Chapter 11: Territory Development (3)

Arteil originally did not have NPC territories when it was first released.

The reason was that Arteil was initially well-received for its blend of territory system and cute girl gacha system.

Until then, all territories existing in the field were owned by players.

However, as Arteil began to focus heavily on monetization, introducing bizarre mechanics into the cute girl gacha, the number of deserters increased, and players rapidly left the game.

At that point, Arteil hastily began transforming the territories abandoned by users into NPC territories in an attempt to somehow maintain the game.

This led Kim Hyunwoo to sometimes wonder if he was playing a single-player game, given that later on, there were many territories around him but not a single player, only NPC territories filling the space.

Anyway, the reason Kim Hyunwoo suddenly recalled his past memories was precisely because of the Sertoa territory.

More precisely,

"The Lord of Sertoa is really glad that the Lord of Lartania has returned."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Moreover, the Lord of Sertoa sincerely hopes for the revival of Lartania's territory."

"It's good to hear that the Lord of Sertoa thinks that way."

This was because of Sertoa's envoy, who, with a sycophantic expression, gifted him wine and left several insincere well-wishes while laughing.

Therefore,

"Then, having delivered the gift, I shall take my leave now."

Watching Sertoa's envoy disappear with a smile, Kim Hyunwoo, from his Lord's astle, watched him leave the territory and thought.

"...What exactly is their intention?"

Of course, he knew that the Lord of Sertoa was plotting something sinister.

They might not know this side, but Kim Hyunwoo had the ability to check the information of any item just by picking it up, just like in a game.

However, the reason Kim Hyunwoo was tilting his head in puzzlement was because there were still unresolved questions.

"Why go about it in this manner?"

The map function that Loria opens, though not precise, gives a rough indication of the development level of surrounding territories, so Kim Hyunwoo was aware of Sertoa's territory development level.

"It was definitely around 2500."

2500.

Of course, the territory development score wasn't purely a measure of military strength, but a development score of 2500 indicated that Sertoa's territory had a decent military power, according to his assessment.

This meant that there was no need for them to go about dealing with me in such a roundabout way.

Unless Kim Hyunwoo had some sort of backing, which he did not.

"Hmm..."

Of course, it wasn't that nothing had come to Kim Hyunwoo's mind up to this point.

"Is it because of Merilda?"

Merilda, now called Red Eyes, had destroyed the Harlancia territory not long ago.

And that Harlancia territory was allied with Sertoa's territory, while Merilda, on the other hand, had connections with Lartania's territory.

This meant that, from the Lord of Sertoa's perspective, they might have acted this way out of concern that Merilda had returned to Lartania.

But that also seemed a bit off.

"Loria, open the relationship window, please."

"Understood."

As soon as Kim Hyunwoo spoke, he saw a translucent window appear in front of him and wore a subtle expression.

[Lartania Territory Relationship Chart]

[Harlancia Territory: -24]

[Sertoa Territory: -1]

The complex territory relationship chart from ten years ago was nowhere to be found, and the chart currently before Kim Hyunwoo's eyes was so simple it was monotonous.

If Merilda had entered Lartania's territory, the relationship chart wouldn't have been this dull.

The territory window that Kim Hyunwoo was looking at would have been so long that it required several pages of scrolling, and the current relationship status with Harlancia and Sertoa territories would have ridiculously hit the minus hundred mark.

'It seems that Merilda's actions were not because of Lartania after all...'

Having pondered for a while why the Lord of Sertoa acted this way, Kim Hyunwoo eventually shrugged and set the wine aside.

In truth, thinking about it one by one was endless.

Right away, Kim Hyunwoo didn't even know why Merilda had destroyed the Harlancia territory.

He also doubted whether the relationship chart he saw functioned like it did in Arteil.

Above all, he couldn't understand why the poison sent by the Lord of Sertoa was named 'Absolute Ruler of Darkness.'

'...Has the Absolute Ruler of Darkness attached to Sertoa territory?'

After a brief thought, Kim Hyunwoo decisively shook his head.

If the Absolute Ruler of Darkness mentioned in the wine's description was the hero he had raised since level one, then it wouldn't make sense for Sertoa territory's development level to be stuck around 2500.

Ultimately, Kim Hyunwoo, burdened with unsolvable problems, realized that worrying was pointless and decided to focus on developing his territory first.

Two days later.

Labor efficiency exceeded 80%.

Moreover, as the number of people providing labor increased, the reconstruction of the territory naturally began to happen rapidly.

Looking north from the terrace of the Lord's office in the castle, the always visible ruined village had been replaced by houses.

Although not the entire territory, about 40% around the Lord's castle began to be enclosed by fences.

Even though it was only 40% and not the entire territory, and the construction took a long time due to the increased level of the territory, Kim Hyunwoo was quite pleased to see the fences being erected from the Lord's castle.

'It's finally starting to look like a territory...'

In fact, the scenery looked too shabby to be called a territory's landscape.

The houses built in the area of the former ruined village were mostly shabby log houses, and the fences surrounding the territory were too flimsy to be called walls.

Honestly, it was more accurate to see it as a slightly well-developed slash-and-burn village rather than a territory.

However, for Kim Hyunwoo, who had first seen Lartania's territory as nothing but a ruined village, seeing the wasteland-like territory gradually taking the shape of a village was incredibly moving.

'Once the fences are finished, and the barracks and tavern are all built.'

From that point on, he could seriously start managing the territory, and while Kim Hyunwoo was smiling at this thought,

Bista, the man who had delivered the wine to Kim Hyunwoo as an envoy from the Sertoa territory, was returning to Sertoa by carriage, a two-day journey from Lartania.

'It's a bit late.'

"I'm sorry, it seems the orb I brought this time was faulty, it took some time to fill it with magic and make contact."

'Then, it can't be helped.'

He was speaking with Lord Roadmalis, visible beyond the crystal orb.

'Was the gift delivered well?'

"Yes, it was delivered well. Naturally, he accepted the wine without any suspicion."

'That's fortunate. What was the state of the territory?'

"To be honest, it didn't look very good."

'To what extent?'

"It seemed more like a slash-and-burn village than a territory. There was a Lord's castle, but it had been in disrepair for a long time, there were no walls, and houses in the residential area were just being built. However-"

'Was there something?'

"If there was something unusual, it was that the resources were abundant."

"Resources...?"

"Yes, as you know, apart from the characteristic of the Labyrinth, the Lartania territory would be a prairie with nothing around it, but in such a wasteland, there were unusually abundant resources, like logs-"

Bista, seemingly recalling something, glanced upwards as he spoke, continuing to discuss Lartania Territory for a while.

"Anyway, it's good that the poison was delivered well. We'll discuss the rest when you return."

"Understood."

After listening to the Lord's words and bowing his head, at the moment he was about to cut off the magic flowing into the crystal orb.

Creak-!

Lord Roadmalis saw.

Bista, who was surely bowing to him, had his neck twisted 180 degrees on the spot.

"...?"

At that moment, Lord Roadmalis' expression contorted.

-Bang! Crash!

A loud noise came from inside the crystal orb, and the screen began to spin chaotically.

"What, what's that!"

"At-attack! Att-Aaaaah!"

At the same time, the voices of the soldiers.

No, screams began to be heard.

"......"

The screen Lord Roadmalis was looking at was just a crystal orb showing a broken carriage, but with chilling screams and the sound of something being torn apart, Lord Roadmalis inevitably realized that something had happened.

Thus, in less than 30 seconds as the soldiers' screams subsided, Lord Roamalis was able to realize.

That more than 50 soldiers sent with the envoy had all perished.

And then, the moment the screen of the crystal orb spun chaotically again and stopped.

Lord Roadmalis involuntarily held his breath.

The reason was, inside the crystal orb was she, who must have directly caused the recent catastrophe.

Red Eyes.

She, whom he had seen as one of the Round Table of Lartania ten years ago, with an infinitely expressionless face.

Yet, with a face that seemed to convey clear anger, she looked at Lord Roadmalis from beyond the crystal orb.

"......"

Without saying a word, she stared intently at Lord Roadmalis and soon pointed a finger at him, and then,

"Wait-"

Ending with the words, "Because I'm coming to kill you right now."

Crack!

The connection was severed along with the sound of something breaking.

"......"

And that night.

A ★★★★★☆ hero 'Beast King' has entered your territory.

A ★★★★★☆ hero 'Beast King' has left your territory.

"...?"

Kim Hyunwoo, lying down to go to bed, unwittingly wore a puzzled expression at the notification window that appeared and disappeared in less than five seconds before his eyes.

At the same time, Red Eyes, holding a wine bottle in each hand, began to move towards the Sertoa territory.