One of Wepwawet's major quests involved turning Narc into a worthy capital capable of housing eight thousand inhabitants.

The Titan Incursion had considerably delayed that objective, but days upon days of raising Wolf Houses, casting Ice Barrier Miracles, and summoning Flying Elephants to use as beasts of burden had finally allowed Wepwawet to rebuild the city's fortifications better than they were before. The evacuated population had moved back in alongside a flow of new immigrants answering his call for workers.

All the gold and silver deposits found across Verglane thanks to his Providence and Treasure Seeker had allowed Wepwawet to accumulate a treasury of gold and silver which the metalworkers in Promesse were busy minting into Verglane's newest currency; the wolfcoin.

To administer it, Wepwawet had created a brand new institution called the Holy Bank of Verglane—with "god-backed value" as its motto! This organization would serve as a mint factory, central bank, and investment bank regulating the new national currency and putting the money to work. It would be administered by dignitaries from all of Verglane's major settlements and be located in Promesse.

Wepwawet had briefly considered establishing it in Narc at first, before deciding otherwise. While centralizing institutions in one place made sense, the Titan Incursion had taught him that putting all his eggs in one basket was a recipe for disaster. He needed to ensure the state would survive damage to its capital. Moreover, Promesse's royal vault could be easily expanded to hold the treasury.

They had held out against a god after all. What other place would be more secure?

Wepwawet had put Mistouffe in charge of overseeing all these activities for now. He would have expected her to struggle with such a workload, but his precious merchant seemed to thrive in her newest occupation. Her new Perk gave her an edge in negotiations with both Megalorian investors and Roynimalian traders.

"You are not expensive enough to be worth my time!" had become her catchphrase in all but name lately.

The Holy Bank's first task was to finance the development of key public works, namely the creation of a shipyard and docks at Cap Narc that would help connect it to Portlight; roads linking major settlements to ease overland trade; and the widening of the pass separating Fort Jarlack from Megaloria. The call for workers and promises of generous salaries had attracted hordes of werelings to the capital. Finally, Axomamma had also sent a large contingent of both golems and andvari engineers to help both clean up the poisonous marshes nearby and help develop infrastructure that would trade with Stalheim.

All in all, Narc now bustled with activity and immigrants. It almost seemed that the Titan Incursion had happened years in the past, to the point that it finally allowed Wepwawet to complete a certain quest.

Quest: A City of Ambitions, completed! You have earned the Skill: Standardized Crafting Rank 7 Revelation!

Skill: Standardized Crafting

Rank 7 Revelation

Teaches a Champion the Standardized Crafting Perk: You are adept at standardization and optimal use of resources. The time you take to craft non-unique items is halved, and the amount of resources that need to be consumed is slightly reduced.

Oh, incredible! Wepwawet would be sure to teach it to his crafters immediately!

New Quest: A Capital of Legend

Transform Narc into a capital capable of supporting over twenty thousand inhabitants.

Reward: Revelation Miracle.

That one would take a while to complete and require cleaning up the poisonous swamps so farmers could exploit the land again, but it was nice to make progress again.

It's been a while since I had to replace cards, Wepwawet thought as he checked his deck. The only remaining beginner Miracles were his Smite, Protect Champion, Sacred Beast, Sacred Food, and Raincloud. He had little use left for that last one now with Terraformers to change the weather at will and Lavaland unable to mount another invasion, so he let go of it. Only four more Miracles, and I will have completed the Magic Collector Quest too.

It was nice to return to consolidating his deck and civilization after the stress of dealing with Pele's antics, his father's schemes, and the Titan Incursion. Just a steady, relaxing cruise to progress.

He hoped his Champions were enjoying themselves as much as he was.

Their mission hadn't even started yet, and it had already gone disastrously wrong.

Rapoleon was used to infiltrating fortresses by now. A lifetime spent building tunnels connecting his fellow wererats' warrens to Stalheim's forges to the south had taught him much about sapping and engineering. He knew how to navigate the underground, how to hear the slight movements of the earth, how to sense the weaknesses in stone, and how to probe a castle for its flaws. He had successfully sneaked into the Glarmes' best defended keep, and he would have cracked down Citadel Sapphire's shell if he had been ordered to.

The thought of attacking Neigebleue Castle had been a daunting prospect once, but a cursed place hardly fazed Rapoleon after surviving a Titan's attack. Nearly dying at the hands of a colossal deity whose breath had vaporized two of his fellow Champions had cured him of all fears. He had faith in his skills and the strength Lord Wepwawet imbued him with. If his godlike patron believed Rapoleon could fulfill a task, then it had to be within his means. The end.

Nonetheless, there was an issue with Neigebleue Castle.

Namely, the walls were made of light.

"What the heavens is this?" Lord Rickart asked upon touching the shining blue barrier with his pawed hand. It rippled at his touch and was translucent enough for them to see the white spires of Castle Neigebleue beyond the threshold, but proved more resilient than stone. "It feels cold to the touch, like ice."

"That wasn't there before," Viviane stated the obvious. "First time I've seen this."

This was new for Rapoleon, too. He had already scouted Neigebleue Castle from afar before, marveling at the way this strange white castle miraculously stood on a frozen lake surrounded by mist that never vanished.

Well, the fog had cleared, and a large blue dome of ephemeral light now surrounded the entire castle. It reminded Rapoleon of those 'snow globe' toys Roynimalia's glassmakers often sold to andvari traders, except this one wouldn't shatter no matter the amount of pressure applied to it. Jarlack's axe bounced off the dome, and Insupportable's attempts to either claw at it or freeze it with his icy breath ended in failure in spite of his persistence.

"Open it, Wereling Bernard!" the dragon ordered his unfortunate yeti minion, whose axe was about as equally ineffective as Jarlack's was at splitting the dome open. "I can smell the treasure inside my future summer lair! Quickly!"

"I am trying, Your Glorious Majesty!" Bernard replied. He did not pause in spite of the task's futility. "I fear I am doing more damage to my weapon than to this barrier!"

"Then try harder!" Insupportable insisted. "I can smell the treasures inside calling for a good dragon to polish them, and I am certain there is a princess inside!"

Rapoleon let these fools try their luck in beating down the barrier and turned to the people who actually had an idea of what was going on: the scouts.

Lord Wepwawet had ordered the local werelings to establish an outpost to serve as a base for exploring the castle. They had built a small wooden fort on the frozen lake's shores, stocking food and basic amenities while they recorded information and mapped out their surroundings. Rapoleon's group had been supposed to review their progress and hear their reports when they spotted the dome.

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"You say it extends below ground, too?" Rapoleon questioned them.

"Yes, sir," one of his wererat sappers confirmed. Rapoleon recalled that this one had served under him during the Siege of Promesse. He always remembered his workers' faces. "The dome cut off some of the tunnels we were digging under the foundations. We think it's shaped like a sphere."

"Some workers were trapped on the other side, but crossed the barrier to leave just fine," another sapper said. "We think it only works one way to repel intruders."

Lord Rickart stroked his mane. "Neigebleue Castle has seen its fair share of intruders and pillagers over the years, yet none warranted such protection. What triggered this?"

"It's the dragon!" another wererat replied while pointing at a wall on the castle's rightmost wing. A smoking hole burned behind the barrier there. "A red dragon showed up from nowhere and attacked the castle!"

"That must be the red dragon Soumis that Lord Wepwawet dispatched here ahead of us," Viviane guessed.

"The barrier appeared right after the dragon went in?" Rapoleon asked. His gut told him the timing mattered. "Are you sure?"

"Almost immediately, sir," a wererat scout said.

"I saw it all!" one werewolf sentry said. "The dragon crashed into the wall, and then I heard a strange noise, like a zap! There was a flash of light, and next time I blinked, the dome had shown up!"

"The castle might have interpreted Soumis' approach as an attack or a siege," Lord Rickart guessed.

"Which means that this place has automated magical defenses… or that there is an entity in control of them," Rapoleon added. "The dragon hasn't come out since?"

The scouts shook their heads. Rapoleon continued to grill them about their earlier progress. Preliminary digs indicated that Castle Neigebleue was built atop fundation akin to a giant icy monolith shaped like a nail, which defied all engineering logic. The place could also 'heal' from damage inflicted upon it, with walls 'growing' to fill in fissures and other damage according to the sappers. The hole Soumis left in his wake had shrunk by half since yesterday and would likely disappear in a few days' time.

"What a strange place," Viviane said. "I wonder who built it."

"This place wasn't built, not by architects at least," Rapoleon replied. The space between the castle's spires was far too narrow for their shared weight not to cause a total collapse. The fact that they hadn't meant that magic of some sort had been at play in its creation. "Previous explorers recorded that the layout inside constantly changed on its own, too. It might not even look like a castle deep inside."

An unexpected silence followed, with the sound of clashing weapons ending in an instant. Rapoleone's group turned to find that Insupportable, Jarlack, and Bernard had stopped hacking at the barrier. Words flashed on the surface, and though Rapoleon didn't recognize the language, his mind somehow translated it into:

If thy wish to enter and claim my treasure, prove yourself worthy by paying the price.

0/100

"P-p-p-" Insupportable tried to read the inscription, but he struggled with one word in particular. "Prove yourself worthy by p-p-p—"

"Paying?" poor Bernard said.

"I do not know that word, but it sounds awful!" Insupportable complained. "Is being blessed by the pleasure of my company not enough of a reward?!"

Rapoleon found himself exchanging glances with his fellow Champions, though they all wisely kept their mouths shut.

"Any idea what this price might be, Viviane?" Rapoleon asked.

"Why are you asking me this?" the ranger replied.

"You guided us through the Titan's wicked territory back and forth," Rapoleon reminded her with a shrug. "And saved my life from them. I respect your expertise and your opinion."

"Oh, thank you," she replied with a smile. "But think nothing of it. I'm sure you would have done the same for me."

"No, I wouldn't have," Rapoleon replied bluntly, a thought which still shamed him. "If I hadn't been too frightened to move and our roles had been reversed… I think I would have run."

He expected his fellow Champions to shame him, but Viviane simply smiled. "Well, you'll do it right next time."

The cynical part of Rapoleon wanted to call her a fool for saying that, but the rest of him respected her more than ever before. "You are a good person, Viviane."

"That's Vivi for you," Lord Rickart said with pride. "She has a werelion's heart."

"As for the entrance price… I hope it's not a hundred sacrifices or something…" Viviane shook her head. "I have an idea, but it sounds a bit silly."

"Shoot," Rapoleon replied. "We'll try all options."

Viviane grabbed her purse, took out a gold coin, and pressed it against the barrier. Her money vanished out of thin air in an instant.

The number went up by one.

A short silence followed, broken by the noise of Rapoleon's tongue clicking in his mouth as his mind struggled to accept the obvious. "Is this… Is this a joke?"

"Doesn't seem like it," Viviane replied upon pressing a second coin at the barrier and watching the number climb. "It's an entrance fee."

Rapoleon glanced at Jarlack and Insupportable. While the giant warlord seemed surprisingly accepting of the situation—perhaps because he was used to being shaken down—despair quickly crept up on the dragon's face. His reptilian visage twisted into a true expression of absolute horror when the truth finally settled.

"This is a curse!" Insupportable shrieked in horror. "This castle is cursed!"

"Gee, took you that long to notice?" Viviane said, though the dragon was too shaken to notice the sarcasm.

"Is it an individual fee?" Lord Rickart wondered. "Or would this remove the barrier for everyone?"

"Let me check," Viviane replied as she kindly sacrificed the contents of her purse until the number reached a hundred. The barrier did not vanish, but the archer's hand passed through it when she tried touching it. Viviane exchanged a glance with Rickart and then crossed the barrier. "Seems safe enough to cross."

"Let me see, Vivi." Lord Rickart attempted to follow through, only for the barrier to stop him dead in his tracks. The number went back down to zero.

It was indeed an individual fee of one hundred coins per head.

"This castle is evil! Pure evil!" Insupportable all but shrieked. "I have changed my mind, this is no place for a summer lair! We must tear it down stone by stone!"

"Let us not be so hasty, Your Glorious Majesty…" Bernard said, but his master wouldn't listen.

"You do not understand, Wereling Bernard!" Insupportable shuddered with genuine fear, the kind of which Rapoleon thought his arrogant kind would be incapable of. "Imagine if such a vile magic spreads and prevents us from claiming princesses from their castle nests! The entire dragon way of life is at risk!"

Jarlack stared at Bernard's doomed attempts to calm the dragon down, then lowered his head to whisper to Rickart and Rapoleon. "I finally got it," he said. "It is an anti-dragon security measure."

"What, the barrier?" Lord Rickart replied with skepticism.

"Yes, the barrier!" Jarlack pressed a finger against his forehead. "Think, the both of you. Why do you think it appeared right after Soumis broke into the place? Dragons are so greedy that they would take all of this castle's loot and leave no spoils for anybody else, but they're incapable of spending anything. An entry fee is the ultimate defense against those scaled vermin!"

Lord Rickart remained skeptical. "Why would a magical castle's builders raise an enchanted barrier that is designed only to keep dragons out?"

"Why would the castle allow paying visitors to enter if it didn't want us to find its treasure?" Jarlack countered.

"That…" Lord Rickart found himself at a loss for words. "That is a good point…"

Rapoleon was starting to grow suspicious. "How do you know there is a treasure inside at all?"

"I told the Big Boss in the sky," Jarlack replied. "My proud fort used to be a jail whose prisoners escaped after killing the guards, and we tracked down their itinerary to this castle. It is said that they carried a fabulous treasure with them."

"But how did that story even spread?" That detail bothered Rapoleon. "If the prisoners killed all the guards and then escaped north to make their way here, then there shouldn't have been anybody to report about the treasure."

"Somebody must have survived to bring the news back to Megaloria," Jarlack replied with a shrug. "Stop being so cynical, my friend! Fortune smiles on the dreamer!"

Rapoleon remained suspicious. Jarlack was too greedy to think beyond monetary gains, but something didn't add up about this tale.

"So you're crossing the barrier or nah?" Viviane asked on the other side of the dome. "I'm waiting."

"Do we have to pay again if we exit and try to reenter?" Lord Rickart wondered. "If so, we can't afford to bring many back and forth."

Jarlack, ever the rapacious mind, immediately came upon a solution. "We should sign this off as a work expense for the Big Boss in the sky to cover. The spoils should more than cover it."

"If there are spoils to find," Rapoleon said, his eyes wandering to the hole Soumis blew in the castle. "Let us follow the dragon's path. He will have likely cleared the rooms of enemies on his way inside."

"Are you mad?" Jarlack complained. "He will have cleared all the loot, too! We'll find nothing but dust if we follow his path!"

"Have you forgotten?" Lord Rickart chastised him. "Our priority is to claim the Altar for His Godliness. Any monetary compensation is secondary!"

"More practically, once Lord Wepwawet has claimed the place as his own, he can support us with his sorcery and guide us through its halls," Rapoleon pointed out. "We will have an easier time finding the treasure with his guidance."

The prospect mollified Jarlack enough to go along with the plan, at least for now. "Fine… but I keep what I find."

None of the other Champions cared, so they all crossed the barrier one fee at a time. Only Insupportable and Bernard remained behind, mostly because the former couldn't bring himself to pay the fee even when others pooled coins for him.

"I cannot do this!" Insupportable complained. "This is too much! This is unconstitutional!"

"Then allow me to sacrifice my own personal wealth on your behalf, Your Glorious Majesty," Bernard said obsequiously. "I shall move forward and lift this curse."

The cloud of despair hovering over the dragon immediately dispelled. "You truly are the best minion a dragon could ask for, Wereling Bernard! I shall honor thy sacrifice forevermore!"

"Thank you, Your Glorious Majesty," the yeti replied before paying the entrance fee and joining the rest of the Champions. Rapoleon would rather have a dragon with them to clear the castle, but part of him was thankful he wouldn't have to listen to his drivel anymore.

"Happy?" Viviane teased Bernard once they were out of Insupportable's earshot.

The yeti let out a heavy sigh of pure, absolute relief. His joy was palpable. "I haven't taken a break in ages," he said. "I feel both free and empty all of a sudden."

Rapoleon himself focused on the task at hand. All in all, it was a pretty good team. He respected Viviane's skills, Lord Rickart and the yeti were reliable, and for all of his greed, Jarlack remained a powerful fighter.

Nonetheless, a detail continued to bother him. The money applied against the barrier had vanished out of thin air.

Where did the collected money go?

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