Overlord: Start from the Goblin Lair.

Chapter 178: Cellar under the House
As a shadow spirit, Yelena has a history of dealing with souls. Shadow weavers, shadow dancers, and even the soul dealers on the banks of the Styx are all members of this strange race of shadow spirits. They use souls as sacrifices, fuel, and currency, which is nothing at all.

So she certainly hoped that Ron and the others would not have any aversion to this - even if the coin might have come from a devil.

"The soul inside is that of a human blacksmith," Yelena used some special techniques to roughly read the memory of the soul inside the soul coin without damaging it. "His wife is a wizard. Although she has never done anything against the law of nature - at least her husband thinks so - she was still persecuted by the church in his hometown. As an ordinary person, he could do nothing about it and could only watch his wife being burned to death on the gallows."

"He raised their son alone, but he discovered that the child also inherited his mother's bloodline. As he grew older, this matter could no longer be concealed, and the church came knocking on his door again."

"Which church is this?" Victoria frowned. "If it's true as the blacksmith said, it's not ethical for them to do this!"

"So? Are you going to overturn his case?" Yelena glanced at her. "I don't know how many years ago this soul was, and I don't know where it came from."

"In addition, it was the priests of Helm who persecuted their family. They believed that wizards who did not believe in the true God were not trustworthy, and that allowing them to do so was irresponsible to other residents."

"..." The pastor of Heim was silent, but everyone could see the unwillingness in her eyes.

"As the person involved, the blacksmith must find it even more difficult to accept this fact," Yelena shrugged, "but he is just an ordinary person. How can he compete with the priest of the righteous god and other villagers?"

"Perhaps the only one who can save him and his son is the devil."

"So, who lent him the power? Could it be your clan leader?"

"Soul coins are a type of currency in circulation. There is no definite connection between who holds the soul coin and who made it," Yelena said. "The one who helped him was Zariel, the most famous fallen angel, and the ruler of Avernus, the Grand Duchess."

"I suppose so," muttered Exure. "That warmongering guy wouldn't miss such a thing."

"But why was he made into a soul coin?" Ron asked curiously, "Aren't those who usually break the contract treated this way?"

"Of course," Yelena answered affirmatively, "the blacksmith violated the contract."

"Zariel agreed to help him defeat the priests of Helm, but in exchange, she would take the blacksmith's most precious possession - I think you can all guess what it is."

"His son, of course. That's the devil." Sera rolled her eyes. Even she could guess what the price would be.

The blacksmith certainly would not put the cart before the horse, so he could only use another precious thing to buy his son's freedom - his own life and soul.

"As for why this soul coin ended up here, I have no idea."

"Can't we get the answer by asking the soul inside?"

"Unfortunately, no," Yelena spread her hands. "You can question the soul inside, but he can only answer you about what he knew when he was alive. Even if I have some tricks to bypass the three-time usage limit, it cannot violate its basic rules."

"If you want to know more, you can only look for it in the ruins that this mimicry has been to."

Green Swamp was once a town anyway, and even if it was reduced to ruins, it was still very large. Fortunately, the mimicry's memory was still good. When Sera carried it out of the cave, it quickly designated a location, and the others immediately began to clean up with that location as the center. "This should be just an ordinary residence," Ivy picked up a piece of broken wall and threw it aside, "It's really strange, why would the devil's coin appear in a resident's kitchen?"

Even though it has been weathered by time, a stove and some broken and rusted tableware can still be seen in this area.

"Maybe the coin was hidden in the pie when it was being made." Ron told a joke, but no one laughed.

In some parts of this world, there is a saying that whoever eats the coin will become lucky, but a soul coin from hell?

And considering the size and weight of the coin, probably no one would "hide" it in food.

"Or maybe," Driver suddenly lay on the ground with a smug smile, "there is a secret cellar here."

The goblin was keenly aware of the unusualness of a broken floor tile, but when he inserted his dagger into the gap and pried it hard, it had no effect.

"The mechanism is stuck," he spat on the ground, "Sera, you have to break it open!"

"No need to go through so much trouble." Perhaps inspired by Driver's actions, Exuri also learned to spit on the floor tiles.

Accompanied by a "sizzling" corrosion sound, a black hole entrance appeared in front of everyone.

"See," the black dragon raised his face, "it's that simple!"

"You better be careful next time, especially when you come to our place," Sera said jokingly, "The facilities of the trading post may not be more solid than this."

"I'm far from suffering from Alzheimer's! I won't drool all the time!" the young dragon protested, "Besides, we dragons don't suffer from Alzheimer's..."

"Uh, will it happen? Probably not... I'll ask the teacher next time I see him."

"I advise you not to ask about this," Ron threw a candle down the hole, "Remember? You are all considered 'old' from the age of 400 onwards."

"You'll definitely get beaten if you ask that."

The candle that Ron threw down was obviously different from ordinary candles. Ron did not light it, but when it fell to the ground, it immediately stood firm and ignited a bright flame on its own.

"Oh, I thought this was based on the same principle as a soup spoon," Ivy whistled, "That's progress."

"Even in the wild, I still insist on learning," Ron chuckled, "but it's a bit of a waste of candles. In order to make a magic item that can release an eternal flame, I almost used up all the candles we brought with us - the success rate is really not very high."

"I was wondering why I felt my bag was getting emptier these past two days," Victoria said, jumping down first without saying a word. "I didn't even dare to pray more before bed these past two days!"

(End of this chapter)