Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Hardworking Pay-to-Win Knight
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The castles in Revenge were fundamentally massive.
Unlike typical games, they didn't allocate a special sub-space for the [Housing] system but instead reflected reality by dedicating an enormous amount of space to it.
'That's why land and building prices aren't uniform—they vary. It's to the point where insane real estate speculation can happen...'
Most of the pre-built structures were single-story, but you could pay diamonds via the interface to increase their floors.
The problem was that I was the only player with diamonds!
"Ah, as the castle lord, I should be raking in diamonds..."
A significant portion of the options available inside the castle required diamonds.
Buying buildings, upgrading them, using the exchange, designating a guild base—everything.
The castle lord collected [fees] from all those activities, using them personally, investing in the guild, or upgrading the guild castle.
"But they're all free-to-play..."
That was right. Every player in Ardenia was free-to-play!
No matter how ruthlessly I taxed them, there were no diamonds to be found.
A few players had curiously listed items on the exchange out of curiosity, but not a single actual transaction had ever occurred.
The listing fee could be paid in gold, but purchases required diamonds exclusively.
"Well, whatever... The castle's big and cool, so I'll endure it."
I gazed down at the city from the lord's castle.
It resembled a planned city, with all roads laid out in straight lines—no winding alleys in sight.
The main avenues radiated out from the central plaza in eight directions, wide enough for two buses to pass side by side.
Compared to Earth cities packed with 200- or 300-story skyscrapers, it might seem insignificant... but at this moment, the Starting City was one of the grandest urban centers on the continent.
'Still, there's a limit to how many people it can accommodate.'
In my judgment, the ideal residential population for Starting was around 50,000.
If I spent diamonds to add floors to buildings, it could easily house millions, but what good was expanding living space in a city without proper plumbing?
The humans here weren't game avatars that could survive without eating or using the bathroom. Unless I built satellite towns outside the castle walls, there was inevitably a cap on capacity.
"In the end, that means dispersing to other cities... Ha. And now I don't even have return scrolls."
My original plan had been to send refugees to other castles without letting them into Starting.
I could've ridden Sky to set return points at other castles, then met the refugees without stopping at Starting and shipped them all off.
But now that wasn't possible... so I'd have to accept them into Starting.
'I'll form an immigrant group including elite soldiers later and send them to the neighboring leyline.'
With that settled, I summoned Sky.
Flap!
I kicked off the ground and took flight toward the west. Soon, I spotted about 300 soldiers marching westward on mount pets.
Snap!
"Ah, I keep telling them they don't need to do that..."
I shook my head at the sight of the soldiers saluting toward the sky.
As I repeatedly assigned jobs, distributed food, and upgraded the castle, I could feel my subordinates increasingly revering me.
'Well, it's understandable.'
In the Holy Empire, saints and saintesses were worshipped as proxies of the gods for their minor healing abilities alone.
Compared to that, the powers I wielded were plenty divine enough to be called miracles.
Lately, my subordinates had been saying I should declare myself king or even emperor—that was why.
"Declaring myself king..."
I muttered as I flew through the sky.
"Yeah, I probably should."
The existing forces in Ardenia had suffered near-total annihilation. Humanity wouldn't go extinct since they didn't all live on leylines, but maintaining national systems was out of the question.
In such a situation... my title of Chrome Kingdom baron was utterly useless.
Baron Bronze Sword.
And [Bronze Sword] here didn't just mean one rank below [Silver Sword].
Bandit groups made up of fugitives, slash-and-burn farmers, and criminals lacked proper infrastructure, resources, or technicians, so they could barely produce iron weapons, let alone steel.
Thus, they commonly used bronze.
In other words, "Baron Bronze Sword" meant:
'Bandit Baron.'
They'd granted me a noble title out of necessity, unable to ignore my overwhelming achievements and martial prowess, but neither the nobles nor the kingdom bothered hiding their contempt.
If not for the previous barons dying one after another to the Wolf King Akalan—who now served as a rug in my lord's castle—I never would've become lord in the first place.
"Ah, there they are."
I gazed at a distant procession of troops marching in formation.
Cavalry leading the way, followed by swordsmen. Well-equipped heavy infantry and long-spearmen brought up the rear.
"They look pretty intact for having fled the capital."
Of course, if discipline had completely collapsed, they never would've traveled hundreds of kilometers to reach Starting.
"...No, wait a minute."
But the catapults glimpsed intermittently among the troops were suspicious no matter how I looked at it.
Scanning the army again, I realized that wasn't the only oddity.
'This is an invasion force?'
The people weren't following the army willingly—they were being herded forward by soldiers. Whips cracked at anyone who collapsed from exhaustion.
'Not refugees. More like peasant levies or slave soldiers.'
Especially since they were interspersed throughout the army's ranks, not trailing behind.
"An invasion force!"
Circling overhead on Sky, I gathered intel.
"This is... too..."
I laughed.
"...good to be true?"
I immediately urged Sky down, landing in front of the elite soldiers galloping on their mounts. Steelstone, at the forefront, reined in his horse with a light kick and saluted.
"Sir! You've scouted ahead."
"Yeah."
I sent Sky away and summoned my superior steed, Gale.
It was like a magic trick, but no one here batted an eye.
All the mounts present were pets, after all.
'Once pets become standard issue, it's convenient.'
My faction's players operated on a freakish structure reliant on my pay-to-win spending alone.
But that didn't mean it was a one-sided loss for me.
'I'm recovering far more Honor Coins and gold in return.'
Honor Coins, originally untradeable, had lost their [binding] in Ardenia, so I was literally sweeping them up from all players.
I imposed conditions like [Donate 30,000 Honor Coins within a year] when granting classes, and sold advanced classes and pets for Honor Coins—it was only natural.
'Summon cards were going for 10,000 Honor Coins at the guild shop.'
My back was breaking from buying class summon cards now, but once the guild leveled up enough to unlock them in the guild shop, things would change.
The guild shop's summon cards (exchangeable once per day) were low-grade, only common to rare, but since most elite soldiers were common classes anyway, it was pure profit.
"Attention."
"Attention!"
I explained the situation to my subordinates as they gathered close on horseback.
"Oho..."
"An invasion force."
Naturally, no one here feared the appearance of [enemies].
They couldn't afford to.
Everyone present rode mounts—superior-grade pets.
They'd grinded Goblin Dungeons daily to surpass level 30, learned Quick Sword Strike from the knights, and acquired auras.
Calling them Starting's core forces wasn't an exaggeration; their pride pierced the heavens.
"Then we should send back everyone except the knights and mages."
"Keep only a single sword armed; stow the rest in inventory."
I watched as the soldiers dismissed their pets and equipped lightly on their own.
'These guys are the future officers.'
I gazed at them fondly for a moment, then nodded.
"Alright, let's go hear what they have to say."
We rode slowly westward. It didn't take long to make contact with the distant approaching group.
"Halt! State your identity!"
Hundred handled the blocking cavalry.
"I'm Hundred of House Silver Sword. From Starting."
"Starting?"
"Don't they even know where they're heading?"
"Ah... I heard a new castle appeared in Red Axe territory called Starting."
The burly knight leading the cavalry scanned us appraisingly, then smirked.
Three knights visible. Around 300 soldiers, poorly equipped. It was a natural reaction.
"I want to know your purpose approaching Starting. No envoys have come—what's the reason?"
"It's because of the monsters that suddenly appeared."
The knight, without even introducing himself, spouted the obvious.
Monsters had poured out, killing countless people. Extreme chaos followed, but Voxy Kingdom was quelling it and rallying the cities.
"So you're leading troops here to consolidate forces under that banner?"
The knight eyed me at my question.
"That's... Who the hell are you?"
Hundred's eyes chilled at the impudent tone.
"Watch your mouth. We don't even know who you are."
Tension crackled coldly between the groups at Hundred's words.
But the knight soon laughed heartily, defusing it.
"Haha! Sorry about that. I'm Heavyman of House Iron Shield. As you said, His Majesty is touring the leylines, rallying scattered forces. Thanks to him, we drove the monsters into the pillars of light in Baronet Stay and Duke Mark's domains! Now we're reorganizing those forces, gathering more troops, and marching under His Majesty's command to reclaim the capital, Lamo!"
He raised his voice excitedly, but neither officers nor soldiers paid him any mind.
A brief silence.
Heavyman finally grimaced and smacked his lips awkwardly.
"What gloomy bastards..."
"Whatever. I want to meet King Voxy. If you have business in Starting, there must be proper terms."
Heavyman's face twisted at my words.
"...Do you think His Majesty meets just anyone?"
"Not just anyone. I'm the lord of Starting."
"What?"
Heavyman blinked in shock, scrutinizing my face. Then, as if realizing something, he grinned brightly.
"Hahaha! What a bold one! I thought you'd hole up in your castle, but you come out yourself! Wait a moment. I'll report right away! Stone! Escort them slowly."
Heavyman galloped back to the main force. We followed the cavalry in.
"Who are those guys...?"
"The lord of the place we're invading, apparently..."
"Shut up! Bow your heads!"
Soldiers barked at the muttering refugees as we passed through the army's center. They wanted to prevent rumors from making us flee.
But they couldn't silence 80,000 mouths completely; a few murmurs reached my ears.
"No, but if there's a castle, why not wait there? Why come out to greet...?"
A perfectly reasonable question—I couldn't help but chuckle.
'Why? They'd be cautious seeing a hero-grade castle, obviously.'
What if they marched straight to Starting?
Siege? Catapults?
Laughable.
Starting's walls, upgraded to hero grade, stood 40 meters tall—equivalent to a 13-story apartment—and thicker still. The ramparts were wide enough for two lanes, like roads for buses.
And the moat's depth? No joke—you'd worry about fall damage.
Even idiots wouldn't charge recklessly at such a fortress. They'd approach [reasonably], following [procedure].
From our perspective, that would be more troublesome.
'That's why I only brought this many.'
Starting's population had exploded compared to before, with a significant portion being soldiers.
Unlike other territories, Starting and Wild Boar didn't need many for farming.
I could've scraped together a massive army, but I ordered the officers to bring only around 300 elite mounted soldiers.
To look weak.
"The lord of Starting! Baron Bronze Sword the Wolf Knight has arrived!"
A soldier bellowed, and several knights approached me.
"We'll escort you to His Majesty. Please disarm."
"Disarm? I don't have any."
"...Huh?"
The knights, approaching aggressively, faltered at my nonchalance. They patted me down in disbelief, finding only casual clothes.
All my gear was in my inventory anyway.
'Truth is, I wouldn't need gear even if I had it.'
"Can I go in now?"
"No, you came without arms?"
"What arms?"
I stepped forward with a smirk. Unarmed Steelstone and Hundred followed.
"Oh! It's real. I remember. Aren't you that bandit leader?"
A bearded, muscular middle-aged man with broad shoulders—but a protruding gut—awaited us.
"You really came. Unbelievable."
"Yeah, really. Really."
Knights and soldiers gathered around. We—and our 300 elites in the distance—were completely surrounded.
"To think you'd be this stupid!"
"Hahaha! Beyond imagination! We heard you were a wolf, but it was all rumors! Who knew you'd be such a moron!"
Laughter erupted everywhere. Knights subtly drew swords, grinning menacingly.
"Hahaha! Delivered right to us. Barbarians are hopeless!"
"You think this makes you manly? Kahahaha!"
The men roared with delight.
And watching them...
"Haha."
I laughed too.
In novels, comics, movies, and dramas, protagonists always hide their power.
Everyone knows they'll get mocked as "power-hiding losers," so why hide it? They won't keep it hidden forever—why cosplay as weaklings?
But clichés exist...
'Because you have to take the first hit...'
for a reason.
'It gives you justification to beat the crap out of them!'