Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
When the players followed the mage who was recruiting them to the gates of Lapland City, they were questioned by golem soldiers.
“We are civilian laborers from a nearby small town, here to build an altar at the King’s request.”
Nobody Does Human Things (M) said this naturally, though he was actually sweating profusely. He kept hyping himself up, “I’m going in to build an altar,” “My main purpose is to build the altar,” “Everything else is secondary.”
Nothing bad happened.
The golem soldiers stepped aside, signaling that they could enter.
The players were overjoyed but maintained a composed exterior, following closely behind the mage without a word.
“This is amazing!”
“Yeah, what do you call this? This is having a legitimate reason!”
The regional chat exploded.
Players chattered amongst themselves.
“It’s true that sticking with the veteran players from the first test is great; at least we don’t have to figure things out ourselves.”
“Exactly, exactly!”
A group of players entered Lapland in a grand procession. They were just the first batch; more players were heading to other small towns to apply and were waiting to enter Lapland under the guidance of the recruiters.
Just then, the mission panels of the group of players who had just entered Lapland refreshed simultaneously.
[Mission Stage One: Secret Infiltration (√)]
[Reward Obtained: 20,000 Experience Points, 5 Copper Coins, 5 King of Winter Dog Food, 1 Grandmaster Equipment Fragment]
[Mission Stage Two: Dormancy]
[Mission Background: With your exceptional wisdom, you have successfully infiltrated the Royal City of Kalun, but your strength is still too weak. Await the assembly of other Chosen Ones. During this time, gather intelligence from the surroundings and investigate the Truth Council of Lapland.]
[Mission Objective]
1. Obtain useful intelligence.
2. Enter the altar construction team.
3. Investigate the Truth Council.
4. Wait for other players to enter Lapland.
[Completing Mission Stage Two will unlock Mission Stage Three.]
Xi Wei did not enter Lapland with them.
However, with the help of the King of Winter statue and Loli and Ruo Yi, he had a God-like perspective, able to see the situation of every player and fully aware of their movements in Lapland.
“Now that the main force has entered, let me see what secrets this city is hiding…”
Xi Wei looked towards Lapland with a cold gaze. His vision gradually merged with Nobody Does Human Things’, and the city of Lapland unfolded completely in his mind.
Judging by the city’s scale, at least tens of thousands of households resided here.
This was quite substantial for a main city of an empire primarily composed of mages and alchemists.
After all, those who could live in the Royal City were generally the wealthy and influential.
Ordinary civilian laborers couldn’t afford housing here. Xi Wei estimated that half of the tens of thousands of households might be mages or alchemists, a fact evident from the densely packed mage towers of varying heights.
The city walls were silver-gray.
Compared to the city walls of Erlendara, which were formed by Giant Golems, Lapland’s walls were not as exaggerated, but their height and thickness surpassed Erlendara’s. Furthermore, a large number of golem soldiers were stationed on them.
The equipment on their bodies gleamed with magical light, clearly more advanced. The golem soldiers in Erlendara used ordinary equipment. The leading golem soldier was even larger, with a Magic Cannon mounted on its left arm, exuding a menacing aura.
“These impenetrable city walls will be difficult to deal with…”
Xi Wei looked at the surrounding city walls, his mind racing. His original intention was for the players to sabotage the walls when an opportunity arose, but now that the players had gone to great lengths just to enter the city, he decided he would handle the wall destruction himself.
“Crack!”
A door in a civilian house in the distance was kicked open.
Nobody Does Human Things’ gaze shifted towards the source of the sound. He saw a group of golem soldiers dragging a young woman out of the house, followed by her father’s pleading.
“No, don’t take my Karin away! She’s my only daughter!”
Xi Wei frowned as he watched the scene on the magic screen.
“What are these golem soldiers doing with a young woman? Aren’t they golem creatures without reproductive functions?”
“Could it be that these golem soldiers are capturing her for someone behind them?”
Loli approached the magic screen and noticed that the captured girl had a good figure and a pretty face. By ordinary standards, she was quite beautiful. Could it be that a mage was coveting her beauty?
Her small head conjured a whole dramatic scene: a certain ugly mage fancied a merchant’s daughter, but she refused, so the mage used his power to oppress her?
“It doesn’t seem like it,” Ruo Yi shook her head.
At this moment, Nobody Does Human Things on screen took action. He took a few steps forward, catching up with Serice’s pace: “Mage Lord, what is happening? Do golem soldiers have such preferences?”
“You’re overthinking it.”
Serice feigned ignorance of the chaos before him, simply gripping his staff, adjusting his robe slightly, and rushing past with the players.
He tilted his head slightly and lowered his voice, saying:
“This is the King’s request. He wants to build a Truth Altar and requires some young maidens to perform sacrificial dances. However, many are unwilling to hand over their eligible daughters, so this coercive method is being employed.”
“So that’s how it is… So any eligible maiden will be taken away? Will there be different treatment based on identity?”
“No.”
Serice shook his head.
“Even the Princess has to lead the sacrificial dance, and students from the magic academy have also been recruited. Those who willingly obey the command will be rewarded by the King. But for those who are stubborn, like that merchant just now, not only will his daughter be taken, but he will also be punished later…”
“It’s just like bandits…”
Nobody Does Human Things muttered.
The orders of this King of Kalun were truly strange.
[Intelligence Obtained: The Strange Sacrificial Dance]
[After entering Lapland, you discovered that the King seems to be preparing for a strange ritual. You might consider infiltrating the ritual and investigating the secrets of Lapland.]
Nobody Does Human Things stared blankly at the refreshed mission.
But he wasn’t an eligible maiden, so he couldn’t possibly infiltrate. It seemed this mission could only be assigned to Ms. and other female players.
He immediately sent a private message to Ms., sharing the acquired intelligence, and received a positive reply.
“Lord.”
He said to Serice:
“The King’s ritual must be very important. As a member of the Empire, I believe we should also contribute to the Empire. In fact, our Mercenary Group also has several eligible maidens. Why don’t we let them participate as well?”
