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

Rand initially thought the elf was just passing by, but for some reason, she remained there for a long time, staring wide-eyed as he whipped the minotaur.

It also shakes its body from time to time. Is it angry because it thinks he is too bad and wants to punish him?

Rand glanced back at Tanl, who was studying the doctrine nearby. He had previously found Tanl annoying, but now he felt at ease.

Surely just any random elf could defeat such a powerful paladin?

Absolutely impossible!

Chapter 7 discusses how cultists remain hidden during wartime.

"May I ask what brings you here?" Although it was impolite for the elf to be spying on him from behind, Rand still decided to try to persuade her to leave with words.

"Damn it." Her cherry lips parted slightly beneath the pointed hood, and her clear voice said with a hint of anger, "You actually found out!"

Having already encountered far too many absurd things since arriving in this world, Rand was too lazy to even comment on how this elf, with most of his body exposed, dared to use the word "surprisingly" to describe being discovered.

Isn't this obviously a deliberate exposure?

“No offense intended…” Rand continued.

"Heh." The hood slipped down, revealing, as expected, a refined face. "Evil human, I've seen through your wicked desire to capture me and whip me like livestock! Stop pretending, bring it on!"

"?" Moreover, aren't white-haired, golden-eyed elves a rare breed? How can they be out and about alone without any other elves accompanying them? Aren't they afraid of being captured and used as Starrage?

While Rand was still in shock, the elf rushed forward and launched a surprise attack.

Tanl had naturally made preparations long ago, but he didn't expect to be so lucky. In just a few days, he got his third chance to show himself!

Tanl was already closer to Rand and had prepared in advance, rushing in front of Rand to block the elf.

The greatsword swept across, and the elf leaped lightly, gently drawing the bowstring, and several arrows shot out.

But it was separated by the small shield that Tanl had embedded in the back of his hand.

The brief exchange allowed both sides to understand each other's strengths and weaknesses.

An evenly matched opponent!

The elf felt her chances of winning were not small, but she was not there to win.

If we actually win, wouldn't we be able to avoid being arrested? That would be so embarrassing.

But losing to the paladin, this righteous psychopath, left her with no desire to be arrested. It seems she'll have to find another way to be defeated by this sadist herself.

I never expected that this small village would be protected by a paladin. It seems we need to reconsider our plans.

She took a few steps back: "Damn it, how can such tiny humans be so powerful? I'll let you off this time, but I'll be back!"

With that, he strode away, his steps light and agile, so that Tanl, clad in heavy armor, had little chance of catching up.

A strange, erratic sprite, but there's currently no good solution.

Rand rubbed his temples, looking a bit annoyed, and gestured for Shasa, who was watching from the sidelines, to continue with his work.

Sasa shuddered at this moment, realizing that some random elf who appeared out of nowhere actually possessed such fighting power.

As expected, the previous guess was correct; the races on the surface are indeed terrifyingly strong.

Now, Sasha is going to become a sinner in the Underdark. She went through the temporary portal to the surface without hesitation because she had no other choice at the time. In fact, there was another important reason: she still had a way to return to the Underdark.

However, she was captured by the village chief of Rand, and it was obvious that the leader of this human village would sooner or later lead his army of villagers to attack the underworld. At that time, she, Sasha, would probably be nailed to the pillar of shame in the history of the minotaurs.

The most shameless, undignified, and honorless collaborator and minotaur in history—Shasa.

It's a little shameful to think about, but it's all for the continuation of the tribe. Maybe, in time, this Rand will give the Minotaur race a place to live because of her guidance from Shasa.

Thinking about it that way, she might actually be the savior of the minotaurs.

On the other hand, since the vast majority of labor tasks were done by the minotaurs, most of the cultists and bandits were able to participate in sling training on a semi-full-time basis.

Unfortunately, there are no spare funds to purchase weapons and armor, otherwise a well-trained regular army of twenty-seven men would be quite formidable in combat.

It could even pose a threat to some weaker barons.

“My Lord! The Southern Kingdom may be coming to collect taxes.” It was Serai who spoke, with Seras standing beside him. Because they were relatively clever, they had been assigned the task of communicating with other villages.

"what?"

"We learned about this when we went to other villages to exchange supplies."

After the previous incident of being maliciously overcharged and robbed, the den temporarily changed its trading partners to villages near the town.

The area they were in now belonged to a baron's territory. The town they had been in was actually just a larger village, but the baron's residence still had a castle and a moat.

A baron would typically govern five or six villages directly and then distribute five or six villages to his knights.

This formed a structure of baronial and knightly domains.

The Kingdom of Lensa attacked, breached the Baron's castle, and looted extensively. However, only villages under the jurisdiction of a few knights were plundered; those directly under the Baron's control were taken over.

But their hideout in the ravine hadn't been affected much until now, probably because they've been more active and have attracted attention.

Whether it was going to towns to make farm tools and buy seeds, or exchanging goods in other villages to buy bread, traces were left to a considerable extent.

It's really strange that this group of cultists could keep sacrificing people from time to time without being discovered.

It felt like I was being raised as a bandit to show off.

It's also possible that transportation was inconvenient in this era, or that the original baron was incompetent and failed to conduct a population census, making it difficult to be discovered.

"Let's get ready," Rand sighed, knowing that being taxed would make things difficult.

Although Fugotan has a lot of money, it is still difficult to maintain the long-term expenses of 29 humans and 8 minotaurs. Although Rand has arranged for them to hunt wild animals to supplement their food consumption, or to grow some short-cycle crops as exchange goods.

But before the first batch of wheat was planted, the income was still insufficient to cover the expenses.

This area belongs to the territory of the Northern Union, but it is located at the border between the North and the South, so it has not yet reached the point where it needs to grow more cold-resistant oats and rye.

Currently, as a cultist messenger, he has no official title and is weak in combat. If he were to clash with a human kingdom, he would likely be wiped out very quickly.

I guess I'll have to pay taxes.

However, there may still be room for maneuver in this regard.

Since no taxes have ever actually been paid here, and the army of the Kingdom of Lenza defeated the original baron, the probability that the nobles who now govern this barony know how many people live here is extremely low.

In other words, as long as the village is made to look like something that's neither appealing nor worth abandoning, the nobles won't be able to collect much tax.

Rand climbed to a higher point in the village, or more precisely, onto Tanl's shoulder, and looked out over the entire village.

The place has changed since Rand first arrived. At least there are no more piles of manure lying around the roadside, and the main roads are now paved with gravel to prevent them from becoming too muddy and difficult to navigate on rainy days. In the distance, large tracts of what used to be wasteland have been reclaimed.

This is already a high-quality asset, so it's definitely not acceptable.

It seems the only option is to build another village elsewhere, which can also serve as an outpost to observe the current situation of the human kingdom.

The first North-South conflict will be mediated quickly, and once the war is over, taxes will likely be levied again.

This is completely unacceptable.

Fortunately, with the addition of Tauren to production, it is theoretically very fast to quickly build a simple village elsewhere.

They just hoped the nobles' tax collectors wouldn't arrive too quickly.

Chapter 8 Minotaur Civil Engineering! You are trustworthy!

To the west of the hideout, relatively close to the nearby village, Rand, whip in hand, ordered the minotaurs to pile up the timber at a designated location.

The minotaurs can now understand simple commands, and even if they don't understand something, Rand's whip will make them understand.

The most basic thatched hut is very easy to build, as long as the frame is erected.

Tie the tops of the three logs together with rope, then spread them out to form a triangle.

Divide the thatch into equal portions and tie them to the crossbeams of the grid with rope.

Then just put the roof on the frame.

Since the village being imitated was poor and had little to no resources, there was no need to repair the roads, and the furniture could be placed haphazardly. There were only two chickens in the livestock pen.

Then they dragged some animal manure onto the road to mimic the peculiar smell of a primitive village, and that was it.

Rand straightened his back and inspected the newly built hideout.

To avoid tax officials bringing ritual objects to fight against infidels, it's quite possible that they would bring some ritual objects from the church. If they did bring such objects, they might discover that this was a cult hideout.

Therefore, the people arranged to disguise themselves as villagers were all bandits. They were originally ordinary villagers, completely inept at being bandits, but quite skilled at being villagers.

After being assigned here, they quickly settled into their roles, some feeding the chickens, others tending the vegetable garden.

It would be a waste to actually cultivate a field like a den of thieves to grow wheat, but in order to maintain a sense of life, some basic production facilities still need to be prepared.

These skilled villagers quickly made up for their lack of knowledge about Rand.

Rand was with Tanl at this moment, ever since that time, although he felt that the elf was strange and didn't necessarily have any real malice towards him.

But if you were to frankly say that he doesn't avoid things because he's not afraid, then he is still afraid.

The Ranger, whose strength was comparable to Tanel's in the first expansion, couldn't possibly be an unknown figure. However, he could only recognize a few of the most famous elves, and knew nothing about the rest.

Now, Rand deeply regrets being a "cloud gamer." If he had diligently studied the game back then, he might already be surrounded by holy maidens from the Papacy on one side and an elven queen on the other.

Damn it, Rand used to read novels before he transmigrated, and now he envies those transmigrators who are familiar with the game's details and can speedrun through it, instead of waiting here for some tax collector to come and collect taxes.

At this moment, the elf who had fled earlier stood in the bushes, watching Rand from afar. He was covered in emerald green camouflage, and no one passing by could find this master of disguise in the bushes.

She gritted her teeth and glared at Rand with resentment.

She will absolutely not let this sadist get away with it; such an evil person will surely face her righteous punishment!

But the paladin always stood not far away, preventing her from having a chance to be alone with Rand and verbally criticize him.

However, she was very patient and believed that as long as she kept a close eye on him, this sadist named Rand would eventually reveal a weakness.

……

The noble tax collectors' first target was naturally not Rand's hideout.

These occupiers could not confirm the location of Rand's hideout. If it weren't for the nobles' request, the tax collectors probably wouldn't have bothered to come to their remote mountain village to see if there was anything to profit from.

Three days after Rand completed building his second hideout, three men on tall horses, dressed fairly formally, appeared in the village closest to the hideout, Takina.

This is a large village with thirty households, much larger than the outpost, and it grows flax and wheat.