What did you do with the dice?

Rusalka: "Where did you hear that rumor? She is my head maid."

Whitemay didn't react much after hearing this, and looked like he was waiting for what was to come.

Damn, I forgot that this guy only eats his own maid. In his eyes, this head maid is the most extravagant maid, right?

"She and I are not in the relationship you think."

"I understand. Sometimes I take the relationship between me and the maid seriously, but after thinking about it, it's just that. Viscount Rusalka, I think you just haven't played enough with women. I am very experienced in this area. I think we can discuss it privately. If it is convenient for you, you can come to my place quietly. I have plenty of women in my mansion..."

Just as Rusalka was about to push his head away, Phoenix quietly came in with a food cart and placed the biscuits on the tray in front of Rusalka: "Afternoon tea."

But there were clearly three plates on the dining cart, but Phoenix only placed one in front of Rusalka and then stood by and watched them.

Whitemai touched his nose awkwardly and stood up tactfully. "Haha, it's getting late. I'll contact the tailor right away and make sure your Lady of the Filin Clan is dressed beautifully. I'm leaving now."

Rusalka was stunned for a moment, and before she could explain, the other party trotted away.

He still knows how to manage crises, just like when he was negotiating with Viscount Consenat in his territory, he ran so fast.

He glanced at Phoenix, who didn't say anything. After serving Rusalka a cup of black tea alone, he turned around and pushed the food cart away.

Uh, what I mean is, if you scare the guests away, why should I have afternoon tea alone?

----

The peaceful days did not last long. Just one month after such good days, Rusalka met a spy.

To be precise, the spy was brought here by Phoenix with his hands raised and a frightened look on his face. Apparently, when he faced the gate of the City Lord's Mansion, his pride made him choose the latter between the two options of "knocking on the door" and "sneaking in".

But Phoenix didn't kill him, mainly because he shouted before the knife was put to his neck: "I am a spy for the Great Duke Gode. I have come to seek secret cooperation with the Great Knight Rusalka. My identification is in my right pocket."

Phoenix didn't move, but the guards nearby took the initiative to search her and looked at the letter envelope and badge, which was indeed the emblem of the Gao Dewei family.

Although she was not sure whether it was true or false, Phoenix brought him to see Rusalka because the latter did not resist and his weapons were confiscated.

Rusalka thought it was another killer hired by the remnants of the Consenat family, after all, there were two of them hanging at the door of the city lord's mansion.

He didn't do anything. It was because Phoenix seemed to have become stronger recently and she took care of the two assassin masters silently. The reason was not clear. Rusalka thought it was because she was now her ace assassin and no longer needed to be secretive when doing things.

But Sanitta had a different opinion. He thought it was possible that Phoenix was regaining the power of her faith in the Lady of Shadow, or that she was gradually turning this gift from the gods into her own use, and developing a new profession - similar to Rusalka's Paladin.

It was not clear whether this signal was good or bad. Sanitta felt that Phoenix herself did not matter. She should have a good impression of Rusalka. At least she would not suddenly assassinate herself or Rusalka.

The only thing that is worthy of suspicion is the cause of the mutation, because Phoenix's whereabouts are not fixed. When she is not seen on weekdays, she may be resting in the room, or she may run out to do something through the shadow plane with a different time flow rate. So what did she do and who did she meet? This is the source of Sanitieta's worry.

After all, her belief is the Lady of Shadow. In terms of the source of power, there is actually a certain degree of mutual restraint and targeting between her and the Holy Light. Now that the Silver City is full of Esdi's paladins and soldiers, Phoenix's shadow power is getting stronger instead, which seems very strange.

Sanita: (Phoenix's strength is constantly recovering. The last time I saw her, she didn't even need a second to enter the Shadow Plane, with a time difference of only about 0.2-0.3 seconds. If she gets even stronger and can travel between the two planes without any time difference, it's hard to imagine what her Challenge Level will be at her peak. At least CR9? In the game, that's equivalent to automatically entering the Shadow Plane at the end of each round, and being immune to attack.

This makes Phoenix nearly impossible to harm, save for special "reaction attacks" or "counterattacks," or abilities like the [Multi-Dimensional Strike] you learned. The challenge level is hard to determine; in the game, no matter how high a level a player is, they can't do anything to her without countermeasures. In real life, it's still okay; at least she has to emerge from the Shadow Plane the moment she attacks.

Rusalka: (Wasn't it agreed that the Dark version is invincible, and the White version is a bit weaker? Why is Phoenix doing the opposite, ignoring the basic rules of teammates? Wait, Phoenix was weakened at the beginning, and now she's become stronger with me. Does that mean... I'm actually the villain?)

Sanita: (I think you need to stop your inexplicable two-spined newt settings and sit down with Phoenix to have a good talk face to face. She has obviously been making some small moves recently. This is not something you can avoid by not wanting to talk. If she refuses to say anything, brother, I think you need to be prepared.)

Rusalka: (Ah? Are you kidding? You know I can't do it, brother. I promise, she won't hurt you now.)

Sanitita: (I didn't ask you to kill her, but maybe our cooperation ends here. If she had always been the same as before, I wouldn't care, but now I don't dare to let her continue to develop. Her becoming stronger means she has a reason to become stronger, and the reason for her becoming stronger must be an enemy that cannot be solved without being strong.

Yes, I know you're reluctant, and I also hope Phoenix can stay, but I can't let her bring an enemy, or even a group of them, whose strength is unknown, to us. And I absolutely can't break up with Theresa right now because of her. If she's willing to confess, or give up, we can maintain the status quo. There's no need to be so pessimistic.)

Rusalka: (Don’t, she helped me kill people and took arrows for me.)

Sanitieta: (She also killed people when you were away, and she was also shot by arrows when you were away. Brother, the cat is fictional, a character you molded out of ten dots, but we are living people, we will eventually go home, and when we go home, she will just be a piece of paper.)

Rusalka felt very sad after hearing this, but he had no way to refute it. He just paused and said: (But didn’t I talk to her before?)

Sanita was shocked: (When did you talk to her? Did I miss watching the PL channel?)

Rusalka: (The last time I asked her what my strengths were.)

Sanita, who was originally quite serious in his heart, was so angry that he laughed: (You used a Luoyang shovel to dig Qin Shi Huang’s tomb, right? I will punish you with a permanent ban.)

Rusalka knew that she couldn't win over Sanitita, so she changed her approach to make the atmosphere more bearable. At least for now, Phoenix was not a piece of paper, and he couldn't treat others as pieces of paper like Sanitita did. Not only Phoenix, but everyone was the same.

He also knew that it was not a good idea to leave Phoenix alone forever, so the process of having a chat with Phoenix was finalized without any doubt from Sanita.

Then the two of them focused their attention on this "spy".

Good news, the other party is not a killer.

Bad news, it seems that the other party is really a spy for Duke Gaode.

Rusalka: (Ah, isn't this two pieces of bad news?)

Faced with Rusalka's complaints, Sanita seemed unable to refute for a while.

Chapter 83 Knights Assembly Order

The less skilled spy rubbed his nose, feeling extremely embarrassed. He didn't even dare to touch the tea and biscuits in front of him. He could only lower his head and introduce himself: "My name is Gao Jianguo. I'm very sorry, Viscount Rusalka. I didn't mean to offend you. It was just my occupational illness that made me sneak into your mansion unconsciously."

Rusalka: "Hello Tall-Nut, my name is Peashooter."

Sanitieta and Gao Jianguo were both stunned, especially the latter: "Sorry, I don't understand what you mean?"

Rusalka: "In my hometown, peas represent plants and nature, and archers represent archers. I mean, it's a good thing we don't have any elven sharpshooters in our mansion, otherwise you would be in danger."

Gao Jianguo nodded in understanding: "Oh, indeed, thank you again for your magnanimity."

Rusalka: (How can this be fooled? Hasn’t he played Plants vs. Zombies?)

Sanita: (You are amazing! How did he play Plants vs. Zombies?)

Rusalka: (By the way, don’t you think it’s strange that Gao Jianguo’s Chinese name popped up among so many Western names?)

Sani Tieta: (What's so strange about that? The word 'Jianguo' here means 'founding a country'. Since the meaning of the Chinese word hasn't changed, isn't it normal to have an oriental name? Look, isn't Duke Gao Dewei also called Dewei? The person across from you is from their main family or a branch family, and he seems to take you seriously.)

Rusalka: (I always thought this was the Chinese-accented translation of "god way," or "the path of God.")

Sunita: (You forgot, there is no English in this world.)

Rusalka then remembered what had happened.

Rusalka: "Then why did you come to see me? This place is considered Grand Duke Delai's territory. Although Alice City has fallen, I don't remember Grand Duke Gode announcing any cooperation with Grand Duke Delai."

Gao Jianguo nodded and whispered, "This matter concerns the knight assembly order issued by my Grand Duke. You are one of the few Grand Knights in the kingdom and a reliable Paladin, so I would like to speak with you alone."

After saying that, he glanced at Sanita and Phoenix.

Sanita got up and left tactfully. He had the PL channel, so it didn't matter whether he was around or not. As for Phoenix, she also followed him sensibly, leaving Rusalka alone in the room.

Gao Jianguo said to Rusalka, who was left alone in the room, "Thank you for your trust."

No, they just think you're weak and I can kill you alone, Rusalka thought.

At this moment, Sanitieta gave Rusalka a general introduction on the PL channel: (The Knight Assembly Order is a derivative product of the establishment of the Knight System in the Kingdom of Snidi. It is similar to the Knight Duel, but the Assembly Order is more ancient.

Legend has it that the founding king promised to allow knights to enjoy the kingdom's territorial governance and lofty status, but as a corresponding responsibility, when the kingdom is in a major crisis on the verge of extinction and the royal family is unable to handle it or has collapsed, the highest-ranking knight can issue a call for the knights to assemble. In principle, all the kingdom's orthodox knights must respond to the call for the knights to assemble, ignore their camps, abandon hatred, and work together to save the country.

The family of the Great Duke of Gothic is technically the oldest knight family. In terms of seniority, the Great Duke of Gothic is truly qualified to issue the order to assemble the knights. It's precisely because of this that he's the least developed of the three major kilometres. Just like my previous assessment of Custer, while knights are suitable for maintaining public order and rectifying public morals, the vast majority of knights are too rigid and unsuited to managing a territory.

But then again, he has the Goddess of Wealth behind him, which explains why he's not very good at governing his territory, yet his capital chain is still very healthy. Literally speaking, the Goddess of Wealth must be the wealthiest force.

Rusalka: (Huh? He wants to use the sword of the previous dynasty to kill the officials of this dynasty? Why should I listen to him? This Silver City was conquered by me with my own hard work. I spent 50 wealth points to get my baronship. We are all adults now. I will not risk my life for a broken rule set by my ancestors. Not to mention that they are not even my ancestors.)

Sani Iron Tower: (We didn't expect to trick you with just one sentence. So, we've sent someone to discuss this with you. Let me tell you what this tall nut planted with 125 sunlight has to say.)

Rusalka: "Why should I respond to the call for assembly? Don't tell me that it was Grand Duke Gode who ordered the dragon to destroy the infantry regiment in Consenat for me."

Gao Jianguo knew Rusalka would say that, so he replied, "The red dragon did betray the agreement, and the attitude of the Church of Fortune has become increasingly uncertain. Because of this, His Majesty, the patriotic Grand Duke Gode, has completely broken with the Church of Fortune. Now that everyone shares the same goal of attacking the Church of the Seven Sins, His Majesty has issued a knightly rallying order, summoning the knights of the kingdom to join him in the fight to eradicate the Church of the Seven Sins."

Rusalka: "Uh, then why are you looking for me? He should cooperate with Grand Duke Delai."

Gao Jianguo nodded and lowered his voice, saying, "Indeed, judging from the current situation, His Majesty Gao Dewei and Grand Duke Delai have the same goal, but what you didn't know is that there are other gods behind Grand Duke Delai.

Since ancient times, the Kingdom of Sneedi has always been a nation led by human knights and assisted by mages. Other gods were not allowed to interfere in the kingdom's internal affairs. According to inheritance tradition, the eldest prince was the legitimate knight. However, the eldest prince unfortunately passed away, and the fourth prince was bewitched by the Church of the Seven Sins. The second prince, supported by the Grand Duke Delai family, is actually one-quarter elven. This also leads to his intricate connection with the elven followers of the God of Nature, making it impossible for him to inherit the throne.

Rusalka finally understood what he meant and asked, "Does your Gao Dewei family want to support the Third Prince to ascend to the throne?"

Gao Jianguo shook his head. "The Third Prince has already fled abroad. A coward cannot inherit the throne. The legitimate heir and ruler of the kingdom must have knightly blood. Do you understand what I mean?"

None of the four heirs were good enough. Rusalka didn't really understand what he meant. Fortunately, Sanitta understood a little better than Rusalka: (It's very simple. Grand Duke Gode wants to seize power and ascend the throne himself. He came to you to find supporters, because you are a Grand Knight appointed by the kingdom. If the vast majority of the knights in the kingdom recognize the legitimacy of Grand Duke Gode, an ancient knight, he can usurp the throne in the name of "restoring the kingdom's ancient system of knightly rule.")

Rusalka: (Good fellow, before we even start cooperating, you're already thinking about finding supporters and competing with the second prince, who is supported by Grand Duke Delei, for the right of succession?)

Sanita: (That's how it is. History will be like this no matter which world it is in.)

Rusalka: (So, brother, which side do you think I should side with? My territory is within the sphere of influence of Grand Duke Delei, but I am indeed a Grand Knight appointed by the orthodox royal family. It seems that my side can be very flexible. Don't speak yet, let me judge. I side with Grand Duke Delei. I have the advantages of terrain and people, but it seems that there are not many high-end combat forces, and resources are relatively scarce. That is, the advantage is that there are more soldiers and more land.

What about the great Duke Gaode? First of all, his knight family is full of martial virtues and has a good reputation that can attract talents. If he really came to power in the name of knight orthodoxy, then as a founding hero and great knight, I will surely not be treated unfairly. Wouldn’t my status rise rapidly?

But if Gao Dewei fails, our territory will fall within the sphere of influence of Grand Duke Delai, and being a traitor will definitely lead to bad consequences. If we choose Grand Duke Delai, even if we fail, at least our territory is still on the border, and Grand Duke Gao Dewei is far away and can't offend us.)

Sanitta laughed: "You have a very vivid imagination. The answer is of course C. We support Esdi. I have always supported handing Sinidi over to Esdi. After all, it's not my homeland. There's no need for us to engage in a power struggle. Even if there is extra money and land, I would rather use it to buy a way home."

Rusalka, who was originally quite confused, suddenly became enlightened.

Indeed, these two guys who had calculated against each other before cooperating, were not as martially virtuous as the Paladins of Esdi next door, and their army certainly was not as large as Esdi's. As for resources, Esdi, whose church was spread all over the world, certainly had no shortage of them. It would be better to stand with Esdi, because at least they were lawful and good, and they all played the Holy Light, so they were unlikely to bully Rusalka, a fellow Paladin.

Rusalka: (So how should I answer now?)

Sanitieta: (Just say yes, but then he hopes Gao Dewei will make you a marquis. He's just trying to test your attitude towards his outrageous idea. He doesn't expect you to just go and do it. That would make you look intimidating. As long as you show that you're not a traditional conservative or a "fence-sitter" who can be won over, his goal will be achieved.)

Rusalka: "I understand what you mean. I'm busy right now, so I'm afraid we'll have to meet at the battle in Alice City. As a fellow Grand Knight, I definitely support the Orthodox Knights. However, after the battle is accomplished, I hope to claim a piece of the Marquis' territory."

Gao Jianguo was indeed very satisfied with Rusalka's answer. "No problem. Viscount Pearl Tears, do you have any other questions? I can answer them for you."

Rusalka: "You just mentioned the divine power behind Grand Duke Delai. I would like to learn more about it."

So Gao Jianguo told him in detail about the Church of the God of Nature, and also mentioned that a team of rangers might have sneaked into the kingdom, so he asked Rushaka to be more careful.

After the conversation and testing Rusalka's stance, he didn't stay any longer and left immediately.

In fact, Rusalka and Sanitta had already known about this part through the Council of Gods. It was just a formality. The only thing they gained was that the second prince had elven blood. No wonder those elves were interested in intervening in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Snidi. From the perspective of blood ties, the second prince's power was indeed the easiest for them to control and build relationships with.

The mission of the Ranger Team is not difficult to guess. It is probably to secretly contact the Second Prince and Grand Duke Delai, and then find a way to get the elves of the Church of Nature to intervene in this war, or to secretly negotiate the post-war distribution issues, such as how to destroy the traditional knight faction like Grand Duke Gode.

It is even possible that he has already taken some action, just like the elven sharpshooter who was lurking in the White Horse Rangers. The secret mission he may be carrying out is not only lurking around the nobles under the name of Grand Duke Delai, but also to "try to eliminate those knights of the kingdom who have not yet taken sides or may betray."

At least three rangers have been killed, and Rusalka doesn't mind killing a few more. But the question arises again. Since the mission of these rangers is to find ways to interfere in the internal affairs of the kingdom, then that Sagittarius, probably the "Grand Elder Huafalin" mentioned by the mage, does not hesitate to let her subordinates help kill their compatriots to reduce their combat power. So what deeper plans does she want to make?

Alas, it seems that everyone has their own things to do, which makes it seem that Rusalka herself has no goals other than fighting, and is quite idle.

Forget it, I've already agreed to it. We can talk about the rest later. According to Sanita's idea, Alice City and Grand Duke Oaks in the North are not that easy to defeat. It will take at least two years to take them down.

Instead of worrying about the post-war division of spoils and taking sides, it would be better to find the cat first.

Chapter 84 Cat's Past (1)

"Phoenix, is Phoenix here? Please help me find Phoenix. Sanita and I need to talk to her about something. Once we find her, please ask her to come to the office."

When Rusalka called her over to question her, his tone became tough, just like he didn't dare to talk to the person he had a crush on before, but he was very tough when he collected the other person's homework. Every word he said was loud and clear, without a trace of hesitation.

What does this mean? A sense of responsibility can transcend shame.

Phoenix hadn't gone out either. Rusalka had just notified him to go find her when Phoenix poked her head out of the black mist that suddenly appeared in front of him and walked out.

Rusalka had never noticed any changes in Phoenix before, but since Sanita mentioned it before, he calculated it carefully himself. From the moment he discovered her body emerging from the black fog to the moment she completely walked out of the black fog and disappeared, it was indeed no more than 0.5 seconds. It might even be faster due to the error in physical perception.

Phoenix's sudden appearances always startled the servants around her, who were unfamiliar with her. They hurriedly said goodbye and left. Rusalka was a little nervous when she saw Phoenix. In order to ease her emotions and prevent herself from showing any anxiety, she played a little joke on Phoenix that only she knew: "Elbow, come into the house with me."

It's strange to say, his talent of bravery and fearlessness prevents him from having any negative emotions on the battlefield, but in daily life, Rusalka can still feel emotions such as tension/anxiety/confusion/shame/depression. Is this also a kind of intelligent regulation?

Sunita: (Of course, otherwise you would become a robot, right?)

In the office, Sanitta was sitting, which was a rare occurrence. He was sitting at a small table used to receive messengers or guests. Seeing this, Rusalka asked Phoenix to sit with him at the round table to appear a little closer.

After closing the door, Rusalka coughed dryly and said, "Phoenix, have you had lunch?"

Phoenix nodded.

Sanita: (If I remember correctly, we ate together.)

Rusalka: (I was nervous. Before chatting, I would always ask if someone had eaten it before.)

Sanitita: (Just get straight to the point and ask her about her recent changes.)

Rusalka rubbed her hands together, her accent now in place. "Well, have you been busy lately?"

Seeing this, Sanita knew that he could no longer rely on his buddy, so he could only speak up himself: "Actually, we didn't ask you to come for any other reason. We just felt that the time was almost right, so we wanted to have a frank talk with you."

Phoenix didn't ask what they were talking about, but just stood up silently, which made the two of them feel nervous.

Rusalka was startled and quickly stood up, pretending to stop him, but she didn't dare to grab him. She maintained an awkward posture and said, "We just want to understand the situation. There's nothing else to it."