Chapter 45: Bear Traps And Main Quest
It didn’t take much longer before the last crate was loaded onto the carriage.
After leaving several trustworthy knights behind to temporarily maintain order in the village, Roderic and the others finally began their journey back to the estate.
Time ticked by as the carriage quietly rolled down the roads.
Roderic sat beside the window, watching the large fields and forests pass by outside.
Across from him, Edmund had already fallen asleep, his head occasionally bobbing whenever the carriage hit a bump.
Frederic wasn’t doing much better.
The young man sat beside him with his arms crossed, his eyes closed as he leaned against the side of the carriage.
Roderic glanced at them briefly before turning back toward the window.
’Some nice peace and quiet,’ he thought, stretching his arms over his head. ’At least for now.’
As he lowered his arms, his gaze landed on the crates filled with coins.
Though he had no idea exactly how much it was, it was bound to be a substantial amount.
And half of it would belong completely to him.
’And that’s more than enough,’ he thought, smirking. ’It’s time to start investing in war preparations.’
Even though, originally, the war was still five months away, he had no idea how the changes he’d made would speed that up.
Also, Roderic felt like he just couldn’t go wrong in preparing for a war regardless.
Without another thought, he raised his hand slightly.
’System,’ he called out internally. ’Go to the shop page.’
A familiar blue panel opened up in front of him right away.
—————World Throne Shop—————
Auction
Spells & Techniques
Equipment
Talents
Blueprints
Miscellaneous
Current Balance: 1762 Throne Coins
- - -
Roderic smiled slightly.
’My Throne Coins increased quite a bit,’ he thought. ’Oh, how nice farming those territorial quests is.’
Without another thought, he pressed down on the auction tab next.
—————World Throne Auction—————
Featured Auctions - Refresh in 11:16:35:01
Twin Dragon Hook Technique
Price: PURCHASED
Large Metal Bear Trap Blueprint
Price: 150 Throne Coins
Divine Meteorite Spell Manual
Price: 150,000 Throne Coins
...
Roderic locked onto the second item right away.
’Now isn’t this quite the beauty?’ he thought, smiling widely.
A metal bear trap, regardless of how primitive it sounded, was perfect for war.
If he laid down hundreds, it’d literally be like the medieval version of a minefield.
’Well, except that they wouldn’t kill anyone,’ he thought. ’Not instantly, at least.’
’Instead, they’d mostly cripple whoever stepped into one.’
And that was exactly what he was aiming for.
A dead soldier could simply be left behind.
A badly maimed one needed to be carried, treated, and fed, taking even more soldiers away from the battlefield.
To add the cherry on top, the blueprint didn’t cost many coins while the traps themselves wouldn’t be too expensive to create either.
’There’s actually nothing better than this,’ he thought, almost whistling to himself. ’But it’ll still only be the first defense of many.’
After all, Roderic knew exactly what they were up against.
House Whitemane was already outnumbered by Baron Deres’ forces, and once reinforcements arrived, that difference would only grow larger.
Trying to meet them in an open battle would be nothing short of suicide.
Fortunately, there were plenty of forests, narrow paths, and hills Baron Deres’ forces had to go through.
’Traps, ambushes, hit-and-run tactics...’ he thought. ’True guerrilla warfare is what we’ll be relying on.’
Without any further delay, Roderic pressed down on the blueprint.
[Purchase successful!]
[Large Metal Bear Trap Blueprint has been stored within the System.]
[Host may create physical copies of stored blueprints at any time.]
Roderic raised an eyebrow.
’Oh?’
He quickly opened the blueprint again.
Every measurement, material, and instruction needed to construct the trap appeared in front of him.
At the very bottom was another option.
[Create Physical Copy]
’Convenient,’ Roderic thought, smiling.
There was no need to explain some difficult mechanism to a blacksmith. He could simply create a paper copy and hand it over.
Dismissing the system screen, Roderic leaned back comfortably against his seat.
But that only lasted for a few seconds.
Then his gaze shifted toward Frederic.
The young man was still fast asleep beside Edmund, completely unaware of Roderic staring at him.
’I need to get him started on something too,’ Roderic thought, his brows furrowing. ’With his talent, it’d be a waste not to buy him a good technique.’
But what exactly would he give to Frederic?
He didn’t even know what weapon suited him best.
And with the countless options inside the system, he had to be rather specific.
’There has to be something that can tell me, right?’
Roderic immediately reopened the World Throne Shop.
Instead of searching through the categories manually, he brought up the search function.
’Show me anything capable of identifying a person’s talents and compatibility.’
The screen flickered for a moment.
Then, a single item popped up under the trait section.
—————
[Golden Appraisal Eye]
Allows the Host to view detailed information regarding people, creatures, items, and materials.
When used on living beings, the Golden Appraisal Eye can reveal hidden talents, traits, affinities, and much more.
The Golden Appraisal Eye can be directly connected to the Archive to reveal a target’s connections to significant historical events.
Price: 100,000 Throne Coins
—————
Roderic stared at the price for a moment.
His eyes slowly grew wider and wider as a realization set in.
’Yeah, absolutely fucking not.’
He immediately swiped the shop window aside.
But just as he was about to give up, something about that trait felt strangely familiar.
’Wait...’ he thought, narrowing his eyes. ’I’ve definitely seen that name before.’
His gaze shifted to another system tab.
Pressing down, a large window immediately opened up in front of him.
[Main Quest 2]
Steal the corrupt merchant’s fortune
>Tap to expand
[Reward: Golden Appraisal Eye + 20,000 Throne Coins]
- - -
There it was.
For several seconds, Roderic stared at the reward as a large smile spread across his face.
’Well then,’ he thought. ’Looks like it’s finally time to find that guy.’