A large crowd of men of all kinds, numbering nearly a thousand, blocked the door of Benedict's vault, clamoring to snatch the gold. The prince's guards were nervously guarding the gates of the vault, not knowing what to do with the men.

In fact, the merchants under Prince Corwin didn't have much money in Benedict. With the prince's reserves, it would have been possible to hold out at all. But with them taking the lead, the other merchants in the market also became worried and joined in the ranks of withdrawing money.

Benedict was a prince, but he couldn't do whatever he wanted. Many of these troublemakers came from large, well-established trading families, and some were royal merchants of other city-states, and if they were to be arrested, the other princes would inevitably attack him for this.

The mutation at yesterday's auction turned out to be a verbal feud between the two princes, Benedict and Eric. The former insisted that Eric return all the gold to him, while the latter argued that his men had already given the lot to the Templars and were not responsible for what happened after that.

Although Corwin and Muhati also had a haunt for the self-proclaimed puppeteer, the Great Psychic Warlock, they decided to defeat Benedict once and for all. He spared no effort to use psionic energy and magic to create rumors and panic, making more people suspect that Benedict could no longer come up with the money.

The streets are full of news that Benedict has been robbed by puppeteers and is about to go bankrupt. The prince knew that his credibility had now reached a critical juncture, and that he could not afford to be negligent at all.

There were three big merchants who came to withdraw cash, they were usually the old customers of Benedict's vault, and there were shadows of large merchant families and nobles from the outside city, so Benedict's guards did not stop them.

The first merchant arrives at the vault and declares that several of his venturers are about to go on an expedition to the monuments of the southern desert, for which they need to withdraw five thousand rams in cash. In Attas, it was not uncommon for nobles and merchants to sponsor adventurers to explore the ruins. After the antiquities hunters dig up valuable ancient relics, the funders meet the adventurers to share the proceeds equally, and gain both fame and fortune. Benedict's men, who had always been very sassy with customers, did not dare to ask anything more at this time, so they took out five thousand gold lams of excellent fineness and handed them to the other party.

Adventurers lick their blood every day, and no one knows if they will survive to the next month, so they generally only accept cash. The reason for this businessman is perfect and impeccable.

The second merchant came to bring up eight hundred gold coins, and he did not give a reason, and the men could not ask for a reason. This is also an extremely common thing, not surprising, but the third merchant is not right.

The man had arrived with a tall and sturdy camel, a group of porters, and a team of sturdy guards. He directly took out three certificates of deposit and a letter of credit and handed them to Prince Benedict's men.

"Do you want to take 20,000 gold coins?" the deacon of the vault was a little surprised, such a big transaction would usually be announced in advance. "Twenty thousand ram gold coins are hundreds of pounds of gold. With so much money, it is very inconvenient to walk in the desert. If you are robbed by robbers, it will be more than worth the loss. I have heard that the number of robbers in the desert has increased dramatically recently, and dozens of bands of merchants have been robbed. Why don't you go where you want to use this money, I'll give you other proof of deposit, and you can go to our vaults in other city-states and withdraw it. ”

"I also know that it is inconvenient to cross the desert with so much money," replied the merchant, "but you see that I have even a camel and a porter ready for the transport of gold." It's not that I'm unaware of the dangers, but there is a use for this money that I can't say. The other party asked for cash, but I couldn't do anything about it. ”

At this point, one more thing is a slash at Prince Benedict's unflawed reputation. The deacon had no choice but to direct his men to withdraw the money. But he also saw that so many big customers concentrated on one time to withdraw money, which can only be instructed by others. If Prince Corwin didn't intervene in this matter behind his back, then he wouldn't believe it if he was killed.

The slaves hurried to Benedict's mansion to report, "There are less than five thousand gold coins left! This is already the money we have collected from all the shops under our name, if we can't think of a way, we will go bankrupt if we can't survive today!"

"Damn it!" cursed the prince. "There's nothing you can do?"

"The Templars' money must never be used, and we have to pay the salaries of our soldiers and mercenaries. If the deficit is too great, their allegiance will be turned to someone else who can afford to pay, maybe Corwin. Princess Deirdley refused to help.

"The Adventurers' Guild doesn't have any money. Prince Gerald shrugged. "At least not for now. ”

"What about the caravans you looted?" asked Benedict. "Didn't you grab a lot of money?"

"I grabbed a lot of money. Gerald said. "But the money is all in the hands of those adventurers, and you know how big their appetite is. What's more, I had to pay some, well, extra expenses for the sake of secrecy...... Even if we find a way to recover this money now, it will be too late. ”

"Is there any gold to be found in the market?" he asked Princess Deardley again. "What about the Noble Union, what about the Spice Brotherhood, and what about the Trade Tycoons?"

"The speaker said that the noble union did not dare to offend Prince Corwin now. "The princess sued him. "The Noble Union must now concentrate on protecting itself, because the puppeteer has appeared, and who knows what the turmoil will be like for Ram?"

"As for the Spice Brotherhood and the Trade Tycoons, why do you think those big business families would borrow money for no reason?

"I can take my ten thousand slaves as collateral, as well as pastures outside the city. ”

"It's useless, it's going to take a long time to get the value of those things out. And your coffers won't even last tonight. ”

"And you're just watching me fall into a desperate situation?" said Benedict, looking Dildley in the eye. "I think you are my favorite sister!"

"I can't help you!" said Deirdley angrily, "The puppeteer is back, and I have to be careful to save every ounce of power." Have you forgotten what a mess he made seven hundred years ago?"

"I haven't forgotten, and I hope you haven't forgotten that seven hundred years ago, it was with my help that Grand Vicky defeated the puppeteers!" Benedict exclaimed. In the city of Laham, the witch king Abellachili is generally referred to as the Great Vichal, even among her children.

"This time, that time. Deirdley shook his head, casting the portal spell and vanishing.

Muhati and Prince Corwin are hiding on the second floor of a gray-yellow building, which belongs to Corwin, with a shisha house underneath, and the second floor overlooking the gates of Benedict's vault.

"How long do you think he'll last?" asked the Psychic Warlock.

"But tomorrow. Corwin said that seeing his old rival of hundreds of years old collapse was about to make him feel so emotional, that even his voice changed a little.

Muhati asked, "Then when will you start to help Tyre control here?" If he can single-handedly take Lam, then his position in Tyre will rise dramatically. No matter what you do, it will be much more convenient.

"Patience, friend, we don't know what the puppeteer's sudden comeback is for. But I can guarantee that as long as he doesn't interfere, I will soon be able to take over Benedict's vault business, and then buy off half of the nobles and all the mercenaries in this city, and the city will be yours. ”

"What about the Witch King?" Muhati asked again.

"Leave it to your Coral Witch to deal with, and if necessary, pay for a few more mage hunters, or even face dancer assassins. Money can do a lot of things, and Muhathir can buy even a shot at the Witch King

There was a commotion in the streets, and Benedict himself appeared in a Meggiot lizard.

He was followed by a whole team of lizard riders, carrying hundreds of boxes of heavy loads. Two hundred skilled guards guarded the team, their weapons of the finest metal spears and bone scimitars, and their scimitar gauntlets adorned with murder nails. The battle mages shrouded in robes were also sandwiched in the middle of the group, alert for possible attacks.

The lizards weren't ordinary, each one was extremely stout, with pointed, sharp claws, and was clearly pure-blooded. There were no scars on their skin - a common sign of desert caravan mounts, and even more rare was that all lizards were scales of the same color. These large reptiles are constantly spitting out their forked tongues from their mouths, feeling the smell around them, and their double eyelids open and close.

"He's going to take a gamble. Prince Corwin looked at the team that had suddenly appeared, and said in the affirmative.

Muhadi nodded, "It's useless in front of us." ”

Prince Benedict's party parted the crowd and walked to the main entrance of the vault, where the people looked at him as they wondered what the prince wanted to do.

"Benedict!" shouted a black-robed masked man in the crowd. "Give my money back!"

"I promise ......"

"I heard that your gold has been cheated out!" someone shouted at the prince, and a group of people followed him.

"If you dare not pay me back," said another guy from the crowd, who was also masked, his eyes revealing a murderous aura. He was accompanied by a group of similarly dressed people, all of whom looked extremely strong. "Don't think you're a prince and you can get away with our scimitar, I'll dry it and decorate it when we cut off your head!"

"This man is a gang of robbers, the ideal kind. Corwin smiled sarcastically at the sight of the man. "I didn't expect him to save money in the vault. ”

"Robbers with ideals," the psychic warlock wondered. "What's that?"

"Freedom fighters. "At least that's what they call themselves." Their organization is said to have been founded by a group of fugitive slaves who organized themselves in the form of an ascetic religious group, relying on kidnapping and extortion for funding. But money isn't the only thing they pursue, what they're looking for is a deformed form of revenge. They assassinate the families of nobles and officials, and even cause explosions, arson and poisoning public places as a way to get a twisted thrill of revenge. ”

"Does that work?" asked Muhadi. "Has any city-state stopped mistreating slaves because of such people?"

"It didn't work, most of the city-states' Templars declared that they would never compromise with these 'freedom fighters'. So there is no end to the turmoil, and there is always killing and killing. "It is said that the nest of these people is in a place called Whispering Castle, where the nobles and officials they kidnapped will be beheaded. The severed heads hung outside the castle, and a gust of wind blew, and the dry heads whispered to each other as if they were whispering. That's where the name of the place comes from. ”

"Violence always brings its backlash. Muhati sighed.

"Makes sense. Corwin nodded.

In front of the vault gates, Benedict was explaining to the anxious crowd. "Listen to me, friends!"

"Shameless rumors have brought you here, or you may have heard that I was robbed of a large sum of gold at auction, and I can't even maintain the vault. You may have heard of a madman who called himself a puppeteer who ransacked the auction site. Whatever you've heard, it's wrong!"

"My Benedict's credibility is worth more than gold, and my coffers are rock solid and invulnerable!" Muhadi noted that Benedict was surprisingly persuasive at first, perhaps using spells to adjust his charismatic relationships. Some people heard the prince's words, and their hearts were a little shaken to withdraw money.

"You'd better not lie to me, for I can smell the lie in the wind five hundred paces away. The freedom fighter in the crowd said.

With a wave of his hand, Benedict opened one of the chests, revealing a full pile of gold. "I brought the money back from Ankara city. I had a million gold coins deposited with the Sultan of Zài Malik, which expired five days ago. If you withdraw it in advance, then you will not be able to get the hundreds of thousands of gold coins as interest. As soon as it expired, I hurriedly sent a mage to transport it back. So you don't have to worry about not being able to get your hands on gold!"

As soon as Benedict really came out with the gold, the people in the crowd who wanted to cash it out immediately took a lot of thought. They came to get the gold because they were afraid that the treasury would go bankrupt and they would lose all their money. If Benedict could hold on, then they wouldn't have to withdraw the money, at least not lose a lot of interest in vain.

"Jokes. "It's true that the Sultan of Ankara has money, but he takes his money very seriously, and he has never heard of him taking it out to lend money or do business." Since he doesn't lend money and doesn't do business, how can he open a vault to give interest to others? Benedict is lying!"

His purpose was nothing more than to fool the customers for a while and restore their confidence. I don't think he has any money at all, but those boxes have magic circles attached to them, and I can't expose him. ”

"Psionic energy doesn't work either, it seems that Benedict has learned wisely and has laid out a lot of anti-psionic means. Even if you want to crack it, you won't be able to do it in a while. Muhadi drew conclusions from observations.

"But it's clear he's lying," the Psychic continued, "and if those chests are as full of gold as he says, then each Megilot lizard is at least two tons of metal, judging by their volume." In that case, their footprints must be much deeper. I guess he probably filled the chest with stones or something of little value, and then put a layer of gold on top of it. ”

"Well said. Prince Corwin nodded. "I'm going to send someone to expose his deception. ”

Prince Corwin's method was to prepare four giant shell beetles with a huge size. While shouting insults and questioning Prince Benedict at the door of the vault, his men quietly drove the four giant worms down the street where the vault was located. Corwin usually interacted with many big merchants and caravans, so it was not difficult to take out a few beetles. At this time, attention was focused on the crowd at the door of the vault and the prince, and few people noticed these actions.

Benedict stood on the back of the Megilot lizard, patiently maneuvering with the crowd. With his temper, it would have been impossible for him to waste time on these "inferior people". But now that his coffers are hanging by a thread, he has to deal with a mob that is clearly instigated.

"In short, with my gold, you don't have to worry about any loss of your saved money!" Benedict had to make another promise with a dry mouth, and at this time he was a little envious of those great psychic warlocks coming. It is said that a profound psychic user can arouse the emotions of thousands of people with a single look and tone, making them unconsciously accept psychological hints and fall into a state of madness and incomprehension. I really don't know how much life force it needs to extract to achieve this effect.

There was a commotion in the street, and the rider appeared at the end of the street riding a huge shell beetle. Judging by their attire, they belonged to a certain caravan, but there were no specific insignia or signs. The shell beetles were not carrying goods on their backs, and they looked like they had already been sold. The guards of the vault were vigilantly confronting the crowd, ignoring the big bugs.

Benedict suddenly moved and shouted badly. "Hurry up and stop those shell beetles!" his guards looked at their masters in confusion, not knowing what this order was about.

However, it was too late, and the riders pretended to have suddenly lost control, and the giant worms under their crotches rushed out like wild horses. Some onlookers on the street were immediately knocked to the ground, and the crowd panicked, everyone looking for a place to hide from the giant insects.

With a bang, a giant shell beetle knocks over one of Benedict's Megilot lizards. The box that the lizard was carrying on its back was also knocked over to the ground, and naturally the contents of the box also rolled out. There was only a small amount of gold, and the bottom layer was originally stored with the most worthless pottery coins.

The crowd immediately erupted, "He's lying! He's going bankrupt!" Then the crowd became angry, and everyone shouted, "Benedict, pay me back!"

The prince closed his eyes in pain, knowing that his fate was over.

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"Have you found his place? After using the portal to leave, Princess Deirdley returned to the Templars' secret headquarters deep underground.

She picked up a few obsidian orbs filled with the souls of the victims from the locker and carefully tucked them away in her robes. As a blasphemer mage, she squandered a lot of life energy every time she cast a spell, so she had to have these beads ready at all times to ensure that she could cast her spells smoothly.

"It's been found. A high-ranking Templar replied to the Princess, "Our equipment shows that his true form is hiding in this place. He handed over a map written on the lizard's skin.

Deirdley took the map, a well-known slum in Ram, with a number of cheap inns for poor merchants. In addition, many inhuman races and criminals are also hiding there. Due to the intricate terrain of this area, it is rarely visited by Templars and is one of Ram's dark corners.

The puppeteer showed up rashly, but after all, he still left a flaw. His act of remotely controlling the auctioneer and invading everyone's minds at the auction house at the same time was domineering, but it also made him traceable. The current Ram is not the Ram of 700 years ago, in order to prevent such extralegal fanatics from challenging the order here, the witch king Abela Chili has long ordered Deirdley to build a monitoring circle covering the whole city, and any spell casting or manifest energy fluctuations in the city can be tracked.

"The fanatic who called himself the puppeteer showed up last night at an hourglass after sunset. He used psionic energy to remotely control the auctioneer, which is rare. And the only apparent energy fluctuation of sufficient strength in the whole city that we have monitored during this time is here. The High Templar gestured to a place on the map.

"Is it possible that the puppeteer used time stop or some other trick to manipulate time to forge this sign?" Dildley asked, "or is he a puppet that he remotely controls even this point for double insurance?"

"There is indeed a possibility of zài. The High Templar explained, "But that is extremely unlikely. Our crystal detection array has reached the extreme of prophecy spells, and it is impossible to be deceived. Even the Karak Witch King, who was the best at prophecy spells, might not be able to build such a sophisticated magic circle. What's more, if the puppeteer really has the ability to deceive even our magic circle, then he can even ignore the Witch King, how can he hide silently for seven hundred years before showing up again?"

Deirdley nodded slowly, slowly, as if to convince himself. "In that case, let's get ready for action. I'm going to get my hands on it, and it's even better if I can get it secretly. Benedict will be finished himself, and I will be the mistress of the city with the crystal ball. ”

Deirdley made up his mind to recover the crystal ball himself, even to capture the puppeteer, without even informing the princes who were allies. She asked the High Templar again, "Are our men already in ambush?"

"There are ten hundred-strong teams and twenty mages, all of whom have secretly infiltrated the slums. The High Templar replied confidently. "In addition to these people, there are also five teams of high-level adventurers hired from here. Like desert foxes, they are adept at tracking their prey. And their strength is also good, each of them has experience in hunting psionics, and they are famous. ”

"Adventurer......" Diardelley snorted disdainfully, "...... A group of troublemakers, but sometimes they can come in handy unexpectedly. ”

"In addition, we have placed dimensional anchor spells in this area, prohibiting anyone from using the ability to teleport to escape. In the air we have magic carpet patrols, and underground we have desert giant centipedes. In any case, the puppeteer is invincible this time. ”

Seven hundred years ago, Ram's final battle between the Witch King Abellachili and the Great Psychic Warlock Puppeteer was Ram's top secret. Even as a princess, Deirdley didn't know the details. However, over the past few hundred years, she has learned a little bit about the scaly claws of the First World War from various sources. The puppeteer is good at mental manipulation, and his ability to fight is not particularly strong. In front of the Witch King, he only lasted less than three breaths before he was blown up. And the Witch King tore through the sky and summoned the world-destroying fire that turned the battlefield into the burning lake and dry valley of the present.

Many Great Psychic Warlocks have the Astral Cocoon ability, which allows them to secretly hide a part of their life essence for later resurrection. From this point of view, the resurrection of the puppeteer cannot be said to be strange. It's just that he was beaten by the Witch King back then, and now he feels that Ram is causing trouble, is it because his strength has improved again?

Thinking of this, Deirdley instructed the Templars, "Inform Grand Verital that we are capturing the Puppeteer. ”

"But the Witch King may not be willing to see us......" the Templar was embarrassed.

"Then kneel in the palace until you die, or see the Great Villach. Deirdley said. If the puppeteer really has any new skills, with the Witch King in charge, he won't be able to do anything.

"Then let's do it. She finally commanded decisively.

The lives of the various tribes in the slums watched with panicked eyes the movements of the large number of Templars.

Dressed in glazed shell armor and heavily armoured, the Templars suddenly appeared, blocking every road and alley outside the area. There are also blasphemer mages in magic carpets patrolling back and forth in the air, using magic to search for unusual places. Masked soldiers went from house to house with whips and swords to drive the inhabitants of the area out of the area, lest the Great Psychic Warlock take control of their minds and cause chaos among the Templars.

Some of the grumpy men got into a dispute with the soldiers when they were pulled out of their dwellings, and they were quickly summarily executed and their heads cut off for public display. The rest of the pauper, though silently obeying the Soldier's orders, turned their gazes at the Soldier and the Templar with hatred when unnoticed.

Although Princess Deirdley's purpose is only to capture the arrogant Great Psychic Warlock Puppeteer. But these soldiers were not good law-abiding citizens, not to mention that some of them were mercenaries in the first place, and how could they not seize the hand of the upper and lower hands when they had the opportunity? Most of the soldiers, in the name of driving away the poor, actually took advantage of the search to collect the only valuable things in the homes of the poor into their belts.

When the soldiers did this, their commanders could do the best to turn a blind eye, and some even openly participated in the plunder. Ram's recent military expansion has been too fast, and his military spending is quite insufficient. Coupled with the fact that Deirdley spent a lot of money and lost a lot of money in the auction before, it is no wonder that these officers also thought about it.

Some of the poor people watched their hard-earned qiē being snatched away by the soldiers, and silently prayed in their hearts to the revolutionary pioneers of Tyre. A man knelt down and begged a soldier to give him back a few silver coins he had hidden in the corner, because they were the money he had saved to pay for his family's medical treatment. But the soldier just laughed and refused, plunged the spear into the man's throat, and twisted it.

"Did you hear that?" said the soldier as he withdrew his bloodied spear and grinned at his companions. "He told me to give him back!"

At this moment, Benedict was still entangled with the crowd at the door of the vault, and Princess Deirdley took her cronies to the place where the puppeteer was hiding.

The princess looked at the broken wooden house, which had fallen into disrepair and was about to collapse. There are scavengers that build nests in its attic, and guano coats the roof with a thick layer of guano. The lattice windows of all the windows were broken, and it was dark inside. Although there was a noise of footsteps all around, there was no movement in the wooden house.

Behind the princess are the most elite high-level Templars, who are all elite warriors of demonic and martial arts, and are Ram's core strength. Judging by the flickering magical aura on their bodies, the Templars carried a lot of dangerous and powerful magical equipment.

"Why hasn't he moved?" said Deirdley as if to himself, as if asking his lieutenant.

"There's no way he didn't see us!" the princess growled. "You guys, break down the door and rush in!"

The High Templars obeyed, and immediately slammed open the crumbling wooden door and rushed into the room. The princess and the others followed, and the mages were on their guard, ready for the scrolls or various magical items. No less than three amulet spells had been applied to each of them, and the aura of magic was faintly visible in the dim light of the room.

Everyone had a look on their faces as if they were facing a great enemy, but the room was empty except for a mess of garbage. There was a corpse in the middle of the hut, lying on a chair.

The corpse was a fat human man, staring blankly ahead, bleeding from his nostrils, and his brain burned by the load of psionic energy.

The Templars made eye contact, and one of them walked over to the corpse. "He's not dead. The Templar said, "Only the brain burned out, the spinal cord and other organs were still working, and it was turned into a vegetative state." ”

"What's going on?" the princess looked at her subordinates angrily, "What about the puppeteer?"

The subordinates looked at each other, screaming and not daring to speak.

Deirdley looked at the corpse and guessed that the puppeteer had planted the man's mind with a mental demon, and then moved the scene at the auction site. After the deed is completed, the use value of this person is gone, and he is directly burned out of his brain and waiting for death.

The princess drew her dagger and slashed the corpse's throat, "I'm going to use the dead talk spell!" she announced. "Can't let go of a clue!"

The elements of magic began to gather as the incantation was chanted, and the plants within a radius of a hundred feet withered and died, their life force supporting the spell to take shape.

Deirdley tries to communicate with the dead, to connect his mind with the soul of the dead that has not yet dissipated. But at the last moment, she suddenly cut off the connection between her thoughts. The corpse looked like it was dead, but it seemed to have something hidden inside, and it had just taken advantage of the spell to spy on her from the depths of her soul.

The puppeteer has laid a trap! The princess realized this and hurriedly ordered her men. "The puppeteer may not have fled far......!

As soon as he was halfway through the conversation, something unbelievable suddenly happened. In everyone's eyes, the surrounding scene suddenly trembled, like the scene that was born at the auction site before.

Deirdley was surprised to realize that his vision had been invaded by psionic energy again, and the heads of each of his subordinates were now blocked by the blue and white icon of the puppeteer. Countless mocking smiles looked at her, as if sarcastic about her inconsiderability.

In the eyes of the Templars, the princess, like the rest of her colleagues, wore a large icon on her head. A man's voice came out of nowhere, his tone full of mockery, "I'm a puppeteer......"

"Get me!"

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