The First Step
As for the monsters on the three islands below us, I asked about them first.
“I can handle that place all by myself, without Asne or Lei having to go.”
“If they dare invade my lord’s land, just give me the order and I will wipe them out in an instant.”
“I’m not that good at fighting, but if it’s a request from you, Lord, I’ll do my very best.”
Realistically speaking, even an 8th-grade hunter would struggle to clear Nohwado alone. And yet 8th-grade was a rank that put someone in the top ten to fifty among all hunters in Korea. It would probably take the country’s strongest forty hunters working together to stand a chance.
Just from a rough count, there were well over a hundred Sea Trolls on Nohwado.
Trolls were infamous for their insane regenerative power. As long as the head was still attached, they could recover in the blink of an eye. And these ones were apparently poisonous on top of that. One wrong move from us could be fatal, while even a sloppy attack from them could kill. They were truly the worst kind of monsters.
Yet Miya claimed she could handle them all by herself.
When I asked how, she said you just had to smash their heads. Like when she killed the Sea Grok—just zip in, swing once, split the skull open, and it was over. The only problem was the sheer number of them, so it would take some time.
“Just give me permission. I’ll go right now and put them all to sleep forever.”
Asne, now fully awake, was brimming with enthusiasm. According to her, she could finish the job in under ten minutes. Nohwado was quite large, so her domain couldn’t quite cover the entire island at once. Ten minutes included travel time. If the monsters were clustered together, she could do it in a single second.
I finally understood why Miya had been so terrified of Sirens.
She had taken down an 11th-grade monster in mere seconds. Anything below that within her domain would die in an instant. She really was a walking apocalypse.
‘She could probably subdue a decent-sized city in the blink of an eye…’
I let my imagination run for a moment. If Asne unleashed her domain in a major city… every living thing within ten kilometers below 6th-grade would fall asleep and die without any warning. Within five kilometers, anything 10th-grade or lower. And within one kilometer, she could even put someone of her own level to sleep.
That was the very definition of an apocalypse.
“It is only because this is my lord’s land that I resort to such a cumbersome method. Otherwise, I would simply sweep the mainland away with a tidal wave. That would be much cleaner.”
Asne said that with her power, she could create a tidal wave over a hundred meters high. I vaguely remembered that the disaster movie Haeundae had featured a hundred-meter wave that wiped out everything. I still remembered the chill I felt watching it—the overwhelming catastrophe that humans could never resist.
Back then I had told myself it was just fiction and felt relieved. Now I was standing next to someone who could actually do it.
“U-um, I’d really prefer you didn’t do that if possible. The whole island would get destroyed, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes. Unless my lord commands it, I have no desire to use such a method either. Ah! And if any being dares to harm my lord’s body… I won’t be able to hold back.”
Asne’s gentle warning carried an unmistakable edge: touch me, and anyone would face her wrath. The residents of my territory were a bit too protective of my safety. It was honestly a little scary.
For the sake of the world’s safety, I felt like I needed to stay alive and healthy.
The residents here were incredibly kind to me. All I had done was summon them, accept them as citizens, and feed them a few meals. Yet they were willing to do anything I asked. It left me feeling a bit dazed.
‘I’ve never received this kind of love from anyone except my family… Ha… I really should call home soon…’
I hadn’t contacted my family after getting fired. I didn’t want to make them worry. No news was good news, and I hated the idea of calling just to deliver bad news.
But now that I thought about it, being a lord had basically become my job. I hadn’t earned the gold myself, but… if it was just a little, maybe I could use some for personal matters?
I glanced at the three of them. All three were looking at me with eyes that said they were ready to do whatever I asked.
“Hmm… At this point, it would be best if Asne took care of it.”
“Yes! Leave it to me!”
Asne answered with a bright smile. Miya looked a little downcast. Lei remained completely indifferent.
“And… I feel bad even asking this, but… would it be okay if I used some of the gold for my personal affairs?”
“You mean the gold we got from selling the Sea Grok I caught?”
“Yeah. Using it for the territory is one thing, but using it for my personal stuff feels different.”
I hadn’t really spent much of it yet. Most of it had gone toward food. All three of them were huge eaters, so the grocery bill was no joke.
“I don’t mind at all! You’re just making good use of something I was going to throw away anyway! If I’d been alone I couldn’t have sold it, so it’s basically money you earned, Minsoo! Use it however you want!”
“Miya… thank you.”
Miya was the one telling me it was my money and that I should spend it freely.
“My lord, I believe the blood of the trolls is a valuable potion ingredient and quite expensive. Once I clean up the island, you can sell the trolls for gold and use it however you like.”
“Thank you too, Asne.”
Asne was telling me to sell the trolls on Nohwado and spend the money however I wanted.
“Do you need gold, Lord? I know an easy way to get it! If you dig around in the mountains, gold comes out! There’s a mountain over there, so we can just dig it up and make gold!”
“Lei… even if you dig, gold won’t come out unless there’s a vein. And those veins are managed by the government, so it would be difficult.”
“Eh?”
Even Lei was saying something completely off the wall. Our residents really were far too kind.
A massive gold vein is being generated in the territory near Lei.
‘What?’
Startled by the sudden voice, I quickly checked the status window. It said there were twenty-four hours left until a gold vein would form in the center of Heugildo’s mountain. It was exactly in the direction Lei had pointed.
Lei had said she never wanted to, but she had become the Queen of the Black-winged tribe. After that, the tribe had prospered. But what if that prosperity hadn’t been a coincidence—what if it was all because of Lei’s trait?
‘Even if she says something now, it would still take at least a full day… So every time Lei speaks, it brings enormous benefits.’
Following Lei’s words would always lead to profit. Maybe that was why they had made her their queen. What she had thought was just luck might have actually been her own power all along.
Because gates gave gold as rewards, the market price of gold had plummeted. Still, one gold was worth about ten thousand won, and one gold weighed roughly one gram. If it was a massive vein, it could be measured in tons. The value would be astronomical.
“We don’t need gold urgently right now, so let’s dig at the spot Lei mentioned later.”
“Thank you for caring, Lord…”
Miya and Asne were saying the same thing to Lei. Perhaps that was why Lei thought I was comforting her when I said it. Both Miya and Asne were looking at me with warm eyes.
But I had seen the status window. A real gold vein was actually forming there.
“And mithril, orichalcum, and adamantium are worth more than gold, right? If you think there might be veins of those, tell me anytime.”
I listed the rare ores that only appeared in tiny amounts from gates. If those were possible too, it would be insane. I was just throwing it out there.
“Oh! I’ve dug up all of those before! Right now… um… I’m not sure. I’ll let you know if I feel like there might be some.”
Lei tilted her head as if her trait had a cooldown. The fact that she didn’t say they were impossible meant they would probably appear once the cooldown was over. It seemed my hypothesis was correct. The Black-winged tribe had been riding the gravy train thanks to Lei’s trait.
Asne had said she loved peace. If she had liked war instead, things could have gone terribly wrong.
‘Maybe she loves peace because she has a trait like that…’
No matter how much I thought about it, I wouldn’t know the truth. So I decided to focus on what I could do right now.
“Then shall we go clean up Nohwado?”
“Let’s go, Minsoo!”
“I will make it spotless, just as my lord desires.”
“Um… Lord, I think I should stay here.”
Miya and Asne were ready to go immediately, but Lei said she needed to stay because of her trait. It seemed like once the trait activated, she couldn’t leave the area. That kind of restriction.
“Alright. Then I’ll go with Miya and Asne.”
Using Asne’s power, we crossed the sea and arrived at Nohwado in an instant. The Sea Trolls were living near the sea, just as their name suggested. I had roughly noted their locations while scouting with Lei.
“They’re right where you said, my lord. I’ll take care of them now.”
The moment Asne spoke, the Sea Trolls collapsed where they stood. Asne then used her control over seawater to drag their bodies into the ocean. It took only eight minutes for every last Sea Troll that had occupied Nohwado to be eradicated.
Seeing the island fall into sudden silence sent a chill down my spine.
‘I’m so glad Asne is on our side…’
In those eight minutes, she had dealt with 128 Sea Trolls. The sight of them floating motionlessly in the sea, completely uninjured and seemingly asleep, was pure horror. Even Miya’s fur was standing on end beside me.
I had thought I understood why she feared Sirens so much, but experiencing it firsthand was on another level.
‘I must never, ever make Asne angry…!’
Sirens loved to sleep, after all. Starting tomorrow, I would avoid waking Asne unless it was absolutely necessary. No one liked being woken up when they were sleeping well. It was fine for now, but if it kept happening she might get upset.
I made a firm promise to myself, over and over again in my heart.