"The crossbow bolt that is completely embedded in the wall should be fired from a reinforced heavy crossbow, right? This kind of crossbow is a controlled product, and there are probably only one or two in the entire Jinta City. Why are some people bringing this to trouble you? ?”
Liv was silent for a while and sighed deeply.
“…It’s a long story!”
Because she had confirmed that the other party was a reliable friend, she no longer hid it and told the whole story.
About five years ago, the Church of the Noble God sent a high-level priest with great skills to strengthen its power management in Golden Tower City.
The God of Nobles is an active member of the human pantheon. Although the level of the deity is not high, this goddess who was only conferred as a deity more than 200 years ago has been actively promoting the faith. On the one hand, his church strengthens cooperation with adventurers, and on the other hand, it uses the advantageous position of the nobles to squeeze out the church organizations of other gods. It has gained advantages in many places.
However, the God of Nobles also has opponents. Not to mention, in the human pantheon alone, there is a god with a very bad relationship with Him - the God of Knights and Pioneering.
In terms of divine power and power, the God of Knights is a long-established and powerful figure in the human pantheon. He has been a god for tens of thousands of years, and his qualifications are even older than the god kings of the contemporary human pantheon. He symbolizes the development and protection of human military organizations. In ancient times, he was even once the god king of the human pantheon. The reason why his power declined later was because human society continued to develop, and new gods continued to emerge, which divided his priesthood and domain, and diluted his beliefs.
But even so, he is still much stronger than the Noble God.
But the strength and weakness of gods cannot directly determine the success or failure of their churches in the human world. Because of their inherent disadvantage in status, the knights were so suppressed by the nobility that the Church of the God of Knights was also at a disadvantage and almost became a vassal of the Church of the God of Nobles. Only in some pioneering territories, with wandering knights and church knights as the main force, can they not be suppressed.
The missionary work of the Church of the God of Nobles often begins by invading and annexing the beliefs of the Church of the God of Knights. In Jinta City, there is no exception.
Facing the aggressive Church of the God of Nobles, Knight Parn, as the most prestigious knight in Golden Tower City and not loyal to any lord, naturally became the mainstay of the Church of the God of Knights in resisting the invasion. As the leader of the secular forces of the Church of Knights, he has repeatedly defeated the plots of the Church of the Noble God and firmly defended his position of faith. No matter how the new high priest of the Noble God played tricks, he was never able to take advantage of it.
This situation lasted for three years until an "accident."
About two years ago, a wealthy businessman who had been operating locally for many years decided to make a big deal. He prepared a large amount of magic materials from World of Warcraft and planned to transport them by sea to the Blue Moon Kingdom in the eastern part of the mainland, where there are many fragrant leaves. (an edible mid- to low-grade spice) trade in Gars City.
The trade in spices and magic materials has always been the most profitable, but also the most dangerous. Most of this kind of business requires traveling across the ocean. Storms at sea, terrifying sea beasts, and endless pirates may lead to tragic consequences of shipwreck and death. In order to ensure the safety of the transaction, the businessman sent out invitations to almost all the more reliable adventurers in Jinta City. In the end, more than a dozen masters, including Knight Parn, decided to jointly do this business. Under the advice of the businessman, they also spent almost all their savings, purchased magic materials, and set out together.
It is said that with so many experts on board, and the merchant specially invited several experienced captains, the safety of the fleet should be relatively high. However, for some reason, the fleet encountered the terrifying monster, "Undertide" Timsal, when it was sailing around the "Great Wilderness Cape" of the Iron Cliff Mountains on the southeast coast.
"Undertide" Timsar is the most terrifying and dangerous sea monster in the southeastern waters. It can be called a nightmare on the sea. Almost no fleet that encounters it can survive.
It is said that in ancient times, there was a powerful demigod named "Living Tsunami" Salament. He was the incarnation of storms and huge waves, and was one of the most terrifying overlords on the sea. But it failed when it attacked the gods. The terror and resentment accumulated over countless years tore the body of the demigod into two, turning it into "Rage Tide" Heimsala and "Undertow" Timsar .
"Raging Tide" Heimsala is an irritable but rational demigod. It likes to swim offshore. Whenever people see a sudden violent storm, accompanied by huge waves sweeping across those deserted beaches and isolated islands, When the time comes, you know it’s coming. At this time, people often offer sacrifices to it and pray for its blessings. This kind of prayer generally only has a one-third chance of being answered, but as long as Heimsala answers people's prayers, swimming will be temporarily stopped to protect this sea area from dangerous monsters and storms. Two years later, it will float away again in a heavy wind and rain, ending up unknown.
"Undertide" Timsar is just the opposite. He is a terrifying monster who only knows destruction and killing, and has no way to communicate with him at all. Whenever it appears, there will be a huge shadow across the seafloor. The sea surface wherever it passes will be shrouded in decaying fog and icy cold waves. Countless ghosts and undead creatures in the water surround it and attack the sea surface crazily. All living creatures on the planet will eventually drag them into the abyss of death. It comes and goes without a trace and moves without warning. Whenever people notice that the sky suddenly darkens and the water under their feet becomes pitch black, it is often too late to escape from its clutches.
Knight Parn's fleet encountered this terrifying monster. They fought with all their strength, but in the end only one ship escaped. The remaining ships, including the fleet's flagship (the businessman was on the flagship at the time) and the ship where Knight Parn was on, all failed to escape and were buried at the bottom of the sea. The senior priest of the Church of the Noble God was also in the fleet at the time. It is said that he, who always likes to plot conspiracies behind the scenes, fought heroically at that time, but was unable to save his own life.
Almost a year ago, the ship that had a lucky escape returned to the Mystic Tower Federation, and a maritime trade route was established. Maritime merchants in the future will be able to make huge profits through this, but the people who died exploring the trade route will never be seen again. Can't come back.
When the bad news reached Jinta City, at least a quarter of the families in the city fell into grief. But before everyone could recover from their grief, the Church of the Noble God suddenly came forward and took out many contracts signed in advance to collect debts from each family.
According to the contract, all the adventurers, including Knight Parn, participated in this voyage as "shareholders." If they make money, they can pay dividends based on equity; if they lose money, of course they have to lose money based on equity.
To be honest, there was nothing wrong with this contract, but it was only then that everyone suddenly discovered that the businessman had actually borrowed a large sum of money from the Church of the God of Nobles. The amount was astonishingly large!
According to the original contract, the Parn Knights and the others had a lot of equity, so the money they needed to lose at this moment was naturally a lot. Families that had already lost everything due to the shipwreck could not get such a large sum of money, and they were suddenly in trouble.
The Church of God of Nobles is not a good man and a believer, and it immediately came to each house one by one to press for debts. The families of two adventurers were forced to commit suicide, and many of the others were forced to sign contracts, sell their faith and labor, and become subordinates of the Church of the Noble God.
The crossbow arrow in the corner of Knight Parn's house was left behind by the debt collector to threaten her when Liv had a conflict with her debt collector.
Fortunately, some people, including Knight Parn, still had some connections. At that time, a senior mage came forward to persuade, and the Church of the God of Nobles angrily agreed to grant a period of grace, but it required interest.
In order to repay the debt, Liv became an adventurer and formed an adventure group with the children of families who were also burdened with huge debts. They worked hard to hunt dangerous monsters and earn money to pay off the debt. However, at this time, the Church of the Noble God used commercial means to greatly reduce the purchase price of monster materials in this city. Often they risked their lives to fight for a day, but the income was not enough to pay the interest!
Under such circumstances, the mood of the boys and girls is of course becoming increasingly anxious, and the Church of the God of Nobility comes to collect debts from time to time, like a reminder that the number of debts is increasing and the date for repayment is decreasing.
"So... when we came just now, you thought we were from the Church of the Noble God?" Lei asked.
Liv nodded and said angrily: "Those guys are really hateful!"
"Didn't anyone come to visit me?" Lei asked again.
Liv shook her head and said with some frustration: "No more. Father's friends either died on that voyage, or they were forced to cut off contact with us due to the power of the Church of the Noble Lady (another name for the God of Nobles). Now we are the only young ones. People help each other and encourage each other...but there is no hope."
"Sister, don't be sad, we have money now!" Little Nisi saw that her sister was depressed again, and hurriedly grabbed a few gems and brought them to her, "Look, look, there are so many gems! We can definitely pay off the debt!”
Even the little girl is also a woman. Although she cannot estimate the price of these gems, a woman's nature tells her that these gems are valuable and completely enough to repay the debt.
Looking at her sister's concerned and happy face, Liv couldn't help but smile.
"Yes, thanks to Mr. Satan, we don't have to worry about debts." She said, "But when I think about the situation of my partners, it's hard for me to be happy..."
She had no intention of borrowing money. To repay everyone's debts, a staggering amount of money would be needed. Even if Mr. Lei and Miss Steele were willing to borrow money, they would not be able to carry such a huge amount of money with them when they came from afar.
Lei pondered and frowned slightly.
"This matter... I always feel like something is wrong..."