Chapter 51: Sacrificial Stone Forest, Silver Believers

The Sacrificial Stone Forest was said to be the place where the sacred Silver Race worshipped the Moon God. Even now, traces of the Silver Race’s existence and their sacrificial rituals could still be found in many parts of this Stone Forest.

The Arcadians inherited the Silver Race’s devout Faith in the Moon God. Calling themselves Silver Believers, they regarded the Sacrificial Stone Forest as a sacred land and a Guardian God. Whenever devout Silver Believers sensed their Life drawing to a close, they would hike to this sacred land, imitating the Silver Race to return their Life to the moon.

"If this kind of thing happened in the Faist Territory, traveling from the Lord City to Balkan City would take at least half a month, even if you rode in a bird carriage pulled by a Fast-Walking Ostrich. Fortunately, this is the Arcadia Territory. It only takes a week to get from the Arcadia Territory’s Lord City—Lai Kaion City—to this Priest Stone Forest," Herbie remarked.

"I’m so sorry that the Arcadia Territory is as small as a town compared to other territories," Audrey retorted. "Once I become the Lord, I’ll definitely work hard and launch wars of aggression against the surrounding Lords."

"When that time comes, please make sure to use the material transport services of our Hermes’ Travel Hat," Herbie replied cheerfully.

Blaze, Herbie, and Audrey navigated through the Priest Stone Forest. Since their surroundings were filled with a dismal gray and the public cemetery-like atmosphere was quite depressing, they had no choice but to find some topics to chat about and make some noise.

It was just that other Lords couldn’t be allowed to hear their idle chatter.

"Those believers consider Lai Kaion to be part of the Silver Race that wandered to Arcadia, and they claim that the current Arcadians are descendants of the Silver Race," Audrey said, wielding her Knight’s Rapier. She continuously slashed away the thick fog obstructing their vision, but the dispersed mist would quickly gather again.

She was doing this futile work as if simply killing time.

"But in my eyes, this is just finding an excuse for themselves to have Faith in the Moon God. It’s quite boring. If they want to have Faith, they can just have Faith. Why do they insist on tying it to bloodlines and ethnic inheritance?

"If you really want to put it that way, the Werewolves should be the true descendants of the Silver Race, even though they are cursed descendants."

Blaze’s view on this thing called Faith was much more pragmatic. In his eyes, Faith was simply a powerful Attribute that could be used to activate a means similar to Magic, known as Prayer.

But for Ordinary People, Faith was a part of life, and sometimes even a pillar of support.

"It would be a Ghost’s tale if Arcadians were the true descendants of the Silver Race. Our Hermes’ Travel Hat has done the statistics: the average lifespan of Arcadians is only fifty years. Can people with such short lives really be considered descendants of a sacred race?"

Herbie casually clasped her hands behind the back of her head, strolling carelessly between Audrey and Blaze.

"I was almost scared to death when I read that report. I have the goal of becoming a named partner of Hermes’ Travel Hat in thirty years, and an adjudicating partner in fifty years. Living to only fifty isn’t going to cut it."

"Then why don’t you consider becoming a devout believer? You might live a little longer."

"Huh?" Herbie let out a scoffing laugh. Just as she was about to say something like ’money is my Faith’, Audrey immediately covered her mouth.

Subsequently, Audrey whispered a warning in her ear.

"Do not anger the Deities. A God only needs to whisper a single sentence in your ear to turn you and all your future offspring into Monsters.

"This is a place where the Moon God is worshipped, after all."

Herbie immediately clamped her mouth shut, her face turning pale. However, Audrey puffed out her cheeks and turned her head away, occasionally letting out snickers that lacked aristocratic etiquette.

Clearly, Audrey was just trying to scare Herbie.

Blaze didn’t participate in their banter. He had been keeping a lookout on their surroundings through Shared Vision with his chicken.

Since the Silver Believers of Arcadia had a habit of coming to the Sacrificial Stone Forest to await their deaths, there might be members of the Undead Race here, or perhaps zombies and the like.

Unfortunately, the Arcadia Territory was quite small, and aside from its specialty Monsters—the Werewolves—there was basically nothing special about it. Therefore, Arcadia’s discussion rate among Foreigners was very low, and he hadn’t heard much intelligence about Arcadia from them.

The only time it was mentioned was when Foreigners complained that Arcadia felt like a half-finished product, though they didn’t mean it was incomplete.

The residents within Arcadia were simple and peaceful, making it akin to the Peach Blossom Spring. The atmosphere there wasn’t suitable as a destination for long-distance exploration; rather, it felt more like a starting point.

Just like Alcmena Village, which was known as a Newbie Village.

"Foreigners..."

From high in the sky, the chicken noticed quite a few Foreigners. These were Foreigners who looked incredibly powerful at a single glance, and they were currently searching through the crevices in the rocks.

Werewolves were nocturnal creatures. During the day, they hid from the Sunshine in rock crevices, only emerging when night fell. In other words, daytime was the best time to hunt Werewolves.

"One Werewolf can be exchanged for one medal... So, does that mean the Foreigners believe the Sacrificial Stone Forest is the place within the Arcadia Territory where the most Werewolves are hiding?" Blaze muttered to himself.

"Then those Silver Believers sure are going all out. To think they’d risk being devoured by Werewolves to come here for their Faith."

Perhaps feeling that they had been walking for a bit too long, Herbie took out the Map and held it up to compare it for the chicken, which was sharing its vision with Blaze.

"This direction isn’t wrong. If we walk a little further, we’ll arrive at the nearest Wolf Head Grass Village," Blaze said. "Don’t you guys think this name is really strange?"

Even though he was the one who said it, Blaze still shuddered when he read the name of the village on the Map. It practically had ’Werewolves in Stealth here’ written all over it. Moreover, the Skill [Botany F] told him that wolf head grass was a Highly Poisonous plant.

What kind of village would combine the name of the most terrifying local Monster with a Highly Poisonous grass?

"Audrey, he has a problem with the name of your mother’s hometown," Herbie covered her mouth and giggled. Blaze immediately felt that something was wrong.

However, Lady Audrey’s reaction was quite normal.

"I also think this name isn’t very good. When there’s a chance, I’ll have the Village Chief and the others change it."

As they spoke, they had already passed through the Sacrificial Stone Forest. Looking back, the sight before them absolutely could not be described as mountains or a mountain range.

If one had to describe it, it was an exposed forest of stalactites turned upside down on the ground.

SWISH—

A whistling sound struck the air. It was a Peregrine Falcon carrying a letter from Flying Brick. The content was very simple:

[How many Copper Coins can you get in total?]

[Three a day.]

After writing a very simple reply, Blaze released the Peregrine Falcon. Only then did the chicken fly back, panting heavily.

Just as Blaze was about to tease the chicken, it yelled anxiously, "I saw a Foreigner causing a ruckus in Wolf Head Village! He seems to want to attack those villagers directly!"

Blaze immediately dashed toward Wolf Head Village with all his might. After establishing Shared Vision with the chicken, he saw Wolf Head Grass Village, and he also saw the Foreigner making a scene.