level Winter Cats, who also owe their new life to Leon.
"Who?!"
King Lutheran Geyser shot up from his seat with alarm after witnessing a spatial portal suddenly opening in his study room.
In that instance, his Paragon-level aura immediately surged out from his body to suppress and control the intruders.
However, the four Paragon-level Winter Cats exuded their own Paragon-level auras to negate it, albeit barely.
King Lutheran Geyser wasn't just an ordinary Paragon; he was at the Peak of Early-rank Paragon. On the other hand, the four Paragon-level Winter Cats were newly ascended Paragons.
Even so, their collective combat prowess was still enough to make King Lutheran Geyser wary.
However, the one King Lutheran Geyser was most wary of wasn't any of the four Paragon-level Winter Cats; it was Darlene.
In the past three days, Darlene managed to step into the Acknowledged Paragon-stage Transcendent Realm.
"Good day to you, King Lutheran. I believe this is our first time meeting. I am Queen Elizabeth from the Crawford Empire, and this is my daughter-in-law," Elizabeth introduced herself and Darlene.
After Elizabeth stated her identity, King Lutheran slightly calmed down. Even so, he remained vigilant.
King Lutheran couldn't guess their purpose, but the strength they brought with them on the trip was enough to shock the life out of him!
That was five Paragons!
Furthermore, King Lutheran highly doubted that was all the Paragons the Crawford Empire had.
Nevertheless, after King Lutheran recovered from his initial shock, he sat back down in his seat.
"What business do you have with me in coming here like this?" King Lutheran calmly asked.
"Before that, I should return this letter to you. Why don't you give it a read first and tell us what you think after, King Lutheran," Elizabeth coolly suggested while handing out the letter.
King Lutheran furrowed his brows as he accepted the letter.