A Guide to Becoming a God Starting from a Monastery

The Knights seem quite powerful, but in fact their biggest weakness is their poor recovery ability and inability to withstand consumption.

After losing the navy, they can no longer afford the consumption.

"So I decided... to hire the Venetian fleet!!" said Thomas.

A squadron, or an army of not less than 800 men. It is a little troublesome to hire an army in a hurry, but a navy is easy.

Because they do have a fleet available for hire.

That’s the price...

"But the Venetians offered a price of 500,000 florins a year, and they refused to bargain!" the treasurer reminded.

"How much would it cost if we hired him for half a year?"

"I'm not sure, but the price will definitely not be less than 300,000. It should be around 350,000."

"What if it's three months?"

"At least two hundred thousand! But three months is probably the limit; it's basically impossible to get any shorter than that. Furthermore, Grand Master, even if it's three months, according to common trading practices, they won't accept credit. We must immediately come up with a deposit of one hundred thousand florins. And if we take out that money... we might not be able to pay our debts next month."

Then you can only borrow new money to pay off the debt, or refuse to pay.

This type of loan is not an ordinary loan, but one with high interest.

To describe it with a line of poetry, this is called "curing the wound in front of you but cutting out the flesh in your heart."

The consequences of defaulting on debts are more serious than those of borrowing at high interest rates, and are even difficult to estimate accurately.

"Money isn't a big issue," Thomas said, waving his hand. "The Holy Father has given us his support."

Everyone's eyes immediately turned to Thomas.

"I came here because the Holy See secretly supported me," Thomas said. "I think everyone knows that the Holy See is my teacher."

Although we have only known each other for a few months and the total time we meet is only a few hours...but he is really my teacher, don't disbelieve it!

"...The Holy See gave me a sum of money to rebuild the military strength of the Knights."

"And this money... is 500,000 florins!" Thomas said. "It has already been delivered."

He came to Rome this time with 1.5 million florins.

But I didn't expect that the money would be spent on this.

However, since Rhodes Island is his own foundation, it is definitely not a loss if he spends the money on himself.

This amount of money is actually nothing compared to military spending, but for an individual, it is an astronomical sum. Putting it anywhere else would arouse suspicion.

But now, with the Pope taking the lead, everything makes sense.

Everyone was delighted when they heard this.

The problem was solved just like that.

"Demetrios, you go and tell the Byzantines," Thomas said. "Just tell them that our squadron will arrive on time to rendezvous with them."

As for the specific details such as hiring and bargaining, he, as the head of the group, naturally does not need to worry about it himself.

Then everyone immediately had a heated discussion about the extra 300,000 florins.

Soon, the plan to purchase ships was finalized, and the Knights would send envoys, hiding their identities, to different Christian countries to purchase warships.

If they have existing ones, that's best. If not, we'll place an order anyway. But we want warships of medium or larger, not dual-use types.

In addition, we need to contact merchants to purchase equipment, and strengthen the recruitment of new people to supplement Rhodes Island's human resources.

Five hundred thousand florins was really nothing; it was all put to good use in just a short while.

The main goal is to make money and live in peace!

In fact, even if Thomas had come up with another 500,000 florins, the situation would have been no different.

War is a bottomless pit, a money-eating beast. The seriously injured Knights need money to recover from their injuries.

One million and a half florins is not enough to fully restore the Knights!

Thomas estimated that if the Knights wanted to truly recover from the severe blow they had suffered, it would cost three million florins.

Thomas decided to keep at least 500,000 florins for himself, just in case.

Even if the situation is truly irreversible, at least we have the money to move away.

After the meeting, the Knights Templar leaders left with great satisfaction.

Only Thomas sat alone on the Grand Commander's throne, looking thoughtfully at the empty meeting hall.

One could clearly feel that the dark clouds hanging over the Knights had dissipated a lot.

But...it’s not enough!

Thomas thought to himself. Several victories in small battles, plus this sudden offer of 500,000 florins "supported by the Pope," had basically consolidated his position as Grand Master.

Now, even those among the Knights' high-ranking officials who had the least confidence in him at the beginning no longer dare to underestimate him.

Basically, he has secured the position of the head of the group and is no longer worried about being sidelined.

But, it’s still not enough!

This only gave confidence to the top leaders, but this confidence did not spread to the middle and lower levels of the Knights.

It may seem indifferent, and it may be difficult to tell the difference, but when the real test comes, the quality will be revealed.

When the apocalypse arrives, that is, when the Crescent Moon Cult army attacks, Thomas needs absolute authority and the trust of the Knights. Otherwise, traitors will easily appear!

Once a traitor appears, everything is over.

And time is limited!

These small victories of capturing one or two ships, though fruitful, were not enough to immediately restore morale.

We can’t instill confidence in everyone by relying on a few small victories like this.

As expected...is a big victory still needed?

Being a pirate is nice, but not right now. Accumulating victories and funds is too slow.

Thomas now has only five warships. Even if he goes out in full force and returns fully loaded, he can only capture five enemy ships at a time at most.

But Thomas didn't think he would be so lucky every time. In fact, every time he went out to fight, he was blessed by God if he could capture one or two enemy ships.

Most of the time, nothing is gained. After all, the ocean is so vast and the ship is so small.

For the time being, there seems to be no solution...

Chapter 80 Wolf's Lair

Thomas returned to his room, changed into an ascetic's attire, and left the headquarters through the back door.

We went all the way from the top of Rhodes City to the outside of the city, visiting various hotels, brothels, and taverns.

Almost no one paid attention to this ascetic monk dressed in dirty and ragged clothes, not to mention that Thomas did not go in, but tried to avoid passers-by.

A full circle around the entire city.

Damn, it seems like nothing has changed!

There were no foreign assassins as expected, such as elite national defenders.

There is an elite beginner warrior in the tavern outside the city, but he should just be a captain (of course, it is hard to say what his specific job is).

I set the trap... but no fish took the bait, which is a bit embarrassing.

But then again, there really isn't enough time.

Considering the limited transportation conditions, the assassin could not arrive so quickly.

In other words, all we can do for now is wait patiently.

If that's the case, then there's no other choice... just go out and be a pirate. Earning more money is the real thing.

Thomas suddenly stopped because he sensed something familiar in the spiritual field.

There are a lot of birds...some big and some small. The big ones should be seagulls, and the small ones should be petrels or something like that.

They live on the second floor of a separate building.

It was a house that looked like an aristocratic villa. It was not big, but the construction standard was quite good.

When concentrating carefully, the spiritual field can even sense the bird droppings piled on the ground on the second floor of the house!

This feeling... seems familiar!

Wolf's den?

Thomas walked around the villa.

It was a very ordinary building, nothing seemed wrong with it. However, there was only one person in the house.

He is an ordinary person, not an elite warrior.

He should be the assistant responsible for delivering messages, not the alpha wolf or the evil wolf.

Maybe this is an opportunity?

Thomas went to the door and knocked gently.

"Who? The master is not at home today!" A voice sounded. It was the voice of a young woman.

"A business man." Thomas lowered his voice to make his voice sound like an old man.

He pulled a small coin purse from his pocket and slipped it through the gap above the door frame.

The spiritual field told him that the woman came over and picked up the purse from the ground.

There were ten florins in the purse... a small sum.

For Thomas, for the alpha wolf, and even for the bad wolf, it was definitely a small amount of money.

But for the assistants who are responsible for delivering messages and controlling the birds, that is not a small amount of money.

But besides money, Thomas had other means. Through the door, Thomas used the spiritual field to cast a spell.

First-level spell: Friendly spell!

Sure enough, the door opened.

Inside was a girl who was definitely no older than eighteen, dressed like a local Greek fisherman.

Her looks are passable, but to be honest, all girls of this age are passable.

"Who are you?" the girl asked. "I told you, the owner of this place is not here."

But her tone was not firm.

"I'm not here to look for the master," Thomas lowered his head. "I'm here to look for you."

"I know you?"

"No, this is the first time we meet. But I think we can discuss a business deal," said Thomas.

“I’m not a business person.”

"But I don't think so." Thomas chuckled. He stepped forward and blocked the door. Now the other party couldn't close it even if they wanted to. "I think I should go in and take a look."

"You can't come in!" The girl was a little panicked.

"May I ask, life here is not easy, right?" Thomas asked.

He was very clear about this. In fact, everyone in Wolf's Den was paid.

But no matter the leader or the evil wolf, they cannot live on that little salary.

With the help of the Wolf's Nest's bird communication advantage and its military advantage, there are many things that can be done and making money is never a problem.

But they don't rely on others, they have people to rely on. The assistant who is responsible for the birds' message delivery is the one who relies on their salary to make a living.

"What do you want to say?"

"What I want to say is, I know you have access to a lot of intelligence, so I thought you could make a copy for me."

"Sir, that's impossible, or rather, useless," the girl said sternly. "I don't know how you got our information, but you have to understand...truly confidential information is encrypted!"

"I don't need any classified information." Thomas smiled.

He has served as both a leader and an envoy, so of course he knows a lot about encryption.