Fine, even if it’s not, it has to be.
The Goddess of Fortune’s quest said to give a reply, either agree or refuse Audrey.
But all three options are about refusal. There’s simply no option to agree.
Lin Rui wasn’t angry at Audrey anymore. Her chest was heaving violently, and he was really afraid she’d explode if he provoked her. So he said, "Liking the Goddess of Fortune is a tradition for every Explorer on Blue Star."
Audrey finally put on a beaming smile and said, "So when I become a goddess, will the Lord also like me?"
Lin Rui was too lazy to respond to such ethereal matters, so he said, "We’ll talk about it in the future. Now that Silver Moon and Snow White are here, you two take Audrey back to her room."
Audrey immediately clutched the sheets tightly, shaking her head repeatedly, saying, "I’m not leaving, this bed, blankets, and pillows are all mine. I bought them, and I want to sleep here! Besides, what if I go back and that sleazy Black Mage takes advantage of me?"
"Simple, switch out the Phantom Charm. That way, your Charm Value won’t be enough to activate the Empress’s Contract, the Ninth Level Summon feature will turn gray, and he won’t come out."
"That simple? How come I didn’t think of it!"
The reason is obvious... Lin Rui waved his hand at Silver Moon and said, "Take her away; I want to sleep."
"Don’t pull me~ Silver Moon, who is your master anyway? Why do I feel like you’re in cahoots with the Goddess of Fortune? Teaming up to keep me from getting onto the Lord’s bed!"
"That’s your misconception."
"You actually rebutted it on purpose? That’s too deliberate! Could it be that you’re really in cahoots with the Goddess of Fortune?"
A little traitor appeared in her own camp, and Audrey finally didn’t have the energy to cling to Lin Rui anymore. Her urgent task was to deal with this backstabbing beast-eared girl.
Lin Rui could finally relax and lay down to rest, taking sleeping as the utmost enjoyment.
His mind was cleared, utterly lucid, without even a dream.
His relaxed body seemed to be sighing in relief in every cell, feeling refreshingly clean all over.
When Lin Rui woke up, it was already the next morning.
The manor had a bathroom, a sink, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and a neatly hung white towel beside it. One towel had an embroidered pattern of a Golden Pansy, while the other had the emblem of the Other Shore Flower stitched with gold thread.
Clearly, Lin Rui’s pocket money for Audrey was also spent on household items.
Lin Rui didn’t understand why there was also a pink towel beside them with a cute Husky head embroidered, sticking out its tongue. What does that mean?
After taking a bath and brushing his teeth, Lin Rui left the room and looked down at the manor, seeing the bustling town.
Busy workers drove carts to deliver resources into the workshops, and workshops sent their products to the market and warehouses for handling.
A large number of knights also escorted carts back from outside the territory, stained with blood and carrying a lot of loot.
Seeing Lin Rui, Violet stepped out immediately, bowed to him, and said, "Lord, last night I led the newly joined knights from our domain to clear out a batch of evil monsters outside the territory. Please forgive my presumptuous action."
Lin Rui beamed with satisfaction and said, "You did well. Were there any casualties?"
Violet had the Loyalist Trait and a heart of absolute righteousness. Lin Rui, of course, wouldn’t blame her enthusiastic deeds. A soldier willing to help the Lord around the clock was naturally appreciated by Lin Rui.
Violet calmly replied, "There were no casualties. Terion handed the Extreme Battle Banner to Loren, who flew with the banner above the row, greatly enhancing the soldiers’ defense, which, in combination with the Sun Flame Knight’s Triple Trait, left the soldiers almost unscathed."
Lin Rui nodded approvingly, already imagining the battle scenes from the night.
The knights had gathered into a group of twelve, and each squad’s knights were incredibly tough. Just with the Sun Flame Knight Trait, their physical defense increased by 50%, and the Extreme Battle Banner reduced 30% of the damage.
The endless attacks from the beasts did little harm to the tough knights. More critically, the knights had a 70% chance every 5 seconds of gaining 300 points of spiritual shield.
This meant that the spiritual light shield shone in the formation, with soldiers mostly under its protection and unharmed.
Lin Rui asked, "Did you find anything unusual?"
Violet nodded and said, "When we returned, we found a group of goblin spider riders roaming the treetops, lingering around our domain’s perimeter. When the knights were about to eliminate them, they claimed to know the Lord and were waiting here to establish contact with you."
Lin Rui immediately said, "I’ve always been upright and forthright; how could I know a group of vile goblins? No need to think about it; it must be a bunch of despicable monsters slandering me to save their lives!"
"But they know your name, my Lord."
This matter became severe. A group of goblins knew his name and deliberately loitered around the border. If they weren’t courting death, there might actually be something going on.
Lin Rui said to Lusen, "Go bring them over."
Lusen was holding his waist, shuffling his steps and exclaimed at Lin Rui, "Lord, how can you be so full of energy? After fighting all night, I can’t straighten my back!"
Lin Rui glanced at him, and a row of Ice Needles emitting blue light shot into his waist.
Lusen let out a howl of agony, and the overstressed waist was especially sensitive, feeling the pain magnified a thousandfold by the Ice Needles.
From how much fun he had last night, now the pain was super multiplied.
But soon, this guy was bursting with vigor, with a look of sudden realization: "The Lord can battle all night while stabbing himself in the waist! It’s simply a man’s divine skill."
Lin Rui kicked him in the butt and said with annoyance, "Don’t use your dirty, vile thoughts to speculate about me. I slept all night; who is like you?"
Lusen shouted in astonishment, "No way, my Lord? Audrey, that woman, is already Loyal to Death, and yet, she didn’t make a move on you? Do women prefer handsome, enchanting men? Did she have a new pet and abandon you, my Lord, so easily?"
Lin Rui was speechless. With this kind of character, full of sleazy thoughts, standing next to Violet, could he still be considered a Knight of Justice? Could he even empower Violet’s Sword of Justice?
Before Lin Rui could speak, Audrey appeared, gritting her teeth, and summoned two Rare Level Dark Temple Warriors, Owl and Leopard.
"Beat him up! Beat him to a pulp!"
Owl and Leopard glanced at Lin Rui, saw he had no reaction, and immediately drew their swords.
Lusen took to his heels, begging pitifully, "I was wrong! Granny, I was wrong! Don’t hit me!"
"Ouch, ouch, don’t hit me in the face."
"Lord, save me. Audrey, this lunatic, will kill me."
It was clearly an exaggeration. The reason Lin Rui allowed Owl and Leopard to chase Lusen was to test the knights’ current defensive capabilities.
With all traits activated and under the Extreme Battle Banner’s blessing, Lusen was incomparably hardened. Two Rare Level undead without Commander support couldn’t faze him.
In sheer toughness, a fully-equipped Sun Flame Knight even surpassed a Rare Level troop.
He managed to endure the chase from two Rare Level troops with his unparalleled physical defense, successfully running out of the territory, with no one healing him along the way.
Lin Rui gained a very straightforward understanding of the current strength of the Sun Flame Knights.
Then Lin Rui didn’t just stand there waiting but turned to the new building in the territory, the Ogre Kingdom Prisoner Camp.
The prisoner camp, which Lin Rui sank one hundred thousand Realm Coins into fortifying to perfection, was to be one of the most stable sources of troops for the territory, providing fourteen Tier Two or higher slaves every cycle.
Lin Rui planned to go and see the quality of the prisoners for sale today.