What did you do with the dice?

Finally, there was no other way. The former lord felt that it was shameful to argue in front of his servants every day, so he suggested taking the guards to go winter hunting to relax. If they were lucky, they could also drive away the bandits and use good cheer to dispel bad luck.

You know the ending, the whole team was wiped out. In the eyes of those maids, Phoenix had no chance of rising to fame.

However, some maids were also very regretful. It was not because of any fake friendship between besties, but because they felt that Phoenix's position as the head maid was unshakable. If she could not become the lord's wife, then these little maids would never have the chance to become the head maid in their lifetime.

By the way, those maids also encouraged me to marry Phoenix, and some of them flirted with me after hearing about my status as a great knight.

After listening to this, Sanita still felt that the off-topic question was more interesting: "Then do you agree?"

Rusalka pointed to the cover of the Noble Etiquette: "How is that possible? I am a noble knight."

Sanita: "Oh, you really know the rules at times like this."

Rusalka: "The main reason is that I think this is not a good thing. From a long-term perspective, on the one hand, I can't give them a legitimate status. I can't remove Phoenix's head maid and give it to one of them who is a green tea;

On the other hand, Phoenix is ​​an NPC I spent 10 points to create. Look at other NPCs who want to cheat on me, they just throw their whole family out. Pure love warriors are invincible. How can I abandon my wife Phoenix to hang out with some vulgar woman?

Sanitta: "I like your 21st century conservative thinking. Why don't you also order her to be married as a concubine?"

Rusalka: "Dude, you know I'm from the 21st century. We should develop a relationship step by step. If I force her to become my wife with just one order, then wouldn't that former lord and I be the same?

As PLs, we should have the overall perspective and composure of a PL. I believe I'll be able to max out my favorability one day. Look, I even went to talk to Phoenix.

Sanitieta's mouth opened wide. "Why did you leave such an important matter for last, like a cold joke after dinner? This is obviously the most important news, okay?"

Rusalka: "It's not as serious as you think. I just want to know what she thinks of me."

Sanitta: "If you had said, 'I want to ask what you think of me,' without changing a single word, you might as well have asked directly, 'Tell me, who are you and what are your goals?' I think creatures with an IQ greater than 5 would generally be able to equate these two sentences."

Rusalka: "Here you go again. When will you finally stop joking about your vulgar attributes? When will you truly understand my wisdom? Of course, I didn't ask you that. My original words were, 'Phoenix, I have nothing else to ask you. I've just taken over and don't know much about the previous operations within the territory. It's inevitable that there will be some omissions. I need your help and assistance.'"

Sani Tieta: "That sounds like human speech, and then it's gone? It's so abrupt, it seems abnormal."

Rusalka: "Then when she nodded, I said, 'Praising each other is the fastest way to build friendships, so let's praise one of each other's strengths. Starting with you, tell me what strengths you've discovered in me from spending time with me recently. Just one will do.'"

Sanitta didn't say anything, but his handsome face was full of question marks. From his expression, it can be seen that he felt deeply at a loss about the second half of Rusalka's sentence.

Rukasa pointed at the Sani Tower and smiled, "Yes, for a moment, Phoenix's expression was very similar to yours now."

"Dude, that's the look on your face that makes you look crazy."

"It's called an icebreaker. By the way, I also want to hear what my subordinates think of me." Rusalka spread her hands and said, "Guess what she answered?"

Sanita: "I don't want to guess. I'm not in the mood to guess. Just tell me."

Rusalka: "She said I was always on time for meals."

The Sani Tower was indeed happy.

Rusalka said indignantly, "Can this be called a compliment? It's simply insulting me as a good-for-nothing. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got, especially when she looked at me with those cunning eyes, waiting for me to compliment her."

Sani Tieta: "Brother Desert, friendly reminder, this word is pronounced xia, the second tone, cunning."

Rusalka: "It doesn't matter. Anyway, she looked at me with those sly eyes, probably with a look of triumph. When I praised her with words like 'beautiful, attractive, intelligent, capable, and elegant', guess what I said?"

Sani Tieta: "I don't want to guess. You, a cultural desert, have already poured out all the compliments you can think of. How else can I guess?"

Rusalka: "I said, 'I think you're even better. You can always remind me of mealtimes very accurately.'"

Sanita: "That's it? It seems your offensiveness needs to be improved."

Rusalka: "After that, she asked me if I had anything else to do. She was about to go and arrange the cleaning plan for today. I said no, and she excused herself. She must have gone back to secretly apply the little pearl."

Sanitieta: "How childish! You called her over just to have a quarrel with her?"

Rusalka: "She was the first to speak. Do you blame me? My original intention was indeed to find out who she was, what she was doing, and what her purpose was. But she didn't play by the rules."

Sanitta: "I think you're not playing by the rules. Okay, let me read for a while and sort out the information you just said, which is probably 20% exaggerated and 50% missing. In a few days, when the final payment arrives, I'll tell you how much we earned this time."

Rusalka shrugged her shoulders, opened the first page of Noble Etiquette, thought for a moment, closed the book and put it back, then found a novel from the bookshelf and started reading.

Chapter 13 War Profits

Alola kept his promise and visited the Pearl Tear Territory again. This time, Rusalka remembered it well. He first asked Phoenix to take him to the reception room, then watched the nervous maid push the food cart to deliver the snacks. He called Sunita over and asked him to go in first. He then counted down 300 seconds in his mind before pushing the door open and going in.

After sitting in the car, his curiosity about watching the show was extinguished at once. Faced with the second round of argument between the two people about how much the two pieces of scrap metal in the warehouse should be sold for, he began to have nothing to do. Occasionally, he could only respond to Sani Iron Tower's message with an interjection like "um", "oh", or "okay".

"I only brought this much this time. If the price is any higher, I'm afraid I'll have to go back and ask my lord for permission again."

"Oh, by the gods, this price is ridiculous to buy all of these. I think we can still negotiate. After all, you won't need so much stuff when you return, and you can keep the carriage and horses as a replacement for your gold coins."

"Emissary Sanita, this is the result of my concession to include the prisoners' food expenses in the account. Look at the food allowance you quoted. Are you feeding them white bread and rum every day?"

Sanita spread his hands and said, "Messenger Alola, you don't know this. It's easier to capture prisoners than to feed them. If we fed them animal food every day, they would have fallen ill or even died in a month. But now, all of our men are alive and well. A simple diet of white bread and rum wouldn't have done the trick."

Alola: "But the most important person couldn't stay. So the price is difficult to negotiate."

Rusalka knew that Alora was talking about the mage.

Now that I think about it, I feel that I lost out by not catching him alive. The ransom demanded by the other party for the mage was a full 60 gold coins.

And this is the starting price which allows for negotiation, which is already much higher than the total price of all the hostages.

The exchange rate in this world is very strange, 1 gold coin = 12 silver coins = 1400~1500 copper coins. The extra 2 will inevitably make people with obsessive-compulsive disorder feel a little uncomfortable. It is said that this is due to the fluctuation of hard currency prices and the increase in the prices of gold and silver, which has led to the increase in the prices of gold and silver coins.

However, what to think during the post-war negotiations is one thing, and what to do during the battle is another. If Rusalka were given a second chance, he would still choose to blast the mage into pieces with holy light at that time - his own life cannot be measured by gold coins, and this kind of risk that threatens his life cannot be exchanged for any amount of money.

The final transaction price of the Sani Tower and Alola was 121 gold coins, including all the temporarily unused items, the two trucks of civilian supplies and the prisoners.

After the negotiation, Arola paid the money very readily, without any trace of the embarrassment of "not having enough funds" that he had just mentioned at the negotiation table. This made Sanita a little annoyed that he was still too young. It seemed that he was far from being able to find out the other party's bottom line.

Especially the two damaged crossbows, Lord Luopa must have a way to repair them quickly, otherwise he would not have agreed so readily.

As for why it was 121 coins, it was because one of the gold coins was agreed upon as a kickback to Alola. This is called "tailwind fee" in the industry, and it means it is dedicated to the goddess of wealth, wishing the messenger a safe journey back home. In fact, Rusalka scoffed at this. After all, the money went into the messenger's pocket, so there was no such thing as giving it to the goddess.

After deducting the 35 gold coins spent on the loss-making goods in the warehouse (the merchant Crown did not dare to accept the money for the last truckload of salt, and sent a truckload of good salt without sand directly to the Pearl Tears Mansion as a gift), the Pearl Tears made a net profit of 85 gold coins from this battle.

One gold coin can support a civilian's life for a year by purchasing supplies. If the person has his own output, such as farming, weaving cloth, making clothes and furniture, etc., the annual expenses will be about 5-6 silver coins.

For the Pearl Tear Territory with about 200 people, 85 gold coins is roughly the total tax revenue for a year. Adding the captured armor and weapons and the powerful crossbow in the warehouse, it can't be said to be a profit, but it can only be said to be a huge profit.

After sending off the envoy Alola, who was very satisfied and had a beaming face because he thought he would be rewarded by the lord for the gold coins, Rusalka couldn't wait to drag Sanita to the library. After asking the maid who was in charge of cleaning to go out, she took out the novel on the shelf at the door and turned to the page with the bookmark.

Of course, he was not there to read, but to ask when and where the next battle would take place. As for who he would fight against, there was no need to ask, because it would be against Luo Paling, and he would also play the role of a robber.

Sanitieta was a little helpless: "You just said in the private chat channel that risking your life is worth nothing? Fighting itself is a risk."

Rusalka: "Well, it doesn't matter if we don't fight. We have four sets of light infantry armor. Why don't we go to the villages in our territory and select a few villagers to convert to light infantry? It's a pity that you sold your warhorse, otherwise it would be hard to say what light cavalry we can do."

Sanitta: "That's because we can't raise good cavalry, and we don't have people who can take care of war horses. You're not a riding expert, so war horses can only be fed to waste in our territory.

"Also, are you sure you want to take four adult male laborers from a small village of 200 people? I tried to recruit that armed messenger before, but he refused, saying he had to rush back to catch the last wave of planting in the spring, otherwise his wife and children would have nothing to eat this year."

Rusalka: "Then why don't you just give him a salary of two gold coins a year? We have enough money to support his family."

Sanitieta: "You're stupid. He's made it very clear. He's not short of money, he's afraid of death. If he dies, what will happen to his family? Will you continue to support them? Based on your current credit score, although it's not low, it's not that high either. Even if you pat your chest and promise, he may not believe that you can take care of his affairs after his death.

The last time those people followed us to suppress the bandits, it was because you said you would personally take action, you promised them a salt price and you did it, and you had a temporary heroic aura.

Moreover, they have experienced being almost driven to death by the high price of salt, and they are furious with these robbers. In addition, they don't want the price of salt to rebound again, so they rely on the courage given by their large numbers and follow you to fight the bandits.

Now that the bandits are gone, salt prices have dropped completely, and the people are at peace, their survival no longer threatened. Who among these subjects, who have families and no emotional connection with you, would be willing to risk their lives with you? If you recruit servants, they'll naturally be eager to sign up, but recruiting guards... unless you issue a forced conscription order, which I advise you not to do."

Rusalka: "Then we recruit some people without families?"

Sani Tieta: "You dare to recruit someone without any weaknesses? Aren't you afraid that they'll take the bribe and cheat you and then move to the next door? Judging from the current situation, the Pearl Tear Territory is really not as well off as the neighbor next door."

Rusalka: "You bastard! I was laughing at you for making such a big promise that you could turn light cavalry into light infantry, but I didn't expect you couldn't even get light infantry."

Sanita: "I've inquired. The annual hiring fee for a regular 10-man mercenary team is about 80 gold coins, which includes everything including weapon maintenance. They can fight twice a year for free. If they suffer combat damage, that's reduced to one. Subsequent battles will be charged separately. If you want to experience the joy of leading an army in battle, give me a carriage and half a month, and I'll hire a reliable team for you from the Mercenary Association in Viscount City."

Rusalka gasped. "Huh? The hiring fee covers my annual taxes, and I can only fight twice a year? Is this really profitable? And what about the fact that it only changes once there's combat damage? I bought car insurance? I have to pay extra the following year after the accident?"

Sanita: "That's not true. They're hiring a regular mercenary squad for that price. Their strength is incomparable to those guards from last time. They bring their own equipment and coordination. At least they're all ruthless men who've seen blood and fought bravely, willing to risk their lives for money. They're definitely worth the price. Converted into DND levels, they're all around level 3."

Rusalka: "Then can I win?"

Sanita: "It's definitely not possible in a turn-based game, but in real life with your stats, it's possible. But if the opponent is battle-hardened, has good coordination, is fearless, and follows my lead, I can probably defeat your stats with 7-8 casualties."

Oh, no, it's not necessarily changed yet. Last time you said you could revive five of me, does that mean you chose the [Rapid Holy Healing], [Strong Holy Healing], and [Overflowing Holy Healing] talents? And Holy Healing now costs a bonus action + 1 point in your Holy Healing pool for 2 health points restored, doubling the Holy Healing pool's reserve?

Rusalka: "Haha, you guessed it all."

Sanitieta held his forehead and said, "Don't worry, you strong dog. As long as you don't stretch out your neck for them to chop off, they can't beat you.

The points in the Holy Healing Pool are five times the level, which means it is 20 points now, and 40 points including your talent, so the doubled healing is 80 points.

你的人物血量应该是当前等级的上限值，因为你肯定花了30点购买了那个【怪物体质】天赋，让你的成长生命骰子每次都拉满，配合【强健】专长每级额外+2血，和你20体质的+5成长修正，15+15+15+13+8=66点。

Congratulations, this does not include the 20 points spent on Constitution. The talent alone costs a whopping 100 points, which is a hellish construction that requires all my points added together. With the addition of Holy Healing, your health reaches the level of a standard level 14 card at level 4. As long as you are not killed instantly by Death Command or Disintegration, there are basically few people around here who can exchange blood with you and kill you.

I'm glad that your health is now low enough to disgust every one of our enemies, but I think after we travel back, you should stay away from my group, okay?"

Rusalka pointed a finger at Sani Tower, whose health was only (6+2) + 3x (4+2) = 26, and then got back to business: "I might as well go work for them. I recently checked my vault, and I only have 200 pure gold coins left. Counting these 120, we only have 320 gold coins in working capital. If we don't factor in taxes, hiring this team will bankrupt us in four years."

Sanitta: "Four years later, you're still at level 4.5? I can only say that our lives are too comfortable."

Rusalka: "So what you mean is that we hire them now to help level up, and then kick them out when they're no longer useful?"

Sanita: "That's not necessary. I have a plan. It's a carriage plus a month."

Rusalka: "Look at what you said, you make yourself sound like a ship girl on an expedition."

Sanita: "What are you thinking about? You have to follow along."

Rusalka: "Huh? I have to be a ship girl too?"

Sanitta didn't want to say another word to him, as he was afraid that his mental retardation might be contagious.

Chapter 14 Viscount Conesnutt

The carriage carried the two people slowly on the road to the nearest city, "Consnat City".

The city of Consenat is the ancestral city of the local Viscount Consenat family. Consenat is an inherited surname. Everyone who inherits the Viscount's name is called Viscount Consenat. The only difference is the number of generations. Very few people will call him by his real name.

The titles of nobility in this world are still the five Gong, Bo, Hou, Zi and Nan, but each level is vastly different.

A well-managed barony is at most 20-50 square kilometers, with a population of about 1000 people. At most, it is at the level of a small town, not to mention a city.

The territory owned by the Viscount is quite different. The area of ​​one city alone is several hundred square kilometers. Including the part outside the city, even if the territories distributed to the barons under his command like dog-skin plasters are deducted, the net area of ​​the territory is at least a city, which is about thousands of square kilometers.

And the rank above that is even greater. The land of five cities is called a marquis, the land of ten cities is called an earl, and there are three dukes in a country.

The Kingdom of Sinidi covers an area of ​​over one million square kilometers, with a total of 94 cities of various sizes. There are only 3 dukes, 6 earls, and 15 marquises in total, but the number of viscounts and barons is countless, which shows the differences in the kingdom's classes.

Therefore, petty quarrels like those between Rusalka and Lord Ropa would not be noticed by the inspectors sent by the Marquis' family. Even if Lord Zhulei wanted to report it, he could not cross the level to meet with people at the Marquis' level, even if the other party was just a subordinate.

Unless one is brave enough to not fear death and goes directly to the Marquis's house to block the door and complain, otherwise, if the local viscount does not intervene, there will be no justice in the conflicts between baronies.

Therefore, the Ropa family did not need to bribe the inspector specifically. They just needed to deal with the viscount and ask him to turn a blind eye and not report it.

It can also be said that Sanita had misjudged the kingdom's supervision of the civil war among the nobles.

The reason why he knew all this was because Sanitta had recently been cramming the contents and books on the theory of the kingdom's aristocratic system. After reading it, he hid the book high up in the bookcase, and silently prayed in his heart that Rusalka would not like to read.

Otherwise, if he knew, he would definitely urge himself to deal with the Viscount, hoping that one day he could pick up the sword and visit all the neighbors who had turned a blind eye to the difficulties of Pearl Tears Territory or even took advantage of their misfortunes.

But in fact, there is a limit to the extent to which the viscount cannot be asked to not report. No one wants the barons in their territory to fight for land and resources every day. They are obviously the aristocracy, but they always shout for war and killing. How can that be acceptable?

If the noise is too loud and he is caught by the inspector, it will not be a good thing for the Viscount.

Lord Luopa bullied Lord Zhulei and acquired the mining rights of the part of Lord Zhulei at a low price by relying on strategy and the name of relief funds. To put it nicely, this matter can be called a peaceful annexation. After all, it is guaranteed by a contract blessed by the gods. If there are enough benefits, the viscount can really ignore it without taking any risks.

But later, Zhu Lei Ling sent all the information about this incident, which was so bad in nature that the news even reached his city.

So the Viscount did investigate Lord Ropa very seriously and promptly, but he was not so ruthless in his investigation.

Why do you say that?

As soon as they entered the city and reported their identities, Rusalka and Sanitieta were politely invited to the Viscount's mansion by a welcoming team.

"Baron Rusalka, nice to meet you."

The current Viscount Consenat looked old, with gray hair on his temples and frosty beard, but he was full of energy, with eyes as sharp as an eagle and a slicked-back hair, looking like a big boss.

Rusalka gave Sanitta a look that said, "Look at my show!" Seeing the latter's visibly uneasy expression, she bowed to the Viscount and said, "Viscount Consenat, I've long admired you. It was my fault that I didn't come to visit you sooner."

He was very proud of showing off his recently acquired knowledge of aristocratic etiquette.

To be honest, Sanitieta himself felt it was incredible that Rusalka could enter the Viscount's mansion carrying a huge sword and shield. This thought continued until he saw the three guards standing beside the Viscount, forming a protective circle.

The three guards all looked like powerful characters. Although the weapons in their hands were not as exaggerated as Rusalka's, they were all holding equipment that looked very valuable.

On the right is an axe warrior wearing medium armor, behind him is an unarmored barbarian, and on the left is a heavily armored shield guard, who can raise the shield in his hand to protect at any time. If these three people are not just for decoration, such a configuration should be more than enough to deal with a serious knight.