"Your Excellency, we are all devout believers!" The group of one-gold-coin followers shouted in unison.
"They have no money; their faith is weak," the Roman soldier responded coldly.
"Faith has nothing to do with wealth. Even if someone doesn't have a single copper coin, as long as they devoutly believe in Holiness, they are a faithful lamb."
Upon hearing this, the one-gold-coin followers were overjoyed and echoed, "Yes, yes, even though we're poor, our faith is extremely firm."
The Holiness followers who didn't even have a single gold coin also began to echo, "We're the truly poor, our faith is the strongest, we want to see the bishop too!"
The one-gold-coin followers immediately cursed, "You poor wretches, why are you causing trouble!"
"You're not really broke, you just don't want to spend your money!"
"Alex, you're a carpenter, are you seriously saying you can't spare one gold coin?"
"Barton, when the Dionysus came, you hid away and didn't lose anything. Why are you pretending to be poor?"
Both sides started hurling insults, and someone couldn't resist starting a fight. The Roman soldier immediately knocked everyone to the ground with a wooden stick.
By now, Donald had moved to the front of the line and entered the church. Inside, it was completely different—unusually quiet, with no one daring to speak loudly. The noise from outside became barely audible, as if from another world.
The church was filled with incense. Holy light shone down from a hole in the dome, casting shadows of angels dancing in the light, with faint angelic singing coming from afar. Linley's throne had been removed and replaced by a cross. The cardinal sat beneath it, chatting amicably with several followers around him.
When Donald entered, the cardinal looked up at him, then continued talking with the followers. Linley breathed a sigh of relief; they were already within the range of the fallen angel's feather. But the closer, the better. If the cardinal escaped, he wouldn't have a third fallen angel's feather.
The line continued to move forward, with the cardinal receiving three followers at a time, one from each of the three lines. Since the line of one-hundred-gold-coin followers was short, it was soon Donald's turn.
Linley wanted to follow closely behind Donald to get closer but was stopped outside by the Roman soldier. Only Donald went in alone and approached the cardinal.
The cardinal first asked a few questions to the ten-gold-coin follower, then turned to Donald, "Are you a winemaker?"
"Yes." Donald felt anxious and involuntarily confessed, "I used to be a follower of Dionysus. My job was wine tasting and guiding the vineyard's winemaking."
"It's okay, you were just deceived by a false god. Dionysus is just a false god, not a true god. Even if you no longer believe in him, you can still continue winemaking; the quality of the wine will not change." The cardinal comforted, "The Son of God once gave wine to the followers, telling them it was the blood of the Son of God, and gave them bread, telling them it was the flesh of the Son of God..."
"Yes, yes..." Donald didn't actually understand but could only agree in confusion.
"How much red wine do you have at home?" the Cardinal asked.
"One hundred barrels," Donald answered truthfully.
"Give all of it to the church," the Cardinal continued, "I'll send someone to your house to pick it up."
"But that's all the wine we have left!" Donald was shocked.
"Do you want to hoard the blood of the Son of God?" the Cardinal sternly questioned.
Donald was taken aback by the sudden accusation and didn't know what to say.
The Cardinal explained, "If you don't give it up, the expeditionary force will take all the wine and arrest you. But if you give it willingly, it will show your faith in Holiness, and no one will question your loyalty."
"But without this wine, our family can't survive," Donald said helplessly.
"The angel once asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, and Abraham obeyed. In the end, the angel stopped him and blessed him," the Cardinal exemplified.
"Are you saying the church will give me money for it?" Donald asked, puzzled.
"As long as your faith is firm, the angel will bless you."
"Huh? Yes, yes," Donald could only compromise.
The Cardinal warned, "If we find more than two hundred barrels of wine in your house, it will be considered deceiving Holiness!"
Donald didn't understand why his family's wine, if not all donated to the church, would be considered deceiving Holiness, but he was powerless to refuse.
The Cardinal turned to a priest and said, "Take some men to this believer's house and bring all his wine to the church."
The priest nodded and followed Donald with ten Roman soldiers. Linley thought for a moment and decided to leave first, then find another opportunity. He was blocked by the guards at the perimeter, still some distance from the Cardinal. Using the fallen angel's feather here might let the Cardinal escape and get Donald in trouble.
Now that it was confirmed the Cardinal was in the church, the next steps were simple.
At this moment, the priest said to Donald, "Your servants don't need to go back either; give them all to the church."
Donald said helplessly, "But without these servants, I can't manage."
In the Greek world, slaves were a necessity of life, especially for wealthy families. Even ordinary families needed slaves to fetch water and gather firewood.
The priest comforted, "What you give will come back tenfold. What you keep will turn to dust. It's more blessed to give than to receive. With a devout heart, even in the wilderness, you can be as happy as in paradise."
Donald wanted to say more but was already taken away by the priest. Linley and Donald's servants were all taken to a small house behind the church where the slaves lived.
For Linley, this was actually a good thing, saving him the trouble of sneaking into the church again, so he went with the flow and sat cross-legged in the small house. There were many slaves inside, all of whom had been "donated" to the church by their masters.
The slaves didn't have much resistance; they were slaves anyway, and being a slave in the church actually raised their social status. Holiness's followers generally lived poorly, even worse after being plundered by the wine god, and their slaves lived poorly as well. Now, this was a turning point.
Soon, a tall slave came in and said loudly, "Hey, still lying here? Come with me to work."