Players' NPC Big Daddy

Finally, Audrey promised Greenland a piece of land to reclaim.

This wasn’t a major issue; Audrey had long intended to lease land to Foreigners.

Since Arcadia’s population was sparse, much of the land had been left barren and abandoned. However, at that time, she hadn’t been the Lord yet, and the Deputy Lord, Belcimann, was rather old-fashioned.

In truth, leasing territory to Foreigners was a relatively novel management strategy. A single Foreigner could single-handedly achieve terrifying yields, all while working continuously day and night.

The most terrifying part was that the Foreigners actually enjoyed it.

The only problem was that Foreigners didn’t sell the crops they harvested. They just hoarded it endlessly in their own warehouses, treating whatever spoiled as fertilizer.

It wasn’t that the Foreigners didn’t want to sell, but large-scale sales required the [Merchant] Profession. Ultimately, Foreigners willing to waste a precious level slot on it were in the minority.

This was where Herbie Hermes made her grand entrance. As an Advanced partner of the largest merchant guild, [Hermes’ Travel Hat], she had been eyeing the Foreigners’ hoarded grain for a long time.

A massive sales chain was silently established.

”By the way, Audrey, are you going to hold your Lord succession ceremony now, or wait a couple of days?” Blaze asked.

Audrey had only put an end to the Witch Hunting and announced their liberation; she hadn’t officially taken the seat yet.

At the very least, she had yet to declare, ”I am the new Lord of Arcadia.”

”Hmm... Let’s postpone it for a while. Right now, our priority should be handling the treatment of all the extra Arcadian Foreigners that just showed up.”

”That’s going to be a massive project.” Blaze spread his hands. Before entering the King’s Chamber, the Chicken had already seen many Foreigners out on the streets wearing nothing but their underwear.

”Yeah, what a delightfully massive project,” Audrey smiled helplessly, though her expression soon returned to seriousness. ”Most importantly, the Arcadians’ Curse hasn’t been resolved yet.”

Ultimately, they were back to this problem.

In the beginning, they had gone to Lai Kaion City just to end the absurd Witch Hunting. But as they ventured deeper into the Arcadia Territory, they uncovered more of its hidden secrets.

The problems kept piling up, but they worked hard to solve them. While things had ultimately taken a turn for the better, the conclusion remained a glaring issue.

The [Moon God Curse].

The question surrounding this Curse was—was it really a Curse at all?

”It’s fine. We’ll find the truth.”

Blaze looked at the Blessing only he could see. [Arcadia’s Secret Part Two] was now showing as unlocked.

[Arcadia’s Secret Part Two: A Wail Echoes Within That Prince’s Chest]

The unlock requirement was possessing the [Silver Bloodline] Skill.

Although it was unlocked, he only knew its name; everything else remained a mystery.

However, if one had listened to the Village Chief of Wolf Head Grass Village’s story, this quest was practically an open-book exam.

Werewolf statues built for the great Silver Princes, the Silver Castle built over those werewolf statues, a mysterious tomb, and the wailing Silver King Lycan.

”Let’s go. Let’s open Lai Kaion’s tomb.”

”Tomb raiding!?”

Before anyone else could react, Greenland squealed.

”No, it’s not tomb raiding. We got his descendant’s permission, right?” Blaze hurriedly shook his head, turning to Audrey for confirmation.

”...It can’t be helped.”

Audrey’s beautiful brows knitted together. Her expression looked less like she agreed with Blaze’s excuse and more like she had already resigned herself to the criminal act of tomb raiding, silently enduring the torment of her own conscience.

Coupled with her dashing Knight attire, she somewhat gave off the vibe of a coerced Female Knight.

Something along the lines of, ”Guh! You despicable villain! But... if it means securing a future for the people of Arcadia, I’ll do anything!”

”Hell yeah! I’m in!” Greenland raised her hand excitedly. ”I just need to raid a tomb to get the [Tomb Raider] Profession. Then, I can use an item to get [Historian], and synthesize them to get [Archaeologist].”

”Why does a reputable-sounding Profession like Archaeologist require Tomb Raider to unlock?” Blaze’s eyebrow twitched.

”Because so-called Archaeologists are just state-sanctioned tomb raiders,” Herbie revealed the truth on Greenland’s behalf.

”You... I, ugh, fine. Tomb raiding it is.” Blaze hung his head and raised both hands in surrender.

”Then we’d better move fast,” Greenland emphasized. ”Right now, everyone might still be partying over their new items and caught up in showing off to others. But they’ll soon realize that Audrey, the next Lord, is the most important person in all of Arcadia. Plus, the Silver Castle currently has no Guards...”

”Are you saying Foreigners are coming to assassinate Audrey!?”

”No, they’ll just excitedly crawl all over the Silver Castle like ants trying to find you. By the way, if they discover the tomb, they won’t just be ants anymore—they’ll be cockroaches.”

”Then let’s hurry. Do you know where the entrance is?” Audrey urged immediately. She didn’t dare imagine the scene of hundreds of people squeezing into Lai Kaion’s tomb.

”I do. Let’s head out right now.”

Blaze led the way. The internal layout of the Silver Castle was stored within Belcimann’s Memory.

To solve the mystery of the Curse, Belcimann had collected everything necessary, and the legends of Silver King Lycan passed down by the Silver Believers were naturally among them. With that man’s Intelligence and power, he probably found the section of the Silver Castle that belonged to the Silver Prince statue with ease.

Blaze found the location; it was in the rear half of the Silver Castle.

If someone were to painstakingly measure every detail of the Silver Castle, they would discover that at least half of the castle’s space was missing.

And this missing space was exactly where the Silver Prince statue resided.

The unfinished statue practically held up the entire castle.

”It’s here.”

It was an incredibly conspicuous statue of robed figures worshipping the moon. It looked similar to the Silver Believers’ emblem, except the postures of the worshippers were slightly different.

”...Let me guess.” For some reason, Greenland, who had been full of enthusiasm just moments ago, rolled her eyes. ”Next, we need to use light—preferably moonlight—and focus it on that moon statue. Hm, we might also need to adjust the postures of those figures. Excuse me, coming through.”

Greenland squeezed past Blaze. CLICK CLICK CLICK. She twisted the statues into a new position, then took out a glowing fruit and tossed it onto the moon statue.

Accompanied by a loud RUMBLE, a massive hollow opening appeared before the four of them.

”Sigh, puzzles, puzzles, it’s always puzzles. Even a masterpiece of a game can’t avoid this kind of tedious process. Seems like the genius designers have run out of ideas too.”

Blaze, who had been planning to show off this magical mechanism, stood awkwardly in place holding the Silver emblem. He could only offer a dry compliment.

”F-Foreigner, you’re so skilled at this. You must raid tombs often.”

Greenland stiffened, instinctively thinking she had said the wrong thing again, and quickly added an excuse.

”Tomb raiding... I mean, borrowing weapons from past Heroes is also part of saving the world!

”As for disturbing them just to complete a collection or something... I’d never do something like that!”