The Sincerity of a Hero

If Tae-hyun held a coronation event, he would become the second player in Pandemonium Online to ascend the throne! In fact, since the Guild Alliance had been thrown into an emergency due to Sadiq's Avatar as soon as they captured the capital of the Auston Kingdom, they hadn't even been able to properly hold a coronation event. Strictly speaking, he would be the first player to actually hold a proper coronation event. Players who hated the Guild Alliance or had suffered at their hands all cheered for Tae-hyun.

Everyone wanted the same thing with one heart and mind: Hold the coronation event (before the Guild Alliance does)! Of course, from Tae-hyun's perspective, the story was quite different.

'Are you insane?'

He didn't even need to worry about being too extravagant. Just trying to meet the bare minimum requirements demanded an astronomical amount of gold. To make matters worse, the Salavian Order had thoroughly cleaned out every single copper from the treasury before vanishing. Unless he could conjure gold out of thin air, he would have to raise taxes. And that wasn't all.

The local nobles of the Atali Kingdom were subtly expressing their disapproval! They had shut their mouths and stayed quiet when Dominic rebelled, but now that the rebellion was over, they were casting displeased looks his way—it was incredibly obnoxious. On top of that, there were issues with the other territories.

Envoys from the territories of the nobles Tae-hyun had personally disposed of!

"Pelmas. Tell them the battle was too chaotic, so we couldn't find the remains."

Tae-hyun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had already pocketed all the related items. There was no way he was giving them back.

"What if they ask for the knights back?"

"Tell them we don't have the knights either."

"..."

"Ah, wait. That won't work. Tell them the knights love me too much to go back."

"I shall convey it exactly as you said."

There were countless problems, but Tae-hyun resolved them one by one. Leaving the envoys from the deceased counts' territories to Pelmas...

"My Lord, if it wouldn't be too presumptuous, may I prepare the food for the coronation?"

"!"

A new chef obtained after disposing of Count Osong.

"Ahem. Devuel. That sounds great, but I haven't decided whether to hold the coronation yet..."

"Is that so? What a shame. I wanted to use up all the ingredients before they spoiled..."

"Yes, it can't be hel—Ingredients? What ingredients?"

"Are you referring to the ingredients Count Osong ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠carried with him?"

"Did... did he have such things? How much is there?"

"Compared to what is stored in his estate, it is not much, but it would still be a waste not to use it. Count Osong was a gourmet, so he stored all kinds of ingredients in his estate."

"I see. Ed-an! Ed-an!"

"Fufu. You called..."

"Go with Devuel to Count Osong's estate and borrow those ingredients."

"?"

"??"

Both Ed-an and Devuel were puzzled. Devuel asked, clearly confused.

"My Lord. I do not think Count Osong's estate will willingly lend us those ingredients. The people there are rather greedy..."

"Devuel. Look into my eyes."

Tae-hyun grabbed Devuel's shoulders and stared straight into his eyes.

"Sincerity always gets through to people."

"I-is that so?"

"Indeed. I have overcome every crisis and hardship in my life with nothing but sheer sincerity. Was it not my sincerity that brought those noble knights under my command?"

"Certainly... Even if they are greedy, if a hero like you, My Lord, speaks to them... they might listen."

An inexplicable trust in the hero, Tae-hyun! Meanwhile, Ed-an mouthed a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠silent question from behind Devuel.

—Are we stealing it?

—Steal it.

Even if the food was taken care of, there was still a mountain of other tasks for the coronation. Various materials and countless items were needed to host the banquet. The players who followed Tae-hyun were shouting, "If you hold the coronation, we'll work for free! Just open it!" but such things required actual material items. To make high-grade floral decorations, one needed high-grade flower items; they couldn't just be conjured out of thin air.

"I have an excellent idea."

"...I feel a bit uneasy hearing that from you. What is it?"

Tae-hyun felt a sudden wave of foreboding as Galakpad approached to offer his opinion.

"Lord Tae-hyun, the great leader of Archisus, you have finally claimed the Atali Kingdom."

"To be precise, only the capital and its surrounding areas. The local nobles in the provinces won't listen to me."

"Under the guidance of Lord Archisus, such actions are nothing but futile resistance. If they resist, they shall taste the wrath of Archisus...!"

"Can we please stick to the topic?"

"Very well, Lord Tae-hyun. Now that you have seized the Atali Kingdom... declare the Archisus Church as the state religion and brand all other denominations as heretics."

"...Why?"

"By doing so, you can confiscate all the assets of the other churches within the capital."

"...!!"

It was truly a devil's temptation!

"Isn't that... going a bit too far?"

"Lord Tae-hyun."

"?"

"The other denominations already despise the Archisus Church. Even if you treat them with kindness, they will still hate you."

An unassailable truth!

"Well, that is true."

"You have generously spared them, yet they do not know gratitude. You must teach them a lesson!"

"Hmm... That makes too much sense."

"Oh, Lord Tae-hyun! I knew I could trust you! Ah, and may I handle the ceremonial preparations for the coronation? No one in the church is as skilled in these matters as I am."

"Sure, I'll leave it to you... Wait, let me think about this again..."

"Thank you, Lord Tae-hyun!"

'Ah, damn.'

Tae-hyun was momentarily flustered by the unexpected message.

'Well, whatever. It doesn't matter.'

Because... out of the twelve council members, Tae-hyun's faction held the majority!

Unaware of this, a player who belonged to the Phytos Church shouted passionately in the council chamber.

"Confiscating the assets of the Phytos Church?! Does that make any sense?! I mean, what about the players who worship Phytos?!"

It was like a bolt from the blue. Out of nowhere, an emergency council meeting had been called, so it was only natural to be shocked.

'Which one of you is playing a joke? Did you just want to see if a vote like this would actually go through?'

"Which one of you is playing a joke? Did you just want to see if a vote like this would actually go through?"

"Not me."

"We're dead serious."

"?!??!"

The player's jaw dropped.

"What about the players who worship Phytos?!"

"Can't they just go somewhere else?"

"Or they could convert to the Archisus Church. A lot of people are doing that lately."

"Th-that's insane! What kind of city doesn't even have a single temple for other denominations?!"

"We have the Archisus Temple."

"What city only has one church?! Everyone is going to hate this!"

"Sorry, but the vote is decided by the twelve of us. Come on, let's vote!"

"?!"

The outcome was already decided.

"Hmm. Well, that's bound to happen. I understand."

Since they had suddenly lost all their assets in the capital, it was understandable that the churches were furious. Sparing the Demer Church was the last shred of Tae-hyun's conscience! In truth, his real intention was to exploit the Demer Church a bit more later... Although he unfortunately couldn't seize their one-of-a-kind Unique artifacts, he gathered enough Normal and Rare equipment left behind by the churches to roll around in. Various potions, scrolls, and blessing material items were a bonus.

It was a bit questionable to steal items from other churches to hold their own church rituals, but Tae-hyun decided not to care. The Archisus Church had already walked too far down this path to worry about such trivialities.

"Food... check. The rest of the preparations... Galakpad will handle. I just need to get some gold... I need to make some gold."

A few dozen or a few hundred gold wouldn't even come close. He needed at least tens of thousands of gold! Tae-hyun felt the difficulty of gathering gold anew. Until now, Tae-hyun had never lacked gold. In PanOn 1, he mostly played solo and was self-sufficient when it came to items. Since he only used gold to buy occasional items from the auction house, his gold reserves always overflowed. In PanOn 2, he had to acquire a fief and manage it, but he had managed that somehow too. He had looted so much equipment while doing quests that simply listing them on the auction house brought in a massive amount of funds. Frankly, compared to other guilds, Tae-hyun had poured quite a lot of gold into managing his territory. It just wasn't his gold. However, the gold Tae-hyun had gathered now was barely enough to keep the fief running. What should he do to earn gold? There were countless ways to make gold in PanOn. But among them, there weren't many ways to make a massive fortune quickly.

'Crafting? No.'

If Tae-hyun put his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mind to it and utilized his blacksmithing skills, he could craft items that would cause quite a stir on the auction house. Although he didn't possess the Highest-Grade Blacksmithing skill, Tae-hyun was the only one who had both the Advanced Blacksmithing skill and the Advanced Engineering skill. On top of that, he had his powerful Luck stat! Thinking back to the early days of PanOn when people gathered from all over just to buy the dagger he crafted...

'But the profit margins wouldn't make sense. One or two wouldn't be enough... and if I flood the market, the price will plummet... Most of all, the Guild Alliance would probably buy them up.'

If he crafted highest-grade items using all sorts of rare materials, he wouldn't be able to make many. Honestly, if he had those materials, he would have used them to make gear for himself or his party! That meant he would have to use common materials. But that had its limits; high-ranking rankers wouldn't use them, and only those below them would buy. Naturally, selling just one or two wouldn't cut it, and he would have to mass-produce and flood the market, which would drive the price down...

Selling them slowly one by one wasn't a bad idea, but Tae-hyun wasn't the type of player to play so leisurely. Besides, what he dreaded most was the enemies buying them up if he sold them in bulk. It might seem like overthinking, but back in PanOn 1, Tae-hyun had actually fought a guild armed with the very equipment he had sold. He had made them needlessly durable, which only made his own life a living hell!

'Hmm... I guess there's only one way to make gold quickly, cleanly, and in massive amounts.'

The traditional, miraculous method to strike it rich without a single penny of starting capital! Tae-hyun stood up from his seat.

"Cain! Let's do a job together."

"Ah! Is it for the coronation preparations?!"

"Yeah. Let's head to the Auston Kingdom! Put on your mask!"

"...Why do we need masks to prepare for a co-coronation?"