Monte Town.

Almost twenty days had pa.s.sed since the winter had started. Monte Town had changed dramatically since half a month ago. First, the wall outside the town had grown from more than ten meters to over a hundred meters in height. If one looked closely, one would notice that the outermost wall was not a wall but a giant rock golem that stood a hundred meters tall.

There were 24 giant rock golems in total. On each side of the wall, there was an average of six giant rock golems. A new line of defense had been constructed between the giant rock golems and Monte Town's city wall. Inside, there were simple wooden houses. The bodies of magical beasts that had been devoured were strewn about, and thousands of magical beasts with a silver aura patrolled the area. They would occasionally run to the side of the wooden house and pick up a piece of meat from inside.

The mayor of Monte Town, Gerant, had purchased all of those magical beasts from the Blackmoon Castle some time ago, including the giant rock golems. The meat in those magical beasts' mouths came from wild magical beasts that had escaped from the Misty Forest.

The first month of winter was about to end. Not only did the number of magical beasts outside the town not increase, but the number had dwindled too. Sometimes, one could not even see one for a few days. If it were not for the constant snowfall and the blood-red moon in the sky, Monte Town residents might wonder if they were really in the middle of winter.

Some of Monte Town's brave residents had already left town to conduct business.

At that moment, there was a caravan of more than ten people at the Monte Town gate. They were driving a carriage, and their destination was Blackmoon Castle. The leader was a middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache. He was holding a bottle of crystal clear red wine in his hand. He opened the cork of the bottle and took a gulp. Then, he exhaled longly.

“It feels so good. In previous years, I would usually be surrounded by magical beasts during the winter; there's no way I could take a sip of wine like this. Whatever the price was for the wine, it would skyrocket. It would be hard for me to even take a bite of meat. Now, the wine that I have been saving for years is only sold for one silver coin.”

The middle-aged man examined the two letters MG, which were written in the Holy Dragon Kingdom's language, and the Blackmoon symbol above the bottle. Blackmoon Castle's logo was a black crescent moon. It meant that the bottle of wine was produced by Morgan Manor, a subordinate of Blackmoon Castle.

“Leader, the wine is so cheap because there are no magical beasts this winter, and Blackmoon Castle makes it!”

“I heard that Blackmoon Castle has mastered some cutting-edge technology that can transform low-quality materials into high-quality goods. Many businesses have left Monte Town for Blackmoon Castle as they wanted to trade with them, particularly the Lucky Business Group and the Travelling Wind Business Group. Their leaders are said to be old friends of Blackmoon Castle.”

A curly-haired man, clearly a personal guard, sighed when he said that. He stood near the middle-aged man. His body radiated a bronze-tier aura. The armor he wore and the sword he carried were both silver-tier tools. It was extremely rare for a bronze-tier warrior to be outfitted in silver-tier gear.

Under normal circ.u.mstances, a complete set of bronze-tier equipment would suffice for a silver-tier warrior. That, however, was not the case in Monte Town.

Since Blackmoon Castle had brought many cheap and high-quality weapons, silver-tier equipment that would typically cost dozens of gold coins only cost a few gold coins. Furthermore, it was not as if they did not have a market for them. They were free to have as many as they wanted. The cost of gold-tier equipment was slightly higher. It would cost more than a hundred gold coins, but it was still quite affordable.

There was another sigh. “The Lucky Business Group and the Travelling Wind Business Group are not particularly top-tier in Monte Town. However, they are familiar with Blackmoon Castle, so the two groups' financial resources have increased by at least a hundredfold. It would be great if our group can be so lucky as well.”

The bronze-ranking guard sighed again.

A few of his companions, who were in charge of leading the horses around, opened their mouths to speak at that moment.

“We can also consider ourselves fortunate to live in Monte Town. The magical beasts that appeared in the winter are more powerful than ever. We would not have survived if it had not been for Blackmoon Castle! After putting an end to the problem with the magical beasts, Blackmoon Castle dispatched people to distribute a large amount of resources to us for free. Those who had lost their families were given even more benefits. I heard that the wealthiest family received a hundred gold coins. That amount of money is sufficient to support an ordinary family for ten years.”

Some of those faces were filled with reverence when Blackmoon Castle was mentioned.

“Exactly. There are four towns on the border. Other than Monte Town, the other three towns did not have an easy time during the winter. They did not have Blackmoon Castle's help! My brother died in that battle. However, the people from Blackmoon Castle used the giant rock golem to dig a grave and buried him. They even erected a monument to the heroes. Every time I leave the city, I see my brother's name. They are good people.”

His companion had the same expression.

“That's nothing. The most powerful thing Blackmoon Castle did, in my opinion, was destroying the Dragonspine Snow Mountain during the day. I can still hear the loud bang as it collapsed! That was a natural moat-like mountain range. It is visible from anywhere along the border. We will never have to suffer another winter now that the natural moat has vanished!”

“I heard that Blackmoon Castle and the border count have a close relations.h.i.+p. Blackmoon Castle's eighth young master is also the astrologer's disciple. It is not difficult to clear the Misty Forest and destroy the Dragonspine Snow Mountain with the a.s.sistance of two platinum-tier elites. The Dragonspine Snow Mountain was the natural moat that acted like a gate to the border to keep the Winter Nation at bay. I worry that they would attack us since the mountain had been destroyed. What would we do then?”

Some people were happy, while others were worried.

“Okay, let's not get into the peace treaty between the five kingdoms. If the Winter Nation had intended to attack, they would have done so a long time ago. Even the Dragonspine Snow Mountain would be ineffective against them! Furthermore, we have Blackmoon Castle now. They would only grow stronger over time. I can't wait for them to launch an attack.”

The caravan's leader interrupted everyone's conversation. “Rather than thinking about that nonsense, why don't we consider how to exchange more resources with Blackmoon Castle?”

“Leader is right.”

The group of people agreed politely and exited Monte Town. Everyone appeared to be at ease. Blackmoon Castle had wiped out the magical beasts at the border, including the bandit gangs. Monte Town had been relatively quiet. They were not concerned about any dangers on the journey.

What they did not notice was that the snowy ground they pa.s.sed through shook a few times and cracked not long after they left. A black rat crawled out of the fissure, and its platinum eyes were fixed on the caravan. It licked its lips and made a hungry sound. In the end, it did not pursue them but instead slipped into Monte Town.

“First, I will get some food in Monte Town. Then I will look for a human body that can house my memories.”

Moriarty scanned his surroundings with the eyes of the Heaven-devouring Rat King. He followed his memories after leaving the Dragonspine Snow Mountain and arrived at the nearest Monte Town. That was where he did the majority of his shopping.

However, the town he remembered was no longer the same.

He would leave the Dragonspine Snow Mountain every other year or so to buy the necessary materials. It had only been a year since he was last there. He was surprised by the number of shops on both sides of the street in Monte Town. There were a plethora of blacksmith shops, medicinal herb shops, and grocery stores. Furthermore, high-quality items were hung outside the door.

For example, there were gleaming swords and sabers outside the blacksmith shop. They were all of the silver variety. There were silver-tier herbs all over the walls outside the herb shop; they looked like climbing geckos. There was even a herb shop that was absurdly closed. The herbs that hung outside were not even gathered. They were left to bask in the sun as if they were unconcerned about thieves.

“How did Monte Town become so rich?”

Due to the damage to his soul from the battle with Watson, the best way to recover his soul was to use high-quality medicinal herbs. He thought he would need to expend all his effort to find the healing medicine after arriving in Monte Town. He did not expect that those medicines were all over the streets. As long as he swallowed those herbs that hung outside the wall, he would be able to recover most of them.

He felt a pain in his head as he thought about it. A heavy object fell on his head with a dull thud.

When he turned around, he saw an eight-year-old girl dressed in n.o.ble attire. She scowled; she was enraged at her mother. “That is an obsidian gold dagger. It has a black and yellow color scheme; it is far too ugly. It does not appeal to me! I like Arcana Mithril. I want to use Arcana mithril to make a new one.”

“Be good, my little princess. Arcane mithril is a silver-tier metal. It is only good for making silver weapons. I have an Obsidian Gold Dagger made for you, and it is of the gold tier.”

“I don't care! I don't care! I just think it's ugly.”

“Well, since you don't like it, then I don't want the dagger. I'll buy you a new one.”

The mother dragged her daughter away as she spoke, leaving Moriarty to stare at the obsidian gold dagger not far away from him. He was petrified. He could tell that it was a dagger made of obsidian gold—pure obsidian gold. It was regarded as the best gold-tier weapon. A dagger of that caliber was worth at least a thousand gold coins. How could they throw it away just like that?

What had happened in Monte Town that would allow an ordinary n.o.ble to throw away something worth a thousand gold coins so casually? Even prominent families in the kingdom's capital did not have such luxury.

Had Monte Town discovered an underground gold mine? Even if it were a gold mine, the locals would not be so wealthy. At the very least, every family's courtyard would have to be buried with a gold mine.