The Bait Called Kane
Kim Tae-hyun wasn’t the sort to take much interest in other people.
Even so, there were a select few he did keep an eye on.
One of them was Lee Se-yeon.
Top rankers like Lee Se-yeon and Smith were, oddly enough, fairly easy to track in a general sense. It was hard to know exactly where they were at any given moment, of course, but getting a rough idea wasn’t difficult.
They were simply too famous. Rumors were bound to spread.
And Lee Se-yeon had been questing on the southern continent, the Prika Continent.
When people said “the continent,” they usually meant the central continent, the one where most players began. Every starting point for players was located there, so naturally the overwhelming majority of them were still active on that continent.
It was that vast, and it had that much content packed into it.
But it wasn’t the only continent.
Sail south from the far end of the Espa Kingdom, and you reached the Prika Continent. Go east past the Uruk Region, and you came to the eastern continent.
On the central continent, most kingdoms were friendly to players. Of course, that changed if your Infamy was sky-high, but generally speaking, if you were a new face, they welcomed you and let you into their cities.
The southern and eastern continents weren’t like that.
To accomplish anything there, you needed far more strength and far more time.
And since there was already an endless amount to do on the central continent, most people had no reason to go elsewhere.
Still, some rankers and a few adventure-hungry guilds had pushed ahead first and were clearing quests there.
Lee Se-yeon was one of them.
Some people speculated that she was trying to secure a territory on the southern continent. Unlike the central continent, where the kingdoms had already divided up nearly everything, the south still had room to breathe.
And now that Lee Se-yeon had come back and joined this Orc quest.
To Tae-hyun, it felt like a very bad sign.
No, it doesn’t have to be because of me. She could just want a territory too.
But then Cain, who’d been killing time browsing a site while Tae-hyun talked, abruptly blurted out the worst possible thing.
“Lee Se-yeon came to the Oston Kingdom?!”
“……”
“That’s weird. Wasn’t she down on the southern continent? I thought she was trying to get a territory there. Why’d she come all the way to Oston Kingdom? It’s not like she’d suddenly decide to grab land here this late in the game.”
“……”
“Did some other guild ask her for help or something? Or is there somebody she wants dead?”
Tae-hyun kicked Cain.
The idiot had been standing right beside him, saying nothing but ominous things.
Thud!
“What the hell was that for?!”
“Shut up.”
Cain grumbled, having been smacked out of nowhere.
After kicking him, Tae-hyun felt a little calmer.
Right. It can’t be because of me. There’s probably some other reason.
But bad feelings had a way of being right.
“I’ve got a plan.”
“A plan for what? What kind of plan?”
“First, let’s leave the territory in Count Anong’s hands. Looking at things now, I don’t think the Orc army will make it this far. And even if they do, it’ll just be an advance force. The Count can handle that much himself.”
Rufo raised a hand.
“Isn’t that too dangerous? There’s still the possibility that something could go wrong…”
“That’s why I prepared this. If it looks like he can’t hold them off, cover the temple with these.”
“?”
Tilting his head, Rufo took the items.
What in the world are these?
◈ An ornament honoring Mogok, god of the Orcs.
◈ Commonly seen at Mogok temples.
◈ A statue honoring Mogok, god of the Orcs.
◈ Commonly seen at Mogok temples.
“……”
“If we cover the top with these, the Orcs’ll think it’s one of their own temples.”
“Tae-hyun-nim!!!”
Rufo shouted in utter disbelief.
The supreme leader of their order was trying to disguise their temple as one devoted to another god.
“What, you want me to just let them smash it? Besides, it probably won’t even come to that, so it doesn’t matter. This is just for emergencies. And not only for this time either—it could come in handy later. I made versions for several different temples.”
At that, Ed-an and Pelmas clapped in admiration from the side.
Rufo punched both of them in the solar plexus to shut them up.
“Ghk!”
“Urk!”
“Tae-hyun-nim! How can you be so sure? Even if other Orc armies are attacking elsewhere, I heard the force led by the Great Chieftain is still in perfect condition.”
“It’s fine. He’ll be heading somewhere else soon enough.”
“……?”
“Thinking about it now, I was stupid. I got scared for no reason and started acting passive. There was absolutely no need for that.”
Tae-hyun laid a hand on Cain’s shoulder.
Cain stared at him suspiciously.
What’s this bastard trying to pull now?
“The best defense is offense. Instead of skulking around here trying to protect my territory, it would’ve been far more effective to attack the enemy directly. Because right here…”
Tae-hyun squeezed Cain’s shoulder.
“...I’ve got the Great Chieftain of the Orcs’ mortal enemy.”
“?!”
“Unlike everyone else, I’ve got bait named Cain. If I move him around, the Orc army will come after us on its own. The other Orcs, maybe not. But the Great Chieftain definitely will.”
“Hey! You little shit! You said you wouldn’t throw me away!”
Cain surged up, ready to lunge at Tae-hyun.
“Who said I was throwing you away?”
“That’s exactly what that means!”
“You’re coming with me to the Oston Kingdom.”
“???”
Cain tilted his head, not understanding.
But Lee Da-bi did.
And the moment she did, her face went pale.
“Y-you can’t mean… no. Right?”
“The guilds over there should have plenty of manpower. We’re taking Cain to their territory!”
“!!!!!”
In other words, he intended to use Cain as bait and drag the Orc army straight into the Oston Kingdom.
That would keep Tae-hyun’s own territory safe, and on top of that, it would let him forcibly make use of the major guilds currently operating in Oston Kingdom.
If those guilds—currently drunk on sweet dreams while clearing out the remaining Orc warriors in Oston—heard this plan, they’d clutch the backs of their necks and collapse on the spot.
“That son of a bitch Kim Tae-hyun—I’m gonna kill him! Kill him twice!”
“H-hey, calm down. This isn’t the time to worry about that. Besides, that bastard’s going to get wrecked by the Orcs anyway.”
The Su Ning Guild had seized a small castle in the Oston Kingdom.
Things had gone well for them overall, but that didn’t mean they had forgotten the scam Tae-hyun had pulled on them.
They’d been PK’d, had their items stolen, then bought those same items back with their own money—only to discover they were fakes.
It was honestly shocking that a bastard like that could exist.
What made it even more infuriating was that nobody believed them.
The other people, the ones who’d gotten normal items, were all praising the auction as some unbelievably generous giveaway.
Well, of course they were.
They had walked away with rare items they’d collected through all kinds of difficult quests, all in exchange for a bit of gold.
Grind. Grind.
The moment Kim Tae-hyun’s name came up, plenty of guild members started grinding their teeth.
Still, they managed to control their rage.
Why?
Because they had gotten information from players inside the Orc army.
The Orc Great Chieftain Karag has not forgotten his grudge. His army’s brief halt was to locate Cain.
Orc shamans are using powerful magic to divine Cain’s location. It is likely to be revealed soon.
It was the kind of news that put a smile on their faces just hearing it.
Even if the other Orcs split up and moved all over the place, it seemed certain the Great Chieftain himself meant to kill Cain first.
Wouldn’t it be perfect if the two of them died together?
The Great Chieftain was targeting Cain—but Cain was Kim Tae-hyun’s loyal subordinate, and Kim Tae-hyun wasn’t the kind of man who abandoned his people.
So they’d definitely die together.
“I wonder if Pelmas is doing all right.”
“You said it didn’t matter if he wasn’t.”
“That’s true. I mean, what could possibly happen just because Pelmas isn’t around?”
“But will the Orcs believe us?”
“If they don’t, we can just cause a scene in Oston Kingdom.”
Tae-hyun, Cain, and Jeong Su-hyeok were moving swiftly toward Oston Kingdom, riding Winged Demons with Orcs mounted behind them.
Tae-hyun and Cain were on Yong-yong.
Without the slightest idea that the Orc Great Chieftain was preparing powerful magic to track Cain down, they flew straight toward Oston Kingdom.
“Hyungnim.”
“……”
“G-guild… Guild Master.”
“Yeah. Memorize it already, you little punk!”
“Aren’t you going to join the Orc Army quest? It looks pretty fun…”
“That’s not the kind of quest you stick your nose into. You’ll just end up losing out for nothing.”
Kim Tae-san coolly shook his head and swung his axe.
Crunch!
“Aaaagh! We surrender! We surrender!”
“Right. That’s what you should do. Now get lost!”
The remaining soldiers at Aralta Castle are fleeing.
You have become hostile with the Oston Kingdom.
In the future, the Oston Kingdom may launch an attack to retake the castle.
Under the assault of the burly Orcs, the soldiers screamed and ran for their lives.
The place the guild now occupied was Aralta Castle in the Oston Kingdom.
Like the other guilds, Kim Tae-san and his middle-aged crew saw this Orc advance as an opportunity.
A chance to gain a territory of their own, just like Tae-hyun had.
“He definitely got jealous after seeing Tae-hyun with a territory in person.”
“Right? I don’t remember him being this obsessed with having land before…”
The Orc uncles whispered among themselves behind his back.
After hearing the report from the uncles who had attended the auction, Kim Tae-san had clutched the back of his neck all over again.
Not only had he been scammed—he’d effectively been shown mercy afterward.
It wasn’t the same kind of humiliation as what Su Ning Guild had suffered, but it was humiliating all the same.
What’s the best way to repay this debt so people will say I did it properly?
Thinking that, Kim Tae-san took over Aralta Castle.
Since the Orcs had already plundered it once and left, the place was nearly a ruin.
Its facilities were smashed, and most of the residents had fled elsewhere.
The residents of Aralta Castle are extremely dissatisfied. If this high dissatisfaction continues, a rebellion may occur.
The advanced spindlewood mill facility is currently destroyed. Resident dissatisfaction rises.
The central fountain is currently destroyed. Resident dissatisfaction rises.
Resident dissatisfaction…
Message windows popped up one after another.
And nearly all of them were saying the same thing:
The residents are one breath away from exploding.
“I’m not even the one who wrecked it… Tch. Yeah. I’ve mellowed out a lot.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Simple. Release some gold. No taxes for a while, either.”
Kim Tae-san settled the immediate issue with a few words, then looked around.
The Orcs had raided the place and moved on. Then Oston Kingdom troops had briefly retaken it. And now Kim Tae-san and his guild members had attacked and seized it again.
There was an absurd amount of damage to deal with.
First, I need to shore up the defenses.
The broken walls and ruined gate looked dangerously unstable.
And it wasn’t just the Orcs he might have to fight—he could end up clashing with Oston Kingdom soldiers too.
Defense had to come first.
Anyone else would have been crushed by the triple misery of shattered defenses, internal chaos, and dangerous enemies all around.
But Kim Tae-san was different.
He had magic that could turn the impossible into possible.
Gold.
And if gold wasn’t enough?
More gold.
“Is this Gerald, the fortress architect?”
“Yes? Who is this?”
“I saw your videos. Looks like you’ve got a class specialized in building defensive structures. Taking commissions?”
“Of course. As long as you’ve got the gold… but where are you, exactly?”
“Oston Kingdom.”
“……Oston Kingdom is a little…”
Gerald trailed off in an uneasy voice.
For production-class players, Oston Kingdom was far too dangerous right now.
“Double.”
“……What?”
“Double.”