Chapter 57 The Other Side of the Chessboard

  Soft sunlight passes through the floor-to-ceiling window and spills onto the pure white floor. The girl slightly narrows her eyes, half-reclining on the soft sofa, enjoying the leisure time in the afternoon.

  Outside the window, the rippling lake water responded to the wind's caress with a moving echo. The emerald green branches swayed gently, accompanied by a soft rustling sound. The magnificent crystal chandelier emitted a magical glow, and the golden walls of the grand hall on both sides were adorned with beautiful paintings and exquisite sculptures that complemented each other, making one feel as if they had entered an art palace just by standing there.

  The gate with the nine-winged bird carving opened silently, and then a noblewoman in formal attire walked in, stepped on the red carpet, and came to the front of the girl lying on the sofa, kneeling halfway.

  "Your Highness."

  "Huh?"

  At the sound of the woman's call, the girl slowly opened her eyes, and a few lazy and playful glints flowed out from her emerald green pupils. Three pairs of pure white wings wrapped around her beautiful, slender, and enchanting body like soft silk. Her snow-white and slender legs stretched out from within, unfolding with an irresistible charm.

  Golden long hair fell down her shoulders, and under the sunlight, it emitted a faint glow, as if it were a crown that dazzled the eyes.

  "What is it, Lord Kayrol?"

  "Everything is ready, the merchant association has also been dealt with, we are just waiting for your order, Your Highness..."

  The woman didn't finish speaking because at this moment, she saw the girl close her eyes again. So based on her understanding of the young master in front of her, she also stopped quickly and waited for his orders.

  "The rotten branches are indeed disgusting."

  Closing her eyes slightly, the girl stretched out her hand to stroke the black cat curled up in her arms, which was just as lazy as she was.

  "But nourished by them, the tender shoots will bloom into beautiful flowers. To strangle the growth of beauty is a very unromantic thing, I don't like it."

  "I understand, Your Highness."

  Although the girl's words seemed incoherent, the woman appeared to understand her meaning and nodded slightly to show she understood. However, soon after, she again looked perplexed.

  "...recent reports from Paphlagonia...the mice of the synod..."

  "Let them go."

  The girl put down her hand that was stroking the black cat and let out a sigh.

  "My lovely subordinates should know what to do, there must be such a tacit understanding between the monarch and his subjects for it to be wonderful, qualified subordinates will certainly understand my meaning. Only flowers that have gone through wind and rain with their heads held high are qualified to receive the glory of being favored, I believe they know what to do."

  "Yes, Your Highness."

  Only after hearing the woman's response did the girl reveal a hint of a playful smile.

  "You've been busy for so long, I'm sure you must be very tired too. How about coming to keep me company and have a cup of tea? This is some fresh red tea that was just delivered recently, it's definitely going to suit your taste."

  "Thank you for your kindness, Your Honor."

  "You're too polite, Lord Kairu, but that's also why you're so lovable... Come on, you're standing too far away, how about coming a bit closer?"

  "Your Highness..."

  The wind is picking up.

  It wasn't until he returned to Deep Stone City again that Luo De finally let out a breath of relief.

  As they left, the crowd did not encounter any more obstacles, just as Marlin said, the undead creatures were able to maintain their existence solely through the power granted by the Dominator. Therefore, after the Lich's thorough demise, the undead outside also returned to dust.

  This trip can be said to be a happy ending for everyone, Rod made the soul core he needed, Lige got the holy book, and even Old Wok got a cloak with elemental resistance.

  However, Rod and Marlene had a slight disagreement on the distribution of Dark Souls.

  In the Dragon Soul continent, the properties of rare equipment are generally divided into two categories. One is that it has a certain rare and scarce skill in itself. The other is that it can greatly enhance the attributes of the holder. Rode's Star Mark Holy Sword belongs to the latter, while Dark Soul is completely the former. It has a skill that is highly praised by players - Shadow Mist Shift.

  Shadow Shift: The holder can create a dark shadow area, when the holder is within it, they can move without regard to distance or obstacles and gain the "Hidden" property, which is removed after taking physical damage.

  It can be said that this skill is a limited edition of small-range space movement, which is extremely rare in the game. Firstly, its level is "rare", and secondly, for players other than mages, it's very difficult to have fast movement skills, while Shadowstep can make up for this. Moreover, when encountering danger and escaping, Shadowstep can also allow players to leave the battlefield quickly and leisurely. The only drawback is that it must be within the shadow range to take effect, but for most players who spend most of their time adventuring underground, this is not a problem at all.

  Although this is a very rare and useful prop, Luo De was not the kind of person who would equip black equipment. He explained the function of Dark Soul to Malin in a straightforward manner, then asked if she needed it.

  But he didn't think that although Marlin heard what he said, she still showed disdain for it. Her reason was also simple: first, she herself was a Zhonghuan Fa Shi, and the life-saving spells were only more or less. Second, Marlin felt that this skill seemed not to be as fierce as Rode said, knowing that when fighting against the undead wizard, he used this skill to hide his figure, but was pierced by Rode's sword in one move. Marlin's creed was not to trust anything she didn't master herself, from this point of view, she obviously didn't believe in the power of a magic ring, but rather believed more in her own spells. So in the end, Rode took down the ring.

  I really don't know what kind of expression those players who flocked to this ring would have if they knew that the rare equipment that was worth spending a lot of money on, and was hard to come by, wasn't even worthy of trust in the eyes of an indigenous person.

  "Thank you for Mr. Luo De's help."

  At this time, Shana's complexion had also improved a lot. Although the undead mage's attack was very toxic, the red-haired female mercenary was not a rookie after all. In the nick of time, she dodged the fatal blow and although her pierced shoulder needed to be well taken care of, as long as it healed, there wouldn't be any major problems.

  It's just that compared to the big harvest of people like Rod, the Red Eagle Mercenary Corps can be said to have suffered heavy losses this time. They turned the old nest of the undead wizard upside down, but still didn't find the sword that their client had asked them to find, which was very disappointing for Shana. However, for Rod, it was a predictable result, because in his memory, all the equipment from Pavil's graveyard were magic system professions, and he had never heard of a task related to swords. At first, when he heard about it, Rod thought it was an exclusive task for NPCs, and players didn't have the qualifications to participate, so he didn't know. But now, things seem to be a bit strange...

  "Miss Shana, are you certain the client wants you to find a sword?"

  "Yes."

  Sana sighed and shook her head helplessly.

  "He said it was their family heirloom, but later Pavel took it away because he entrusted us to find it. According to the agreement, he also paid us a deposit of 150 gold coins, I think it shouldn't be fake, just... ...now that we can't find the sword, I don't know what to do either."

  It's no wonder Shana didn't suspect anything, because according to the mercenary rules, once they received the deposit for a mission, it was non-refundable. In other words, regardless of whether the mission succeeded or failed, they would take the money and the client wouldn't get it back. Therefore, in many cases, clients would only pay a small deposit as a symbolic gesture, and the remaining amount would be paid after the mission was completed. This time, the opponent had paid 150 gold coins all at once, which was enough to match the reward for an ordinary three-star mission. Such a generous payment made it no wonder that Shana didn't suspect that the other party would lie to her, after all, who would be so bored and idle as to spend so much money just to have fun?

  But now it's useless to say these things, after all Shana didn't find that sword, and according to the description, Rude guessed that it should be an ancient sword - this kind of thing in the game is more symbolic than practical use. Although it's said like this, the mission failed, and several companions were lost, the red-haired female mercenary's mood was also very low. She forced herself to bid farewell to Rude and the others, then dragged her exhausted body towards the Mercenary Association. The others followed behind her, except for that idiot Bani who was being carried on the back of a shield warrior. The poor little guy hadn't woken up yet after being beaten by Rude, but if Rude's guess was correct, he wouldn't wake up for a whole day.

  As he watched Shana and the others disappear around the corner, Rude's eyes turned cold.

  "They were deceived."

  Then Rod said very affirmatively.

  "Huh?"

  Lilith's eyes widened in surprise at Rode's words, and even Old Wolk furrowed his brow in puzzlement.

  "What's wrong? Little ghost? You said Shana and the others were deceived? What's going on?"

  "It's very simple."

  Facing their doubts, Rode shrugged his shoulders.

  "If it's really as precious a family heirloom as the client said, then he wouldn't have just sent these mercenaries and not shown up himself."

  "That's right."

  Marlene also nodded in agreement beside him.

  "For us nobles, the family heirloom is not only a symbol of our family's spirit but also the greatest honor. If this honor is lost, as members of the family, we must retrieve it at all costs and in the shortest time possible. If the Sanya family's heirloom were to be lost or stolen, even if I had to hire mercenaries to search for it, I would still have to follow them myself. Only when a member of our own bloodline retrieves the honor can they earn the respect of the entire clan. Otherwise, even if we were to recover the honor, it would be tainted as something handed down to us by others - an unbearable stain on any noble family's reputation. I don't believe that a family with an heirloom could be some newly risen nouveau riche; as Mr. Rode said, there must be more to it."

  "Yes, what's wrong?"

  Upon hearing this, Lijie immediately tensed up. After all, no matter what, Shana was still her good friend, and now that she heard Shana might be in danger, the girl couldn't remain calm anymore.

  "I don't know."

  Rod shook his head and then raised it, thoughtfully gazing at the city of minerals in front of him.

  "But perhaps I've got some leads now."

  He then said as follows.