Chapter 27

Five. Five skulls continuously produce curses, and another forty-seven skulls amplify the range of the curse. The amplifying skull scattered on the northern part of the southern territory, and I even found one of them near the Cunningham family.

Whoever is doing this will pay, and the payment will be steep.

I already take care of all the skulls and can feel there is no longer a curse in the air. Sonia, Okami, Fenrir, and I are flying across the sky to return to Baxter territory.

It has been nine days since I started searching for the cursed object, and I need to return to my men.

We continue to fly for more than seven hours before we arrive in front of Linton's gate. When we land on the ground, the gatekeeper quickly greets us.

"Young master, Gwyndolin! You are back."

"I'm back. How is the situation? Did Lady Yuliana find any cursed object?"

"Yes, young master. We managed to dig out three skulls around the city."

"Three? That many?"

"Lord Baxter decided to increase the parameter of our search to three kilometers and find two more skulls. One in the west near the border and west near the small lake."

"I see."

I frown a little. All the locations of the cursed object I found are located in an important part of the southern territory. Mountain full of life, a lake where many fish breed and live, and a river where plants and fish thrive.

Whoever is doing this is planning to make sure the south cannot recover and kill us all slowly. If not for Sonia, I would not notice it immediately and only will notice it after the curse strengthens. I shake my head and say.

"Where are they? I need to speak with Lord Baxter."

"They are in the mansion, young master. Are you in a hurry? We have a horse for you if you want."

"No. I'm not in a hurry or anything. Anyway, I will go to the mansion now, thank you my good man."

"No problem, young master."

I nod my head, and we walk to the mansion.

"Can you feel any stinky smell in the air, Sonia?"

"Um? No. There is no more stink."

"I see. Thank you for your hard work, Sonia."

I give her a head pat and see her smile brightly at me.

"Hehehehe~"

While patting her head, I can feel a nudge from both Fenrir and Okami. I smile brightly at them and start to pet them as well. We reach the mansion after a few minutes of walking, and I can see the Baxter family already waiting for us.

"Welcome back, Heir Gwyndolin. Thank you for your hard work."

"I'm back, Lord Adrian."

"Come on, I already told the servant to prepare a feast. You must be hungry from doing your duty."

I nod my head and walk inside the mansion. I cannot just say that we already eat and eat something quite good. Second Life's healing item includes food, and boy, do I have a lot of food in my guild base. They are still good even after being there for a long time.

I ask Okami and Fenrir if they want to come but seeing them shaking their heads, I let them hunt for their own food while Sonia and I walk to the dining room.

When we take a seat, Lord Adrian says.

"How is it, Heir Gwyndolin?"

"A lot. There are more than fifty cursed objects around the southern territory. They are placed in important spots like rivers, lakes and mountains."

He nods his head and says.

"As I thought. Whoever doing this tries to make us even weaker than before you save the land. I also have a feeling they want to create a crack between the Luzia kingdom and the southern noble."

"Oh?"

"One of the cursed objects we found is located on the border between Baxter Barony and the Luzia kingdom."

"Please don't tell me it was located inside Luzia Kingdom rather than Baxter Barony."

"I'm sorry to inform you but it was located in the Luzia kingdom. However, my lovely wife already takes care of it."

"Really?"

"Yes. Just like you said, we already burn all the cursed objects inside a pit with an intense fire strong enough to melt sand. We also confirm a black smoke coming out of them after we burn them."

"Good."

Before I can say more, the food is here. Like before, Lord Adrian is the first to take the food, and we follow suit. While eating, Lord Adrian looks at me and says,

"So, what will you do from now on, heir Gwyndolin?"

"I will continue my duty, my lord. However, I will also watch out for a suspicious movement in my journey."

"I will also order some men to investigate this matter. I will inform you if we find something."

"I appreciate that, my lord."

"This is the least we can do, heir Gwyndolin."

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|Catharina von Xenotra - Heiress of Baron Xenotra|

I look at the beautiful woman in front of me and say.

"It was the Alcott family, huh?"

"Yup~"

In front of me is a beautiful woman with white hair and golden eyes, Veronica Yorn. She is a key figure in White Lily if a player wants to use Shadow Gameplay in their playthrough. What is Shadow Gameplay? It was a long gameplay that used a lot of spies, assassins, and, surprisingly, merchants.

Why is she a key figure? One, her spy network is something the player needs to win the game. Two, she is a character the player needs to recruit if they want to recruit a late-game NPC who is very strong for a late-game monster and boss.

If the player did not recruit her in the early game, the chance of her becoming a merchant that rarely goes home is bigger. The longer the player delays recruiting her, the bigger the possibility of her leaving this kingdom.

"So? What do you guys want to do?"

"Hmmmm, I don't know. What do you think of Jon?"

I look at Jonathan and ask for his opinion. Truthfully, this is the worst kind of outcome I thought it was. In White Lily, the Alcott family is the main source of healing. However, instead of being seen as a savior to all players, the player usually curses their name.

Why? Money.

They demand a lot of money for an instant healing service. Like any RTS game, instant healing to your army is a great boon, and the Alcott family offers their service to any player with a lot of money inside their vault.

Sadly, their service is only available in the early game (Up to the middle of the second arc), and they will be gone by the late game. What does that mean? That means not many players can afford their service unless something horrible happens in the battle, and they cannot afford to lose one or two battles.

Can I afford to punish their family and lose their service later? Truthfully? Yes. How? Potions. That is the answer all the players get when they reach the mid-story of the first arc. There are five NPCs I can recruit to get the potion production going; right now, the Cunningham family is one of them.

"At the moment? We cannot do anything."

Jonathan looks at the paper in front of him with a frown on his face.

"The Alcott family have their finger in the royal family matter as they are the most–Ahem, donator to the royal family."

And that is new information I just learned not too long ago. The Alcott family has their finger in a lot of noble matters. I don't know how and even Jonathan and Veronica did not know how. In the past seventy years, the Alcott family did not have someone who understood politics or economics.

However, for some reason, they manage to get a lot of gold and gather a lot of favor from many nobles. Veronica assures me that the past five lords of the Alcott family are oafs. They cannot think of something complicated as poisoning the southern river and blaming it on someone, then making it as if it was an accident. Nor can they forge evidence to convince the previous king to approve that stupid edict.

I know money comes into play in the background, but it should not be enough to convince the king.

Jonathan and Veronica theorize that someone or a group of people are helping them, but we don't know who and why.

"That means we cannot do anything unless we want the royal family to look at us."

Jon nods at my answer and says.

"That is correct. We need a LOT of evidence before we can arrest them and punish them. If we want to go through legal means."

"What do you mean?"

I shiver a little when I see him smiling at me. That is not a sweet smile but rather a sadistic smile that he uses when he is about to torture someone, just like in the game. I look to the side to get a supporter, but I can see Veronica giggling at his suggestion.

Bloody hell! I forget that both of them are sadists!