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

"What a coincidence?" Ellie was a little skeptical.

Rand nodded: "I really don't want to believe it either."

Ellie rolled her eyes: "If I do your makeup and someone recognizes you, it'll be a big problem."

Ellie and Olena now completely trust Rand, at least when faced with the possibility that Rand might be the leader of that terrifying cult, they choose to believe him without hesitation.

They had known Rand for almost a year, and it was obvious what he had been up to all this time. There was no way that someone like him could be the legendary cult leader who wanted to turn the world into a breeding ground for evil.

Lysa, Olena, and Elsa, who had originally planned to just watch Rand do his makeup casually, also came over to help.

Lysa recognized him immediately, but for Elsa, it didn't matter what Rand was.

As soon as Rand showed them the wanted poster, they realized the seriousness of the problem.

It's actually quite normal that I didn't recognize Rand's face before. It's the same in modern times. Apart from the police, very few ordinary citizens would carefully look at a wanted poster in an attempt to make a fortune.

While the name Rand is widely known, not many people actually know what he looks like.

But we can't afford to gamble, since they all have the same name. Although there are many people named Rand, if they also look alike, it would be a big problem.

After everyone had finished their makeup, Rand led his men to the Lord's Hall, where Tanl had been waiting for some time.

Seeing that the group of people, who were originally so distinctive, had become so ordinary, Tanl couldn't help but nod, noting that he possessed some of the skill he had shown when he disguised himself and infiltrated the hideout.

Rand said, "I have a second layer of insurance."

Everyone present sat in their respective seats. Now that Elsa had officially joined the hideout and become a full member, she was given a seat in the Lord's Hall, the third one on the right.

Everyone listened attentively. Although they were close in private, Rand's prestige was very high in a public setting like the Lord's Hall.

Everyone had complete faith in Rand's choice and was willing to obey Rand's will.

Rand sat in his stone lord's chair covered with animal skins and said, "We can tear off the Torch Church's tiger skin."

Upon hearing this, Tanl, who had been quite calm, became somewhat uneasy.

Rand continued his analysis: "Tan's attire is very similar to that of a paladin from the Church of the Torch."

In fact, Rand suspected that Tanl was a heretical knight of the Torch Church, but he had no evidence.

Tanl was sweating profusely. Although he believed that even if his identity were exposed now, Rand would still choose to continue to trust him, the fact that his disguise had been revealed still made him very uncomfortable.

"So I think the nobles of the Frostmoon Kingdom think the same way, otherwise there are many reasons why our strength is hard to explain, and our relationship with the White King is also hard to explain."

Everyone fell silent. Generally, only earls with real power are qualified to hire top-level professionals, and even then, they are not guaranteed to be able to. Usually, only the royal family can control multiple top-level professionals.

However, in a small crescent-shaped territory, there are two top-level professionals and one who is suspected to be a top-level professional.

Although Ryza wouldn't normally resort to violence, it's still difficult to explain why.

However, if this is interpreted as the Torch Church's stronghold in the Northern Union, it becomes much more understandable.

The Torch Church has quite a few powerful figures, and it's entirely plausible that one of its cardinals might want a piece of the pie in the Northern Union.

In peacetime, these noble families would certainly unite to resist the invasion of religious forces, but faced with this impending civil war, they would definitely unite all forces that could be united.

If we can win the civil war, we'll have plenty of surplus fiefdoms and property, and we can easily share some with the Torch Church members.

"So we could easily disguise ourselves as members of the Torch Church, like a bishop trying to find a way out for his illegitimate son?" Rand blinked.

Tanl breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed to be just a coincidence; he hadn't been exposed. Sure enough, his level of treachery was beyond even the discerning eye of someone as wise as the Divine Envoy of Land.

Then Rand continued, "Leave this to Tanl. Do a good job of disguising yourself and make the Second Prince's people believe that we are from the Torch Church, or at least that we have some connection."

Rand could also try to intimidate the White King, but doing so would easily lead to him becoming too powerful and ultimately benefiting the White King. Moreover, doing so could also put Ellie and Olenna in danger.

The White King has many enemies outside, and if he is targeted, the cooperation between Rand and the White King may have to end prematurely.

However, invoking the Torch Church's name carries absolutely no such risk.

Because the Torch Church will be finished sooner or later.

The Church of the Torch is steadily declining in prestige and will soon lose its overwhelming influence over all human nations, and its stronghold in the Frostmoon Kingdom will soon be beyond its reach.

At that time, RAND will have a great deal of autonomy, whether it continues to act under someone else's coattails or changes its stance.

Upon hearing this, Tanl broke out in a cold sweat again.

He always felt that Rand's words had a hidden meaning, but he didn't dare to probe.

He was confident he could handle the disguise as being connected to the Torch Church, but he was worried that if he did it too well, his secret would be discovered.

He wasn't sure if Rand had actually figured out his identity.

Chapter 78 Fried Chicken, Second Prince

The people in the lord's hall all twitched their noses as they watched Rand fish the golden-yellow chicken legs out of the pot.

They knew very well that Rand had a very discerning palate. Ever since the hideout became wealthy, Rand always added spices to the meat he ate. He even researched ways to remove the fishy smell, although the results weren't very good.

The chicken was marinated with salt yesterday when Rand suggested it. Today, it was coated with flour and fried in oil until golden brown and crispy.

The fragrance quickly filled the lord's hall.

Although Ellie was initially strongly opposed to it being served in such a solemn and ceremonial place as the Lord's Hall, now that the fried chicken was out, everyone's eyes were fixed on it.

The person who invented fried chicken is truly a legendary figure. With simple marinating and frying, he created the ultimate delicacy that has swept the world.

Although in Rand's past life, fried chicken could have more seasonings added, now it's just a simple process, but the flavor won't be much worse.

Rand didn't eat first, but instead gave everyone present a plate and put a few pieces of fried chicken on it.

Then everyone enjoyed the fried chicken together.

"How does it taste?" This wasn't a question, because even Rand's discerning palate found the taste quite good.

It's much better than all the food I've eaten before.

“It’s delicious.” Ellie nodded. “The cost isn’t high either. We can add this dish to the tavern at the resort; it’ll definitely sell well.”

Rand hadn't initially thought about making money from this; he had just relaxed and was thinking about making something delicious, but he only came up with the idea right before setting off.

However, for now, the priority is still the soldiers who are about to depart.

“I’m going to allocate some to the soldiers going to war.” After finishing his fried chicken, Rand wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. “We’re about to set off, so let’s eat something good before we fight to the death.”

In the past, before meeting Rand, among the people in the Lord's Hall, perhaps only Tanl would care a little about the soldiers' welfare.

But now, everyone present has witnessed the training of the militia and their occasional battles against bandits. Their combat effectiveness is evident to all, and it proves that Rand's military training strategy is entirely correct.

“There aren’t that many chickens at the hideout,” Olena said. As her adjutant, she knew far more about the details of the hideout than Rand did.

“Then cut some meat, so everyone can at least have a taste.” Rand didn’t care; productivity was low right now.

At this fried chicken feast in the lord's hall, he himself only ate one chicken leg and two pieces of chicken. It was already quite good that his soldiers could taste it.

Keep it as a memento; if you want more, then exchange it for battlefield merits.

Before setting off, Rand entrusted all the affairs of the hideout to Serth and Serai, and also selected all the people previously absorbed from the hideout of the God of War for centralized management.

Furthermore, due to improved relations with the Adventurers' Guild, they have recruited many skilled adventurers to maintain order. As long as a large number of cultists of the God of Struggle do not arrive, there will be no trouble in the rear.

…………

Perhaps due to their close relationship as brothers-in-law, the second prince's camp was located in Blackbrown City, the Earl of Blackbrown. However, since the return of the garrison from the North, the defenses here have been more than doubled.

After Rand handed over the invitation letter from Earl of Blackbrown, he entered Blackbrown City, while about 260 soldiers set up camp outside the city.

Tanl's armor at this moment had a layer of white paint applied over the black paint, making it look somewhat like the standard armor of the paladins of the Torch Church, but not quite. Who knows how much thought Tanl put into making it look like this.

Before the war even started, Tanl already felt exhausted. He finally understood what it was like to be a mole, living in constant fear. Even though he was no longer a mole, he still had to live in fear.

At first glance, it didn't seem particularly special. Once inside the tent, only Tanl and Rand were there; everyone else was kept outside.

However, they were not asked to remove their weapons, probably due to cultural reasons; people in the North always carry their weapons.

The second prince was a young man who looked to be around thirty years old, but in this era where life expectancy was generally short, he could be considered middle-aged.

Generally speaking, minor characters like Rand and Tanl are not qualified to meet someone of the prince's caliber.

However, since this is Black Brown City, and Earl Black Brown highly regards the Abundant Mercenary Group, and the Second Prince had also heard about the battle against Marquis Greenleaf's mercenaries across the stream.

Therefore, the second prince also wanted to meet Tanl, who was suspected to be a top-level professional, as well as Rand, the actual controller of Crescent Moon Territory.

There were many people in the tent. Rand could vaguely tell which one was Earl Black Brown, but as for the others, the half-baked heraldic knowledge that Rand had just learned on the way here was not enough for him to distinguish who was who.

Fortunately, none of the nobles in these tents came over to greet them; there were almost no low-ranking nobles present, and even a duke was there.

When they met the second prince, Rand and Tanl bowed. That's the good thing about the aristocratic system. Once you are recognized, you are no longer a commoner. Even a minor baron only needs to perform standard aristocratic etiquette when he meets the king, without having to perform a grand bow.

When the second prince saw Tanl approaching, he asked him several questions about marching and war, and Tanl, who possessed the "Reference," naturally answered them fluently.

Then I asked Rand a few more questions about recruiting soldiers and managing the army. Rand answered them all without holding back, but he didn’t offer any theories that were too far ahead of their time.

Rand didn't really understand military strategy; he couldn't even recite all thirty-six stratagems. But he was still very familiar with the war ideas of his ancestors.

The second prince then allowed Rand and Tanl to sit in on the war council.

This is a very good sign, because the forces of Crescent Moon Territory are not enough to keep Rand and Tanl here listening.

Since they agreed to let them listen to the Second Prince's faction's war strategy, it meant that the stronghold would be given a sufficiently important task and additional troops.

Just like when Tanl faced the Greenleaf Marquis's mercenary group before, due to his excellent command ability, the Fengrang mercenary group did not have to rush to the front line to fight like those ordinary mercenaries. Although the mission was still very dangerous, it was much better than being cannon fodder.

This is why Rand and Tanl didn't hold back when facing the Second Prince. If they did, the prince would think they were nothing special and assign them to be cannon fodder, which would be disastrous.

In fact, it was a consensus among the nobles to assign command tasks to those with excellent command abilities. Nobility was hereditary, and some nobles were good at domestic affairs, while others were good at personal martial arts. But when war broke out, no matter what you were good at, you had to go to the battlefield.

Therefore, many nobles would entrust their troops to those skilled in command. This not only resulted in fewer losses than if they commanded themselves, but also reduced a lot of energy consumption. Some of them, who were skilled in individual bravery, could prove their glory on the battlefield.

Those who are not skilled in martial arts can blend into the main force to reduce their chances of dying.

Chapter 79 Strategy, Duty, Provocation

The second prince's strategy sounded alright, and Rand didn't pretend to know anything about it and offer any opinions.

He knew that some military theories were already covered in university military training courses, and to talk about strategies from a medieval magical world would be laughable.

The second prince's faction's strategy was simple: relying on having more troops than the third prince's faction, they concentrated all their forces and slowly overwhelmed the enemy, thus perfectly avoiding the possibility of being defeated one by one.

The second prince himself will also accompany the army, rather than stay in the rear, to avoid being caught off guard by the enemy's rear.

If the second prince were lost, the legal basis for this war of kings would be over. Rand knew very well that the second prince was protected by several top-level professionals, and also had an elite knight order by his side.