A Fortress on the Auction House

While the Power Warrior Guild was in utter chaos, Smith and Teech were putting their heads together.

Teech, the pirate player who had been captured by Tae-hyun and somehow ended up throwing himself into Katuga Fortress!

Smith, the ranker who had also somehow ended up throwing himself into Katuga Fortress!

They had successfully launched a surprise attack, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seizing the center of the fortress and holding their ground. In truth, their chances of success shouldn't have been very high. Although the defending ranker, Gonzalez, had suffered an absurd defeat due to holding Archisus equipment...

The Guild Alliance still had plenty of forces left, and reinforcements were pouring in from all directions. No matter how skilled Smith was, he couldn't fight indefinitely against multiple rankers.

Naturally, Teech and his pirate guild members only intended to capture the place and flee as quickly as possible. But the Guild Alliance knew this and pressed their attack relentlessly. Their elite forces were truly terrifying. With flawless coordination, high-level players swarmed them like madmen, leaving the pirates unable to even poke their heads out.

"Argh! Our Guild Leader has seriously lost his mind!"

"We could have just slipped away and lived in peace! Why did we have to get caught between these giants?!"

"Shut up! I'm a pirate!"

"So what?!"

"A pirate is supposed to live a short, glorious life! If you live a long, thin one..."

"Look at this guy's silver tongue!"

"Hey! Let's beat up the Guild Leader first! If we hand him over, maybe they'll let us off the hook!"

"Y-you traitors?! A mutiny?!"

Just when it seemed their defense would inevitably crumble and end in defeat... a miracle occurred.

The Guild Alliance players suddenly retreated in a hurry and began to vanish.

"???"

"???"

Teech and his guild members stared at each other. What on earth was happening?

"They say Kim Tae-hyun is raiding Hakkaras! They're all heading over there right now!"

"We're... we're saved!"

At that very moment, Tae-hyun had struck the first blow against Hakkaras on the plains! The pirates let out collective sighs of relief. Smith and his companions finally wiped the sweat from their brows.

"Hold on. Who was the bastard saying we should hand over the Guild Leader earlier?"

"Who? No one said that."

"Didn't you just mishear things in the heat of battle?"

The pirates feigned utter innocence. Teech glared at them, but his guild members stood firm in their denial.

Their levels shot up by more than twenty in an instant! The pirates rejoiced at this completely unexpected jackpot.

"H-how is this possible?!"

"Whoa, I know it's a Guild Alliance fortress, but is the reward really this insane?"

Seeing their levels skyrocket, their fear instantly evaporated. Who cared about the Guild Alliance! If they could level up like this, they wanted to beat them up even more!

Just moments ago, they had been trembling in terror of the Guild Alliance, but the massive rewards wiped away all fear. At the same time, a profound sense of gratitude and loyalty toward Tae-hyun welled up within them.

To think he would grant such an opportunity even to them, who had attacked him first! Such a noble character was rare in Pandemonium Online. A true saint who gave even his enemies a chance!

Of course, Tae-hyun had only ordered them to do it out of sheer annoyance, thinking, 'Go run off to some far-off place, I don't care if you escape or die...' but the truth is always elusive!

"Sniff... Kim Tae-hyun is truly an incredible man!"

"Starting today, I'm a Kim Tae-hyun fan!"

"...?"

Smith and his companions stared at the pirates as if they had lost their minds. What was wrong with these guys?

"To give us an opportunity like this..."

"All those rumors about Kim Tae-hyun must be complete nonsense. Like how he would hunt down players he defeated in PVP in Pan-On 1, killing them over and over until they deleted their accounts..."

"Actually, that one is true," Smith interjected from the side.

Having played since Pan-On 1, Smith was a veteran who had personally experienced Tae-hyun's wrath. Although he hadn't suffered that specific fate, simply losing to him had been a massive trauma. Yet here these guys were, idolizing him. In truth, if anyone was a saint here, it was Smith for putting up with this.

"...And the rumor that he captured players who attacked him in Pan-On 1, set them on fire, and threw them at other players to attack them..."

"That is also true."

"..."

"Stop lying!"

"Yeah! Where do you get off spreading such bull—"

The pirates yelled at Smith. Then, they suddenly snapped back to reality. Come to think of it, wasn't Smith a high-ranking player too?

"...What a plausible-sounding lie!"

"We'll let it slide just this once!"

"Thank you for believing me," Smith said dryly.

"C-cough!"

While the intimidated pirates cast cautious glances at Smith, Smith and his companions prepared to depart.

"W-where are you going?"

Out of sheer intimidation, their speech naturally shifted to polite honorifics.

"We're done here, so we must leave. Our favor ended with this."

"Huh? Please stay a bit longer!"

"Yeah! We'll be terrified if we're left here alone!"

Their true feelings slipped out. Although the Guild Alliance had temporarily vanished due to the emergency, this fortress was absolutely not something they could defend on their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠own.

But while Smith was polite, he was razor-sharp when it came to business. Just as coolly as he had arrived, he departed.

"Noooo!"

"Smith! Come back!"

"This is why you're ranked below Lee Se-yeon, you irresponsible bastard!"

"Are you insane?! What if he hears you?!"

The remaining pirates quickly covered the mouth of the idiot who had dared to utter such a reckless provocation. There was a limit to how far you could push your luck! The remaining guild members huddled together.

"Ah... what do we do now?"

"Since we've captured it, should we try running it ourselves?"

"Hey. Who let that crazy bastard speak again? Cover his mouth."

"Mmph! Mmph!"

The guild member who had spouted nonsense was promptly gagged again. Run it themselves? That was utterly impossible. The scale of the fortress was massive, and the Guild Alliance would be gnashing their teeth to take it back... Honestly, just staying here was highly dangerous. If they got caught, they wouldn't even have bones left to bury.

"Should we just grab whatever we can carry, smash the rest, and run?"

"...What if the Guild Alliance hunts us down?"

Reality was slowly sinking in. The Guild Alliance was bound to be absolutely furious about this incident. Smith was a top-tier ranker, but they were just small-fry players who would blow away in a stiff breeze.

"T-then should we just run?"

"...But isn't it such a waste to just abandon it?"

"That's true."

Fear was fear, but greed was greed! Honestly, how many times in their lives would they ever own a fortress? This might be their last chance.

"I have a great idea."

"?"

"Let's sell it!"

"???"

"We sell it on the Auction House before the Guild Alliance can take it back!"

"Are you out of your mind? Who would buy a fortress like this? They'd just lose it to the Guild Alliance immediately!"

"Do you know how many people play Pan-On? You think there isn't a single person who would buy this? We only need one! If we put an 'Instant Buy' option, someone might just fall for it! What if some filthy rich oil tycoon buys it just for fun?!"

It was complete nonsense, but to the cornered pirates, it sounded incredibly plausible. Selling a fortress?

"That demon is Gusion, isn't he? Gusion, the son of Demon Duke Gusirek."

"...How on earth do you know that?"

Tae-hyun was utterly dumbfounded. How did a knight from the Erangs Kingdom's 4th Knight Order know so much about demons?

However, the knight looked even more flabbergasted.

"...Your Majesty. Do you perhaps not know what our order specializes in?"

- Tae-hyun, Tae-hyun. The 4th Knight Order is a holy knight order that specializes in dealing with demons and the undead. They are the ones deployed whenever demons or undead appear in the kingdom! Naturally, they have extensive records and information on famous demons.

"Haha. Of course I know the 4th Knight Order of the Kingdom. The Silver Anchovy Knights, whose fame echoes across the continent..."

- Silver Sword! It's the Silver Sword Knights!

"The Silver Sword Knights!"

Fortunately, because the knight held Tae-hyun in such high esteem, he paid no mind to whatever nonsense Tae-hyun spouted.

'Wait, that guy was the son of a Demon Duke?'

Tae-hyun turned his head to look at Gusion.

He had completely ignored him when the demon was screaming, 'Do you know who I am?!'...

'No, why would the son of a Demon Duke get tricked by dwarves and locked up in the first place?'

'Well, that's true.'

Still, if the Demon Duke found out about this, he wouldn't be very pleased.

'Hmm. Should I start treating him better now?'

- Hey! You demon bastard! Put some more back into it! If you want to fire the sacred cannons of Lord Archisus, you need to work harder!

- I don't care how things were in the Demon Realm where you came from, but that kind of half-hearted work won't cut it under Lord Archisus! Squeeze out every last drop of your strength!

- Even if you collapse from exhaustion, remember the name of Lord Archisus!

While Tae-hyun was contemplating, the Archisus Artillery members took turns berating the demon as they passed by.

'Yeah, treating him well is out of the question. I'll just have to pray we don't get caught.'

They had already crossed too many lines. It wasn't as if the demon would suddenly forget all the abuse he had suffered just because Tae-hyun started being nice to him now.

"Your Majesty, who captured those wicked vampires and the demon! We will personally escort them to the execution dock!"

"Sure. You annoying pests."

"Pardon?"

"Hmm? What is it?"

Did he mishear? The knight tilted his head in confusion, but looking at Tae-hyun's bright, innocent, and virtuous face, he concluded he must have simply misheard.

"Hey. When are we going in there? You're not planning on just leaving it behind, right?"

Cain, who had been waiting, pointed toward the middle of the mountain.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠secret fortress of the Salavian Church! No idiot would conquer a fortress and leave without looting the treasures inside.

Hearing this, Choi Sang-yun chided Cain.

"I told you, everything inside must have burned to ashes."

"Still, we should at least check!"

Cain looked deeply disappointed by the party's lukewarm reaction.

"There must be so much good stuff in there. What a waste. Couldn't we have conquered it some other way?"

"Don't talk nonsense. You only say that because you don't know how incredibly annoying that place was."

Before Cain's arrival, Choi Sang-yun and Evangeline had repeatedly thrown themselves at the fortress, only to be beaten back ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bloody. Tae-hyun's decision to burn it all down was a stroke of genius! If they had forced their way up to fight, they would have been utterly crushed by the sheer might of the Salavian Church.

"Tae-hyun calculated everything before taking action. No matter how valuable the treasures of the Atali Royal Palace might be, he knew it was better to conquer it quickly in one clean sweep rather than getting dragged into a messy, exhausting battle just to obtain them."

Yu Ji-soo agreed with Choi Sang-yun's words.

"That's right. To Sunbae, such trivial treasures are completely meaningless. Sunbae made that decision solely for our sake!"

"I-Is that so?"

Cain tilted his head. He knew Tae-hyun was wealthy, but in Pan-On, Tae-hyun was notoriously frugal. He never let a single item go to waste, constantly dismantling, selling, or repurposing everything he found!

'Well, looking at that fortress earlier made me want to throw up. It would have been a nightmare if we actually went inside.'

"Wait. What did you say?"

"...?"

Tae-hyun, who had been conversing with the knight, suddenly whipped his head around.

"Did you just say the treasures of the Atali Royal Palace?"

"Huh? Yeah. The Salavian Church stole them when they fled, so wouldn't they be inside?"

"..."

Lee Da-bi noticed it instantly. Tae-hyun's face had gone slightly pale!

'...I completely forgot!'

He had been so excited about setting things on fire that he had completely forgotten about the royal treasures! No, even if he had remembered, there wasn't much he could have done in that situation. Even Tae-hyun hadn't expected the fire to pack such devastatingly explosive power.

"Don't tell me... you used that skill without thinking?"

"..."

Tae-hyun looked up at the sky and let out a deep, heavy sigh.

"...Well, I was prepared to give them up from the very beginning..."

'What a liar.'

'He's definitely lying.'

'I knew it!'

"...Let's go inside and search," Tae-hyun said, his voice completely drained of strength.

Just then, one of the captured Salavian vampires cautiously raised a hand from the back.

"Um... Your Majesty."

"?"

"The... the Archbishop didn't keep the treasures inside the fortress."

"!!!?"

Tae-hyun's eyes flashed with sudden, brilliant light. What did he just say?