CHAPTER 455: CHAPTER 434: BELIEVERS’ ASSEMBLY IN RAPIDS CITY (PART 2) (4K)

"Some people have been saying lately that we are going to execute Catherine, the former executive of Rapids City," Horn said, enunciating each word carefully, "This is completely a rumor!"

The crowd below noticeably breathed a sigh of relief. After all, if Catherine were killed by them, even if she were a witch, the people of Rapids City would lose some of their respected rights when they went out.

In this era where reputation is collateral, if the reputation of the people of Rapids City is tarnished, it means business would be somewhat affected.

"But this does reflect a part of public opinion."

Horn left the podium, walked to the front of the stage, and looked at the believers in front of him, "So whether to exile or retain the former executive Catherine, I decide to leave it to the Holy Father to judge."

The so-called judgment of the Holy Father is akin to the method of electing the Pope, "Even though we are elected, it reflects the will of the Holy Father."

If the Pope in the Holy Seat can use it, then why can’t Horn use the same method?

"Our Salvation Army has always believed in reviving the Holy Path, upholding the people, and expelling the different," Horn said, with his elbows resting on both sides of the podium, "Therefore, according to the ancient Believers’ Assembly, each person uses a grain of wheat to cast into baskets representing exile and retention to see the judgment of the Holy Father."

In the early Believers’ Assemblies, the early MiseriaChurch often reached internal consensus by this method.

As wheat grains are too small and imprecise, Horn changed them to relatively larger beans for easier weighing and calculation.

For these ordinary citizens, this method was quite novel.

"Where are my beans? No, where are my beans?"

"You should have said earlier, I ate all my beans."

"No, dude, isn’t there a layer of lacquer on those beans? Aren’t you afraid of poisoning?"

"This isn’t fair; people who pay more taxes should get more beans!"

"Buying beans, one bean for one Dinar, buying, buying... hey, hey, what are you doing? Ah, stop fighting, stop fighting."

Watching the black-clad soldiers knocking down those buying beans and those attempting to bring their own beans from stores and dragging them out.

The City Councilors could only hurriedly climb down from the wooden platform to maintain order everywhere, telling them that the Salvation Army only recognized the beans dyed with red paint and not to cheat anymore.

Under the leadership of black-clad soldiers and councilors and other respected elder figures, these citizens finally began to vote in an orderly fashion, casting red-painted beans into the baskets.

Next to each bonfire were two vine-woven baskets, and under the guidance of councilors and black-clad soldiers, they lined up to step forward and drop each bean into the baskets.

This voting method was naturally quite rudimentary. There were beans rolling out of baskets, and some were stained with dust and saliva.

But as long as the number of voters was large enough, this small margin of error would not significantly impact the final result.

Looking at the chaotic voting believers, and then at Catherine wearing a hood and holding an umbrella in the hot weather, Qianqian couldn’t help but walk to Armand’s side:

"Can this really absolve Lady Catherine of the identity of a witch?"

Armand confidently replied, "Don’t worry, His Eminence would not truly let them exile Catherine. I’ve arranged everything, and now it depends on how the citizens will decide."

Horn’s purpose was quite simple. After much thought, he decided to give the citizens of Rapids City a chance.

At the same time, it was also a chance for Catherine to see what these citizens were really like.

If the citizens could break through the church’s ideological imprint and retain Catherine as executive, then Horn was willing to leave them more freedom in their courageous stand.

For example, giving them a status similar to that of a special economic zone, only taking away part of their sovereignty while leaving them a portion of financial power.

But if they were still influenced by the church’s "witch-church" binary narrative, then Horn wouldn’t hesitate to use the invisible hand of the Holy Father and the tangible hand of the Saint’s Grandson.

To show the citizens what it meant to grasp with both hands, both hands being strong.

The black-clad soldiers carried back and forth baskets full of beans, pouring basket after basket of red-painted beans into a wooden trough prepared in advance.

The round beans clattered into the wooden trough, and the eyes of the surrounding people were fixed firmly on the large scales standing there.

When the last basket of red-painted beans was poured into the trough, the scale, which was expected to tilt, surprisingly maintained a peculiar balance.

The bronze pointer swayed left and right on the vertical line, causing the hearts of the people to throb with anxiety.

One second, two seconds, three seconds... time gradually passed.

As the scales slowly returned to balance, under the disappointed and angry gazes of Mitney and Carl, the pointer slightly tilted toward exile.

Even though it was only a slight angle, it nevertheless pointed to exile.

Standing next to the scales counting, Mitney’s heart sank, and after measuring the angle, he managed to say with difficulty, "Tilted, tilted toward exile."

In other words, the entire city was roughly evenly split between exiling Catherine and retaining her, only those in favor of exile had a slight edge.

For a witch who was universally despised, fifty percent support was quite good.

The color on Catherine’s face under the shadow of the hood darkened a bit more, finding it laughable that she had held a shred of hope.

"I said no one wants her to stay."

"I demand a re-election; the previous one was not standardized, there were too many errors."

"Yeah, and such a major issue should require over two-thirds majority to count."

"That’s enough. Are we electing the Pope? Does everyone stop eating and sleeping to stay here and vote with you slowly?"