What did you do with the dice?

The Church of Joy chose to fight to the death, but the demonic invasion had already severely weakened their strength and vitality, and the continuous battles within their territory made the situation even worse. The support of the Light Church was ultimately unable to reverse their annihilation. From then on, the faith in the Goddess of Joy declined and disappeared.

Later, the Church of God Light regrouped and launched two major expeditions, directly sealing the plane rifts, eliminating the threat of evil, and incorporating the territory of the former Church of the Goddess of Pleasure into Esdi, turning it into a behemoth.

But I have to say that Sanitta was actually very surprised when he heard Hydra talk about Theresa's early identity. He knew that Theresa must have been a believer of the Goddess of Pleasure at first, but he didn't expect that Theresa was actually the head of the Church of Pleasure.

This means that Theresa in history fought to the death when facing the demon invasion. Even from the perspective of all creatures in the main plane, she should be an absolute hero.

Then she transferred to Esdi, which also reasonably explained why Esdi could accept a believer of the Goddess of Pleasure, because Theresa was a hero among heroes at that time. Putting aside the issue of faith, the older generation of paladins in the Light Church, as long as they had a conscience, would accept a homeless hero. Isn't this a matter of course?

After that, she relied on the fame she accumulated from defeating evil spirits, the gift of the Holy Light of Light, and some small use of the power of joy to become the top of the Light God, and finally became the Great Saint - behind this there must be the support of the older generation of the Light Church.

Time will erase many memories, only words and carriers will not, so Theresa only needs to destroy the records about her in Esdi. Under the erosion of the river for thousands of years, the memory stone recording her life experience has become smooth as new. The power of the goddess of joy has made her, who almost never leaves the Wright Cathedral, naturally establish the perfect image of "the messenger of the God of Wright" in the minds of the preachers and pilgrims.

"In fact, when she first became the Great Saint, she was kind. She said that she had met two gods, one of whom saved her and made her forget her sorrow and hatred, as well as the bad memories brought by this body. She wrapped herself in the robe of the Light God and became a great saint who could truly guide people forward. She took it as her mission to maintain world peace and tried to completely eradicate the threat of demons and evil spirits returning."

Hydra said slowly, "According to historical records, during her time as Grand Saint, she repeatedly led the Knights to eliminate the remnants of evil spirits, even sealing them herself. In the early days of the Aiel Empire, when the orcs attacked the border of Esdi, it was she who rescued the victims, used words to inspire the people to resist, established the northern defense line, signed a peace and non-aggression agreement with the Sneedi royal family, and opened trade routes. Everything was fine."

Rusalka: "Then how did she become the Messenger of the End?"

Hydra was silent for a long time before saying, "That happened long before I came to Esdi. When I arrived there, Theresa's heart had already changed. That was the second god she often told me about."

----

"Hydra, you know what? I once met two gods."

Theresa stood on the magnificent cathedral, turned around, faced Hydra, and then slowly took off her mask.

And what was reflected in Hydra's red pupils was not her face, but the image of Theresa standing with her back to her, as always, in front of the door that made her soul tremble.

"The first god rescued me. He said that heroes shouldn't fall like this. You still have your own glorious mission. When disaster strikes, you will be the savior of the world. And He shaped me into the great and revered saint I am today."

"The second god denied me everything. He showed me the end of the world, taught me what fear is, and showed me how to survive."

Theresa smiled and opened her arms. "You are the only one who can see my appearance and remain indifferent. I know that you are also chosen by the gods. You can see the future of the world, right? So join forces with me, leave this world heading for destruction, and let us truly live together, Hydra."

At that moment, in Hydra's eyes, the grooves on the gate continued to light up, one... two... twelve.

Theresa walked over slowly and took Hydra's hand. In Hydra's eyes, twelve wings of light of different colors grew behind Theresa in the picture, like a newborn god, making her almost want to kneel down in worship.

When she instinctively wanted to agree, a flash of a scene made Hydra pull her hand away as if she had been electrocuted, and took a half step back.

The surge of emotion in her heart gradually dissipated - Theresa coldly extracted a black ball from Phoenix's body, and finally transformed it into the image of the black wings behind her. The cold chill brought by fear stimulated her heart and brought back her rationality.

"No, I will inherit Roland's will and save my sister. If the world is going to be destroyed, I will use everything that the devil has given me to save it. This is my mission." The determined light returned to the pair of blood-red eyes, and then Hydra slowly closed her eyes, freeing herself from the temptation of the picture.

Theresa sighed, put her veil back on, and slowly turned away. "Really? You still believe in that nonexistent demon called 'The End'? What a shame! Well, the story ends here."

This was the ending of the story that Theresa told Hydra about herself - the black Filin who was also chosen by God rejected her invitation.

----

After Hydra finished describing the scene to everyone, she sighed, "Every time I think of that invitation, my heart is tormented. A voice in my heart keeps questioning me, why did I reject her? How much better it would have been if I hadn't rejected her!"

The regret that lingered in my heart frightened me deeply. I was afraid that if I hadn't seen Phoenix's death with my own eyes, would I have really agreed to her marriage? I also didn't dare to think about what would have happened to Phoenix if I had agreed to her. Would I have become like her, indifferent to everything in the world?

Rusalka: "But luckily you passed your immunity. You're lucky."

Sanitta translated directly to Rusalka: "You resisted the temptation."

Hydra: "Or is it the truth?"

Who knows.

Rusalka pointed a finger. "Wait a minute, so shouldn't the second god Theresa met be the end? Even though it was a demon? Maybe it took the form of a god. After all, it can change all the time, right?"

Hydra shook his head: "No, it won't."

Rusalka: "Why are you so sure?"

Hydra: "She doesn't recognize my eyes, and even the Lord of Change doesn't recognize my eyes."

Sanita: (But it recognized your fel power...)

Rusalka: (Why did the End Demon hide the fact that he was once the king of Hell? I know. I heard from unofficial history that the early End Demon didn't actually live in Hell. He actually lived in the neighboring village in the main plane, making a living selling hooks...)

Sanita: (Wait! You have a point!)

Rusalka: (Ah, really selling hook literature? I’m just kidding.)

Sanitta: "What if, in Theresa's time, during the wars between gods, the invasion of demons, and the invasion of evil spirits, there was no such thing as the Last Devil in Hell?"

Rusalka was confused: "Then where did it come from?"

Then he noticed that the two cats were looking at him and Sunita.

Rusalka still had a confused expression: "Why are you looking at me? I don't know."

Sanita: "Well, is there a possibility that it came from the same place as us? Or, more realistically, could it be that after the demon war, a god incarnated and went to Hell and pretended to be this person? As long as it's not a native of Hell, then there are too many possibilities!"

The two cats also nodded.

Rusalka: "If it's a god's trumpet, which god would it be?"

Sanita shrugged: "Who knows?"

Rusalka is an empiricist and will bet on whoever he thinks looks like a villain: "I'm betting on the Seven Sins Agents, who are you betting on, Cat?"

Phoenix shook his ears and replied, "The Supreme of Arcane."

Indeed, to Phoenix, mages are indeed chaotic, and there is every reason for them to do such a thing.

Hydra was thinking from a strategic perspective. If they wanted to start a second demon invasion, it would actually be the most beneficial thing for the sea people: "I'm leaning towards Poseidon."

Finally, everyone looked at the Sani Tower.

Sanita: "I never gamble."

He felt that the probability of it being a God's trumpet was very low, and it should be something else, such as this demon was also kicked over from another world.

Rusalka: A boring man.

Chapter 222 Friendship Fee

The finale tonight is what happened to Hydra after she left Phoenix.

In fact, after she placed Phoenix in the cave, she wanted to leave alone and commit suicide because she was already blind. She had already used these eyes to kill Roland, and now she was blind. At least she wanted to die here and not become a burden to Phoenix.

But she was later rescued by a strange man in black, who gave her the ability to "see" even with her eyes closed. He then said to Hydra, "Your fate is not to end here. Go to Esdi and take over the duties of the great saint Theresa, complete your mission, and save the world."

After saying that, the man disappeared and I didn't have time to ask his name.

Although everything was inexplicable, Hydra changed his mind - who would want to die when they can live?

But when she returned to the cave, Phoenix was gone. She only saw an empty altar at the end of the cave. The eyes told her that this was the trial of Phoenix's Lady of Shadow. She left her prediction about Phoenix's future, hoping that she would not return to Esdi and avoid death at the hands of Theresa, and then left.

Later, she ran to Esdi as the man said, and after asking around, she finally found the teacher Roland had told her she could look for if he was gone one day.

After listening to Hydra's story, the other party sighed and took her in with sympathy and regret. He thought Hydra was a talented person and saw the shadow of Roland in her, so he taught her to perceive the holy light and wrote a letter of introduction for her. In the end, Hydra became a behind-the-scenes assassin of the Templar Agency.

The old knight died of old age not long after letting Phoenix go.

He probably had no regrets, or he didn't want to regret. Finally, on the eve of his death, when Hydra came to visit him, he said nothing, but silently gave the life force he had taken from Phoenix to Hydra, and asked her not to come again.

From then on, no one in the world knew that Phoenix was still alive, and she could rest assured.

But in fact, what the old knight didn't know was that Theresa also knew about this matter, and after his death, she used her secret line on the border of the Kingdom of Snidi to help search for Phoenix's whereabouts - how could she be willing to give up the power of faith of Lady Shadow?

The hidden thread was the ancestor of the "Ropa Family". After he got the news, he actually doubted the identity of Phoenix, the newly bought girl from the neighboring Pearl Tears Territory. After finding the remains of the real cat maid, he was almost certain of the idea.

He didn't dare to alert the enemy, and he knew how terrifying Phoenix was, so he wanted to trick Phoenix by annexing the Pearl Tear Territory, and then set a trap to capture her.

As a result, he never conquered the Pearl Tears Territory in his lifetime, and could only pass down the secret that only he knew in some form, hoping that there would be a talented person among the future generations who could inherit his will.

But if future generations cannot do it, or don’t have the brains to do so, then so be it. I don’t ask for great wealth and honor, I just want peace and security.

Then? Then Rusalka came, a 2d6 greatsword, shattering the Ropa family's dream of merit.

This was Hydra's side of the story. It was rather hasty, and she didn't elaborate on the details, but it sounded reasonable—except for the black-robed man who inexplicably saved her and then said even more inexplicable words. He sounded like he was very dissatisfied with Theresa.

Rusalka: "I think that's the God Light who saved Theresa. He knew Theresa was doing bad things behind his back, but he didn't expect her to be the Messenger of the Apocalypse. That's why he's unhappy and wants Hydra to take her place. You, go and capture Theresa!"

Sanita: "I agree with your view that he is a god, but I feel that he is not the God of Light. Besides, gods are probably not that moody. There must be some deeper reason."

Hydra didn't know either. He could only sigh and repeat the same sentence again: "Who knows."

Would it have been easier if she had died there? No one knew the answer to this question, but since she had chosen to survive, Hydra had no regrets. At least now, before heading to Alice City, she was still with Phoenix, putting aside her mission and responsibilities and simply enjoying the beautiful moments of sisterhood.

The four words "fate is fickle" are vividly demonstrated in the lives of the two cats. Everything seems to be manipulated by the devil, gods and Theresa, the messenger of the end. The fate of their lives entered the gears from the moment they were rescued by Roland. After two hundred years of wandering and sinking, they were finally freed.

Or was it the irresistible invisible hand of fate that was chasing after them, dragging Rusalka and Sanitta into the death rush as well?

As Hydra likes to say: Who knows?

Tonight Phoenix did not sleep with Rusalka, but went to Hydra's room. For them, tonight was destined to be a sleepless night of chatting all night long. For Sanita, tonight was also a sleepless night of tossing and turning, sorting out clues.

But for Rusalka, tonight will be over in the blink of an eye. It will be fast to take a long rest with his brothers and skip the physical time!

Good morning, a new day!

After waking up today, at the reminder of Sanita, Rusalka activated the communication stone sent by Wangsheng to see what new ideas the eldest son of Grand Duke Delai, who was appointed in an emergency, had - and to collect the debt by the way.

Don't forget, when we were in Hendalia City, he said something very nice: kill the elite monsters in the event and you will be given a large territory.

Now it has been more than a month and there is still no news. It is hard not to suspect that he is defaulting on his debt.

However, before this matter was mentioned, the other party took the initiative to tell them a piece of good news: when Grand Duke Delei went to Hendalia City for a meeting, the second prince who was hiding at home was kidnapped by the elves' ranger troops.

It was an understatement, but it was hard to describe how brutal the scene was. Rusalka, a skilled worker who had fought with the rangers many times, knew how ruthless they were.

Rusalka couldn't hold back her smile and subconsciously said, "You're so polite! You specially sent me such an expensive gift just to announce the good news?"

The other party was embarrassed by Rusalka's mocking tone, but the situation was stronger than the person, so he had to bow his head in the end. He pretended not to hear and told Rusalka to be careful of the elves. According to Grand Duke Delai's records, the reason why the elves wanted the second prince was not that they wanted to share a piece of Snidi's territory and power, but that they were trying to find out a secret known only to the Mebius family.

As for what this secret is, Grand Duke Delei himself does not know. It may be because human lifespan is too short and it was lost in the replacement of generations, or the ancestors of the Delei family have never heard of the secret of the Mebius family.

The elves probably know this because they live longer.

Then, he expressed his hope that Rusalka would cooperate with the Drey family because they were both royalists, provide stable support and material supplies on the border, and work together to defeat the Church of the Seven Sins and capture Alice City before considering other things.

This sounded a bit like a template. The last person who used this excuse to cooperate with Rusalka almost had all his belongings buried on the north wall of Mingyue City. Even monkeys learn from their mistakes. Rusalka would definitely not believe Wangsheng's nonsense - he must be cheating.

Brother Analyzer, start up!

Sanitta rolled his eyes at Rusalka, who had no intention of thinking at all. In fact, he didn't even need to think. He knew that Grand Duke Delai had died in battle, and the Demon Lord had descended and destroyed the city of Hendalia. This series of chain reactions had caused Wangsheng, as the heir, to be unable to control the situation regardless of his age or reputation. It must be that the Earl or other Marquis began to act on his own initiative and wanted to redistribute the right to speak in the name of the crusade, which forced Wangsheng to try to build a good relationship with Rusalka.

Of course, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, not to mention that only a family head died. Although Grand Duke De Lai is very important, he is not an indispensable existence. Grand Duke De Lai's direct and collateral lines still hold absolute military power. Wangsheng only has a very young brother, but that does not mean he does not have many uncles.

For him, even without the second prince, under the circumstances of the family being united against foreign enemies, it would still be no problem for him to rely on the military strength of his immediate family members to firmly grasp the right to speak in the "punitive army", and it would not evolve into the worst-case scenario of warlord separatism.

The only unstable factor is probably Rushaka on the border. First of all, Rushaka is far away from the emperor, and Mingyue City is guarded by natural barriers. They cannot attack him and cannot fight him. He has the eldest prince in his hands, which is very legitimate and in line with the orthodoxy of Sinidi. Although he does not have many soldiers, he has a vast territory, abundant martial virtues, rich resources, and the support of Esdi, who has the military T0 level.

Although Rusalka is indeed a paladin, his behavior seems a bit strange to others. According to the information sent back by the spies who were previously sent to attack his town of Test, Rusalka is obviously a paladin, but he kills people too quickly and has no mercy at all.

Moreover, as a qualified noble, one cannot let his fate depend on the humanity of others.

If Rusalka were to raise his arms now and say that he wanted to rebel against Grand Duke Delei and replace him as Grand Duke, and show strong evidence of support from Esdi, then many forces in Grand Duke Delei's territory would really turn to Rusalka, and eventually the country would fall apart.

After all, joining Rusalka would create a completely new situation. If Rusalka wins and Grand Duke Delai falls, all the land and power in the eastern part of the kingdom will inevitably be redistributed after the war. Moreover, Esdi will not seize the land early. Joining early means developing early.

As for Esidi's desire to establish a church, spread his faith, and engage in cultural invasion? What does that have to do with these sophisticated, self-serving nobles? After all, Sneedi is a pan-faith of the Supreme Arcane Mage, lacking a formal state religion. Isn't the Lawful Good Church of the Human Wrights doing quite well? Aren't Paladins powerful? As long as you make your followers pay taxes, wouldn't they be perfectly good subjects and valuable assets?

You can believe whoever you want. As for what pattern is painted on the gold coin, it does not affect its value as a gold coin.

However, the Sunny Tower was right next to him, clearly telling Wangsheng that he had to pay a friend fee to make friends.

Wang Sheng: "I have convinced the two marquises. From now on, the Sicilian area, including the area 500 meters ahead, belongs to you. I will send someone to deliver the title deed when the time comes."

Sanitta: "Eldest son of the Delai family, this is the reward for defeating the sorceress last time. Demon Lord, please treat it as a gift and we won't charge extra. Now it's a friendship fee."

"Hold on."

After Wangsheng finished speaking, a dull and chaotic discussion sounded from the other side of the stone.

After about five minutes, Wangsheng said, "I heard you want to build a mage tower. A mage tower is different from other buildings. It requires someone who knows magic to decorate it, right? I can transfer five mage apprentices and two mages from the territory to help you."

Sanita changed his address and said, "Heir of the Delai family, if I make this news public, many wild mages will naturally come to me and join the Mage Tower. It seems that your friend Fei is not very sincere."

Wang Sheng: "Besides the core, the Mage Tower also needs some research materials, right? In addition to the people, I will give you materials worth about 10,000 gold coins, and then open a preferential trade route policy with the Pearl Tear Territory."

Sanitta: "Head of the Delai family, I think we should add two more magic cannons and some heavy mercury to make dragon-hunting crossbows. After all, Silver City is too small. If we go to the front line and our military is depleted, it will be unsafe to defend our home without weapons. If someone with ulterior motives raids our base, that would be very bad. What do you think?"

Wangsheng was silent for a while, then gritted his teeth and said, "Okay."

Sanitta: "Excellent, Your Majesty, the new Grand Duke of the Delai family. We in the Pearl Tear Territory have long wanted to cooperate with you. We wish you all the best in our strategic cooperation to defeat the Church of the Seven Sins, recapture Alice City, and restore royal legitimacy. As a token of our sincerity, we will do our utmost to help you locate the Second Prince."

Wangsheng replied stiffly, "I wish you the same."