What did you do with the dice?

By the way, we have to bring the eldest prince with us this time."

Rusalka: "Aren't you afraid that he will be assassinated?"

Sanitta: "Rather than Grand Duke Delai wanting to risk everything and forcibly kill a prince with the strength of a great knight, I am more worried that he will be kidnapped by Theresa. It is safer for us to keep him with us."

Having a small family also has its advantages. Such a big decision was finalized in just a few words between the two of them.

Chapter 193 Prelude to the Banquet (1)

——Every drop of blood in its body is soaked with filth, violence, greed, and evil. People spit on it, hate it, insult it, and destroy it, but they cannot abandon its power because they have to admit that it can make those who receive the gift put aside the cowardice in their hearts.

Because accepting degeneration also requires great courage.

Sanitieta closed the book. The words "Devil's Notes" were written prominently on the cover. The author's name was unknown, but the contents were the most objective assessment of demons, creatures from hell, and the power they possessed in the entire Kingdom of Snidi: "And this is the power of the devil."

The carriages were running steadily on the road. This time, a legion of about 2500 people was mobilized, equipped with 300 carriages, with an average of 8 people per carriage.

Moreover, since they were traveling normally and not on a march that required concealment and guarding against ambushes, the entire team only took the safe roads, so they would not encounter situations where their wheels would get stuck in potholes. This way, there were enough people on horseback, and there was no need for Rusalka and the others to ride horses themselves. They could just ask a few soldiers to help.

The open windows brought in fresh air, and the chill of winter was refreshing, but if no one spoke in this small iron box, it would seem a bit depressing. That is why Rusalka and Sanita chose to use verbal communication to spend this journey.

Rusalka whistled and asked nonchalantly, "I don't understand. Is it as powerful as my Supreme Slash?"

Sanita replied without hesitation: "Don't you see your level? Who can compare with you?"

Rusalka: "Does the demon have a trap city where the eldest and second sisters and the butler live, along with some furniture that can jump back and forth across a graveyard, and two female ghost maids?"

Sanitta: "Stop dwelling on your Yu-Gi-Oh! The demons of this world aren't mean creatures that use trap cards. If anything, they're more inclined towards the Super Warrior deck (a deck without traps or magic cards)—what conspiracies? You don't need any of that. I'll just do it myself."

Rusalka seemed to feel a certain intensity as she listened, and she resonated with the intensity, "Is that really enough?"

Sanitta: "History books prove that fists aren't strong enough, or aren't strong enough, and as a result, they are sealed in the Hell Plane."

Rusalka immediately lost interest in the demonic power. "What's the use of that? It's pure garbage. It even doubles after taking my Holy Slash. It's considered history. Cat, what are we having for dinner tonight?"

If Phoenix could answer "Supreme Holy Slash", it would be a decisive blow. I believe it can be perfectly integrated into the Earth now.

Unfortunately, Phoenix, who was leaning against him, was still far from that state, and answered honestly, "Barbecue."

For Phoenix, sitting in this carriage and listening to Rusalka and Sanita communicating next to her was roughly equivalent to humans listening to aliens speaking Chinese. She felt as if she understood, but in fact she didn't understand at all. But even though she didn't understand, she found it inexplicably interesting.

Oh, they really are aliens to Phoenix.

"But for those who don't have the gift of extraordinary power, accepting the devil's gift is the most direct way to gain power." Sanitieta opened the book again and turned a page: "This book was written by a person who possesses demonic power. He even recorded the different levels of development of this power in his body, and the changes it brought to his body and mind.

He said that the widespread belief that demonic power can make people's personalities become "aggressive, violent, and full of desire for conquest," which is the main source of the belief that demonic power can cause chaos. In fact, this is nothing more than survivor bias, because it is often people with such dark thoughts who desire the power of the devil.

The logical structure is this: criminals often carry weapons. This doesn't mean that carrying weapons will lead to crime, but ordinary people generally don't want to carry weapons. Most people who want to carry weapons want to commit crimes."

Rusalka thought for a moment and pointed at herself. "That's not right. If that's the case, then why am I a paladin, yet I'm obsessed with Tatakai and Phoenix every day, or just want to eat delicious food? I'm completely succumbing to desire. Could it be that Holy Light is also a demonic power?"

Sanita was speechless. "I wouldn't be surprised if a spitting light from the Light God struck you dead someday. Oh, it's alright, you're not a Light God believer at all. Didn't I just say this? This change is only a superficial effect, similar to how you become addicted to Coke, but it's the same even without it. It all depends on how you perceive this power."

For example, the author's dream was to complete this book, and this power was only for his own personal experience. Therefore, he never displayed his demonic power in his life, and was no different from an ordinary person. Come to think of it, if he hadn't hidden it well, this book wouldn't have been created."

Phoenix: "What is Coke?"

Rusalka made a useless reply: "A soda."

Sanita corrected his answer so Phoenix wouldn't ask what "soda" was again: "A kind of drink."

Phoenix thought it was the same as "milk tea": "How to make it?"

Rusalka gave another useless reply, adding a complaint that Phoenix couldn't understand even more: "Phoenix, if you can replicate the formula for this thing, I'll be rich when I get back. Fortune 50? Fortune 5000!"

Sanita was a bit speechless, and replied seriously to the bewildered Phoenix, who had turned her ears inside out, "This thing can't be made by hand. You could think of it as some kind of complicated magic, but we don't have the runes or formulas, so even knowing the magic won't work."

Phoenix nodded.

Rusalka thought about it, and another question popped up in her mind: "Then according to the book, as long as the devil's followers don't want to be exposed, they can lurk around us without being discovered?"

Sanitieta shook his head. "Appearances reflect the heart. I just called the author a 'possessor of demonic power.' If he were a true demon follower, and his purpose in obtaining power was to destroy, commit violence, and oppress the weak, then he would absolutely be unable to conceal his power and pretend to be an ordinary person."

Before Rusalka could continue, Sanitieta added, as if reading her mind, "Besides, you, a paladin, have divine perception. Why don't you just sense if there are any demons around? Although demon worshippers aren't demons, this is reality, and it's not absolute. Perhaps there are adjustments, such as being able to sense even demonic power?"

Rusalka slapped her head and said, "You're right!"

As soon as Sanita saw his expression, he knew that he probably forgot that he had this professional characteristic. This ability was indeed a non-combat ability. When playing in a group, if the DM leading the group did not specially design a related plot, it would be almost impossible to find a place to use it. It was understandable that Rusalka, a combat maniac, forgot this skill.

The most boring thing in the other world is traveling. Think about it, on Earth, with big airplanes, traveling across the globe takes only one or two days at most. The people's livelihood in this world is not advanced. Although a wizard can indeed use flying skills to fly for a day if he is powerful enough, he can only walk honestly when leading an army, and there is no train to take.

It is said that there is a magic airship in Estelon in the East Continent. This has to do with the development of the technology tree adapted to local conditions. Since Estelon is close to Dragon Island, in ancient times, the original intention of the design of that thing was to deal with dragons.

In the early days, these strange designs were all created by the believers of the Lord of Time. Later, as the belief in the Lord of Time declined, these black technologies were buried underground. Due to its strong inclusiveness, Estelon accepted craftsmen from various races and preserved the design drawings and usage methods of the airship.

However, due to technical reasons, many of the weapon systems carried on it had to be replaced by modern lower-level weapons. In addition, as the relationship with the dragon eased, there was no longer a need for air-to-air combat, so it gradually shifted from military to commercial use.

As for civilian use? What are you thinking? Do you think you can go to heaven without money?

----

A few days later, the journey went smoothly, with no exciting assassinations, night raids, or sudden sieges. Rusalka had a new idea: "After we pacify the Kingdom of Sneedi, why don't we do what the protagonist of Dawn of O did and build a railway for the kingdom? Build one of those Iron Thrones, and use the railway guns from Factorio to blow things up wherever they go."

Sani Tower: "Building a railway is easy, but maintaining it is difficult. Let's not even talk about how your trains are going to move. I'm afraid that before your tracks are even laid and put into operation, some villagers will dig them up and take them home. It's not like we have no shortage of processing plants here. This kind of forged steel is very expensive. If you take it back and melt it down, wouldn't it be valuable for whatever you make?"

Rusalka: "Damn it! Chop off my hands if I catch them! Give me some severe punishment!"

Sani Tower: "Don't overestimate human nature. The rails are so long, there are always places that are difficult to take care of when laying them. Don't you also need to have regular staff for material inspections? Do you need both morning and night shifts? Where will you recruit the manpower? How will you cover the subsequent maintenance costs? Just look at the terrible state of public facilities abroad.

You can't expect to make money from public facilities. Don't forget, even here on Earth, many railways report annual deficits. And you're in Sinidi. Where are you going to get the public funds to fill this hole? Count on those vampire-like nobles to share their taxes with you? Dream on.

Unless you completely commercialize it and turn it into a freight-only operation like Esterlen next door, our financial statements might still show a profit. The downsides of commercializing railways are even greater, and I won't list them all. At the very least, your dream of an armored train is probably over.

Oh, by the way, I have one more question for you: can you build a train?

Rusalka: "I saw on Baidu that..."

Sani Tieta: "That's enough. All the technology you think of is based on the background of the times. Even if you know all the knowledge and want to make a nuclear bomb by hand, you still need chemical plants/processing plants/skilled workers of sufficient level and weapons responsible for launching nuclear bombs. When you want these lower-level requirements, you will find that they have their own lower-level requirements. In the end, you will find that you still have to honestly climb the technology tree layer by layer.

Brother, if you really want to experience the joy of dimensional suppression, then you should learn some theology, or at least believe in it a little bit. Maybe the gods will be happy and give you some practical abilities. It's more realistic here."

Rusalka recognized the reality: "Okay."

Sanitieta patted the book and said, "But the power of demons is different. The reason why so many people choose to degenerate and associate with demons is because the power of demons is like a fully automatic rifle that fell from the sky and came with its own manual. Most demons don't require you to have a devout faith or to fulfill any mission. They give you power just because they are in a momentary mood and don't even care about after-sales service.

Who doesn't like the feeling of getting something for nothing and then crushing others? "

Rusalka: "Getting to the point, right? Why do I feel like you're trying to sell me the power of the devil? But speaking of which, I'm also interested in that rough stone. Do you think we can..."

When they were discussing the power of demons, Phoenix, who was squinting her eyes and resting, suddenly opened them and blurted out, "Don't touch demons, you will become unfortunate."

Rusalka was startled by Phoenix's sudden, long sentence. She paused for a long moment before blurting out, "The last time I saw this sentence, the word 'mathematics' was embedded in it. It seems like a lifetime ago."

Sanitta: "It's indeed a lifetime ago. Has Phoenix ever seen a demon before?"

Phoenix thought for a moment, nodded, and began to tell the story. "My sister, Hydra, once made a deal with a demon. Back then, we were still in the Orc tribe, and she was chosen as a gift for a certain important figure. On the day before she left, my sister told me she had met a demon who promised her freedom and the ability to foresee the future."

Rusalka was stunned. "Oh my god, this ability sounds exactly like what I expect from an invincible person. So what's the price, Phoenix?"

Phoenix's ears twitched. She felt as if she had heard Rusalka use this sentence many times before. "She said that the demon didn't ask her to pay any price, and didn't even ask for her sister's consent. It was like an order, forcing her to get these things."

Rushaka lives in Bengbu: "No, sister, why can't I meet this kind of sadistic demon who will give me a power package at the slightest disagreement?"

Phoenix sighed for the first time in her life and said dejectedly, "When I escaped that day, my sister told me that she was the one who killed Roland. Besides sending me to the Pearl Tear Territory of Sneedi, she also specifically told me, 'Don't come into contact with demons, or you'll become unfortunate.'"

Life is not easy, cat sighs.jpg

Sanitieta recalled and made a preliminary guess: "Perhaps those eyes are the price the devil demands? They gave her the ability to foresee the future, but deprived her of the ability to see reality."

Rusalka looked puzzled: "What eyes?"

Sanitta then gave him a brief summary of what had happened: "Phoenix said earlier that Hydra was blinded when the assassin attacked that night."

The brothers listened to the story too carefully. Rusalka, for example, was so preoccupied with what Hydra looked like and whether she was still alive that she didn't pay attention to such details. "That doesn't matter. It's just blindness. If you find your sister later, any patriarch can heal her eyes."

Phoenix nodded, but Sanitta felt that what Rusalka said made sense. If it was just an eye injury, it could be cured with magic or divine power. She always felt that there was more to the story behind what Hydra said than that.

The ability to foresee the future is too extraordinary. It is already a dimensionality reduction attack. Using the four-dimensional timeline to deal with three-dimensional creatures, who can defeat her?

"Did she describe the characteristics of the demon?"

Phoenix shook her head, saying that Hydra was unable to describe the other party's characteristics at all, and only knew that the other party called himself a devil.

Rusalka quietly said in the private chat channel: (I take back my contempt for demons, brother, give me the entire demonic power of time. For example, I think the time stop in the little notebook is quite good.)

Sanita: (Yes, it's a ninth-level mage spell, Time Stop. The downside is that it only lasts for less than a minute.)

Rusalka: (It's time to test the quickshooter's abilities!)

Chapter 194 Prelude to the Banquet (2)

The city of Hendalia is a very exquisite medium-sized city. Because it is close to the center of the kingdom, its economy is very prosperous.

At a glance, the areas near the city are all cultivated fields, and even the high mountains have been arranged into terraced fields. Farmers are busy plowing the fields with oxen everywhere, preparing in advance for sowing seeds when the weather warms up in spring.

The surrounding roads are very spacious, and the land becomes flatter the closer to the city. The biggest difference from those small towns on the border is that before you even reach the outer wall of Hendalia, you feel like you have already arrived in the city - there are some traveling merchants setting up stalls and small shops casually on the roads, most of which sell things like drinks, fruits, snacks, etc., tend to be portable food for travelers, and some sell camping tools.

Not only that, there are also some simple inns and other places around to provide rest. The long-term stable situation in the central region and the limited land in the city have made people no longer satisfied with the development of the area within the city. They are more willing to pay less land tax and "move" shops and houses outside the city, especially those farmers with arable land. The biggest advantage of moving their homes outside the city is that they can sell some tea and fabrics to caravans along the way during the slack season and earn some extra money without having to go in and out of the city every day and pay an entry fee in vain.

A team as large as Rusalka's, with hundreds of carriages "occupying" a long avenue from beginning to end, would definitely encounter merchants selling their goods. Of course, they did not dare to block the army with the Pearl Tear flag, but just held their goods in their hands and shouted to attract the attention of these soldiers who came from afar.

Since Rusalka's order was to "travel freely", the horses were all walking, and there was no requirement to form a battle formation as in wartime marching. Therefore, if a soldier came across a product he liked, he could just pull over as a small group in the carriage, buy something, and then speed up to catch up with the main force.

In this world, most people do not have the concept of "travel". Many people are born in the Pearl Tear Territory and may spend their entire lives or even several generations there.

Now they have gone out and arrived in the prosperous central part, just like Granny Liu visiting the Grand View Garden. The dazzling array of unknown things on the stalls along the way almost dazzled their eyes. Many soldiers naturally did not hesitate to spend a few copper coins to buy some novel foods to taste and experience the exquisite diet of the "central people".

As soon as Rusalka and his army entered the city, without even showing a pass, they were warmly received by the envoy sent by the city lord, Marquis Menor: "Lord Pearl Tear, we have received the reception order from His Majesty the Grand Duke and have been awaiting your arrival for a long time.

We have designated a military residential area in the east of the city. Your troops can camp there to rest. We will provide you with fodder and supplies.

As for your accommodations and those around you, they will be arranged in the City Lord's Mansion. Do you want to go directly with me to the City Lord's Mansion, or arrange for the troops first?"

Rusalka decided to settle the army first, so he led the army and followed the messenger.

His original intention was to have the army line up properly so as not to lose face for the Pearl Tear Territory. However, most of the troops he brought this time were the original troops of the Pearl Tear Territory. That is, the number of people has exceeded the expansion, but they haven't thought of a new name yet, so they are uniformly called the Shadow Legion. Most of the 1000 people were drawn from it, and most of them were veterans who had been to the battlefield, but they really hadn't learned how to use carriages and trains.

Forget it, running in scattered places is at least better than being crowded together and bumping into each other.

Arriving at the military district, Rusalka realized the difference between the rich and the people in his small rural city of Pearl Tear Territory. The military stables here are actually a huge closed breeding farm, with specially equipped horse stalls and feeding troughs. Each stall is marked with its own serial number, and there are even grooms and cleaners specially assigned to take care of the horses according to the area.

There was even an assembly line for bathing the war horses. You could see the horses being led over one by one, with water pipes on the roof spraying water continuously. There were a few people holding brushes on the side, who brushed the horses one by one, then patted their butts and let them go.

Fortunately, there are no playgrounds, swimming pools or sports facilities in this place, otherwise Rushaka would really wonder if she had walked into Tresen.

Rusalka: Such a nice living environment is for horses? I don't believe it. You must be secretly hiding a horse girl here!

In the Pearl Tear Territory, tasks like caring for warhorses were usually assigned to squads, and then left to their own devices. At most, they would be given regular supplies of horse feed, and everyone thought this was reasonable—who doesn't know how to feed a horse? Even if there were some who couldn't, would it be absurd for an entire squad to be incompetent?

As for the stables, in the past it was enough to just build a thatched hut. If it rained or snowed, the horses would either be sent to the stables built in the military area for storage. If the stables were full, the horses would simply be moved into the thatched hut to live with people. Anyway, there were no diseases like bird flu in this world, and there weren't so many hygiene requirements. At most, the smell would be a bit unpleasant, but it would pass in a few days.

The military facilities in Silver City have indeed been renovated recently, but no matter how you look at it, it is still not as grand as the one in the central region, where they actually spent a lot of money to build such a large "concentrated breeding farm" specifically for war horses, and even every military region has such a building.

The envoy's face was filled with pride as he introduced the facilities. Although he hadn't participated in the design and construction of this thing, it was like talking about the glory of the British Empire, even a beggar on the streets of London would be filled with pride. "Lord Pearl Tear, your mount doesn't need to be stored here. The City Lord's Mansion has a dedicated Warcraft mount breeder. Please tell us the feed formula and how to care for your mount. We will have someone dedicated to taking care of it. Don't worry."

What else could Rusalka say? Even if he wanted to exaggerate, the Chocobo only ate carrots. If he wanted to give it a snack, he could at most add some wild vegetables called "Kisar Vegetables", which were not that expensive.

If it weren't for the fact that there are no Kisar wild vegetables in Snidi and there are fewer Chocobos, which means they need to be transported from the Ai'er Empire by caravans and the selling price is too high, they would definitely be more popular than war horses.

The living environment in the military area is also relatively comfortable, mainly because there are a large number of entertainment venues provided for the soldiers, such as gambling tables, and even the officers' rooms are equipped with a kingdom sand table.

If you walk out of the military area and into the city at night, you will find some adult venues a few hundred meters away. They are specially provided to the military soldiers to meet their physiological needs, and they are said to be doing a booming business.

Rusalka: (Why does it look so much like a US Army base? Life here is so comfortable, is it still used for warfare?)

Sanita: (Hello, that's not true. In a region like the Central Plains where there's been no war for years, the purpose of raising soldiers is simply to use numbers for strategic deterrence. After all, as you saw in the town of Test, a few dozen elite soldiers can handle some minor local conflicts. Even if they want to attack a small viscount town, a division's strength is more than enough.

Quality is more important than quantity. If a real fight breaks out, I'm confident that our 2500 men can take out an entire enemy division. (No exaggeration.)

Rusalka: (Really? I never thought a Shaddoll army was useful. You've praised them so much that I even doubt if this is still my army.)

Sani Tieta: (Our border folks are so tough. Look at those new arrivals who've been fighting over land recently. They're all from the central region, fighting each other. I've never seen them fight the border natives. Do you know why? Because when the natives of our Pearl Tear Territory get angry, they're really brave enough to use their weapons and draw blood. It's the same in Test Town. When the natives get angry, they even dare to fight with the Chamber of Commerce guards.)

Rusalka: (Really? I think the people of Pearl Tear Territory are quite simple and honest, like the cute mermaids who lived in the sea before they fell into the wrath of the house.)

Sanita: (No, brother, recall that during the first salt incident, a group of ordinary townspeople who had no training at all and were not even militiamen, under your leadership, directly picked up farm tools such as shovels and sickles and dared to confront the fully armed bandits head-on.

Later, when the conflict arose between the Pearl Tear Territory and the Ropa Territory, the Marquis of Ropa directly sent his assassins to kill you; when the kingdom was not yet in chaos, the Viscount directly ordered the White Horse Rangers to attack your town.

Isn't that impressive? Everyone from top to bottom is a war freak, okay? Thanks to this, you're able to perfectly blend in. By the way, do you have any misunderstandings about the phrase "simple folk customs"?

Rusalka thought about it and felt that maybe the impression she had of the people being tough was the kind of toughness that came from the moment two people fell in love and decided to send one person to the hospital and the other to the police station.

Seeing these soldiers all looking excited as if they were on vacation after being arranged accommodation, Rusalka knew that it seemed like she didn't need to worry about the army anymore, so she took her team and followed the envoy to the city lord's mansion.