Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Golden Lord (2)
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‘Guopi sales are best left to the merchants.’
The China Guild was diligently selling Guopi, scraping together items, skill books, and gold.
But from the start, the China Guild existed for battle against monsters, not for making money.
They had hired new staff in charge and were working to maximize profits.
Yet even selling Guopi to the Rokto Empire and its vassal states had reached its limits and was starting to creak.
‘With the China Guild’s capabilities alone, selling Guopi across the entire Atlantis dimension in two months is impossible.’
Two months.
They needed to establish a system that could stably supply Guopi throughout Atlantis within that time.
‘It’s already been a month.’
Players poisoned by the Venomous Insect Legion would die within three months.
With one month already gone, they had to supply Guopi across all of Atlantis within the remaining two months, no matter what it took.
‘This isn’t just about making money.’
The emergence of the Venomous Insect Legion had been one of the worst incidents during the Demon King Army’s invasion, causing massive damage.
This was a golden opportunity to nullify that damage entirely.
‘Saemaal can do it.’
Before his regression, known as the Golden Lord, he had become Atlantis’s greatest merchant.
He could supply Guopi across the entire dimension without issue within two months.
“I am deeply grateful for this immense grace. I, Saemaal, will grow the Gold Road Merchant Group into Atlantis’s top merchant company within five years and offer it to my lord.”
Kang Hyun-soo let out a scoffing chuckle at Saemaal’s words.
Saemaal had lived ten years as a debt-slave repaying his debts, then made a comeback to become Atlantis’s greatest merchant in another ten.
Kang Hyun-soo had nullified those twenty years of Saemaal’s life.
And he had given him the golden sword called Guopi.
“I trust you.”
For someone like Saemaal.
‘Turning the Gold Road Merchant Group into Atlantis’s top merchant company within five years will be a piece of cake.’
Plus, Kang Hyun-soo planned to feed him future information from time to time.
If things went well, it might even happen in two or three years instead of five.
“I will never betray my lord’s trust!”
Saemaal replied with eyes burning with determination.
“Two months. Establish a stable Guopi supply across all of Atlantis within that time.”
Kang Hyun-soo issued his first command.
‘He’s testing my abilities.’
Two months.
It wasn’t a generous timeframe.
But.
Saemaal had no room left to retreat.
His nose was already pierced with a ring.
And as a merchant, he knew better than anyone how massive an opportunity it was to hold the monopoly on Guopi sales.
‘I need to prove my abilities as quickly as possible.’
Otherwise?
He might choose another merchant instead of Saemaal.
“Yes, my lord!”
Kang Hyun-soo’s lips curved into a satisfied smile at Saemaal’s resounding reply.
* * *
Once word spread that the China Guild had entrusted Guopi sales to the Gold Road Merchant Group.
Numerous merchant groups in the Mightor Kingdom couldn’t hide their great disappointment.
They had secretly hoped the China Guild would entrust the sales to their own group.
The Gold Road Merchant Group, now in charge of sales, moved swiftly.
They established branches of the Gold Road Merchant Group across Atlantis, expanding their scale at a terrifying rate.
In truth, creating Gold Road branches across all of Atlantis was practically impossible.
Yet Saemaal made the impossible reality in just half a month.
His method was straight out of Earth’s franchise companies.
Instead of building new branch offices, he contracted with local merchant groups and simply changed their signs to Gold Road branches.
Afterward, the Gold Road branches began selling Guopi.
Other merchant groups viewed this unfavorably, leading to interference, meddling from lords, disruptions from entrenched guilds, and more.
Countless problems arose.
But.
Under the banner of saving poisoned players, the Gold Road Merchant Group pressed on with sales—sometimes cooperating, sometimes fighting, sometimes clashing.
* * *
‘Impressive.’
Though given two months.
Saemaal had established a stable Guopi sales network across Atlantis in just one and a half months.
‘In terms of branch numbers, they’re already the top on the continent.’
But many issues remained.
Branch managers’ loyalty, shortage of mid-level management, building a stable distribution network, and so on.
And considering the factions eyeing the golden-egg-laying goose of Guopi sales rights?
The road ahead would be quite rough.
‘He’ll overcome it on his own.’
The Saemaal in Kang Hyun-soo’s memories.
He would handle problems like this just fine.
‘Time to head out soon.’
Soon, a dimensional gate would open in the borderlands of the Mulan Kingdom.
And through that gate.
Half the Mulan Kingdom’s territory would burn in a massive disaster.
He needed to leave now.
‘To minimize the damage.’
It was impossible to block the dimensional gate itself.
It was an event that had to happen anyway.
But minimizing the damage was possible.
And as a bonus.
‘I can snag a ton of useful summons.’
The monsters emerging from this dimensional gate were dragonkin.
From lower-tier like lizardmen to upper-tier wyverns and drakes, in massive numbers.
Decisively.
‘The boss monster was the Demon Dragon Karas.’
Before regression, defeating Demon Dragon Karas had cost 21 named players and over 300 rankers their lives.
‘If I succeed in making Demon Dragon Karas my summon.’
It would be an achievement greater than making the Beast King his summon.
* * *
“Is it true that half the Mulan Kingdom’s territory will burn in a disaster?”
The Fighting Emperor asked, eyes wide.
The Mulan Kingdom was the homeland of both Miuna and the Fighting Emperor.
His clan lived there too.
“Yeah.”
“Grr, we have to stop it no matter what.”
The Fighting Emperor ground his teeth.
Kang Hyun-soo had foreseen the disaster to befall Mulan Kingdom through his future foresight skill.
They had to stop it.
If they failed?
The damage would be beyond imagination.
Millions dead.
Tens of millions of refugees.
“Couldn’t we warn Mulan Kingdom?”
“I’ll pass info through summons, but I doubt they’ll believe it.”
“Well, better than doing nothing.”
The Fighting Emperor didn’t tell Kang Hyun-soo to reveal his future foresight skill.
Because he didn’t know what would happen to Kang Hyun-soo if that secret got out.
“Let’s go for now. Since we know ahead of time, we can stop it.”
At Song Hana’s words, the Fighting Emperor stood.
They packed their gear and prepared to depart for Mulan Kingdom.
‘In truth, this future foresight skill was a dud.’
He had seen two utterly useless futures.
The first was him, Song Hana, and the Fighting Emperor eating dinner together.
The second was some low-level party hunting monsters.
‘Wasn’t expecting much anyway.’
Kang Hyun-soo had wanted the future foresight skill to share his pre-regression knowledge with his comrades without suspicion.
So even though both were duds, he wasn’t too disappointed.
* * *
Kang Hyun-soo’s party arrived in Mulan Kingdom.
Unlike usual, their destination wasn’t the capital Gula but the western borderlands.
“A dimensional gate really opens in this backwater?”
Kang Hyun-soo nodded at the Fighting Emperor’s question.
“Well, you saw it with future foresight, so it must be certain.”
“We don’t know exactly when it’ll open, so let’s stand by here.”
Truth be told, Kang Hyun-soo didn’t know the exact date either.
The gate had opened in such a remote area.
Mulan Kingdom hadn’t discovered it until hordes of dragonkin monsters poured out and assaulted the metropolis Baran.
‘This time, we seal it off from the start.’
They would wait at the site where the gate opened.
Once it did?
‘Just take out whatever comes through.’
Of course, if Demon Dragon Karas appeared, they’d retreat immediately.
It wasn’t a monster his current party could handle.
‘But as long as Demon Dragon Karas doesn’t show, we can farm plenty.’
Song Hana and the Fighting Emperor were right on the cusp of level 600.
Through this incident, with some power-leveling.
‘They can hit 600 easily.’
Maybe even mid-600s.
The dragonkin monsters from future gates would all be high-levels from 600 to 900.
‘I should send out warnings too.’
Kang Hyun-soo dispersed his summons.
* * *
Count Bukaku, the border lord of Mulan Kingdom.
He was a named player of the Tigerfolk, bearing the title Western Ferocious Tiger.
So he easily noticed the intruder in his personal training grounds.
“Who are you!”
At Count Bukaku’s shout, a mysterious figure in a black robe revealed itself.
“An assassin?”
Count Bukaku’s eyes flashed as he asked.
“I’m no assassin. I just came to deliver information to you.”
“Information?”
“A new dimensional gate will open in the western region soon.”
“Hmph! So what?”
Dimensional gates opened all the time.
If not.
Atlantis’s monsters would’ve gone extinct long ago.
“The monsters pouring from that gate will assault your territory.”
“What?”
Count Bukaku ruled the metropolis Baran.
His territory under monster assault?
He couldn’t help but be shocked.
“Issue an emergency muster, repair the walls, deploy troops. And inform the Mulan royal family to request reinforcements. If not, Baran falls to the monsters, becomes a sea of fire, and your subjects all end up as monster chow.”
Count Bukaku’s face twisted viciously.
Curses had limits—even saying his whole territory would fall to monsters?
That his subjects would all be monster food?
Count Bukaku had great pride in his skills and territory.
Baran, on the border, had served as Mulan’s shield even before the Demon King Army invasion.
It had faced countless invaders and monsters over the years.
Yet it was an impregnable fortress, never once fallen.
For such a territory to fall to mere monsters?
Impossible to believe.
“How can I trust you?”
Count Bukaku glared challengingly.
The guy hadn’t revealed his identity properly and looked straight-up suspicious—how to believe him?
“If you don’t believe me, no need to prepare. You’ll be the one regretting it, not me.”
“Say it’s true. How do you know about the gate? Demon King’s minion? Or can you see the future?”
The former was unlikely.
A Demon King minion wouldn’t warn about a gate.
But the latter?
How could anyone see the future?
“One of our comrades has future foresight skill.”
Count Bukaku’s expression hardened like stone at the words.
Skills.
They turned impossible into possible.
And “one of our comrades” meant.
‘Not alone—several. Could be a group.’
Identity unknown, but no apparent intent to harm Count Bukaku.
If he heeded the warning and issued emergency muster?
Troops would suffer a bit.
But no major loss.
Requesting royal aid was the same.
If no monster wave, embarrassment and wasted royal effort.
Still, just embarrassment—no big loss.
But.
“You expect me to listen to some creep who won’t show his face!”
The surest way: capture him, uncover identity, verify info.
“Reveal yourself first!”
Count Bukaku roared and charged the mysterious figure.
He planned to capture, then interrogate about comrades’ location.
Verify info, secure the future foresight player too—one stone, two birds.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
As Count Bukaku swung his sword wrapped in pure white aura.
Kwaaaaang!
A storm of sickly gray aura engulfed his entire body.