Who Knows What Madmen Are Thinking?

"Who knows? How are we supposed to know what's going on inside those madmen's heads?"

The Guild Alliance cut the thought short. There were plenty of crazy people in Pan-On, and there was no need to waste brainpower trying to figure out their inner thoughts. What mattered was the countermeasure.

"Anyway, so you're saying if we build a Temple of Carbanog, the demons will act up less?"

"Yeah. Are you going to build a Temple of Carbanog?"

"Why not? It's not like we can't build it."

Hearing this, it made sense. If it had been a Temple of Archisus, they might have hesitated out of spite or jealousy toward Kim Tae-hyun. But a Temple of Carbanog was an entirely different matter. The Guild Alliance wouldn't lose anything by building it. Besides, there was no harm in staying on good terms with the continent's religious orders. It wasn't an evil god's church, so building a temple wouldn't hurt!

"Build a Temple of the Carbanog Church? Huh. That's going to be a bit difficult."

"Why?"

"Well, it's not exactly a famous order. Since we don't know how to build it, it's probably going to cost a bit more gold..."

"...Fine. I'll fund it, so just make sure you build it properly."

"Heheheh. Understood."

The Power Warrior guild members whispered among themselves and began searching for a way. Other players did the same. They had been told to build it, so they had to, but because it was such an obscure order, the building blueprints hadn't circulated.

In any case, the blueprint issue was resolved, and people began clanking away, constructing the temple. Ironically, the very first temple built in the southern part of the Auston Kingdom belonged to the Carbanog Church.

"Ooh...!"

"This is way better than I expected."

The Guild Alliance was highly satisfied with the effects. Not only had the demons quieted down, but the residents' satisfaction was higher than anticipated.

"Aren't there too many rabbits now?"

"There are plenty of low-level guys around. Just tell them to hunt them quickly. How many rabbits could there possibly be, anyway?"

"As expected, the Archisus Church hasn't changed much, has it?"

Tae-hyun spoke with a hint of disappointment. Beside him, Lee Da-bi offered some comfort.

"Since it has a history of falling once, even if you went back to the past and changed things, it probably wouldn't have made a massive difference."

"The Carbanog Church changed quite a bit, though..."

He had met and spoken with the Archisus Church Paladin NPCs patrolling the entrance of The Valley, but they hadn't changed as much as he'd hoped.

"Greetings, Your Holiness."

"It is a fine day today as well."

"I just hope those demon bastards don't show up."

They spoke quite normally, but to Tae-hyun, who had just seen the elite Paladins of the Ancient Empire's Archisus Church, it felt severely lacking. If they were the Paladins of the Ancient Empire...

"Demons! Kill! Rip ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and tear! Huge guts!"

"...Pardon? You're joking, right?"

"No, they were really like that."

Lee Da-bi stared at him with a look bordering on horror. Aren't those barbarian warriors, not Archisus Paladins?

"Has anything strange been happening in the church lately?"

"Hasn't Lord Pelmas been acting out of character lately?"

"But he always does that. He's always doing weird things."

"True, that's par for the course."

"...?"

Tae-hyun noticed a strange sense of incongruity in the Paladins' conversation. Pelmas changed?

"Is he causing trouble again?"

"...That's possible, but let's bet on another possibility!"

Tae-hyun rushed inside. Back in the Ancient Empire era, Tae-hyun had strongly advised Pelmas's distant ancestor: "Do not gamble." Had it actually worked?

"Galakpad. Your faith is still lacking. It seems you must offer more prayers daily."

"...Which crazy demon bastard has corrupted your mind?!"

Galakpad was desperately trying to bring Pelmas back to his senses. Come back, Pelmas!

A perfectly normal guy had suddenly, as if he'd eaten something wrong, started saying things like, "Currently, many followers of the Archisus Church are corrupt. They covet gold far too much."

For the biggest gold-grubber of them all to say such a thing was utterly absurd.

"Donate all of your own wealth first before you spout such nonsense."

"Heh. Galakpad. I am already on my way back from donating all of my wealth."

"...?!!"

Galakpad was shocked. Pelmas had actually piled his wealth right in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠front of him. A mountain of gold, silver, and treasures!

"No... Pelmas... Is it your time to die?"

"I have simply realized the true will of God."

"......."

"......."

Witnessing the scene inside, Tae-hyun and Lee Da-bi were left speechless. It was genuinely a bit terrifying.

"Tae-hyun, do you think you messed up the past?"

"Let's think positively. Isn't this actually a good thing?"

"...That state of his??"

"Isn't it better than before?"

Compared to him being obsessed with money and trying to scrape every single penny from the players in The Valley, this version of him—reflecting on his past and dedicating everything to faith—seemed a bit better.

"Now that you mention it, it does sound convincing, but it's still a bit scary."

"True, his eyes are a bit..."

There was a hint of madness in Pelmas's eyes. He had always been slightly unhinged, but this made it even worse...

"Let's worry about Pelmas later."

Is this really something that can be put off for later...?

"Let's handle what's right in front of us first."

Tae-hyun planned to clear the quests piled up in The Valley. First, construction. Thanks to his trip to the Ancient Empire, he had obtained a quest to upgrade the existing temple and make it more powerful.

"Since it will grant territory buffs as well as church-specific buffs, this is our top priority."

"I hope we get some good buffs. I'll call the Power Warrior guild members."

"Next is the Pantheon. Though it's called a Pantheon, the only one we can build right now is the Phytos Church Temple."

The Phytos Church Temple. This quest had appeared thanks to the secret emergency fund Tae-hyun had hidden in the past. It was a temple that could be built because he had obtained the treasures of the Phytos Church! It was part of the Pantheon quest, which would be completed by erecting temples for various religious orders.

"Isn't the Phytos Church Temple lower in difficulty than the Ancient Empire Temple?"

"That's true, but the problem is that I'm not a member of the Phytos Church."

"...!"

That was true! It would be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠convenient if the Paladins or Priests of the Phytos Church came to help with the construction, but there was no telling if they would. What if they ended up building up resentment again right after making peace?

"But Tae-hyun, you got quite close to them thanks to your sacrifice in the dungeon last time."

"So you're saying I should invite them over this time and show them another sacrifice?"

"...N-No, that's not what I meant at all."

What kind of crazy talk was that...!

"I meant you should trust that friendship and ask them for a favor."

"Ah. Oh. I see. That's what you meant."

"Then what on earth did you think I meant...?"

"Well, there's no harm in asking."

No religious order would be displeased about having their god's temple built in someone's territory. Of course, the meaning of this temple was slightly different, but how would the Phytos Church Paladins know that?

"But aren't there too many large-scale construction projects going on right now? Da-bi, you're also in the middle of building a tower, aren't you?"

"Yes. But we can do them together."

Lee Da-bi's class advancement quest was to build one of Archisus's large-scale structures. And the one she had chosen was a tower.

"We have plenty of gold piled up in The Valley anyway."

"True."

The items and gold he had gathered while clearing various quests recently. Tae-hyun had steadily hoarded them like a squirrel gathering acorns. While other guilds heavily taxed their territories to hire various units, Tae-hyun had stubbornly kept taxes low and focused solely on saving!

"Then we should proceed like this. I just hope the items we brought out of the Hungry Chaos Fortress get purified quickly..."

The various items obtained while raiding the Hungry Chaos Fortress. Normally, they could have made a fortune by selling them at a high price, but that was being put on hold for now. They were currently contaminated by the Hungry Chaos. The church NPCs were doing their best to purify them, but the speed was painfully slow.

"Other than that... Ah, right. I almost forgot. I brought the Demon Management skill book from the Carbanog Church. I was thinking of using this to train battle demons."

"……."

[…….]

Tae-hyun and Carbanog were left speechless.

No... Carbanog Church, what on earth were you guys doing...?

If they hadn't fallen along with the Ancient Empire, they would have 100% become an evil god's cult, wouldn't they?

"I had no intention of doing it anyway."

Tae-hyun ignored the quest. He rarely ignored quests, but this was one that absolutely had to be ignored.

The Valley was always lively, but for the first time in a while, the atmosphere heated up several times over. It was all because of Tae-hyun. As long as Tae-hyun was personally roaming around The Valley directing the quests, there was no way the atmosphere wouldn't boil over.

"It's Kim Tae-hyun!! Kim Tae-hyun!"

"Is that the real one?"

There were so many fans who came just to see Tae-hyun's face even though they had nothing to do in The Valley, so the heat was beyond description.

"Thank you all for working so hard to build this!"

"Wooooo!"

"To show my gratitude for everyone's help, the high priests of the church will provide free blessings..."

"Wooooooooooooooo!"

Of course, there were always crumbs like this to be had. As the lord, there were times when he had to bestow grace upon the players. The Valley was already a territory known for giving away a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lot, but Tae-hyun gave away even more. Activating various blessings, handing out food, opening facilities, lending Paladins to beginners when they went to dungeons...

Seeing everyone's joyful faces, Tae-hyun nodded.

As expected, this is highly effective.

It was a classic method that everyone had used since Pan-On 1, but it was always popular. It cost a bit of money, but he could easily bear this much. Considering the gold the players spent here, it was far more profitable. Since Tae-hyun's territory had low taxes, he had to win through sheer numbers.

"U-Excuse me..."

"?"

"Could you open this chest for me?"

"Sure, that much is easy."

Tae-hyun opened the chest without much thought.

"Aaaah!"

"...P-Please open mine too!"

"What? What's going on?"

"Kim Tae-hyun is opening chests!"

"What?! Kim Tae-hyun is using the Pope's special ability to bless and open chests?!"