What did you do with the dice?

Looking down at the nearby scene from above, he saw a mess everywhere. The sentry posts were littered with the bodies and blood of his guards, most of whom had arrows and plant remains stuck in their bodies.

The elves were not spared and all fell nearby. Each body had a burning wound that went through the vital parts. It was obvious that after killing the guards, they were killed by the black Filin tribe.

The more he looked, the more frightened he became. He had thought that the mysterious voice he had once encountered was already an existence like the ruler of the world, but he had never expected that one day he would actually see such an existence appear in front of him. With a guy like this, even if he had a large army, he could not feel safe at all. He could not imagine how he could survive from her hands.

Although the demon said five minutes, before three minutes had passed, the entire house was blown into pieces by the explosion of pitch-black flames. When the smoke and dust cleared, the black Filin people, with golden holy fire burning all over their bodies, stood still.

She looked at the direction where Marquis Allen escaped, took out the green ball from her arms, hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to turn around and leave.

Chapter 167 Sicilian Front (17)

Compared to the dangerous battle situation in the invisible place over there, Rusalka's side has now entered picnic mode.

Every time the cat goes hunting, it can bring back a lot of prey. It treats the entire forest as its own backyard and uses it at will. Occasionally, it can find some friendly forces and kill some enemies.

Rusalka was no help either, as the cat moved three times faster in the Shadow Plane than in reality, so he couldn't keep up.

Ai Li was there to soothe the morale and mental state of the army, picking up firewood and so on. The soldiers were all farmers, who had taken up weapons to fight and picked up hoes to plow the fields. They were much more skilled at this kind of thing than the noble lord Rusalka - at least when they chopped firewood, they would not split the wood and the stakes in half.

To make a fire, there's flint, to catch fish, set guard, make traps, repair equipment, etc., all the same as above, none of which Rusalka is good at.

Everyone had their own things to do, only Rusalka sat there eating free food, and she always ate the best free food first.

Although this lion-like distribution method is objectively very pleasant and relatively reasonable, subjectively, it makes Rusalka, a person from the 21st century, feel a little embarrassed for getting something for nothing. He can only rely on the identification function of his own "Sani Tower Treasure Book" to pick up some edible fruits.

In fact, after these two days of jungle survival projects, Phoenix's status among the soldiers has surpassed Rusalka. On the one hand, it is because she was the one who took the initiative to go out to rescue others. Everyone saw her fighting, so it could produce a suspension bridge effect.

On the other hand, apart from the fact that she was born into the Orc tribe and was inherently discriminated against, she had no flaws at all. She could handle both housework and household chores, support herself, and even fight on the battlefield and maintain stability in the rear.

From the perspective of a spouse, she has no disadvantages except that she is of a foreign race. If everyone initially envied Phoenix for being able to rise to the top and become a phoenix, now everyone can only sigh that she is worthy of being a lord, with great vision, and can even dig gold from a big rotten mine like the Orcs.

Otherwise, why do they say that Rusalka is a noble lord and everyone else is a commoner? Apart from their combat effectiveness, it makes sense. Look, the great wizard Sanita next door was also picked up on the street.

Rusalka: (I’m a men’s doctor. This is called Bole.)

Sunita: (I hope you will treat Phoenix the same way when you return home.)

Rusalka: (There are three types of happiness: extreme happiness, explosive happiness, and mild happiness. You pushed me to the third level with just one sentence.)

While the noble families in Snidi are all male, there are also many women among the administrators of neighboring Esdi. Look, isn't the Grand Saint also a woman? To sum up, if Rusalka is truly incorporated into Esdi, everyone feels that it makes sense to let Phoenix make decisions for Rusalka. Unlike other traditional Snidi nobles, women have no political participation at home and only have the power to influence others.

Rusalka was thinking, if she was a little more cowardly and mobilized an army of 800,000 to wipe out the entire Filin tribe, then Phoenix would sound exactly like the protagonist of a cool female novel?

But she actually worked very hard and fought against fate all the way to where she is today, so she is a male-oriented girl?

Rusalka couldn't come to a conclusion either, and could only attribute it to racial characteristics, sighing: (It's not unreasonable that the Filin people are a matriarchal society.)

Sanita: (Yes, someone like you with almost no wilderness survival skills deserves to be knocked unconscious by a cat and dragged back to the cave.)

Rusalka: (Can you blame me? Why do we teach this in school? On Earth, even the wild people living in the mountains would eventually become a tourist attraction. Every inch of land here is public. This is the social nature of the human age.)

Sunny Iron Tower: (Don’t you really like watching the Wild & Wild series? Why don’t you learn it? I don’t ask you to become the next Bear Grylls or Adrian Thomas, but at least you can tell east, west, east, and north without a compass.)

Rusalka: (No, man, I also like watching love backflips (harem anime). I've already learned all kinds of flag techniques. Why can't I encounter a teleported pink-haired princess from Deviluke in the shower?)

One day nothing happened, the elves' attacks stopped, and the enemies, having lost their backbone, gradually began to retreat.

Unfortunately, what was waiting for them was not their own troops waiting for support in the south, but Esdi's cavalry.

Sani Iron Tower: (The north and south sides of the forest have been occupied by our army. You can lead your men back out from the south and clear out the enemy troops on the way.)

At this point in the battle, unless Marquis Momola temporarily sends out surprise troops for support, Rusalka only needs to withdraw his troops and go home. Even if they have won a beautiful victory, they only need to train their troops again, or wait for Esdi to provide more support, and then they can try to see if they can seize the land from Marquis Allen.

They left at any time, except for the inexplicable sense of openness they felt in the wild at night when they were stacking with Phoenix. In fact, Rusalka had no attachment to this forest. They had to fight secretly, especially when fighting with the ranger team. They were used as targets and could only sniper with them passionately. There was no chance to kill people with a knife. The only reality was to chop trees with a knife, which was not pleasant at all.

Sanita: (You can't expect others to foolishly throw their knives at you every time you fight. War is like that. Winning is already pretty good. Expecting to feel good about it is too unrealistic.)

Rusalka: (Alas, it's a pity that I didn't kill the ranger and druid until the very end. My own people only found Alizee and Shanna, and I didn't even see the two marquises. I don't have any intelligence at all, and it was another muddled battle.)

This time it was not Rusalka's fault. Sanitta was actually very puzzled. He had really seen nothing on his right wing all the way here. Marquis Momola seemed to be nowhere to be found. The only enemy he saw on the road was seen through the vision of the magic pet over there.

Although this is in line with his idea of ​​​​secretly developing, actively avoiding battles and not being able to find a battle are two different things.

Rusalka ordered the retreat horn to be blown in the forest for a full half hour, so that his people would know to retreat. As for the direction, it didn't matter whether they wanted to go south or north, because everyone outside was his own people anyway.

Soon, they met people from Sarolt who came to search and rescue. They also captured a lot of prisoners and learned the location of Rusalka through questioning. After the two sides met, this long battle in the forest finally ended.

After counting the troops, there were 2200 people on Rusalka's side when they set out, but only 814 people have left now. On the bright side, there may be some people stranded in the forest for special reasons, but that number should not exceed 100 at most.

Looking at the soldiers who were coming out, some were carrying some of their comrades' belongings, while others were building an unnamed grave for their comrades on the spot and sticking their own belongings on it as a memorial. The atmosphere of farewell was very depressing, and Rusalka began to feel guilty again.

After all, it was his team that he led. Before setting off, he was so confident that three could protect one, but it ended up being so tragic.

Before every battle, Rusalka couldn't wait, but after the battle, she began to reflect on herself. Yuyu, she doubted her life. Why did this battle feel like 0721 (self-generation).

Rusalka, who was in a trance-like state, sighed: (It’s all over. Maybe I’m really not suitable for leading troops in battle.)

Sunny Tower: (Not bad, not being completely wiped out is already a great achievement.)

Rusalka, this shameless person, climbed up the pole again and immediately got out of her jade state: (Really? It's rare to see you praise me for once. Do I actually have some talent?)

Sunita: (I'm talking about Phoenix, who deserves credit. Who are you...?)

Rusalka was furious: (I'm your father. Damn it, I have to argue with you about this. We agreed on three protecting one, but I ended up being the bait. What's your crime? For the crime of deceiving the emperor, you should be hanged from the flagpole at the gate of the city lord's mansion.)

Sanitita laughed and said, "Hey, don't be so mean. Who said I wanted to use you as bait? It was obvious that some of the scouts were not needed, and the messengers didn't come back to report. But you set up camp on your own initiative, causing the left wing to be disconnected. Can you blame me for this?"

There is really no way to wash this away. The first-level group didn't handle it properly, so it was sent.

----

The four armies joined forces and returned to the capital. According to convention, they would rest for a day when they assembled after winning a battle. Sani Tieta distributed the food brought by the logistics troops to everyone to eat as a reward for the three armies.

This is a customary celebration for soldiers who survive the war - try your best to survive with a little hope during the war, and then cheer after the war for still being able to see the sun rise tomorrow.

At this time, the captives brought back would also receive sufficient bread and cakes, and some pickles and boiled vegetables as side dishes, so that they could fill their stomachs and continue their journey. This was also to prevent their physical problems from slowing down the troops' marching speed when returning to the city.

Prisoners are treated slightly better than slaves and are the most useful labor force. If you can capture them and use them yourself, who would be willing to kill them all?

The world's population is not as over-expanded as the Earth's, and different races are still at war. In this era where soldiers have to go to the battlefield in person, it would be really great if one person could be used as ten people.

When the entire army retreated the next day, Rusalka felt unsatisfied, so she sent two messengers to deliver a letter to the two marquises. The content of the letter was basically thanking them for their warm hospitality, saying that the scenery along the way was beautiful, and that she was quite satisfied with the local agricultural tools (prisoners) given as gifts. She said that next time when she ran out of production tools in her territory, she would definitely come here to ask for more.

Originally, Rusalka wanted to add a sarcastic particle at the end of the letter, such as "bobo", but was stopped by Sanita.

First of all, writing a sarcastic letter itself is a bit degrading, but if you really want to, it's not impossible. After all, if the other person wants to kill you, it's understandable to show off if you win in the world view.

In the Kingdom of Snidi, even in a formal knight duel, the victor has the right to use a sword to remove the red tassel from the opponent's helmet, or confiscate the opponent's weapon as a humiliation.

But we have to abide by the basic laws when humiliating others, and we have to write letters formally. We are the victors, and you are a legitimate knight of the kingdom. Can you please not be so vulgar?

According to Sanitta, face is something that you don't need during a war, but you must have it before and after the war. This is what a qualified noble lord does.

Rusalka nodded, then called out, "Cat!"

Phoenix rushed out from the black fog.

"Write a letter in my handwriting."

Phoenix looked at Rusalka with a look that said, "You called me for this?" But she still took out a quill and letter paper from her personal space in the shadow plane and wrote for him.

Sanita: Well, there’s no hope.

On the way home, sitting in the car, bored, Rusalka started to wonder again: (Why did we split into four groups when we set out, but come together when we get home?)

Sanita was in high spirits after winning the battle. Since his brother had risked his life and fought the hardest in this battle, he patiently explained everything to him: (Because the battle was over and we were running towards our home, the enemy couldn't set up an ambush here. Moreover, we were the victorious side and the enemy had no cavalry to chase us. So, since there were no battle orders to arrange, we gathered together to facilitate the journey and the distribution of supplies.)

Rusalka still couldn't change her nature of being a stickler for getting to the bottom of things: (Good, but if the enemy happens to intercept our route home, wouldn't this formation be risky?)

Sanitieta suddenly felt a little nervous, but he didn't think Rusalka's boast would come true. (No, buddy, we're heading towards Mingyue City now. Are you saying the enemy troops are standing between us and Mingyue City? Just draw a picture and figure out whether they're intercepting us, or we're sandwiching them.)

Rusalka felt that what her brother said was reasonable and convincing, so she stopped asking questions.

He is now in the same carriage with Maomao, and Sunita is in a separate carriage. Now that he has been convinced by his brothers, the next step is to convince Phoenix, who has been waiting for him to fulfill his promise.

----

On the 16th day on the way home, I could already see the outline of Mingyue City’s long city wall through a telescope.

However, what Rusalka saw was not only the outlines, but also some troops that did not belong to his flag, which were breaking into small groups and scattering to flee in his direction.

The top of the bell tower suddenly lit up, and then several thin white lights appeared in the field of view of the telescope, penetrating directly from the top of the bell tower to the temporary camp outside the city.

Rusalka put down the telescope: (I don't think this is a celebration of our return. If Mungili wanted to use the magic cannon to blast the words "Welcome Back" on the ground, I would really be jealous of his talent.)

Sanita: (As for your last idea, I am a little jealous of your talent.)

This time there was no Ranger team to intercept the message, so the Sentinel reported promptly, telling Rusalka and Sanitta that it was the army of Marquis Momola, which seemed to have been attacking Mingyue City before and was then defeated.

The Paladins in Mingyue City opened the gates and launched a counterattack. The Marquis' army was fleeing in small groups, and several legions were heading in this direction.

What they were about to encounter was an army that was well-fed, had returned victoriously, and was full of morale.

Chapter 168 Sicily Front (End)

To describe the mood of the commander of the Momola army in this encounter, which was actually no longer a suspenseful battle, in one sentence: A strong wind shattered my dream of escape.

Sani Tieta simply used an indigenous intermediate magic - Gale Magic, to create a tailwind situation for himself. He only needed to find a high point, form a formation, and freely shoot at the army running towards him.

Regardless of whether the shooting is accurate or not, even if the bow and arrow are not used but thrown, in such windy weather, even if a stone is thrown down, it may not be a problem if it hits a person or armor, but the horse will definitely not be able to withstand too many hits.

In this situation, how can you escape without a horse?

But what Rusalka said was right. All the troops on his side were gathered together, looking very bloated. The archers were lined up in the front row, shooting, and the infantry were gathered behind them.

The enemy is unlikely to rush towards us, so they can't play any role. There is no way to temporarily send them to other places to block deserters. I am afraid that such hasty orders will not be executed properly, and instead force the enemy to fight to the death and increase our losses. Now that we have won the battle, it will be meaningless to fight another hard battle.

So we can only let them hold the line from the back, stretch the formation a little and spread it out like a fishing net, and those who are willing will take the bait.

From the perspective of the Paladins, although Sanita's behavior was to fight deserters, he only arranged archers to shoot, mainly against horses, and did not deploy catapults (this was not a boulder launcher, but an ordinary catapult) and heavy crossbow carts, which showed that he still had a conscience and did not rush to kill them all.

In addition, the fact that Sanita had used top-level magic to demolish the wall instead of massacring the city made him appear to be a truly kind camp in the eyes of Esdi.

It doesn't matter whether it's lawful or not. No one would expect a wizard with a head full of whimsical ideas to be lawful. Even if it is chaotic good, Esdi is very welcome and happy to accept it.

In fact, there has been more than one occasion when the Paladins from Esdi wanted to recruit Sanitta and asked him if he wanted to come to Esdi to continue his research on magic after defeating the Church of the Seven Sins. Sarolt said at the time that if he was willing, he could also arrange a temporary position for him in the Knights Templar.

Mengjili was even more generous. He said directly that if Sanita wanted to come, he could set aside an area and build a wizard tower specifically for him.

The reason why they didn't ask Rusalka when they were recruiting Sanita was not because they wanted to poach her secretly, but because all the paladins thought that Rusalka was originally from Esdi.

Sanitta follows the "Lord of Pearl Tears", but he may also be a loyalist who is only temporarily cooperating with Rusalka. After the war, when the cooperation ends, there is a chance that he will choose to stay in the royal family of Sinidi.

So in order to eliminate this possibility, they wanted to extend an olive branch to him.

What's more, if Sanitieta is willing to accept a wizard who can use top-level magic, even if it is the Nine-Tailed Council of the El Empire, and they are sure that Sanitieta is sincere, or even if they know that he has ulterior motives and it is only a temporary cooperation, they will certainly dare to accept him - they even dare to accept a forbidden race like the Dragonborn for research, so what else are they afraid of?

But of course Sanitita refused, saying that he would only work for Lord Zhulei.

After hearing this, the Paladins of Esdi felt relieved. Rusalka was one of them after all. Although he never said that he was the Paladin of Esdi, almost everyone thought that he was the Paladin of Esdi. They thought that he had some secret mission or had some unknown tragic experience in the past. Various versions of the story were spread all over the place, but no one directly asked him what the real situation was. Everyone tacitly agreed not to mention this to him.

If you think about it carefully, Sanitta works for Rusalka, and Rusalka has such a good relationship with the Great Saint, working for him is almost equivalent to working for the Great Saint, and working for the Great Saint is equivalent to joining the Esdi nationality. So, if you do the equation, Sanitta is working for Esdi.

But in fact, these are three inequalities, but the Paladins of Esdi don't know it.

Moreover, Theresa had already recruited Rusalka and Sanita through the Council of Gods. Would Rusalka brag about such a small matter all day long?

Of course not, he would only tell his brothers that his little wife was very cute, but he already had a cat, so he had to reluctantly reject her proposals repeatedly.

Sanita: (I think you ate too many mushrooms.)

In short, facing the "mercy" shown by Sanita in this battle of beating a fallen dog, in fact, only Rusalka knows what kind of character his brother has. In his eyes, life is a "resource", and all his means have only one purpose - to maximize benefits.

It’s not that I don’t want to kill, I just want to capture more prisoners and bring them back to arrange the expansion plan of the processing plant in Zhulei Territory.

The most ideal situation is to process all the mineral output from the Test Mine, transforming it from low-grade raw products for export into high-grade processed products for self-use, and then purchase the ores produced in the territories of other vassal nobles within their own territory and transport them here for processing together.

If we want to achieve our goal, the productivity of that processing plant is far from enough and even the first step is in jeopardy.

However, Zhulei Territory has been struggling with the need to train troops in preparation for war, resulting in insufficient manpower to carry out expansion and fill production staff.

Letting the Chamber of Commerce do this would be too expensive. Mingyue City had just been renovated and the military had just been expanded. Where would they get the money to invest in production? Under the gold standard, money couldn't be printed, so spending had to be phased in.

Now I have money. After fighting a battle with the neighboring marquis, I robbed a large number of equipment and war horses. If all of them were converted into money, they should be worth tens of thousands of gold coins.

It seems that we can make a fortune from the things that the other party has thrown away. Among them are many siege equipment that cannot be transported and can only be blown up on the spot. If these good things are not completely blown up, they can still be used after repair, and they are worth a lot of money.

So now, the only thing missing is manpower.

Many people, including some orcs, were captured in Mingyue City before, but Mengjili did not release them to Rusalka. Instead, he gave them to Sanita in cash during the negotiations.

At that time, they were exchanging people for money because they were short of money for war preparation and training. Now that there is no shortage of money, this group of people have been arranged to be responsible for the reconstruction work in Mingyue City for almost a year. Sani Tieta guessed that they should have integrated into the life of Mingyue City. Maybe this group of people are still among the defenders on the city wall.

Besides, Mengjili is not a fool. He certainly understands the importance of population. He probably won’t be able to get it if he asks for it again.