Family heirloom, then turned into a demon girl

Chapter 477 Mission: 04-2 The Gold-Devouring Beast
"Well……"

After listening to Nero's explanation, Virgil, who had arrived at the outer gate of 6667000, stroked his chin and fell into deep thought.

"This looks promising, doesn't it?" Nero puffed out his chest happily.

probably.

The emerging community [Devil May Cry] needs to become a ruler of an outer sect if it wants to rise in the rankings. In other words, it means taking a piece of the pie from another community. Just look at what the [Beasts of the Pack] does to see how terrifying the power is to arbitrarily set the fees for the boundary gates and take a cut. Compared to other communities, the rulers of the outer sects can be considered superior beings.

Even without exploiting loopholes to create a monopoly, simply raising prices slightly would generate a huge amount of revenue.

However, the fact that the [Beasts of the Horde] is a five-figure community means that a six-figure community trying to monopolize the lower levels might not be immune to being overthrown by a seven-figure community. Otherwise, five- or six-figure communities wouldn't be collectively referred to as the "lower levels." Furthermore, the [Beasts of the Horde] members are probably quite discreet. The fact that 6667000 outer disciples can enjoy such a monopolistic status is likely because this area is a mining region, and high-quality crystals are excellent spiritual materials.

"So, this is where we've chosen to establish our initial base?" Virgil asked after a moment's thought.

“Mmm.” Nero nodded repeatedly: “Anyone who’s played a lot of games knows that the first base has to be next to the mine!”

Well, Virgil hasn't played video games, so he doesn't really have much to say about that. But he did think the place was pretty good.

The infrastructure work of the [Beasts of the Pack] is quite good, and they can accept it without much pressure.

As for the possibility of being outmatched... that's simply impossible. Even if those demons cunningly ambushed them with a game of chance, there's nothing to fear without Dante present, is there?
The next step is to choose a location for the base.

As before, he left it to his father to handle, while Nero went to meet with the [Beasts of the Horde] branch stationed in the city.

Virgil shook his head with a wry smile.

He had a vague feeling that things might not be so easy. Although it was just a premonition.

Even if it's not easy, he believes Nero won't have any problems.

So, at dawn the next day, Nero, holding a game document, stepped into the sunlight.

Nero frowned slightly as he looked at the contents of the document, pondering its meaning.

-

[Gifted Game Name: The Seven Beasts' Gold and Seals]

Seven wild animals found gold in a cave and hid it in their own homes;
But the insatiable beasts all wanted to seize other gold, so they quietly stretched out their fangs.

The lion is the master of the wolf, and it commands the wolf to offer it new gold;
So the clever fox devised a plan for the wolf to secretly harm the ignorant wild boar;

The fox traded honey from the bear, luring the wild boar out of its cave;
The poor wild boar, completely unaware of the danger, drank the honey and stumbled headlong into the tiger's den.

Finally, after a fierce battle, the wild boar that had escaped was devoured by the leopard.
New wild beasts have arrived in this forest.

It seeks the gold of the seven wild beasts to forge a seal for the king.

[Beasts of the Horde] Seal
This was the first time Nero had encountered a game of grace like this. The contents on the paper were merely a riddle; the rules, conditions for victory, and taboos were all left unwritten.

How do you solve this?
She seemed at a loss for what to do for a moment.

"Calm down, calm down..." She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and waited for a while before opening them again to look at the parchment in her hand.

First, it can be confirmed that the rules of this game must exist within this allegorical riddle.

Nero first noticed the last line of the riddle: "It must find the gold of the seven beasts and cast it into a seal to be offered to the king."

For Nero, who was trying to find a way to obtain the gold coins printed by the "Seven Beasts" under their banner, this statement was hard not to feel a sense of déjà vu.

In other words, the last sentence of the puzzle is the game's "victory condition." Combining this with the first sentence's description of the beasts "hiding the gold in their own homes," Nero needs to go to seven different places and find seven pieces of gold...

So the seven different beasts' "homes" are the seven different places Nero needs to find. Unfortunately, the game won't be as simple as it sounds; there will definitely be plenty of obstacles along the way.

Now that we know what "finding gold" means, what does "casting a seal" mean?

A seal… Nero, pondering the word, subconsciously focused his gaze on the seal left at the end of the text by the [Beasts of the Pack]. The round seal also depicted wild beasts tearing at each other, seemingly unremarkable.

But there's no rush. We can think about it slowly after we get the "gold." Maybe the answer to the problem is hidden in that "gold."

So the problem now is that...

Nero looked again at the story that remained a mystery. There was only one location explicitly mentioned within it—

"Cave"

The phrase "lured the wild boar out of the cave" clearly indicates that the "wild boar's home" in the story is a cave, which is the only relatively clear clue. At the same time, the "cave" is also where the Seven Beasts found the gold. Considering the local situation of the outer gate (6667000), Nero quickly arrived at the only possible answer.

It's a mine shaft.

The Crystal Mine, the pillar industry of the Outer Gate (6667000), continuously generates income for the community [Beasts of the Horde].

Having figured this out, Nero stopped waiting and headed straight for the mine located below the boundary wall.

Moreover, this made the whole picture of the puzzle much clearer in her eyes. The "mine" is the home of the wild boars, so the "wild boars" represent the miners who work in the mines and constantly create value for the [herd of beasts].

If that's the case, then the series of conspiracies that led to the deaths of the wild boar in order to seize its gold were probably just the various methods used by the "herd of beasts" to "extract value."

Nero looked up and saw once again the countless banners of the "Beasts of the Horde" fluttering in the sky above the city, confirming his idea.

It has to be said, it's quite interesting. No matter how hard the miners work, they can't escape this outer gate, and all the income they earn ultimately ends up in the hands of the [Beasts of the Pack] who control this outer gate. This game of grace designed by the [Beasts of the Pack] has a touch of irony and dark humor.

"Alright... let's see what I can find."

(End of this chapter)