When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Thread-like sunlight filtered through the cracks in the thatched roof, illuminating the dust motes dancing within the grass hut.

In the dim room, this faint light cast vague shadows, while the stench of manure mingled with the rotting smell of earth, swirling in the air.

Lying on a crude bed made of benches and straw, a man clenched his eyes shut, his jaw tight, his parched lips trembling incessantly.

A few drops of golden liquid trickled from a wooden tube, falling onto the man's lips.

Armand picked up a leaf, guiding a stream of water along its veins into the man's mouth, helping him swallow the golden liquid.

"Venerable Chanter, is he going to be alright?"

Although older than the young monk before him by two rounds, the old uncle dared not act presumptuously in front of Armand, but asked cautiously.

"He's stable for now, but I must remind you that the holy oil only works on devout believers. If he is sincere, even if he has one foot in purgatory, the holy oil can pull him back. If he is insincere, it's just a waste of this precious holy oil."

The old uncle's forehead beaded with sweat: "We are devout, we are especially devout."

"As I said before, recite the Thanksgiving Hymn daily, and be grateful for His Grace's benevolence, and you will be safe."

"Yes, yes, yes, of course." The old uncle bowed deeply to Armand, showering him with thanks. "Sir, I have another matter. My wife's cousin, the second cousin, has contracted dysentery…"

"It's the same old story. Either wait, or bring ten households to register, with the head of the ten households getting priority and one designated use." Armand said without any sentimentality.

"Yes, yes, yes." Not daring to argue, the old uncle picked up his son and walked out of the grass hut.

"Next." Armand crossed off a name on the roster in his hand. He looked up and saw Jeanne lifting the curtain and entering the grass hut.

"Sister Jeanne." Armand stood up and quickly went to greet her.

Jeanne reached out and smacked Armand's bald, Pauline-style Mediterranean head with a resounding thwack: "When did you get yourself ordained as a chanter? I've never heard of it!"

"His Grace once said, if the name is not correct, the words will not ring true. Without any official position, it's always inconvenient to do things," Armand said with a grin.

Jeanne smiled and took out four phials of allicin, sealed with corks, from her satchel, placing them on the small square table in front of Armand.

"Excellent, I was just worried about running out of stock." Armand quickly unlocked a box and placed the four tubes of allicin inside.

Ignoring Armand, Jeanne found a place to sit down.

After the previous events, Jeanne was basically completely disappointed in the villagers, knights, and priests.

The only people she felt close to and trusted were probably these child soldiers and young children.

The child soldiers were all orphans, with backgrounds similar to Jeanne's, and the children didn't have so many tricks up their sleeves, at least they were better than the adults.

"I came this time because Brother Hohn wanted to ask about the situation here, whether you are doing well, and whether anyone is making things difficult for you?"

Armand pulled up a stool and sat down: "We are all Papal Guards of the Pope, who would dare to make things difficult for us? In the past, some people always looked at us with strange eyes, but those people are gone now."

After the villagers of Moulin Rouge Village moved to the Gulag Papal State, Hohn gave them the title of "Papal Guard."

Now, everyone from the nursing babies to the sixty-year-old elders in Moulin Rouge Village are Papal Guards.

The Papal Guard is naturally different from others. Hohn even customized a uniform for them.

Adult men wear black twill hooded cloaks, adult women wear black headscarves, and children have black headbands.

On the meadows outside the capital of the Gulag Papal State, a strange scene could be seen every morning when the rooster crowed.

In the faint morning light, groups of Papal Guards with black tops, some with crutches, some holding their parents' hands, lined up in neat formations and walked to Father Cosette and Chanter Armand.

Amidst the aroma of food, they not only did not rush forward to grab it, but also sang hymns, such as grace, thanksgiving, and dreams of heaven, while marching in unison.

From time to time, ten households would lead the child soldiers to patrol and lash out with rattan canes at those whose movements were not synchronized.

At first, the surrounding villagers would watch and laugh, and even complain loudly that they were disturbing their sweet dreams, but recently, these voices have become smaller and smaller.

Because they found that the guards' songs were so loud, their movements were so neat, and the people were so united.

Whenever one person was bullied, the men from the same ten households would all take action together.

When they lined up in neat ranks, sang hymns, marched in a uniform pace, and rushed over waving pitchforks and wooden sticks, those village ruffians thought they had encountered military masters charging in formation.

In the end, Hohn's marching prayer still had an effect. When walking, the guards would subconsciously step in sync.

Under the baptism of rattan cane beatings and daily marching prayer drills, these movements had almost become conditioned reflexes.

With a preliminary formation, organization, and morale, it was simply too easy to beat up those untrained villagers and brave and fierce ruffians.

Perhaps in Hohn's view, it was still far from enough, but for those villagers, it was different.

Besides being difficult to provoke, there was another reason why the village ruffians restrained themselves.

That was that the Papal Guard possessed precious holy oil and did not hesitate to use it.

People like Tang Li also obtained a lot of holy oil, but they were never willing to use this precious thing on the common people.

Although the Papal Guard had to queue up, they could at least really use it.

There was also a very useful little trick. As long as you could pull ten households to register in the roster and form a ten-household unit, the head of the ten-household unit could have priority in designating one use of the holy oil.

Registering in the roster was not for nothing. In the evening, you had to sing hymns with the guards, greet people with a three-finger chest salute, and the people of the same ten-household unit had to live together.

Furthermore, if you were asked to do something, you were not allowed to refuse.

If you dared to refuse, the guards would really dare to beat people to death.

"How many new ten-household units have our guards added now?"

"Five." Armand held out five fingers on his left hand and four fingers on his right hand. "There are a total of nine ten-household units, 498 people. The roster is here. Another ten-household unit may come tomorrow, and that will make ten."

Jeanne silently calculated. Originally, there were at most a little over six hundred refugees outside the Gulag Monastery, plus those from Moulin Rouge Village, that was about eight hundred people.

However, since the weather cleared up, a dozen to dozens of new refugees had been added every day. Now the Gulag Papal State had nearly a thousand subjects.

But these ten ten-household units were basically the limit. Most of the rest were attached to Tang Li and others at various levels.

Moreover, these new guards were only in a nominal state of listening to orders but not following declarations, and they might not be as loyal as the old Papal Guards.

The people of the old guard had personally witnessed Hohn's resurrection and the descent of the Holy Father.

We still have to continue to deepen control.

Although she had heard Hohn explain and analyze these situations, Jeanne still felt a headache whenever she thought about it: "You asked someone to ask before, and Brother Hohn has given a reply."

"What did His Grace say?"

"Brother Hohn said that Jeshka had previously made contributions to exterminating demons, so he will be appointed as the centurion."