When Lothar and his party returned to Constantinople, it was already dusk.

They searched the dungeon for Liena again, but found nothing - it was obvious that there would be no corpses left under the mouths of the rats.

And although Liena is a wizard who specializes in flames, her magic power is limited after all, and it is also predictable that she will be overwhelmed by the endless swarm of rats.

So along the way, Anna's mood was very low.

Lothar had no intention of comforting her, and the pain of losing her best friend could only be smoothed out by the power of time.

The outer city of Constantinople.

Although the rat plague was stopped in time, the trauma caused to the city is still visible.

When Lothar and his party entered the city gates, they saw the washerwoman with the child on her back that they had seen on their first visit to Constantinople, and her outfit had hardly changed.

Only now, her back was empty, sitting on the edge of a collapsed house, staring blankly straight ahead, and muttering words in her mouth.

Looking around, there are not a few people like her.

They are like soulless walking corpses, immersed in great sorrow.

Some men numbly rummaged through the rubble for their buried belongings, the disaster was over, and those who survived would still be alive after all.

"This is our Heavenly Father's warning to us that when the final judgment comes, all of us will not escape the fate of being judged, when the guilty will fall to hell and the innocent will ascend to heaven."

An ascetic with a compassionate expression, dressed in shabby robes and armed with a cane, cried out in agony from the crowd: "Only the Crusade can atone for sins." ”

"In the Levant, those wicked, Satanic tyrants Saladin are watching over the Holy Land, and the cruel and tyrannical Turkic barbarians are wantonly plundering our Christ brothers, set out to the east, and let the blood of those infidels stain the Red Cross!"

Lothar looked slightly stunned, but he did not expect that in the base camp of the Eastern Orthodox Church, he could also meet the ascetics of the Ecumenical Church who preached the crusade.

"Man is born sinful."

He chewed on the words, a hint of mockery on his face.

Heavenly Father may exist, but He certainly doesn't care if there is really any sin in mortals in the world, just as He doesn't care about the clergy who misinterpret Scripture in their name.

With the name of Princess Anna's purple coat, Lothar and his party, escorted by the Varangian guard, walked unimpeded all the way towards the inner city of Constantinople.

…

The purple dome of Brachna Palace shines in gorgeous colors at sunset.

The sound of Anna's footsteps was a little heavy, the filth on her clothes, and the lingering tiredness on her face all indicated that the trip had not gone well.

"Anna, you're back!"

The Empress stood up to greet her.

"Hmm."

Anna's interest was clearly not very high.

"What the hell is going on with this rat plague? What the hell is that evil dark wizard? ”

On the way back, Anna angrily talked to Lagaia through the coat of arms, but did not give details.

"I'm not in the mood, let me go take a shower first."

After running around in the dungeon for half a day, she felt that she was about to be pickled.

"I'll go with you."

"Okay."

Anna went to the bathroom of the dormitory, soaked herself in the steamy pool, and listened to the Empress beside her tell of the damage caused by the disaster to the Empire.

Several large nobles were killed in the inner city, and the small nobles, citizens, soldiers, and slaves who were devoured by the rat swarm added up to thousands of victims.

In the outer city and in the villages near Constantinople, the number of deaths is probably in the tens of thousands.

Among them, the most significant losses were in the slum areas of the outer cities, which were the most densely populated.

A considerable number of them are family members or widows of mercenaries, who have multiplied and settled here from generation to generation.

Many nearby villages were also reduced to death overnight.

"It's a good thing you prevented this disaster in time, otherwise, the heart of the empire would have been stabbed."

Speaking of this, the empress still had some lingering palpitations.

Not long after this catastrophe broke out, Constantinople suffered such heavy losses, and it is conceivable that Anna was absolutely not alarmist, this was a catastrophe even more terrible than the great plague of Justinian.

"Liena didn't come back."

"If it weren't for her, we wouldn't have found out so in such a timely manner."

After Anna finished speaking, she buried her head in the water and did not come out for a long time.

Lagaia sighed lightly, she knew that Liena was a witch, in her opinion, this woman was dissolute, and once wanted Anna to draw a line with her, but she never thought that she was the one who saved Constantinople.

Although she is the regent of the Eastern Empire, she still feels a deep sense of powerlessness in the face of this "natural disaster".

When she was younger, she also had the idea of studying witchcraft with Anna, but the high threshold of the wizarding world kept most people interested in the world out.

Twilight.

Jeanne is directing the remaining veterans to clear the rubble of the collapsed house and fill the holes in the ground that the rats have drilled.

Tomorrow, perhaps, we will have to bring in masons and stonemasons to see if the holes dug by the rats under the manor have damaged the foundations of the houses.

Footsteps were heard outside.

She hurriedly greeted her, and when she saw that Lothar and her party were intact, she breathed a sigh of relief: "What the hell is going on?" ”

Lothar gave a brief account and sent someone to prepare the bathwater.

The experience in the dungeon, the pungent stench, and the dense swarm of rats, now that I think about it, there is still a kind of depression like being in hell.

"I'm sorry, my lord, I shouldn't have gone it alone."

Jeanne's face was full of apologies.

"I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence."

"It's okay, it's not your fault, it's too urgent. I've asked Anna to prepare a communication coat of arms for each of you, and it won't happen again. ”

Although the communication crest is precious, Lothar can be regarded as a great help to Anna this time, and the friendship between the two is getting deeper and deeper.

"Oh, by the way, Anna also said that Her Majesty will summon me tomorrow and give me some rewards, and I want to ask for all the gold coins to use to upgrade you."

This incident was also a warning to Lothar.

If he only thinks about being alone, he and his subordinates are subordinate, and the strength at this stage is actually enough, as long as he is not facing those old antiques that have accumulated over the years, he can cope with it.

But once it is mixed into some major events, the extraordinary power under his hands is a little insufficient.

He estimated that as long as Jeanne was promoted to the full level of the elite stage, it should be comparable to a powerful wizard like Anna who stepped into the threshold of legend with half a foot.

Moreover, although the system's ability to obey is not as extensive as that of a wizard like Anna, its combat effectiveness in specific aspects is only more powerful than that of a wizard.

There is also the fact that Lothar now has an elite prop on hand, which is the combat record of the "Wolf Civil War", and from the perspective of personal feelings, he must be more willing to advance for Praruo.

Judging from the effect, Cellynina's combat effectiveness is stronger, and these battles are thanks to her decisive blow, and it is in the best interests of the moment to give her priority to advance.

What's more, the wolf civil war is related to Cellynina, which not only makes it possible for her to win more help in her combat record, but also helps to deepen the relationship between the two.

He was still hesitant, and he planned to talk to Celinina later.

"Master Xie."

Jeanne's face deepened with apology.

Lothar waved his hand: "The two of us don't have to be so polite, I'll go take a shower first, you don't know how dirty it is under the underground palace, I suspect that the abscesses on those rats are soaked in sewage." ”

He took off his stinking shirt and threw it to Jeanne and hurried to the bathroom.

Tubs and hot water are ready.

He buried himself in the tub and scrubbed his body with a soap made of grease and spices, which had been invented long ago, but it was expensive and exclusive to the aristocracy.

In the adjacent bathroom, you can still faintly hear Frigila's laughter.

He pillowed his head on the edge of the bathtub, relaxing his tired body, especially his brain, and the side effects of drinking the "Blue Moon" got up, depleting his mental power twice in a row, even if he returned to full state after upgrading, he would still feel the exhaustion deep in the bone marrow.

At this moment, he suddenly heard a sneaky footsteps.

Just as he was about to ask, he found a soft hand on his mouth.

"Shhhh

Lothar turned his head, and in the fog, he saw Jeanne's somewhat cramped and nervous face: "Don't let the next door hear it." ”

"What are you doing here, I'm taking a shower?"

Lothar asked, a little surprised, in a low voice.

"I... Give you a rub on your back. ”

She reached out and took the soap from Lothar's hand.

There was a flush on his face that he had never felt before.

It was only then that Lothar realized that it was close at hand.

Looking down, there is a sturdy lower abdomen with a clearly visible mermaid line, and two long, muscular legs.

He subconsciously swallowed his saliva and whispered, "Why don't you wear clothes?!" ”