About half a month after Benjamin joined the village, the church seemed to finally notice.

"Be careful, everybody, there's a group of people in the woods to the north. ”

In the afternoon, Benjamin and his party had just left a village, walked on a remote road, and hurried to the next village. Suddenly, with a wave of his hand, he motioned for the entire team to stop, and said in a low voice.

The king seemed taken aback, and immediately asked, "Yes...... Is it someone from the church?"

Benjamin nodded.

He could sense that there were more than thirty people in the group, outwardly dressed as ordinary caravans, but there were several priests inside, with crosses on their bodies, who were undoubtedly members of the church. The group was about a few hundred meters away from them, but because of the dense woods, they were out of view of each other.

And at the moment, this group of people is moving in one direction.

—Benjamin's direction when he came.

These people ...... It's for them.

Benjamin had actually envisioned such a scenario.

Half a month has passed, and what happened in the village has probably slowly spread out. Although this place is remote, all that goes out is that "the real king has appeared", so how can the church let it go?

Besides, the church was looking for them.

With that in mind, he spoke again to the mages, saying, "They were most likely sent by the Church to investigate us. There aren't many of them, though, so we can take them down here first. ”

Naturally, the ten mages nodded their heads one after another, gearing up.

And the remaining forty or so mage apprentices couldn't help but show a nervous expression.

- They hadn't been mages for a long time, and they hadn't even used magic to fight once. And this first battle is to face an opponent like the church, and it's no wonder that they are not nervous.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, just throw the fireball after us. ”

Benjamin gave them a few words of encouragement, and then with ten mages, he flew up and rushed to the church's investigation team.

"What are you looking for?"

A playful question came from the sky, and at that moment, the team in the woods raised their heads and looked at the familiar figure that appeared in the sky, and couldn't help but show a stunned expression.

"You...... It's really active in this area. The leading priest glared at Benjamin and subconsciously spoke.

Benjamin frowned imperceptibly when he heard this.

Before he could say anything, though, the group of church men looked at each other, turned around, and fled in all directions, not even having the slightest intention of fighting Benjamin and them.

However, they were just about to run when a wave of magic power came out. In the midst of the woods, a tall earthen wall rose from the ground, like a fence, blocking their way.

"Abominable ......"

When the priest saw this, his face became very ugly, and he could only chant quickly.

It's just that Benjamin doesn't intend to give them a chance to sing.

Fireballs, ice arrows, and ...... Not only the mages in the sky, but also the apprentices rushed here and began to throw magic into the earthen walls. The church team of more than thirty people was like a turtle in an urn, drowning in a dazzling array of magical attacks.

The cross could not save them, and it was not long before they died cleanly.

The mage also scattered the earthen walls.

"Tidy up the battlefield and don't leave a trace. Benjamin also commanded.

The fact that the Church sent such a small reconnaissance force shows that they do not know Benjamin's whereabouts. In order to prevent the large forces of the Church from being dispatched, Benjamin naturally could not leave any clues to the enemy.

Sooner or later, their movements will be felt by the church, but ...... It's better to delay it for as long as you can.

Ten elite mages skillfully began to clear the battlefield, but the new apprentices, they still didn't look good when they looked at the corpses all over the ground.

“...... Is it the first time to kill someone?" Benjamin saw this, and walked towards them.

The apprentices were stunned when they heard this, and many of them nodded hesitantly.

"It's going to be a little uncomfortable the first time, just get used to it. Benjamin said in an understated tone, "The reality is still cruel. If we don't kill them, the next time we die, it's likely that we will die. ”

The apprentices nodded, and although there was some silence for a while, they walked over and tried to help clear the battlefield.

I hope these people can grow up soon......

Benjamin thought to himself.

And just like that, after getting rid of the group of scouts, they quickly left. Benjamin had planned to go south and run all the villages in the area, but out of caution, he changed his plans and began to head east.

- The church is aware of their actions, and he needs to be careful.

The following week, Benjamin's plan went well. After the diversion, they did not run into any more people from the church, and went to more than a dozen villages, and their influence was further expanded, expanding the ranks of apprentices to more than fifty people.

Unfortunately, not every village eats his set. Once they entered a fishing village, but the people of the village did not care about the name of the king or something, but followed a religion that they had never heard of. Benjamin showed them the power of magic, and they didn't see it, making the scene very embarrassing.

If it was in the past, he might have put more effort into this village or something, but now that the time is in a hurry, he has no choice but to leave and turn around and run to the next village.

- It's a religious village anyway, and it won't go to the church anyway.

And as he ran all the way, digging wells all the way to get rid of the thieves, their position gradually left the border mountains west of Carretus and approached the coastal areas to the south.

These places are obviously not as remote as the small mountain villages to the west.

"Lord Benjamin, what are the first groups of Church men we've encountered?"

In the dark night, after they used the sneak attack to solve the eyeliner of more than a dozen churches, Tony couldn't help frowning and said this while cleaning up the battlefield.

"The eighth team, one hundred and thirty-one people in all. Benjamin replied, relying on the statistics of the system.

In such economically developed areas, the control of the church is obviously much stronger. In some of the larger villages, there was even the eye of the church, which greatly hindered Benjamin's action to win the hearts and minds of the people.

For various reasons, they can only pick on villages that the church has not sent people.

And from those villages, Benjamin also got some news.

- The Church used their substitute King, and issued some new orders.

The first is the wanted of Benjamin and his party. The notice states that Benjamin was a vicious bandit who had stolen the king's crown and coat of arms from the palace and was swindling to keep the people of Carretus from believing them.

To some extent, this still has an impact on Benjamin. However, after Benjamin helped the local villagers solve various livelihood problems, Benjamin's routine was still successful.

After all, one was a dignitary who was far away in the royal capital, and he usually couldn't see him, and when something happened, he would send a notice quietly, and the other appeared in front of them with a smile on his face, and helped them solve various problems with his own hands. The common people are still very practical, and if you have milk, you are a mother. They know which side to choose.

As for the other news, it is about the latest "state religion" promoted by Caritus.

That's about the way it goes. The church can't stand up openly, after all, there are still prohibitions. So they changed their names and surnames, got themselves a new shell, and with this new shell, they began to build churches in various cities.

And their substitute king, also found a reason for his serious illness and then was cured by them, and pushed them into the so-called state religion, not only from the treasury, but also gave them all kinds of political conveniences to ensure their development.

To some extent, the church is slowly developing its mass base.

Benjamin, of course, was helpless. He wanted to stop all this, but unfortunately, they couldn't even get through the gates of the town, and they couldn't make a mess of the church's operations as they did in Freden. As a result, they can do nothing but work hard to develop their rural base.

The atmosphere of the whole Carretus, in the situation where they are competing for me, suddenly became a little nervous.