In the Toddell Continent, the Elemental Temple is responsible for collecting the professional tax that professionals need to pay, and within the tax period, the professional can pay the tax and register at any Elemental Temple on the continent, and then the Elemental Temple will organize and file it in more detail.

From the beginning of the Fourth Age, eight hundred and fifty years ago, in the middle of summer, when the kings of all the nations of the continent signed the Code of Order of Todder together with the Holy King, everything was so orderly.

The Holy Council is on high the throne, and the four temples have their own duties.

Order inherits knowledge, life heals wounds, nature watches chaos, and elements quell wars.

Among the four major temples, the most important function, or the one that needs to consume the most resources, is the elemental temple, and it can even be said that in order to effectively complete its functions, the other three temples together do not require as many resources as the elemental temple, the source of troops, equipment, supplies, the overall management of professionals, and the coordination of contradictions between countries, each of which requires countless resources to maintain.

As a result, the Profession Tax is collected directly by the Elemental Temple, and some of it is allocated to other temples and organizations for other purposes according to the budget proposal of the Holy Council, and most of it is distributed directly under the Elemental Temple system, avoiding the meaningless flow of taxes back and forth.

And because the taxpayers are all professionals, there will be large or small elemental temples near all big cities or places where professionals gather, and the closest tax collection point to the Iluvita Academy of Magic is naturally located in Bellamy's town.

……

……

The road winds its way along the valley.

In mid-November, the valley of Iluvita has been covered with light snow, but the tall and thick cedar trees in the mountain forest are still full of green, the valley has not yet frozen, and from time to time big fish jump out of the water and make an abrupt coo, walking on the black stone road leading to the town of Bellamy, the snow reflects the swarthy rock walls, and the cold wind blows the forest sea, but the afternoon sun still shines on the body is warm and drowsy.

For professionals who have mastered the use of magic, such weather is not too cold.

After leaving the Iluvita Academy, Morin was finally allowed to carry his gold coin box back in his arms, and walked slowly under the watchful eye of his companions, with a heroic expression on his face. However, compared to his expression, the young man's steps were not so heroic—the journey from the academy to the town was only a short distance for a professional, and he had not finished it for a while.

"I love gold coins more than ......," the boy subconsciously hummed a ballad while dragging his thousand-pound legs.

"Why are there so many people in Bellamy?" Barron's voice came from the back of the group, he was the only one of the few who could stop Morin with his strength, and he walked at the back of the group to prevent the teenager from slipping away.

"Well, we're still some distance from Bellamy, Barron, how do you know?" said Aeno's voice.

The little vampire has been walking on the side of Morin, mainly responsible for enlightening the teenager from the perspective of a money fan, which can be regarded as acting in her true colors, judging from the fact that Morin can still take the initiative to take the initiative, her enlightenment effect is probably not bad.

"I heard a lot of noise in the town, and I felt like there were many, many people. Barron's round ears moved slightly: "Didn't you hear it...... Could it be my delusion...... have you enhanced your sense of hearing with mental perception?"

"Enhanced, ah......" Marcas and the others stopped and glanced at each other, always using the technique of spiritual perception to enhance the senses to maintain keen perception is the requirement of Anna Gu's spiritual perception course, getting used to this state can make perception more sensitive and at the same time can also imperceptibly exercise mental power.

But even so, no one but Barron could distinguish the faint but noisy noise from the direction of the town that the young man Kadir described, not even Morin, who was the most mentally strong.

"It's normal that we can't hear, the Qadir are one of the best hearing races, don't look at their ears are round and short, but they are as sharp as goblins, and it is recorded that any adult Qadir can distinguish the sound of wild beasts running for kilometers on the cold wind howling ice fields. ”

Mo Lin drooped his head and said the "common sense" in his memory, his eyes still resting on the cash box in his arms.

It is not known whether the Kadir people had the same keen sense of hearing as the books Maureen had read, but here it turns out that at least Barron was not wrong:

After walking slowly for a short while, the few people saw a number of adventurers with unfamiliar faces appear on the road one after another, and when the outline of the town finally fell into view, the teenagers couldn't help but widen their eyes when they looked at the almost crowded streets.

That's a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it......

Although Bellamy's town has always been frequented by adventurers, the town is still dominated by students of the Academy of Magic, except for the permanent residents, and it has never been as crowded as it is now, as if adventurers from all over the world have suddenly poured in, and what about the adventurer team that seems to be carrying complex and heavy equipment, is it possible that they are preparing for war.

"I remember!" said Aeno suddenly.

"I heard others mention it when I was eating before, it seems that there are some high-level demonic beasts haunting the nearby area, and these adventurers should have heard the news and gathered here, right?"

"Huh?!High-level Demonic Beast?" The others were stunned.

In the Shattered World, only the Order race can access the Sea of Magic, and Warcraft can only gather Mana by collecting the mana fluctuations scattered around it, so high-level Warcraft are extremely rare. However, Warcraft also have an advantage over the professions of the Order Race - they do not rely on the Fire of Order as much as the Order Race, and even many Warcraft can live and even reproduce in the Black Forest for a long time without the brilliance of the Fire of Order.

In fact, the vast majority of high-level magical beasts live in the gray area (the border between order and chaos), which is why several people are so surprised when they hear that there are high-level magical beasts nearby?—— although Iluvita is located in an inaccessible valley, but according to the scope of the order firelight, it is far from the edge, there are many magical beasts such as fire baboons, jerboas, bubble snakes, etc., and I have never heard of any high-level magical beasts.

Presumably, even if there are really high-level demonic beasts, they are coming from other places.

"I don't know what kind of high-level magical beast it is......" Merlin muttered, still clutching his gold coin box.

Different Warcraft are very different, some Warcraft are very low-level, but they are very gentle and intelligent, and can even communicate with people simply, like Anna Gu's silver-feathered pigeon, some are very high-level, powerful but short-tempered, and they only know how to fight with other Warcraft in order to fight for territory, and even more because they are contaminated with chaos, they will become bloodthirsty and crazy, and they are very aggressive and extremely dangerous.

It wouldn't be good news if it was a mad high-level monster roaming around - at least for the middle and lower divisions of the academy, it meant that it would be quite unsafe to leave the academy area.

Not to mention that even a senior student can't deal with a high-level demonic beast alone.

"Looking at the equipment carried by those adventurers, it is really possible that they are here to capture the monsters, and they should be relatively large monsters, if they are the size of the fire baboons, they will not need those huge high-grade rope nets and half-human-tall mechanical supply boxes. Marcas judged.

"But seeing that these adventurers are staying in the town, they probably haven't found any useful clues, right?" Morin said, his eyes lit up, "What about high-level magical beasts! Sounds really exciting, why don't we go and ask them about the specific situation? How about Old Pat's Treehouse Tavern? I'm usually busy training or practicing, I haven't been to it much, let's go, let's go, let's have a drink!"

As he spoke, the boy took a step towards him.

Ahem, with a light cough from the little vampire, Barron and Marcus stood in front of the boy very tacitly.

"Merlin, the Elemental Temple should go that way," Aeno pointed in the other direction, pulling the young man by the collar:

"After we pay our salaries tax, if you're still interested in high-level magical beasts, we'll accompany you to Old Pat's tavern. ”

"Don't wow...... After paying the professional tax, I have no money to buy wine!

"It's okay, we'll lend you ......"

"Don't worry, Barron is here today, you can drink as much as you want when the time comes, even if you are drunk and unconscious, Barron can easily carry you back......"

……

……

After a while, the group and the reluctant Morin who was surrounded in the middle came to a small white stone building, and they looked at the small stone house, which was no more than two stories high, and looked at each other.

“…… This is the Elemental Temple, isn't it?" asked Marcus uncertainly.

"Yes...... Merlin said hesitantly, pointing to a flame mark on the building, "That's the mark of the Elemental Temple, and no one should have carved this on their doorstep...... Right?"

"There shouldn't be ......" Aeno shook his head slightly, "Forging temple seals and badges is a felony......"

"But it's too small," muttered the boy, "the butchers in Port Harriet are all bigger than ......."

Although Bellamy's town has a small population, the boy originally thought that the elemental temple here would be more magnificent, after all, most of the teachers and students of the academy would come here to pay professional taxes- That's a considerable amount of money: second-year students like them need to pay hundreds of gold coins every time, and every level up (which basically means that the main profession has also increased by at least one level), the amount of money they need to pay will increase exponentially, not to mention those professors and researchers in the academy, there is no shortage of great magicians or even higher-level existences when they grab a handful, and the taxes paid are even more difficult to measure in gold coins.

But I don't want this temple with an unknown amount of tax money flowing every year to look so inconspicuous.

"Maybe there's a powerful space passage magic inside, much more than it seems," Tierna guessed, "just like our academy's library, with only a small arch entrance. ”

"Makes sense!" Morin was the first to step in.

However......

The temple looks even smaller than it looks, and is quite crowded.

Except for a few chairs for people to rest, there was only a small space where a cashmere carpet could be stood, and the five teenagers walked in and packed the small space to the brim.

Most of the room was blocked by a large counter, which was densely packed with books, papers, and records, and behind the counter there was a large, sturdy metal shelf with several large gold and crystal card boxes, and a rather thick cabinet on one side, perhaps for more valuable items.

"It's not ......as big as the butcher's shop in Port Harriet," Morin thought silently in his heart.

The boy was too embarrassed to say anything, because he saw a temple clerk behind the counter who was too embarrassed to talk about the shortcomings of the people—it was still a young elemental priest who didn't look much older than them.

He had short blond hair, no hat, and was wearing a white sacrificial robe, the chest and cuffs of the robe were embroidered with a red flame with extremely fine metal threads, representing the Elemental Temple, and the flame was topped with five thin flame tips, representing that he had reached the level of the Fifth Order Elemental Sacrifice.

The fifth-order is also the intermediate advanced elemental sacrifice (two-star advanced elemental sacrifice), this level is quite outstanding in a remote place like the southern realm of Lothar, but it looks a little ordinary next to the Iluvita Academy, and it is only slightly stronger than this small elemental temple in comparison.

Several teenagers couldn't help frowning slightly, not to mention Mo Lin, who had been clinging to the gold coin box, and even Equino and Marcus, who advocated paying professional taxes today, subconsciously tightened their money bags containing crystal cards.

No matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like a serious tax collection point.

"Don't worry, although my strength is average, and the scale of this temple is also very small, it is absolutely safe for the tax money to be kept here. The young priest had seen the thoughts of several teenagers very experienced, and smiled angrily, "Many of the new elemental temples built in the Fourth Age for tax collection are about the same size as this one. ”

He gestured to the crowded room, "Do you know why?"

"What else can you do to pick the door......" Marcas subconsciously despised it in Gessock's characteristic nasal voice, until his waist was twisted by Emino, and he said very embarrassedly: "Ahem, after all, the funds of the Elemental Temple come from the professional taxes paid by the professionals, and they must be reasonably distributed and used, so the construction of the temple can be regarded as economical and not extravagant......"

"Yes, the money saved can be distributed to other more important things......" Marcas struggled to reconcile his words, realizing that the other party was a temple clerk anyway, and he didn't want to offend the other party.

"Huh...... It's not as frugal as you say," the blonde priest smiled and waved his hand: "In the eyes of many people, it is quite a waste to build such a size, don't look at this room, but under this floor is engraved an extremely precious and powerful magic enchantment to protect this room, it is not an exaggeration to say that every inch of land is golden......"

Seeing that a few teenagers had no idea, the young priest said metaphorically: "In terms of value, the gold that can be exchanged for this magical barrier under our feet can almost replace these stones to build a temple of the same size." ”

"Hiss-" Several teenagers suddenly felt that the soles of their feet were hot, and they couldn't help but want to condense a dazzling barrier under their feet, for fear of stepping on the golden magic enchantment.

The little vampire stared blankly at the wall, probably imagining how brilliant a temple made of gold must be.

"And even without the barrier protection, your taxes are pretty safe here. "All but the most notorious degenerates in history have had a miserable fate for all those who offended the majesty of the Temple, and even the most notorious ones have disappeared from the Temple's pursuit. ”

"Someone may be able to escape death, but absolutely no one will go unpunished. Maureen answered.

This is a description that the boy has seen, and in addition to the so-called priceless protective barrier, the Elemental Temple does warn those who dare to venture with bad intentions with ironclad facts.

"That's true. The Golden Priest nodded: "So don't worry, it's absolutely safe for the tax money to be kept here." ”

With their doubts dispelled, the boys finally paid their taxes and recorded them in the Blonde Sacrifice, and Merlin reluctantly handed over the gold coin box in his arms.

……

Three thousand four hundred and seventy gold Gessock?!

The young priest was taken aback by this number, and he repeatedly confirmed to Morin that it was only a one-time tax amount, and after making sure that the boy was not mistaken, he said with envy that the boy must have received a rather powerful and ancient professional inheritance.

"Most of the common types of occupations in the temple have adjusted the tax amount within a reasonable range, and the general tax payment is larger, except for the deputy position, there are too many unpopular occupations with some ancient inheritance, and a second-year student like you actually has to pay more than 3,000 gold coins I have seen for the first time, presumably your inheritance profession is not ordinarily powerful, at least in the distant past. "That's what the blonde sacrifice says.

To this, Morin stiffened his face and snorted.

"You don't believe it, I'm a boy with my own magic puddle, and the profession of 'Fatal Mage' is indeed extraordinary, especially in terms of pit people......"

……

Returning to the state of being poor again, I don't know if it was to forget the sorrow with the gold coin box, the young man remembered the agreement just now, and urged the other people to go out the door: "Old Pat's tavern, let's go, I want to drink magic sweet wine! ”

Morin controlled himself not to look back at the box of gold coins that had changed hands, and pretended to be very unruly and pushed the door open.

But he suddenly changed color.

The temple is on the hillside of the town, and there is no courtyard in front of it to block the view, which should be pretty good, but the young man looked out of the door and felt that there was a white expanse in front of him, and he couldn't see anything clearly.

A moment later, before he could react, the strong wind slammed into his body with ice and snow, and Mo Lin's body was actually hit head-on by the strong wind, and then slammed into the counter.

The gold coins are scattered, and the ice and snow are like knives.

"Mo-" The other people's voices were also blown to the ground before they arrived.

"What's ——?!" Merlin struggled to stand firm, but suddenly found that the strong wind had actually stopped: "It's not a snow storm, could it be that some great magician is using magic?!"

"It's not. Barron's extremely low and serious voice came from the side:

"If I'm right, the strong wind just now, it's the roar of a giant beast. ”