Chapter 414: Is the Old King Also Cursed?

Friends who often play Mount & Blade know that in this game, a player character's early romance with a beloved lady, aside from a violent confession at the start, is often built upon offering a "tribute".

What tribute?

The answer is that you are peerlessly brave—just after winning the city's tournament championship, you then kneel beneath the lady's pomegranate skirt, expressing your willingness to dedicate this honor to her.

This requires no financial cost, no time consumption, and may even be a byproduct of gambling for prizes, yet it plays a remarkably important role on the path of affection.

Why?

Because what you share with the noble lady is not merely an honor; strictly speaking, it is a reputation.

——Do you know Lady Wadiya? Yes, Lord Liu Peisong, who just won the tournament championship a few days ago, actually offered this honor to her!

It's the same now.

——Do you know the Cat Prince and the Dog Princess? Yes, the Divinely Chosen Lord who is lecturing on Riqi Peak actually found time to dine with them!

Put bluntly, it's about riding the hype, using any means to boost your own status and price; even if you can't reach the rank of prince or princess, you can still sell yourself at a good price later.

So Ji Ming is no fool—how could he possibly wade into this stinky pool? He might as well just play the fool.

——No matter what you say, Xiao Aiai today only talks about serious matters!

Thus everyone who came here could only leave with complex expressions; Ji Ming was happy with that, anyway they wouldn't dare turn against him—if they like eating dead flies, let them go ahead.

On the seventh day, after finishing his lectures, he was finally released from punishment, preparing to go to the Royal Capital to have fun, when an acquaintance showed up again.

"You say…… Princess Fiya came to see me?"

After all, she is a potential ally, and Philip also ranks among the royal court's influential figures—at least he's more substantial than the previous few.

So Ji Ming pretended to be busy with affairs, left her waiting for over an hour, thinking the timing was right, then returned to the guest quarters near Chasing Sun Peak.

But let's say it's no surprise that as a scion of a prestigious family, she indeed has more refinement—Fiya sat down in the chair, not touching the bookshelf beside her, nor the snacks on the table.

Upon seeing Ji Ming, her eyes still held a hint of the feeling "I thought I'd drawn a four-star, but flipping the gold card instantly turned it into a five-star".

After exchanging ordinary greetings and some pleasantries, she steered the conversation toward the main topic.

"Divinely Chosen Lord, originally I and Prince Wang were considering inviting you to a small gathering in the Royal Capital or in the Glittering Light Territory, but who knew that as soon as you arrived at Holy Mountain you began lecturing?"

That's true—if Ji Ming hadn't started lecturing, he would have hurriedly come to the Royal Capital after paying respects at the dock, and Philip would surely have invited him for a meal.

After all, everyone knows Elinor's situation; letting her host a banquet… probably no more than three people would show up, making it purely a family dinner.

But the Fiya siblings are different—the eldest plus the two younger ones make four people.

Even if I can't make a move myself, just finding a friendly noble from the Royal Capital to host would allow us to hold a grand welcome banquet.

By then a swarm of… uh, not guests, but drawn by their reputation and the Divinely Chosen's first appearance, the crowd would certainly not be small.

Since the Divinely Chosen was introduced to everyone by them, and everyone was introduced to the Divinely Chosen by them, they will naturally become a natural bridge of friendship between both sides.

At that time, if anyone wants to ask the Divinely Chosen for help, they must first go to them for guidance; if the Divinely Chosen wants to ask others for help, they will likely also go to them first for advice!

Think about it—this back-and-forth will bring the Fiya siblings how many overt and covert benefits, as well as their influence and reputation in the Royal Capital?

This is practically Qin Shi Huang touching an electric gate—winning big time!

But the problem is Ji Ming didn't immediately come down the mountain; instead, he lectured continuously on ShanShang for seven days, and every session was packed.

Considering that the Holy Light Church's numbers, no matter how many, are still countable, and almost all senior staff have undergone audit learning.

To put it bluntly, if Ji Ming keeps doing this a few more times, he'll practically earn the title "Holy Light Knowledge Transmitter"—after all, getting this bunch of rough people to sit down and study is truly no easy feat.

Moreover, precisely because of this, the Fiya siblings' first-mover advantage is constantly shrinking; if they now extend an olive branch, it can't be considered courting, only a cooperation request.

By then, even if the banquet can still be pulled together, everyone won't think they're recommending the Divinely Chosen; they'll just think they're leveraging their early acquaintance to ride the latest wave of the Divinely Chosen's hype—no different from everyone else.

But first-mover advantage is first-mover advantage; that meal in Withered Wood Territory wasn't free—this is called good karma, so after discussion the Fiya siblings decided to launch a surprise attack on the Divinely Chosen on the seventh day.

As for why only Fiya came here and not Philip.

On one hand, because of this matter, letting the Imperial Prince personally intervene would be too undignified—wouldn't that be losing face?

On the other hand, because……

After the brief surprise, Fiya averted her gaze, her face showing a hint of sorrow, purple eyes welling with a thin mist, lips pressed together, a look of wanting to speak but holding back.

——If you let Philip pull this trick, the Divinely Chosen would be scared off directly.

Even if it's Ji Ming in disguise, he would immediately record this scene, and when Philip later causes trouble, he'd bring it out for harsh revenge.

But even letting Fiya come wouldn't help—her acting, though basically better than Elinor's, is still too unconvincing before Ji Ming, her whole body exuding the affectation of forcing sorrow for the sake of composing new verses.

So Ji Ming continued his act of playing the fool, not asking her what happened, seizing on her embarrassment to speak her mind, and began frantically chatting about amusing anecdotes from his lectures, giving her no chance to change the subject.

——If you won't say it, I'll just split it into forty-nine parts and tell you in detail what happened in Sunshine City.

Anyway, in the end the Little Silver Fiya from the King's Game broke down in despair and surrendered.

"Very……very interesting! But I actually came today because I have something important to ask of you!"

Absolutely—trying to speed up her speech made her go off-key.

Seeing her forcibly change the topic, seemingly wanting to discuss some filthy noisy matter, the Divinely Chosen sighed lightly, the light in his eyes dimming a bit.

"Oh, you still have other business? I thought…… you just came to chat with me, right? Everyone's busy anyway."

If Fiya were independent of chatting as a third party, she would surely have praised this as a veteran actor's performance, then cursed which household this surnamed Fei person belongs to for being completely unable to keep up with the act.

Unfortunately she is exactly that vase who can't keep up with the act, so Ji Ming directly gave her a practice round using the same method, and due to her high charm causing palpitations and guilt, she fell into a hard control state called "stuttering".

"Uh…… actually chatting is also fun, but…… first, first hear me out on this matter before we continue!"

Ji Ming remained expressionless.

"Sure, I don't mind either—go ahead."

"Alright, then…… uh……"

After Ji Ming had fried her brain, Fiya even thought a bit before recalling her prepared lines, then hurriedly said.

"Ah! His Majesty the King! Uh, you know about his recent health issues, right?"

"I've heard a bit about it."

"Well, I've heard you're not only good at dealing with cultists of evil gods, but also a famous doctor, so I hope you can examine my royal father—can you?"

This one…

Who would have thought that upon hearing this, the Chosen One's face filled with difficulty; he lowered his head, pondered for a moment, then spoke again.

To be frank, Miss Fiya, although I have a good reputation in Sunlight City, that's only because I'm very skilled at treating external injuries. If someone breaks an arm or leg, or has their intestines torn and stomach ruined, I can rely on my family's medicinal liquor and relatively proficient surgical skills to struggle to pull their life back.

But I've heard that His Majesty the King's ailment is likely an internal injury; at least up to today, no one has determined exactly what disease it is. You should know that treatment is a serious matter; acting without confidence may cause problems, which is utterly irresponsible toward oneself, the patient, and the patient's family.

Fiya's expression hesitated, but she wasn't considering retreat; rather, she was weighing pros and cons, and ultimately made up her mind.

Actually! Although I don't know exactly what disease it is, when His Holiness the Pope went to examine it, he saw that the father king seemed to have suffered some kind of curse.

Oh, so it's a curse; I thought it was a curse.

……

First was AdaiEr, a former noble miss; then Buluowa, a former great noble; next was Count Hantan, a current great noble; now it's simply some celebrity who can mash all those above together—the present Holy Sovereign.

So what on earth is going on in your world? It seems like every day a new big shot suffers from an extremely tricky curse that only I can solve.

Wait a minute, that's wrong!

Then, since you've already detected that the problem lies in a curse, shouldn't His Holiness the Pope have already taken care of it?

Sure enough, Fiya shook her head, and for the first time showed an expression that truly reflected her inner feelings—a bitter smile.

The signs of the curse have only been detected these past few days; the problem is thorny, the situation rare, so His Holiness the Pope is still pondering how to resolve it.

Hiss… could it be that His Majesty the King's curse is the same as Count Hantan's, with an ultra-long latent period, but once it erupts it's a vicious move that spreads blazing fire a thousand li with each strike?

But Pisail wasn't already overthrown by a captain of the Balantha Kingdom's army? There's no way he could still be causing trouble in the game.

Or perhaps?

Impossible, impossible; that wretch, blacklisted worldwide for his perverse ways, has already begun legal proceedings under the eager anticipation of all nations and the urging of related organizations.

Even the five bigwigs of the Adhesion Nations shook their heads—there's simply no chance for a comeback!

So what exactly is……

Seeing the Chosen One seemingly lost in thought, Fiya continued speaking.

I've heard you also have some experience in treating curses, and you're none other than the esteemed Chosen One; even if I don't know whether you can solve it, more people mean more ideas—at least please come take a look.

For Ji Ming, treating curses is indeed his specialty, and he's genuinely curious; in broad daylight, under the bright heavens, what kind of existence would dare to strike a lethal blow at the king?

You should know that players have already entered Qixia City, causing a ruckus inside; if Ji Ming finds out who it is, just a small hidden quest would bring them a smile.

So he put on a hesitant guise, thought it over repeatedly, and finally reluctantly agreed to Fiya's request.

Rest assured, I certainly share everyone's wish that His Majesty the King come to no harm; since it's within my ability, I definitely cannot shirk this duty!

Really? That's wonderful!

Perhaps she had exhausted her energy to keep acting; Fiya excitedly slapped the armrest, then relaxed upon noticing the Chosen One hadn't noticed.

I mean, when are we going down the mountain? I can go notify someone to pick us up right now.

Ji Ming originally wanted to say, 'Pick up what? I'll just fly you down right now and try out my new password.'

But upon second thought, doing so would make me seem a bit eager, and I'm not in civil aviation—why on earth would I have to fly someone else along for no reason?

So he just nodded.

I don't have anything pressing right now; the departure time is up to you.

Thus, two hours later, as they stood on a hilltop of the Holy Light Mountains near the Royal Capital, they saw in the distance an airship flying over from the horizon.

Seeing this, Ji Ming was dumbfounded; after all, in his memory, Yangyue is a world where people basically walk on legs and communicate by mouth, a medieval-background magic world.

Apart from talent, mounts, and sufficiently powerful magic, there is no possibility of free flight; at most one can rely on a bit of external force to low-altitude glide.

Even with powerful magi‑armor, even if its outer shell has been reduced as much as possible, given its current output it still cannot escape gravity's pull; these are the results of worldwide scientists' joint research up to now.

What is this?

Fiya seemed quite pleased with the Chosen One's expression at this moment.

Having finally found a chance to show off, she gave a light cough and stretched her hand toward the distant airship.

To be frank, I and Your Majesty have been investing in a group of dwarves to develop a magic‑propelled flying device; what you see before you is their most successful product to date.

Awesome! Although players also have similar projects, due to being busy they still haven't produced anything decent, so haven't they all outpaced the players?

But innovation aside, Ji Ming suddenly thought of another important issue.

To enter the Holy Mountain you need a specific passcode; without it you won't be attacked outright, but you'll definitely be intercepted.

Come on, we're not going to watch fireworks today.

(End of chapter)