After sending off another group of guests, Shanna stood up and shook her head, and her aching neck immediately made a crisp noise, which made the red-haired mercenary grin, and then she turned away, let out a long sigh, and looked out the window.

"It's already afternoon........."

Looking at the scenery outside, Shanna couldn't help but be a little distracted, it has been more than ten days since Rhodes and the others left Deep Rock City, and there has been no news at all, although their strength is not worrying, but after such a long time, it is inevitable that they will be a little uneasy. Especially before Rhodes left, handing over the stronghold to Shanna to manage made the former mercenary head feel a lot of pressure. She knew very well that this was a very important job, and that it was of high status and power. Although he has been serving as the garrison of the stronghold before, he can be regarded as having the trust of Rhodes, but after all, it is just a caretaker, and managing a stronghold is a completely different responsibility.

Shanna knows very well that her position is not secure, not only because her strength is not very strong, but also because she is a woman. In fact, Shanna had already sensed from Kavos and some other mercenaries who knew her well that they were a little dissatisfied with Rod's decision, and it was not surprising that machismo was prevalent among mercenaries. Even in ordinary mercenary groups, except for the spirit master, which is respected and life-saving profession. Only a woman like Anne who relies on her own strength to make a name for herself can have a certain degree of independence and respect. As for the other female mercenaries, those with a little strength can also enjoy the treatment of warriors. As for those women who are not strong, the status is very low. There are even some female mercenaries who have become the playthings of their colleagues in the mercenary group, and this kind of woman does not have the strength to go to the battlefield, so she can only use her own capital to "help" the mercenary group. After all, mercenaries are a very practical group that values strength. Those girls who are not very good in their own strength, but love to dream of adventure, if they don't meet the help of well-wishers after joining the mercenary group. Then most of them don't have a good end.

In fact, Labis and the others came to look for Rhodes for a similar reason. Originally, after Labis and the others joined the mercenary group, they were Anne's subordinates. And Anne has a very high status in the Macbeth mercenary group, and she is the adopted daughter of the old leader, so she doesn't have any idea of mercenaries. But after Anne left, some of the mercenaries in the Macbeth mercenary group felt that the girl Labis was useless, not only could not fight, but was also timid, and always pulled them back. In their opinion. Such a woman is not suitable to be a mercenary. Although Lando and Joey were very protective of Labis at the time, most of the Macbeth mercenaries still felt that it was pointless to leave such a useless woman, but fortunately, Labis was quite beautiful, so either she was willing to "serve" everyone, then everyone would admit her stay, or they would have to let her go. Life for a mercenary group is difficult. No one wants to see a rice worm who has no contribution to live here.

Labis, of course, didn't want to live like a prostitute, so eventually they broke away from Macbeth and came to Starlight. Labis was lucky. However, in many mercenary groups, women are not so lucky.

Because of this background, after Rod handed over the management of the stronghold to Shanna, the red-haired mercenary always heard some rumors, of course, no one was secretly talking about whether she was betrayed to make Rhodes value so much——— this ridiculous possibility even Shanna herself did not believe. But those "machismo" attitudes are widespread. …,

Fortunately, Rhodes left Canary and Little Bubblegum in the stronghold, and the two of them did not interfere in the affairs of the stronghold except for completing their own tasks and being responsible for training every day. This made Shanna's life a little calmer. After all, among the mercenaries, strength is still respected. Even these two powerhouses in the legendary realm had no complaints about Rhodes' orders, and did not make irresponsible remarks about Shanna's decision, which onion are they? Could they be better than these two young ladies?

In addition, Shanna knows that her son is unstable, so everything must be done perfectly and in an orderly manner. And her performance is really good. As a self-made female mercenary who established a mercenary group, Shanna is still quite skilled in terms of sophistication and sleek methods of handling affairs, as well as prudence. This makes those people unable to find any trouble if they want to find a thorn, otherwise, I don't know what will happen to the road.

"Hoo ..............."

Shanna pressed her forehead, feeling a little tired. These days, with the fame of Starlight, all kinds of bulls, ghosts, snakes and gods have drilled into themselves, which makes Shana a head and two big, and when she was the head of the mercenary group in the past, the most contact was only the second-in-command of some power agencies. But now, even the city lord of Deep Rock City, as well as the existence of the Helen family's patriarch who had only heard of his name before, came to the door in person and wanted to discuss with Starlight. This really made Shanna feel a lot of pressure, and with Rod being out of the house and never heard back, she had no way to decide on these important matters, so she could only delay it for the time being and wait for it to be dealt with later.

Forget it, it's useless to think about it now.

Shanna shook her head at the thought of this, then turned around and wanted to go back to her room. And at this moment, suddenly, a voice sounded not far in front of her.

"Looks like you're doing a good job."

"Who?!"

Shanna is a mercenary with some strength anyway, and when she heard someone suddenly speak, she immediately reflexively took a step back, and then drew her long sword————— and it was only at this time that she saw Rod sitting on the sofa next to her, leisurely raising his teacup, and tasting steaming black tea.

"Your Excellency?!"

Shanna's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Rod's figure, but she quickly came to her senses, re-sheathed her sword, and then cherished Rhodes with a mercenary courtesy.

"Your Excellency, you're finally back......... Is everything still going well? What about the others? ”

"Everything went well."

Rod put down the teacup in his hand and looked up at the mercenary in front of him. He didn't know Shanna very well, and the reason why he chose Shanna in the first place was not only because Lijie had a good opinion of her, but also because of Rod's evaluation of her. As a female mercenary who works hard all year round, Shanna is very sophisticated, and she is cautious enough to notice small things that many men don't notice. Of course. This also limits her growth and development——— men look a little farther after all, and they don't stick to some subsections. However, Rhodes didn't care, because in the future, the function of this stronghold was an "office" to receive information. Executing and conveying orders doesn't need it to be in charge of such a big plan as the development of a mercenary group. Therefore, it is better to be trivial and detailed.

"You don't need to worry about the fortress, I'm here to discuss the next thing with you............ But before that, I'd like to hear a brief update from you on what's going on at the base. ”

"Yes. My lord. ”

Hearing Rod's order, Shanna did not hesitate at all, she quickly saluted, and then gave a detailed and complete report to Rod about what had happened during this time. …,

After Rhodes led people to leave Deep Rock City, the craze set off by Starlight has decreased, after all, the protagonist is not there, and everyone can't get high if they want to. It's just that although this craze has passed. But Starlight's affair hasn't diminished. Many nobles, chambers of commerce, and even some power institutions have visited the stronghold, hoping to meet with Rhodes. Discuss something. In the beginning, most of the people who came to the colony were locals from Deep Rock and Parfield. But in the recent period, there are many outsiders who have also come to Deep Rock City to meet with Rod, and there are all kinds of people among them, all of whom seem to have discussed it, and they all say in unison that they want to discuss something important with Rod, but when Shanna asks them what is the matter, these people are silent. And even when they learned that Rhodes was not there, these people had no intention of leaving, on the contrary, some of them even stayed in Deep Rock City temporarily, waiting for Rhodes to return.

And Shanna is keenly aware of this, among these people. Quite a few of them are people from the south and the Land of Light!

"Here's a list of all the people who want to meet you."

Saying this, Shanna took out a list from her arms and handed it to Rod, who took the list with ease, looked at the names on it carefully, and nodded. I have to say that Shanna's meticulous work is still doing a good job, and the people on the current list, in addition to their names, even their positions and affiliations are also fully recorded, so that people can see at a glance who these people are.

As Rhodes expected, most of the people on the list were some dignitaries and members of the Chamber of Commerce, and it was obvious that they also saw Starlight promoted to the guild, so they came to the door and wanted to sponsor it, and at the same time win over such a force. However, Rhodes is not interested in these people, he does not want to be controlled by others like other mercenary guilds, after all, this is not something to be proud of.

"Huh?"

And at this moment, Rod's eyes suddenly fell on one of the names.

"Lilia. Daniel. Cranferdo ——— Church Messenger? ”

Whispering the name, Rod frowned slightly, then raised his head and looked at Shanna.

"What's the matter with this church messenger?"

"That's right, sir."

Hearing Rod's inquiry, Shanna pondered for a moment before replying.

"From what I've heard, this emissary of the Church came to you to discuss the establishment of a church in your new territory, after all, many people know about your choice of the Land of Atonement, and no one has been able to stay there for a long time for many reasons. Now that you're going to build a fortress in the Land of Atonement, it's a great expansion point for the church......... And, according to the messenger, the church seems to be interested in Lord Bubbles. ”

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Rhodes came to his senses.

"What's going on?"

"Well, according to the messenger, the Church is very interested in the fighting skills that Miss Lijie showed at the Midsummer Festival before, and they think that this may be a good way to change the way spirit masters fight, so they have sent people here, on the one hand, to carry out missionary activities in your territory, and on the other hand, they want to cooperate with you to learn this combat technique. The messenger had made a similar request to Bubble-sama, but Bubble-sama ........."

Speaking of this, Shanna seemed to have a bitter mouth closed, but there was no need for her to say, Rod also knew what the ending was.

However, for Rod, the church's mission is not a bad thing, after all, unlike the earth and many novels, the church in the Dragon Soul Continent does not have a specific god to worship, and the transaction they preach and spread is justice, fairness, and observance of order. This is also one of the reasons why other countries can accept them, after all, the inheritors of the creation dragon soul are all real, and if you want to preach and spread a worship of a god or something, it is undoubtedly equivalent to proclaiming the Buddha in front of Christ himself, how embarrassing and embarrassing it is. …,

Of course, in this way, it is impossible for the church to collect money under the banner of the gods, but the church on the Dragon Soul Continent is just as rich——— because here, they also have a notary office and bank-like functions attached. Merchants can choose to store their money here and go elsewhere to bring it up based on special proofs. On the other hand, all kinds of transaction notarization can also be carried out in the church, and it has been said before that as long as the contract and transaction are authenticated by the church, then there is no need to worry about the other party will renege or break the contract, otherwise, the church will punish the victim on his behalf. Of course, the church also charges a fee for notarization of such a contract transaction. And that's where their finances come from. In addition, the top boss of the church is the twin dragons of the two judgments and judgments in the country of law, not those ethereal legends, the so-called monks who can run can't run the temple, and now the monks and the temple are here, and there is no need to worry about these churches to deceive and hide anything, so everyone is still very relieved about the church.

For such an institution, Rhodes has no hostility, at least the presence of the church, which can save some of the energy to maintain order. If they are willing to go, then it is best of course.

Thinking of this, Rod scooped up his pen, circled the list a few times, and handed it back to Shanna.

"Let these people come to me tomorrow, I'll wait for them here, as for the rest......... Just give me an excuse to send me away. Also, inform Kavos that he is ready to lead the rest of the mercenaries to the Land of Atonement, which has been swept away, and then our fortress station, where most of the mercenaries will go, but you can choose some people to stay here, and you can decide who you want. ”

"Yes, sir."

Scooping through the list, Shanna nodded, but when she heard Rod's last words, Shanna was stunned.

"So, my lord... You ..............."

"I'll stay here for the time being, but I'll leave this stronghold to you in the future, Miss Shanna." (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to (.) to vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. )