Chapter 41

I slept for three days straight. While my visible wounds had healed with Songpyeon’s power, the physical and mental strain seemed to have accumulated significantly.

“Report.”

“I will start with the damage situation.”

The Heavenly General swordsman, Youthful Flower, along with two knights and a mage—my trusted aides—gathered together to present their findings over the past three days.

In the battle against Can Slasher, we lost 150 soldiers.

“Ninety were elite soldiers with assigned classes, and sixty were regular troops.”

There were also numerous injured, but thanks to healing potions, Heal skills, and most importantly, the effects of Songpyeon, most were able to recover fully. Currently, all villagers have moved inside the fortress, organizing supplies and standing guard atop the castle walls.

They had also recovered various tools and equipment left behind by the goblins inside the fortress, which they were now utilizing as needed.

“What about monsters?”

“They can no longer be found anywhere nearby. However…a blue sphere has appeared in the central square.”

“That’s good news.”

“Pardon me?” The swordsman seemed puzzled.

jae-yeon pondered instead of answering him directly.

It looks like this follows the game system.

In the game, once the guild master cleared a neutral dungeon on hell difficulty and won the subsequent siege to become lord of the castle, that dungeon would then appear within the castle grounds. Its contents remained unchanged, allowing players to clear it at easy, normal, hard, or hell levels for experience points and rewards just as before.

However, there was one difference:

The rewards for clearing dungeons have slightly increased, and taxes must be paid to the castle lord.

The basic entrance fee for a dungeon is 100 gold, and the castle lord can levy additional tax ranging from 1 percent to 10 percent of that amount.

“What else is unique about these dungeons?”

“We recruited four parties of five members each to challenge them. They cleared easy, normal, hard, and hell difficulties respectively, and we’ve organized all the rewards accordingly.”

“What? Hell difficulty?” jae-yeon was taken aback by this revelation. Even if he generously assumed it might be possible at hard mode with his current soldiers, hell difficulty should’ve been impossible for them. After all, hobgoblins, rare-rank monsters, were known to inhabit those dungeons.

The swordsman calmly replied, “We did it, sir.”

Swordsman, Flower, Stonestone, Hundred, and Smile all nodded in confirmation. There were exactly five of them.

“Oh boy, you troublemakers…” Despite his exasperated sigh, he had to admit that this was necessary. After all, they needed intel on dungeons, and besides jae-yeon, these soldiers were the only ones capable of tackling hell-rank dungeons.

“Fine. They should be rewarded for their efforts. Tell them I’ll provide gear and skill books as incentives. Also, keep gathering information about raids. We need to clear more dungeons for leveling up and farming purposes.”

“Farming…sir?”

“We need to obtain equipment and gold.”

“Yes. Understood.”

“Also, gather all the villagers at the central square within three hours. I will decide the residential areas after changing the shape of the castle.”

“The…shape of the castle?”

“Just wait and see.” After sending away the swordsman, I spoke to the two knights.

“Yes. Are your bodies okay?”

“I am ashamed. We couldn’t hold on for long…”

“You fought just like Lordship alone.”

Stonestone and Hundred participated in the battle but weren’t able to make significant contributions. Each received one sword strike before being forced to retire, only managing to delay Can Slasher’s movements by one second each.

Despite this extraordinary feat, I sustained near crippling injuries. If it wasn’t for the power of Songpyeon, I wouldn’t have been able to recover.

‘I am just glad that I didn’t end up dead or crippled.’

Currently, there was a desperate shortage of talent. I wanted to absorb some knights and administrative personnel from the Red Exe family, but they were either destroyed or escaped somewhere else. All I could acquire were soldiers and guardsmen. In such circumstances, losing one of my two aura ability users would’ve been greatly problematic.

“As you all felt during this battle… our territory’s strength is greatly lacking against monsters. Similar battles will continue in the future, and as things stand now, I’ll only be a burden.”

”…”

”…”

I didn’t press further as their silence acknowledged my words.

“We need more aura ability users.”

“Huh? Yes, you’re right… But only one person out of 10,000 can awaken an aura.”

“That was true before. However, is it still the same now? Can’t we use stats to awaken mana?”

The two knights raised their heads sharply at my words.

“The elite soldiers… You mean they can awaken mana?”

“Yes. From now on, select promising soldiers and train them. Try various methods. Familiarizing themselves with mana by continuously using skills might be one approach. Once they awaken their mana, I’ll teach them a simple technique that I mastered easily.”

“But…the aura cultivation method is a secret technique. Are you sure about this? It will inevitably spread.”

“It doesn’t matter right now. Keep in mind that among the monsters revealed so far, orcs are relatively weak.”

After wrapping up his conversation with the two knights, jae-yeon turned to Smile.

“You heard that, right? Select some smart soldiers and teach them math and circling concepts. Make time for it and find the quickest, easiest way to do so. I’ll give you a list of basic circling spells to start with.”

“My goodness… Can Lordship access something akin to a vast library? How else could someone from an ordinary family possess such secret techniques?”

“There’s still plenty of time, so properly train them first. Depending on the results, I’ll teach you some spells.”

With those final words, he dismissed the two knights and mage.

‘I need to secure more superhumans.’

Can Slasher would invade again. It was unclear why it had caused chaos by traveling over 62 miles (100 km). There hadn’t been an opportunity for a proper conversation with Can Slasher.

“I’m guessing…but it seemed like they were aiming for the castle.”

It was too coincidental that the attack occurred right after the siege warfare ended. Their actions resembled how Players desired castles after succeeding in sieges.

‘I have to increase my strength. Even if…I am not present, there should be enough power to deal with Sword Masters.’

I might be able to use skill books on my soldiers like I did for myself. If they learned Inner Force Injection, it would force Sword Masters to expend some effort against their attacks. Additionally, if they mastered Sword Energy Manifestation, even ordinary soldiers could threaten the life of a Sword Master.

‘However, such spending is unsustainable.’

If one skill book cost 10,000 or 100,000 won, it might have been feasible, but there was no choice with these prices. Even if regular soldiers could manifest sword energy, they wouldn’t land a single blow against a Sword Master and would likely be killed instantly.

‘Ultimately, the best approach is probably enhancing abilities through class bonuses.’

After organizing my thoughts, I looked at the remaining Flower. She seemed to gather her thoughts before speaking:

“The kidnapped women within the castle have been found.”

“I suspected as much.”

I had seen these women during my solo reconnaissance mission earlier. I wondered where they had disappeared to when we captured the dragon’s vein, but it seems they were dragged into the dungeon.

“Anything unusual about them?”

Flower hesitated momentarily, but I didn’t press her since I already anticipated the situation.

They killed all the men yet kept the women alive. The purpose is quite obvious.

As expected, Flower confirmed my suspicion.

“More than half of the kidnapped women…were subjected to terrible acts by those green monsters, according to their accounts.”

“So that’s what happened.”

Indeed, there would be no other reason for specifically targeting only the women.

“How many exactly?”

“A total of 714 individuals.”

“First… separate them from the other villagers and observe their condition for one month. Report immediately if anything unusual occurs.”

“Yes, Lordship.”

After Flower left, I started to organize what needed to be done next.

‘It is actually good news.’

Our territory had a basic gender imbalance issue, which had become more severe over time. If the 714 people secured this time were integrated into the territory, it would resolve the problem to some extent. In fact, there would be more women than men.

‘The problem arises if any of them are pregnant.’

If that was possible, the situation would become complicated. It wouldn’t just be limited to my territory; chaos might engulf the entire continent.

‘On the contrary, what if none of the women are pregnant?’

This would have significant implications.

“Well, it isn’t something that can be solved immediately.”

I sat on the throne and opened the guild window.

“As expected.”

A new slot had been added to the guild window:

[Castle Management]

When I pressed the slot, a chessboard appeared. Naturally, only one castle was activated.

“There is nothing to worry about.”

I poured 5,000 diamonds, which equaled 500,000 won.

[Upgrading the shabby clay castle (ordinary) to a neat brick castle (advanced)!]

Ku-gugung!

There was a sound like the earth shaking. Without stopping, I used an additional 15,000 diamonds.

[Upgrading the neat brick castle (advanced) to a splendid fortress (rare)!]

Ku-gung!

The earth shook again. Not only that, but the shabby looking feudal lord’s castle changed to marble flooring and wooden windows became large glass windows where you could see outside! I was excited and wanted to press the next upgrade button but it wasn’t possible.

“No way, this is too much…” The number of diamonds required for the next upgrade was 50,000 dia.

Five million won. It was an amount that I couldn’t afford until my salary came in next month.

“Sigh. Let’s just take care of the options.”

I expanded the castle and added high-grade shops. Then I added a rare colossus statue to receive buffs from the castle, strengthened the castle gates and walls, and created deep moats with turrets as extras.

“Ah…and I don’t know if this will have any effect.” Among the public buildings, I installed a ‘huge fountain’.

It goes without saying, but most of this process was done with diamonds.

“A-Ah Eva. Really, you are amazing.”

I became penniless. The money I received from solving the bonus and club problems had already vanished without a trace.

“No way… What is happening?”

“My God, the castle.”

The outside was chaotic. With a bitter heart at my empty account balance, I left the study. The soldiers guarding the study showed me respect with expressions full of awe. Then after leaving the study and exiting the castle…

“Waaaaah!”

“Lordship!”

“Ohhh…! Oh God!”

“The Savior of this World!”

As the castle was located on the highest point of the city, all the villagers gathered there cheered as they saw me emerging from it.

In fact, medieval castles weren’t built this way, but this wasn’t a real medieval castle. It was the most magnificent and beautiful, with no consideration given to convenience for construction or defense. This was a castle from a game.

”…Wow.”

The sight of the castle…made me momentarily speechless.

A white city. The city was located below the castle walls. In other words, it had the form of a fortress city, already containing dozens of buildings. The ground was covered seamlessly with white tiles, and considerable sized trees were planted at intervals.

Sssshhhk!

Water spouted from a large fountain, while the colossus statue of a goddess installed in its center emitted a faint light.

“Waaaaah!”

“Lordship! Lordship!”

“Oh… How did this happen…!”

And more than 2,000 people had gathered in the central square, looking up at me with awe.

“Ah.”

The sorrow I felt from being stripped bare seemed to disappear completely. My heart was ticklish, and I experienced indescribable emotions sweeping over me.

“Oh this…”

My castle. My territory. My people.

“I want to work now…”

To be exact, I wanted to make money. Faster. More. I started running down the path of microtransactions that I couldn’t escape from. It happened on one particular day…