Chapter 7: Wolf (1)
Knight Alto, despite the day turning to dusk, did not camp but was almost running back to his territory to get as far away from Lartania as quickly as possible.
Thanks to that, the sound of heavy breathing was heard all around, and although the soldiers had abandoned the wagon they had brought from the territory, the knight did not reprimand them.
No, he couldnt.
His mind was preoccupied with survival rather than reprimanding the soldiers for abandoning the wagon at the moment.
Surely this wasnt the mission I was given!
Altos mission from the Lord was clearly only to retrieve Fragments of the Territory Stone from a failing territory.
He had come from the distant Northern Continent to receive favorable treatment, unaware, but according to the Lord, the territory of Lartania was said to have been of great prestige ten years ago.
The mission seemed pretty easy to Alto, and indeed, he thought things were going smoothly until the halfway point.
The Lartania territory he visited was, in fact, hardly worthy of being called a territory.
That was, until it appeared.
Knight Alto recalled the scene from earlier.
With a single leap from Red Eyes, hundreds of monsters were instantly torn apart, a sight he had never before witnessed.
And recalling the Langin tribe, who had done such an unbelievable act, looking at him with a clear expression of anger, the knight unconsciously clenched his teeth.
Monster, that thing is a monster!
He quickened his pace even more.
Now, it was more than brisk walking; he was almost trotting.
The knight, using his sense of duty to quickly inform his Lord of his justification, was trying to escape the trembling fear in his body.
Just as Knight Alto was about to climb the entire uphill path of the mountain
Thud-!
His body suddenly fell forward.
Crash-! Thump!
Feeling a sharp pain in his chest, Alto grimaced but also felt a bit of shame.
Even drenched in fear, he was well aware of how his current state must look to the soldiers following him.
I must get up-
Thus, Alto, trying to overcome his shame and get up as if nothing was amiss, noticed something was off.
?
He knew something was wrong.
His lower body felt lighter.
For him, wearing plate armor that was so heavy ordinary knights couldnt even wear it, yet capable of blocking even an ogres club, this sensation was exceedingly unfamiliar.
So, naturally, when he turned his gaze to look behind him.
Eh?
Alto could see.
Unlike his fallen self, his two legs were still standing on the ground.
And.
Spurt-!
From the severed section of those legs, red blood was pouring out.
The moment he realized it, a terrible pain began to fill Altos mind, who had not understood the situation until then.
Aaargh!
He realized that his two legs had been severed.
And that had happened before he even realized it.
At the same time,
Did you think you could escape?
With eyes mixed with fear, he could see Merilda, who was already standing at the top of the hill, looking down at him.
At-attack! Attack!
Alto, without realizing, opened his mouth seeing Red Eyes looking at him with endlessly indifferent eyes devoid of any emotion.
Of course, there were no soldiers to respond to such a command from the knight.
That was because the soldiers who had climbed the mountain with him were
Ah-
Already all dead.
Shiver-
With trembling eyes, Alto turned his head to look at the soldiers who had died without even screaming.
All of them had their bodies split into three parts or had their heads had disappeared, dying without a scream, staining the mountain path red.
Alto, after looking at them, turned his gaze back to Red Eyes.
Still with an indifferent expression, her eyes shining brightly under the moonlight, she was slowly stepping towards Alto.
Sa-save me-!
At the same time, Alto cried out.
He had no intention of opposing Red Eyes.
No, he couldnt.
Because he was critically injured?
No.
Alto had realized from the beginning.
That he could never defeat the monster before him on his own.
Thus, the scream that instinctively burst out, was a cry for survival.
But Red Eyes just silently moved forward, step by step.
If-If you touch me, do you think our territory will just stand by!? Our Lord of Harlancia is under the protection of the Kingdom of Calan!!
Despite Altos increasingly frightened state leading him to throw polite speech far away and resort to threats, Merilda just silently moved on.
However.
When Red Eyes stopped right in front of him, about to raise a fist emotionlessly,
Do you think the Lord of Lartania will be safe if you kill me!?
Suddenly-!
At the scream-like utterance from Alto, Merildas movement stopped, and at that moment, Alto instinctively realized.
That this was Red Eyes weakness.
Therefore, Alto started to babble in order to survive.
If I-if I do not return, of course, the Lord will know something happened to me and send troops! Do you think you can stop those troops!?
No!? You cannot stop the army of our territory! We have as many as three heroes in our territory!
Of course, you could run away!! But could the Lord you wished to protect run away?! No! Thats impossible! Your Lord will be captured by the army sent by our Lord and will not escape execution!
Alto was screaming at Merilda, who stood still.
In fact, his words were a cunning mix of truth and lies.
It was true that Harlancia had many soldiers, as he said.
It was also true that there were three strong heroes, and over fifty knights, which could be considered elite troops.
However, the only incorrect part was that all those forces would not move just because of one hero who entered Lartania territory this time had died.
At least, the Lord would not move the soldiers until making a decision.
Because the Lord he knew was such a person.
However, for Alto at the moment, that wasnt what mattered.
Surviving was all that mattered.
Seeing Red Eyes wavering, Alto, for whom only survival was important, immediately shouted a cunning mix of truth and lies.
So if you kill me here, you-
At the moment Alto, who saw her completely stop with her fist raised, was about to speak with a triumphant smile.
Alto stopped speaking.
His neck wasnt cut.
His neck was still well attached to his body.
And his tongue was also properly attached.
Eyes, nose, mouth, not one was harmed.
Yet, the reason Alto stopped speaking was-
Say it once more.
Ah-
Shiver-
Because his body was trembling.
To the extent that he felt like he would suffocate under the murderous intent emitted by Red Eyes, who looked down on him with a demon-like scowl.
What did you say?
Trembling even more-
The knight couldnt answer.
He just realized one thing.
The Lord of Lartania, who had declined and diminished over ten years holding nothing, was not her weakness.
The Lord was-
Crack-!
-A taboo to Red Eyes.
A taboo that must never be brought up.
Alto screamed as he belatedly realized he had done something that should never have done and that his right arm had been torn off.
Regardless of whether he screamed or not, Red Eyes, who had grabbed the knight by the head to meet his gaze, said,
Listen well.
Ugh-!
No one, absolutely no one, can touch my Master. If they do-
While looking into Altos eyes trembling with fear and pain,
I will, by any means necessary, kill them all.
Crunch-!
And then, by squeezing her hand, she crushed his head, killing him.
Thud-! Thump.
The wolf, Red Eyes, carelessly threw away the corpse of Alto, whose head had burst and died.
No, absolutely- absolutely not.
Looking north, where the territory of Harlancia is located.
No one can touch the Master.
Red eyes flashed.
Anyone, no matter who.
Holding a small gift box in her arms, treasuring it.
About two days after the end of the Labyrinth Break incident, Kim Hyunwoo had drawn up all the blueprints to restore Lartania and began working in earnest.
Of course, there were problems along the way.
No, to be precise, there were many.
Immediately, in Lartania, there was not a single building left besides the Lords castle, and the few remaining houses in the residential area were almost all ruined, not even considered buildings by the territorys standards.
Still, it was okay.
From Kim Hyunwoos perspective, who could use game currency just like when he was playing the game ten years ago, such a problem could be solved.
If there were no resources to build, it was necessary to pay a bit more than usual, but resources could be purchased through in-game currency.
Thanks to that, high-quality wood that could be used to build fences around the entire territory and houses were piled higher than the Lords castle itself at the back of the current castle.
Similarly, ample supplies of minerals like stone or iron were prepared for use as well.
Is that all?
The barren land was made into arable farmland, capable of plowing a few percent of its area, using an item called Blessed Holy Water that could be bought with 2000 Red Stones.
Now, what remained was to build various essential buildings and homes for the territorys residents to settle in properly, and to proceed with the primary industry by actively using labor.
The problem arose right here.
Theres just not enough manpower.
As Arteil explained time and again, the territorys residents were the most important.
The number of residents equates to the amount of labor that can be mobilized.
Given Arteils characteristic of constantly consuming resources, labor to produce resources is an indispensable element.
And the construction window of Lartania, currently maintaining just over 90 residents, was:
[Construction List]
Ruined House Repairs
[Time Remaining: 208 days 5 hours 22 minutes In Progress]
Fence Construction
[Time Remaining: 92 days 2 hours 15 minutes]
Training Ground Construction
[Time Remaining: 182 days 9 hours 30 minutes]
It was in a very dire state.
Even if there were 90 residents, the problem arose because less than 50 of them could actually work.
Of course, even if all 90 became laborers, this disastrous number would not decrease.
It would be nice if manpower could be bought with cash currency.
Kim Hyunwoo, clutching his head as if it hurt, thought.
However, from the beginning, when enjoying Arteil as a mobile game, funnily enough, this game was only bizarre in terms of BM elements for heroes, but was rational in terms of BM for operating a territory.
In other words, whether its cash currency or in-game currency, the only way to buy labor was for Kim Hyunwoo to either properly set up a trading post or establish friendly relations between territories to receive labor support, otherwise, it was impossible.
So, it was just yesterday that Kim Hyunwoo was pondering how to solve this problem.
Yes, until yesterday, he was worrying.
The territory influx rate, its not displayed incorrectly, right?
[Yes.]
Why all of a sudden?
[That, I dont know well either...]
Domain Influx Rate: 292%
Due to events caused by an incident, the correction for the decrease in influx rate due to development disappears!
Until such a display appeared in front of Kim Hyunwoo.
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