Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: The Duelist's Prototype
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Thud!
I land on the landing pad behind the central exchange.
“Salute to the Lord!”
“Sir!”
“Yeah, good work.”
I wave to the tense soldiers and head into the central exchange.
This place spans over 150 meters in both length and width, with five floors above ground and two below. It’s a top-grade hideout (Rare) that I personally upgraded to Diamond and expanded.
It’s the central hub for all logistics flowing between castles.
“You’ve arrived, my Lord.”
Diamond, who had been waiting, bows his head in greeting.
For reference, Diamond is his renamed name.
His original name was Mark. He was a merchant lord I was acquainted with, but when Ardania suffered a dungeon invasion and he lost his caravan, he fled to my territory.
He has no talent for combat, and his loyalty hasn’t been fully verified, but he’s quick-witted and skilled with numbers, so I’ve put him in charge of the central exchange.
Plop!
I dump the drop items from the monsters I cleared with Kasim’s holy roar onto the prepared table.
“Price them as usual. Compile the list and quantities and report back.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
In every castle I’ve conquered, I’ve set up directly operated stores where elite soldiers sell their acquired items or I sell items brought from the real world. Since they also serve as banks, checking the reports here lets me grasp the flow of all logistics at a glance.
‘The value of gold is steadily dropping. As expected, reinforcement scrolls alone have their limits.’
Of course, in Revenge, gold isn’t just used for reinforcement scrolls. There are potions and arrows you need to buy in hundreds, food that costs gold, repair fees.
But above all, the biggest gold sinks are crafting and skill books.
‘Crafting isn’t feasible right now.’
Crafting requires complex materials; you can’t make anything with drops from just one area.
Even for simple rare-grade greaves, you need top-grade leather, top-grade gems, rare-grade recipes rarely dropped by rare-grade monsters, soul crystals from disassembling equipment, and a hefty amount of gold.
Everything else is obtainable. Pig hides are low-grade, but collect 1,000 and upgrade to top-grade, right?
The problem is gems.
‘The nearest source is 11 slots down. Too far.’
In Revenge, you can use teleport gates in every city, but not here. Gates are buildings unlocked only when a castle reaches Legendary grade.
‘And there are no skill book shops.’
Unlike Revenge, Ardania has no NPCs. No NPCs means no NPC-run shops, naturally.
All we have are the diamond shop and guild shop accessible directly via the system interface.
‘If there were skill book shops, gold’s value might’ve risen instead of falling.’
Skill books that automatically grant abilities upon learning are treasures every elite soldier dreams of.
‘And they’re ridiculously expensive.’
Even normal-grade skills cost 10,000 gold. Advanced-grade run 100,000 to 500,000 gold, rares 5 to 7 million.
The few hero-grade skills in skill book shops go for 20 to 40 million gold—items that take a long time to afford even in Revenge with auto-farming.
“Well… too much volatility would be a problem too, so maintaining this level is fine. Skill books aside, crafting will be possible later.”
For various reasons, the market is structured for prices to keep falling, but I’ve kept gold’s value at 1% of its original.
It’s not hard.
I just don’t release the gold in my inventory. With all the circulating gold sucked into my inventory and not coming out, how could it crash?
‘This wouldn’t fly on Earth.’
But here, it does. My territory’s entire economy is essentially dependent on me.
On that note, I check my inventory.
- 5.487 billion, 43,211 gold
- 14,253,722 honor coins
Gold and honor coins in inventory have no volume or weight, so I can hoard tons. And this is just my personal wealth; taxes collected from citizens are stored separately for budgets.
‘If only I could use this gold in Revenge.’
But right now, I can only bring in items by deleting them in Revenge. Even if the reverse were possible, I absolutely shouldn’t. Deleting items is fine, but creating new ones out of thin air screams hacking.
“Sir!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I wave to the saluting soldiers and enter the lord’s castle.
“You’ve returned, my Lord.”
“Yeah. Anything happen?”
“Yes, the kingdom’s envoy delegation has arrived.”
“Oh, really? They got here fast. Let them know I’ll receive them in the audience chamber after a short rest.”
Not a big deal, so I nod casually and review the approval documents.
‘Guild creation requests… Yeah, one guild has reached level 8, so it’s time to approve them.’
More guilds mean more attendance rewards, and ultimately, players can self-sustain class cards.
With my forces exceeding tens of thousands, I can’t buy class cards for every soldier.
Paying out billions on class cards when there are so many other things to spend on would be foolish.
‘Creation cost: 1 million gold. A hefty sum, but doable. Approve [Silver Cross Guild], [Mage Tower Guild], [Sheep Herding Guild], and [Flag Guild].’
Individual guild leveling will slow, but it’s better for overall power.
In Revenge, it’s just a bonus, but in this [No-Money World], guild attendance rewards are invaluable.
“Oh, right, the envoys?”
After handling some work, the matter finally comes to mind.
‘I’m swamped.’
Things had stabilized, giving me some leeway, but hunting every twelve hours since getting Kasim has piled up work again.
“They’re waiting in the audience chamber.”
“Oh, they’ve been waiting. Tell them I’ll be there soon.”
I say that and stand up.
Changing attire is simple. Swap to the best cloth armor (magic use) in my inventory.
“The Lord enters.”
With the soldier’s announcement, I step into the audience chamber. Eight men and women are seated inside.
Flower seems to have limited two per faction for the audience.
‘She handles things well on her own. Makes sense; she worked in a noble house until 15.’
Like most who’ve settled in my territory, Flower has a storied past.
The girl I met while seeking surgical talent. Sharp mind and decisive, yet crushed by her origins and gender.
“Pleased to meet you all. I’m Han Jaeyeon, lord of Starting and master of One Guild.”
An unfamiliar Korean name to them, but no clichéd “Han-jae-yeon?” nonsense. Revenge is a Korean game; people here use Hangul.
Plus, with clans like Namgung or Moyong in the Ming Empire that eats 1,000 won, such pronunciations aren’t alien.
“You’ve abandoned your castle. The noble surname bestowed by His Majesty from that glorious seat.”
A middle-aged man with a grave demeanor speaks lowly, like scolding a subordinate.
Envoys from the three kingdoms excluding Chrome glance around warily. They don’t stop him but don’t chime in either—that’s their survival tactic.
Snicker.
I can’t help but laugh. The exhausting power plays, the nobility’s absurdities, and above all, how feather-light this seat feels now.
“Get a grip, Ilrain. No sense at all? Or has that fossilized brain of yours failed to accept the changed reality?”
“W-What…?”
Ilrain Silversword. Former strongest of Chrome Kingdom and head of the Silversword count family—his face twists viciously. He remembers me before nobility, so he didn’t expect such a rebuke.
“Mind your manners if you want respect. I’m swamped, and you bring this low-class… And you lot.”
I turn to the silent envoys from the three kingdoms.
“P-Pardon? Oh, yes. How regrettable.”
“Seems you’ve got a lot on your minds. Can’t even settle on a stance. Audience over. All of you, leave Starting.”
“W-What? Us!? No, we had nothing to do with…”
“Wait! Please wait, my Lord!”
The silent envoys erupt, but I ignore them, stand, and exit the chamber. An absurd diplomatic breach, but the power gap between me and these envoys of a fallen kingdom allows even this ‘impropriety.’
If they came unaware, they suffer the consequences.
“Han.”
As I head to the office, Hayes follows. Looking back, the other envoys are gone. They wouldn’t have restrained themselves, so soldiers stopped them. I didn’t specify, yet only Hayes passed.
‘Flower’s really on top of things.’
Impressed inwardly, I turn to Hayes.
“Sending another one.”
“Sending another? You heartless bastard. First meeting in ten years, barely a word, and that’s all you’ve got?”
She laughs heartily, slapping my back. Then draws closer. Too close for mere talk.
When our distance closes tight, Hayes whispers.
“The Chrome Kingdom’s knighting ceremony is a curse ritual performed over an ancient artifact. You’re marked, and if you have the artifact, it can activate anytime. Avoid private talks with old man Silversword or one-on-one fights.”
She stares into my eyes. Noses nearly touching. Instead of stepping back,
she steps forward.
“…”
Her arm wraps my toned waist, pulling me in. Something massive beyond large crushes against my chest.
After a moment, she pulls back. Her flushed, excited face is amusing.
“Is this okay? Won’t it hurt your standing in Chrome Kingdom?”
“Haha, worried about me? Fool! Forgot I’m the wielder of holy sword Stella? I’m a duel knight, duel knight! Chrome’s Duelist!”
Now a 40-year-old auntie, but Hayes laughing heartily, flexing her firm arm muscles, is as beautiful as in the past.
“Hm?”
A familiar word catches my ear.
“Duelist?”
“What, you don’t even know my moniker? Even after we drifted, we had history—too much, isn’t it?”
“…Hold on.”
I manipulate the interface briefly and slide over a card.
“Take this.”
“Huh? Wait, is this that rumored…”
“Take it.”
Flash!
Placing the card in her hand unleashes purple light signifying hero-grade. But it doesn’t stop at one.
Pop! Pop! Popopopopop!
Purple bursts repeatedly. Different from standard class acquisition. Hayes rolls back her eyes, trembling.
I realize.
“It’s you.”
Revenge’s jobs compile all legends from Ardania’s past and future. Imperial knights steeped in history, musketeers and cannoneers yet to emerge.
And Hayes before me.
A woman more than qualified to be a hero.
“You… were the prototype for the hero class, Duelist.”