Demon Bible

Chapter 89: Acting Out of Line

"Uh!" Das froze for a moment before snapping back to his senses.

"Lord Great Knight, please do not act recklessly."

"You are the ones acting out of line!" Nemus drew a Knight's sword he had taken from the Cathedral's armory and pointed it at the tavern.

On regular days, the Precept Church did its best to relax its doctrines.

It was said that back on the Great Earth, the doctrines of the Precept Church had been incredibly strict.

The Precept Church emphasized order, Energy Conservation, restraint, rules, and boundaries.

Order emphasized status: one must act according to their station. A merchant was a merchant, a scholar was a scholar, and a Cleric was a Cleric.

Energy Conservation emphasized resources: under no circumstances could resources be wasted.

Restraint emphasized power: Clerics were forbidden from abusing martial force.

Rules emphasized conduct: all actions had to comply with established regulations and systems.Boundaries emphasized dissemination: the movement of personnel and the transfer of knowledge both required strict limitations.

However, after the Great Earth suffered its cataclysm and all personnel relocated to the Whalebacks, this unique environment led to a situation where Monotheism controlled everything within a previously polytheistic society.

The doctrines of the Precept Church, along with the various rules and systems derived from them, were actually unsuitable for the current situation.

Over the millennia, the rules had changed considerably, but some core elements remained. After all, the God of Precepts was still the God of Precepts. Any modifications had to originate from the Precepts themselves; the Church could not simply transform into an omnipotent Monotheism that governed absolutely everything.

Those Precept Doctrines were merely deliberately concealed.

This naturally resulted in the current situation.

The Church continued to uphold the name of the Precepts on one hand, while simultaneously watering down the Precept Doctrines to a certain extent on the other.

A few hundred years ago, the Church was still very strict with its Clerics. But centuries later, aside from a few Golden Rank individuals, the personnel had turned over many times. Naturally, people grew accustomed to certain transgressions and turned a blind eye.

Take the most obvious rule for example: a Cleric was simply a Cleric and could not engage in any other professional activities.

In particular, they were forbidden from engaging in commerce or the service industry.

Elderly Clerics were indeed allowed to retire, but this so-called retirement was meant for resting and enjoying one's twilight years, not for starting a second career.

"Clerics are meant to serve God, are they not?" Nemus demanded point-blank.

His questioning voice quickly drew the attention of the people inside the tavern.

Many of them furrowed their brows in unison.

Various rules certainly existed, but different Floating Whales also underwent different adaptive changes to these rules.

Because the Azure Sky Whale had previously been the territory of the Enclosure Faction, these rules had gradually become mere decorations. Since everyone acted this way, they simply treated the rules as if they did not exist.

However, the greatest fear in matters like this was someone taking things too seriously.

Especially when the one taking it seriously was currently the Great Knight of the Tail Fin Town Church.

The atmosphere instantly became extraordinarily tense.

This group of people was primarily led by the Iron Rank Priest, Dong He.

And Dong He was the heir to the Old Bones Tavern. The retired individual who opened the tavern was none other than his grandfather.

When it came to order, they also held quite the Double Standard.

Clerics could go out and do other things, but it was incredibly difficult for those in other professions to enter the Cathedral and become Clerics.

To become a Priest or a Holy Knight, one first needed family members who were already involved.

Although Dong He was not a noble, his grandfather was a veteran Iron Rank.

He had also previously reached a cooperative agreement with Westbin.

The Old Bones Tavern served as a middleman location.

Many secret transactions were actually finalized here. After Westbin's downfall, Dong He knew his opportunity had arrived, so he immediately joined forces with others, preparing to seize control of Westbin's whale product trade for himself.

If it weren't for the fact that their generation lacked an Iron Rank Holy Knight, he would have even nominated one of his own to compete for the position of Great Knight.

Yet, a new Great Knight had been abruptly parachuted into the position before they could act.

Seeing that the people behind him were making no move, while the imposing aura radiating from Nemus grew increasingly intense—and his footsteps were already carrying him toward the tavern...

"It is all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!" Das felt his heart skip a beat at the sight and hurriedly cried out.

Their original intention in inviting Nemus directly to the Old Bones Tavern was to overwhelm him with their sheer numbers and act like the local lords, suppressing the momentum Nemus had steadily accumulated over this short period.

Often, raw power was not the deciding factor; when direct combat was impossible, imposing presence became the crucial tipping point.

Because they could not afford to fight, they needed to project strength. But what if one side was the type who did not care in the slightest whether a fight broke out or not?

At this moment, Das absolutely did not dare to gamble that Nemus's actions were just a bluff.

"This tavern does not belong to Lord Dong Luo. It is mine, entirely mine," Das hastily explained, trying to sound coherent. "I originally opened this tavern, and Lord Dong Luo simply supported the business, coming here often."

"The claim that this tavern belongs to Lord Dong Luo is entirely a rumor, a baseless rumor!" It would be easy to tell if Das's words were true or false, but the truth no longer mattered right now. What mattered was that they had started to bow their heads.

"I see," Nemus said, acting as if he had just realized the truth. He patted Das on the shoulder. "Then why did you reserve your own tavern?!"

Das's mouth twitched, and he could only reply, "Just entertaining myself. I was just entertaining myself."

This response completely shattered every bit of the imposing presence they had built up earlier.

He had no choice. If he did not handle the current situation this way, the people behind him might not suffer, but he absolutely would.

Or rather, he was already suffering.

Although Das was a wealthy merchant, business was truly difficult these days.

Without the protection of the people backing him, everything he owned could be stripped away in an instant.

In the situation just moments ago, if Dong Luo, Dong He, and the others had offered their support and truly stood up to confront Nemus, he would not have backed down.

Or if they had stepped forward to utter a few diplomatic words to smooth things over, he could have chimed in at the right time to ease the tension.

But those people, on one hand, did not dare to confront Nemus directly; they had no plan to initiate a head-on clash or start a fight.

On the other hand, they were terrified that the matter would blow out of proportion and become impossible to clean up.

Thus, they tacitly pushed the difficult problem entirely onto him.

From the very beginning, Das had been the one to step forward. When the plan went awry, he automatically became the sacrificial lamb.

Even though Das had nominally claimed the tavern under his own name just now, what he would lose next was going to be far more than just a single tavern.

If he could not stabilize this "business deal", it would not be unusual for him to accidentally fall into a ditch and break his neck while walking alone at night.

"Lord Nels, please enter," Das said, his mind racing as he continuously pondered how to survive this ordeal.

Meanwhile, the moment Nemus nodded and stepped into the tavern, he felt a vibration from the Precepts.

[Precept Updated]

[Main Rule: Absolution]

[Precept Feedback: ……&%¥]

[Conditions met... Synthesize?]

[Synthesis complete. Feedback updated.]

[Precept Feedback: New Addition (Old Bones Tavern) — Concealed Gathering: You and the personnel you select will become concealed and difficult to detect during the gathering process.]