Due to the straight nature of this passage, I have no idea how far we've walked just now. But, whether looking forward or back, all we see along the road are various corpses.

And the three of us are already accustomed to such things, so we squat down to observe.

"This body has only been dead for a short while, this one has been dead for a long time, with no signs of decay... but there is mud around the mouth..."

As soon as I finished speaking, Ona continued.

"They were under an illusion, mistaking sand and stones for food, eating more and more as they became hungrier. In the end, they either starved to death or were killed by the mud in their bodies."

"So pitiful..."

Kanilia said.

It turned out to be an illusion. An illusion that can deceive the All-knowing Eye and Reality Goggles is really powerful. Shouldn't it be called the Dragon Tomb?

I chuckled a bit, then continued.

"But now we have a new problem, which way should we go?"

I pointed in two directions.

Both the front and back roads are filled with corpses, stretching endlessly.

We've lost our way...

"Why not try your ice stick? It should work in such a straight path, right?"

Kanilia suggested.

"That makes sense."

I nodded, about to summon it when suddenly I heard a strange sound.

"Did you hear that?"

We all fell silent and indeed, sounds of eating could be heard coming from one side of the passage.

Thinking about our earlier deduction, I quickly took a big step forward, with Ona and the others right behind me.

Before long, I saw two people not far away, squatting there picking something up to eat from the ground.

This time, I couldn't care less, a few slender ice totems charged directly towards them, knocking them down.

"Ouch! What's happening?"

One person jumped up immediately after being hit, but upon seeing their surroundings, they froze, then began vomiting shortly after.

The other person also started vomiting on the ground.

"I never thought the princess would end up eating sand one day."

I looked at the people in front of me and smiled wryly.

"Ugh, it's you, Fir."

The person said as he took something from his ring, took a few sips, and then vomited again.

That's right, this is Princess Anne.

And the other, if I'm not mistaken, should be Dest, the only crossbow swordsman in the group.

After they had vomited enough, I handed them two bottles of water to rinse their mouths.

"Thanks."

After rinsing their mouths, they looked at us.

"Darn it, I thought I found something tasty just now, but it turned out to be dirt... none of you can tell anyone about this, understand!"

Princess Anne seemed very angry, which I completely understood, anyone would react the same under such circumstances.

"Got it, it's no big deal."

"You know how those gossip mongers are, nothing but trouble."

"Well~"

I shrugged, then asked.

"Is it just the two of you? Where are the others?"

"That's it, we came straight into a palace as soon as we came down, no one was there, and after searching for a long time, we found a table of delicious food. We had just eaten a bit when you attacked us... By the way, couldn't you have just woken us up nicely? Why attack us!"

"Stop messing around. Just now, what we did was a timely intervention. Otherwise, would you like to go hungry?"

"Well, of course not..."

Princess Anne shook her head helplessly.

"Alright, let's go. If we continue forward, we should follow this direction."

I pointed in the opposite direction from where we came.

"True."

I looked at Dest.

"Get your weapons ready, we're moving."

"Alright."

Thinking about it, I brought him to the academy to complete the mission, but we haven't interacted much afterward. Although there were a few guidance sessions in class, this guy is just too silent, hardly speaking at all.

It's probably something to do with his family. Since it's somewhat my business and he'll be crucial for solving future tasks, I should get to know him a little better.

"Dest."

"What is it, teacher?"

"I just want to ask, do you think revenge is necessary?"

Dest paused, glanced at me, then continued walking. The other two beside him looked at me strangely, unsure of what my words meant.

"Not really."

Dest shook his head.

"I have heard a bit about what happened to the teacher in the Blue Lake City. I think, if the teacher asks this way, you must know what happened back then, right?"

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry I couldn't stop him back then..."

"In this empire, it's the law of survival."

Dest chuckled.

"I assume, teacher, you intended to help my father seek revenge? However, my father never asked you to, did he?"

"Huh? Well..."

I was instructed by the system to do so, after all, the mission option said 'assist you.'

"Well, since you were involved too, just have a look at this."

He handed me a letter.

I furrowed my brows and opened the letter.

Under the eerie light, I read the letter's content. Unexpectedly, Dest wrote a letter before his death, containing some self-preservation measures and words advising against seeking revenge.

"I see."

I handed the letter back.

If that's the case, it does make sense. Even though Dest still has some influence in the Somerlundor family, engaging in combat would be suicide.

Although I could help him seek revenge in an instant, I would instantly become an enemy of the Witte Empire.

"Well, in that case, focus on improving yourself. Perhaps you'll become a Duke in the future."

"We'll see when the time comes."

I smiled and opened the mission menu.

If the other party has no desire for revenge, there's no point in being stubborn. After all, completing this mission is quite troublesome, and we haven't received any intelligence from the prince's side at all.

Perhaps the prince is also weighing the pros and cons. Since the current Duke of Somerlundor has consolidated all the family's power, if he suddenly gets taken out, the Somerlundor family might be completely finished, as it's not just a Somerlundor family issue; other nobles are watching each other warily as well.

Initially, I wanted to select an option to end the task directly, but upon opening the menu, I discovered that all three options had turned gray.

What on earth? Has the time limit passed without giving us a choice?

I took a look and then closed the window.

This little experience doesn't matter anymore, we can talk about it later.

After walking along this path for half an hour, we entered a new cave.

Different from the previous huge space, this place looked like a large cavern, but what was surprising was that the walls were embedded with countless gemstones.

However, everyone's expressions remained calm; it's understandable, considering we're all well-off folks.

But honestly, if everyone wasn't so composed, I would have wanted to dig out all the gemstones. Think about it, little by little, wouldn't it be profitable to take all these gemstones and sell them?

"I think we may have already broken through the body of that dragon," Princess Anne suddenly said.

“Why do you say that?”

"I read some books about dragons before, you know, out of sheer boredom. It says that dragons usually place gemstones and the like inside caves rather than within their own bodies."

"Well... but this dragon turned itself into a dragon tomb, so maybe... well."

I looked around and then touched those gemstones.

Just a light touch, and the gemstones emitted a faint energy, which surprised me. Usually, gemstones merely store energy, but this one actually emitted energy. It seems like it's not any cheap merchandise.

Slowly, all the surrounding gemstones lit up, illuminating the area brightly, and the passage we came through earlier closed directly! I rushed over to check and found that the wall had completely sealed shut, as if it had always been there.

"It looks like they want us to keep moving forward."

I glanced at the passage ahead and then at the others.

"Let's go, it's uncomfortable staying in such a bright place."

We nodded to each other and proceeded forward.