What did you do with the dice?

Rusalka: (Huh? I really can't guess that. Please elaborate.)

Sanita: (Although we don't have the troops and manpower to take over this place, we can entrust the territory of Ropa to others, which will also distract the Viscount's attention.)

Rusalka was surprised: (Trusteeship? Are you thinking...?)

Sanita interrupted him and said directly and affirmatively: (Yes, if you count the date, it’s tonight, right? That’s why I said it long ago, I have arranged everything.)

Rusalka thought he was truly horrible.

An absolutely sane madman.

Too reliable. This world should have some antisocial personality. Being a bard is a waste of your talent. You are the real sorcerer.

Chapter 32 Secret

There was no massacre as imagined. Ropa Ryan cooperated very well and completed all the procedures and signed the contract.

Perhaps this is the elegance and composure of the nobility. When it comes to the curtain call scene, he will cooperate perfectly with the performance and not let the stage be ruined by filthy blood and corpses.

Of course, he had his reasons for doing so. His sense of mission and the approaching deadline made him put life and death aside. His last wish was to kill Rusalka and lead his family to victory in this long-standing family feud.

Originally, when all the assassins were wiped out, he had already felt that there was little hope for this matter, but he did not expect that Rusalka would dare to break the rules of the nobles and yet give up killing out of kindness.

Viscount Consent would naturally not sit idly by and watch this matter, even if Rusalka did not kill anyone. A person who dared to openly disobey the Viscount's orders would never be allowed to exist. From now on, he would have to oppose Viscount Consent.

Ropa Ryan did not think that a viscount would lose to a mere baron. As long as his heir was alive, Rusalka would eventually be defeated in the struggle. He would only be a lord for a few days, and Ropa County would eventually return to the hands of the Ropa family.

This contract is certainly valid, but the prerequisite is that Rukasa does not die or give up the inheritance. Otherwise, the contract will not take effect because the conditions are not met.

With this in mind, Ropa Ryan would of course meet all of Rukasha's requirements.

As for the secret, during today's final lunch, he had already realized that after the death of his third son, the Ropa family might not be able to continue to prosper in the next generation. Dependent on the Viscount as an obedient dog was like a corpse left to dry in the wilderness.

In this case, instead of letting these two foolish sons fall into delusion after being exposed to the secret, and eventually bring disaster and self-destruction, it is better to hand this hot potato to Rukasha. Perhaps at the end of her life, she can even witness the expression of despair and self-doubt on the face of her mortal enemy. That would be a great deal.

If the Ropa family can continue, then let this secret go to hell with my death.

After watching the crying people get on the carriage and leave, he ordered the butler, who had belatedly discovered the corpse and hurriedly brought the guards to help, to take all the servants and guards out of the villa.

"Ahem, ahem! In the name of Lord Ropa, I order you to withdraw. What? Do you want to disobey the orders of me, the head of the family? If you really want to, then escort the others to Viscount Conesnat."

Having said this, the loyal butler could only bid his final farewell to the resolute old master. He wiped away his tears, found a carriage, and took his guards to chase after the other members of the Ropa family who had left.

The sentimental words of life and death and the deep love between master and servant certainly could not move Rusalka and Sanitta. Everything was too smooth, which made them curious about the hidden tricks of the head of the Ropa family.

Could it be the kind of magic that can blow the entire Ropa County up into the sky once activated?

Rukasha's guess scared Sanitta, but he felt that no one would create such an uncontrollable thing in their own home. After all, Lord Ropa was not a wizard, and his third son did not seem to be experienced enough to be so confident that the whole family could live on a nuclear warhead magic.

At this moment, under the afterglow of the setting sun, Ropa Ryan was the only one left in the huge manor.

He was like a lonely hero in his twilight years. After making arrangements for his affairs after his death, he led the two bandits slowly towards the secret place of his family, which was also his burial place - a dilapidated warehouse.

This made Rusalka and Sanitta, who had thought they had come to some secret underground treasure house, a little confused. Looking at the place full of old pots and pans, and even a few sets of servants' worn-out clothes stacked cluttered on the shelves, the place was covered with dust and filled with worthless debris, they could not imagine what secrets could be hidden here.

After all, anyone can come in here, and even many servants use it as a lounge or storage room. If there are any treasures or secrets here, wouldn't they have discovered them long ago?

Lord Ropa slowly moved several bamboo baskets away, revealing a heavy black coffin underneath.

Rusalka said in surprise, "You even prepared a coffin for yourself?"

Lord Ropa chuckled and said, "Of course this is not my coffin. Well, the secret that my grandfather and father have been hiding is in this coffin."

Sanitta and Rusalka looked at each other and nodded. To be on the safe side, Sanitta summoned a wizard's hand to open the coffin lid.

Lord Ropa was slightly stunned when he saw the dark blue, translucent mage's hand. He looked at Sanitieta and said, "You are actually a mage?"

After he finished speaking, he sighed in self-mockery and said to himself, "Is that so? So that's how it is. Then Leno didn't lose unfairly."

Ignoring his self-pity, Sanitta controlled the wizard's hand and slowly pushed open the lid of the coffin. Rusalka also drew out his greatsword and held it behind Lord Ropa. If he made any movement, his head and body would be separated.

The two men looked into the coffin warily. There were no mechanisms or traps inside. There was only something that should have been in the coffin: a skeleton.

In addition to the skeleton, there was a piece of black broken wood on the side. Sani Tieta recognized this thing as black bone wood. The name sounds mysterious, but it is actually just a piece of wood used to repel insects and protect bones. It is the most common wood in coffins.

Rusalka saw a piece of paper under the block of wood and reached out to pick it up.

The paper was very small and had already turned yellow. Judging from the tooth marks on the edge, it seemed to have been torn from a diary.

There was only one sentence written on it: Lord Pearl Tear once bought a homeless Filin from a slave trader and trained her to be a maid and kept her by his side. He was really lucky. After all, even in the big cities of the kingdom, such top-quality alien slaves could only be found occasionally.

Um, is this Phoenix's origin story? Or is it a fragment?

Rusalka looked at Sanita who was lost in thought, then turned to question Ropaline who seemed to be joking with him: "Is this the secret? Are you kidding me..."

He was stunned and stopped talking halfway through.

Because he saw Ropaline slowly fall down, with bloodstains on his neck clearly visible. After his body fell to the ground and splashed some dust, there was no sound.

Rusalka: (Brother, this is...)

Sanita tutted, slowly pushed himself into a small corner, and looked around warily: (Dude, I'm afraid we're in big trouble this time. This is not part of the plan. To put it bluntly, we shouldn't have read this secret that I already suspected.)

Rusalka: (Huh? What?)

Sani Tieta: (Didn’t you look carefully? This skeleton has a tailbone, on your right!)

Rusalka turned around quickly, and the shield on his back, which had not yet been drawn, made a metallic scratching sound. He turned around again and saw a familiar little cat girl holding a dagger, looking at him with her golden eyes.

Rusalka sighed and said to the cat girl in front of her, "Phoenix, I know you were slacking off at work, but I didn't expect you to come out with us. You're truanting, you know? I'm going to dock your salary."

This time, Sanita didn't immediately flee the small battlefield. Instead, he moved a little closer to Rusalka and privately chatted: (This skeleton belongs to the real cat maid that Phoenix killed.)

Rusalka dared to say that this secret was the first piece of information that broke his defenses since he traveled through time, and it was also the first time he felt negative emotions in his heart since traveling through time: (What?! Could it be that my invincible and adorable cat maid is a human in disguise? I can’t stand it, rnm, give me back!)

Sunita: (Uh, so she must be a cat person too.)

Rusalka was instantly relieved: (That’s fine, I won’t refund the money.)

Sanita: (Very scary, bro, I think she wants to kill you.)

Rusalka: (It’s normal. In most works, there will be a scene where the heroine appears and chases the hero. Look at me using my mouth to make her…)

It happened in a flash. Phoenix's move was as fast as lightning. With a swipe of his arms, two flying knives instantly came to Rukasha's face, directly piercing his throat before he could react, and then fell to the ground with a clang.

20 blood!

These two small throwing knives actually dealt damage as powerful as a powerful crossbow, which frightened Rukasa so much that he had to take it seriously. However, just as he raised his weapon, Phoenix's figure slowly retreated into the shadows on the side, and soon became blurred and disappeared.

Rusalka: (What should we do? She seems to have absolutely no desire to communicate with us.)

Sanita frowned: (Don't worry, try to hold her back first, let me think about it.)

Just as Rukasha was about to agree and a bunch of garbage words popped up in her head, Phoenix attacked again. This time, her figure appeared beside Sanitta, and the dagger in her hand slashed towards Sanitta's neck.

Damn, the flying knife does 20 points of damage. I don’t know if I can withstand this attack.

Take a gamble!

"Mage armor, false life, human immobilization!" Sanita used three different spells almost in an instant, and shining magic ripples appeared on his body.

The moment the light of the human immobilization spell came upon Phoenix, her figure became blurred for a moment, as if she had some kind of immunity to the control spell.

When Sanitita was about to grit his teeth and use the mage armor and the shield given by the false life to gamble whether he could withstand the blow, Rusalka's figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

The dagger was stuck in the throat and was held tightly, but Rukasha raised her hand without hesitation and slashed Phoenix with a sword.

The shadow barrier that appeared on Phoenix's body also blocked the greatsword's attack for her. The next second, a sacred and blazing light burst out from the sword, knocking her away heavily.

This is not over yet. Rusalka's figure flashed again in front of Phoenix, who had already disappeared into the shadows in mid-air. The sword in her hand ignited with golden light, and she slashed down with all her strength again.

This blow, which seemed to be hitting the air, actually hit a real object.

This is the [Multi-Dimensional Strike] talent that Rusalka possesses. As long as the target is in the same spatial grid, no matter what means or which plane the target evades, his attack will hit the target. At that time, this talent was specifically used to deal with the unlucky mage units that used "Flash".

The effect of Flash is very powerful. At the end of each round, as long as the points rolled are greater than 13, you can flash to another dimension and be considered as unattackable in that round. You can get a round of output for free, which makes most warrior professions call you a rip-off.

Similarly, no matter whether you run to another dimension or hide in the shadows, as long as your main body disappears in this space grid, Rusalka's physical attack can hit you.

With a loud bang, the shadows around Phoenix completely shattered. However, she seemed to have activated some ability the moment she fell to the ground, and her body turned into countless black lines and dispersed.

Ink-black lines gathered from all directions and condensed into a shadow, and Phoenix slowly walked out of the shadow.

She spat a mouthful of blood foam lightly to the side, raised her arm and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with the sleeve of her white maid uniform that was still intact. Her two golden eyes stared at the giant sword in Rusalka's hand, then she slowly raised the two daggers in her hands and took a ready stance.

Rusalka didn't know how serious her injuries were, but the last guy who had been hit by two consecutive Holy Slashes was probably in hell to meet his demon master.

I have recently upgraded, and the power of the Holy Slash has been enhanced. Moreover, judging from the data on paper, my Radiant Damage ignores all resistances. In other words, if Phoenix's vitality is converted into "blood volume", it is at least much more than that of the Chamber of Commerce's trump card fighter.

However, Rushaka is out of rings now. This is the bad thing about the damn card-pinching system. Although all spells are instant and unconditional with no consumption, there is a limit on the number of times they can be used during each rest interval. Just now, in order to save Sanita and pursue, and to ensure a fatal blow, she used up her second ring by using the Holy Slash to upgrade the ring.

Now that I no longer have the cheating ability of teleportation, can I protect the fragile Sani Tower while defeating Phoenix, who seems to still be able to fight?

Just as Rusalka was about to make a desperate stand, Sanitta suddenly spoke up, "The gods are no longer watching us, Phoenix. What reason do you have to fight now? The kingdom is now falling apart. Instead of dwelling on the past and being bound by memories, why not join us in creating a new era for ourselves?"

After Sanita's speech, which made Rukasa's feet tap their toes and sound extremely immature, Phoenix's eyes actually showed a hint of confusion. She slowly lowered her hands holding the dagger and replied in her usual indifferent tone, "Who are you? Do you know me?"

"I used to be like you, a servant of the gods." Sanitieta swallowed imperceptibly, took a deep breath, and said, "Fortunately, Lord Joy and Lady Shadow have a good relationship, which reminded me of your identity."

Phoenix's tone still contained a hint of doubt: "Impossible, the followers of the Goddess of Pleasure are all human."

Sanita: "I have inherited the legacy of the gods, just like you."

After hearing what Sanitta said, Phoenix finally put down the dagger in her hand. She looked at Rusalka and asked, "Is he also a believer of joy?"

Sanita: "No, he is my best friend, an ordinary human being."

Phoenix: "Aren't you afraid that he will betray you?"

Sanitta: "As you can see, he is a white knight among the paladins. That's why I dare to recognize you here."

Phoenix nodded after hearing this, as if acknowledging Rusalka's existence.

Huh? You believe me now? Is the Paladin's reputation that impressive?

Rusalka felt that if she couldn't make it as a noble in the kingdom in the future, she might be able to go beg somewhere else, and her business would definitely be good.

I, the Paladin, make money.

Chapter 33 Red Boss

Rusalka now knows that when people are in a survival crisis, they probably don't have the mood to joke or tremble.

Just like the moment they fought just now, all he could think about was how to deal the most damage, how to kill the boss in front of him, Phoenix, in the shortest time possible, and if he couldn't kill her, what trump card he should use to escape unscathed.

Although he was completely confused and had no idea what was going on, at least everyone had shaken hands and made peace, and they returned to the Pearl Tears Territory together in a small carriage full of friendship.

Everyone was clearly trying to kill each other just a second ago, but now they were sitting together in the carriage. Rusalka even took a cloth sprayed with alcohol and wrapped it around Phoenix's abdomen, which was bleeding from the burnt wound, as a simple treatment.

While smelling the wonderful mixture of blood and body fragrance, he rubbed Phoenix's soft and delicate belly skin, and the pair of cute pointed ears that would unconsciously tremble slightly when in pain. They were almost touching his nose, and together with the soft long tail behind it, they looked so within reach.

Normally, I don't say a few words to Phoenix and keep a distance of 2 meters away. But now, after the life-and-death battle between the two sides, I can enjoy a lot of benefits. If I want to, I can even hug her in my arms and suck her while bandaging her - if she doesn't resist.

Rusalka felt that this world was really incredible and something must have gone wrong.

Then he began to think, when Phoenix spat on the ground just now (actually it was blood foam), why didn't he have a thought like "show off my mouth"? And the way she wiped the corner of her mouth with disgust after spitting was actually quite a good touch in his strike zone.

Moreover, she had just fought so fiercely. If she took off the small leather boots on her feet at this moment, the relatively closed space of the carriage would surely be filled with a scent of happiness...

Forget it, let’s just make this happy decision. Phoenix is ​​so cute, I’ll let her cook for me when I get home, and I’ll just forgive her for wanting to kill me just now.

He selectively forgot about his two Holy Slashes that were meant to kill the opponent.

When he shared his embarrassing remarks in the private chat channel, Sanitieta didn't complain about him for the first time. Instead, he asked: (You just slashed down with two holy swords. Did you ever think about what would happen if you killed Phoenix?)

Rusalka: (It's my 10 points anyway, so why are you worried? I can't let you get killed by an NPC. If she dies, I'll bury her with that poor cat-man in the coffin, and then sing her a song to send her off happily: I just want to use this song~? To commemorate our lost love~?)

Sani Tower: (stop, stop, stop)

Rusalka: (And then, when we become rich, we'll go to the capital and buy one. Isn't that all written in the diary? Just because it's rare doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There are plenty of Filins in the world anyway. I don't believe there aren't any cats. It doesn't matter if their hair isn't short and white. Just cut it short and dye it white. It doesn't matter if they can't do chores. We can teach them.)

Sani Iron Tower: (This idea really fits your personality...)

Rusalka interrupted him: "Brother, you know how much damage that knife she just cut my throat with? Instead of complaining about my lack of strength, why not open some champagne and celebrate your luck of being alive? That knife hit my vitals and took 40 HP! If it were you, you could already choose to reincarnate into the new world."

Sanita was silent for a moment, then said, "Thanks... Well, never mind. We're not friends anymore. Now that I think about it, crossing over with someone with intelligence 5 isn't without its advantages."

Rusalka: (You're talking about Hammer! I'm the HP C, okay? I admit, you were the one who convinced the other party with your words in the end. But! Without the tons of damage I dealt as a prelude, how could you have caught Phoenix in the Poké Ball? Is it reasonable for me to give you the MVP award?)

Sanita curled his lips: (Okay, okay, Xiao brother, you are awesome, 666, if I were a cat person, I would have fallen in love with you.)

Rusalka: (Stop, that's enough, it's disgusting enough, just forget I said anything. Anyway, how did you come up with such a childish speech to make Phoenix lose her hostility? Like, those things you mentioned, where did they come from? Tell me, did you secretly read the script behind my back?)

Sunita: (I was just guessing. Anyway, the situation can't be the worst. If I guess wrong, we'll just maintain the status quo and continue fighting. What if I guess right? As for the details, I'll tell you when I get back, so you don't get into any trouble tonight.)