Our Family Has Fallen

No wonder Amanda and the others reacted that way; after all, who could expect to find Gold Coins and even gemstones among those piles of bones? However, Lance wasn’t surprised. He counted the Gold Coins in his hand while explaining to them.

”Among these corpses, there were not only common folk and Heretics. Over the long passage of time, there must have been Adventurers who discovered and explored this place, reaping considerable rewards.” Lance reminded them of the body they had found previously beneath the collapsed passage, where they also found numerous Gold Coins. ”These Adventurers wouldn’t have entered this place alone; they typically worked in squads. And when there’s one, there’s the possibility of a second and a third Adventurer making their way here.”

Only then did Amanda and the others understand that Lance wasn’t acting without thought—he had guessed that the refuse discarded by the Pigmen contained items humans would need, so he acted on this assumption. They thought that was the case, yet they hadn’t considered why Adventurers who explored the Beast Lair and died there had so much money on them. Mercenaries were usually paid in copper coins for tasks, but the purses they opened were full of Gold Coins and gemstones. The detailed reasons were perhaps known only to Lance, but he surely wouldn’t disclose them voluntarily.

After taking over Hamlet, Lance had gained a general understanding of its history by questioning the survivors. There had been various Lords, and it had seen brief periods of prosperity. But in the end, those were but fleeting moments until it nearly collapsed, and that’s when he arrived.

After the ’remote’ encounter with the Old Ancestor, Lance understood why he had let Hamlet be. He needed an Heir, even if just in name. At the same time, he required the Heir to constantly incite war to keep Hamlet in chaos, thereby generating more deaths to fuel his rituals. The Old Ancestor’s simplest method to control Hamlet was to throw money around—lots and lots of Gold Coins. And the person implementing this was none other than the Butler.

The Butler, holding a letter, would awaken the Heir and bring them back. Then, through the ’inheritance,’ he could coerce the Heir to undertake the task of saving Hamlet. Here, ’inheritance’ meant heaps of Gold Coins, various family heirlooms, and precious Extraordinary Equipment offered as mission rewards. What Heir could resist the allure of such an ’inheritance’? They would all strive to revitalize Hamlet.

But you need to be alive to spend that money! These so-called revival missions, which involved reclaiming Hamlet’s territory, were all designed to push the Heir into battle. But what kinds of demons and monsters were the enemies they faced? And what support did they have on their side? To rely on those scattered mercenaries who only worked for money? It was a complete joke. In the end, all that money would simply flow back to the Old Ancestor.

Until one anomaly appeared among these Heirs! Lance killed the Butler right from the start. Consequently, he received no generous ’inheritances’ as mission rewards, lacked initial funding, and even had no one to help manage the town. But he gained his freedom! The environment in which he grew up destined him to be a natural rebel in this world.

No money? Then go make money. Confiscate the assets of the wealthiest farm owner, eliminate the town mayor who held the most land deeds. That’s how we players handle things. After securing his first windfall, he didn’t rush to recruit forces to start wars; his approach had always focused on development: diligently farming, training troops, and slowly accumulating power. Even if large-scale battles occurred, it was usually in self-defense or involved targeted actions.

Despite achieving this much, confronting challenges such as bandit invasions, plagues, Warwolf attacks, and Heretic disturbances proved incredibly difficult. If not for his personal strength providing a crucial foundation, allowing him to turn the tide several times, Hamlet would likely have already been destroyed by the Old Ancestor’s schemes.

By contrast, an Heir lacking strategic thinking, ignorant of the wisdom of cautious development, blinded by lucrative mission rewards, and deluding themselves that money could solve all problems, was doomed to fail. And the carnage they wrought would nourish the Old Ancestor.

As for those recruited mercenaries, the weak ones couldn’t even defeat bandits and could only intimidate common folk; Lance wiped them out on the very night he arrived. As for the strong ones, motivated by money to clash with monsters... Aren’t they all here?

Lance, gazing at the heap of dry bones before him, couldn’t help but quip, ”Maybe, there’s not much left of the former Adventurers.”

Nobody knew what Lance was thinking, but these unspoken thoughts made him appear somewhat melancholic.

”Boss, look what I found!” Boudica’s voice snapped him out of his reverie. He looked up to see her approaching, eager to show off her find as she handed over an item.

Lance examined the ornament. It was fashioned from the claw of some animal, specially treated, with the bone end capped in silver. Holding it, he could feel the soft texture of fur; the craftsmanship was indeed quite delicate. But what was more striking was that this object turned out to be a piece of Extraordinary Equipment! ”This is a ’Lucky Charm.’ It’s an item circulated among Tomb Robbers, made from the claw of a night-hunting creature with Transcendent Bloodline, known as a nightcat. It grants them agility comparable to a nightcat and faint dark vision. This mimics a nightcat’s enhanced senses in darkness, making nighttime activities more convenient.”