What did you do with the dice?

Rusalka: "I wonder if you, Guild Master, came here to discuss the issue of that batch of equipment? Or perhaps you have the ability to identify the value of war horses? After all, I have a batch of war horses on hand to sell."

Arlot picked up his teacup and smiled at Rusalka. "Baron Rusalka, according to the rules of the Kingdom of Snidi, the Chamber of Commerce should not interfere in the matter between you and Viscount Consnat. And as a reciprocal condition, the grudges between nobles should not affect merchants."

Rusalka repeated Sanitita's words, "Of course I know that, but I believe the new king of the Snidi Kingdom will definitely issue new laws, especially in this era when many boundaries are quite blurred. What does it mean to interfere? What does it mean to affect others? The Chamber of Commerce sells weapons to the nobles. Is that interference? War causes commodity prices to rise. Is that a problem? The market is an invisible force, and it's difficult for people to go against its influence."

Arlot nodded and said, "I'm surprised you didn't try to beat around the bush and pretend to be confused to shirk responsibility as I expected. Instead, you admitted it so frankly. From this point of view, calling you Baron Rusalka might not be appropriate. I should call you Knight Rusalka. Do you mind?"

Rusalka imitated him and waved her hand. "It's just a name. It doesn't matter to me. President Arlot doesn't need to care about it."

The two of them raised their glasses and smiled at each other.

Arlot said, "Since we're dealing with a knight, I'll be a little frank. We want to do the ore business, and we also want to do the equipment business. Furthermore, we must be the only ones doing business with Pearl Tear Territory. Furthermore, Pearl Tear Territory must give us a tax exemption order with the Chamber of Commerce as the sole proprietor."

Rusalka: "No, this tax exemption is limited to weapons and equipment. It's valid for 10 years, and you can buy it after that."

Arlot smiled and said, "Ten years? That includes tax exemption for processed materials."

Rusalka glanced at Sanita, who was silently eating cake over there, and said in the private chat channel, "Brother, nifty!" Then he turned to Arlot and said, "It seems the president has thought it through very thoroughly. But no, the land is rent-free, forever. This is the most sincere offer I can make."

Arlot smiled and said, "Isn't it the same for Knight Rusalka? In addition, I have received the equipment and horses of the White Horse Rangers. This money will be deducted from the previous payment."

Rusalka: "That's no problem."

Arlot: "In that case, let's revise the part of the previous contract regarding the ore transaction. The ore produced by Pearl Tear Territory will be purchased at the market price, so there's no need to bother with Clown anymore. Of course, he will still be the full agent for this matter."

Klauen was sweating profusely at the moment, and he shuddered when he heard his name being called. "Thank you for the kindness, President, and I'm also very grateful for Lord Rusalka's trust. Don't worry, I promise to do everything perfectly, and there will be no mistakes this time."

Rusalka: "No problem, but there's a condition. You have to hire local residents to perform the simplest labor activities. Of course, for subsequent technical matters such as processing, you should also give priority to local people as assistants."

Arlot: "The first one is fine, but you have to give me a good reason or a good enough boost for the second one."

Rusalka: "I'll give you an agreement. The Pearl Tear Territory will not interfere with the relocation or transfer of residents employed by the processing plant. If you have the ability and they are willing, you can take them away for free in the future.

Not only can they help you make money now, but you can also save a lot of training fees and the energy of selecting them. For you, every person you kidnap is a profit, and the larger the base, the better."

Arlot thought for a moment and smiled, "That's interesting. You're absolutely right. It seems you're very confident in your own personal charm. Okay, I accept the challenge. Deal."

Rusalka: "Oh, if you hire them, you have to guarantee their wages and workload. After all, they are citizens of Pearl Tear Territory, whether temporary or permanent. They are protected by the laws of Pearl Tear Territory. If any disputes arise regarding personal injury or life, I have the right of interpretation and ownership."

Arlot: "Well... I promise that the treatment will be better than mining in the Tester Mine. As for accidents, Knight Rusalka, you understand that I can't make any promises about that. If an accident does happen, you must give us the right to settle the matter privately with the other party in the form of money."

Rusalka thought about the environment. This was indeed a status quo that was difficult to change by humans. Who could blame the fact that "advanced magic" in this world was not popular? Ordinary people could only master magic power and light a fire at most. Those who could perform magic tricks could be considered wizard apprentices. They could not perform automated operations at all.

He could only say helplessly: "Okay, then there is no other problem."

Arlot: "We don't need you to provide building materials, equipment, security, etc., but these people are nominally only there to protect our Chamber of Commerce's property and are not under the management of the Pearl Tear Territory."

Rusalka: "Of course. For other discussions on the content of the agreement, please discuss it with my guest minister, Sanitita. He knows more about this than I do."

Hearing this, Crown suffered a PTSD attack. Seeing the Sunny Tower was as scary as seeing the God of Plague. Every transaction sounded perfect, but in the end, he was always the one who got hurt. The worst thing was that he was often sold out and still helped him count the money.

When he heard about the "conflict between the Pearl Tear Territory and the Viscount Territory" + "White Horse Rangers", how could Clown not understand what was going on? What did the Viscount's agent commission mean? These equipment were clearly pulled off the White Horse Rangers, and they were damn fresh. To be honest, maybe the spirits on them haven't dissipated yet.

It turned out that Rusalka had just had a fight with the Viscount, so he suddenly understood why Allot came in person. He entered Ropa Town under the name of Doug Chamber of Commerce, and then Rusalka killed the White Horse Rangers.

If Allot had not been smart, he would probably have happily transported the White Horse Rangers' equipment back. By then, he would have been in collusion with the Pearl Tear Lord, and he would never be able to wash it off even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

However, the good news is that Arlot seems to have long intended to become "birds of a feather" with the Pearl Tear Territory. He signed a new contract inexplicably, which sounds like he wants to establish a base in the Pearl Tear Territory. This also turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Clown, making him an excellent middleman.

But this didn't make him happy; it only made him feel worse. He had been traveling to Pearl Tear Territory frequently, yet he was kept in the dark and had no information at all. Meanwhile, Arlot had only been there twice, each time returning with a big order. Comparing yourself to others can be frustrating.

After two years of trading, he joined the Chamber of Commerce and became a stable businessman. In the eyes of the outside world, he is definitely a business genius, and he himself thinks so. Therefore, Crown, who has been feeling very good about himself recently, now feels like a person swimming naked on the beach after the tide has receded. His incompetent nature is exposed in broad daylight, and he is really ashamed.

Arlot glanced at Sanitieta and said with a smile, "Indeed, most mages are knowledgeable. Respected Grand Mage Sanitieta, shall we discuss the contract? I've brought paper and pen."

Sanita nodded: "No problem, please."

Arlot's words made Clown feel a tightness in his chest again: He had been with Sanita for so long and had never realized that she was a mage.

But after a few seconds, he suddenly felt relieved.

He couldn't beat a mage, wasn't that normal? What kind of monsters were mages? How could a mere mortal like him compete with these creatures whose bloodline must have been impure since birth? Comparing people with each other was infuriating, but losing to someone who wasn't human was less upsetting.

It turns out that it wasn't that I was too bad, it was just that there was a Gundam on the opposite side. That's fine. If you had told me earlier that it was a mage, I would have almost thought that I was no match for him.

Chapter 53 Kingdom Sandbox

After that, Rusalka found an excuse that Sani Tower gave him and slipped away - I'm going to arrange post-war work and prepare a recruitment notice for the construction of the new area in advance.

Listening to the negotiations was too boring, he would rather play "Kingdom Sandbox" with the maids.

That game was a game exclusively for the nobility - because the magic props used in the game, that is, the huge rune slab, were very expensive, costing about 10 gold coins each on the market. Rusalka had two of them at home, which made him sigh that the former lord was really a money-losing guy.

You get what you pay for, and it's really fun. It feels a bit like Simple Civilization 6. You can choose to play it from beginning to end, which may take a few days, or you can play one or two small built-in modes. Anyway, you only need to refer to the small book bought outside to set it up.

Rusalka always felt that the designer of this thing was not from this world. Maybe the inventor really understood that odd numbers change but even numbers remain the same. Unfortunately, after asking around, no one knew who designed this thing. This is how it is in a world without copyright and patents. As long as you don't add your name to it, this good thing will be passed on and the inventor will disappear.

Rusalka decided that when she "invented" "Three Kingdoms Killing" in the future, she would call it "Pearl Tears Killing Three Kingdoms".

The names of these three countries are: Thunder Spirit, Albus, and Zhan Ji.

Sometimes Sanita feels that it takes a lot of courage to open the PL channel and search the historical records. This is one of the reasons - Rusalka sometimes talks to herself, which is quite scary.

The basic prop of this kingdom sandbox is actually a glowing magical white slate like a mahjong table, engraved with many magic runes. The chess pieces and markers can be placed manually, but the area on the slate where magic is input and the color it turns into after the input are all determined by the runes on it, which is also written in the rule book.

Different colors in different areas have different meanings. Again, please read the instructions.

Although Rusalka, who has no magic power, cannot use magic to control the color of the stone tablet in his position and realize the scene changes set in the runes on the stone tablet, this does not prevent him from asking a maid to help him. He only needs to be responsible for directing the other party's operations.

The only drawback is that this has to be said verbally. The Kingdom Sandbox game has a secret operation part. After all, your hands are placed under the table to input magic into several rune arrays on the side facing only yourself. How much to input and which to input are all secret decisions. Sometimes the game is carried out in this area.

But this did not pose a problem for Rusalka. He wrote down his decisions on small pieces of paper. When he wanted to operate behind the scenes, he would show the papers to the maid who played the game on his behalf.

As for housework, Pearl Tear Territory isn't some dust-free laboratory, so why would it need so many people cleaning every day? Occasionally, when he saw a few maids pretending to be busy, he would just pull them over and torture them. No, he would just pull them over and let them play with him.

Rusalka didn't want to delve into the reasons why the servants were playing. He suspected that Phoenix had taken them to the recreation room secretly to play.

Sanitta said on the spot that this was impossible. What did you think of Phoenix? She was not the type to be free and easy. She had a good relationship with the maids on weekdays, but it was just a "good relationship". Even if she was slacking off, she was doing it secretly. It was impossible for her to slack off openly.

The servants knew how to play it, it could only be that someone in the former lord's family liked to play it, so he asked the servants to play with them.

Rusalka didn't believe it. He thought it was a cute point and that Phoenix should have it, no, it must have it.

you're right.

Sanita had no choice but to obey him.

Fortunately, Rusalka's reputation in the outside world is very unpredictable. Everyone thinks he doesn't look aristocratic, so the maids can still play with him.

But his level was very low. After losing the support of the 524 points at the start of the game, he really couldn't beat the maid in this new game.

It's not that he can't afford to lose. He's a grown man, so what's wrong with losing a game? It's normal. Can't he just play another round?

However, the maids would start letting him win in the middle of the game, deliberately letting him win in the end. This was the biggest insult to him, and made him realize the mentality of these enemies when facing him.

Incompetent rage.

But he couldn't say "Don't let me" to the maids opposite, because that would make him look even more pitiful.

When it comes to cooking, just practice more!

Rusalka plays this almost every day now.

----

Today, Sanita was unable to keep Arlot and Crown for dinner. The former said that he was busy and it was not convenient to force them to stay; the latter was afraid of eating there. Besides, he couldn't let his boss go alone and stay to eat alone. It would look awkward.

After seeing the two off, Phoenix came back with some good things.

She usually took two or three maids to the nearby town to buy things. She basically didn't buy daily necessities and food. There were a lot of these things in the warehouse, and on weekdays there were special suppliers or vendors in the town who came to deliver them regularly.

Therefore, the things you want to buy are those that are difficult to preserve for a long time, or those that are more unique, such as jam, new clothes, jewelry, snacks and the like.

"You're back? Did you have fun?"

Maomao was carrying two large bags that were half her height. She nodded slightly to Rusalka who was waiting to greet her at the door, expressing both "greeting" and "answering" with one gesture.

Then, she opened her red lips slightly and slowly said to Rusalka, "My Lord, would you like to have dinner now?"

Rusalka nodded in a daze, then turned around and started complaining to her friends on the PL channel: (Dude, why does it feel like her favorability bar hasn't moved? Is it a bug? Or is Phoenix an unapproachable NPC? What the hell is this?)

Sanita: (I also find it a bit difficult.)

Rusalka: (Really?)

Sanita: (No, no, no, you misunderstood. What I meant was that if I were DM, I would definitely give you another 100 points no matter what, limiting you to one point of emotional intelligence.)

Rusalka: (Ah? My EQ is low? Bro, you're being ridiculous. I admit my thinking is pretty slow, but I feel like my EQ is on par with my IQ. At the very least, I should be in a top-tier major—double first-class.)

Sanita: (Haha, yes, yes, I just love watching this! By the way, why don’t you take the initiative to help them carry their bags?)

Rusalka: (That’s right! Look at my brain. I admit I was careless. I’ll just…)

Sanita: (Fuck you, you really want to be a bag carrier? That's funny. Now the lord has been transformed into a coachman. Brother, you can't be fooled. Do you still want to go home?)

Rusalka dejectedly closed the telepathic transmission on the PL channel: (Fuck, you're kidding me, right? I'm not going to chat with you anymore.)

After a few seconds, Rusalka transmitted again: (By the way, play a game with me after dinner, you hear me?)

Sunita: (You're such a noob and yet you love to play around, alright? What's even more pitiful is that you, a capitalist, make those maids work overtime for free and even go to jail with you. Sometimes I even think the maids you substitute for are better at playing than you. They're so stubborn and stubborn that they just follow your stupid decisions. It's so frustrating. You might as well just let them substitute for you.)

Rusalka: (I've been studying all night, and this time...)

Sanitta: (Well, another night, I was thinking that the Thousand and One Nights must have been written by you. Then again, instead of torturing the maid on night duty every day, why don't you invite Phoenix to help you?)

Rusalka: (Huh? She must be a little embarrassed to bother you.)

Sunita: (Sometimes when I see you talking, I want to question you. Are you really trying to solve the problem, or are you just bragging? You just complained about the difficulty of the strategy, but you really haven't taken any action at all? I gave you opportunities and plans, but you didn't use them.)

Rusalka: (You make a lot of sense, but isn’t it a bit inappropriate for me to torture the cat?)

Sanita: (You're quite self-aware of your level, aren't you? Then don't give orders, just play along. Playing games is just a means and a process. Does winning or losing really matter?)

Rusalka: (This is very important. When I lose, all I can think about when I lie in bed at night is this. No, you have to give me two more fortresses today.)

Sanita: (You didn’t save this person.)

Although Rusalka was very angry, he admitted that what Sanita said seemed to make sense. Yes, why didn't he invite Phoenix to play before?

So Rusalka said to Phoenix as she was walking in: "Phoenix, come to my office after dinner."

Phoenix wagged its tail, and without stopping, it just replied with an "OK" and continued walking towards the kitchen.

But the two maids following her obviously didn't think so. Before they turned the corner, they immediately came to Phoenix's side, put their faces close to her ears, and showed a gossipy expression as if they couldn't help but want to eat some gossip.

Rusalka vaguely heard words like "relationship", "plan", "man", and "good idea". After burning an incense stick in her heart, she turned around and went to the office to read a book to kill time.

Phoenix is ​​a cat that keeps its promises very well. About half an hour after Rusalka and Sanitieta came back to the office after dinner and drank tea and reviewed documents together, Phoenix knocked on the door.

Rusalka: "Come in."

This time, Sanitta was too lazy to say anything to Rusalka. Anyway, her relationship with Phoenix was already good, so it was no big deal if Rusalka occasionally made some mistakes in aristocratic etiquette and norms.

After entering, Phoenix closed the door with his tail, then looked at Rusalka quietly, skipping the questioning phase and waiting for him to speak.

Rusalka hesitated for a moment, rubbed her fingers together, coughed dryly, and asked, "Phoenix, do you want to play Kingdom Sandbox tonight?"

Phoenix replied immediately: "No."

Although no one was casting any spell, the room was as quiet as if it was shrouded in silence.

Rusalka: (Send! Kurushi.)

Sanita: (Please put it another way.)

Rusalka: (They’ve already refused. If I ask again, won’t it seem like I’m being shameless?)

Sani Tieta: (Why does your skin dynamically switch between thick and thin? Thick when it should be thin, thin when it should be thick. Is it a rebellious move?)

Rusalka: (Well, I'll ask again, to give my brothers another scene to have fun. Watch out, this goblin only performs twice.)

Sanita: (Wait a moment...)

This wave of coordination was not very good. Rusalka spoke again before Sanita could finish: "You really don't want to play?"

Phoenix didn't even bother to answer this time, she just nodded.

Rusalka: (Ahem, it's okay now. Back in the Ropa family warehouse, her dagger slashed my throat, leaving me with only 40 HP. And now, I'm just talking to her, but I feel my 81 HP bar instantly empty. Brother Fei, are you going to play Battle Royale with me all night to comfort me?)

Sanita: (Who told you to disobey others and answer first?)

Rusalka: (That's enough, brother, you're really bad! But it wasn't the enemy, it was me! You ask about the enemy? I can only say that I missed a single shot. I want to go back to the training ground. This place is too cruel and not suitable for me.)

Sanita: (Just imitate me.)

Rusalka: (I’ll trust you for the last time.)