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

Although it wasn't as tidy as a hideout, the land was still flat and the houses were neatly arranged.

There are also many normal livestock that are very rare in the hideout, such as some cattle and horses.

When the rider arrived, the village was in an uproar for a while, and then a relatively respectable elderly man stepped forward.

To say they were relatively decent was really just a matter of having a pair of presentable boots; otherwise, they were no different from other villagers.

He rubbed his chapped hands with some worry, then bowed to the tax official with a perfunctory greeting: "May I ask, sir, what can I do for you?"

The tax official, seated on his tall horse, tossed down a sign to identify himself: "I assume you have prepared this quarter's land rent?"

"But, but," the middle-aged villager said, bowing his head, "didn't you collect land rent before?"

The tax collector ignored these concerns. He knew, of course, that the original lord had collected taxes once, but that didn't mean they couldn't collect them again.

After all, they hadn't received the land rent that these villagers had paid last time.

What the villagers think is irrelevant; what truly matters is that if taxes aren't collected and the lord becomes displeased.

Knowing it was unavoidable, the villager hesitated for a moment, then bent down even lower, trying to plead one last time: "We...we really can't afford to pay another batch of land rent. Could you please grant us a grace period?"

The tax official chuckled. In his view, this village was far from being squeezed dry. He wasn't a first-time tax official; he'd seen it all. This old man's pretense of poverty was completely undetectable to him.

"What, do you intend to defy the lord's will?" the tax collector said. "The lord has given the order, and there is no time to delay."

After saying this, he lightly flicked his whip, urging his horse to push past the elderly villager, and entered the village with his two assistants.

The village didn't seem very poor; at least the villagers looked much healthier than the cultists before they received the paladin's support.

But before the war began, their original lord had already collected rent from them, and they no longer had much grain left.

The lord has complete freedom to collect taxes from the village; the amount collected depends on how much the lord wants to collect.

However, most lords generally know not to exhaust the resources of a place, but at this moment, the Lensel nobles who remained here did not need to consider this.

If the territory were to be divided after the war, the probability of this place being given to them would be extremely low.

While the situation is still unclear, the best course of action is to plunder as much as possible; there's no need to think so far ahead about what comes next.

The villagers, pushed aside by the horses, immediately turned ashen-faced.

The experienced tax official quickly estimated the approximate wealth remaining in the village.

He walked up to the villager wearing boots earlier with a smile: "You're the village chief, right? Hurry up and get your things ready; these are the requirements for this period's land rent."

As he spoke, he listed his requests as if reciting a menu, collecting a portion in cash and the rest in kind.

It accounts for almost 70% of all the property in the village.

After the tax official finished reporting, the village chief knelt on the ground and began to plead in a low voice. The surrounding villagers also knelt down: "Please have mercy, or we will have no way to survive."

If 70% is indeed taken, then the remaining 30% will definitely not last long enough for them to wait until the next wheat harvest.

But the tax collectors completely ignored them. Seeing that the villagers were not proactive, they just sneered and ordered two deputies to search each house and then take away the property that the current provisional lord was entitled to.

In any case, these villagers wouldn't dare to resist, so he didn't need to consider their opinions at all.

Chapter 9 When the ruler is humiliated, the subject deserves to die.

Thales and Thales were watching from a distance, and once they confirmed the arrival of the tax collectors, they immediately left.

They also had a bad impression of the tax collectors, who were ordinary villagers living a simple but arduous life before becoming cult members.

Serai remembered that time when the lord charged excessive rent, and his family was almost driven to the brink of ruin. In order to make a living, he risked hunting rabbits, but was discovered by the lord's men and almost lost his life.

While Sers was an orphan, his reliance on stealing bread may well be due in part to excessive taxes.

Although life wasn't great after becoming a cult member, things got much better after the arrival of the divine messenger.

Indeed, faith in the Mother Goddess is the truth of this world; at least, under the guidance of the divine messenger, their lives seem to have hope.

Now that they had observed the tax collector's presence, their task was to report to Lord Tanl. They had no complaints about this strange man named Tanl suddenly becoming their superior.

Tanl never slacks off when he works, and after finishing his work, he will carefully study the doctrines.

They recently took advantage of breaks from work to learn some of the doctrines from Tanl. They are illiterate, otherwise they would have liked to copy some of the content.

They believed that under the guidance of the Mother Goddess's messenger, they would have a better life.

Now, these self-proclaimed tax collectors are taking a share of the spoils on behalf of their so-called lords. Once this village is finished, their next hideout will be taken.

They naturally felt anger and resentment, but they also understood that although the strength of their stronghold was increasing, even if the Divine Envoy himself took action, he would not be able to contend with the nobles' army.

If they impulsively kill the tax collector at this moment, not only will it not change anything, but it will also bring disaster to their hideout.

Back at hideout number two, they reported the mission progress to Tanl, who was standing at the entrance to Land.

After listening, Tanl realized that his fourth chance to shine had arrived!

Although he had never heard of the saying "a subject dies for his lord's dishonor," he still had the corresponding awareness. The arrival of this tax collector would inevitably lead to Rand's humiliation, even though this divine messenger was unexpectedly flexible and adaptable.

But allowing his leader to be humiliated was something he, as a paladin, could not accept.

Although he is now an undercover agent, he decides to take Rand's place as the village chief to deal with the tax collectors.

He asked Thalys and Thales in a low voice, "When you were villagers, what did the village chief do?"

Tanl was well aware of the past between Thurs and Thalys, who were veteran villagers. Since he had decided to take over the role of the village chief of this second hideout from Rand, he naturally had to learn it well.

After reminiscing with Tanl about what their former village chief had done, they realized what Tanl was going to do.

They seem more suited than Tanl to play the role of a village chief in an extremely poor village.

They were villagers themselves, and knew better than Tanl how to take on this role.

They witnessed firsthand how the village chief of the neighboring village was ignored and oppressed by the tax collector, and it seemed inappropriate for Tanl or the divine messenger to handle such a matter.

Although they had never heard of the saying "a subject dies for his lord's dishonor," they imagined that it would be unacceptable for their superior to be humiliated.

In their eyes, Tanl should be devout and upright, and the divine messenger should be noble and far-sighted.

How could I possibly bow down to that insignificant tax collector and be humiliated!

After speaking with the two young cult members, Tanl let them leave.

But after a while, seeing the two young men standing there hesitant to speak, he asked with some doubt, "Is there anything else?"

“We can take on the role of village chief!” they immediately said.

Tanl raised an eyebrow. It seemed these young people had good ideas and looked eager to improve. Unfortunately, it wouldn't work this time. "The idea is good, but tax collectors are very likely to carry church ritual objects, so I'll do it this time."

As he spoke, he squeezed Serth's right hand, which could transform into tentacles; such a change would surely be detected.

As a high-ranking paladin, he didn't even need ritual implements; he could sense this restless, evil energy from afar.

However, this power did not seem to affect their personalities. During this time, he worked with the two young men and assigned them tasks, and he did not sense any evil in them.

After the two young believers left somewhat disappointed, Tanl wrote down all the questions he had asked in his notebook, intending to review them before going to bed.

After finishing recording, Tanl turned around and knocked on the messenger's door.

At that moment, Rand was planning the development of his hideout when he heard a knock on the door. He called out, "Come in," and saw the paladin, clad in jet-black armor, walk in.

“I want to become the village chief!” the paladin said.

"Huh?" Rand was taken aback, and looked closely at the paladin's face, unable to tell what he was thinking.

Location number two would only be used as an outpost and theoretically has no value, so why did Tanl suddenly volunteer for this position?

Tan'er, of course, wouldn't say that he didn't want to see the divine messenger humiliated; he still had that much emotional intelligence. He simply said, "Recently, I've benefited greatly from the divine messenger's leadership, so I'd like to hone my abilities. Please give me this opportunity!"

After saying that, Tanl bowed.

Rand placed his right hand on his forehead and brushed his hairline aside. The paladin had performed very well during this period and had made many contributions. Promoting him was entirely justified.

Although he didn't understand why Tanl would do this, since Tanl had volunteered and, based on his observation, the paladin's abilities were more than sufficient.

“I approve it.” Rand nodded.

Tanl was overjoyed to hear permission and instinctively wanted to bow, but halfway there he remembered that this was a paladin's etiquette, and he would be in trouble if he were discovered to be a paladin.

During this time, because he couldn't sense anything evil about this place, he became complacent and lost his sense of crisis.

He forced himself to straighten his posture, performed a perfunctory gesture of courtesy, and withdrew under Rand's questioning gaze.

……

The elf overheard most of the conversation! As a top-ranking elven ranger, she naturally possessed a pair of nimble and keen ears.

At least she heard Tanl and Rand's conversation, even though they weren't deliberately lowering their voices.

Good opportunity. Since Tanl is going to be the village chief of this so-called second hideout, he certainly can't be inseparable from Rand.

All she had to do was wait patiently; the opportunity to face this horrible and evil sadist alone was just around the corner!

The thought sent shivers down her spine. She gently stroked her chest with her hand, then moved to her lower abdomen.

With the elves deliberately concealing themselves, Rand, who was not familiar with the goddess's blessing, naturally did not notice and was completely unaware that he had revealed a flaw.

Chapter 10 Taxation and Statistics

As a modern man, Rand never imagined that being taxed would be humiliating.

After confirming that Tanl really wanted to be the village chief of this hideout, he told Tanl a few key points and then returned to hideout number one.

He prepared to organize the supplies and finances. At this point, the hideout was not too small and needed careful planning.

Moreover, due to the recent instability in the political situation, currency has found it increasingly difficult to maintain its purchasing power.

While it may seem like we have a lot of wealth to spare, in reality, very little of it can actually be converted into daily necessities.

The neighboring village has also been subject to additional taxes, which will likely make exchanging goods more difficult.

Rand carefully recorded the numbers in the room.

Before the war, one pound of ordinary black bread cost four copper coins, and an average person consumed two pounds a day, which cost eight copper coins.

The hideout at this time consisted of 15 cultists, 12 bandits, and Rand and Tanl, totaling 29 people.

One packhorse and one warhorse are needed. There are no other livestock. The packhorse can eat grass, while the warhorse needs fine feed, but it doesn't cost money. Just make sure the followers are feeding it.

There are 8 minotaurs. Their food consumption is three times that of a normal person, but because they can eat leaves and grass, their bread consumption is reduced to twice that of a normal person.

In other words, the hideout needs to consume 360 ​​copper worth of food per day, which is equivalent to 3.6 silver.