Devil's Bible

Chapter 142: The Lack of Power
When Isabella found Nemes, he was handing the corrected documents to Kru.

As Isabella watched Kru take the documents and leave the room, she couldn't help but glance at him a couple more times.

Especially the glasses the other person was wearing.

Before he could take a closer look, Al beside him asked a question first.

"Great Knight, why do you cooperate with those smugglers?" Al questioned sharply, looking at Nemus as if he were a criminal.

It has to be said that Al is indeed pure, so pure it's sick.

Isabella hadn't expected Al to be so brave, regardless of whether there was any evidence or whether the matter had been definitively classified.

In terms of the superior-subordinate relationship alone, Al has no right to question in this way.

Even the adjudication team can only come and conduct an investigation.

Unless the evidence is conclusive and the matter escalates to the point where Nemus loses his title as Grand Knight, no one else can question him so loudly.

Nemes looked up at Isabella before turning to Al.

"Medical expenses are three gold coins, food expenses are three gold coins, training medicine is seven gold coins, and I won't even mention other miscellaneous expenses. All told, Al, you probably owe me thirteen gold coins." Nems didn't directly answer the question, but said this instead.

“There are no such expenses, paladin training…” Al immediately retorted, he had nothing to do with a villain like Nemus who cooperated with smugglers.

“Indeed, there is.” Isabella’s testimony interrupted Al.

"Whether it's a paladin or a priest, or even a member of the church, it requires a lot of money from the moment they join."

Gold coins have strong purchasing power, but everything belonging to the clergy is valued in gold.

"The church in Tailwind Town is in serious financial trouble," Nemus said seriously at this moment.

"Before I took over, the trainee paladins not only didn't receive a salary, but they also had to pay for many things themselves."

"Given your financial situation, even if you joined the church, you wouldn't be qualified to truly become a trainee paladin."

Paladins are much cheaper to train than spellcasters, but that's only relative.

Compared to ordinary people, each paladin consumes the resources that an ordinary person would consume in a month or even more each day.

From treating potential respiratory, lung, and even systemic damage caused by breathing exercises, to special meat supplements, and certain auxiliary materials needed during cultivation.

These things all cost money. It's fine for one or two trainee paladins, but the problem is that the church needs to support quite a few trainees.

In addition, the same was true in other places, where church clergy had previously received very few benefits.

“Even so, I would rather not be a paladin than have the church cooperate with smugglers as a price.” Al remained steadfast in his conviction.

A mistake is a mistake; there's no way to admit that something is right just because you're compromising with reality.

"Alright, Al, you can leave now. I'll ask around and explain things to you later." Isabella wasn't blindly convinced that Nemes was right, but she also knew that Al was being too idealistic. He wouldn't get any answers here and would only get more and more stuck in his own thoughts.

Perhaps if we delve deeper into this topic, the other person's worldview will collapse, and they may end up ruining themselves.

After Al left, Nems continued speaking.

"The entire church in Baiwei Town was already rotten to the core."

“It’s not that Baiwei Town is poor, it’s that the church in Baiwei Town is poor.” What Nemus said was true.

“Clergy of all ranks form large and small groups, and then they plunder all the benefits, leaving the church itself with limited benefits.”

"This creates a vicious cycle: new clergy members can't get many resources from the church, so they can only choose to join or build various small circles to obtain resources in various ways."

"Is it because of the changes in recent years again?" Isabella asked, troubled. "Not just that," Nemus said, "it's due to a combination of factors."

“Previously, the church could suppress these people by monopolizing legitimate advancement resources, but now the resources, mainly whale oil and holy baptism, are gone.”

It can only be said that the God of Discipline had a problem, which triggered a chain reaction.

There are two types of baptisms: the larger one is called the Grand Baptism, and the smaller one is called the Pilgrimage.

Pilgrimages can help people upgrade from Blackstone to Steel.

The Great Sacrifice can help Iron-type plants reach their maximum value and become Gold-type plants.

Because of these two special methods, the church was previously able to use them to balance the clergy.

At that time, as long as the clergy still had the slightest desire for advancement, they dared not go too far.

So the church's income was quite good at that time.

Until problems arose with baptisms, both major and minor, the benefits that clergy could obtain from the church were greatly reduced.

As a result, a series of problems arose.

This led to the church's previous state, where internal and external personnel joined forces to form various interest groups and make a fortune.

“Of these money-making businesses, smuggling is the most difficult to prohibit, and the profits are also quite considerable.” Nemes explained his ‘reasons’: “Various nobles, and even some merchant houses, have industrial parks for whale products.”

"These things are the main resources used for cultivation."

"Only by allowing it to circulate will it generate revenue and fill the void in the church."

"This is also one of the best ways to transform church power."

The church's power is dwindling, and if it doesn't use its power to profit from smuggling, then the church is doomed.

Without the church's involvement, whale product smuggling will only transform from its current stable mode of operation into a frenzied one.

As quantities decreased, prices surged.

Everyone's needs for spiritual practice will change accordingly.

In the pursuit of more resources and wealth, chaos is inevitable.

Once chaos ensues, the church's power, credibility, and so on will decline.

"By then, the church will only face bigger problems, which will definitely affect Qiquan City."

"Now we can only let the Azure Whale suffer, and I'll take the blame," Nemus said with a helpless expression.

Isabella looked at Nems, and although she couldn't read much emotion from him, she could still tell that Nems was in a predicament.

And regardless of Nems's purpose, the dilemma is what it is.

Similarly, Nemes truly shared his resources, bringing considerable benefits to the church members.

Whether it's training more paladins and apprentices, or building more outposts to maintain order.

Nemes did get things done, and he did stabilize the order of the church.

As things stand, unless the smuggling becomes widely known, Airspring City will definitely not punish Nemus.

(End of this chapter)