Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

This is a very personal statement, because Raslaufer, at the forefront, would never follow such absurd rules. Priests blocking the way must be killed, elite warriors and civilian fighters must be killed, and even the slave troops relegated to the sidelines as mere background figures must be killed!

That's what makes it healthy!

Raslaufer bent over, a muffled rumble emanating from his chest. With the wrestling gaining the upper hand, he shoved a minotaur into the nearby ruins, smashing down another broken wall. He stood up, casually picking up the giant club the other had just swung, and looked around. Suddenly, he caught sight of a small, inconspicuous battlefield.

Two dark elf warriors were attacking another priest under the command of one priest. It looked like a fight between dark elves, but Raslaufer felt that the priest being attacked looked somewhat familiar.

The one who applied the medicine to herself? Was it her?

"Old Lei! Over here!" A disgusting cloud of yellowish-brown gas spread through the streets, forcing back nearly 90% of the surrounding dark elves. Daisy, who was casting the spell, couldn't stand the power of the stinky cloud spell herself and shouted towards Leislaufer while pinching her nose.

However, Raslaw waved to her and turned to rush towards the small battlefield.

"What is he trying to do?!" Glip exclaimed in shock. "This is not the time for a hero to save the damsel in distress!"

Unlike humans on the surface, underground dwarves have a slight advantage in recognizing dark elves. He recognized that the priest being besieged was none other than Vanzerin.

"It's a miracle he didn't kill all four of them!" Daisy turned around helplessly, waving her hand to signal everyone to quickly hold their breath and pass through the area covered by the Stink Cloud spell. "Let's go! We might not feel comfortable, but staying alive is the priority right now!"

The Stinking Cloud spell isn't a deadly one, and even if Sylvia is in terrible condition right now, she shouldn't die inside. This is the most suitable way Daisy can think of to clear the way.

"That--"

"Never mind him, he won't die even if we all die at the city gates! Take care of yourselves first!"

Meanwhile, the priest, who was still casting spells to harass from behind and directing the two men to fight in close combat, heard a faint sound of wind and thunder behind her head. When she turned her head, she saw something thick, long, black and straight rushing toward her face—no, her face was a feint!

This was aimed at the top of her head!

Before the half-magic shield could even take shape, Raslaufer's club struck her on the head, and her head, which had shrunk by three-tenths, burrowed straight into the cavity. Even if the minotaur from before were to regenerate, he wouldn't be able to pull it out.

Amidst the combined attack of the two warriors, the already heavily wounded Vanzelin gritted her teeth and tried to fight back, only to be struck again in the calf by a sword. Unlike the male dark elves, who rely solely on their talents in spellcasting and martial arts, along with their appearance and "bedroom skills," the female dark elves have much more to learn, thus inevitably being slightly weaker in martial arts.

But her rescuers could make up for that perfectly.

"Zaknavan?!" In the blink of an eye, two headless corpses lay dead by the roadside. Vanzelin stared blankly at Raslaufer, who had already stopped, her heart filled with mixed emotions. "What are you doing? Where are you going?"

But the man opposite her didn't answer her. He shrugged and turned to leave.

"We can't let him leave!" Madam Brar's roar was like a thunderclap from the horizon. "Vanzelin, do it!"

The mistress's order was not entirely unreasonable. Although her daughter was seriously injured, she could at least buy some time by squeezing out her potential or anything else when dealing with a man.

At this moment, the two matriarchs of the families who were opposing Madam Brar were already at a disadvantage. In just a few seconds, she could free up her hands and forcibly detain Raslaufer. And as long as this man was in her hands, wouldn't Sylvia and the other prisoners be easy to capture?

However, her daughter gritted her teeth, looked at Raslaufer's back, bent down, and raised a crossbow strapped to the arm of a corpse with her right hand. Just when she seemed to be about to succeed, the young priest suddenly twisted his ankle, and with a twang of the bowstring, the crossbow bolt shot into the air. Vanzelin herself fell to the ground and fainted, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.

Leslaufer didn't turn around, but he quickened his pace and sighed.

If she really survives, we might have to spare her life later—that's a real hassle.

Unfortunately, this was a last resort. After witnessing the power of those matriarchs, not leaving behind this ready-made "nail" would be tantamount to making things difficult for themselves.

Chapter 516 Internal Torture

"Mother……"

I don't know how many times, but when Van Zelin woke up again, another blow from the baton slammed into her back, almost knocking her unconscious again.

“You should call her Madam,” Madam Brar coldly lowered her raised hand, gesturing for her other daughter to step forward and drench Vanzerin from head to toe with a basin of ice water. “Do you know where you went wrong?”

"Yes, yes..." Blood flowed between her trembling teeth, and Van Zelin felt every muscle in her body twitching, pulling at the wounds that were everywhere. "I'm sorry, Madam, I apologize for my offense."

"anything else?"

"I...I shouldn't have twisted my ankle, causing my arrow to..."

The whip cracked through the air with a loud bang, followed by the whooshing sound of the cleavers. The dark elf under these instruments of torture had long since lost the strength to shout or beg for mercy.

“Treat her,” Madam Brar snorted as she watched the head droop again, and instructed her other two daughters, “The envoy from the Larambas family has just arrived. I’ll go and hold her back for a while, and you two treat her.”

"By the way, remember to 'give her a piece of your mind,' hmph!"

The matriarch turned and left, the heavy temple doors closing behind her with the surge of magic, obscuring the radiant light of the healing spells within. Vanzelin's two older sisters put down their whips and shackles, and after splashing Vanzelin with ice water to reawaken her, began treating her.

This treatment is not just for the physical body.

“Little sister,” Fan Zelin vaguely heard her elder sister’s voice, “you did something wrong.”

“If you want to hide something from the mistress, you have to do it well enough, otherwise it will end up like this—you’re being too perfunctory. Besides, you shouldn’t have wronged yourself for some random outsider; he’s just a man.”

“I told you,” Van Zelin gave a wry smile, “I was seriously injured at the time, and I twisted my ankle, which caused the crossbow's trajectory to veer to the left…”

“Don’t be silly, poor and foolish Vanzelin,” the elder sister sneered. “There’s no injury on your ankle at all. If I were you, I would find a better excuse.”

At this moment, the second daughter of the Mara family raised her hand and interrupted her sister: "Don't be so absolute, darling. She was already thinking faster than you were at that age when she was twenty."

"You're talking nonsense! When have you ever seen me when I was twenty? I raised you! I watched you crawl out of your mother's womb with my own eyes!"

The matriarchs of the Dark Elves are often too busy to care for their offspring, so they usually appoint one of their children to act as a mother. In this case, the eldest sister of the Mara family is the foster mother of her second sister, and similarly, Vanzelin's guardian is her second sister.

“When I was twenty, you weren’t as quick-witted as me,” the dark elf put down the basin of water still filled with ice and squatted down in front of Vanzelin. “Little sister, you should know that I’m on your side, right?”

Guardianship among female dark elves is not particularly strict. If Vanzelin were a man, her sister would probably take advantage of the break to give her another beating right now.

Van Zelin nodded with difficulty.

“Very good. Although the eldest sister is a bit of a fool, what she said just now wasn’t entirely wrong. You should learn to be smarter. But you’re still young, so there’s no rush. The most important thing now is to appease the mistress. Even though it’s the two of us who are punishing you here, we’re also the ones who are suffering with you. Think about yourself, and think about us too.”

The eldest sister, standing to the side, slowly shivered. Unlike her two younger sisters, she had been beaten by her own mother with a whip and a sash. Of the three sisters, she felt the fury of the mistress of Blar the most.

The second child should also have some understanding, because when she was little, her older sister transferred all her "motherly love" to her.

Now she can hold back about 70-80% of her strength, enough to inflict pain and satisfy the mistress, but not enough to seriously injure someone.

Perhaps the atmosphere in the Mara family will improve when she becomes the matriarch, but that will be hundreds of years from now.

“I’m sorry,” Van Zelin sighed. “I will confess to the mistress later. I may get a beating or two, but I hope that’s all.”

Her childhood guardian breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good that you think this way, Lin. If the mistress is still angry, we will plead for you."

“Don’t drag me into this,” the elder sister said, arms crossed, looking down coldly at her two younger sisters. “This is the punishment she deserves—you were too obedient when you were little, and now it’s time to make up for it.”

"Say less!" The second sister suddenly raised her voice, startling her older sister. Then, her voice calmed down again. "You can, can't you? Otherwise, I'll have to plead for you two."

"Those things you did back then are still being prepared, right?"

Fan Zelin looked up in confusion. She saw her elder sister's eyes twitching slightly. She was about to explode—but what had she prepared?

“There’s no point in saying more. You’re an adult now,” the second sister stood up. “By the way, a daughter from the Larembass family came earlier, specifically asking to see you. It must be for the same reason—remember what your eldest sister taught you: be smart, understand?”

"If you can avoid bringing shame to the family, the matriarch's anger should subside a little."

Family members want to know everything, but there's no need to reveal everything to outsiders. Even Madam Blair will support her daughter's story later.

A moment later, Marise in the reception room looked up and saw Van Zelin being helped out by her two older sisters.

“The injuries are quite severe,” Maris was an expert and could easily tell which marks on the body were from battle and which were from torture and punishment. “Priestess Vanzerin, I have just told the mistress my purpose. May I ask you a few questions?”

“If you’re asking about that man…” Vanzelin looked at the matriarch, and after obtaining Brar’s consent, repeated her previous statement, polished and revised, “It’s a pity I couldn’t capture him, but doesn’t the Larembass family bear any responsibility for this? Your barrier was torn apart so easily—”

“Oh, stop, stop for a moment,” Maris stood up, raising her arms out to shoulder height to indicate that she had no intention of interrogating anyone. “Let the matriarchs continue to discuss this matter. Although we won this battle and gained a lot, we also suffered considerable losses. I have no right to interfere in these matters, and even if I were to force my way in, you, Madam Brar, would certainly not be pleased.”

Seeing that the mistress, who was originally preparing to take advantage of the situation, had been temporarily appeased, Maris quickly pressed her advantage: "Vanzelin, I came here this time to ask you about other things."

"I heard that guy was poisoned and suffered serious injuries here. Did you bandage and treat him?"

“That’s right.” Fan Zelin nodded. There was no way to hide it, and she couldn’t see any reason why it was necessary.

“Hmm…then you must have observed him from head to toe, down to every detail. Tell me, is there anything unusual about him?” Marise narrowed her eyes, staring intently at Vanzelin. “This is my own personal question. There are some suspicious points that I would like to verify with you.”

"If your conclusion can corroborate my point of view..."

“No,” Vanzelin raised her head and looked directly into Marise’s eyes. “Absolutely not, Marise, that’s my answer to you.”

"After what you did to Sylvia, do you think there's anything commendable about your promises anymore?"

Chapter 517 But then again

"In short! We all managed to escape back in the end! And we turned Qiu Licheng upside down!"

Two days later, with Miss Daisy's embellished account, the two groups finally reunited. If Angelita hadn't rushed headlong into Raslaufer's arms, the poet felt she shouldn't have needed to draw such a hasty conclusion.

“Uncle Leslaufer!” Angelita refused to let go. “What happened inside the city? We can hear that huge explosion even from here! And several huge dark elf projections are attacking each other!”

“You’ve summed it up perfectly, Anne,” Leslaufer said with a smile, pushing the girl away. In the light, the dark elf features on his body faded away as he wished. “In short, they’ve had an internal conflict, which should keep them busy for a while.”

For mercenaries like Raslaufer, the battle ends after looting the spoils and accumulating merit. It's probably similar for the mistresses, except they'll want even more, so the battle will naturally end much slower.

This will buy them some time so that the gap in preparation between the two sides is not too large.

“I’m so glad you’re all reunited,” Halewin said, hands on his hips, nodding to the visitors from the surface. Although Raslaufer had shed her dark elf form, he could still understand her. “To be honest, we weren’t much of a help in there. In fact, we were a huge hindrance.”

If it were just Leslaufer on his own, they should have been able to escape more easily after rescuing Daisy.

“That’s too modest,” Dople hugged her and Glip respectively—the hug with the latter was a bit difficult, it looked like he was hugging a big dog. “Without you, I wouldn’t even be able to find my way, let alone get into town.”

What are your plans next?

“I should be asking you that,” Glip said, struggling to break free from Raslaufer’s embrace. “Is there going to be another war around here soon? I think we should get away from this area, the farther the better.”

"Or, could we move closer?" Daisy quickly invited. "Come on! I can tell you're all very capable! If you could join us, the benefits would be huge!"

“What’s with that accent?” Mary rolled her eyes at her with a hint of disdain. “Lord Raslaufer lost my sword. As always, I’ll just keep yours for now.”

Daisy turned her head, her intense gaze making Mary feel flustered. Mary turned away, blushing slightly in the shadows. "And, welcome back—to be honest, I think you've gained weight?"

“Mary!” the bard exclaimed, lunging forward. “Would it kill you to say a few nice words to me?! I’ve only eaten five meals there!”

“She seems to get along well anywhere, and she can still eat her fill,” Bella said with a smile, watching her two playful companions. “Honestly, I was all set to fight alongside you, but Leslaufer, your sudden transformation made it impossible for me to revert to my original form—otherwise, you would have been too ‘unrestrained’.”

Daisy, as a newly freed prisoner, was still acceptable to the dark elves, but if the druids reappeared, those guys would definitely become even more insane.

"His-"

Suddenly, a strange howl rang out in the dim light in the distance. Everyone turned to look and saw a huge spider-like monster lying on the rock wall not far away, its eyes staring longingly at Leslaufer.

It's that Soul-Eating Spider.

“Oh, I forgot about it—it’s amazing it survived,” Leslaufer beckoned to the creature, but it didn’t move, only continuing to roar intermittently. “What’s wrong with it? Why isn’t it coming over?”

This guy doesn't seem like the kind of creature that's shy around strangers.

"The light here is too strong, it's obvious."

A slightly hoarse female voice came from behind Leslaufer. Turning his head, he saw that Sylvia had already woken up under the care of several priests. She was covering her head and still looked a little dizzy. "Rose... I feel like I went through the Deep Pit Magic Network."

“No, I just walked around there.” Dubler shrugged.

Sylvia: "Huh?"

Having just recovered somewhat and still not used to thinking too much, the priest quickly gave up on getting to the bottom of things: "The Soul-Eating Spider is just like us, afraid of strong light. Let it stay there; it's a scout after all—my three henchmen are all dead."

“Marias, that bitch ambushed us. When I woke up, I was already captured. But it seems you have defeated them.” Sylvia looked around, roughly counted the number of people, and had a general idea of ​​the situation. “Thanks to the Queen’s protection, I didn’t tell them a word, but I’m afraid that Matriarch Larembas still has some suspicions or doubts. We need to act quickly. If we can meet with the allies of the Pirnain family, even if they try the same trick again, it won’t be so easy.”

"So it's the Pirnain family!" Halewin raised an eyebrow. "I see. In that case, a lot of things make sense..."

“But I advise you not to say anything,” Sylvia said, looking at the man who believed in Elise rather than Rose. “It would be best if none of you left. Some information must not be leaked.”

Every family has its rivals, and if the matriarchs of Qiuli City, whose battles are not yet over, hear about this, their reinforcements may be tied up, which would be a very bad situation.

“Sylvia, you have no right to tie our legs,” Halewin frowned immediately. “An eye for an eye, we’re even now, it’s none of your business where we go!”

Recently, the Evans family has been making a fortune with their rare goods from the surface world, which has naturally impacted the business of Griffin and Halewin's caravans. It's completely impossible to expect her to be nice to Sylvia, let alone let her be manipulated.

However, Sylvia didn't intend to make the other party obey on her own. She had just regained some consciousness and had heard part of the story.

“I really can’t control it, after all, you did save my life,” her crimson eyes gleamed under the restored daylight spell, “but regardless, you yourself admitted that your role in the previous operation was insignificant, so…”

"And you should think carefully about how you got out."

Halewin and Glip both stiffened at the same time. They turned to look. Although Raslauver was not prepared to make a move, they knew very well that he didn't need any preparation to make a move!

"While I certainly won't let you, Sylvia, control me, then again—"

Chapter 518 Going Down the River

The Stone Shield Chamber of Commerce will never bow to threats.

But helping a friend is another matter.

Fortunately, the Mara family had at least taken stock of the goods, so although the trip was quite unsuccessful, it was better than a wasted trip. Moreover, with their help today, they might even be able to gain some benefits from the trade between the surface and underground in the near future.