"As far as the results are concerned, there is no problem with your spirituality and mind, Your Majesty."

After a week-long careful examination, the court mage Droipus weighed his words and replied to His Majesty Theodora:

"The other party should not have left anything malicious on you. To be on the safe side, we will continue to observe you for another three days. ”

Theodora stood on the balcony of the palace, overlooking the gray roofs below, and frowned:

"The island...... What exactly is the place? ”

"The greatest possibility is the world of the collective subconscious." Droipus pondered and replied, "You see a gray fog in the outer waters of the island, which should be the boundary between the subconscious and the concrete. ”

"The second may be the spirit world, which has opened up a space similar to the main plane in the spirit world through the magic circle, and the gray mist may be derived from the effect of the magic circle."

"The third possibility is that you did stay on the main plane, but were teleported somewhere. In the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlanta Ocean, similar islands are as numerous as sand and sand are very likely to be controlled by humans, but the ability to teleport over long distances is relatively rare. ”

"Of course, as for the legendary half-plane, or the three major secondary planes such as the abyss, purgatory, and the underworld, because it's really nonsense, I won't forget it."

"Understood." Theodora nodded slowly, and when she saw the Imperial Ink Officer Lady Valomina who was waiting on the side, she nodded, "You can step back first." ”

"Yes." Droips bowed away.

"Your Majesty." Varomina bowed slightly, "The West called back." Her Majesty Zoe is waiting for you at the Golden Consul Palace. ”

"Lead the way." Theodora replied.

Arriving at the Golden Palace, Theodora soon learned of the West's response to the need for borrowed troops.

The first is bad news for the Holy Solomon Empire.

His Majesty Emperor Otto seems to have made up his mind to interfere in the change of the upper echelons of the Holy See.

The Holy See's countermeasure was to encourage Duke Wolff, who was in Kirchberg's territory in the empire, to secretly oppose Emperor Otto.

Although there is no large-scale conflict between the two sides, they are already fighting in unison, so the HRE Empire is really unable to send troops to support the war on the side of the Eastern Solomon.

The second was the reply from the Holy See, who had also invested all their wealth in the confrontation with Emperor Otto and could no longer send Templars to support the Solomonic brothers in the East.

Civil strife broke out in Khangri's country, and the messenger lost contact in the country, and it was clear that there was no hope for a short time.

The only good news probably came from Venis, and it was said that although the Holy See was unable to send troops, His Majesty Innocent personally signed the Holy War Decree, called on a group of Frankish knights with their own rations and equipment, and negotiated with the Venians to let them come to the aid of the navy ships.

This group of Frankish knights were originally minor lords of the Holy Solomon Empire and the West Frankish Kingdom.

Due to the almost semi-open confrontation between Emperor Otto and the Holy See, each of them instructed his subordinate dukes to expand their territories to increase their strength, resulting in these barons and viscounts who originally owned a castle, a town, or even a village, almost all of them were co-opted/routed overnight, lost their ancestral domains, and had to venture to the East to make a living.

For the Franks, as long as there were wars to fight and wealth to plunder, there was no need for the empire to pay additional conditions.

However, it is difficult to accept the price offered by the Venisians:

To transport these Frankish knights and servants, a large number of ships were built.

The Venisians were quoted for 50,000 silver marks, or about 25,000 pounds in imperial currency, which could be paid in four installments.

The down payment required a Constantinople expenditure of 7,500 pounds, and the Venians had to see the money before they could sail.

"How unreasonable!" If it weren't for the presence of the royal sister, Theodora would have wanted to tear the diplomatic documents to shreds on the spot. It's not that the Eastern Solomonic Empire can't afford to pay this money, but the attitude of the Venyers to take advantage of the fire and rob is really unpleasant, when will the noble Solomon people have to be forced to suffer such shameless diplomatic blackmail?

"That's what negotiations are. The other party asks for a price, and we will pay it back on the spot. Zoe didn't get as angry as her sister, but said leisurely, "Venis's envoy is also here, and he can discuss specific terms." ”

"Imperial Sister, do you really plan to cooperate with the Venisians?" Theodora was still angry, "Isn't it necessary to use Venis's navy, since these Frankish knights are willing to support, can't they come by land?" ”

"These knights are now concentrated in Vinis." Zoe looked embarrassed and sighed, "If you want them to come by land, maybe they will be cut off by Otto, and then the Wolf family will cut off the other half and be dragged to participate in the civil war of the HRE Empire." ”

"Besides, we also need the Venians navy to besiege the west coast of Anatolia, otherwise if we lose the city of Nicaea, the Seljuks will be able to take the sea route and drop their forces on the Thracian plain."

Zaisuke and the cabinet team also quickly arrived at the ruling palace, and soon the sound of heated discussions between the two empresses and courtiers sounded, and it was not until 3 o'clock in the morning that a preliminary consensus was reached.

By the time the Venis envoy was called to the palace, it was already 8 o'clock in the morning.

Dressed in red and white classical robes, the envoy looked like a wealthy and amiable merchant, but spoke with a plain and aggressive tone.

It wasn't until noon that the two sides finished bargaining and settled on final terms that were acceptable to both sides for the time being.

"The down payment of 5,000 pounds worth of gold, the remaining 2,500 pounds will be collected by the Holy See's fundraising, but the empire must sign a loan agreement with Venisbank......" Theodora sighed quietly as he read it in detail.

In the face of the Venisians' lion's mouth, this is already the lowest price that can be obtained.

"Let's sign it." As she spoke, she covered her purple seal in quadruplicate, and handed the contract to her royal sister Zoe.

"I didn't have my imperial seal." Zoe frowned, "Maybe I forgot it in Buchenara Palace, I'll take it back and stamp it again." ”

She tucked the contract in her sleeve and left the Golden Consul with the Imperial Ink Officer Varomina.

Walking in the cloister in the palace, Zoe suddenly said as if unintentionally:

"I heard that last week, the royal sister had hallucinations?"

"Yes." The Imperial Ink Officer Varomina did not dare to conceal it, and reported the truth, "Your Majesty Theodora, I met with the heir of the Achilles family in a tavern in the city last week, and then disappeared inexplicably for half an hour. ”

"Upon his return, His Majesty claimed to have been teleported to an island in the middle of the sea. Droyps, the advisor to the court mage, analyzed that His Majesty was likely to be sent to the world of the collective subconscious. ”

"The Achilles family is the family whose ancestor came from the Dragon Country, right?" Zoe pondered for a moment, "I remember that this family should have all died in the rebellion of Scoleroru 40 years ago. ”

"At that time, there was a branch of the Achilles family that remained in Constantinople to support His Majesty the Emperor Basil." "Because of this, despite the devastation of the Achilles, there is still no nobleman who dares to fight their wealth," added Valominina. ”

"Even His Majesty the first Emperor Constantine (the younger brother of Emperor Basil) took a lot of care of the Achilles family."

"I see." Zoe said lightly, "Find this heir of the Achilles family and find out what happened that day." ”

"If he really has the psychic ability to carve out the world in the collective subconscious...... Ask him if he would like to serve the royal family as my personal occult advisor. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Valomina bowed slightly, subconsciously reading Zoe's subtext.

If he is willing to serve the royal family, then the matter of letting His Majesty Theodora disappear can be put on hold for the time being.

If you don't want to, then there will naturally be other ways to deal with it in the future.

………………

"Drink!" At the top of the peak of the Hearthly Island, tomahawks and spears staggered, and long strings of sparks were drawn from the iron body of the metal.

Sidlifa stepped forward, stretched out her arms, and swung her axe like a storm.

Whirlwind Slash!

Eleanor lifted her shield and turned back. Her shield trembled as if it were a wailing under Sidlifa's stormy attack, but it was never knocked out of her hand.

Suddenly, her shield swung out, through the interval between the swings of the two battle axes, and struck Sidlifa's chest.

As she stumbled, a cold light flashed from behind the shield, and the spear shot out like a dragon, stabbing Sidlifa in the abdomen.

Sidlifa's body was knocked backwards, and the lightning stone fire didn't care to stabilize his balance, and the two axes slashed out.

Eleanor's spear in her right hand was crooked, and her left hand was still stubbornly holding the shield against her chest.

Sidley fell to the ground on her back, gasping for breath before bursting out laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Aske walked up and looked at her with an idiot's gaze.

"It's so cool." Sidlifa said.

"Whirlwind Slash has been going on for too long." Asker scolded her, "What are you doing in so many circles?" Electric fan? Skills to learn to actively abort! ”

"When the enemy is not controlled by you, the cast of any skill cannot exceed 3 seconds, otherwise it will be easy for people to see through and crack!"

After saying that, he turned around again and pointed to Eleanor:

"The timing of the shield strike grab was quite good, but the follow-up dragon lance didn't come out well. Enemies are not puppets that you can't fight back, you have to think about it before each attack, what if your attack is dodged? What should I do if I am blocked? What should I do if I am parried by the opposite blade? ”

"If you're a little more delicate, you can stop the dragon lance after the shield strike, and when her tomahawk splits into the air, she can't parry it with another dragon lance. It's not hard to do this detail with your current strength, but you have to have that awareness. ”

"Okay." Eleanor nodded, and sat down to meditate.

This is a habit she has recently developed, in the process of meditation, she recounts the details of the battle just now in her mind, and verifies and summarizes them one by one.

Sidlifa lay on the ground and rested for a while, then got up again in good spirits and began to practice the initiation and abortation of the Whirlwind Slash.

Asker pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked:

"Have you thought about it?"

"Think of what?" Sidley Falen paused for a moment, "Do you mean, to become transcendent?" ”

"I told you yesterday." Asker reminded her, "Two main outputs and eruption bloodlines. ”

"The first is the Barbarian route, which will give you the ability to use two-handed weapons, allowing you to stimulate your own spirituality and fall into a state of controlled rage, with a significant increase in physical strength for a short period of time."

"At the same time, it will also give you the power of bloodthirst, and every time you successfully kill an enemy, your spirituality will be satisfied, the damage you take will be healed to a certain extent, and your combat ability will be given a temporary bonus."

"The second is the Titan Route." Aske continued, "You will have the blood of the Frost Giant, which will be over three meters in size when activated, and your skin will have great physical and magical resistance. ”

"You will master the power of frost and thunder, and any enemy who attacks you will be damaged by frost, while your thunder will jump among the enemies, paralyzing them and scorching their internal organs."

"You will also have an ancient aura, which will allow you to automatically identify ancient ruins and psychics, making you less susceptible to illusions and psychic influences."