What did you do with the dice?

Rusalka couldn't stand it when someone was more pretentious than him: "What's the matter? Have you never seen an elf in your life? Are elves rare?"

Sanita: (Indeed, ordinary elves won't leave the Elf Forest.)

After hearing her brother's reminder, Rusalka immediately continued her words: "Even if it is rare, my Pearl Tears Territory is vast and rich in resources. What rare treasures don't we have?"

Grand Duke Delai chuckled and said, "I've seen many elves, but elves that use the element of fire are indeed rare."

Alice, who indeed had a lot of fire elemental magic hidden in her magic circuit, was suddenly startled and stammered guiltily, "What fire element? I just feel the weather is cold..."

No, so why did you have to explain it to him? You're no longer a Ranger, so what's wrong with playing with fire? Why can't you just shout "I want to learn Fireball!" like you did in Silver City?

Sanitta was a little speechless, but he was very curious about how the Grand Duke could see the magical properties in Alice's magic circuit. After all, even a serious mage like him couldn't see through it. "Your Majesty, Grand Duke Delai can see through the magic circuit?"

This is more than just perspective. In a wizard duel, it's almost like knowing how many fingers the opponent has put out in advance in the first round of rock-paper-scissors. After all, in the process of preparing to cast a spell, there is a step to convert elemental attributes. In other words, once you can see the current elemental attributes of the opponent's magic circuit, you will know what the attribute of the opponent's next spell will be.

For someone like Alice who has already converted the fire element into the magic circuit, Sanitieta knew with his eyes closed that the next spell she was going to cast was the scorching ray.

Grand Duke Delai smiled faintly and asked noncommittally, "I remember that there weren't many people around Lord Pearltear who knew magic. I suppose you are the Grand Mage Sanitta?"

Sanitta: "He can't be called a great wizard, he's just a bard who knows a little bit about magic. In terms of strength, he's probably not as good as the one beside His Majesty the Grand Duke."

The young mage smiled and said, "You're too modest. I'm not yet at the level of a great mage. I'm quite interested in that top-level magic you cast earlier. Perhaps we can discuss it together sometime later?"

Sanita nodded and said, "Well, if I have time, I will definitely come and communicate with you."

The two elves looked at the human female mage with strange eyes. Their eyes moved back and forth between the Sani Tower next to them and the female mage, with an expression as if they wanted to say something but hesitated.

Rusalka couldn't stand it any longer. He knew the subtext of his brother's words was actually "Haha, no time, no coming," but his impatience couldn't stop him: (Classic mage business flattery segment, you guys chatting like this will never get anywhere, when are we going to eat? Phoenix's tail is almost strangling my legs.)

Fortunately, Marquis Dia probably shared Rusalka's thoughts. Before Grand Duke Delai turned his gaze to Esdi, he quickly said, "Everyone, this food won't taste good if it gets cold. How about we eat and talk at the same time? Good food paired with good advice can really bring us closer, right?"

"Okay." The cup in front of Ai Li was almost patinated by her hands, and she was the first to agree without hesitation.

Seeing that everyone nodded in affirmation, Marquis Dia announced the start of the dinner by raising his glass, and the table began to rotate slowly in a certain pattern to ensure that each dish could reach every guest at the table.

He briefly introduced the cuisine to everyone, "These are the specialties of our Sinidi royal family. There are a total of 108 dishes. Currently, 90 are served on the table, and the next 18 will be served on the tapas bar. The entire cuisine, starting with the cold dish "Dragon Eyes" and ending with "Peace and Prosperity", has always been our country's most impressive menu for banquets. However, my chef may not have such superb skills. If you think any dish tastes bad, please tell me and I will note it down for him to improve."

By the time he finished speaking, the two elves had already filled their plates. They were eating from their bowls while keeping an eye on the pot. Shana was relatively polite, just like Aerie, she was eating voraciously. Meanwhile, Ailijie was eating beside her and commenting, "This one tastes good, this one is a bit sour, and this one seems stale. This one is absolutely delicious, Lord Pearl Tear, when we get back, have our chef learn how to do this."

Rusalka was speechless. It was difficult for her to ask Phoenix to teach her a lesson at the dinner table. It wasn't because she was afraid of embarrassment, but because Phoenix was just as bad as her. She also took the whole braised fish from the plate and put it directly into her own bowl, leaving an empty plate with only sauce on it. The main message of the meal was "I am not a human being": (I told her long ago that she would not be allowed to be the lord.)

Sanita: (Alizee is like this, just think of her as a mirror.)

Rushakana was confused: (Why are she and I the same?)

Sanita: (You are now the Earth version of you. If you were the Elf version of you, it would probably be like this.)

Rusalka didn't believe it and thought her brother was just teasing her. Was she really that amazing?

It was definitely impossible to finish so many dishes, and everyone was full soon. The system in the lower right corner of Rusalka and Sanita also prompted that their satiety levels were full, and eating more would reduce their attributes. This system actually restored the sense of reality in such a shabby place. There was no way. Although they wanted to take a bite of every dish, considering that this negotiation might not be 100% safe, the two of them decided not to eat.

The two elves ate so much that they lay down on the backs of their chairs. It was obvious that they had eaten so much that their attributes had decreased as shown in the system prompt.

Phoenix has a bad habit of being a picky eater. On weekdays in Zhulei Territory, he will eat whatever is cooked. If he really doesn't want to eat something, he will cook it himself.

Now she had the choice. In this buffet that was like Chinese fast food, she only focused on eating the fish and meat, and soon she was full.

Ai Li, I really suspected that she was running two accounts and had two stomachs. When everyone was almost at the tea-drinking stage, she was still eating.

The first half of the dinner was over, and according to the rules, the most important second half was about to begin.

If you are invited to dinner by a nobleman, as long as the meal is not a simple meal, the important question is not what to eat, but what to say at the meal.

Grand Duke Delai spoke first, "The Church of the Seven Sins has recently gathered a number of demonic followers. They possess the ability to disguise themselves as other people and attacked our team on the road, causing heavy losses to my guards. I can't guarantee they won't lurk here and sabotage us, but I hope Marquis Dia will be more vigilant."

Marquis Dia's expression turned grim. He nodded and said solemnly, "No problem. I'll immediately arrange for personnel to strictly check the recent movement of people in the City Lord's Mansion. We will definitely not allow any demon believers to sneak in."

Rusalka said, "What if he has already sneaked in?"

Grand Duke Delai looked at Rusalka and said, "The one next to me is a demon warlock."

He thought Rusalka would show a look of surprise. After all, the old man from Esdi was looking at the woman he thought was a magician with a horrified expression as if he was facing a great enemy.

But what Grand Duke Delei didn't expect was that after Rusalka heard this, not only did he have an expression of "Oh, and then?", but even the people around him had expressions of curiosity rather than fear.

He simply thought that it was because the Pearl Tear Territory was located in the easternmost part of the kingdom, so it had not been exposed to the terrifying rumors of demons for too long.

Grand Duke Delai continued, "But please rest assured, power itself is neither good nor bad. It depends on the user. As a direct user of demonic power, she can sense it. Once a demon follower uses demonic power, she will be immediately aware of it. Therefore, there is no way a demon follower can sneak into my team."

What he meant was that he was worried about the City Lord's Mansion itself, or other people's teams.

Rusalka took the opportunity to activate her divine perception and indeed did not sense any other demonic creatures nearby except the sorceress. She then privately chatted with Sanitieta and said that there were probably no fake people mixed in at the dinner table.

Rusalka: "There is no way I have demon followers. I am a paladin. Such corrupted power cannot escape my holy light."

Seeing this, the sorceress opposite showed a hint of sarcasm in her eyes.

Yo, a combination of a squishy wizard and a demon dares to laugh at me? I guess you've only ever known how to eat in this life, and never tasted the authentic Holy Slash, right?

Rusalka, unwilling to be outdone, snorted in response. He then addressed the worried-looking Old Man Esdi and Marquis Dia, "Don't worry, everyone. It's just a mere demon follower. Even if it were a demon lord, I could still chop it down to pieces. A demon-like monster like that is unlucky to encounter me."

Of course, he was not trying to appease everyone, he just wanted to be sarcastic to the devil in front of him.

After hearing Rusalka's words, Marquis Dia's expression became a little more relaxed. After all, with such an invincible paladin by his side, he must feel very safe. The devil believers and the like did not sound so scary at all.

But the old man in Esdi was clearly a bit rigid. He waved his hand and said, "Hey, Great Knight Pearl Tear, you must not underestimate the enemy. Although the power of the Light God is very strong, demons are ultimately very terrifying creatures. They each have strange and difficult abilities. Even believers have inherited the power of their original bodies. If you really encounter one, you must be extremely careful and cautious. Don't underestimate the enemy in the slightest. Our history books of fighting demons in Esdi are filled with too many bloody lessons."

Because his tone was too sincere, this kind of sincerity that was like a killer move made Rusalka unable to bring up the argumentative words "Are you teaching me how to do things?", not to mention the black-haired cat next to her, Phoenix's sister Hydra also nodded. Rusalka always liked to listen to the cat's words, so she just took it as her words, and regarded it as the sister-in-law caring about her brother-in-law, which made her feel warm in her heart.

Rusalka was very excited: (I love both cats equally!!! If I could see them licking ice cream together, it would be worth it even if I died!!!)

Sanitta: (What are you talking about? Are you sure that woman is a demon? Not a believer?)

Rusalka: (I don't know, but the system shows the demon's location is where she's sitting. She must be a demon. She looks completely different from what I imagined. She's completely indistinguishable from a human, not even having a tail.)

Sanitieta felt that the system probably wouldn't lie: (That should be a disguise, right? By the way, can the demon's true form actually come to the main plane? Hmm, I'll research it when I get back.)

Chapter 197 Prelude to the Banquet (5)

Regarding the offensive and defensive alliance issue of Alice City, the following discussion on this part became somewhat official.

Rusalka's method of distinguishing officialization depends on "whether he finds it boring after listening to it", but this topic is indeed quite boring, and Grand Duke Derei's speech is not as good as Theresa's, in the literal sense of the word "good".

When faced with the views of Grand Duke Delei and the Esdi envoy on the situation and the upcoming battle, he let Sanita think for him on the PL channel, and he was only responsible for reading the script.

While everyone was focused on chatting, Phoenix secretly put some dishes into the lunch box she carried with her, intending to have it as a midnight snack. As for packing, Rusalka had always approved of her frugal lifestyle. If it wasn't her own stuff, she would always find a way to take some back with her - the same thing happened with the peanuts from Mingyue City before.

In fact, before coming here, Rusalka thought that the matter of cooperating to attack Alice City could be finalized in just one meal. It would be nothing more than a few sentences like "Want to cooperate?" "Okay." "How many divisions will you send?" "How much supplies will you provide?" Such conversations were finalized, and what kind of flowers could the top leaders come up with when they talked face to face?

The highlight he was waiting for was to see how Theresa planned to get rid of the Grand Duke in this situation - after all, she didn't even come in person.

But as the conversation went on, Grand Duke Delei brought up a lot of very detailed issues, such as Esdi's position after the war, and also asked Rusalka about her views on the restoration of the royal family.

When he asked this kind of question, it was obvious that he did not take the eldest prince Charens next to him seriously. It was like talking to other ministers about abolishing the emperor's system in front of the prince.

What did Rusalka think? Rusalka said on behalf of Sanitita that he didn't care who would be king. He only hoped that the kingdom would get better, that he himself would get better, and that the Zhulei family would be revitalized. This was a very standard Sinidi aristocratic speech.

Everyone should just ignore such meaningless words and not take them to heart. After all, if she didn't say these words, would Rusalka have said to her face, "Actually, I want to give Sneidi to Theresa, and you, old Deng, should have died long ago."

However, it was also fortunate that Charens himself did not care much about being king. All he wanted was to continue the efforts of the Mebius family, so even if this group of "rebels" divided the kingdom in front of him, he did not care much.

Or in other words, what he actually wanted was to allow the kingdom to develop healthily. As for himself, he would be more satisfied if he could live according to his own preferences. In Rusalka's view, this could be considered half a saint. The otherworldly version did not want to inherit the family business, but wanted to live a leisurely and comfortable life in seclusion.

But Tao Yuanming refused to bow down for a few grains of rice, choosing instead to return home with his hoe under the moonlight. That was a sign of noble character. You're the prince, so how can you just say you don't want to be a prince? Rusalka thought about it and decided to remove the saint label from his head and replace it with a more heaven-defying one.

When I think about it this way, it seems like there is no normal person around me. What’s going on?

Sanita said that this is the case of birds of a feather flock together.

Trash talk is a waste of time. Halfway through the dinner, it was getting dark, so Marquis Dia asked the servants to take several groups of people back to their rooms one after another, and agreed to discuss the follow-up at dinner time tomorrow.

Grand Duke Delei and his group lived on the 5th floor, Rusalka and her group lived on the 2nd floor, and I heard that Hydaelyn and her chose the 3rd floor, and they both rented the entire floor.

Everyone else went back to their rooms to rest. Sanitta wanted to read. Challens was more like a knight than the eldest prince. When he heard that there might be devil believers sneaking in, he said that he would stay in the room to protect the safety of the wizard Sanitta.

As for Aili, she went to visit the elves' room. The saying "three women make a drama" has the same meaning in the other world. After the two elves asked the servants to bring snacks and tea, they closed the door and opened a soundproof barrier. Rusalka guessed that they were chatting about gossip - and they didn't bring Phoenix with them. Even if others didn't say anything, this little bitch Aili was definitely saying bad things about her.

But he didn't intend to ruin their little tea party. After packing his luggage, he planned to take Phoenix to visit Hydra.

That's right, Phoenix hadn't even brought it up yet. It was Rusalka who took the initiative: Phoenix, a member of the Filin tribe with a lifespan of 700 years, had waited for her sister Hydra for 200 years, which was equivalent to humans keeping a promise for 30 years. Now this reunion had no drama at all. They met in the cafeteria and it was over after the meeting. Rusalka couldn't stand this plot.

If put into a comic, this scene is like when your xylophone was killed by a giant when you were a child, and you went to great lengths to seek revenge, only to find out that it was actually yourself who had traveled through time and space who killed xylophone. Regardless of the author's mental state, as a reader, Rusalka felt as if her tongue was locked by the fog of "justice" and she was as sad as Lao Ba's happy pit.

As a result, when he pulled Phoenix and opened the door, he found a black cat with its eyes closed standing at the door.

Okay, open the door again. Rusalka will never believe any high-sounding riddles again. Even in the magical world, such riddles still cannot escape the low-end and vulgar title party.

When the two cats met, their tails raised behind their backs were both stunned, and their synchronization rate was extremely high.

Although Hydra has her eyes closed, she should have some special way of perceiving the outside world. Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that her eyes are just very small, so small that they look like they are closed.

Anyway, Rusalka invited her into the room.

Before Hydra could speak, Rusalka immediately brought out the three respects: "Sister-in-law, please sit down." "Sister-in-law, please have some tea." "Sister-in-law, please have some peanuts."

His respectful attitude drew a questioning look from Phoenix, but Rusalka didn't care. This was a brand new black cat. Even if he insisted on the principle of pure love, then again, wasn't it normal to want to have a good relationship with his sister-in-law?

But his warm and enthusiastic words and actions were met with a cold response from Hydra's warm little mouth: "Who are you?"

It was a bolt from the blue. I'd just been talking for so long at the dinner table, and you hadn't even listened? Was this the saying, "The cruelest way to show you don't like someone is to completely ignore them"?

Today, my heart aches, today, my hands tremble.

But there was no other way. They had already been invited in and the peanuts were laid out. She couldn't just let her and her sister get out now. Moreover, Rusalka felt like she was the one who should get out. So she could only pinch her nose and introduce herself: "I... I am Rusalka, Lord of Pearl Tears, Phoenix's nominal spouse?"

"Rusalka..." Hydra frowned and pondered for a moment: "I have no impression at all."

No, sister, I was just having dinner with you in the restaurant. You're a cat, not a fish. Your memory shouldn't be limited to seven seconds, right?

But it must be said that although Hydra and Phoenix have exactly the same face, she has rich expressions that Phoenix does not have, which allows Rusalka to completely turn her into a darkened Phoenix. Coupled with the various expressions on her face, the feeling comes up all of a sudden. Even her indifferent attitude towards herself is forgiven by Rusalka because she is also very cute.

Rusalka's mind became active: (I have to find a way to make this girl laugh for me. Brother, do you have any funny jokes?)

Sunita: (Of course there is. When Phoenix pokes holes in your body, you can use yourself as a joke and say, "See, this is what it means to always smile.")

Rusalka was actually quite amused by the brother's teasing: (Haha, my favorite part about the jokes from hell. Your idiom reminds me of a certain president in history who had a very creative mind.)

As soon as Hydra sat down, he didn't eat the peanuts or drink the tea. Instead, he asked, "Why are you here?"

Rusalka replied, "I am the Lord of Pearl Tears. Your Great Saint Theresa of Esdi asked me to come to the meeting."

Hydra frowned again, his tone slightly impatient: "I didn't ask you."

Rusalka felt embarrassed and touched her nose. Okay, you sisters are reunited after a hundred years. I will just treat it as you opening up your absolute lesbian realm where anything that intrudes will be annihilated in an instant. I will just watch from the side and not say anything.

Phoenix was quite supportive of Rusalka and said, "I followed him."

Hydra tilted his head, as if thinking, and was silent for a long time before he spoke: "Is Pearl Tears the Marquisate family of Snidi?"

After she asked this question, no one answered for a long time - Phoenix didn't speak, and Rusalka didn't dare to speak.

Seeing that Hydra's brow was about to frown again, Rusalka said tentatively, "I think I am."

He was also a little nervous. "Our Pearl Tear Territory is already a marquisate. Marrying your sister should be considered a good match, right?" "Don't worry about whether my title of marquis is legitimate or not. Anyway, I definitely have the land area."

"It's completely different." Unexpectedly, after hearing Rusalka's answer, Hydra's brows furrowed even tighter, and he muttered to himself, "The future has changed."

This time, before Rusalka could speak, Phoenix took the initiative to speak: "Sister, two hundred years have passed, are you still struggling with this?"

Hydra did not respond, but said to Phoenix: "Sister, you go out first and leave this Lord of Pearl Tears alone."

Phoenix's tail slanted: "No."

Rusalka was startled by the decisive tone of Phoenix's voice. Hydra was stunned on the spot. After a while, he whispered, "I don't mean anything else. I just want to see what he looks like."

I always feel that Phoenix's eyes have become sharper.

Rusalka was curious: "Then why did you send Phoenix away? You can watch it now."

Hydra: "My eyes are cursed by the devil. I dare not use them to look at my sister."

Rusalka: (No, sister, so it doesn't matter if you look at me, right? My life as a mermaid like Rusalka is no longer a life? This is too hurtful. Brother, I don't want her to laugh now, I want to see her cry. Can you find a way to treat her to the Holy Slash so that she can sort out her thoughts on her speech?)

Sanita: (Don't worry, with your resistance, even Medusa can't do anything to you. It won't hurt if you let her take a look.)

Rusalka: "Then Phoenix, you can go out for a while. You don't have to close the door."

Phoenix hesitated for a moment, then finally stood up, walked out of the room, and closed the door.

After she left, Hydra slowly opened her eyes.

Those were a pair of light ruby ​​eyes, very beautiful. If three black magatama were added to the outer outline and they kept spinning while she shouted Amaterasu, Rusalka would definitely be envious.

As soon as Hydra opened her eyes, her entire face came alive. Why else would one say the eyes are the finishing touch? If before, she was just the expressive Phoenix, now, with her eyes open, her ears twitching, her tail wagging, her brows furrowed, it was like an electric current, rippling into Rusalka's heart.

If Phoenix had this kind of expression system, Rusalka would have died without regrets.