Is it so easy for religion in another world to win?

The faces of the villagers who were squeezed away by the horses suddenly turned pale.

Soon the experienced tax collector estimated the approximate wealth remaining in the village.

He walked up to the villager wearing boots with a smile and said: "You are the village chief, right? Hurry and prepare things. This is the requirement for this land rent."

As he spoke, he stated his request just like the name of a dish, and received a portion of the coins, while the rest were in kind.

Almost 70% of all property in this village.

By the time the tax collector finished his report, the village chief was already kneeling on the ground and begging in a low voice. The surrounding villagers also knelt down: "Okay, okay, we will have no way to survive."

If they really charge 70%, then the remaining 30% will never be enough to allow them to wait for the next batch of wheat harvest.

But the tax collector ignored them completely. Seeing that these villagers did not take the initiative, he just sneered and arranged for two deputies to go door to door to search and then take away the property that the temporary lord should have.

In any case, these villagers would not dare to resist, and he did not need to consider the opinions of these villagers at all.

Chapter 9 The master is humiliated, and the ministers are willing to die.

Selai and Ses were watching from a distance at this time, and left immediately after confirming the arrival of these tax collectors.

They also have a bad impression of tax collectors. Before becoming cultists, they were ordinary villagers living an ordinary and hard life.

Selai still remembers the time when his family was almost in dire straits because the lord overcharged him with excessive land rent. In order to make ends meet, he took the risk of hunting hares, but was accidentally discovered by the lord's men and almost lost his life.

And Ses was an orphan, but he was reduced to stealing bread, which may not be due to excessive taxes.

Although life was not very good after becoming a cultist, life became much easier after the arrival of the divine messenger.

Sure enough, belief in the Mother Goddess is the truth of this world. At least, under the leadership of the divine messengers, their lives seem to have hope.

Now that the tax collector's appearance has been observed, the task at this time is to report to Lord Tan'er. They have no dissatisfaction with the sudden appearance of this weirdo named Tan'er as their immediate boss.

This Taner was never lazy when he was working, and he would study the teachings carefully after finishing his work.

Recently, they took advantage of their free time to learn some teachings from Taner. They were not literate, otherwise they would have wanted to copy some of the contents.

They believe that they will have a better life under the leadership of the Mother Goddess.

But now, these people who call themselves tax collectors want to take away part of it on behalf of their lord. After this village is harvested, the next one will be their den.

Naturally, they are angry and unwilling in their hearts, but they also understand that although the strength of the den is increasing, even if the God Envoy takes action personally, he should not be able to compete with the noble army.

And if they impulsively kill the tax collector at this time, not only will nothing change, but they will definitely bring disaster to the den.

Returning to Den No. 2, they reported the mission situation to Taner who was standing at Rand's door.

After listening, Tan'er discovered that his fourth opportunity to perform had come!

Although he has never heard of the saying that the Lord humiliates his ministers to death, he still has the corresponding awareness, and the arrival of this tax collector will inevitably lead to Rand being humiliated, although this Lord God Envoy is unexpectedly flexible and flexible.

But having his leader humiliated was something he couldn't accept as a Paladin.

Although he is now undercover, he decided to replace Rand as the village chief to deal with the tax collector.

He asked Selai and Ses in a low voice: "What did the village chief do when you were villagers?"

Naturally, Taner knew that Ses and Selai were senior villagers. Since he decided to replace Rand as the village leader of No. 2 Den, he naturally had to study hard.

After recalling what their former village chief wanted to do with Tan'er, they realized what Tan'er wanted to do.

They seemed more suited than Taner to play the headman of an extremely poor village.

They were villagers themselves and knew better than Taner how to take on this position.

They saw with their own eyes how the village chief of the neighboring village was ignored and bullied by the tax collector. It seemed not good for Tan'er or the God Envoy to do this kind of thing.

Although they had never heard of the saying that the leader humiliates his ministers to death, they imagined that it would be unacceptable to them if their immediate superiors were humiliated.

In their eyes, Tan'er should be pious and upright, and the envoy should be noble and far-sighted.

How could you bend down in front of that worthless tax collector and even be bullied!

After talking with the two young cultists, Taner allowed them to leave.

But after a while, I met these two young people who hesitated to speak, and asked with some confusion: "Is there anything else?"

"Just be the village chief. We can do it for you!" They immediately expressed their thoughts.

Tan'er raised his eyebrows. It seems that these young people have very good ideas. They seem to want to make progress. Unfortunately, they can't do it this time: "The idea is very good, but the tax collector is likely to carry the church's ritual utensils, so this Let me do it this time.”

As he spoke, he squeezed Seth's right hand that could turn into a tentacle. Such a degree of mutation would definitely be detected.

As the highest level paladin, he didn't even need a ritual weapon to feel the evil energy that was about to move from afar.

However, this power does not seem to affect personality. During this period, he took the two young men to work and assigned them tasks. He did not feel that they had any evil.

After the two young believers left in disappointment, Taner wrote down the previous questions in his notebook and prepared to review them before going to bed.

After recording, Taner turned around and knocked on the door of the Lord of God.

At this time, Rand was planning the development of the den. Hearing the knock on the door, he shouted "Come in", and saw the paladin in black armor walked in.

"I want to be the village chief of this village!" said the paladin.

"Ah?" Rand was stunned and looked at the paladin's face carefully, and he couldn't tell what he was thinking.

The No. 2 den would only be used as an outpost. It was supposed to be of no value. Why did Taner suddenly volunteer to take this position?

Of course, Taner would not say that he did not want to see the envoy of God being humiliated. He still had some emotional intelligence. He just said: "Recently, I have benefited a lot from the leadership of the Lord of God, so I want to exercise my abilities. Please give me this opportunity!"

After speaking, Taner bowed.

Rand stroked his forehead with his right hand and adjusted his hairline. The Paladin had performed very well and made many contributions during this period. It was completely possible to promote him.

Although he didn't understand why Taner did this, since he took the initiative to apply, and under his observation, the Paladin's relevant abilities were completely sufficient.

"I approve." Rand nodded.

Taner was delighted when he heard the permission and subconsciously wanted to salute, but halfway through he remembered that this was the etiquette of the Paladin. If he was found out to be a Paladin, it would be over.

During this period, he really didn't feel that there was anything evil here, so he slacked off and lost his sense of crisis.

He forced himself to straighten his posture, made a seemingly correct etiquette, and retreated under Rand's puzzled eyes.

...

The elf heard most of the conversation just now! As a top-level elf ranger, she naturally had a pair of clever and sharp ears.

At least when Taner and Rand didn't deliberately lower their voices, their conversation was still heard by her.

Good opportunity, since Taner is going to be the village chief of this second den, he must not be inseparable from Rand.

She just needs to wait patiently, and the opportunity to face this terrible and evil sadist alone is right in front of her!

When she thought of this, she trembled all over, gently stroked her chest with her hand, and then reached her lower abdomen.

This time, when the elves deliberately hid themselves, Rand, who was not familiar with the goddess's blessing, naturally did not find it, and did not know that he had exposed a flaw.

Chapter 10 Taxation and Statistics

As a modern man, Rand had never thought about being humiliated by taxation.

After confirming that Taner really wanted to be the village chief of this den, he told Taner a few key points and returned to the first den.

He was going to sort out the materials and finances. The den was not too small at this time, and it needed careful planning.

And because the situation has become unstable recently, it is difficult for the currency to maintain its purchasing power.

Now it seems that there is still a lot of surplus wealth, but in fact, not much can be truly converted into living materials.

The neighboring village was also taxed, and it is estimated that exchanging materials will become difficult.

Rand carefully recorded the numbers in the room.

According to the pre-war price, 1 pound of ordinary black bread is 4 copper coins, and an ordinary person consumes 2 pounds a day, which is 8 copper coins.

The den now has 15 believers + 12 bandits + Rand and Taner, a total of 29 people.

One pack horse, one war horse, and no other livestock. The pack horse can eat grass. The war horse needs fine fodder, but it doesn’t cost money. Just pay attention when arranging the believers to feed it.

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

In other words, the den consumes 360 coppers of food a day, which is 3.6 silver.

The investment obtained from Taner at the beginning was a full 3 gold coins. Although there is still a gap to support the wheat harvest, this gap is not large.

During this period, planting some economic crops with a short growth cycle can make up for the gap and even provide meat supply.

Now the coming of war has caused prices to rise to varying degrees, and some villages no longer agree to trade, which has led to the need to re-plan food sources and development directions.

Just as Rand was calculating his property, the tax collector had already arrived here.

He had no interest in collecting taxes from such a poor village in the mountains, but the will of the lord must be implemented!

No one can escape paying taxes to the sacred lord.

During this period, due to Rand's arrival, the den had connections with other villages, and therefore there were many more traces.

Therefore, there was no need for too much investigative skills. The tax collector found the No. 2 den under the guidance of the familiar locals.

Of course, this was also because the traces here were deliberately enhanced to prevent the tax collector from finding the No. 1 den.

This No. 2 den was built in such a remote place that the tax collector was not surprised when he found it. There will always be people who want to refuse to pay rent for the sacred lord, and this attempt to evade will be severely punished.

The tax collector rode his horse across the muddy land, scanning with his experienced eyes. This place was even poorer than he thought. If it was not necessary to implement the will of the lord, then collecting taxes in such a place would be completely unprofitable.

But what he was best at was to get money out of the villagers.

"I am the baron's tax collector. Who is in charge of your village?" The tax collector looked at the villagers who were still healthy but half-dressed. He did not bother to explain which baron he represented now. Anyway, these ignorant villagers in the ravines would not understand.

Taner walked forward. He was not wearing his fine full-body armor at this time, but a loose and wide robe that covered his strong body.

This is why Serai and Ses thought Taner was not suitable to play the villager of this poor village. He was too healthy. Such a strong man was a knight who was well-nourished all year round, not a poor villager.

Of course, as a Paladin who likes to make full preparations and act after planning, Taner also took some measures. For example, he stayed up late for two days, which made his eye sockets sunken, and his face tired and anxious. At least there were not many flaws on his face.

His body was covered by loose robes, and it was hard to tell whether he was thin or strong.

The tax collector glanced at Taner who was standing very straight, and felt that he had a big frame, but he didn't think much about it: "Pay the rent."

Taner bent down slightly and tried to squeeze out a flattering expression: "Excuse me, how much do you need to pay?"

"Although you evaded taxes before, the baron kindly said that he does not intend to pursue your past problems." The tax collector straightened his clothes, made an experienced estimate, and said: "50 silver coins, two chickens, 1,000 pounds of wheat, plus 20 pieces of linen."

This price is almost all the property that may be here. If all of them are taken away, if this is really a village that just evades taxes here, then these villagers have lost their way to survive.

The tax collector obviously knew that the rent was too high, but it didn't matter. As a tax collector of an occupying noble, he certainly didn't come to collect taxes, but to plunder.

Plundering naturally involves scraping the land, and he enjoyed the desperate expressions of these villagers and their humility of kneeling down to beg him.

Taner was silent for a moment, then touched the ground with one knee, and then both knees. Since the tax collector was sitting on a tall horse, he could no longer see Taner's expression when he knelt down.

I think his face must be flushed and his expression is gray at this time. He has seen such expressions too many times.

Sure enough, he soon heard the village chief asking him to reduce the rent or give him a grace period in a muffled voice.

He felt a burst of comfort all over his body, and then spat on Taner's neat hair, leaving a stain.

"Don't be ungrateful. I haven't pursued your previous tax evasion and have let you go. Pay the rent quickly." He was not worried that these villagers would suddenly hurt people because they couldn't survive. The baron was standing behind him.

If these people, who were called villagers or serfs, dared to resist, the baron's army would come and wipe them out.

And he was riding a big horse, so it was not easy for these people to hurt him.

He was fearless at this time.

Taner was not angry at this time. Although he had never suffered such humiliation since he entered the church and started to practice as a paladin, he did not feel angry at this time.

He knew very well that suffering a little humiliation could reduce the loss of the den, so he didn't feel anything in comparison, after all, he was not the only one representing himself at this time.

He did not move, but knelt in place.

The tax collector saw it and sneered: "The baron is not a heartless person. In this way, you should take the initiative to bring the things over, so that we don't have to work hard, and we will give you some reduction."

Taner finally stood up and moved his steps.

The so-called reduction was just a reduction of 10 silver coins and 300 pounds of wheat. Since there was no wheat in the village at this time, it was converted into some fruits and vegetables, and the price was discounted a little.

After the tax collector left, the former bandit leader with a sore on his face came over and wiped the phlegm off Taner's head with a sackcloth.

"Master Taner." Seeing the bandit leader hesitate to speak, Taner knew what he was going to say and waved his hand to stop him.

The important thing now was to go back to the No. 1 den and calculate the village property with the Lord of God. Although they had tried their best to act poor, they still collected a considerable part of the rent, which dealt a serious blow to the den's economy, which was not very good to begin with.