Chapter 787 - 449: The Past on the Island (Part 2)

If I die, it would really be good. I could even use the abilities I take out of here to seize the throne and become the first queen.

She thought this, but didn’t show it at all, still maintaining that sweet smile.

Four veterans, a princess, a geisha, a fishman, and lastly, an idealist, although their edges were smoothed by nine tasks, united in this final task to return home, exploding with their last will to survive.

"We will definitely succeed."

"Yeah, definitely will succeed..."

...

"No wonder it’s called ’Resentful Spirit Island’..." the Baron muttered, holding an iron medallion in his hand. Although the style was different, he immediately recognized the problem within.

This is a standard military medal that only soldiers who have performed meritorious deeds are awarded.

He’s too familiar with it; his family even rose to power this way. His ancestors were granted titles based on their merits, and the family still reveres the ancestor’s medal.

"What’s wrong?" Xue Dili asked.

"This island might have been a battlefield once. My explanation may not be very clear, but this used to be a noble’s territory, and that ancient castle was their fortress. However, they were invaded by foreign races or perhaps a large pirate crew. The noble thought of resisting, perhaps with the Lord’s army, engaging in a long slaughter here..." the Baron explained his guess.

Though many things here seemed to disappear under some rule, finding such noble medals, some broken weapons, and battle scars occasionally could testify to his guess.

"Could it be that the so-called ’strangeness’ is those who died here in battle transforming into something?" the noble lady said.

"Perhaps..." the Baron responded nonchalantly and handed the rusted iron piece to Xue Dili.

Xue Dili glanced at it. He indeed didn’t recognize it as something like a noble’s medal, mainly because he wasn’t very familiar with the countries and civilizations within the Subspace.

Not to mention they’re separated by the real cosmos barrier, even on Earth, the cultural customs of two civilizations just separated by a strait vary completely, and when seeing the customs of the other, one side would have a worldview-destroying expression.

Not to mention the cultural differences here.

"This Baron seems to have some insight; he’s sharp-minded, unlike this... ’Princess,’ whose thinking is rigid and inflexible," the Mimic Venerable King commented.

"That’s normal." Xue Dili didn’t feel much, just thought, isn’t this common sense?

The group continued to search for clues but did not find any trace of those veterans. Instead, they discovered many stories on this "Resentful Spirit Island".

This island has a flowing freshwater lake, where a large number of "marine creatures" live in fresh water.

In fact, this island might have been a risen extinct volcano, with the freshwater lake once being a volcanic crater where lava erupted. The entire island is a small basin, turning into a freshwater lake due to excessive water, flowing into the sea through several crevices.

This truly is a treasure land. Even farming in its soil poses no problem. Together with the freshwater, a Lord could sustain dozens of people by farming on this island. Sustaining more would require material aid from outside the island.

Moreover, it’s apparent a war occurred here, a battle involving hundreds, proving the island was on the receiving end of an invasion.

They even discovered a collapsed underground passage and found a soldier’s corpse in leather armor holding a wooden shield.

"Indeed, this island was destroyed in a war," the Baron began to analyze. "It’s really strange here, under normal circumstances, soldiers would break down and surrender, but they seemed to fight to the last man."

"Perhaps the other side didn’t accept prisoners and was notorious, so they chose to fight to the death," Xue Dili said casually.

The sun was about to set; however, today they only found these clues and didn’t find the traces of other veterans or steps to break the ritual. They could only return to the ancient castle with heavy hearts.

"There seems to be something over there," the Mimic Venerable King mentioned casually.

Xue Dili broke from the team and blinked over immediately, discovering a diary in the cellar.

[Obtained cursed "Fake Treasure—The Bloody Princess’ Diary"]

[The Bloody Princess’ Diary (D-Class Fake Treasure): It can send everyone around into a frenzy, greatly enhancing physical strength and combat awareness.

Note: The diary states, I don’t want to marry this waste who only knows how to nest on this island. I had a geisha substitute my identity to marry here instead...]

Xue Dili: "..."

Hiss, such a large amount of information...

He felt that the ritual he was experiencing might be related to the story on this island. It was just too much of a coincidence. Exactly three people appeared in the diary notes, corresponding to the "Princess," "Geisha," and the remaining one, who might be either the martyr or the monster.

This was already explicitly indicated.

Xue Dili even felt that he already understood a lot. He’s typically the type to boldly speculate with a little data and carefully verify.

Most likely, this princess had a marriage agreement to wed the noble on this small island, but she looked down on the small island’s lord, so on the day of the marriage agreement, she swapped herself with a geisha, making the island’s noble believe he married the princess, but it was actually a geisha.

Then the princess began to expose this, canceling the marriage agreement, even prompting the Kingdom to send a small troop to negotiate and handle the matter.

However, something unknown happened; a conflict broke out during the negotiation, and both sides fought to the death, resembling a siege, and ultimately wiped each other out.

The treasure could drive people into a frenzy, indicating that the Bloody Princess might have planned to take this opportunity to kill the noble, thus freeing herself from the marriage agreement, but it seemed things got out of hand, and she died here too.

Though there was scant information, Xue Dili could largely fill in the key points of the incident.

Regardless of whether it’s correct or not, at least there’s a superficially reasonable explanation.

This corresponds to the four people required by the ritual.

Princess, Geisha, Martyr, and Monster.

In this story, the Princess and Geisha are clear, but the Martyr and Monster aren’t clear. Perhaps the island’s lord is a monster in a human skin, and the Kingdom’s army leader is the Martyr, prompting the Princess to refuse the marriage, urging the Kingdom’s army to uncover the secret here and carry out an unyielding monster hunt.

Xue Dili listed the key points.

"At this point, it’s dark now; let’s go back and rest for now," Xue Dili took the diary, saying this.

...

After a simple meal of bread and water, the atmosphere among the few was very silent, but this time there was no commotion and no hysteria.

At this moment, the second "Princess" destined to die seemed to have accepted her fate. She sat quietly next to Xue Dili, saying, "Thank you, priest sir..."

If only... if only I were a clean princess...

She thought so, but silently made a bit of space for herself because she knew she was now incredibly filthy, the kind that would burn in the sunlight.

"Hmm..."

She didn’t say another word after that, the light of the Holy Light Ball continued to illuminate, and drowsiness slowly emerged.

In the middle of the night, she suddenly heard music, a sound she was extremely familiar with, music often played by her queen mother when she was still a princess, so familiar, so ethereal.

She seemed to feel she was still in a dream, her body moving as if uncontrollably, getting up and taking steps towards the tower of the ancient castle...