The King's New Vassals

A similar conversation was taking place on Count Andalto's side.

"If I formally become a vassal of the King of Atali, who do you think the King of Atali will trust? That wicked, cunning, vile, filthy, disgusting, trash-like Vlad? Or this body, a proud warrior?"

"Of course it's you, Count!"

Count Andalto's guards cheered, chanting his name in unison.

"That bastard Vlad will regret this!"

"No. This is driving me crazy."

Vlad paced back and forth, his anxiety mounting. These vampire counts simply refused to listen!

The only reason he was doing this was out of pure, unadulterated altruism—a trait virtually unheard of in vampires. A genuine desire to help others!

If it had been anything else, he would have thought, I suffered, so you should suffer too! But Archisus was different.

Even for a vampire, Archisus is a bit much...

Having experienced it firsthand, Vlad was trying to do a good deed for the first time in his life. But as they say, doing things you never normally do always backfires. Vlad's sudden approach only made the counts more suspicious.

"What on earth is that bastard plotting..."

"This won't do! Send a letter to the King immediately! Tell him we wish to become his vassals!"

Driven by anxiety, the counts decided to strike first before Vlad could pull any of his wicked, underhanded tricks.

Flap, flap—

"?"

"Is that a bat? Should I shoot it down?"

"No, that's no ordinary bat. It looks like it was sent by the vampires."

Tae-hyun recognized that the approaching bat wasn't a monster.

How can he even tell?

Cain, standing beside him, was utterly dumbfounded. How on earth could he tell from that distance whether a flying bat was a monster or a transformed vampire?

"What is it?"

"Your Majesty! Please accept our master's loyalty!"

"??"

A true king wasn't made just by wearing a crown. Nor was it achieved by some strange woman emerging from a lake to hand over a holy sword. True royal power only manifested when there were lords and nobles swearing fealty beneath him!

In that sense, Tae-hyun had only been half a king. Although he held the throne and the capital, the local lords in the provinces had completely ignored him.

And now, a noble NPC was formally offering an oath of loyalty! The benefits were astronomical. Taxes and a military!

What's the catch? Is it a trap?

The terms were so good that Tae-hyun couldn't help but feel suspicious. No matter how much Count Scabio had been captured or how much goodwill he felt toward Tae-hyun, would he really apply to become a vassal this quickly?

Of course, it wasn't all good news.

Let them complain.

Tae-hyun coolly dismissed the warnings. Those continental nobles didn't listen to him anyway! He was already living perfectly fine without their help. There was nothing to lose now.

If I accept Count Scabio as a vassal, I get taxes and troops, but my Reputation drops and my Infamy rises...

"Exactly."

Reputation and Infamy were stats Tae-hyun had in abundance. Gold and troops were far more practical!

"I accept! I accept Count Scabio as my vassal!"

"Th-thank you, Your Majesty!"

The vampire messenger quickly bowed and flew back.

And then, another one flew in.

"Your Majesty! Please accept our master's loyalty!"

"..."

Even Count Andalto!

Tae-hyun began to worry.

Wait... I was only gone for a short while to hunt the wyvern. Did something terrible happen at the Vampire Castle in the meantime?

Otherwise, this phenomenon made absolutely no sense!

To tell the truth, it was Kim Tae-san who had purchased Katuga Fortress from the auction house.

He had been browsing the auction house out of sheer boredom when he saw Katuga Fortress listed and immediately clicked buy.

Buy first, worry about the consequences later!

And now, it was time to worry about those consequences.

Katuga Fortress was located inside the Auston Kingdom, right at the entrance to the core territory of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Guild Alliance! Normally, it was a territory that could never be maintained, but...

Kim Tae-san had a few advantages.

First, his guild was packed with members who were veterans of siege warfare. On top of that, Tae-san had just completed his class change quest.

The Legendary Class, Uruk Orc Great Chieftain, was a commander-type class specialized in large-scale leadership! Its efficiency was incomparable to anything he had before.

Furthermore, a massive number of guild members had joined him through this quest...

Their military strength was on a completely different level compared to before.

And that's not all.

Although countless Orc warriors had been lost, just as many had gained experience and grown into elites.

"We're planting our roots deep! Mobilize all guild members! We'll turn Katuga Fortress into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their grave!"

"Boss, Tae-hyun won the tournament..."

"Is that what's important right now?!"

"Congratulations..."

"I don't need it, you punk!"

Tae-san barked orders, his eyes blazing. Every second counted! There was no telling when the Guild Alliance would snap out of it and launch a counterattack. They had to fortify the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fortress as much as possible.

"Should we ask the blacksmiths in Tae-hyun's territory for help?"

"...Y-Yes... sigh... do that."

Tae-san hesitated before agreeing. Honestly, the Mechanical Engineering Blacksmiths were essential assets for siege defense. Even if they were a bunch of lunatics!

Using every method at their disposal, Tae-san and his middle-aged guildmates transformed Katuga Fortress into an impregnable stronghold in a remarkably short time.

It was already a sturdy fortress, but they added multiple layers of defensive walls, installed various traps underground to prevent tunneling, dug a moat of boiling poison in front of the main gate, and mounted siege engines on the ramparts to keep flying monsters at bay...

And inside the fortress stood the guild members and elite Orc warriors!

"Come at us if you dare!" Tae-san roared.

But the Guild Alliance never came.

"...??"

They were too utterly overwhelmed to even think about attacking Katuga Fortress right under their noses.

In the end, the Guild Alliance split in half.

In a way, it was an inevitable outcome. When you bind so many large guilds into a single entity, friction is bound to occur. When things were going well, complaints could be swept under the rug, but the moment trouble brewed, the long-suppressed grievances erupted.

The non-Chinese guilds, which had been facing subtle discrimination, began to leave in droves.

Su Ning had managed to unite them by coaxing, coddling, and flattering the guild leaders, but a significant portion of them still decided to break away. They took their members and abandoned the Guild Alliance.

"Those fools! What do they think they can achieve on their own?!"

Su Ning was dumbfounded by this absurd turn of events. Although the Guild Alliance had suffered heavy losses, it was still the largest guild in Pan-On, holding the Auston Kingdom and the throne. What did they think they would gain by splitting off?

They say it's better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a dragon, but that was an outdated saying. These days, being the tail of a dragon was far better!

"Cancel your withdrawal immediately and return! Otherwise, we will attack the territories we granted to your guilds!"

The territories within the Auston Kingdom—cities, castles, towns, and fortresses—had been distributed to the various guild leaders. Although they were currently being plundered by bandits, a territory was still a territory.

Do you think you can defend them? You're not Kim Tae-hyun!

From Su Ning's perspective, reclaiming those territories would be child's play.

However, the departing guild leaders hadn't left without a plan.

They had quickly formed alliances with the giant guilds of the Erangs Kingdom.

For the Erangs guilds, this was a windfall dropped right into their laps! They had always lamented their lack of territories, and now they were receiving pieces carved directly out of the hated Guild Alliance.

The Erangs guilds immediately declared their support, sending rankers and members to secure the newly acquired lands.

As the western territories of the Auston Kingdom slipped through his fingers, Su Ning clutched his neck in fury.

"These bastards...!"

"Guild Leader. Jekas is here to see you."

Jekas the explorer!

Having shared a bitter history of being tormented by Tae-hyun since Pan-On 1, he and Su Ning had bonded over their mutual hatred.

"I heard the news."

"Are you here to mock me?!"

"No. I came to offer some advice."

"?"

"The Guild Alliance is in a bad spot right now, isn't it?"

"..."

Su Ning didn't even bother to bluff. While the central region of the Auston Kingdom remained intact, their hard-earned army had been wiped out, and public security had plummeted. To make matters worse, a massive wave of desertions had cost them the western region. There was no telling how many more would leave.

He couldn't even begin to estimate how long it would take to recover from this damage, or if they could even survive until then...

"When you have internal trouble, you must redirect their attention outward."

"Who doesn't know that? We just don't have the luxury! If we fail one more time, everyone left will walk out!"

The forces Su Ning could mobilize had shrunk drastically. The kingdom's NPC soldiers had to remain stationed to maintain order in the capital, leaving him with only the rankers and guild members who still supported him.

"Then you should do something you can't possibly lose."

"...?"

Su Ning stared at him, confused. A guaranteed success? If it was that easy, it would be too trivial to distract anyone.

"Su Ning. Benchmark Kim Tae-hyun. What did he do?"

"He did too many things..."

"...He raids other people's territories. But unlike in Pan-On 1, he actually has places that can be raided now!"

During Pan-On 1, Tae-hyun had been a solitary player with no guild or territory. That was why the guilds had felt so helpless—they had everything to lose, while he had nothing to target.

"We strike Kim Tae-hyun's territory."

"The... The Valley?"

Su Ning flinched, fear instantly gripping him. How could they possibly breach that place?

"Idiot! Who said we have to strike there? The Atali Kingdom is vast. We can raid any of his territories. We can start with the ones bordering the Auston Kingdom!"

"!"

It was true. They didn't need to target Tae-hyun's personal stronghold. They just needed to package it correctly.

Su Ning felt a sudden spark of inspiration.

That's actually brilliant!

The difficulty was incomparably lower. Furthermore, they could promote it externally as "retaliation against Kim Tae-hyun." The complaints about always being on the receiving end of Tae-hyun's antics would vanish if they showed they were fighting back!

Plundering the territory would yield gold and various items...

It would solve multiple problems plaguing the Guild Alliance all at once!

Most of all, the thought of screwing over Tae-hyun filled him with immense satisfaction.

Kim Tae-hyun, you bastard! Now it's your turn to suffer!

"Sigh. Can't someone just attack those noble bastards? They're so annoying, always complaining without giving me anything."

Tae-hyun grumbled.

Looking at the messages from Count Andalto and Count Scabio made the contrast even sharper. The continental nobles were just annoying freeloaders who offered nothing of value!

"Just wait until you guys are in a pinch!"

[......]

Carbanog offered no reply, merely staring at him with a lukewarm, deadpan gaze.

A king who actively wished for his own nobles to be attacked!