Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 57 Eating and Drinking
It's surprising that Guido has a skull crown; the Kyle family values ​​him quite a bit.

He was given treasures and sent to guard the city, yet he has fallen to this state. However, he was caught in a melee with two soldiers and his mind was biased, so he can't blame anyone else.

"Go, clean up the battlefield, and tell those who are still resisting: surrender your weapons and you will not be killed! If anyone resists, they will be dealt with on the spot."

The halberdiers, leading the Earthbows, advanced towards the defenses of each city gate. They were quite familiar with White Stone City and knew the key locations in each area.

In fact, at this point, with the defending heroes killed and the halberdiers defecting, the rest of the people had no will to resist and only hoped that it would end quickly.

After all, Su Mu and his group considered themselves the army of the kingdom and would not slaughter humans.

After half a day of reorganization and arrests, Baishi City was basically pacified. The people still hid in their houses and dared not go out, lest they be regarded as rebels.

The Earthbow brought over the Chamber of Commerce President and the Thieves Guild President, both of whom were willing to surrender.

The president of the chamber of commerce, a capable middle-aged man, spoke first: "The gold and resources of White Stone City have been collected by the former city lord and placed in a special storage place, which we cannot open the gate to."

As for the resources that may remain in the market, they are all the merchants' assets, you see…”

The boundary stones are valuable because they allow the council hall to store gold coins and various resources, placing them within the spell space—essentially a resource barrier unique to the hero. Even if one later owns multiple cities, they can easily teleport through the passage.

This is the huge difference between a powerful leader and a disorganized rabble.

Although the Kyle family has left Whitestone City, their resources remain, making them difficult to move.

As for the members of the Chamber of Commerce, they are all businessmen who travel the world. If Su Mu robbed their goods in White Stone City, it will definitely spread to other cities, which will be very bad for his reputation. At that time, no one will be willing to trade with Cangmu, making it even more of a loss for him.

"Merchants handle their own business; I won't exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction. However, this city is still very dangerous, listed as a rebellious territory by the kingdom. They should consider their own course of action."

"Alright, I'll go and convey Lord Su Mu's message right away. We're all just trying to make money peacefully, and we certainly don't want to stay any longer."

Su Mu gave a soft "hmm". The more markets are built, the more preferential rates there will be for transactions, but it is not a fixed value.

If a city has a large number of merchants trading, the exchange rate will decrease to some extent.

After listening to the Chamber of Commerce president's words, he turned to look at the Thieves Guild president.

This man had shifty eyes, wore a black hood, and had a black cloth wrapped around his face.

"Now that you have occupied White Stone City, we thieves are willing to surrender!"

Actually, this guy didn't come to surrender willingly. Mead caught him at the city gate with the Earth Bow. He was leading a group of thieves and was trying to escape through the tunnel, but they were blocked by the archers.

After losing several of his men, he surrendered without resistance.

"Your name is Zachary, right? Fariq mentioned you!"

Zachary: Attack 16, Defense 6, Damage 4-8, Health 20, Speed ​​6, Small size.

Element: None.

Characteristics: Tyrannical, repetitive.

Thief Leader: Possesses the ability to ambush and assassinate, dealing maximum damage without the enemy noticing you, and always triggering a 150% damage amplification.

Zachary stood there, stunned, stammering, "Faric? He's a hero among wilderness thieves, he often takes on side jobs, and his reputation isn't very good. You absolutely mustn't believe him."

It seems that the two do not have a very harmonious relationship.

Farik was single-mindedly focused on revenge, but he did privately discuss the situation in White Stone City with Su Mu, and his assessment of Zakri was quite simple.

This man is fickle, greedy, and lustful. If offered enough benefits, he might be able to coordinate an attack from within the city. However, Zachary isn't that bold; he's better suited to underhanded tricks than to openly engage in any activity.

As a rogue hero, Falik naturally knows these fellow rogues very well, just like he does with the basics of his Aura Observation.

Although Su Mu had already made up his mind, he still asked Mead beside him, "Captain Halberdier, what do you think of this man?"

Mead didn't even look at Zachary, but simply clasped his hands and said, "My lord, Zachary has been causing trouble in the city, robbing and killing for money, and the people of the city are extremely dissatisfied with him."

Moreover, this man is cunning and has multiple burrows; he even has tunnels within the city. If he were alive, wouldn't he facilitate Kyle and his group's entry into the city?

Su Mu's expression shifted slightly, as if he were deep in thought.

Zakri then launched into a tirade: "I just didn't give you any gold or silver, is that a reason to slander me like this? You despicable scoundrel, you betrayed your master for personal gain, and you still have the nerve to talk about me, you're truly vile!" Su Mu waved his hand, not wanting to hear his cacophony any longer: "Take him away and execute him!"

Oling stepped forward and pierced Zachary's throat with an arrow. Zachary was speechless for a moment, and then he was pulled away.

His head was severed by the halberdiers and hung in front of the city gate along with the head of Guido.

Su Mu values ​​talent, but he has principles; he doesn't show favoritism everywhere. Even if Zakri and Guido have some special skills, he doesn't want to use them at all.

After having the soldiers prepare the guards, he led Orling to the Magic Guild.

The place was completely deserted; even the magic apprentices had vanished without a trace.

Without the protection of magic apprentices, they could only practice level 1 magic from the two remaining spellbooks.

【Stone Skin Protection (Earth Element, Level 1): Increases the defense of the selected friendly unit. The duration is affected by the spell power.

Due to the effect of Intermediate Earth Element Mastery, Defense is increased to 6 points.

The magic book on the stone platform conjured up a stone armor that was indestructible.

Su Mu felt a surge of secret joy, as the protective stone skin was an indispensable element in the earth element magic map.

Especially now that he has shield soldiers, as long as he increases their defense enough, they can gain high recoil damage, killing two birds with one stone.

He had long wanted to learn this magic, and he never expected to encounter it in Whitestone City. It was truly a worthwhile trip.

Without further ado, Su Mu extended his arm into the illusion, feeling the surging earth element structure within.

Gradually, the skin hardens, becoming as indestructible as stone, impervious to ordinary knives and spears.

When Su Mu opened his eyes again, he found that only 10 minutes had passed. Sure enough, after mastering the intermediate level of earth elemental proficiency, his ability to comprehend earth magic had also increased.

As for Orling, learning it wasn't so easy. He squatted in front of the magic stone for a long time, racking his brains, but still hadn't grasped the basics.

Su Mu continued walking towards the next stone platform, the sound of rushing water reaching his ears.

[Exorcism Spell: Removes the effects of magic afflicting friendly units.]

He had anticipated this; Falric's service to Whitestone City was somewhat related to this water magic. After all, wild heroes don't own cities, and if they want to practice elemental magic, they still need the lord's charity.

As for the strategic value of exorcism magic, it goes without saying that it's the nemesis of many debuff spells. It's just that he lacks mastery of water elemental magic, which makes him fall short.

Even so, it's still much more useful than many useless spells.

Su Mu sat on the platform, meditating in seclusion. After half a day, he finally mastered the exorcism technique.

During this period, Ouling took charge of the city's defenses. Following Su Mu's instructions, he opened the city gates directly and no longer restricted the movement of the city's residents.

Rumors circulated that Kyle, upon hearing of the fall of Whitestone, flew into a rage and ordered his troops to return. The shadow of war once again loomed over the city, and many residents, unwilling to live in fear any longer, fled the city to escape the ravages of war.

"According to Mead, the town originally had more than 80,000 people, and tens of thousands more fled from various towns afterward. According to today's statistics, probably only half of them have escaped."

If an ordinary city lord heard this news, he would probably be panicked, but Su Mu was not worried at all, since he didn't plan to stay there permanently anyway.

A hundred Earthbowmen couldn't defend this fortified city; what he wanted was to annoy the Kyle family.

You went to raid Longlet Castle? You came back to find your house gone. Surprised?

After squeezing every last bit of value out of White Stone City, he led his troops away and returned to Cangmu Town.

Baron Eugen has already written to him, and the nobles around Longletburg have responded one after another, sending troops to assemble in the marquessland. The enemy's arrogance will not last long.

With his stronghold surrounded by a large force and his base fallen, and his master, who was also a thousand miles away, it remains to be seen what Kyle will do.

"Tomorrow marks the start of another week in the new calendar, and the training slots for the guard towers and archer towers will be replenished!"

Su Mu and Ou Ling looked at each other and both saw the smile in each other's eyes.

If Kyle returns with his remaining troops and sees the empty recruitment buildings, his expression will surely be quite interesting!

(End of this chapter)