Several days have passed since the fire that night, but the people of Lahmia are still worried. Almost every house has closed its doors, and even the streets have become a lot more depressed.
The sailors who used to brag obscenely in front of the prostitutes (blessed by Chaos) are now anxiously drinking poor quality drinks on the docks. The squeezed cargo and the delayed cargo ship have made the shipowners sick with them. anxiety.
They sighed together and looked at the deserted streets, which should have been full of voices arguing about the prices of melons and wheat. Now even these voices are gone. When can the goods be emptied and shipped to sea.
However, this is all understandable.
Although the defense in the city has been slightly relaxed compared to before, the Lahmians are still unwilling to encounter unexpected events before the storm is over - I heard that the disaster in the slums this time was caused by a silk merchant. .
Then monsters that looked like enlarged lizards appeared in the city, and these monsters also got involved with the city defense army.
Coupled with the fact that an entire city was razed, it shocked the Lahmians who had never seen such a price.
Not to mention the Lahmians, these sailors did not dare to go deep into the neighborhoods of Lahmia.
Within the palace wall at the other end, Neferata looked at the backlog of goods on the ledger and felt that her hair was about to fall out.
"We can no longer maintain martial law. The tribal merchants outside the city, the caravans coming from the west, and the merchant ships at sea will all be delayed because of these things!"
She complained to Alkadiza who was sitting at the desk, and quickly said again.
"Don't worry, I know martial law must continue."
Wu Suoran, who was writing replies to various nobles and heads of business groups, was writing nonchalantly.
"The Lahmian royal family has accumulated a lot of gold over the years. How about buying the things in the harbor first?"
Neferata's pale skin fell on the soft silk couch and she said helplessly.
"The problem is not goods, it's trade confidence."
"Even if we buy this shipment right away, those cargo owners will now start to doubt Lahmia. How can we restore trade confidence while maintaining martial law?"
"If you wanted to buy it, you should have bought it that night. It's too late now."
Thinking of this, she began to blame herself for being careless. They were all in a hurry to deal with the big crisis in Lahmia, and the corruption of Chaos did not give them time to think about other consequences.
Wu Suoran stopped writing, and the shadow behind him revealed a pair of red eyes. These lights are full of temptation for mortals.
He pointed at the real body's eyes in the shadow and said.
"I'm going to convene a drinking party tonight to get them to come back at least one more time. Before that, we can definitely solve this damn corruption problem, right."
As he spoke, Usoran turned his attention to Alkadiza. The prince was struggling to read a slate left by a lizard man.
"It will definitely be solved before then. The problem is not here, it's the new legion in Nehekhara."
"There are lizardmen who help us train the mortal army. At least they can resist erosion to a certain extent and are not useless. It's just that their tactical thinking does not match our army."
The dark-skinned prince sighed as he scratched his hair.
"It would be nice if Jaliba was here."
"Are you missing that old wolf?"
Neferata's mind immediately thought of an old guy who always wrapped himself in black cloth and was full of wrinkles. That was the prince's teacher decades ago when he was only twenty years old.
Thinking of that old guy, she said a little unconvinced.
"Ankart can also do those things, if his abilities are more refined."
As he said that, Wu Suoran laughed.
"He is hundreds of years old, but he is not as good as Jariba who is several dozen years old. I think he has no room for improvement."
Those cat-like vertical pupils just rolled their eyes.
"Maybe you can
right. "
At this time, Alkadiza waved the translated lizard man training plan in his hand and put forward his opinion.
"If it weren't for the fact that divine power couldn't be replenished, we could have used a ready-made commander."
"The U*** agents were all the champion warriors of their time. There must be some with superb commanding abilities who can command operations."
"The commanders of these lizardmen are thousands of years old, and their rich war experience ensures that they will survive every battle."
Wu Suoran curled his lips and said.
"Lahmia has not been strong in combat since ancient times, and the Black Specters of the Horned Viper Legion are not much stronger either."
"It would be better to say that the blood-red jackal army in your hometown Astri is more promising."
This made Arkadiza raise his eyes and look at him. This Lahmian...ghost, he really didn't leave any room for blackmailing Lahmians.
But Wu Suoran's words were obviously not finished yet.
"If we wake up the dead, it would be better for us to wake up the seniors who have gone through the ritual in the past, if we don't have to consider the impact of Nehekhara's overall public opinion."
"For example, your teacher, that old wolf Jariba, can definitely be the commander-in-chief of the army."
"However, he will definitely scold me for disturbing his purity. If he retains his consciousness, he might give me a knife first when he comes alive. But if he seals his consciousness, there is no point in using necromancy."
Indeed, Alkadiza shook his head and rejected this idea. Not to mention Jariba's personal wishes, even as a student he couldn't stand using necromancy to turn his teacher into a high-level zombie.
Just as they continued to immerse themselves, a little girl wearing a maid's costume ran over in panic and handed Neferata a piece of silk cloth.
After a cursory glance, Neferata looked at her cousin.
"Let's not talk about that for now, my blood descendants are ready."
When Usuoran heard this, he glanced at the maids around who were serving Neferata and were not even ten years old, and looked suspicious.
Neferata bared her fangs and let out a breath like a cat, saying.
"It's not them. But I have to remind you that there is something wrong with this batch of blood descendants. They are only temporarily used to strengthen their combat power."
The previous blood descendants were all orphans she had raised in the temple since childhood. In addition to their beauty and service skills, all abilities including combat, diplomacy, and etiquette were fully cultivated.
Most importantly, their hearts and minds belong to Neferata.
As for this group of temporarily transformed women, they only barely pass the test because of their beauty. Their abilities are quite poor, and their loyalty is also questionable.
"I know this is not as good as those maids you have trained with (Chaos Blessing), but it is only used for patrolling, so there should be no problem."
Wu Suoran turned the pen in his hand and didn't care much.
He was confident that even if the patrol's loyalty was questionable, charm and physical manipulation could make them either obey mentally or turn into a puddle of flesh.
The white moonlight shines on the almost unlit city of Lahmia. A large lizard is lighting up the light with a glowing weapon on its hand, leading several human mage apprentices wearing silk robes to explore the ground.
"Perhaps the corruption in this area has really been eradicated?"
The mage apprentice asked rather eagerly.
Such eagerness is natural. According to the height of the moon, it is already at least after ten o'clock in the evening.
Ever since he was urgently summoned by the old monster from Principal Wosolun last night, he has been helping these big lizards cast spells in this abandoned city.
After a busy day last night and tonight, he had almost no time to rest. He could only feel that his eyelids couldn't stop fighting. He wanted to finish his errands early and go to the bed in the college dormitory to have a good sleep.
The big lizard's voice was still coming at a leisurely pace, making him want to slap the feathered lizard on its head.
But it's good news anyway.
"The corruption here is annihilating itself and will soon be gone."
After being stuck for a long time, the lizard brought up another task. Read the book
"I don't feel that the curse is still taking effect. Even if it does, it's quite weak."
"This city will rejoin the giant spiritual network, and the curse can be eradicated."
Then he could go to work and sleep with peace of mind. The mage apprentice wiped the non-existent sweat on his head, then yawned and dragged the lizard man back to school to report.
As an "abroad student" from other countries, he was really worried that what he saw in Laemia these days would happen to his own country.
The result now is that he can finally sleep peacefully.
The lizard man on the side tilted his head.
The hot-blooded species couldn't hold on for such a short time. It was indeed not very reliable. The lizard people's work was 24 hours a day, all year round.
But on the other side, under the same white moonlight, several shadow carriers in black robes and a woman stumbled and walked on the path on the mountain that served as the city wall and secretly left Lamia.
Their clothes were made of fine linen, and the white color was faintly visible in the moonlight.
The group of people walked in the dark and cold sand at night for a long time before the team slowly stopped.
"Just put it here."
The leading man turned around and said in a hoarse voice.
The woman still couldn't stop crying silently, lowering her head and hugging the baby in her hand tightly.
It was almost because of the man's forceful snatching that the child, who was covered in downy hair, had cross-eyed pupils on her face, and had goat's horns, was placed in the sand.
"I…"
The woman couldn't bear to look at the alabaster amulet around her child's neck.
She asked for this from the priest of the temple. It was the great goddess Asafu who blessed her with a safe delivery and a safe life for her child, but she did not expect that it would be like this in the end.
Ignoring a mother's sadness, the man forcefully took her hand and dragged her toward a tent about two miles outside the city gate.
"That's it, so that the child won't be used to feed the monsters by those damn monsters. Even if he dies of starvation and freezing, it's better than that kind of death."
Hearing this, the young mother resisted even more fiercely. Her child who froze to death and starved to death did not seem to be any better.
And, she really wanted children.
The man raised his hand to slap her, but his companion behind him held his hand.
"We are lucky to be able to leave tonight. We still have to go to those tribal traders to transport goods."
Another man in a white robe took the sad woman's hand and said slowly.
"Asaf is watching over him, and the gods will heal him."
"Come on, we have to leave."
Not long after, several men carried the sad mother away from this land of abandoned flesh and blood.
In the shadows, the glimmer of light flickered.
In the Lahmian Palace at the other end, the moonlight shines under the blinds, and the sea breeze flows through the city wall and the fan blades blow on her face. Neferata paints an autographed envelope with her own hands in the weak lighting.
While starting to think about the text of the next letter, Neferata said as if she just remembered it.
"Your coronation, and the funeral of Queen Lahmia. I invited all the kings who trade with Lahmia."
Alkadiza put down the transcript of the glowing stone slab in his hand and asked doubtfully.
"Shouldn't it be me who goes to Khemri to become their monarch?"
He had read in the book that the Khemri people always wanted to welcome the king back to Khemri before he ascended the throne.
What Neferata did was against the rules and would probably make the nobles and warriors on the Khemri side dissatisfied.
Facing the Khemri King's question, Neferata pouted and slightly hooked the maid's smooth back, causing the maid to tremble slightly.
He said this after biting off the grapes handed to him by the little maid, and taking another bite of the spicy seafood dish handed to him by the maid on the other side. He shed a tear.
"Normally that's the case, but now I need a loan
mouth, to reunite Nehekhara. "
"How many troops does Nagash have? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? In any case, they are at least ten times the size of the Lahmian army."
Alkadiza recalled the calculations about the terrifying usurper in the books, and of course he knew that he needed allies.
But why on earth did Neferata cry? The Khemri King looked a little confused.
And Neferata continued as if she didn't notice.
"And who was Nagash defeated last time? It was the union of all the priest kings."
"We can assume that his strength has been weakened, but if we don't want to be punished by Asaf for the frivolous, we'd better imagine him to be stronger than he was four hundred years ago."
"A hundred years of time will not be wasted, not even with a brain like his."
"The loose economic alliance needs to be transformed back into the Nehekhara Empire, like Settra's First Dynasty."
"So I need a grand event to use economic means to tie all the Nehekhhara states onto this only chariot."
As she said that, Neferata felt a chill on her face and liquid flowed down her face.
Gently wiping away the tears on her face, Neferata's vertical pupils shrank, and she knew why she was sad.
It's not just a banquet for Alkadiza, it's also about finishing things that were left unfinished last time.
The last banquet of the nations was also the funeral of King Lamia, and they also had seafood Malatang.
At that banquet, she sent her cousin away with her own hands in a duel. The little eagle she could be said to have watched grow up, Khalida, had not yet fully achieved the goal she was supposed to achieve.
This time, it's different.
