Supreme Commander

Carman stared into the hologram with an expression of utter disbelief.

He swallowed hard, his throat bobbing dryly.

"What the hell is that crazy bitch...?"

The madwoman had appeared before a single apprentice lord and, in one fell swoop, hunted down three entire races.

They had been exceptional.

Even with their stats nerfed to fit this place, that only meant they were incredibly powerful to begin with.

Yet this lunatic of a woman had effortlessly taken them all out and then started massacring the kobolds stationed in the ravine.

-You look just like Arthur, you little shit!

The deranged maniac was screaming some incomprehensible nonsense as she butchered the kobolds.

For the first time, Carman felt sorry for the monsters he'd summoned.

But that wasn't the important part right now.

He didn't have the gold to summon a legion of kobolds for relocation.

He hurriedly launched a scout hawk to pursue the apprentice lords and their vanished forces.

By the time the hawk spotted them, they were already nearly at their destination.

"Damn it all!"

That brat from earlier had smugly claimed that once the apprentices reached the destination, they could head back to their territories.

It didn't sound like empty bravado anymore.

Carman frantically began sketching fifty trolls.

A thousand troops began charging after the blade hawk.

Their breaths came in ragged gasps, but no one cared.

Arthur had threatened that if anyone slacked off and even one man died, there'd be hell to pay.

More than that, though, they themselves were desperate to escape this nightmare as quickly as possible.

Piiiii!

The blade hawk that had flown ahead wheeled back toward them.

Lauden and Luis were running side by side.

Arthur's voice emanated from the hawk.

"Thanks, Arthur! We'd all be goners without you. Aren't you coming with us?"

"Wh-why take on that kind of risk? Come with us!"

Arthur didn't respond.

He simply guided them onward via the hawk.

Then Luis's eyes widened.

"Tr-trolls?"

Trolls? Impossible.

"B-but..."

What if they really were trolls?

A huge chunk of their two thousand troops would get wiped out.

Trolls had a notorious reputation for their insane regenerative powers.

The soldiers muttered from behind.

"Th-those are trolls...!"

"W-we're all dead. Looks like at least fifty of 'em!"

Lauden made his call and bellowed.

"Push through!"

"What?!"

"That's suicide!"

"Trolls have tremendous regeneration. We can't handle them with our forces!"

"It's an illusion. Just like those ogres blocking the ravine bypass earlier. They're trying to scare us into running!"

Lauden's shout rang out.

But the soldiers and apprentices stirred uneasily.

It was only natural.

How were they supposed to know if the trolls were real or fake?

Watching the scene, Luis made his decision.

"We'll prove it—me and my squad!"

Luis spoke calmly and broke into a sprint faster than any other unit.

"Charge!"

His squad followed, chasing after him.

Damn you, Arthur.

He had no idea what kind of guy this Arthur was.

He was too outstanding—way too outstanding.

And what irked him even more was realizing he'd already started believing the kid.

Luis and his squad, leading the pack, collided with the foremost troll first.

Whoosh!

It was a collision in name only; the troll scattered into the air and vanished with a single swing of Luis's sword.

Once proven, the soldiers roared in triumph and surged forward.

Soon, all the apprentices reached the vicinity of the destination.

That's when the alert rang out for everyone!

Everyone was stunned.

100% contribution!

Lauden and Luis instinctively checked their own contributions.

'26%...'

That was about right for Lauden.

'31%.'

Luis's was high too, but nowhere near Arthur's.

And even that contribution had come from following Arthur's instructions to the letter.

'Supreme Commander... So he's going to lead all the troops and take down the Dungeon Master.'

Only the apprentices warped back to their territories upon reaching the destination.

The knights and soldiers stayed behind.

The knights, in particular, heard a completely different alert from the apprentices and regular soldiers.

"How can a mere brat like that...?"

Carman—who had mocked Arthur when he first showed up as squad leader—couldn't finish his sentence.

That small, slender boy now held command over a thousand soldiers.

Luis, arriving at the destination, glanced back.

The soldiers were panting heavily.

From now on, they'd move under Arthur's command.

He wondered what would unfold here next.

But Luis stepped forward.

'Better to stay on friendly terms with Arthur.'

He'd side with him when they met on the Asgard Continent.

But Luis didn't know.

The one handing out rice cakes had no intention of doing so.

Luis vanished in a flash of light.

One by one, the apprentices began to disappear.

Head Instructor Valrock and Lord Brock were speechless.

Not a single apprentice lord had failed to reach the destination.

And they were warping out, defying the unwritten rule that you had to catch the Dungeon Master to escape.

"Found the prisoners. Obtained a special tactics manual. Achieved 100% contribution and got appointed Supreme Commander. Coincidence?"

Head Instructor Valrock shook his head at the words.

It couldn't be coincidence.

He must have predicted every twist ahead.

And Arthur had devised a flawless plan for all those scenarios.

Only three apprentice lords sacrificed.

"Will you report on this Apprentice Lord Arthur?"

At Head Instructor Valrock's question, Lord Brock smirked and shook his head.

"No way in hell."

Why report it?

If the report went up, Grand Lord Kyle would hound him relentlessly.

And if Brock couldn't recruit him, Kyle would send other lords to do it.

Arthur was treasure Brock had discovered.

He planned to keep that treasure all to himself, nurture it, and make it utterly his own.

Lord Brock bared his teeth in a grin.

"Can't wait to see what happens when our Charm Blob joins the territory wars."

"Charm... Blob?"

Valrock tilted his head at the bizarre nickname.

And hadn't he said our Charm Blob?

"Feels like he has 10,000 charm stats. Decided to call him Charm Blob from today. He's cute too, right?"

If Arthur heard this, he'd say:

You're way off base there.

Valrock noticed his instructor communicator spitting out alerts.

Normally unviewable by spectators, Lord Brock was currently spectating.

The communicator was warning him to log off due to the risk.

Ignoring it might earn them both punishment under the rules.

"You should log off now."

"Shame..."

Lord Brock's face screamed curiosity overload about what would happen next.

But soon, both vanished in beams of light.

Arthur set a warp point.

The warp point let him designate his location to move troops there.

Having set it a bit away from where the apprentices had gone, he flashed a satisfied smile.

Emergency quest.

And saving as many apprentice lords as possible—Arthur had shattered records.

In a subjugation force headed for total annihilation, only three apprentices dying was unprecedented.

Ding!

Just the sound made his heart race.

"VIP usage tickets...?"

He'd never heard the term before.

Arthur tapped the VIP tickets in his inventory to check.

Arthur's eyes widened in shock.

Construction time deletion.

And dungeon scouting within 50km of his territory.

This VIP ticket seemed like a reward exclusive to his specialized Lord Nurturing Device.

He'd never heard of any lord, no matter their achievements, getting VIP tickets.

Those two effects alone were insane.

Building a barracks normally took about a month.

But with the ticket's two hours of zero construction time, he could whip them up instantly as long as he had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gold and wood.

It meant preparing for war faster than anyone else—and no manpower needed for construction.

And second: Dungeons were either run by Dungeon Masters or nonexistent.

Most normal dungeons had to be found by lords themselves.

Even rarer were hidden dungeons.

Hidden ones were about one in twenty compared to normals—extremely scarce.

Even finding normal dungeons was a remarkable feat, hidden or not.

"Just Level 1...?"

What stunned him more was that it was marked as Level 1.

Implying even better VIP tickets existed.

He wondered what powers those held.

He immediately opened the Cash Shop next.

Opening it, Arthur was floored.

"Artifacts...?"

From Normal to Rare-grade artifacts lined the shelves.

Rares were exorbitantly priced. Even the cheapest junk rare started at 30,000 cash.

But the very existence of purchasable Rare artifacts was astonishing.

Moreover, not all Rare artifacts were unique.

There were 'common' Rares and 'one-of-a-kind' Rares—the ones in this shop were all the latter.

Arthur closed the shop for now and immediately checked the Cloak of Silver Wings.

"Not bad."

It had stealth capabilities. Perfect for striking enemy lords.

Arthur equipped it without hesitation.

It didn't quite match ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the leather armor issued by the training camp, but it looked stylish.

As he admired it, his Lord Nurturing Device glowed with golden light.

The brilliant radiance that had appeared when he got ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Absolute Lone Lord's Ring!

The expected alert chimed.

Ding!