"So you're expelled from the Thieves' Guild?" Asker looked at her with a smirk.

"Well, I didn't mean to." Mia sat on the railing of the stairs leading to the second floor, her little legs dangling boringly.

"I wondered if the golden-striped leech could be sold for money, wouldn't it be the same if it was sold early and late? Why not get your money in your pocket sooner? So I scooped all the leeches from the cistern and mashed them all into jars. Originally, I wanted to sell it...... Ahem, give it to Mastro to sell for money. ”

"As soon as I returned to the guild, I saw him standing in the doorway with a grim face, and asked me what was in the jar I was holding. I truthfully said it was the flesh of a golden-striped leech, and then he snatched it and took a look, and beat me up, saying that I had committed a crime of major property damage and that the thieves' guild had expelled me. ”

The more she talked, the more angry she became, and she clenched her little fist and smashed it on the railing: "What do you think is going on!" Haven't I taken it out and sold it yet? Didn't he take all the meat puree back? Where did it come from, what a major property loss! This is simply, it is simply a sin of desire, there are no words! ”

This NPC can even use idioms...... Aske complained in his heart. Of course, considering that the original "Iron and Fire" game world is not a fantasy world of pure Western-style culture, it is not surprising that NPCs pop up idioms - there is also a Chinese NPC from the Land of Dragons in the province of Ciris, who can memorize the "Tao Te Ching" and "The Yellow Emperor's Neijing".

"Do you know why golden-striped leeches are valuable?" Aske asked her.

"Because of a noble young master like you, he will buy it." Mia said flatteringly.

"Don't slap me on the back!" Asker's face turned dark, and he slapped her on the head, causing Mia to snort, holding her head with her hands and tears in her eyes, "The gold-striped leech is a spiritual material, and it is used to make potions, you know?" ”

"It's the potion that transcendents are going to take, isn't it?" Mia had a "Of course I do" expression, "Well, then just sell it to the transcendent." ”

"The golden-striped leech is one of the main materials of the Life Stealing Sequence Potion. However, not all transcendents need to take the potion of the Lifestealing Sequence. Aske explained to her.

"If you don't meet a transcendent buyer with the right route, you won't be able to sell this meat puree at all. And once the golden-striped leech is killed, the spirituality will slowly drain from the material. ”

Mia slowly opened her mouth wide, and only after a while did she say with difficulty: "So, my big jar of meat puree can't be sold?" ”

"It's hard to estimate." Asker said.

"And the spirituality will be lost, and once it can't be sold in the short term, it will be scrapped?" Mia asked.

"Yes." Asker said.

"Just take me!" Mia suddenly pounced at Asker's feet like a little wildcat, hugged his legs and wept bitterly.

"My jar of meat puree, about sixty or seventy golden-striped leeches...... That's a loss of six or seven thousand pounds! I can't afford to sell me for so much money! Mastro is definitely going to kill me! Why don't I join your mercenary group, if Mastro comes to you, you can help me stop him!" ”

Asker looked speechless. If I really kill you for this, you won't be able to get out of the sunken palace at all, okay? And my team is short of a thief, so Mastro sent you to the door, why does this smell of a deliberate conspiracy?

Is it eyeing our team's property? More than 7,000 pounds of money accumulated after being sold to the Life Sect? Beauty tricks?

As he thought so, Asker's phone vibrated and he received an email. He opened it and took a look, and it was actually sent by Mastro:

Dear Master Achilles.

Perhaps you have learned of the defeat of His Majesty the Emperor at Manzikt, and we in the Thieves' Guild have judged that the fate of Constantinople in the future is uncertain, and that it may be in danger of overturning the city. So, yesterday night, we all boarded a passenger ship on the Black Sea, intending to go to Kiev in the north to find another way to make a living.

Mia, like the other children, grew up in the Thieves' Guild, but she was a different orphan than any other orphan—we picked her up on the rocky reef off the coast of Gallipoli.

At that time, she was surrounded by the body of a drowning noblewoman, and she still had the strength to cry after being adrift for several days after the shipwreck. In the delicate satin swaddling clothes that surround her, embroidered with needle and thread "Mia. Sinqui Marnie" name.

In our opinion, it is likely that she was of aristocratic origin.

A noble dolphin cannot mingle with leeches in the sewers all day long, which will only tarnish her noble bloodline. So I used some clever tricks to get her out of the guild and lead her to you.

You are also a noble man, and have an upright heart, and you should be able to give her the care that a nobleman deserves.

If possible in the future, take her to Palermo, Sicily. Based on our years of research, "Sinquimani" appears to be an old Sicilian aristocratic surname.

The family suffered a bloodbath after the Normans established the Palermo court, but it seems to have recently been reborn in local politics.

You're sincere, Mastro.

Asker looked at his phone, silent. The plot unfolds...... The standard hidden quest routine is ah, and it doesn't look like an ordinary side quest, maybe it's a quest chain.

He showed his phone to Mia.

Mia muttered as she looked at her phone, gradually unable to take her eyes off it.

Then he had a horrified expression that looked like the world was collapsing.

"I, I, I ......," she stammered, and stood up with a look of despair, "I need to go back and see!" ”

Throwing the phone back to Asker, she ran out of the door like the wind.

"Don't you have to chase after me?" Sidlifa asked, crossing her arms.

"No, you don't." "She'll be back." ”

While the two were talking, suddenly a mourning bell rang outside.

To be exact, it was the mourning bells of the entire Constantinople that rang out, resonating into a huge sea of sound over the imperial capital. Sidlifa was so frightened that she touched the weapon, but she felt empty and was grabbed by Asker's arm.

"Don't be afraid, it's the news of the emperor's death." Asker said.

Soon, the news of Manzikt's defeat spread throughout the imperial capital, and the citizens discussed the sad news in public:

"His Majesty Constantine was shot three times on the battlefield of Manziket and returned to the Lord's kingdom of heaven on the spot, and the army sacrificed a great deal to get his body back. Now his body is rested in the convent of Our Lady of Nicaea, and the two princesses in purple have rushed there by special plane. ”

Outside the monastery in the city of Nicaea, His Royal Highness Theodora hurriedly jumped out of the helicopter, lifted his skirt and rushed into the monastery. Then came out the Emperor's Imperial Ink Officer, Lady Varomina, who bowed slightly and stretched out her arms gracefully.

His Royal Highness Zoe grabbed her arm, stepped off the helicopter dignified and solemnly, and said lightly:

"Lead the way."

"Yes." The Imperial Ink Officer Valomina saluted again, thinking to herself that Her Royal Highness Zoe and Her Royal Highness Theodora were really two completely different personalities.

His Royal Highness Theodora is quiet and elegant on the surface, but in fact he is like a vigorous fawn, doing things in a hurry.

His Royal Highness Zoe seems to be good at talking with words, but in fact he doesn't talk much, and his thoughts are deep, just like His Majesty Basil did at the beginning.

Perhaps this also has something to do with the age of the two highnesses. His Royal Highness Theodora is only 17 years old this year, which is 7 years younger than His Royal Highness Zoe...... Valomina soon realized that her thoughts were a bit arrogant, and she bowed her head deeply.

In the main hall of the monastery of the "Father's ......", Theodora held his father's coffin and could barely cry.

Emperor Constantine VIII lay peacefully in his coffin, his face blackened by gunpowder smoky and delicately repaired, and at this time it looked excessively white. Her Royal Highness Zoe stood behind, not crying like Her Highness Theodora, but wiping the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief.

The monks present were well aware of the different attitudes shown by the two Highnesses.

During his lifetime, His Majesty Emperor Constantine was afraid that his future son-in-law would interfere too much in the affairs of the court, so he delayed the marriage of the two purple-clothed princesses.

Theodora is okay because of his young age, but His Royal Highness Zoe is already 24 years old, which is the age when he longs for marriage, family and husband's love, but he is "imprisoned" in the deep palace and is not allowed to meet any man, how can he have no resentment against the emperor?

Immediately afterward, the emperor's coffin was transported to Constantinople and traveled all the way through the Golden Gate. All the citizens spontaneously gathered around the mourning procession, holding up signs, scattering flowers, lighting wax, and weeping bitterly.

Of course, this is not necessarily because of how sad the citizens are at the death of His Majesty the Emperor, but because people always like to pretend to mourn in the midst of bad news that has nothing to do with them, and use this ritual to obtain a certain sense of self-moral satisfaction.

It's like in the previous life, once something bad news happened abroad, there would be a large number of swipes on domestic Weibo to "point wax", "shed tears for them", "tonight we are all from country X", making it seem as if the whole country is mourning together - in fact, most of these bloggers will draw makeup and go out happily to eat hot pot after posting mourning texts and tearful expressions.

The emperor's funeral will be solemnly held for three days and will undoubtedly occupy the hot topic of the imperial capital for a long time.

Another thing that could not be postponed any longer was the coronation of the new emperor.

After learning the news of Manzikt's defeat as soon as possible, the imperial bureaucrats, nobles and the church quickly reached a tacit consensus to assist the two purple-clothed princesses to ascend to the throne and become the co-emperor of the Eastern Solomon Empire.

Under the military threat of the Seljuk Empire, this is the fastest way to stabilize the situation in the imperial capital.

The enthronement ceremony was followed by the Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom. In front of the icon screen, Alexei, the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Solomon, took out the Emperor's crown from the box held by the bishop beside him and put it on the head of His Royal Highness Zoe.

He took out a small tiara, which was a little smaller but also symbolized the power of the emperor, and placed it on Theodora's head.

Then a pair of boys and girls dressed in white came forward and applied sacred ointment to the faces of the two Majestics.

Finally, the golden ball cross, a symbol of power, was solemnly taken out by the Ecumenical Patriarch Alexei from the box held by the bishop beside him.

Staring at the golden cross scepter, Her Majesty Zoe's breathing was subtly rapid, and she wanted to reach directly to hold the golden cross, but Theodora's call stopped her:

"Sister!"

She came back to her senses and looked at Theodora, who had not dried her tears.

Alexei, on the other hand, smiled and handed over the golden ball cross. The two sisters looked at each other, and together they held the Imperial Scepter.