What did you do with the dice?

After coming back to his senses in a cold sweat, Salinas decisively gave up blocking the sunlight, and instead let Qianhuan transform into a weapon and directly attack the Sani Tower in the air.

10 seconds per round is the cooling time required to release this fourth-ring spell.

Sanita: (Brother Xiao!)

Rusalka: (Okay!)

Rusalka on the ground suddenly jumped up, and when she was at the highest point in the air, she aimed at the direction where Qianhuan was flying and threw the shield in her hand towards it.

The high-speed flying shield directly knocked Qian Huan away, but it also inevitably had a big gap in it.

But Rusalka didn't feel sorry at all, because this allowed Sanita to hold on for ten seconds and use the last four-ring banishment on Salinas again.

This time, accompanied by the faint sound of dice rolling, the big hand "grabbed" Salinas tightly. The goddess of luck did not stand on its side again. This time, he did not succeed in breaking free from the big hand.

Sani Tieta seemed to hear some chaotic sounds coming from the darkness, laughter, sighs, hums, and curses, mixed together, like a spell lingering in his ears for a long time.

But none of this mattered. The feeling he had the next moment made him, a man who remained calm even at such a critical gamble, tremble in his heart and break out in a cold sweat. It seemed as if countless piercing gazes were cast down from the sky, looking through him from beginning to end, from the outside in, with all sorts of attitudes.

Different from what Rusalka said before, that is, the feeling of just looking at him, Sanitieta clearly felt that some of the glances seemed to convey the intention of interfering with him, even shaking his spirit to the point of being a little unstable, and the crown on his head seemed to be faintly showing signs of being dispelled.

But soon, the sky seemed to turn back into a thick and reliable umbrella, isolating everything. All the strange feelings and gazes disappeared in an instant, leaving only the strong thumping sound of a heart beating wildly in his chest.

When he came to his senses, he saw that the magic circle in the sky had dissipated, and behind the giant eyeball, a door burning with black flames opened. A transparent hand stretched out from the door and tightly grasped the eyeball that Salinas had transformed into. No matter how the latter struggled and changed, he could not avoid the fate of being dragged into it bit by bit.

The eyeball eventually turned into a giant human figure, clinging to the edge of the door with its hands and feet, trying to resist the pull of the giant palm. However, Salinas was ultimately defeated by the absoluteness of the spell, and his hands slowly slipped from the edge.

He seemed to be aware of his own failure. He gritted his teeth and roared one last time at the Sanitta below. Although he was unwilling to give up, he still intended to give Sanitta and Rusalka the respect of the Lord of Hell: "Tell me your names, mortals! I will carve your names on my throne and erase them when I take your souls!"

Rusalka looked up and shouted, "Remember, the one who defeated you was Pearl Tear Lament, the Narcissus Mermaid! And his loyal wizard, Sin Treasure Maleficent!"

At this moment, the spiritual crown on Sanita's head shattered with satisfaction. He flew down from the air, covering his forehead and going to clean up the mess.

Salinas had the memories of Grand Duke Delai, so he knew Rusalka was lying to him. This made him even more furious, his entire body flushing red as if about to explode. He roared, "Lord Rusalka of Pearl Tears!!! When I return from Hell, I will personally lead my demonic army to completely destroy your territory and army! Until then, you will live your last days under the shadow of fear and death!"

"Go back to your mother's arms, you small fry slime!" Rusalka threw her giant sword into the air without hesitation, then stretched out her hands and gave him two middle fingers.

But unfortunately, at this moment, the opponent was completely pulled into the door by the big hand while roaring, so the giant sword made of evil energy thrown by Rusalka could only hit the closed door of hell and exploded.

The closed door finally disappeared into the air, and Rusalka was annoyed that it didn't hit the opponent's head. (So why let him go? After this blow, he will die too.)

Sanitta: (It's simple. The rest of the people in Pearl Tear Territory are no problem, but if that magic were to strike, I'm not sure Phoenix and Hydra would survive, and I'm absolutely certain the Great Prince wouldn't make it. We can't sacrifice the foundation of our territory's development just to defeat a Hell Lord who has nothing to do with us. Let's leave the title of hero to someone else.)

Rusalka felt his brother was right, but he still felt bad. He felt so close to taking down a legendary boss like a Territorial Lord. It would be a lie to say he wasn't upset: (So, did you have any experience not killing him?)

Sunny Tower: (According to the game, there is knockback, but maybe a little less.)

That's okay. Rusalka decided to wait until he developed enough to fight the opponent and his army alone. That is, when he could beat all the opponents alone, he would go over and kill him again to get two pieces of experience.

Although Rusalka's idea was probably impossible to achieve—wouldn't capturing Meng Huo seven times earn him seven levels of experience?—Sanitieta said that as long as he was happy, that was all that mattered.

At this moment, he raised his hands, looking at the ruins before him, the numb soldiers, and those who took off their hats to mourn the dead, and shouted: "We have won!!! The devil has been defeated, long live the Lord of Pearl Tears!!! The glory of mankind will last forever!!!"

The stunned soldiers wiped away the tears that had fallen from their eyes at some unknown time, dropped the weapons and shields that were held in their trembling hands, and hugged each other, knelt on the ground, lay down, or raised their hands, celebrating and cheering for their survival again: "Long live!!!"

Rusalka shouted, "Everyone who survives will receive at least two gold coins in addition to their military achievements! And those warriors who sacrificed their lives will receive additional compassionate gifts. I, the Marquis of Pearly Tears, will bestow medals upon them, adding honor to their families!"

"Long live Lord Pearl Tear!!!"

Amidst such thunderous cheers, the seemingly endless night returned once again to the city that had turned into ruins and scorched earth.

Chapter 211 New Cat

In February of the 546th year of the Royal Calendar, Lord Salinas, one of the six great demon lords, suddenly descended upon the city of Hendaria under the evil ritual of the Church of the Seven Sins.

A fire barrier suddenly appeared and enveloped the city. No one outside knew what happened inside. They only knew that after the fire died down, when everyone turned their attention to the city, they found that the entire city was almost completely destroyed, the population had dropped by half, and only broken ruins and corpses were left.

The beautiful city of Hendaria became history, leaving only miserable ashes and broken walls.

Not only that, this premeditated attack caused the tripartite talks to end in failure. Grand Duke De Lai, who came to attend the meeting, died gloriously in battle, and almost all of his entourage died, except for his eldest son Wangsheng, who was found in the ruins near the city wall and luckily survived.

Both of Esidi's envoys were killed in action, killed by the demon of Salinas, and died with him gloriously.

As for the Lord of Pearl Tears, Rusalka, with the help of Sister Aili from Esdi, he bravely led his soldiers to repel the demons, thwarting the demons' conspiracy to establish a stronghold through blood sacrifice and reoccupy the main plane.

The army in the city of Hendalia was almost wiped out, most of the city defenses and supplies were destroyed, and all the direct descendants of the Marquis of Hendalia in the city died, leaving only the second and third sons who were developing outside.

The benevolent Lord of Pearl Tears could not bear to see the remaining refugees who were homeless and had no supplies to survive, so he led the remaining troops to provide relief and brought the willing people back to the Pearl Tears Territory with the army.

Inside the magnificent cathedral, warm and soft sunlight shines through the colorful blinds, casting everything inside in a peaceful hue.

Theresa, standing in front of the statue of the angel Light on the platform, slowly closed the report.

This wasn't her, of course, but a golden shadow projected within the cathedral. Facing the golden-robed archbishops standing before her, she slowly spoke, "Everyone, the demon has been repelled. And it was our partner, the Pearl Tear Knight Rusalka, who repelled this demon lord. This confirms that he is indeed a very reliable partner. Therefore, we should reward the brave Knight Rusalka and strengthen our cooperation with him."

A male bishop holding a dragon claw staff gently tapped the ground with his staff and said, "Your Majesty is absolutely right, but there's just one thing. We've searched through all the files and historical records, but we still can't find even the slightest proof of this Paladin's identity. Wouldn't it be safer to wait a little longer? We'll search through all the old books and confirm his identity before dealing with him."

Theresa maintained a lukewarm tone and responded, "The Church of the Seven Sins now has the power to summon a demon lord. Do you think they will continue to patiently wait for our decision? Furthermore, Grand Duke Delai in the east has been killed in battle. It's difficult for the various forces in Snidi to reunite at this time. How can they resist the Church of the Seven Sins?"

The bishops in the audience fell silent. This time, the Hell Lord incident was beyond their expectations. It was as if the Church of the Seven Sins, which had been losing ground some time ago, suddenly showed its fangs, bit Sinidi hard, and even killed a Grand Duke himself. The situation in the future would definitely become bad again.

Seeing that no one was talking, Theresa further proposed her own idea: "I want to send the Golden Blade Legion to directly capture Alice City, then advance westward to the Seven Sins Realm and completely destroy the Seven Sins Church's lair."

As soon as she finished speaking, another blue-haired female archbishop raised a question: "Saint Lady, the Golden Blade Legion's duty is to protect the city of Wright. There has never been a precedent in history for them being deployed for combat."

Theresa: “In a historical battle, the demons attacked the city of Leyte, and this legion, sworn to defend the city to the death, was gloriously hailed as the sharp blade in the hands of the god Leyte, hence the name Golden Blade.

The demons are already entrenched there. Are we just going to sit here and wait for them to repeat history, bringing devastation to the people of Esdi and bringing them all the way to the cathedral before we dispatch this army specifically to deal with them?"

The Archbishop disagreed with Theresa's statement. "Lady Saint, now that the demon lords summoned by the Seven Sins Church have been repelled, their vitality must be severely damaged. The Sneidi also has their own forces and strength. The Great Duke of God, as a family of guardian knights of the old-fashioned Supreme Arcane Mage, has its own honor. Lord Pearl Tear is only a baron. If the Sneidi authorities do not proactively request support, and we arbitrarily dispatch a force like the Golden Blade to attack their capital, Alice City, this is not in line with the teachings given to us by the Lord God."

Theresa spoke in a resounding voice, "The people of Snidi lack the strength to resist the Church of the Seven Sins. Tolerating the evildoers' actions is tantamount to killing the righteous people and common people of Snidi in disguise. If the rules require the destruction of innocent lives to uphold their authority, then I will be the first to sacrifice it. Everyone, this is my personal decision. All divine punishment and history are written on my head. Any other opinions?"

A young male archbishop stepped forward in support, saying, "Lady Saint, I agree with your opinion. Now that the Demon Lord has appeared, I'm afraid the seal of the Seven Sin Realms is no longer secure. I support transferring the Golden Blade to Snidi."

"I am old, but I don't want the young to repeat the same mistakes. If my sacrifice can prevent the charges and exchange them for a peaceful future, I am willing to be condemned by thousands of people. Saint, I support your opinion. Please allow me to share your burden. I want to personally accompany the army to the front line."

"me too."

Of the eight bishops in the audience, four ultimately agreed with Theresa's opinion, two remained neutral, and the remaining two, although dissatisfied, were powerless to do anything because of the general trend.

Theresa raised her arm, raised the scepter in her hand, and made the decision in a solemn and majestic tone: "Then, from now on, I will reactivate the expedition order in the name of the Great Saint."

The opposing bishop immediately spoke up, "Saint, I would like to remind you that the expedition order requires the consent of both the Pope and the Grand Saint."

Theresa: "The Pope tragically died defending the Templar, and Hydra, the leader of the Templar Agency whom I sent to protect, also tragically died fighting the Demon Lord during this incident. Therefore, until a new Pope is elected, the eight of you will temporarily assume the authority of both the Pope and the Agency. Do we need to vote again?"

The opposing bishop remained silent. He knew that under the current situation, after the unfortunate death of Hydra, who had been balancing the power relations behind the scenes, the result of the vote would be the same.

"Since there is no objection, then the order shall be given and the meeting adjourned."

The eight bishops bowed to the golden shadow and slowly left the cathedral.

Behind the scenes, Theresa's veil lifted the corners of her mouth slowly. She opened her hands, and eight glowing balls of different colors swirled around her. "The time is ripe. Soon, I will be truly liberated."

With a wave of her hand, she absorbed the eight spheres into her body, muttering to herself, "Hydra, although you are still alive, you ultimately chose the Lord of Pearl Tears and your worthless sister. I thought we would be like-minded companions, what a pity."

The door of the church slowly closed, and all the torches around were extinguished. Theresa slowly walked out of the small room behind the statue, slowly came to the statue of the god Lei Te, took off her veil, and took out a dagger from her arms. It was a gift from Hydra before she left.

She snorted coldly, picked up the dagger and stabbed it into the platform below the statue. She watched indifferently as the dagger was completely burned by the golden holy fire that surged from the platform. "I... will never agree with your ideas. I will definitely survive by any means necessary. When that time comes, I hope you can open those disgusting eyes and watch me free."

----

After the battle, Sani Tieta only had to take care of the rest of the work, including cleaning up the mess with the returning Great Prince and Ai Li, rescuing the wounded and dying civilians and soldiers, and gathering them together to see if they could be brought back to the Pearl Tear Territory for rescue. He also had to plunder all the remaining resources, recycle the corpses of demons, deploy manpower from all sides, and so on.

Rusalka has a lot to consider, such as when to appease the white cat and when to recruit the black cat. All of these require careful consideration.

Everything was settled. He simply brushed off the scorch marks and dust on his armor, picked up the clamshell shield that had a broken corner and turned into a Pac-Man shape, and walked over to Hydra, who had closed his eyes again and was leaning against Phoenix to reminisce about the past.

It didn't matter that her brother was not around. Rusalka felt that she must have grown a lot since she came here through time travel, so she plucked up her courage and began to persuade him.

Persuasion is a skill. It mainly depends on speaking, imitating, joking and singing. Ahem, no, it needs to be friendly, humorous and persuasive. You can't just talk, you have to provide evidence. You have to start with the other party's preferences, hit the nail on the head and follow up with a series of unexplained moves. If you can talk to the other party so quickly that he is dizzy, then you will succeed.

Combining the above invincible persuasive ideas, Rusalka coughed dryly and spoke confidently, "Sister-in-law, since everyone else has been freed by the meteorite that fell from the sky, why don't you fake your own death and come to my house? My house is quite big, and you can sleep right away when you're tired. Not only do I have food approved by the elves, but I also have the delicious Phoenix in my room. Our daily kingdom sandbox activities are amazing, and I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised!"

Although Rusalka's tone and the content of his words made Hydra want to hit him on the forehead with a knife and ask him if his brain was damaged in the battle just now, what he said not only made her half unable to understand, but also made her inexplicably irritated and inexplicably angry, feeling as if she was being endlessly humiliated.

But she thought about it and finally nodded in agreement.

Rusalka cheered and celebrated her success: "Yeah!"

He raised his hand, and he and Phoenix, who had already developed a strong rapport with him and also raised her hand, high-fived each other. Hydra was stunned by this gesture - what did it mean? Some kind of celebration she had never seen before?

Of course, Hydra was not persuaded by Rusalka. It would be better to say that even if Rusalka had not said anything, she would have asked Phoenix to go with her.

She was not like the two elves who were willing to be kidnapped for the sake of good food, drink and magic lessons, but she firmly believed that Rusalka would go to Alice City one day, and her infatuated sister would definitely follow her, and Theresa would definitely go to Alice City as well.

In this case, whether Hydra goes back or not will lead to the same outcome. It would be better for her to wait for that day in the Pearl Tear Territory. On the one hand, she can take care of Phoenix, and on the other hand, she can stop seeing Theresa's disgusting face and hypocritical tone.

Of course, the military report was also written by Sanita, which is why Theresa got a version that was very different from the facts. However, whether Hydra faked his death was true or not is actually irrelevant. Those who knew that Hydra was still alive were all people related to the incident, such as Theresa. Even if she knew it, she could only accept it in silence.

Those who don't know are irrelevant people. Even if the bishops found out that Hydra faked his death, they can't come to Silver City to ask Rusalka for him in person, right?

Sanita led his army to empty almost all the relatively intact warehouses in the city of Hendalia. Except for some daily necessities for the residents who wanted to stay, he took away everything else he could, leaving nothing for anyone.

Rusalka didn't care. If his brother took it, he took it too. Who doesn't like taking advantage? In response to the eldest prince and Rewi Alley's doubts, Sanitieta replied, "Now that the Marquis' family has been wiped out, these unclaimed treasures and possessions will only attract more greedy bandits. The weapons are even more dangerous. If they were handed over to ordinary people, they would become a criminal gang like the one in Test Town. So, why not just let us take them all and clear our name?"

After the two elves heard Sani Tieta's order that they could search around for unowned treasures and bring them back in exchange for military merits, their confidence suddenly swelled. They broke into doors and picked locks, "searched for treasure" everywhere, led the soldiers to search everywhere, and brought back good things continuously.

Rusalka gave her brother a thumbs up in her heart: What a clean and innocent person, he really didn't leave anything behind.

After a day of non-stop collecting resources and gathering refugees who wanted to leave, the remaining two thousand soldiers, along with nearly five thousand surviving residents of the city, brought their families, led oxen and horses, and carried a large amount of supplies and munitions from the city, as well as the three most precious magic cannons, and set out on the road back to Silver City.

Rusalka looked at the troops and baggage that had doubled in size by the time they returned, frowned, and pondered: (How come after such a brutal fight, I feel like I've won?)

After leading the army to plunder and leave the city still filled with smoke and residual fire, Rusalka always felt like she had just come out of the burning Luoyang.

Sanita was very satisfied, especially with the three magic cannons. They filled him with patience and kindness. He replied leisurely: (When a whale falls, all things come to life. Loss is often accompanied by gain. This is not surprising.)

Rusalka watched Phoenix, who was riding on another bird, chatting and laughing with Hydra. She knew this made sense, but the emptiness in her arms made her feel a little strange. (The territory has gained a new cat, but I've lost one. I'm twenty-six years old now, and I've been single for most of my life. How can I possibly have a cat like her?)

Sanita: (Don't worry, Phoenix will come to accompany you at night, and will even pay you back double or even more!)

Rusalka exclaimed: (Brother, stop talking, I don’t want a cat anymore! I don’t want it anymore——)

Chapter 212 Return to the city for a rest

More than a month later, the army returned to Silver City, just in time for spring plowing. Every time they returned home at such a coincidental time, it felt like they had a buff of [significantly increased marching speed] on their heads.

Rusalka rode her bird across a fertile field, proudly introducing her nearby silver-white city to Hydra: "Welcome to my Silver City! How is it? Doesn't it look impressive?"

"It's quite ordinary." Hydra wasn't trying to argue; she was speaking the truth. "The weapons used in the city defenses are all Esidi's Sunfire Launchers. It feels more like returning to Esidi than a city in Sinidi."

Rusalka was speechless at this point, having no way to refute it. He didn't have the design talent of Marquis Dia. This city was indeed rebuilt after the Paladins and Patriarchs of neighboring Esdi took over. He had almost no involvement in the renovation. If the style of the decoration didn't look like Esdi, it would be a miracle. "Ahem, the exterior decoration may look a bit like Esdi, but my city lord's mansion is very Sneidi style."

Hydra nodded. She thought Sneedi's style was similar to the Hendalia City Lord's Mansion. "You also have a snow scene at home? That's really beautiful."

This sincere but unintended compliment was mistakenly interpreted as irony, leaving Rushaka speechless. Because, to be fair, anyone with a bit of aesthetic sense would know that the Silver City Lord's Mansion was far less beautiful than the Hendalia City Lord's Mansion. If one had to describe the style of the Silver City Lord's Mansion, the only adjectives would probably be "pastoral" and "vibrant".

After all, it is unlikely that nobles in Sinidi who own a city would allow servants to grow vegetables on the land of the city lord's mansion. From this point of view, Rusalka's home is indeed unique - he can really water the cucumber seedlings with a kettle in his own yard.

Rusalka changed the subject again: "At least the snacks in our mansion are very unique, especially the cookies. They are definitely the best in all of Snidi. Both elves agree that they are delicious."

He looked at the two elves riding on birds not far away. They were in perfect harmony with the season, like two magpies heralding the arrival of spring. They were excited and chattering with rosy cheeks. He didn't know what they were talking about, but he could vaguely hear words like "milk tea", "pineapple", "red tassel fruit", and "scorched cabbage".

They both knew how to act. It didn't look like they were sitting on a bird holding the reins. To Rusalka, they looked like they were just sitting at a table in a restaurant ordering food from a menu.

Rusalka turned her head with an expression that said, "Am I right?"

But Phoenix, at this moment, revealed the truth without giving any face: "I made the cookies."

After hearing this, Hydra chose to trust Phoenix unconditionally. Her brows immediately furrowed, as if questioning Rusalka. Why was Phoenix baking cookies in the mansion? Wasn't she your spouse? She had learned about the aristocratic class system in Esdi. Why did a noble's wife need to cook her own food?

Rusalka: That's because Phoenix used to be the head maid, and now I like to eat... I definitely can't say that, I said I want more holes on my body.

Rusalka rubbed her palms together and laughed awkwardly. "Haha, our Lord of Pearl Tears loves freedom and supports the all-round development of morality, intelligence, art, and labor. We provide free baking yoga tours every year, and Phoenix really enjoys baking."

Although Hydra closed her eyes, she shook her ears and her tail didn't wag, which meant that she was probably not in a very happy mood after hearing this. Well, at least she didn't believe it.

If expressed in digital form, the words [Trust -10] should appear on her head at this moment.

Rusalka awkwardly changed the subject: "Ahem, let's not talk about it anymore. Let's take a bath when we get back. I'll ask the servants to make something to eat. I haven't had a good meal in the past month of traveling."

Hydra, like Phoenix, is also a clean cat. When she heard about taking a bath, her expression suddenly relaxed. Rusalka glanced at her tail, which was shaking more and more, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As soon as they returned to the City Lord's Mansion, before Rusalka could order the servants to prepare, the butler was already waiting at the door to receive the group. His mouth was like a machine gun firing small fireballs, and he kept reporting to Rusalka.

He had excellent professionalism and memory. He talked all the way from the gate to the office. His speech was fluent, logical, and he could summarize the key points of every matter. He didn't even have a draft and didn't pause at all. This made Rusalka relive the feeling of being hit by the fireball and crawling on the ground when she first crossed over.

These matters are not particularly urgent, but they are also divided into different levels of importance. For example, the most important ones are also placed at the front. During his absence, Crown came to visit and asked when Rusalka would be back. He said that he would notify him after he came back so that he could come and deliver the gift first. By the way, he wanted to report on the progress of the second phase of the processing plant construction.

A little further down, some nearby minor nobles asked Rusalka about this year's conscription plans.

Most of the newly arrived nobles were still accustomed to following the old rules of the central government. Every year, the local nobles were required to send a portion of the people in their territories to join the army of the local nobles.