A Fief of Fortune and Ruin

Kim Tae-hyun moved swiftly. While summoning the hidden Third Prince, he dispatched Ed-an to thoroughly plunder the royal treasury's choicest treasures. Then, he returned to the Second Prince's castle and put on a perfectly shameless performance.

"Oh, the tragedy! Those Sadiq bastards laid a trap and set everything ablaze! The Second Prince was caught in the fire and... well, since things have turned out this way, what do you think about the Third Prince?"

"..."

The nobles of the Second Prince's faction were not as easily swayed as those of the First Prince's. Only half of them believed Tae-hyun's words, while the other half remained highly skeptical.

This is more than enough.

Without a central figure to rally behind, the nobles were bound to collapse on their own. Having thoroughly shaken up the Second Prince's faction with his silver tongue, Tae-hyun returned to his camp.

"I-I never imagined you would actually eliminate both the First and Second Princes..."

"I went through all that trouble to clean up your mess, and this is the reaction I get?"

"N-no, of course not! Thank you so much! I will absolutely keep my promise!"

Wait, which fief should I choose?

While other players struggled to obtain even a single fief, Tae-hyun was already being offered his second. However, the choice was far from simple. Half of the Auston Kingdom had been utterly devastated by the massive Orc offensive, and half of the remaining territory had already been seized by players! Just because the Third Prince was ascending the throne didn't mean he could hand out land at his whim.

Come to think of it, those players who occupied castles and cities are going to have a massive headache.

From the perspective of the Auston Kingdom, there was no way they would look kindly upon adventurers who had slithered in to occupy their land during a time of chaos. The moment the kingdom regained its strength, they would undoubtedly try to drive them out.

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"Your Highness, the Auston Kingdom is currently in a state of extreme turmoil. It would be highly improper of me to greedily claim a fief at such a time, wouldn't it?"

"???"

The Third Prince tilted his head in confusion at Tae-hyun's sudden display of humility. Why is he acting like this all of a sudden?

"T-then...?"

"I shall accept it later, once the kingdom's affairs have been stabilized."

Tae-hyun's scheme was simple. Once the new king ascended the throne of the Auston Kingdom, all sorts of quests would trigger, and the geopolitical landscape would shift. He planned to wait until the dust settled to see which territories remained intact and which were in ruins before making his choice!

"Count Kim Tae-hyun, even if you do not accept a fief right away, please stay by my side and assist me with..."

"Nonsense! There are plenty of loyal nobles eager to assist Your Highness!"

Tae-hyun flatly refused the Third Prince's attempts to offer him any other official position.

I've already squeezed everything I can out of this place. Time to make a quick exit!

The fief could be claimed later, and the Church's status was officially secured. All that was left was to flee! As the saying goes, a long tail eventually gets stepped on, and Tae-hyun had caused far too much chaos in the Auston Kingdom. While everything seemed fine for now, it was best to slip away just in case. Besides, having amassed a fortune here, it was the perfect opportunity to return and develop his own territory.

"I have absolutely no doubt that Your Highness will become a magnificent ruler and govern the Auston Kingdom with wisdom and longevity! My loyalty is yours!"

He didn't believe a single word of it, but Tae-hyun showered the Third Prince with sweet, empty flattery. The clueless prince beamed with joy.

"No one's tailing us, right?"

"No one. I told you, we're in the clear."

"Let's move fast. We've got everything we came for."

Tae-hyun said, patting his heavily stuffed gold pouches. Riding a horse beside him, Ed-an nodded with a delighted expression.

"The players back in the Auston Kingdom must be losing their minds right now."

"No doubt. A kingdom that was locked in a seemingly endless civil war suddenly gets a system message saying the war is over."

Tae-hyun was happily slipping away with a light heart after causing all this chaos, but the other players were in utter disarray.

The news of the civil war's end was so shocking that the fact that the Auston Kingdom's state religion had changed to the Archisus Church barely even registered in the public discourse.

As they left the borders of the Auston Kingdom, Tae-hyun muttered, "We really went through hell because of those damn Orcs. I even had to abandon the fief I was working so hard to develop."

Cain nodded in agreement. He had never imagined that drawing the Orcs' ire would end up dragging them into all of this.

"But now, we can finally focus on developing our fief properly."

"The fief is still safe, right?"

"Of course it is. The Orcs didn't even head in that direction, and Count Anong has been defending it with his order of knights."

Cain nodded at Tae-hyun's words. Come to think of it, it made perfect sense. Unlike other regions, their fief was bound to be completely safe from the Orc invasion.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud—

"...?"

In the distance, a figure was sprinting toward them like a madman. For a split second, Cain thought it was an ambush. But it wasn't. The person running toward them was completely naked, wearing nothing but a pair of undergarments!

"What a lunatic."

"A total lunatic, right?"

Do crazy people play this game too? a Power Warrior guild member who overheard Tae-hyun and Cain's conversation thought to himself.

"Aaaaahhhhh!"

Completely ignoring Tae-hyun's group, the naked man kept sprinting forward. Then, he leaped straight off the edge of a cliff.

"Time to die!"

"????"

Crash! Cain hurriedly rushed to the edge and looked down. The man who had plunged off the cliff had already turned gray and dissolved into light. Having stripped off all his gear and taken the full brunt of the fall damage from that height, he had been instantly forced to log out.

"W-what was that?"

"What on earth just happened?"

Having weathered all kinds of storms since the days of Fantasy Online 1, Tae-hyun wasn't particularly shocked. There were surprisingly many people who did crazy things like that in games!

"Something must have happened to him."

"Like what?"

"You know, like losing a bet and having to jump off a cliff, or getting scammed out of everything..."

People who suffered immense psychological shock often did bizarre things. Tae-hyun knew this all too well.

Lee Da-bi tilted her head. "What kind of event could possibly drive someone to do that?"

"How should I know?"

However, it didn't take long for Tae-hyun to find out exactly why that man had run past them stark naked.

"...Which bastard wrote this?"

At Tae-hyun's question, everyone averted their eyes. The entrance to the fief was decorated with incredibly gaudy, extravagant signs! The elegant, flowing script looked like the work of a decent-level Sculptor player.

"Pelmas, you little bas—no, wait. Pelmas! Where are you!"

Tae-hyun actively suppressed his rage as he called out for Pelmas. If he searched for him while cursing, Pelmas would undoubtedly run away!

"Sob... This time, it's definitely going to succeed! I know it will!"

"Selling Random Boxes! Get your boxes here! It's much faster to buy them here and open them on the spot than to travel somewhere else!"

However, there was something that caught Tae-hyun's attention even more than Pelmas. It was the players. The players wandering around the area looked like they were possessed, stumbling about with hollow eyes.

"Surely... it'll succeed... it'll succeed...!"

"Aaaaaaargh! Enhancement failed! My enhancement faaaaaailed!"

A blacksmith player screamed, threw his hammer to the ground, and began sprinting away. Straight toward the cliff!

"..."

"What in the world happened to this place?"

"Pelmas, I believe I trusted you and left you in charge..."

"Ugh, ack, cough, gasp! Lord Tae-hyun! I... I did my absolute best..."

Pelmas groveled, pressing his forehead against the dirt. Tae-hyun pointed toward the fief and said:

"You call that doing your best? I shudder to think what would have happened if you hadn't."

"I-I truly did my best! I collected a massive amount of taxes..."

"And what is up with those signs at the entrance?"

"There was an adventurer who didn't have any gold to offer to the Archisus Church, so I told him to offer his talent instead!"

"..."

In Tae-hyun's absence, Count Anong had led his order of knights to protect the fief. However, the territory had turned out to be surprisingly safe. This was because the massive horde of Orcs had marched back toward the Auston Kingdom.

Finding himself with plenty of free time, Pelmas had put ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his brain to work. Since Tae-hyun wasn't around, he had to do his absolute best! He had to do everything in his power to develop the fief! Of course, if Tae-hyun had heard this, he would have screamed, Just sit still and do absolutely nothing!

What is the best path forward for this fief right now?

The fief wasn't particularly blessed. Most of the land was barren and undeveloped, with only a dungeon or two to its name. The only players who visited were those drawn by Tae-hyun's formidable reputation.

Pelmas had watched their behavior very closely.

—I swear, if you believe in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Archisus, you get this gut feeling that enhancements succeed more often!

—Right? I get this weird vibe that praying to Archisus gives you better loot from random boxes!

—...What the hell is a "gut feeling" or a "weird vibe" supposed to mean?

Overhearing the players' conversations, Pelmas had slapped his knee. In that instant, a vision of how to develop the fief flashed before his eyes.

"And so, you turned the place into this?"

"W-we've amassed so much more gold... Sob! Please believe me! I did this out of pure loyalty!"

"If you weren't a gambling addict, I might actually have believed you..."

Despite his harsh words, the fief was actually developing quite nicely. The buildings had been constructed in a circular layout centered around the temple of the Archisus Church. Statues of Archisus were erected at various points, creating dedicated spots where players could pray before immediately attempting enhancements or opening random boxes.

Tae-hyun let out a hollow laugh. What in the world is this...

Perhaps because he had significantly raised the Church's reputation and influence in the Auston Kingdom, he was now able to construct buildings that were previously locked. Although the gold costs were astronomical, Tae-hyun was flush with cash from the auction he had held in his fief and the massive amount of gold he had extorted from the Auston Kingdom. On top of that, there was the gold Pelmas had diligently milked from the players while managing the fief!

Let's start by building whatever we can.

It would be absurd to have Archisus Paladins and priests roaming around the Auston Kingdom while his own headquarters lacked them entirely.

Grab!

"...?"

As Tae-hyun walked around the fief to scout the best locations for construction, someone suddenly grabbed his ankle.

"P-please... buy this box... please buy this box."

"..."

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The higher the grade of a treasure chest, the greater the chance of obtaining high-quality loot. Naturally, the box the player was holding was of the absolute lowest grade!

"Why should I buy it? Just open it yourself."

Tae-hyun replied coldly. The player didn't even seem to recognize him.

"Sob... I came here because everyone said even the lowest-grade treasure chests hit the jackpot in this place... but now I don't even have enough gold to travel back to my starting city. I'll sell you this, so please, just give me enough for carriage fare..."

A complete novice who had gambled everything away in hopes of striking it rich! Tae-hyun clicked his tongue and shook his head.