by Park Saenal
Affiliation: The Eternal Kingdom
Population: NPCs – 20,551. Players – 0.
Troops: Knights – 2 (Huroi, Lauel).
Soldiers – 141
Security: 5/100
* The state of security is the worst. It isn’t unusual if the people turn into a mob straight away. Gangsters and monsters will often pop up near the village.
* Security will increase hourly in proportion to the number of soldiers.
* People jobs and food for a policing activity is not available, even if the police do not rise.
Internal Affairs: 169/4,500
* Increasing the number of shopping malls, public cultural facilities and buildings will increase the internal affairs number.
Foreign Affairs: The Butin Barony in the Saharan Empire.
Forces hostile to the ruler: Yatan Church.
Forces hostile to your affiliated groups: Gauss Kingdom, Luvia Principality.
Specialties: None.
Distinguished Figure: None.
“The situation isn’t as good as I expected.”
“It seems like it.”
While moving from Winston to Reidan, the guild members were attracted to the monsters of the west and devoted themselves to hunting. They waited for monsters to attack the moving carriage, then quickly hunted them for experience. Therefore, they thought the west was a blessed land.
But Huroi, Lauel, and Faker thought that the strong monsters in the west were a negative point. The monsters were so strong that the accessibility of general users was low, and the area would be difficult to manage. Now the reality they faced was worse than their expectations.
“A city that can accommodate over 500,000 people only has a population of 20,000…”
“Furthermore, there are no users.”
“The biggest priority right now is to pay the people raise the security level.”
The Overgeared Guild currently had 5 million gold in funds. 5 million gold. While that amount of gold might sound large for a single person, it wasn’t enough to fund a big city. Not only that, 5 million gold didn’t even seem like enough to develop an empty, desolate city.
Now they had to pay expenses to raise the goodwill of the people? Was it even possible to produce food in this city in the first place? It wasn’t possible to even make barley bread. It was inevitable that they would have to import ingredients, but merchants were aware of the situation and wouldn’t come to Reidan.
‘Considering the transportation cost…’
Lauel calculated that he had to set a minimum of 3 silver for one meal. If it was 20,000 people, he would have to pay 600 gold. This was one meal. It was ridiculous to spend hundreds of thousands of gold on meals until a fundamental solution was set up.
But Lauel couldn’t alienate the people. Did he feel compassion when seeing their skinny selves? No. That was irrelevant. People were the national power. He needed to restore them first, then there would be a rise in security and labor. There was no other choice.
“After making the people useful, set them to clearing the fields.”
“But doesn’t the lord have to give permission?”
Huroi was cautious. He knew that restoring the people was the most pressing issue, but he wondered if Grid would understand. Grid would wonder why they were wasting money on people’s meals.
Huroi spoke to the worried Lauel,
“South Korean doesn’t give up on making hot pepper paste just because of worms. That is a saying in South Korea.”
This was the right choice, even if it was against Grid’s will. This was Chief Lauel’s conviction to grow the Overgeared Guild. Hoewever, the saying was too provocative.
Huroi thought about the saying that Lauel mentioned and became indignant, “Don’t compare My Lord to measly worms!”
“Ah no, that’s not what I meant.”
Lauel sweated profusely as he tried to soothe Huroi. On the other hand, Faker disappeared from next to the two men, moving through the yellow dust before arriving at the castle.
“Why didn’t you move quickly after hearing that the new lord’s men had arrived? Your greeting is late!”
“T-That… I was afraid that I would be stoned by the people if I left the castle and that made me late.”
“Pathetic guy. You are armed with sword and armor, but are afraid of rocks? What a worthless person. Tsk tsk.”
A fat, middle-aged man hurried to the entrance of the castle with his soldiers. This greasy man’s name was Arik, the administrator of Reidan. He was a baronet and often received treatment as a noble.
Faker pointed his dagger at Arik without hesitation.
“Hiik!”
Arik exclaimed as he saw the shadows in the yellow dust.
“W-Who are you?”
Faker replied in a cold voice, “A person with a lot of questions for you.”
“W-What…? Kiyaaack~!”
It was in an instant. Faker and Arik disappeared into the yellow dust like they weren’t there in the first place.
“Administrator Arik?”
The stunned soldiers looked around, but they couldn’t find any traces of Arik.
***
‘This is a normal level?’
Bland had watched Grid training under Piaro for the past three days. Bland originally saw Grid as very strong. Grid would become much stronger under Piaro’s teachings and would have no education.
However, Piaro evaluated Grid as ordinary. Grid was satisfied that he wasn’t worse compared to others.
Bland couldn’t believe it. ‘Why are his skills so bad and dull? Doesn’t he have great skills?’
It was the difference in perspective. From Bland’s point of view, Earl Steim and Phoenix were the strongest swordsmen until he met Piaro, but Grid seemed to have a lot of talent. On the other hand, Grid compared his abilities to the top rankers and boss monsters, and decided this was good.
Then what about Piaro? He evaluated Grid’s ability as ‘poor in comparison to his amount of power.’
The conclusion.
“Puhahat! Now I can easily hunt monsters in the west without having to rely on skills!”
“This is just the basics. Only the lousy people rely solely on skills. You still have a long way to go.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to keep practicing steadily? Continue teaching me in the future.”
“I refuse. It is unlikely that your skills will improve, even if I keep teaching you.”
“Don’t give up so easily. It isn’t that hard, is it?”
“This is a realistic analysis, not one based on any emotions.”
Grid was strong. It was true that he was lacking control skills compared to top rankers, but from a normal point of view, he was beyond the average level. However, the monsters in the west were so strong that his limits started to show.
“Hap!”
Now Grid had perfectly adapted to the strange terrain of the desert. He ran on the sand with light footsteps and freely wielded Failure, causing the monsters of the west to collapse. As a result, Grid reached level 275 and finally arrived in Reidan.
“This is your city?”
The scale of Reidan that came into view was huge. The exterior walls weren’t very high or well-maintained, but they spectacularly stretched out along the horizon.
“This is a huge city comparable to the capital of a kingdom.”
Grid smiled at Piaro’s admiring words.
“It is the second biggest city in the Eternal Kingdom after Reinhardt.”
Grid was filled with anticipation. He imagined hundreds of thousands of people in Reidan greeting him with confetti.
“Let’s go.”
Grid prompted Bland and Piaro and increased the pace. Then he was confused as he found people working on clearing the land.
‘Are they refugees?’
The people were skinny, dressed in poor clothes and looked like refugees. Grid wondered why they were doing field work in Reidan.
‘They seem to be s
laves.’
He wondered if the people of Reidan hired slaved to work on the farmland. Grid tsked at the thought. ‘They might be slaves but they should be properly fed. What unscrupulous employers.’
The people of Reidan didn’t seem to have a good mentality. However, their mentality had nothing to do with Grid.
‘They are just my taxes.’
Lululula.
Grid looked at the nearest entrance to the city and hummed with a happy heart. He imagined a fanfare and hundreds of thousands of people welcoming him. However.
“Eh?”
Grid witnessed a bizarre sight and stopped walking. The Overgeared members were working among the tens of thousands of slaves?
‘W-What?’
Grid saw the Overgeared members sweating hard as they worked and stopped humming. An ominous thought struck him before Regas saw him and ran over with a bright smile.
“You finally came!”
Regas’ solid upper body was stained with sweat and dust. He looked like a worker in a coal mine so Grid asked him.
“What are you doing right now?”
“As you can see, we are clearing the fields with the people.”
“… With the people?”
Where were the people? Grid only saw the Overgeared members and the slaves.
“I greet My Lord.”
Huroi came running. He was also sweaty. Grid saw the rake in his hand and asked again, “What are you doing right now?”
Huroi had the same answer as Regas, “We are clearing the fields with the people.”
“No, that isn’t it. The people…”
Lauel rushed over at that time. “Why were you so late?”
Lauel berated with a scruffy appearance as well. He also held farming equipment in his hands.
“You didn’t respond to my whispers, so I had to start the guild members on the urgent tasks. First of all, we are joining forces with the people to connect the waterways and plant the fields, so we will be able to produce simple food in a few months.”
Grid finally perceived reality. Then he desperately asked. “Where are the people?”
“Can’t you see them?” Lauel turned his gaze to the fields. Lauel’s finger was pointing to the people on the fields, the thin ones who Grid thought were slaves. “They are your people.”
“… Ah, why me?”
It was the moment when Grid’s expectations collapsed.
Chapter 217
Chapter 217
“Damn! What is this? I knew things were going too well!”
His fate changed after becoming Pagma’s Descendant. In the past, he lived an unlucky life. After becoming Pagma’s Descendant, most of the results were positive, no matter what hardship he went through. But why did he have to go through hardship everywhere he went? Did he have to accept it just because things worked out well?
Grid suppressed his anger. He looked around at all the people before asking, “Isn’t this the kingdom’s second largest city? Doesn’t that mean it’s rich? So why are the people in this state? Eh? Were they robbed by a group of thieves or something?”
“In the past, it was the richest city in the kingdom; however, everything changed 10 years ago when the giant worms appeared.”
“The giant worms? What do those monsters have to do with Reidan?”
Lauel explained to Grid, “This is what Faker found out after questioning the administrator and the people here.”
10 years ago. Reidan was the second largest city after Reinhardt and was called the second capital of the kingdom. However, this situation changed once the giant worms appeared on a large scale.
The giant worms ravaging the land were so strong that they couldn’t be subjugated with a regular army. They quickly turned the western part of the kingdom into a desert, leading to a shortage in resources and supplies, including water.
To make matters worse, all types of desert monsters started to appear. This situation got so bad that it Reidan was eventually isolated from the kingdom around it, falling into a food shortage.
“Large-scale support from the kingdom became impossible so the former lord of Reidan gave up. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their home.”
But some people didn’t leave. It was due to the circumstances of each people. 40,000 people remained behind in Reidan.
“They had to prioritize protecting the rivers and lakes that hadn’t been dried up yet. But with their strength, they couldn’t protect the rivers and lakes from monsters.”
King Wiesbaden tried to help by searching for talent to rebuild the west. However, there was no one good except for Earl Ashur, and Earl Ashur couldn’t leave Patrian.
“In the end, people were unable to get help from the kingdom and chose the empire. They asked the empire to be saved and the empire readily accepted. It was a chance to absorb part of the land of the Eternal Kingdom.”
The empire dispatched the Black Knights. The Black Knights were the second strongest knights after the Red Knights. But it was impossible for them to completely get rid of all the monsters in the west.
“At this point, the empire had to make a decision. In order to obtain the west, they would have to commit a large force. And that is a big burden from the position of the empire.”
Finally, the empire made a choice.
“They will protect the Hebend River directly connected to Reidan from the monsters. In return, the people of Reiden will have to make an offering to the empire every year. They offered that deal.”
“It is a reasonable proposal. The people of Reidan would’ve had to accept.”
“That’s right. But the problem was that the amount of wealth the empire asked for grew every year.”
Thanks to the protection of the empire, the people of Reidan were able to relieve the food shortage through farming. The economy was slowly revived, but so what? They became poor again after giving their wealth to the empire every year. Finally, there was a food crisis again.
“In the end, the people of Reidan reached the point where they couldn’t listen to the demands of the empire anymore. The empire withdrew their forces and as a result, there were only 20,000 people left in Reidan. They were on the brink of starvation. This was the situation when we arrived.”
Grid couldn’t believe it. “Why did the kingdom abandon Reidan? It might be impossible to get rid of the monsters in the west, but isn’t it possible to give them the minimum of supplies?”
“There was no merit. They didn’t feel the value of helping the foolish people who won’t abandon a land that can’t be rebuilt.”
It was cold but the right decision. At least, Grid thought so. “Yes, I understand the position of the kingdom. So in the end, aren’t the people of the kingdom the real issue at hand? Why would they insist on staying in Reidan, in spite the circumstances? Isn’t it a simple fix if they just leave?”
“It is unfortunate… 10 years ago, the lord recruited troops to raid the vampire lair. Most of the people who didn’t leave Reidan are the families of the young men conscripted to the vampire raid.”
“They don’t know when their sons or husbands will return so they remained in Reidan?”
“That’s right. As you know, this world is different from modern society and the reunion of separated families is almost impossible…”
10 years ago. The giant worms emerged soon after the vampire raid began. And Reidan fell in just five months. The vampire subjugation troops were scheduled to return in half a year, so the families of the soldiers had to wait until then.
They waited one year, two years, three years, four years, etc, but the vampire subjugation team didn’t return. However, the family members kept staying in Reidan. The result was that 10 years passed. 40,000 people waited for the vampire subjugation team, but half of them gave up or starved to death.
“They have been waiting 10 years for the vampire subjugation team’s return, despite the fact that the troops have probably been annihilated… Blood relationships are scar
y.”
Grid thought that the people of Reiden were stupid, but he also felt compassion. It was because his family probably would’ve made the same choice if they were in the same position as the people of Reidan.
“The conclusion is that the former lord is a stupid jerk? Why did he try to clear the vampire lairs?”
“Until the giant worms appeared, the vampires were the only threat to Reidan. The vampire lairs are somewhere in the west and the vampires often used the people of Reidan as their food. The former lord made an unavoidable decision.”
Vampire Duke Marie Rose. Grid recalled the vampire that he met in the past on the way to the pope and shuddered.
“…Are the vampires still active these days?”
“No. Vampires haven’t appeared since monsters emerged in the west. Considering the strength of the vampires, they wouldn’t have been wiped out by the monsters. So it is possible that they turned the monsters into their food source.”
“That is lucky. Um… So? What should I do next?”
Lauel answered instantly as if it were obvious, “We need to focus on clearing the fields.”
“…”
In the nine days of Grid’s absence, the Overgeared members defeated the monsters around Hebend River and connected the waterways to the fields. Now it was a beautiful sight because they worked hard with the people to clear the fields.
“Labor is good. The sight of the people sweating while working is beautiful.” But Grid hated doing it. “I am the duke yet I have to work in the fields with the people? Isn’t this too much?”
Lauel shrugged at Grid’s obvious dislike.
“You don’t have to. You have a different workspace.”
Lauel received Grid’s command and brought Khan to this place. As soon as they got here, he gave support staff to Khan to build a facility. That’s right, it was a smithy.
“Please do your duties as a legendary blacksmith. There is a limit to the amount of farming equipment that can be produced by Khan alone. Please help him produce a large quantity of farming equipment.”
“What?”
A legendary blacksmith needed to make farmer’s tools?
“Hey, what’s with that look you’re giving me?” Lauel scolded Grid. “We need your strength to revive Reidan, and you want to refuse? Don’t you feel any sense of responsibility as the Lord?”