Divine Kingship

Chapter 601 His Majesty Rand Decides to Inspect Personally
After confirming that there was nothing wrong with the vanilla.

Rand has returned to the Moon Phase Kingdom.

Regarding matters related to cultists, this occurred before the war that destroyed the Kingdom of Frostmoon and the Kingdom of Bolen.

Rand has already cleared out cultists many times.

But cults are like wildfires that can't be extinguished; they just spring up again with the spring breeze.

Because there will always be people dissatisfied with real life, even in Rand's previous life.

In Rand's previous life, there were no mysterious powers, but in this world, there truly were gods.

So, the struggles of life, the indulgence of desires, the dissatisfaction with reality, plus the temptation of a little bit of evil power.

It is not surprising that cultists have emerged.

It's already the height of summer.

Scorching sun.

Rand provided a glass of chilled lemonade to all the middle and senior managers in the conference rooms.

Rand could certainly bring up a box of ice and then use a hand-operated blower to cool the room down.

Now that Rand is king, he is fully entitled to indulge in such luxuries.

For a king of that caliber, such extravagance is truly insignificant.

Rand shouldn't be so stingy as to not even part with this little bit of ice.

But Rand instinctively did not choose this method of cooling.

Perhaps it's just his past life's nature coming out; Rand really isn't used to it.

The followers of the Holy Land forces outside, the convicts, the ordinary villagers, and the soldiers far away on the frontier were all enduring the scorching sun.

As king, Rand was certainly entitled to enjoy it.

But Rand still subconsciously didn't want to do it.

If it gets really too hot, Rand will probably come up with some other ways to cool down.

But at least today, in the Moon Phase Duchy Sanctuary, which can still be considered to be in the north, the current heat is still bearable.

Moreover, chilled lemon water is actually quite effective at cooling you down.

At least the higher-ups and middle-level managers of the Holy Land were satisfied with this refreshing drink.

Olena, as the scribe, began her report: "Recently, the bandit forces in our country have become more diversified, including horse bandits, mountain bandits, river bandits, and pirates. Although the larger forces have been wiped out by the army, there are still scattered groups in the countryside that have not been dealt with in a timely manner."

"Do you have any suggestions?" Rand asked.

After bowing to Rand, the president of the Adventurers' Guild said, "Thanks to His Majesty's guidance, the Adventurers' Guild has now accumulated a considerable number of mid- to high-level adventurers who can handle small-scale bandit problems."

Rand looked at everyone, and seeing that none of the high-ranking officials of the Holy Domain had any objections, Rand nodded: "Then let's do it this way."

Olena continued her report: "The second problem is that, in addition to the bandits, the cult forces that had been quelled are showing signs of resurgence, which need to be contained in time."

Do you have any suggestions?

“Our military will arrange more patrols and investigations, and we also suggest paying close attention to adventurers and espionage,” Fenris said.

Cultists are more troublesome than bandits, especially now that God's influence on the world has intensified, and cultists are generally more powerful than in the past.

Therefore, the military needs to take on the main task. Adventurers are not incapable of facing cultists, but casualties are very likely to occur.

The military is relatively more experienced in dealing with cults and is better equipped.

Rand thought for a moment and said, "In addition to the regular work of eliminating cultists, let's strengthen the checks at the border crossings. I think a high percentage of cultists are smuggled into our land from abroad."

"Does Your Majesty believe that the probability of cult members originating in our country is relatively low? Why is that?" The question was posed by the bishop of the Torch Church.

He didn't disbelieve Rand's judgment, but as a bishop whose job was to eliminate evil spirits, he was very curious as to why such a phenomenon as Rand had predicted would occur.

“The reason is quite simple.” Rand crossed his arms.

“Only a very small number of cultists, who are inherently evil, will naturally be tempted by evil forces to become followers of some evil god. The vast majority of other cultists become cultists out of the need for survival,” Rand explained.

Among the current middle and upper echelons of the Holy Domain, there are also several former members of the cult.

Back then, Rand sacrificed all the evil cultists and spared all the good ones, thus gaining their supporters.

Now, these believers actually know to some extent that Rand was a fraud back then.

But this kind of thing has long been an open secret, and Rand will no longer give examples of what so-and-so was like back then.

"And on our land, we are changing things in our own way, so that those who are willing to work will not starve or freeze to death. With a guaranteed livelihood, how many people would want to become cult members?"

After a moment of silence, everyone present quickly understood what Rand meant.

They are not stupid people.

Perhaps for many people.

Cultists are cultists, and robbers are robbers; they are objects that need to be eradicated or dealt with.

But with a little thought, one can understand Rand's logic.

“I understand, thank you for your clarification, Your Majesty.” The bishop of the Torch Church, who had raised the question to Rand, bowed in respect to Rand.

"Of course, I'm not asking you to relax your pursuit of cultists in the territory, nor am I asking you to be lenient with the methods used by cultists." Rand gave a final reminder. "That's all for now. The follow-up details are written in the documents. Just go back and read the documents yourself. If you have any questions, you can come to the palace and ask me."

"Meeting dismissed."

……

At this moment, a cult stronghold located in a remote part of the Lunar Kingdom is issuing job postings.

This is the joint stronghold of the Dark Abundance Goddess Cult and the Struggle God Cult.

The cult leader of the United Gathering Point was speaking from the high platform: "King Rand of the Moon Phase Kingdom is a man who hates us to the extreme. He also holds two disgusting churches in his hands: the Torch Church and the Harvest Goddess Church."

"Therefore, we cannot directly confront Rand openly. We can start from those areas that Rand is not paying attention to."

Then comes the task assignment.

In the life of cult members in their strongholds, material things are largely ignored. Unless they are about to starve or freeze to death, cult members will not prioritize these things.

For them, solving the problem of starvation or freezing to death was quite simple; they just needed to rob villages.

If you can't win, you die; if you can win, the problem is solved.

As for the potential problems that may arise later, those are long-term issues that are not worth considering.

At least for these small cult strongholds.

Perhaps those large cult strongholds are more rational in handling power issues.

However, for small and medium-sized outposts, knowing not to engage in direct confrontation with Rand's church army is already a very smart move.

Morin is a follower of the Dark Abundance Goddess Cult. His teammate, Dazhuang, is a follower of the God of Struggle.

They are the ones in these two sects who are less willing to harm ordinary people.

Therefore, they are even less favored by their superiors or other cult members.

The mission they were assigned this time was also relatively more dangerous.

They joined these two sects, which outsiders call cults, simply because the probability of not being able to survive in the current environment was too high.

A torrential rain lasted for five days.

An ordinary village family might have to borrow grain from their neighbors.

The snowstorm arrived half a month earlier than usual.

For some families who rely on the brief hunting season before winter, this could be a nightmare.

The whims of nobles can easily plunge the lives of villagers into hardship.

If war breaks out, it won't just be one or two households of villagers who suffer.

Then bandits, cultists, and some local resistance fighters had a source of manpower.

Now, Morin and Da Zhuang's task is to bewitch a village and then lead the people to either the Dark Goddess of Abundance or the God of Struggle.

The location was at the border between the Kingdom of Bolon and the Duchy of Lunar Phases, before the kingdom was destroyed.

Honestly, getting close to the Duchy of the Moon is quite a dangerous place.

However, as two useless cult members, Morin and Dazhuang were naturally assigned bad jobs.

But perhaps this job is actually quite good in the eyes of other cult members? It can better hone their faith in God or something.

Molin and Dazhuang were well aware of the dangers of this job, but they had no other choice.

The two set off with some dry food to fill their stomachs.

"I don't think it's a good idea for us to stay here," Dazhuang said with some concern.

Morin had no choice but to explain, "If we don't go here, where else can we go? Besides, our boss seems to have made a breakthrough in his power recently. If we dare to betray him or run away, we'll probably be caught and killed very quickly."

Dazhuang is a strong man. Even though he is now malnourished and thin, you can still see his huge frame. If he can eat his fill, he will probably become a real strong man soon.

Dazhuang wasn't good at thinking, but he found Molin's words very reasonable, so he became somewhat melancholy again.

The two fell silent again and began their journey.

The two would stop every now and then to check if they had gone the wrong way.

Elsewhere, it is very difficult for cultists to pinpoint their targets; there aren't many road signs or good roads in this world.

But clearly, the Duchy of Lunar Phase is an exception.

Once inside the territory of the Duchy of the Moon, Morin and Da Zhuang no longer had to worry about getting lost.

King Rand of the Moon Phase Kingdom was very enthusiastic about building roads.

Once you enter the Lunar Duchy, you'll find clear, easy-to-walk paths with few monsters around.

You can easily find your target by following the road.

"The lord here is truly a benevolent lord who brings us good fortune," Da Zhuang commented.

Then he was hit on the head by Morin.

“Have you considered that this will make it easier for the lord’s reinforcements to reach various parts of the territory, and the lord will also be able to receive intelligence from all over the country? We are actually in greater danger,” Morin explained.

Dazhuang understood.

He couldn't help but feel melancholy again: "What should I do?"

Morin glared again: "What are you worried about? We're not really here to do anything bad. We just need to stay here for a while, then we can go back and report. We'll just say we didn't succeed, not that we didn't do it, and we'll get away with it."

Dazhuang understood again and thought it made a lot of sense, which immediately improved his mood.

Then Morin and Da Zhuang arrived at the village.

The bishop of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest and Health in the village immediately recognized Morin's true nature and reprimanded him, "Didn't your mentor teach you how to resist temptation? How did you get into this state? And didn't we say we didn't need any support recently? Why are people still coming?"

The bishop of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest and Health looked Morin up and down, then at the simple-minded Da Zhuang, and immediately understood.

It's probably because the teaching staff couldn't keep up with the workload, so they arranged for a group of people to learn on the job under these older folks.

This was a good idea. Although the two men didn't seem very capable, they were still two of their own and would still be of some use. Therefore, the old bishop didn't push them away and simply settled them down.

Members of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest and Health certainly have ways to determine whether someone is a follower of the Goddess of Darkness and Abundance.

But this Morin is clearly not like that. The followers of the Goddess of Dark Abundance are twisted and obsessed with desire, mad and unpredictable, while this Morin, although somewhat corrupted by the power of the Mother Goddess, is probably still inexperienced in matters of the heart...

In any case, they could never be bad kids.

As for Dazhuang, he looks like someone who doesn't know anything. He's probably Molin's brother or something.

Dazhuang seems to listen to Molin in everything, and since Molin isn't a bad kid, Dazhuang obviously won't have any problems either.

Molin and Dazhuang were very puzzled.

Upon entering the village, they were recognized by members of what appeared to be a very high-ranking cult of the goddess of abundance and health.

But this self-proclaimed bishop seems to be the one Rand calls the enemy of evil.

But this bishop seems to be no different from them, a cultist who should be condemned by everyone. What is going on?

Could it be because they have successfully infiltrated Rand's inner circle?

This is unlikely.

Morin had already heard that no evil could hide before Rand, and indeed it was true; none of their colleagues who approached the capital of the Duchy of the Moon had ever returned.

So what is the current situation?
……

And Rand is also preparing to personally deal with the issue of cults.

He possesses the ability to distinguish between friend and foe, an ability that would be incredibly powerful if it weren't flawed, but unfortunately it is.

The problem lies somewhere, and RAND has yet to solve it.

Aside from that, it's pretty good to use.

As for why Rand didn't use this ability when they were in the elven forest town...

That's because back in the elven forest, even in the reformist elven towns, the vast majority of elves were hostile to Rand.

They didn't attack Rand only because they knew they needed him and were no match for him, not because they liked him or wanted to stand on his side.

Rand's ability is quite useful when searching for cultists. With signs of a resurgence of cults, Rand plans to patrol his territory.

(End of this chapter)