Chapter 7 August 405 AD Paulsland Capital-Maid (Patreon)

            Over the last year, the seventy families have attempted to destroy Hani, the King’s maid. They wanted to force her to come crawling back to them so that they could use her to manipulate the king, as it was obvious the king loved Hani more than anyone else in the world, including his own mother.

            Their manipulation attempt started by making her homeless. As she left the castle, with those forty stripes on her back, they let her know that if she listened and served the seventy families, she could have a nice home and good pay. They told her that the seventy families wanted what was best for Paulsland, and so they needed levers to control the king, to make sure the king did what was best for Paulsland. The seventy families and their most trusted servants had deluded themselves into thinking that whatever was good for the seventy families was good for everyone.

            The servants of the seventy families were not surprised when she did not accept their offer. They were surprised when she went to a Believers Church instead of going to her father’s house. In fact, they had prepared a raid for her father’s house that was intended to take place a few minutes after she arrived, to strip her of her home a second time in one day, to make her submit to them. The problem with their plan was that Hani was a bastard, something of a rare thing in Paulsland, and she barely knew her father. Since her father did not raise her, she did not even think of going to his house. Instead, she went to the Believers Church where she became a Christian because it had an addiction ministry and housing for addicts. She figured that they would let her stay there a few days if only to catch her bearing, as it was normal for addicts to go there right after a flogging and finally get the help they needed. It was the church she was going to before she became a maid. In fact, her father was so embarrassed by her going to that church that he went out of his way to make his daughter the maid of the King so nobody would see his shameful daughter.

            With Hani completely out of place, the servants of the seventy families had to come to a decision. After half a day, they decided to go along with the raid in order to make Hani come out and speak with them. The raid was violent and public. Chief Bui was dragged into the streets and chained for all to see, and as he was arrested, the detectives publicly announced the list of crimes they were arresting him for. Once Hani’s father was in the stocks, a messenger was sent to the Believers Church to let Hani know what was going on with her father. Hani did not want to see the messenger, so the messenger loudly yelled, “HANI, YOUR FATHER HAS BEEN ARRESTED FOR HIGH CRIMES AGAINST PAULSLAND! DON’T YOU WANT TO SEE HIM?!”

            The messenger continued yelling that message outside of the Believers Church until the pastor of the church, Pastor Humbra, told the messenger, “Hani says that her loyalty is to the King of Paulsland, not her father. I have tried telling her that she should attempt to see her father and get things settled, but she is too grief-stricken over the King.”

            “What has she told you?”

            The pastor rolled his eyes and said, “The truth that most people have long known about the seventy families.” The messenger started to panic and grow angry, so the pastor said, “Before you or your bosses make threats, know this: where the average juror has a family member that relies on the seventy families for a job, the average juror also has had a family member come through our church to get help for their addiction. A detective that tries to stir up trouble against me risks lashes and possibly their life.”

            The messenger paused and considered the pastor Humbra’s words. In Paulsland, the juries judged everyone in court, not just the defendant. Anyone bringing charges or acting as a witness could have an angry jury find them guilty of all manner of things if they suspected them of wrongdoing. The only person they could not fully judge in court was the judge presiding over a case, but even then, the jury could rule that another jury needed to judge the judge. This made it incredibly risky to practice lawfare in Paulsland. In fact, once every few years, a jury condemned a lying or malicious witness to death.

            After the messenger considered the pastor’s words, he said, “We won’t do anything imprudent.”

            “Neither will we.”

            After the messenger was rejected, the seventy families didn’t know what to do other than try to make Hani suffer. With that in mind, they brought Chief Bui to trial and revealed many of the worst illegal things he had done. He could have tried to defend himself by exposing his connections to the Paulson family, but if he tried exposing any of the seventy families, they would have taken away his children’s inheritance. He decided to go to his grave quietly in order to protect his children.

            During the trial and long afterward, the seventy families made it very clear that it was terrible that the bastard daughter of such a wicked man was close to King Shimbir and that Jinka must have intentionally chosen such a wicked and terrible person in order to make King Shimbir less than he ought to be. With this, they hoped to create a gap between the King and the maid that Hani could never cross…. Unless she submitted to them.

            As for Hani, she hid herself at the Believers Church, among the addicts, believing there would be a day when she could go back to her King’s side. After the King’s personal guard’s, Kono, direct betrayal of their King, Hani was almost desperate to return to the boy’s side and let him know he could depend on someone, but those that she looked to for wise counsel advised her to wait.

            And so, for over a year, she waited. During this year, the only people who showed her kindness were the people at the Believers Church. Part of the issue was that the newspapers constantly had stories mentioning her. The seventy families used her to denounce Jinka, as he had hired her, and Jinka’s papers used her to denounce the seventy families as she was a bastard of the criminal chief supported by the seventy families, particularly the Paulson family. At this point, the people of Paulsland had no trust in their young king and assumed he was stupid because of Hani the bastard.

            Both the seventy families and Jinka had good reason to spread these stories. The seventy families did so because they wanted the people to move more power to the two halls of representatives, which the seventy families controlled. Jinka had ambitions of becoming the next king, so denouncing the current King, one too young to answer back, was a reasonable tactic. Neither side could directly denounce Shimbir, so Hani became the object of scorn, the reason why the King was already a failure at the tender age of eleven.

            Furthermore, because Hani was being protected by the Believers church, this gave both parties the opportunity to denounce the papers every religion was printing. Both the seventy families and Jinka had the same complaint about the various religious papers; every religion in Paulsland sought to weaken the power of the government and strengthen the people, if only because it was a matter of Paulsland constitutional law that the government could not give any money to a religious institution. With that, it was in the best interest of every religion in Paulsland to weaken government control and thus strengthen the people who directly supported the various religions.

            That wasn’t to say that each religion had the same reasons for what they were publishing. It's just that in every other country on Earth, there was a marriage between religion and state. In those nations, the religion had to support the government in order for the government to build their temples and enforce their religious decrees. Any religion, besides the chosen one, was persecuted, but in general, with notable exceptions including the Believers Church, the persecuted religion was trying desperately hard to become the chosen religion.

            In Paulsland, where the government and religion were permanently divorced, each religion had to appeal to the people, and the best way to appeal to the people was by pointing out where their particular religion was at odds with the government and on the side of the people, at that point in time. This meant that generally, the religious papers, whether the Believers Church, Universal Church, the various Buddhist Churches, Judaism, the King Paul cult, or whatnot, always had some criticism of the government in their writings. In the midst of this Hani had become a reason to denounce the religious papers and structures. They were careful not to call those institutions wicked or evil, as the politicians and various members of the seventy families played religious roles, and because the people supported the good work the religions did, but they denounced them as shortsighted and foolish.

            After one particularly scathing article, Hani came to her pastor and his wife with tears in her eyes and said, “I don’t think I can stay.”

            Pastor Humbra sighed and asked, “Why?”

            “Because the ministry at this church is doing good work, and my presence is hurting it.”

            Pastor Humbra shook his head and said, “No, it's not. If those papers were not telling everyone how terrible you were and how terrible we are for giving you shelter, then they would be telling everyone how awful it is that we take in addicts, when all addicts should die due to their bad choices, especially after a flogging. Although your presence may be directly affecting our ministry, the papers are so focused on you that they have forgotten to write about how terrible they think addiction recovery ministry are, especially when we don’t allow nature to take its course, which has helped a lot of people reach out to other ministries, before they fall into utter hopelessness. Although you are getting more attention than anyone we have ever housed, you are by no means the worst.”

            Mrs. Humbra added in, “You are in fact, the easiest person we have ever had stay here. You have not had any violent outbursts, you haven’t thrown up all over the floor, we didn’t need to make any medicine for you, and you even have useful skills that you have been able to teach to others. You have been more of a worker than a guest.”

            “But the things they say….”

            Pastor Humbra said, “We know they are not true, and whether you came here, went somewhere else, or disappeared off the face of the Earth, the papers would say the same thing. In a couple of years, King Shimbir will come of age, and he needs someone he can trust, and that is you. You simply have to endure until then.”

            “I won't forget this. When I return to King Shimbir’s side, I will tell him what the Believers church did for me.”

            “I would rather you tell him what God did for you.”

            “Of course, but God works through the church.” Hani chuckled and said, “Maybe God could use me to make the claims of the paper come true. They keep claiming that you are housing me, hoping that I convert the King into a member of the Believers Church, and then he makes the Believer’s Church the national religion.”

            Both Pastor Humbra and his wife shook their heads, and Pastor Humbra said, “Nope, nope, nope, nope. By faith and by doctrine, we cannot be a national church. It is our understanding that people can only come to God through belief, and you cannot force someone to believe. We are not like the Universal Church that uses the force of the Roman Government to make everyone a member of their church. Being a member of the Believers Church doesn’t make you right with God, only being born again does that, and it takes belief to be born again. Belief cannot happen at the edge of the sword.”

            Mrs. Hubra added, “And if the believers church became the national church people would join to gain favor with Shimbir, instead of with God.”

            Hani said, “I was just thinking out loud.”

            “I need you to understand that if the Believers Church ever became a national church, it would kill the church. Maybe not the buildings we reside in, but the doctrines we believe in would be for naught. This world is not our home, we do not want to set up or tear down kingdoms. Earthly kingdoms don’t matter; only eternity does. If King Shimbir came out today and said that the Believers Church was the national church, and everyone had to go to a Believers Church or face flogging, and the two houses of representatives agreed, I would change the name of our church in protest. Our church would have the same doctrine, but it would have a different name. In contrast, anyone seeking power would claim to be a pastor or other leader in the Believers Church, not caring at all about doctrine, only about the name of the church because the church name would be what was nationalized, not the doctrine. Its what happened to the Universal Church. As soon as Rome said the universal church was the state church, anyone seeking power claimed to be a leader in the church, and those who were concerned with doctrine were pushed out. State churches have no room for real believers. I doubt any of the priests in the universal church believe anything in the Bible, and so instead of pointing people to God, they either point people to their church or their government. We want no part in that.”

            Hani apologized, “It was only a joke. I am sorry I brought it up.”

            “That is not a joke to us, nor to the newspapers. We are doctrinally opposed to it, and the newspapers want to make it out like all Christians, not just the Believers Church, are control freaks like the Universal Church.”

            “I said I was sorry.”

            “And we forgive you, but this is just another example of why you should stay. Right now, inside our walls we can protect you from journalists that are looking to get you to say something compromising. You need more understanding and wisdom before you leave unless there is an opportunity for you to meet up with King Shimbir.”

            “You're right, I’m sorry.”

            Mrs. Hubra said, “Stop saying sorry so much. Lift your head up high like a valiant daughter of Paulsland and a virtious woman of our God. Regardless of what happens with King Shimbir and the seventy families, you will go on to do noble, godly things. We are simply here to help you along the way.”

            “Thank you.”




Authors note-There will likely be more chapters on the believers church, as they specifically dont want any state religion. There will definitly be chapters on the universal church. there will likely be chapters on the king Paul cult whose dogma will be around controlling nature, perhaps an offshoot of buddhism, or hinduism where instead of becoming one with the universe you bring the universe under your control