Did you understand what I just said?
"I... I understand."
The man's body trembled, and his voice trembled as well.
"Is your village... hiding something from the church?"
Duolin's voice suddenly became authoritative and loud in the second half of the sentence, causing the young man to instinctively shrink back.
This is a common interrogation technique. If the target behaves abnormally during a sudden shock, it is enough to tell you something.
The young man's reaction is a perfectly typical example of abnormality.
"It seems it really is true. You'd better tell the truth, otherwise..."
Duolin leaned slightly forward on his horse, shielding the young man from the sunlight.
"Speak, don't try anything funny."
The villagers' gazes were like arrows piercing the young man's back. He looked up at the handsome yet ferocious face and said meekly:
"Sir/Madam... A tax officer collected taxes a few days ago... Could you please tell me the amount due this month...?"
So that's what happened?
Duolin frowned slightly and looked at his deputy behind him. The newly appointed tax official immediately took out a leather notebook from the side of his horse's satchel, glanced at it, and said:
"No tax payment record, sir."
Duolin's right hand twitched slightly, and the wooden sword, standard issue for church personnel, was about to be launched from its sheath.
But the tax official behind him quickly added:
"But based on the previous tax official's travel records, it's also possible that the tax official encountered an accident before he could bring the tax money back to the church..."
Duolin immediately understood why everyone looked so troubled; they were afraid that the newly appointed priests would collect taxes a second time.
He raised his head and surveyed the villagers with an imposing air:
"Is that so?"
A few scattered replies rang out from the crowd.
Oh, I see... The misunderstanding cleared up.
Duolin's brow relaxed, and he patted the young man's shoulder with his half-drawn wooden sword:
" The Tree Worship Church isn't unreasonable. Since you've already paid your taxes, there's no need to pay again. The tax officer will be coming next month, so remember to prepare in advance."
"I... I understand."
Duolin ignored the stammering villager, waved for them to leave, and then led his group to their next destination— Upperstream Village.
As the knights drove away, the young man, pricked by the villagers' stares, turned around and saw their intense gazes.
"Well done, well done!"
An elder in the village patted him on the shoulder:
"These guys are obviously apostates in disguise. They don't even know about the tax reduction news brought by Old Kaping from Upperstream Village, and they're still trying to fool us..."
"Yeah, yeah."
Another person said:
"No wonder Bishop Adrian went to all that trouble to come and warn us in the middle of the night. How long has it been before these cunning fellows couldn't resist?"
"You know what, if it weren't for the real bishop reminding us, we would have almost been deceived by this apostate."
"That's exactly right."
People started discussing it animatedly, but in the end, the oldest person looked at the young villager who had almost overturned the car:
"Don't trouble anyone else with this matter. Go to the castle quickly and tell Lord Adrian about it. Be quick!"
"If this matter succeeds, given Lord Adrian's generosity, our village will enjoy at least three years of tax exemption."
The young man was initially reluctant, but he immediately perked up after hearing the village chief's endorsement.
After the previous tax exemption and tax reduction policies, he was no longer as tense as before, and his mental state improved significantly.
Although only two days had passed, he could already feel his health improving. His good days were just beginning; how could he let those despicable apostates ruin them?
Thinking of this, he felt his legs fill with power and immediately strode towards the castle.
Add water.
"Hey, too much, too much, add ash."
"Hey, hey, add water, add water..."
"Can't you do it?"
"Never mind, let's keep adding."
[ Zhongde ] directed several players to mix the world's specialty, homemade cement, in an open space at the village entrance, but their talent in mixing cement clearly exceeded his expectations.
Guided by the idea of "add more water if there's too much ash, add more ash if there's too much water," the mixing zone, which originally occupied only a small area, has become increasingly larger...
Even Zhongde himself sighed at this moment to show his powerlessness. He scratched his hair in frustration, as if he could see a future of working as a mortar worker on a construction site.
The players are currently mixing a local specialty, roughly similar to traditional cement in the real world, which is one of the repair materials provided by Kaping.
[ Zhongde ] isn't entirely sure about the exact proportions, but the underlying logic of dealing with ash is the same in every world.
Seeing that the cement mortar in front of them was getting thinner and thinner, [ Zhongde ] grabbed a shovel and began to direct the players to plug the leaks and prevent the materials from flowing everywhere.
"Watch me!"
[ Do Some Farm Work ] are something I've never experienced in real life, so I'm particularly interested in them.
He scooped up a full shovel of "cement" and threw it forward with force, but his hands slipped and the shovel flew out of his hand as well.
Seeing this, everyone burst into laughter, but amidst the laughter, they all heard a clear Shattered sound.
The shovel, which had been stuck in the center of the mortar, slowly fell down. Where it had entered the ground, a small vortex appeared, and the surrounding cement mortar rushed into the hole.
The smiles on everyone's faces froze instantly.
"What... is going on?"
Zhongde rubbed his eyes and looked closely, discovering that the vortex was slowly expanding.
He quickly waved for everyone to step back, and less than a minute later, all the mortar had flowed away, finally revealing the head-sized hole to everyone.
At this moment, [ the Do Some Farm Work ] was still a bit confused, and he asked in bewilderment:
"Did I encounter a bug?"
"It shouldn't be..."
The more cautious player, [ Howling Pothos ], had already bent down and carefully touched it, while waving behind him to signal everyone to step back.
"Don't come any closer, it might collapse."
The group instinctively chose to listen to this more trustworthy voice, and watched as the person closest to the cave entrance, [ Do Some Farm Work ], slowly made his way towards it.
With the kind reminder, [ Do Some Farm Work ] took caution to the extreme, even crawling forward on the ground to prevent collapse, and quickly arrived at the hole.
He first stretched out an arm into the hole, but found nothing. Then he looked around at the entrance, but his view was very limited.
Finally, he used the sunlight to stick his head inside, making him look like a headless corpse.
"How is it? What's the situation inside?"
"The players outside asked loudly."
The already deep voice of [ Do Some Farm Work ] echoed out with the unique resonance of its hollow cavity:
"This... seems to be a basement."