In reality, those believers’ lords took money more ruthlessly, yet they ignored the monsters completely.

When hearing reports of monsters harming people, they’d nod on the surface, but turn away and pretend not to hear.

They spread propaganda relentlessly, endlessly covering everything.

The main thing was taking money without doing anything.

I didn’t pay and there were monsters, I paid and there were still monsters, wasn’t my money wasted?

But, due to the authority of the believer lords and those Knights of Faith, the common people could only endure in silence.

In fact, some of them thought about joining if you can’t beat them, becoming part of the church and an oppressor.

However, the imagination was beautiful.

Take the Kizi Church, for example, having faith alone was not enough, you had to be devout!

What does being devout mean?

You had to stuff gold coins into the pocket of the believer lord in charge of recruiting newcomers, that was called devout.

So, you ordinary people want to join the church? Want to eat meat with us?

Dream on!

...fine, just stay alive.

Most common folks could only accept such a life for the time being.

But.

Ever since the Black Tide Secret Society drove out other churches, things have been completely different.

After taking over the whole of Magrela, not only did they avoid looking down on them, but they also opened doors wide for them.

They not only recruited young common folks, cleared monsters, but also willingly granted some special prayers to them.

Like giving some people the rapid ripening ability, for instance.

This made many find it hard to believe.

It was power, extraordinary power!

The believer lords of old only ever used it to display "miracles" before them.

And now they were handing out marks and prayers?

It felt like dreaming...

Is there still a church like this? Give me a dozen!

Is it just about paying money?

Pay!

Let me pay heavily! Take it! (Fiercely slapping a bank card.jpg)

Without monsters, their quality of life as common folk improved immensely.

All aspects of Magrela were getting better.

Winnie, in fact, used to worry... After all, "Master of the Black Tide" didn’t sound like a good name, felt like an evil god.

Looking at it now...

Praise the Master of the Black Tide!

Moreover, the people of the Black Tide Secret Society never behaved arrogantly, with very strict rules inside.

Back then, just looking at a believer lord a bit more could get you called a heretical witch demon.

But now, some daring little kids were even bold enough to touch the armor of a Black Tide Knight.

Just one thing seemed odd, there were only about ten Black Tide Knights on the island, but they seemed to patrol more often than the previous Kizi Knights...

"Wow, so handsome!"

"So cool! When I grow up, I want to be a Black Tide Knight too!"

"Mom, I want to wear Black Tide Knight Armor!"

...

"Haha..."

Webb smiled silently beneath the faceplate of the Black Tide Knight, the corners of his mouth almost reaching his ears.

As a former Defier and now a senior member of the Black Tide Secret Society, he naturally had the right to wear this knight’s armor.

...This knight armor was forged from melted Kizi Church and Natural Church knight armor, and then remodeled.

Its appearance style was transformed into the distinctive feature of the Black Tide Secret Society, mainly black, with some dark purple in places, each shoulder hung with some cloth decorations, and the chest bore a clear mark of the Black Tide Secret Society.

Anyway, it was very handsome.

According to Sharo, it seemed to have been granted by the Master of the Black Tide, but he couldn’t care less.

He always hated dealing with those church knights the most in the past.

Looking at things now...

Such cool knight armor, it was finally his turn to wear it!

He had to go out and patrol vigorously, clear out monsters, and show divine power!

Webb enjoyed the praises from children outside the heavy armor and the distant gazes of the ladies.

"Ahem, you can’t touch that!"

Feeling an untamed little hand, Webb’s body shrank instinctively, then hurriedly spoke in a serious tone.

But Webb was very happy.

However, by contrast, his leader seemed much calmer.

Or rather, they had much more to consider.

"On the Mother Goddess Land, a large-scale church war broke out, involving many churches..."

Having read the report in his hand, Tariq was lost in thought.

"The Kizi Church probably got involved too, no wonder their retaliatory actions haven’t come yet."

Although Magrela was a large island, home to quite a few people, it was ultimately just a small island in a border area, negligible in the vast Sea of Confession.

No wonder the Kizi Church appeared indifferent after setbacks, quickly turning to attend to more important matters.

And because of this, the retaliatory actions, which the Black Tide Secret Society remained vigilant against, had yet to arrive.

Only today did they learn the reason through the newly established intelligence network.

"Great, now we can take this opportunity to spread more of the faith of the Master of the Black Tide."

"In terms of combat strength, we can temporarily set it aside and focus on assisting in Magrela’s development..."

Sharo rubbed her temples, feeling a bit fatigued.

She had too much to deal with now.

Although being a free island, it always had a management system.

But the Master of the Black Tide instructed her to dismantle and reorganize it directly.

Because in Rogel’s view, the original management system was basically a parasite.

On the various islands of the Sea of Confession, churches and the local management systems almost always coexisted.

In other words, on the original Magrela Island, there were not only churches with their believers and knights, but also a lord and his administrators.

The churches weren’t fools; by cooperating with the lord and some of the original nobles, they could, after dealing, better control territories for extracting profits, while the churches focused on spreading faith—a win-win.

And the lords could seize this opportunity to flaunt their power, so some parasites always delighted in it.

After all, it was the common folks who paid up, not them.

But Rogel didn’t want his land of faith to have such unproductive things; he needed to cultivate more talents.

If those parasites were left unchecked, they’d just continue blood-sucking under the guise of the Black Tide Secret Society, no different from sucking his own blood in Rogel’s eyes. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

So, those lords and nobles had to obediently hand over their lands, behave as good citizens, and if not, let the Knight’s Sword address the issue.

"The forging department can’t keep up again."

"They’re clamoring for more people all day long."

Tariq picked up another report again.

Sharo rubbed her temples, feeling a headache: "Well, recruit more then... reduce a portion of the Black Tide Knight’s budget..."

"As long as Webb has armor to wear, he won’t make a fuss..."

Sharo said somewhat helplessly.

There was no way, their master was different from other gods, he asked that each and every common folk in his dominion have access to a mark, as far as possible.

This was a super massive expense.

Fortunately, He didn’t strictly demand it, just asked them to spread it as much as possible.

Due to the limitation of materials, Sharo had already tried to make the marks more civilian-friendly, simpler, as long as they functioned, He didn’t mind.

But even so, the manpower and material resources were still quite tight.

After all, it’s an island, and resources are limited.

"The Master of the Black Tide is really different from other gods..."

Sharo couldn’t help but comment with a tinge of helplessness.

She initially thought that after becoming a believer of the Master of the Black Tide and being promoted to a Deputy, becoming high-tier, life would be easy.

But reality proved her wrong.

She was tired every day, like a donkey, yet she was still into it because originally she became a Defier because she couldn’t stand the evil antics of the church harming common folks.

Now, seeing life on the island getting better and better, she was quite delighted too.

"Whew..."

After completing the tasks at hand, Sharo stretched, after working all day, both the body and spirit of an Extraordinary would tire.

"Leader Sharo."

At this moment, after a knock at the door, a subordinate came in under Sharo’s permission.

"What’s the matter?"

Sharo raised her eyebrows slightly.

This was not because she wasn’t welcoming this subordinate, but because his arrival usually meant there was something relatively important that required immediate attention.

"A fisherman found a man drifting at sea while fishing."

"He is an extraordinary."