Chapter 212: Chapter 210: Miss Saintess Is an Inspector Today~

"What is this secret tunnel inspection?"

Asked the Array Master from the Holy Court.

Hilia smiled slightly, "Southern Border City is very special; it’s a crucial border city. If during wartime, the enemy tunnels their way in, bypassing the magic array, it could lead to the fall of the city. So, we’ve added a secret tunnel inspection.

"As long as someone digs a tunnel within the array’s protective range without authorization, the array will continuously sound an alarm and then destroy the tunnel to ensure the city’s safety."

The bishop of the Southern Divine Hall nodded, "That’s indeed a very good feature, solving the problem of arrays being difficult to protect underground."

Puniel looked at Hilia in surprise. He always felt that the specific thing she brought up wasn’t that simple.

But on second thought, there seemed to be no problem. Underground safety is also an important city defense criterion.

The array master of Southern Border City asked, "The city has a sewer system. Will the sewers trigger an alarm?"

Hilia shook her head, "The existing tunnel system won’t trigger an alarm. If additional tunnels are added, remember to add them to the array’s whitelist, or disable the automatic counterattack after an alarm is triggered, and the tunnel will be added to the whitelist by default, without being attacked."

Speaking, Hilia paused and hinted, "Lord Puniel, I wonder if there are any unauthorized dug cellars or secret tunnels in the city? If so, remember to check them, or they might trigger the array’s attack."

"Hmm, I will immediately send someone to inspect to ensure the array’s normal establishment, and punish unauthorized secret tunneling," said Puniel.

Hilia smiled, "I trust Lord Puniel’s decision. If you adopt my design, I’ll specifically inspect the city walls tomorrow, modify some details and the array’s areas of effect. If I encounter any illegal tunnels, I’ll block them for you."

Puniel felt that Hilia’s words had deeper implications.

Could the ’mice’ digging tunnels have offended her?

He said nothing but looked at the array masters reviewing the array.

He saw that the originally unconvinced two array masters of Southern Border City became more and more shocked and incredulous as they noticed the details.

Hilia smiled, "Feel free to ask if there’s anything you don’t understand."

"Can we really?" an array master asked with surprise.

Hilia smiled and nodded.

"I don’t quite understand this part; constructing a disguised array core based on the square... can the core also be disguised?"

"Of course, it can."

"And here..."

...

Puniel watched their discussion. Although he didn’t understand, he already realized that this array seemed very impressive.

He quietly asked an array master, "How does it compare to the previous array?"

The array master quietly replied, "I can’t tell, but it’s certainly not inferior to the previous one."

Puniel nodded without saying anything.

After some time, the four array masters exchanged designs and continued reading.

About two hours later, they barely finished understanding it.

The array master from the Ista Royal Family sighed, "These plans not only consider the current city scale but also future expansions, self-inspection, and self-repair. The materials used are not overly precious, missing many common rune patterns, yet the effect is not compromised at all. It’s very concise. Miss Hilia is truly a master of large arrays, not inferior to legendary array masters."

Hilia modestly said, "You’re too kind. Actually, these are all blessings from the Gods. Without divine guidance, I wouldn’t have been able to complete it."

Everyone exchanged glances and then smiled, "Miss Hilia’s devotion to the Gods is unmatched."

Hilia smiled while secretly glancing at Rose in her heart.

I’m not being modest, though; there really was divine guidance!

This array is also considered compensation as a gift from the Heart of the Magic Puppet.

Lord Rose said that Heart of the Magic Puppet was very precious. Giving it unconditionally, helping them rebuild the array, was only fair—especially since it was destroyed because of me.

...

Beside the Southern Border City’s wall, inside a seemingly ordinary courtyard.

Dark sat leisurely, sipping Word Spirit Brew obtained at a high cost, living quite comfortably.

"Dark, what do you think of what’s happened in Southern Border City these past two days?"

The uncle who swapped to guard the other side of the tunnel sat down beside him and asked.

"Ett, that’s not something we should be concerned about. What we should consider is when we’ll next catch a fat mouse."

"You charge too much, 4 gold coins per passage," Ett sighed. "Technically, even extortion merits only 1 gold coin since we’re merely ’protectors of the path.’"

"In emergencies, bounty hunters who catch Elf Royal Family members wouldn’t care about these gold coins," Dark smiled slightly.

"Aren’t you afraid of retaliation?"

"Afraid of what? She is just Tier Two. We’re both Tier Three Mages, and there are Tier Four Mages overseeing us. Even the City Lord wouldn’t deal with us lightly. Besides, it’s just four gold coins; the bounty hunter organization wouldn’t risk offending local powers over this small change."

Dark said and then recalled something amusing, "Speaking of which, you might not know what I heard. That bounty hunter actually said she’d report us to the City Lord. Seems that bounty hunter lady is new to the trade, or just a common bandit, not even a real bounty hunter."

"But I still think you were too harsh."

"Haha, only that way can we earn enough gold to retire in the shadows. I’ve made up my mind. Two more years, and I’ll retire to the background and let others handle it."

Ett said, "The guild sent word that since the Southern Border City array was destroyed and is being rebuilt, we should refrain from operating these days."

"Laying low for a few days? Consider it a vacation," Dark nodded. "Let’s give Puniel some respect. He surely won’t trouble us over such a minor issue..."

Before he could finish speaking, there came a knock at the courtyard door.

The two exchanged a glance, got up to open the door, and saw a security team appear outside. Standing before them was a very beautiful young lady.

"Sheriff, what can I do for you?" Dark asked.

Hilia casually said, "Southern Border City is preparing to rebuild its array. We are investigating unregistered tunnels to prevent you from being targeted by the array. Please cooperate."

Dark and Ett exchanged another glance and stepped aside to allow a path. Dark smiled, "We have nothing like that in our home. Feel free to investigate."

Hilia waved and led the security team inside.

Soon, inside what seemed like an outhouse, a tunnel entrance was opened.

Hilia smirked, "What’s this? Couldn’t be an illegal tunnel leading outside the city, would it?"

Dark and Ett’s expressions were priceless.

This isn’t what the guild told us?

Hilia smiled slightly, "Unauthorized tunneling incurs a 40 gold coin fine, which I now impose on you on behalf of the Sheriff, with an order to fill the tunnel immediately."

Dark opened his eyes wide, "Ma’am, the amount isn’t right. Unauthorized tunneling fines are at most 10 gold coins..."

"I said 40, and it’s 40," Hilia said coolly, allowing no room for bargaining. "This serves as a penalty for charging my... friend 4 gold coins as a ’toll fee’ the other day."

Dark, Ett: "???"

So this was revenge.

No, can a sheriff be this arbitrary and reckless? Does the City Lord know this?

Wait!

Dark squinted his eyes, "I don’t think we’ve met you. Are you really a sheriff?"