Chapter 233: The Land of Gold (1)

A man stepped onto the platform, placing himself above everyone gathered below.

He appeared to be in his thirties, with neatly combed short silver hair and luxurious white garments adorned with golden embroidery and chains.

With silver eyes and a confident smile, he surveyed the hunters assembled before him, along with the common people who had gathered to witness the occasion.

Behind him marched a company of Silver Knights.

They were the very same knights who had been waiting for Ethan when he emerged from the Legacy dungeon.

Every one of them appeared exceptionally powerful. Even the weakest among them had likely reached Ethan’s rank, while the strongest stepped forward and ascended the platform, taking his place beside the silver-haired man, just one step below him.

Clad in a full suit of silver armor, the knight possessed a heavy, imposing presence that Ethan recognized immediately.

It was the Silver Knight, Gass of Wistoria.

The commander of the Royal Guard.

Gass surveyed the crowd for several seconds before drawing a deep breath and roaring.

"ATTENTION!! HIS HIGHNESS, THE THIRD PRINCE DALTON, HAS ARRIVED!!"

The moment his voice rang out, the entire Heart Clan froze.

They couldn’t tell whether what they’d just heard was truly a man’s shout or a thunderclap powerful enough to shake the heavens.

His voice was deafening, so overwhelmingly loud that some of the ordinary people nearly lost consciousness.

Even Ethan and the hunters beside him weren’t spared, especially since they were standing so close.

’He managed to amplify his voice that much using mana alone? Is he really just a King-rank knight?’

Gass’s presence was certainly far from ordinary, even by the standards of other Kings.

Ethan suspected that the Silver Knight had already reached the very peak of his rank and was dangerously close to attaining High King-rank.

It was an impressive achievement, especially considering that he didn’t possess the Player System that made increasing one’s strength considerably easier.

Gass’s deafening announcement had disrupted the atmosphere, but it had served its intended purpose.

Every living being in the square now had their attention fixed on the platform.

The man at the center of that attention, Dalton Arden, smiled in satisfaction at the Royal Guard commander’s performance before removing the earplugs he’d been wearing all along.

"Thank you, Gass. You’ve done an excellent job."

The Third Prince spoke with a smile.

The Silver Knight bowed slightly in acknowledgment before silently stepping back without another word.

Dalton then returned his attention to the Heart Clan, particularly the hunters.

"Greetings, hunters. You cannot imagine how delighted I am to finally meet you all face-to-face."

Dalton nodded several times, visibly pleased, before continuing.

"And I’m even happier that we won’t have to kill you. Our family can hardly afford to lose any more talented individuals in the Cursed Land."

"There is so much I’d like to say to you, so much for us to discuss and talk about... But first, before anything else..."

Dalton’s smile widened.

And every hunter who saw it felt an ominous chill.

"Kneel."

A single word left the prince’s mouth.

And that word alone sent dozens of people crashing to the ground, forcing them to kneel, unable to move a muscle.

Its effects weren’t limited to the hunters standing nearby.

Every member of the clan who heard the command was affected, causing hundreds of people to collapse all at once.

The strongest among them fell onto one knee, while the weaker ones were forced down onto all fours.

Ethan was among those kneeling on one knee.

His expression darkened, reflecting both his shock and his utter disgust at the situation.

This was the first time he’d experienced the effects of the Blood Curse directly.

And it was far worse than he’d imagined.

’It was as though someone had cracked open my skull, torn through my mind, and driven their filth deep inside it. A voice pierced my ears from both sides, and for a moment... I completely lost control of my body.’

Ethan’s eyes trembled as he struggled to put the sensation into words.

His gaze had fallen to the ground beneath him when he was forced to kneel, but he soon managed to raise his head slightly and look toward the detestable prince who had issued the command.

What he saw was a sickening, sadistic smile.

It reflected the prince’s overwhelming sense of ownership and control, the power and absolute authority he felt after bringing so many people to their knees with a single word.

The twisted expression on Dalton’s face infuriated Ethan so much that he wanted nothing more than to leap at him and smash his face in.

’What the fuck is that bastard so happy about? Does he think he’s a king just because he inherited some authority from his ancestors?’

Ethan’s anger intensified with every passing second, until his killing intent began to seep out.

The helplessness imposed by the Heart Clan’s curse was already unbearable.

The humiliation only made it worse.

’What the fuck were the ancestors of the Heart Clan thinking when they created this curse? Why would anyone condemn their own descendants to such a miserable fate!?’

Although Ethan had already known about the curse and the clan’s enslavement, experiencing it firsthand was an entirely different matter.

Only now did he finally begin to understand why every hunter except him had been devastated upon learning that they were being sent to the capital.

It meant constantly dealing with people they were incapable of disobeying.

For a moment, Ethan wanted nothing more than to lunge forward and sever the head of the man standing on the platform, issuing orders as he pleased.

"Calm down. You won’t gain anything by acting recklessly."

Asterion’s voice reached him just as Ethan’s killing intent was about to become noticeable to the Silver Knights.

And having them sense it would certainly not work in his favor.

Turning toward the old man, Ethan found that Asterion was also kneeling on one knee, his eyes remaining fixed on the prince before them.

Unlike Ethan, however, Asterion was perfectly composed.

He didn’t seem particularly bothered, almost as though he’d grown accustomed to situations like this.

Following his example, Ethan quickly regained his composure and began using his head instead of allowing his emotions to cloud his judgment.

And the moment he did, his inhumanly sharp powers of observation allowed him to notice something extremely important.

’That fucking prince... He gave everyone the exact same command, yet the results are different from one person to another?’

That was the first thing that caught his attention.

Prince Dalton had ordered everyone to kneel, yet some had dropped onto one knee, others onto both knees, while still others had collapsed onto all fours.

Of course, all of those positions could technically be considered forms of kneeling.

At first glance, the distinction hardly seemed important.

But anyone with half a brain could tell that things weren’t quite so simple.

’Interesting... This response means that commands issued by the royal family can be carried out in more than one way.’

Who would have thought that his very first encounter with the ruling family would immediately provide him with such valuable information?

Ethan was beginning to think that crossing paths with Dalton might not have been such a bad thing after all.