"Three minutes! Isenus, you lost again this time. Little Paul looked at Esenas with a grin and held out his right hand.

"Ah, I'm used to losing anyway, and I've never won a bet like that. Ignans didn't care about pulling out a gold coin and throwing it into little Paul's hand.

Leo watched little Paul excitedly snatch the gold coin from the air, and asked with some curiosity, "Hey, what are you gambling on?" ”

"Bet you'll be kicked out of the kitchen by Nana in a few minutes. Isenas put his hands back and said, "Little Paul said that it will be less than five minutes, and I bet it will take ten minutes, but I didn't expect you to be so uncompetitive." How come I have failed so many times and still haven't made any progress in cooking?"

There were a few black lines hanging down from the top of Leo's head, his cooking skills were really so unbearable, and no one bet that he could make a dish?

"I wasn't kicked out by Nana. Leo gestured around. "I came out for something else. ”

"What's going on?" Isenus was really confused this time.

"If you want to eat better at night, go out with me for a hunt. ”

"Hunting?" was little Paul's startled voice.

"Hunting. Esenas looked thoughtfully at the humble house.

Leo looked at Ente and asked, "Ente, would you like to go with me?"

"No problem. ”

Entre followed Leo out of the house.

At this time, half of the sun's body had already slid into the mountain, and the crimson light of the remnant sun stretched the shadows of the two of them.

On the main road, you can see farmers coming back from the wheat fields from time to time.

"Ent. ”

"How. ”

"Why is this village so poor?"

Leo had only roughly swept the outside of the house out of politeness, but when he leaned into the house, he found that every family was actually the same poverty, which was not at all compatible with the wheat fields that were growing happily outside.

The only villages the adventure group had seen were Xiaotong Village, which made a living from taverns, and Xinshui Town, which was ruled by the Church of the God of Fraternity, and although these two towns were not wealthy, the villagers' living standards were at least several times higher than here.

Ente was silent for a moment and said, "This is the norm for believers in the realm of faith. ”

"Normality? You mean, it's the norm to eat some porridge with water, nibble on a few potatoes, and cook a little peas every day?"

"Actually, it's pretty good here, at least it looks like there's something to eat for every meal. ”

Ente's words made Leo completely speechless, if this is not bad, then what is miserable?

"This village, first of all, belongs to the Church of the God of the Harvest, and every month it is necessary to donate membership dues to the church, whether it is gold coins or food, the church will accept it. ”

"Secondly, the village also belonged to the Viscount of Stone, and the villagers had to pay a tax to the Viscount every year, which was allowed to be offset by the population in addition to gold coins and grain. It is a mandatory offset. ”

Leo felt a chill behind his back when he heard this: "Pay two taxes?"

That's right, that's what believers live in the realm of faith under the co-rule of the church and the aristocracy. The aristocracy paid the bills to the church, while the believers paid both. ”

At this time, Leo understood why this family was so poor, under this kind of double taxation that was almost exploitative, no honest family could be rich.

"Don't they want to resist?"

"How to resist?"

Leo was speechless.

Indeed, judging from what they saw, these poor people could not afford to eat enough and could not afford to carry weapons, and even if they could eat enough and have the strength to resist, the church and the nobles were on the same front.

Of course, not everyone is like this, in the more affluent towns, those craftsmen still have a good income, blacksmiths, bakers, tailors, can live a relatively good life. ”

"But in a free country, even in the most remote villages, the peasants are three times better off than here. ”

"But in a free country, wars are far more frequent than here. ”

Ente has a point.

For a moment, Leo couldn't tell whether it was better for the poor to accept exploitation or to find freedom in the midst of war.

Thinking to no avail, Leo had no choice but to shake his head and go out into the wild with Ente to find some prey.

By the time the two returned, it was completely dark. The sun rolling into the ground was powerless to give light, and the moon just rising in the sky was not enough to illuminate the world, and the dark village was pale in the bleak moonlight.

"Look, what did we bring back?" Leo pushed open the door, barely squeezing out a smile and holding up the two badgers and two rabbits in his hands.

"Great!" cheered little Paul.

Just now, he had seen through the crack in the kitchen door the miserable and pitiful dinner of the day.

The hostess left the cauldron where the potatoes were boiling, stretched out her hands, and wanted to take these rare ingredients, but she couldn't believe it.

"Thank you, God of the Harvest, where did you get these things?"

"We walked around the fields and found these little ones playing hide and seek, and we got them back. Leo didn't say what he meant directly, and after spending so much time with Nana, he also learned to take care of other people's emotions carefully.

"Incredible, incredible. The hostess took the badger and the rabbit with some trembling trembling, and kept repeating: "Thank you to the god of harvest, thank you to the god of harvest." ”

Leo Daqi asked, "Why have you been thanking the god of harvest?"

The hostess gave Leo a strange look, and then said with relief: "You are not a believer in the God of the Harvest, are you? The God of the Harvest has blessed the land so that all animals that cause damage to the crops cannot approach it. If you can find these animals by the edge of the field, it must be a reward and a blessing from the god of harvest. ”

Leo opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't get it down.

The imprint of the gods is deeply ingrained in these believers.

At this moment, a strong man in his forties and three young men of seventeen or eighteen pushed open the door from the darkness.

"Behold, my husband, our guests bring the grace of the God of the harvest!"

For a while, several figures pulled out a few happy shadows in the stove of the house, and the praise of the harvest god was endless.

Leo looked at the family with a smile, but there was a little sadness in his heart.

Their misfortune was obviously caused by the gods they believed in, but these simple believers were so fanatical about singing the praises of the gods of the harvest, and a little non-existent favor could make them dance and cheer.

Compared with material poverty, the closure of the heart is even more pathetic.