Restrictions of the Rules

The Iron Forks left behind after the Imps were killed had been casually tossed into the Wheat Field outside.

They had only been gathered together while the battlefield was being cleaned up.

"These are them."

Narot picked up an Iron Fork. Dark red blood still stained it, giving off a strong sulfurous stench.

But he did not care in the slightest.

Instead, he weighed the hefty Iron Fork in his hand and nodded with satisfaction. "Lord Shen Mu, according to the Kingdom of Swadia's purchase prices for Iron Products and iron ingots, this one Iron Fork can be exchanged for 20 Denars!"

Shen Mu stood nearby.

The five Swadian Footmen guarded the surroundings.

The two Lake Rats Recruits who had come along each held a torch, illuminating the Wheat Field.

"Twenty Denars for one Iron Fork."

Shen Mu raised his brows slightly. Looking at the nearly thirty Iron Forks at his feet, he calculated briefly and said with some surprise, "Then wouldn't all these Iron Forks sell for around 600 Denars?!"

"That's right."

Narot's face was filled with excitement as he said longingly, "If war breaks out between the Kingdom of Swadia and the Kingdom of Vaegirs, and the iron ore trade from the Curaw region is blockaded, then the prices of all iron-related goods in the Kingdom of Swadia will soar. If we're lucky, these could even sell for 1,000 Denars!"

"That's pretty good." Shen Mu nodded.

That was indeed possible.

After all, in the Mount & Blade: Warband setting, the Kingdom of Swadia was basically surrounded by enemies on all sides.

And then there was King Harlaus, renowned throughout the entire Mount & Blade Series for his wisdom.

He was ambitious.

He was miserly.

And he loved granting all the towns, castles, and villages he conquered to himself.

He had practically dragged the Kingdom of Swadia—a leading power with a prosperous economy, abundant food production, and an almost invincible Heavy Cavalry Unit—into endless warfare, making peace nearly impossible.

Even in the original Warband, among the five great kingdoms, the first one to fall was often the Kingdom of Swadia.

Narot's business had failed because of the years of fighting, leaving him homeless after bankruptcy.

"So, you plan to take these Iron Forks back to Dhirim and sell them as ironware?" Shen Mu asked.

"Yes." Narot explained his plan.

It was basically the usual business of profiting from the price difference.

Besides, for the Kingdom of Swadia, ironware and Iron Products were already in short supply.

During wartime, this ironware only needed to be melted down to become iron ingots, then forged into weapons or armor again.

Iron itself was a strategic resource.

"Want to take a look at something else?" Shen Mu thought for a moment, then brought Narot back into the Stronghold Main House.

But this time, Shen Mu took out a bag of edible salt.

"Lord Shen Mu, what is this?" Narot frowned slightly as he looked at the contents inside the translucent packaging, his face full of confusion.

"Salt." Shen Mu opened it, revealing snow-white refined salt inside, every grain distinct like the softest sand.

"Salt?" Narot's eyes lit up. He instinctively took a little, but after putting it into his mouth, his expression changed. "This..."

"What is it?" Shen Mu noticed his furrowed brows.

"This is... edible salt?!" Narot smacked his lips, his expression extremely strange. "It is indeed edible salt, and it has a strong salty taste, but... why does it feel so strange?"

"Strange?" Shen Mu frowned slightly as well. "What feels strange about it?"

"Lord Shen Mu, this edible salt is real, but I feel that it is somewhat different from the salt I usually eat."

Narot hesitated before speaking.

He seemed to be carefully choosing his words. "I feel like this edible salt is... missing a soul."

That comparison made Shen Mu frown even more deeply.

"Missing a soul? You mean this salt is missing a soul?" Shen Mu found it utterly absurd.

Since when did salt have a soul?

"Yes, Lord Shen Mu. Perhaps you won't believe me when I say this, but this salt truly gives me the feeling that it lacks some most important soul."

Narot continued haltingly, "I don't understand why, but that is simply the feeling it gives me."

As he spoke, he seemed to think of something. He pointed toward the kitchen room beside them, where Chinese cabbages, rice, flour, and even those Canned Foods still sat on the shelves. His tone became even more complicated. "And these things all give me the feeling that they have no soul."

"Hmm?" Shen Mu frowned further, because he realized that everything Narot had pointed out was food native to Blue Star.

"What about this wheat?!" Shen Mu pointed at the several sacks of wheat piled together.

These had been rewards from the Mount & Blade System.

"This wheat... has no problem." Narot spoke hesitantly, as if he too had discovered something was wrong.

Yet he truly did not understand why it was like this.

"The wheat has no problem." Shen Mu repeated the words. After a thoughtful pause, he raised his hand and pointed toward the worn-out books and clothing piled with the firewood beside the fireplace. "What about these?"

"These... give me the same feeling. They do not have much soul either." Narot's voice dropped considerably.

But Shen Mu did not say anything more.

He rubbed his chin.

Shen Mu had already reached a conclusion. "Could it be because of the rules?"

Blue Star did not have rules of its own.

After all, it was a world on the Technological Side.

But the Mount & Blade World and the Undead World both had their own Special Rules. Perhaps some of those rules were even interconnected.

After all, the Mount & Blade World was nominally a quasi-historical world governed by rules.

But after Shen Mu had integrated countless DLCs and MODs.

It had already undergone a fundamental change.

It had become infinitely closer to Fantasy Rules.

"So that's why items from the two can circulate between each other, while Blue Star's own items cannot."

That was what Shen Mu thought.

At the same time, Shen Mu thought of something that had already appeared.

That was how Cold Weapons made on Blue Star had extremely limited killing power against Undead Monsters, as though they had even been heavily weakened.

That included Blue Star's native humans.

When facing even the lowest-level skeletons or zombies, if they did not rely on fire, they would face a life-or-death crisis.

That was why, in the three years since the Necromantic Rules descended, seventy or eighty percent of Blue Star's tens of billions of people had vanished.

Even the humans who remained, as long as they had not obtained a Spiritual Realm Mark or received an inheritance from the Spiritual Realm.

Could only huddle around fires, relying on blazing campfires to avoid and resist the Undead Monsters.

"Then, in that case, Blue Star's native resources can't offer me much help."

Shen Mu pondered, "If I want to exchange for supplies and Denars from the Mount & Blade World, then I'll need the products of the Undead World?"

That was a little troublesome.

Ding! The Temporary Mission System has detected an event!

Mission issued: Invasion of Demon Troops.

Mission description: Not far from your stronghold, there is another Demon Stronghold. They came from the abyss, slaughtered a human stronghold, claimed it as their own, and began ravaging the surrounding area. Now, they seem to have sensed the presence of living humans here and have begun advancing to attack.

Mission requirement: Resist the Demon Troops' attack and kill the Demon Commander.

Mission rewards: ① Deserters who come to join you ×20; ② Refugees who come to join you ×30; ③ Military Ration Trailers ×5; ④ 1 mu of Wheat Field (harvest season); ⑤ 1,000 Denars.

Hint: On the night three days from now, this force composed of a large number of Low-level Demons will launch an attack.

Just as Shen Mu was pondering, a dialogue box suddenly appeared before his eyes.

"Hmm?" Shen Mu froze slightly. Looking at the contents of the dialogue box, he immediately raised his brows. "Invasion of Demon Troops? The Demon Troops from that previous Spiritual Realm Scene are coming to attack me in three days?!"

Shen Mu truly had not expected that.

"But demons should let me obtain quite a bit of ironware, right?" Shen Mu's thoughts shifted as he remembered something.

After all, according to his predecessor's memories, monsters like demons were far more likely to carry weapons than those Undead Monsters!