Camp

Rebecca, Amber, and Knight Byron were all left speechless by the dazzling display of gold coins and crystals before them.

Byron had encountered his fair share of "treasures" in the mountains during his mercenary days, but those dim, dust-covered antiques were nothing compared to these military supplies protected by runes. Rebecca, as the daughter of a declining noble family from the countryside, had never seen so many valuable items in her life, even within the walls of a castle. As for Amber, a diligent thief at heart, this was the first time she felt truly overwhelmed, wondering if she could ever possibly steal everything here…

Of course, amidst their astonishment, a flicker of curiosity also arose. Many of the items before them were standard equipment from the Gondor period, relying heavily on the Gondor Empire's advanced magic technology. After Ansu was founded, the equipment brought by the pioneers was essentially irreplaceable, with each broken piece becoming scarcer. Furthermore, many items simply ran out of energy with use. To this day, ancient Gondor weaponry had become so obscure in Ansu that even history books barely touched upon it. These dazzling arrays of equipment in the warehouse were naturally foreign to them.

However, for Miss Amber, the underlying principles of these items were completely irrelevant—they just looked incredibly valuable!

"Gondor gold coins… Shield emblem silver coins… and actual three-leaf clover gold coins! My heavens!" Amber suddenly darted towards the chest overflowing with coins, her head nearly buried in the pile. "Money! It's all money! We're rich, rich, rich!! Boss, boss, we're rich!!"

When she was poor, he was an old fuddy-duddy; now that they were rich, he was the boss. Her drastic change in attitude was befitting of her title, the "Disgrace of the Elves."

Gawain pulled Amber out of the coin pile, grabbing her by the scruff of her neck, "Calm down, calm down—this is my money, not yours!"

Amber put on a righteous expression, "As your most loyal follower, your money is my money!"

"These gold and silver coins are the least valuable items. The crystals next to them are the real treasures," Gawain said with a slight sneer, introducing these objects that were now completely unfamiliar to the people of this era. "Those piled outside the chests are raw crystals, unprocessed Magic Matrix. Rebecca, you're a Mage, you should recognize them. Although they need processing before use, they'll definitely be very useful. The ones inside the chests are standard military crystals from the Gondor period. They're simple to use and can significantly boost the combat effectiveness of the territory's soldiers for a long time. As for those swords and armor, they're a bit of a problem… I checked them just now, and their condition isn't great, especially the Magic Mechanisms, which are almost all ruined. It's still unclear how much combat effectiveness they can provide."

Although this treasure vault had been sealed with protective runes that slowed down the oxidation and corrosion of the metal, the internal decay and energy dissipation of the Magic Mechanisms themselves couldn't be halted. While they possessed a long "shelf life," in the face of a seven-hundred-year span, even that had its limits. It wasn't just the weapons and armor; in fact, even the military crystals in several chests had suffered varying degrees of energy leakage. The energy contained within them now was likely less than a third of their "factory" output, and the malfunction rate of these old contraptions was also a concern.

However, for the currently impoverished Cecil Family, this was still an astonishing fortune.

So, even though Gawain emphasized the poor condition of these items, Rebecca and Amber's eyes remained fixed on them.

"Such a colossal fortune…" Knight Byron felt his mouth go dry, "It's just been lying here quietly on the kingdom's border… unknown to anyone…"

"In a way, I should thank the Mist Month civil war a hundred years ago," Gawain said, shaking his head. "When the Moen Family still remembered this wealth, the Magic Tide blocked people from exploring this area. By the time the Magic Tide receded, the Moen Family had already lost its lineage. Alas, fate…"

While lamenting fate, Gawain was truly reflecting on the closed and backward feudal system. All wealth belonged to the king and the lords; the nation's lifeline was held by a few families as private property. Once a family died out, these assets would become ownerless objects in the wild mountains. How absurd!

If the Moen Family had clearly recorded these treasure vaults on paper and stored them in archives back then, with the royal family merely responsible for safeguarding the keys, these treasures might not have fallen into his hands. The weakened royal family after the Mist Month civil war would surely have set their sights on these items.

But then again, wasn't this kind of family treasure vault being lost in the mountains for various reasons a typical medieval scenario?

Rebecca's gaze swept over the ancient equipment and crystals, finally settling on a chest of gold and silver coins. She let out a sigh, "With this, we can pay off Viscount Andrew's debt and buy grain and stone…"

Gawain glanced at her and shook his head, "No, this money can't be spent directly."

"Ah?" Rebecca blinked in surprise, but being not entirely foolish, she quickly realized, "Because they're all antiques?"

"Exactly. If you try to buy something with seven-hundred-year-old Gondor gold and silver coins, even the most foolish person would guess that the Cecil Family has unearthed a treasure in these dark mountains," Gawain nodded. "At the very least, while we're still establishing ourselves, we can't reveal these things carelessly."

"Then what do we do?" Rebecca frowned. "We're really short on money right now…"

"It's simple. Gold is still gold, and silver is still silver, even if it's in a different form. Thank goodness for this era of precious metal trading," Gawain said with a brilliant smile, but his words made Amber's heart skip a beat. "Melt these things down!"

"Mother of pearl!!" The half-elf nearly jumped out of her skin. "Do you know what you're saying?! Melt them?! These are seven-hundred-year-old ancient gold and silver coins! Even selling them as antiques on the black market would be more reliable than melting them!"

"Seven-hundred-year-old ancient gold and silver coins, preserved as if new, and more importantly, many of them are currencies of ancient empires that are completely lost and only seen in illustrations in books," Gawain looked at Amber with the same gentle gaze he usually reserved for Rebecca. "It might be possible to sell one or two, but try selling all six chests! If you can come back alive, I'll give you a chest!"

Amber gritted her teeth, wanting to risk it all and run off with a chest. But upon seeing Gawain's arms, which were thicker than her thighs, she suppressed her bold and audacious thought.

Still, she wanted to try one last time, "But you can't melt them all… that would be such a waste…"

"Of course, only a portion will be melted," Gawain spread his hands. "I'd feel heartbroken if I melted all these antiques, wouldn't I? We'll recast some of them to meet our immediate needs, and the rest will be stored until they can be used."

Amber's expression finally relaxed, and Gawain smiled at Rebecca, "Now do you understand why I specifically stated my intention to retain my Duke of Cecil title when we were at Silver Castle?"

Rebecca blinked, "Ah?"

"You're so dense! Dukes have the right to mint coins!" Amber glared, then suddenly turned to Gawain, "So you were planning to melt down these antiques from the very beginning, weren't you?!"

"You could say that," Gawain admitted without any pressure. "I am now an unprecedented Duke without a physical territory, and I have to develop it myself. But even without land, the privileges that come with the ducal title are 'inherent by law.' The right to mint coins is just one of them."

Amber stared at Gawain with bulging eyes, finally sighing, "It's the ancient nobles who really know how to play the game. Those country bumpkin nobles today who only know how to gouge passing merchants for tolls on their territory can't compare to you."

In response, Gawain's only reply was, "Keep your sights set on the long term. Even this entire treasure vault is insignificant compared to the future."

Afterward, he instructed Byron and Rebecca to each pack a portion of the crystals and coins, preparing to leave the place.

This treasure vault had been secured, but not all of its contents could be utilized immediately. First, the camp below needed to be established, and then trustworthy soldiers would transport the items from the vault—most importantly, the weapons and equipment—to the camp in batches. Simultaneously, guards would need to be assigned to the vault. Although it was protected by that magical gate, now that he was here, he couldn't leave the vault unattended in the mountains any longer.

Furthermore, the ancient warrior outside the ruins needed to be properly reburied. A pile of rocks was hardly a fitting grave. Now that people from the civilized world had returned to this land, the fallen warrior deserved a proper burial.

After resealing the vault with the Platinum Disc, Gawain and his party left the area.

The camp near the riverbank was still bustling with activity, though it was nearing completion.

Knights Byron and Philip had purchased a large batch of tents from Tanzan Town—in reality, it was just the canvas and lumber needed to set up tents, which required on-site processing to become temporary shelters. However, the first batch of the advance team consisted of skilled craftsmen, so setting up the tents was incredibly fast. With Heti assisting with some supportive magic, the camp was already beginning to take shape.

According to Gawain's pre-arranged plan, all tents were erected on the south side of the White Water River, forming a rough semicircle. Essential supplies like food and ironware were placed in the center of the camp, while the prefabricated lumber was piled along the riverbank. The carts and wagons used for transport, once unloaded, were stacked around the camp, serving as temporary barriers before the perimeter wall was built. Although the Magic Tide had receded, this was still a wilderness where civilization had vanished, and who knew what ferocious beasts might emerge?

Next to a tent in the center of the camp, Gawain found Heti, her face etched with weariness.

He believed that those ancient crystals would invigorate the tired lady.