The victory of a religion in another world is so easy?

……

Rand didn't know how many kings there were in this world, but it certainly wouldn't exceed the number on his fingers. He only remembered a few with good-looking character designs, such as the three mentioned above, and one of the main characters was a blood relative of the White King.

And what Rand feared still happened.

Just as Rand was actively directing and arranging the reconstruction of Takina Village, which was then named the third hideout, two adventurers arrived not far from the hideout, riding horses that looked priceless and wearing high-end equipment that was unimaginable to ordinary adventurers.

At this time, Rand was unaware that he was being targeted. Since defeating Takina Village, the village wars across the entire Baron territory seemed to have gradually subsided, and now the vast Baron territory had less than three villages left.

The rapid annexation of villages led to a dramatic expansion of village power, and the term "villagers" no longer seems appropriate to describe the surviving villagers.

They should be called robbers on the verge of awakening.

However, the stronghold is still the most powerful force, including the baron stationed there.

With frontline forces stretched thin, waves of troops were being redeployed to the front lines. If the Baron were to leave his tortoise-shell castle and engage in a full-scale battle with the forces of the Rand stronghold, he would undoubtedly be defeated.

Rand had long coveted this baronship, and he was well aware of the general trend that was about to unfold. After a while, the Torch Church, located in the center, would step in to mediate, and then the Kingdom of Lenza would give him a way out and decisively withdraw its troops.

And Rand was waiting for this opportunity; there was no way the baron would stay in the castle like a coward forever.

However, at this point, Rand still needs to be prepared, at least to finish eating what's in his mouth and then digest it.

Taran stood trembling beside Rand, with Shasa, the elite minotaur leader, standing next to him, still reeking of blood.

Now, Site No. 2 is incorporated into the village of Takina at this time, and Rand named it Site No. 3.

Tanl then resumed his role as Rand's adjutant.

In the previous battle at the entrance of the hideout, the hideout's forces suffered two casualties, with minor injuries not counted.

Twenty young men and women were captured, along with five children.

At this point, the strength of the stronghold expanded rapidly, becoming 25 original stronghold members + 25 new stronghold members + 8 Tauren. Not counting Tanel, Land, and Lysa, the total population was 58.

Rand is not in a hurry to attack other villages. He will wait until he finds an opportunity to kill the baron who has crawled out of his shell and take back enough food. Then he will have the opportunity to completely annex other villages, instead of painfully killing many good soldiers as he is now.

And a very crucial point is that a large number of iron weapons were seized from Village Chief Taran. After careful counting, it turned out to be enough iron weapons to arm fifty people. It is unknown what Taran did before.

The only pity is that there is no armor, otherwise Rand would have a chance to break through the Baron's tortoise shell and see if the Baroness is still charming!

“Taran!” Rand called out the name of the former village chief.

Taran immediately agreed. This man, who had once been a powerful figure in the bandit world, now had his face scrunched up like a chrysanthemum, his expression full of flattery.

“From now on, this place will be called Site Number Three.” Rand smiled, knowing his naming skills were terrible. “Outside the village, it will still be called Takina Village, and you will be the village chief from now on.”

Of course, nowadays the villagers in the No. 3 den are mostly religious believers, with only a small number of the original villagers of Takina Village remaining. The vast majority of the villagers have been brought to the No. 1 den.

Actually, it wouldn't cause any problems if Taran led the original villagers of Takina Village to Rand, but there was no need to take the risk, lest the fierce and decisive old man think there was a real opportunity, and it would be bad if he stabbed him in the back at some crucial moment in the future.

This arrangement is just right. It leaves Taran a position as village chief, prevents the people at the No. 1 hideout from having any wild ideas, shows Rand's magnanimity, and shows that he really intends to absorb them rather than treat them as waste.

After a brief moment of confusion, Taran quickly understood what Rand meant and respectfully bowed his head, saying, "Please rest assured, I will keep a close eye on things here, and there will absolutely be no problems."

"No need for that. Just don't do anything you shouldn't in private. My people will be watching you." Rand gave a brief warning and then stopped paying attention to Taran, because Tanl was coming over.

Tanl walked over; thanks to his excellent literacy skills and relatively normal conduct, he had been promoted to Rand's second-in-command.

He stood beside Rand, as always, as reassuring as an iron tower.

He was a little embarrassed to look at Rand, because he felt that his little secret had been seen through.

Previously, when Land disguised himself as the village chief of the second hideout, he perfectly protected the divine messenger from a possible humiliation, but Land did not react at all. He was actually a little disappointed, even though he clearly did not want Land to know.

But in the past few days he had heard that Rand had taken Thalys and Thalys to town to help him avenge his humiliation.

He felt ashamed again, knowing full well that he shouldn't have thought that way before.

However, there was still one problem: he felt there was something wrong with the identity of this Rand envoy!

This messenger is far too normal. He's been working under him for so long, and I've never seen him do anything truly evil. Now those minotaurs have gained the same status and position as the cultists, instead of being treated as slaves as before.

He had also read Rand's newly compiled doctrine, which was not only somewhat similar to the original doctrine he had memorized, but also completely unrelated.

Although it has only been written a few pages so far, after looking at it, he even felt that it was a new doctrine of the Torch Church. No, perhaps even the newest doctrine of the Torch Church would not be as practical and profound.

It's less of a doctrine and more of a guide to life.

Tanl looked at Rand suspiciously, wondering if this Rand messenger was also an undercover agent like him, otherwise why would he do this?

Rand felt a little uncomfortable under Tanl's gaze, then immediately understood what he meant: Tanl was again suspecting that he wasn't some legitimate cult messenger!

Although the hideout now has the elf Lysa to keep Tanl in check, making him less afraid, the hideout could still very well fall apart if it is exposed.

I've been far too complacent lately, which is terrible!

Chapter 21 The Incomplete Main Character Group

Rand decided to pretend he hadn't noticed Tanl's suspicions, having recently gained a new understanding of playing the role of a divine messenger.

That means the more you care, the less convincing your acting will be. I, Rand, am the messenger of the Mother Goddess. I have always acted openly and honestly, and I have no need to explain myself to anyone.

The main problem is that he doesn't know how to dispel Tanl's suspicions, and being anxious about gains and losses only makes him more likely to reveal more flaws.

Tanl knew it wasn't good to keep staring at the divine messenger, so he looked at him suspiciously for a while before looking away. He didn't know what he was thinking anymore, but being an adjutant in this strange cult den was much more comfortable than sitting on the sidelines at the Torch Church headquarters.

Not far away, two adventurers riding magnificent steeds whispered to each other for a while.

"Oleena, is the legendary forge ruins really here?"

The woman, called Olena, unfolded the old map and carefully examined the markings on it: "It should be right here, if this map is genuine."

"How could this map be fake?" The girl who spoke first pouted, a sense of foreboding flashing through her mind. Could her adventure be about to end because of a wrong map? "I found this in my sister's study. It can't be fake, can it?"

“Ellie, generally speaking, no one dares to offend the White King’s majesty.” Olena urged the horses on. The surrounding area had become a difficult mountain path, no longer suitable for horses to travel. They had to choose their route carefully, otherwise even the best horses might stumble. “But if every treasure map could lead to the corresponding treasure, the world would be full of treasure hunters by now.”

If Rand were there, he would definitely agree. When he used to play games online, the happiest thing for him was watching those video creators buy a fake treasure map, go through all sorts of hardships, and end up finding nothing.

But for players with extremely low failure costs, the fun of treasure hunting is like a lottery, irresistible. There will always be lucky ones who can find priceless treasures through a certain treasure map.

In the real world, however, few people would be willing to waste time verifying the authenticity of a treasure map.

After following the treasure map for a while along a mountain path, Ellie was somewhat discouraged. She even suspected that Olena, who had never made a mistake in the past, had misread the map. However, even after taking the map herself, she still couldn't find the location of the ruins.

It seems that this treasure map is indeed fake.

Now they can only find a nearby village to rest for a while. Ellie is completely unwilling to go back like this. She finally managed to sneak out of the house while her sister was away on a business trip. If she were to go back like this, wouldn't she be laughed at by her sister? Just thinking about her sister's wicked smile made Ellie's blood boil.

She was taken care of by her older sister when she was very young. She didn't know what her sister was like to others, but she was always very good to her.

It was her older sister, whom outsiders called the White King, who had a strange and wicked sense of humor and loved to tease her. Every time her sister gave her a mischievous smile, she was in for trouble.

So, it seems my sister had a mischievous smile on her face before she went on her business trip. Could it be that this wrong map was specially prepared for her by my sister? How awful!

So, outsiders don't even know that the legendary White King, Calant, is a woman. Although some may doubt the gender of the handsome White King, no one dares to actually test the waters.

However, in Ellie's eyes, the high and mighty White King was nothing more than a naughty older sister who liked to tease her.

"That wretched White King, I'll teach you a lesson when I get home," Ellie thought, waving her little fist.

The nearest village is in a remote mountain valley. Although it's a bit strange that there would be a village in such an inaccessible place, it's still more suitable to choose the village than to camp in the wild, which is fraught with danger and mosquitoes.

By this time, Rand had returned to his hideout. When he heard his men say that a woman in white had come to stay, his heart skipped a beat.

Is it really true that what you wish for comes true? Is the legendary Murphy's Law really that accurate?

Rand went to greet them silently.

Two adventurers dressed in white: a beautiful adult woman in an almost pure white fur coat and a young girl in white clothes, but with many decorations.

Unlike the main characters he remembered, he had no recollection of the beautiful woman in the white fur coat. He was certain that the girl was a member of the main characters, but where were her teammates?

Logically speaking, he had only been in this world for about a month, so he shouldn't have caused such a huge impact. Why is this happening? The few who were supposed to come on the adventure with her and become legends in the future did not appear at all.

And they actually came to the hideout! Why didn't they just go to the ruins? Why did they have to come to the hideout?

However, on the surface, Rand remained calm and tried to play the role of a normal village leader. After asking their names and purpose of visit, he arranged empty rooms for them.

It's fortunate that he assigned all the Tauren to clear out territory at location number three, otherwise they would probably be fighting now.

As night fell, Ellie leaned closer to Olena and whispered, "Olena, is this really a village? I smell a strong stench of blood. There must be fresh corpses buried nearby."

The woman called Olena twitched her nose and said softly, "I felt it too. We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning."

If they left overnight and were discovered, it would be difficult to explain. Although Olena was also a top-level professional, if this place were a bandit stronghold or a gathering place of evil forces, it would be very difficult for her to protect Ellie and get her away unscathed if they surrounded it.

As a protector, it is undoubtedly a failure if the one being protected gets injured.

However, I'm not too worried. Top-tier professionals are extremely rare. It's unlikely that there would be top-tier professionals in such a remote mountain village.

She just needs to wait until tonight is over, then she can leave with Ellie. She guesses that the young village chief doesn't want to mess with her either, so they can just live in peace.

Ellie nodded in agreement with Olena's words. She was the kind of person with a strong sense of justice, but in her eyes, standing up for an unknown and inexplicable corpse was far less important than not causing Olena any trouble.

After all, if something really happens, it will be Olena who protects her, and if Olena gets hurt while protecting her, she will definitely feel guilty for a long time.

As for what happened here, once I leave and go home, I can tell my sister, and my subordinates will naturally provide an answer.

Just as Olena thought, Rand didn't want to cause trouble. If he really clashed with these two, it's hard to say whether this girl named Ellie had any protagonist's halo.

Even without the protagonist's halo, it would be very difficult to deal with them even if their hideout was destroyed.

He was unsure about the adult woman named Olena, but he was quite certain that Ellie was a blood relative of the White King.

If something were to happen to her here, Rand's adventure in the Deep Moon world would come to an abrupt end.

Chapter 22 I, Rand, originally wanted to be an upright person (Bonus Chapter)

Just in the middle of the night, when Rand thought the matter was over, a dazzling white light burst forth from the room that was supposedly arranged for the main characters.

At this moment, Rand was handling official business in the sacrificial chamber with the lights on. He hadn't gone to sleep yet, and the dazzling white light stung his eyes.

Olena was sweating profusely. The white light she had just seen was emitted by a high-level ritual artifact of the Torch Church. She didn't know why there had been no warning beforehand, and it shattered when it reached the critical point.

The fact that a high-level ritual artifact could be damaged without any direct physical attack from the outside world means that the evil power here is ridiculously strong, which, combined with the bloody smell we smelled earlier, suggests that the evil power here is extremely strong.

It can be very easily concluded that this is a cult stronghold, and that it is inhabited by highly advanced evil beings.

White light is not only a warning, but also a last resort for protection.

Olena shouted to Ellie, "Run!"

Advanced evil creatures are far beyond the capabilities of a single human being to defeat; now she can only pray that the last rays of this ritual artifact will buy them time to escape.