"How is this possible?" the priest shouted in panic, "No, we have never done these things..."
Duke Otto sneered, and with a wave of his hand, the soldiers pushed the priests, nuns, and children of the church to the ground, and tied up the believers with hemp ropes.
The priest was still trying to distinguish for himself: "This will never be done by us! Our God does not need human sacrifice! When Abraham wanted to dedicate his son to God, God directly rescued his son. A sheep was placed on the altar..."
The soldiers thought the priest was noisy, so they picked up a rag from the ground and stuffed it into his mouth. Now, the priest could no longer defend himself.
Prince Otto turned his horse. The mayor of Hamburg followed them. After seeing that scene, he was too frightened to say another word.
"Where is the largest square?" Duke Otto asked the mayor of Hamburg arrogantly on his horse, "I want to expose the true face of the Abrahamic Orthodox Church to the public!"
The mayor of Hamburg took out his handkerchief and wiped his sweat: "Here, sir, please follow me."
A raised platform was erected in the square of Hamburg. After hearing the news, the citizens who came to watch surrounded the square on three levels inside and outside. The believers who were captured from the church were forcibly put on a high platform to be displayed in public. Their mouths were stuffed with cotton cloth and their hands were tied with hemp rope. Among them was a man who was unlucky. His forehead was hit by a flying stone, and half of his face was covered with blood. But instead of getting him mercy, it made him look more like a devil.
Two rows of soldiers were neatly arranged on both sides of the high platform, each holding a bright sharp knife in their hands.
Just as Duke Otto was about to take the stage, the mayor of Hamburg stopped him and dragged him to a corner.
"Is this true?" the mayor of Hamburg asked, staring at Duke Otto.
"What are you asking?"
"Those three corpses," said the mayor of Hamburg, "were they really dug up, or did you release them in advance..."
"Do facts matter?" Duke Otto interrupted the mayor of Hamburg.
“If facts don’t matter, what else does?”
"Facts are important, but what is more important is whether we are willing to believe them. Facts cannot speak for themselves, and it is always people who interpret 'facts'."
As he spoke, Duke Otto lowered his voice:
"Mayor, don't forget that the Abrahamic Orthodox Church is against usury. They provide low-interest loans, and you must have lost a lot, right?"
"I understand." The mayor of Hamburg seemed to have some realization, "But there are many Alemanni among this group of believers. If they are all executed, it will cause great shock..."
"Don't worry, I have my own sense of discretion."
Prince Otto adjusted his clothes so that he looked more like a human being. Then, he walked to the high platform.
"Free citizens of Hamburg, please forgive me for leading troops into the city without authorization. I learned that a fishing village in Flanders was burned by the Semites, and I remembered that there is such a temple in the nearby city of Hamburg to worship the Semites. The devil of the Mit people acted rashly out of grief and anger, and I hope you can forgive me."
Duke Otto bowed to the onlookers to express his apology for leading troops into the city. Then, he pointed his hand towards the two corpses and said in a voice that sounded like he was about to cry:
"But thanks to this, I was able to snatch back the bodies of our compatriots from the devil's temple! Look at these three dead people. What slender bodies they have. They must have been pure and innocent during their lives and have never done anything evil. Well. They must be the wife or daughter of one of us! What kind of hard-heartedness do these believers have, and how do the devils confuse their natures to make them reach out to such a girl? Poisonous hand!"
"Poor free people of Hamburg, you are as deceived by demons as I am! No, the entire Alemannic Federation has been deceived by this group of demons! The followers of the demons have occupied our land and taken us Brothers and sisters wantonly serve as tributes to the demons they worship! Ah, I really want to burn all these demons to death! But they have already occupied most of the Alemannic Federation! I am afraid that I will eventually be killed by the henchmen of these demons. Targeted, skinned, gutted, and buried in the soil!"
"But, I swear, as long as I, Otto, am still breathing, I will try my best to destroy these demons!"
The crowd burst into cheers. .
Duke Otto walked to the group of believers. Under their horrified gaze, Duke Otto said sympathetically:
"Don't be afraid. I know that many of you have been deceived by the devil. You are all wise and brave Alemannic people. As long as you are willing to draw a clear line with the devil's church, I am willing to forgive you,"
Duke Otto clapped his hands, and two soldiers carried the large cross that had been removed from the church to the high platform.
Duke Otto pointed at the cross and shouted to the group of believers: "Come on! If you have woken up, spit on this devil's token! As long as you do this, I will forgive you! I think it's not just me, The people in the audience—your brothers, sisters, parents, children, friends, and neighbors—are also willing to forgive you!"
Another burst of cheers erupted from the crowd, and even those who had been silent just now joined the cheers.
Duke Otto untied a believer with his own hands. The believer walked hesitantly to the cross, looked at the people in the audience, became cruel, and spat at it.
There was a thunderous applause from the crowd. Duke Otto smiled and patted his shoulder and said, "Very good, you can go."
With the first person taking the lead, the followers who followed became more and more bold. One of them rushed up and kicked him after spitting, and received the warmest applause.
After all the believers had gone through the process, it was the turn of the children adopted by the church. They were obviously more hesitant than the group of believers, and each of them looked timidly at the nuns in the church. After getting the nun's nod of approval, they finally followed the example of the believers in front and spit at the cross.
However, the oldest child was reluctant to do this action. The cloth that blocked his mouth had been torn away, and he shouted to the group of children in front: "How could you do such a thing! If it weren't for God, we would have starved to death!"
The nun shook her head desperately in the distance, trying to get the child to stop talking. However, the soldier standing aside had already walked up and chopped off the child's head with a knife.
"What a good boy! He was bewitched by the devil like this!"
Prince Otto pretended to be angry and pointed at the remaining priest and nun.
"These two servants of the devil will never be forgiven! Bind them here in public for a month! After one month, send them to the stake!"
Amid the cheers of the people, Duke Otto walked off the platform.
If the Jochebed incident was just a spark, then what he did today was to pour a bucket of oil on the flame.
"Publish today's incident vigorously," he said to the mayor of Hamburg. "Soon, the Abrahamic Orthodox Church will disappear from the Alemannic Federation."
