Chapter 94: A Merchant Never Misses

“I’m not going in. There are definitely zombies, Ghosts, or other Monsters in there. I’ll just hold you back if I go.”

Faced with the pitch-black tomb entrance, Herbie shrank back. She was certainly afraid, but the main reason was that there was no profit to be made inside.

Items from a tomb were completely inauspicious for business, and selling them would lower the merchant guild’s reputation. Therefore, merchant guilds generally neither sold nor purchased anything sourced from a tomb.

“If there were Piercing Monsters like Ghosts, the Arcadia family living here would have been harassed to the breaking point long ago. It wouldn’t be the Undead Race either. The bodies of the Silver Race are incredibly divine; rather than turning into the Undead Race, they would even annihilate them.”

Blaze lifted Herbie by the collar, thoroughly crushing any hopes she had of slipping away. “You’re coming inside with us.”

“What are you doing! It’s rare for me to be this considerate and not cause trouble!” Herbie struggled in dissatisfaction. No matter how she flailed her arms and legs, her hands couldn’t reach Blaze, and her feet couldn’t touch the ground.

“The polite excuse is that meeting this Silver King requires a sense of ceremony. Audrey Arcadia represents the descendants of the Silver Race, Greenland represents the Foreigners, I represent the Blessed Ones, and you represent the ordinary citizens of Arcadia.” Blaze leaned in close to Herbie’s ear and whispered, “As for the real reason… I think you want to stay outside to meet the Foreigners who are looking for Audrey, and strike a deal with them. Let me guess… ‘Audrey Meet-and-Greet Tickets’.”

Cold sweat broke out on Herbie’s face. With one foot already inside the tomb, Audrey was staring at them with extreme suspicion.

“Hehehe~” Herbie turned her head like a little fox that had been caught in the act, yet she still wore a smiling, harmless expression.

“Do you know how steep the price is to meet the Eternal Queen of Camelot? You either have to sneak in and become a wanted criminal, or slay a Dragon. Compared to that, meeting Audrey only requires completing a few trivial commissions. Besides, I know what I’m doing.

“I wouldn’t target the Foreigners who participated in the liberation of Arcadia. On the contrary, I’ll provide them with plenty of discounts and intelligence.”

“You’re only being this generous because you know these people are either highly promising or already renowned, powerful Foreigners, and you want to establish long-term cooperation with them.” Although Herbie was eccentric and mischievous, after seeing the true face beneath her thousand masks so many times, Blaze could more or less guess her motives. “If you promise not to scam the Foreigners, I’ll put you down.”

“I promise! I’ve already contacted the merchant guild, and they’ll deliver the contracts very soon. I’ll show you the copies when they arrive.” Herbie raised her right hand, swearing with absolute sincerity.

Just in case, Blaze spun Herbie around to make sure her other hand wasn’t making any “what I just said doesn’t count” gestures behind her back.

“Alright, if the Foreigners do come looking, we really do need someone to deal with them so they don’t make a wasted trip.” Blaze had no choice but to release the little fox back into the wild.

Herbie landed on her tiptoes, let out a soft huff as she hopped forward a few steps, and then clasped her hands behind her back. Smiling, she jutted her chin toward the tomb. “Go on, off you go!”

“Stay safe,” Blaze emphasized with lingering concern. He still remembered the group of people who wanted to harm Herbie.

Herbie’s small hands, still clasped behind her back, unconsciously clenched into fists, but her facial expression didn’t change at all. She pursed her lips and gestured toward the distance.

“See those guards from the security division of Hermes’ Travel Hat over there? They’re all Blessed Ones.”

Blaze glanced over. As expected of Hermes’ Travel Hat, the vast majority of them were around Level 80, and their Professions were completely hidden from view.

This also showed how seriously Hermes’ Travel Hat took Audrey as the new Lord and the Foreigners of Arcadia; they clearly wanted to actively pursue a partnership.

“If you encounter danger, shout loudly, or—”

“I’ll stay,” the chicken said, feeling exasperated by Blaze’s nagging. She shook her head and landed on Herbie’s shoulder.

“That works.” Blaze’s eyes lit up. He had just been thinking that the atmosphere between the chicken and Herbie had been a bit stiff lately, so giving them a chance to be alone wasn’t a bad idea. “Have a good chat, you two.”

Blaze eagerly made his exit, walking into the tomb with a brisk pace.

The moment Blaze disappeared from view, Herbie immediately dropped her smile. Acting as if the chicken on her shoulder didn’t exist, she turned to face the shadowy figures.

“There is a massive business deal coming up. Whatever the other partners want to tell me, push it back.”

The shadowy figures exchanged glances with one another. They brought out a chest, opened it, and turned it toward Herbie.

Inside were stacks upon stacks of contracts.

It had barely been half an hour since Belcimann was defeated and the Creation Giant Bell rang, yet Hermes’ Travel Hat had already prepared everything.

“Good,” Herbie murmured softly, rolling her neck. “Before I’m forced to step down, I might as well secure a few more things for my good friends.”

The chicken heard Herbie’s muttering. She lowered her head and used her beak to smooth down a tuft of hair that had stuck up during Herbie’s earlier struggle.

“Hum hum hum~”

The corners of Herbie’s lips curled up. The gentle fussing atop her head brought a much more genuine smile to her face.

Inside the tomb—or more accurately, inside the chest of what used to be the Silver Prince’s statue.

Blaze, Greenland, and Audrey were groping their way through the passage.

Greenland, who possessed rich tomb-raiding experience, walked at the very front, using her Branch Staff to poke the ground and test for traps.

Initially, Greenland wanted to use a Death Druid Skill for Summoning small zombie animals to scout the way, but the moment they appeared, they were subjected to Purification by an inexplicable aura.

This was likely the influence brought about by the Divine Body of the true Silver Race, Silver King Lycan. Just as Blaze had said, the body of a true member of the Silver Race remained divine even in death.

Because this tomb had once been a Werewolf statue built to praise the Silver Prince, the interior was mostly filled with piled-up stones, covered in glowing moss from the passage of countless years.

After confirming that the area was relatively safe, Greenland focused all her attention on… looting the surrounding plants.

However, because she was a Death Druid, these plants—which grew within the Holy Aura and radiated a silver light—became highly aggressive the moment she approached, directly burning her cat paws.

Clearly, a person’s Profession also affected their ability to acquire items.

The cat ears on Greenland’s head drooped down as she stared tearfully at the flowers on the wall.

“Speaking of which, Ms. Greenland, you mentioned earlier that when you were saving the world, you entered the tombs of Heroes and took their weapons to save the world.” Audrey plucked the flower and handed it to Greenland. “Why bury equipment capable of defeating Monsters underground? Wouldn’t it be better to hand it down to others so it could continue being used to save the world?”

Greenland happily accepted the flower, though she was still grumbling. “Exactly! Why bury them inside! They even set up so many traps and place the items right next to the corpses. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just stick them into a wooden post!”

Greenland vented her frustrations, all while clinging to Audrey and pestering her to help pick more of the divine plants, as if she had discovered a New World.

Walking in the rear, Blaze felt a sense of doubt. When it came to the legends of Silver King Lycan, the most impossible-to-ignore detail was this: Silver King Lycan was the first human to transform into a Wild Beast, and also the very first blasphemer.

Why did his body still exude a Holy Aura?