Chapter 7: How Cultists Remain Hidden During War

"Excuse me, what can I do for you?" Although it was impolite for the elf to keep peeping at him, Rand still planned to try to talk her out of it with his mouth.

"Damn it." The cherry lips under the pointed ear hood parted slightly, and the crisp voice said angrily: "You actually found out!"

He had already encountered so many outrageous things in this world, so Rand was too lazy to complain about how this elf, with most of his body exposed, dared to use the word "actually" to describe being discovered.

Isn't it obvious that this was intentionally exposed?

"No offense..." Rand continued.

“Haha.” The hood fell off, revealing a delicate face as expected. “Evil human, I’ve seen through your evil desire to capture me and whip me like an animal! Stop pretending, come on!”

"Besides, aren't elves with white hair and golden eyes a rare species? How could you go out alone without any elves accompanying you? Aren't you afraid of being captured and treated as a Star Fury?"

While Rand was stunned, the elf rushed forward and attacked.

Taner had naturally made preparations long ago, but he didn't expect to be so lucky. He got the third chance to show himself just a few days later! Taner was closer to Rand and had already made preparations. He rushed to Rand first and blocked the elf.

The greatsword passed across, the elf jumped up lightly, pulled the bowstring lightly, and several arrows shot out.

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

The brief confrontation allowed both sides to understand each other's strength levels.

Evenly matched opponents! The elf felt that her chances of winning were not small, but she was not here to win.

If we really win, we won't be caught. That would be so embarrassing.

But losing to the Paladin, this righteous psychopath made her have no desire to be captured. It seems that if she wants to be defeated by this sadist personally, she needs to find another way.

I didn't expect that this small village was protected by a paladin. It seems I have to make long-term plans now.

She took a few steps back. "Damn it, a little human is so powerful. I'll let you go this time, but I'll come again!"

As he said this, he ran away with such light steps that Taner, who was wearing heavy armor, had no chance of catching up with him.

It's a weird psychopath, but there's no good solution for it at the moment.

Rand rubbed his brow with a headache, and signaled Shasa, who was watching the battle, to continue working.

Shasa was a little trembling at this time. How could an elf who came out of nowhere have such fighting power?

Sure enough, the previous guess was correct, the races on the surface are so terrifyingly strong.

Now Shasa was going to become a sinner in the Underdark. She had resolutely passed through the temporary portal to the surface, not only because she had no other choice at the time, but there was actually another important reason because she still had a way to return underground.

But she was caught by the village chief Rand, and it was obvious that the leader of this human village would sooner or later lead his army of villagers to attack the underground world. By then, Shasa might be nailed to the pillar of shame in the history of the Tauren.

The most shameless, dignified and honorless guide in history, the Minotaur - Shasa.

It's a bit shameful to think about it, but this is all for the continuation of the tribe. Maybe by then, Rand will give the Tauren a place to live because Shasa led the way.

Come to think of it, she might be the savior of the Minotaur clan.

On the other hand, since most of the labor tasks were done by the minotaurs, most of the cultists and bandits were able to join the slingshot training part-time.

It's a pity that there is no extra money to buy weapons and armor now, otherwise a regular army of 27 people would be well trained and have a pretty good combat effectiveness.

It is even enough to pose a threat to some weak barons.

"Lord Messenger of God! The Southern Kingdom may come to collect taxes." The speaker was Serai, and next to him stood Ses. Because they were relatively smart, they were assigned the task of communicating with other villages.

"What?"

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

After the last malicious price increase and robbery incidents, the trading targets of the den were temporarily changed to villages near the town.

The area they are in now belongs to the territory of a baron. The previous town is actually just a larger village, but the baron's residence still has a castle and trenches.

A baron would probably directly govern five or six villages and then grant five or six villages to his knights.

It forms a structure of barony-knighthood.

The Kingdom of Lensa attacked, broke into the Baron's castle and plundered it, but only the villages governed by a few knights were looted, while those directly governed by the Baron were taken over.

But their hideout in the mountains has not been affected much. It is probably because of the increased activities that they have attracted attention.

Whether going to the town to make farm tools and buy seeds, or exchanging supplies in other villages to buy bread, traces were left to a considerable extent.

It's just strange that this group of cultists could continue to sacrifice people without being discovered.

There's a feeling of being a pawn for your own benefit.

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It could also be that transportation was inconvenient in that era, or that the original baron was incompetent and did not conduct a population census, making it difficult to be discovered.

"Let's get ready." Rand sighed. Life would be difficult if they were charged a tax.

Although Fugotaner has a lot of money, it is still difficult to maintain the long-term expenses of 29 humans and 8 tauren here, although Rand has arranged for them to hunt wild animals to supplement food consumption, or grow some short-cycle crops in exchange for supplies.

But before the first batch of wheat was grown, the expenses were still not enough to cover the income.

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 is not yet at the point where more cold-resistant oats and rye seeds are needed.

At present, he has no claims as a cultist's messenger, and his fighting power is very weak. If he conflicts with the human kingdom, he will probably be destroyed soon.

I guess I have to pay taxes.

But this does not necessarily mean there is no room for maneuver.

Since taxes have never really been paid here, and the army of the Kingdom of Lensa defeated the original baron, the probability that the nobles who now manage this barony know how many people there are here is very low.

In other words, as long as the village is made to look like a place that is tasteless and a pity to abandon, the nobles will not be able to collect any taxes.

Rand walked to a higher place in the village, or to be more precise, to Taner's shoulders, and took a look at the whole picture of the village.

This place has changed since Rand first came here. At least there is no feces piled randomly on the roadside, and the main road is paved with gravel to prevent it from being too muddy and difficult to move on rainy days. Not far away, a large area of ​​the original wasteland has been reclaimed.

This is already a high-quality asset, which is definitely not acceptable.

It seems that the only option is to build another village somewhere else, which can also be used as an outpost to observe the latest situation of the human kingdom.

The first North-South conflict would soon be mediated, and once the war subsided, taxes would likely be collected again.

This is totally unacceptable.

Fortunately, now that the Tauren have joined the production, it is theoretically very quick to build a simple village somewhere else.

I just hope the noble tax collectors don't come too soon.

(End of this chapter)