Chapter 223
Chapter 223
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 223
Chapter Title: Return to Byeolcheonji (2)
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“For now, all the rankers in the guild are out on expeditions…”
“The price for off-the-shelf Demirs has gone up to 30 million won. Since they’re selling at 20 million… the premium resellers are the ones making the profit? We can’t let that stand.”
Hoo—
A faint breath escaped Kim Jin-ah’s lips.
Her voice, briefing me on the general situation during my month away, was incredibly businesslike and stiff.
“We’ve increased the guild members to a total of 100, including rankers. That’s just the hunters, not the staff handling miscellaneous tasks.”
“The Murung Paradise City is finally starting to take shape.”
“Oh, and we’ve decided to only accept S-rank or higher hunters.”
She was polite enough.
But full of resentment.
The tone blurred the line slightly between superior and subordinate.
“Hmm, I see?”
When I responded,
“Yes.”
She nodded.
“We’re minimizing training costs and going for a small elite force of proven veterans who can handle things on their own.”
“Hmm, S-ranks have strong egos and are hard to manage… Hasn’t that approach led to the downfall of guilds before?”
The so-called TOP 3.
Demon King’s Army, Magic Tower, Heavenly Demon God Church.
Even those three weren’t small elite forces.
Instead, they meticulously selected low-rank hunters with high potential, trained them, and raised them to fit the guild’s tastes.
There had to be a reason all three top guilds adopted that method.
“That works because most guild masters are steadfast anchors holding things together from the inside.”
That was when Kim Jin-ah shot me a sideways glance.
“…Pardon?”
“Some guild master just vanishes without a word on when they’ll return, leaving everyone wondering if they’ll come back at all.”
She said “guild ‘master’” for the former.
And “guild master ‘sir’” for the latter.
At this point, it was outright sulking.
Her voice had suddenly turned sharp.
“Ahahaha.”
What to do about this.
I did understand, though.
No matter how much advance notice you give, waiting without knowing when you’ll return is always anxiety-inducing.
“Anyway, egos can be handled with proper treatment.”
Atop the pavilion in Murung Paradise.
She turned her gaze away from me.
More precisely, toward the city still being built piece by piece.
“In short, make them feel with every fiber of their being that our guild is far superior to others. And that—”
“…”
“—is one example.”
“That’s…”
“The city Demir’s building.”
Damn.
It really was impressive.
A masterpiece that could never exist on Earth.
And that massive city.
Only for a small number of people?
‘Or not?’
On second thought, there’d be plenty of non-hunter staff too.
Plus residents moving in.
Stores, shops, workplaces, and so on.
‘Whew.’
It was getting complicated.
The city’s nationality.
Taxes, and all that.
Was this like creating a whole new country?
Kim Jin-ah would handle it well, no doubt.
What I could do for my sulking subordinate…
“Kim Jin-ah.”
“Yes, Guild Master.”
“Do you need guild funds by any chance?”
The contract from the Magic Tower.
That was it.
* * *
Money.
People say you can’t buy happiness with money.
But it’s undeniable that most people feel happiness through money.
Kim Jin-ah wasn’t an exception.
“I-is this for real? This contract?”
“Of course.”
“So the Magic Tower pays us 4 billion won a month, and an extra 2 billion based on what the Guild Master does?”
“Yeah, pretty much. Though it’s ‘2 billion’ on paper—you can squeeze as much as you want out of them. Whenever you need it.”
Arin loved reading so much.
She’d be fine with nonstop translation for a month.
Plus, not just Arin.
She had subordinates too.
“And on top of that, an eternal alliance with the Magic Tower and Byeolcheonji… Hah, unbelievable!”
She shook her head with a sigh.
“You know the Magic Tower has never declared an alliance with anyone before?”
“Huh, didn’t know that.”
“British folks are always so haughty. They don’t care about anything unless it’s magic-related. How on earth did you win them over?”
Yeah.
I’d won over those haughty types.
With magic.
They’re not haughty against magic.
“Anyway! Bringing this doesn’t mean I’m completely over it!”
“Of course not.”
I chuckled and nodded.
“Next time, at least give a rough estimate of when you’ll be gone?”
“Got it. Naturally. Phew, our vice guild master has it rough.”
“Glad you get it. Oh, and.”
“Yes?”
“Since you’re back, go check on where Demir’s working. There should be a nice gift waiting.”
“…?”
A nice gift?
Out of nowhere?
“You’ll see when you get there.”
Her mood seemed better.
Kim Jin-ah smiled softly again.
* * *
Clang! Kang! Clang!
The sound of hammers striking echoed from all around.
Hearing that clear, refreshing sound after so long filled me with fresh excitement.
Yeah.
I’d been too busy to swing a hammer lately.
That unbeatable hand feel when you bring it down hard, clang, clang.
The immersion of total focus, and the sense of accomplishment at the end…
‘Damn, it’s addictive.’
Come to think of it, it was about time to make limited-edition Demirs.
No. 1: dagger for the assassin.
No. 2: Giant Soldier God’s Fist.
They’d gone to Gi So-yul and Jang Dae-woong.
Time for No. 3 to cover guild operating costs, right?
Word of mouth must’ve spread by now.
Rankers were probably lining up just for the limited editions.
Step, step.
I strolled through the workshop amid countless short skeleton workers.
Their reactions varied.
Some recognized me and bowed silently.
Others were lost in their artisan focus.
It felt almost like the old dwarf city, Titan.
Skeletons in form, but they were dwarves through and through.
Each an individual personality, sharing emotions among themselves.
At least, I could feel it.
How much time passed like that.
“Master!”
Demir dropped his hammer and came scampering over.
His short stature made him look like a Welsh Corgi bounding up.
“Done greeting Kim Jin-ah? Haha, she seemed pretty pissed!”
“Yeah, more or less. Talked it out.”
“Kahaha! Anything else she said besides that?”
“Oh, something about a nice gift waiting.”
“Whoa! Hold on that for a sec. First, check this out!”
Demir was grinning ear to ear, clearly thrilled.
Then,
Thud!
He stomped the ground.
“Hey, rock clan!”
At Demir’s booming call,
The hammering stopped in unison.
Dwarves perched everywhere without safety gear—all eyes turned our way.
“Everyone, pause what you’re doing and let’s start the production line!”
Creak! Creak!
At Demir’s command, the skeletons moved in perfect sync.
10 A-rank skeletons.
100 B-rank skeletons.
1,000 C-rank skeletons.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The sight of all 1,111 skeletons in motion was spectacular.
“Hoho! Work’s moving fast today?!”
“Probably showing off for the master’s visit. Our awesome side!”
“Hahaha, then how about we do some hammering?!”
Here, the A-rank skeletons even spoke like Demir.
Fitting for those who’d handled direct sales at the “Demir Workshop.”
“Master.”
“Yeah?”
I answered Demir’s call.
“Come over here!”
Demir led me somewhere.
Inside the unfinished city.
Into a massive building.
“Whoa.”
Peering in, I couldn’t help but gasp in admiration.
“Impressive, right? Built a huge workshop right in the city center. Can hold over 1,000 dwarves.”
“When did you…?”
Countless forges, simple anvils, water lines, and more.
Every high-end tool for blacksmithing was there.
Even rare brass fittings between sections.
“Kim Jin-ah, that girl, provided it. Heard it was pricey, but she invested big.”
And not just that.
From interior design to sculptures.
Everything was stylish and upscale.
“Heh, she advised that the workshop symbolizes our group, so we put extra care into it. Wanna see us making off-the-shelf pieces?”
Whoosh.
Demir raised his hammer high.
“Rock clan! Begin!”
Creak!
Clang!
Clang! Kang!
At Demir’s shout, the bones slammed their hammers down in unison.
‘Wow.’
I marveled inwardly.
Yeah.
If it’s a factory, this is what a factory looks like.
“The C-rank kids can now whip up B-rank off-the-shelf stuff easily. So we do batch production like this once a week, and spend the rest on city building.”
Ah.
Demir.
Why did this guy shine so brightly?
Wondering how he kept churning out off-the-shelf items while building the city.
He was batching them like this.
“And listen, master.”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks to you growing out there, my old instincts are coming back. Meaning… haha, I can make great weapons without your help now.”
“Oh? You mean S-rank weapons on your own?”
“If it’s around the level of that last one, no problem.”
“Ooh.”
I was impressed.
Great news.
S-ranks without my involvement meant true factory production.
“Heh heh, I’m happy, master.”
Clang! Clang!
Demir surveyed the skeletons hammering in perfect rhythm.
“Because of that Giant Dragon, they only knew mismatched wars… You gave them new lives. Let them live as true blacksmiths.”
Something.
Even hammering weapons on command.
Even without expressions.
Happiness.
I felt that emotion.
The passion and zeal for creation.
Dwarves are dwarves, even in death?
“Thanks, master.”
Clang! Clang!
Amid the noisy hammering, Demir murmured.
“For giving us new lives.”
* * *
Leaving the hammering workshop behind.
Demir and I headed alone to the tallest temporary structure in the city.
“Remember? You said it.”
Atop the roof, Demir pointed across the way.
“This is…”
“You wanted a training ground for each bone—us included. Look over there.”
I saw it.
Behind the massive city.
Like a checkerboard.
Exactly divided into 9 sections.
Each section at least 1,000 pyeong, with multiple buildings in every one.
In other words, out of sight.
A city-sized training ground just for my skeletons was under construction.
“From Bone One to Bone Ten. Excluding us rock clan. We’ve got the workshop as our training ground anyway.”
“…This is incredible.”
Honestly, I was stunned.
I’d check the buildings’ purposes and concepts in detail later.
But the sight alone moved me.
Why?
I’m serious about training.
And beyond that, the buildings themselves were cool.
Bone One’s section had a massive statue of a giant skeleton wielding a sword majestically.
Dana’s had a statue of a skeleton kneeling in prayer.
And so on.
The central statues in each themed section.
‘So damn cool.’
They made my heart race.
“Heh heh, this is the nice gift for you. Like it?”
“Like it? Absolutely.”
How.
Did they know my tastes so well?
“We just returned the favor for what you gave us.”
“Can I go check them out myself?”
“Of course! Go ahead! Tell us if anything’s missing or you want additions. One hammer, and it’s done.”
Indeed.
Demir, whom I hadn’t seen in ages.
Was a utterly reliable, steadfast subordinate.