Chapter 346: The Sun Chasers

"Zhurizhe Church? Uh, does this name mean it's the Elves' church?"

"No, why would you think that? Elves generally worship the moon. This is a purely money-based church."

After bidding farewell to Dai Niya, Li En returned to his home, still pondering the new major trouble.

A True God Church seemed to have sniffed out the opportunity here, actively participating, even planning to set up a high-level diocese; what made Dai Niya worry was that they were utterly untrustworthy.

"Money Church, what an exaggerated way to put it."

But when Li En saw those plump orange-robed missionaries tossing out various small gifts, shopping vouchers, and flyers while selling goods, he almost couldn't hold back his laughter.

"It really is priests running a commercial business... no, it should be that merchants became priests."

Their holy symbol was a human figure running toward the sun, literally a chaser of light.

But those who knew them called it...

"The Gold-Chasing Church. They've set their sights on this place again?"

Zhurizhe, the True God, whose known divine portfolios include "Commerce," "Travel," and "Sun."

Clearly, this was a rather powerful deity, occupying very good divine portfolios, so their clergy naturally possessed considerable domain power.

But they were actually quite special... their priests' ranks and divine portfolios could be bought.

Yes, this bizarre church was true feudal-era capitalism; from the Pope down to the regional bishops of various branch churches, everything was bought with money.

The lower levels were the same; becoming a member of this church meant not only having no income but also paying annual dues based on your divine portfolio rank, years of membership, and number of subordinates.

If you didn't pay enough, you'd be demoted; drop to a certain level, and you'd be kicked out of the church directly.

Of course, people aren't stupid; they wouldn't voluntarily enter this bottomless pit... internally, this church was actually a gathering of countless great merchants, a hub of business opportunities.

Joining allowed one to leverage their commercial network and exchange money for supernatural power, which was quite friendly to great merchants.

"This business model sounds good, but it feels like there are huge problems. How do they maintain continuous revenue and keep their income growing constantly?"

After glancing at the data, Li En noticed something off: the annual dues increased by at least five percent every year, and for the same position, the increase rate compounded annually; within four or five years, the hike would inevitably exceed forty percent.

In other words, to keep one's church position and priest rank, one had to frantically scoop up money and make profits.

Not only was there pressure from the "annual donation," but your "income from properties within the diocese" also faced revenue pressure.

One could say that no matter how much you earned this year, the pressure would soon rise again.

"Isn't this forcing these people to constantly devise ways to scoop up money?"

Financial-index-like KPI pressure; honestly maintaining the status quo and doing real industry work wouldn't work. Predatory, speculative, and explosive income pursuit was inevitable; draining the pond to catch the fish was nothing—these people would pump the fish pond dry and sell the water and mud directly...

"No wonder their reputation is so terrible... Are they eyeing the material market here? Or do they plan to interfere with the adventurers' market?"

The Gold-Chasers had a terrible reputation precisely because they recognized nothing but money.

But one must admit, their sense for profit and money was world-class; as long as there was a chance to get rich, they would naturally come.

Li En pondered for a moment; they must have set their sights on the supernatural materials from the underground ruins. As long as the exploration went smoothly, the amount of supernatural materials would naturally exceed what the local area could absorb.

If these materials stayed locally, they probably couldn't be absorbed in the short term, but they could gradually enhance the kingdom's comprehensive strength... wealth and supernatural substances would attract combat power, which would further improve exploration progress, ultimately forming a virtuous cycle.

But if military resources were exchanged for some gold coins, and future combat power was taken away...

"No wonder Dai Niya is so upset... If Zhurizhe just sells supplies here, that's fine; their commercial network is excellent. I'm just afraid they'll continue doing short-term deals."

Li En wasn't as worried as Dai Niya; it was hard for the official government to control commercial operations. The kingdom's biggest problem right now was actually a lack of reputation and commercial networks. If Zhurizhe really got the business running and spread their reputation, that wouldn't be a bad thing. Moreover, with their commercial network, they could also buy high-quality weapons from other countries.

These people were famous for doing any kind of business; as long as there were profits and demand here, they would naturally provide other services.

The latest news: several fleeing nobles had purchased service packages from them, and their lands and properties had been acquired cheaply by the church.

"The key is still control. Ideally, let their transactions be mostly barter-based, materials for finished goods... never mind, stop thinking about it. The royal family simply doesn't have this control power right now."

Dai Niya's controllable resources were extremely limited. The Zhurizhe members could at least politely say hello, which already meant they respected your kingdom. Even if you tried to stop them, you couldn't stop them.