I was an apprentice in Ferren

Chapter 148 Reality
The moon elf frowned and remained silent for a long time before shaking her head: "But this is the opposite of reality. If one's perception is not high enough, one cannot even perceive the blessings of the gods, nor can one perceive those powerful divine arts."

"That's your priests' problem. Normally, gods need to expend their own divine power to cast divine spells. A true priest, even without divine spells, should be able to increase their followers exponentially. Divine spells are just a convenient way for you to gain power and more easily perform miracles. In other words, it's your priests' incompetence that the gods can only give you divine spells to make it easier for you to acquire them and expand your followers!"

The group stared in disbelief, and even the moon elf's pupils momentarily glazed over. After a long pause, she said, "Your words seem somewhat biased. Even the evil god grants priests divine magic; if we don't, wouldn't we be at a disadvantage?"

"The evil gods were suppressed because there were more benevolent gods, not because your priests were so capable that good triumphed over evil. On the contrary, it could be said that they were carrying the burden all along. I don't think some gods who don't care about believers are any weaker."

"Initially, this was merely a supplementary means, but you've become dependent on it. Now, when you do things for the gods, you even consider your own gains and losses first, instead of thinking about the gods at all. If this can be called piety, then I think mages are also very pious, after all, they truly revere arcane magic and knowledge, far more so than you."

The scene suddenly turned as cold as winter. The elf standing to the side had lost all his previous arrogance and dared not even breathe loudly. The moon elf frowned and thought for a long time: "What you said makes some sense, but without the assistance of divine magic, it is probably too difficult to develop followers."

"Difficult? It's not uncommon for mortals to establish sects with over a million members. Some charismatic bards can also attract tens of thousands of fervent listeners. Getting them to donate money, goods, or even their lives is no problem. Do they have divine powers? They rely on their own strength, don't they?"

DuPont sneered, “Most priests worship God because they crave more power and real-world authority. They don’t really think about how to care for their god. That’s why there are far fewer legendary priests than legendary mages. Your faith is not sincere, and you can’t gain power on your own. At most, you just get a head start than mages.”

“Now, you clergy are unwilling to even do basic work like spreading the faith in the countryside. Your so-called piety is a joke. If I were the god above you every day, I would be annoyed to see you putting on such a show. I would have no mood to bestow power upon you. Just wait and see!”

Dupont's words plunged the tavern into silence once more. After a long while, the moon elf nodded and sighed, "What you said isn't entirely correct, but it does make some sense. However, the faith that followed Avando is now mainly worshipped by us moon elves, while other elves worship their own gods. Do you have any objections to this situation?"

"If there's no way, create a way! If you can't do it yourself, why don't you find other help?" DuPont took a sip of water to moisten his throat. "Even if other races don't recognize your racial god, you can have more children to expand your population. I remember the Queen of the Eternal Island had more than ten children, so she had more followers, didn't she? Oh, by the way, this queen's surname is also Moonflower, isn't it?"

As DuPont's words became increasingly absurd, the Sun Elf, who had been silent until now, frowned. Just as she was about to remind him, Moonflower nodded and said, "That is indeed my mother."

"Oh~" DuPont let out a long sigh, dodging an unfriendly elbow from the paladin beside him, and said with a grin, "So you're a princess after all. Are you here to debate with me or to find a solution? If it's the latter, then we'll have to charge for chatting. Knowledge is priceless."

“Indeed.” The moon elf said, setting down a gem. “I must say that I have benefited greatly from talking with you. It seems that the rumors I heard in Yarakh were just made up. We can have a formal discussion in the future.”

The Moon Elf then led the others away. DuPont watched as the priceless gem, the Summoner's Hand, returned: "Oh, just one? By the way, if you ever need a large sum of money for a child, you can come to me!"

Whether they had overheard DuPont's words or not, the elves staggered as they left, then quickly took a few steps and disappeared. The paladin, seeing them gone, gritted his teeth and punched a few times, but DuPont casually caught the punches: "Ah, it's so easy to make money off these big shots. They just casually gave me a thousand gold coins. I don't need to touch my savings to buy wine."

"That's because you're shameless enough to ask for it!" Deva poked DuPont's kidney with her finger: "You know she's a princess and you still talk nonsense. If this were taken seriously, it could be considered a diplomatic incident. If you encountered someone with a bad temper, you might end up in jail. You're really audacious."

You have to take what I mean the other way around. I just want them to think I'm a thug and not to bother me again.

Dupont pulled the paladin away: "Whether it's a sun elf or a moon elf, they're the drow's favorite sacrifices. Getting too close to them might suddenly send an elite drow squad out from underground to kidnap someone. We onlookers would get hacked to pieces too; it's not worth it." "Really..." the paladin hesitated, "If that's possible, then we have to protect her."

"So many high-ranking members of the Harua Council don't care about this nonsense, why should we country bumpkins worry about it?" DuPont directly rejected the idea: "Just relax. Thinking too much about random things can easily lead to premature aging. Paladins need legendary strength to maintain their youth, and we're still a long way from that."

Deva felt a chill run down her spine: "Never mind, I'll go check it out. I'm on duty tomorrow morning. Is there anything you need to do?"

"Let's go up the mountain tomorrow and see if we can find any deeds to take over and benefit the local people. As for today, you should come with me to buy some bars first. If they can come through the teleportation array, they must have plenty of security and money. Even if Zhuo Er really wanted to come, he probably wouldn't be able to locate them. If you insist on going, people might think you're following them."

Under the cover of night and with a warm evening breeze blowing, the two strolled leisurely to the distillery on the outskirts of the city, chatting idly. From afar, they could smell the aroma of malt.

With Deva's help, the communication went very smoothly. A 100-liter barrel of beer cost 18 gold, and buying it with the wooden barrel would cost an extra 2 silver.

DuPont didn't feel bad spending the free gold coins, so he bought 30 barrels in one go, clearing out tonight's stock in one go. The barrels took up quite a bit of space in his storage bag.

Luckily, I made a space bag that doesn't take up much weight; otherwise, I would have had to rent a horse-drawn carriage to take all of these things with me.

"Next time you want more, it's best to pre-order. Our Bergman beer is still selling very well." The dwarf brewmaster, who looked a little drunk, was Bergman himself. "It's only because of this captain that we can't ship tomorrow."

"30 barrels will affect shipments? Then we'll need to expand." DuPont did the math; the profit margin wasn't huge, but it could significantly boost production. "Are you interested in finding shareholders?"

“Money is no problem, but the wheat used to brew Bergman has to be carefully selected. Not just any malt can be used to make beer, and the price is high if you buy it from suppliers.” Bergman said with some regret, “Haruah is still a bit small. There are only so many places suitable for growing wheat. If you leave Haruah, there are other places with slightly worse beer. Although the taste is slightly inferior, you get what you pay for. Beers aren’t that picky, and I can make quite a bit of money.”

"Are you interested in spirits? How are they made in other places?" DuPont thought of distilled spirits: "They're also made from grains, the liquor is clear and the aroma is rich, but the alcohol content is high and it's easy to get drunk. If you're interested, I can teach you."

"Clear spirits?" Bergman wasn't interested in talking about anything else, but he was curious about the dwarf. "Whether you get drunk or not isn't really important. We like to drink ale, which is refreshing, thirst-quenching, and tasty. Only those old drunkards who can't sleep without drinking care about getting drunk. We value the taste more."

Damn, it seems like selling liquor isn't the way to get rich: "Can I see your factory?"

Bergman naturally disagreed with this, but upon entering the factory, he discovered that several workers were secretly drinking while working, and some were even smoking homemade cigarettes while working, with the ashes scattered freely. He couldn't see where they landed because it was dark.

Bergman was immediately embarrassed after seeing this. He glanced at the paladin's unpleasant expression and coughed, "What's going on? Get back to work. Don't you want your money back?"

(End of this chapter)