Chapter 137
Chapter 137
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: Trading with the Deep Ones
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Hold on, you're saying you traded with the Fourth Continent?"
Seong-un gave a short reply.
"Yeah."
The Fourth Continent—what players called it—was generally known as the Southern Continent.
Seong-un continued.
"It's quite a distance, sure. But it's closer than the gap between the Second and Third Continents, and more importantly, there are islands scattered just far enough apart that we can form a trade route with our current tech level."
"That's not what I meant. Right now, the Fourth Continent is home to..."
"The Deep Ones."
But Kramphus seemed unsatisfied with Seong-un's words alone, his mouth fumbling as if searching for more.
Seong-un understood what Kramphus wanted to say.
"You want to call Player Shacha an evil god?"
Player Shacha's nickname was '?щ챸?멸컙'—pronounced as Shacha by Third Continent players, taking the Cyrillic 'sha' and adding 'cha'.
This Shacha had threatened the south of the Third Continent with Deep One piracy, and the player alliance formed to repel them had sparked all these wars.
Kramphus said,
"...How could you trade with that bastard?"
Seong-un countered instead.
"Now I'm curious. Why do you think it's impossible?"
To Seong-un, the logic was simple.
The Deep Ones could speak and possessed intelligence.
Though they based their economy on plunder, that was likely due to their environment.
Driven out between continents under the name Yabon Pirates, piracy was their best shot at surviving on the seas.
'But in a continent with stable resources, they'd probably build a proper civilization.'
Their grotesque appearance wasn't reason enough to blame them.
Seong-un had guided Heukrin to trade with the Fourth Continent, allowing contact during the war with Dan Yeom when Basen, Rak, and Oran stepped up as generals.
Of course, he knew the player behind those Deep Ones wasn't ordinary.
What mattered wasn't the race, but the god behind it.
Third Continent players labeled extra players—whose nicknames glitched—as evil gods, aside from the twenty-seven who joined normally.
Among them: one on the First Continent, Jeolubi on the Third, and Shacha on the Fourth—three discovered so far.
Little was known about them, their goals unclear.
'Jeolubi might attack out of inexplicable hatred... but maybe not.'
Seong-un's thinking wasn't baseless.
Jeolubi had ravaged the Third Continent upon arrival.
But that was due to lax defenses and Jeolubi's smart strategy.
Given time, players would have fortified, rooted out internal vampires, and built defenses.
'Jeolubi just used vampires rationally. Even if evil gods want us gone, if they're rational players, they can't skip trade.'
And Seong-un was right.
The Deep Ones were confused by outsiders but distinct from the Yabon Pirates crushed by Heukrin and the alliance.
They accepted Heukrin's merchant ships' goodwill and struck proper deals.
Even Seong-un was surprised.
Seong-un pondered, then accepted the whisper.
He switched straight to video chat.
The moment he saw Shacha, Seong-un thought,
'A kid?'
A blank white mask hid the face, giving an eerie vibe, but the body proportions suggested a human child or similar.
Shacha whispered but stayed silent, so Seong-un spoke first.
"Call me Nebula. What should I call you?"
"......"
"Did the trade go well? I can bring better goods next time."
"......"
"Uh, you didn't message by mistake, right?"
Shacha spoke.
"...Why?"
A strange voice echoed from the mask.
Seong-un pondered what the 'why' meant.
"Why trade?"
"......"
Shacha said nothing, but Seong-un took it as confirmation.
"Because trade benefits both sides."
Shacha said,
"I... will kill... all of you..."
"...Us?"
Seong-un waited patiently for Shacha's next words.
The reward for waiting was an empty threat.
"All of you."
Seong-un smirked behind the mask.
Fundamentally, Shacha seemed no different from Jeolubi.
"Not right now, though."
"......"
"The continents are too far. A big fleet could hit storms, and your tech's too crude for landings. Plus, no guarantee you'd win."
"......"
But Seong-un faced the same issues.
Conquering the Fourth Continent before unifying his own—or at least cooling alliance wars—was tough.
"Whoever prepares first wins. Until then, let's be friendly trade partners. We can help each other, right?"
"......"
Shacha stared silently, then ended the chat.
Seong-un checked for attacks on merchant ships trailing behind.
None came.
'Silence means yes, huh?'
After the first successful trade, Seong-un prepared aggressively for needed goods.
Namely, potassium nitrate—saltpeter.
His worry had been what if no sources existed. Luckily, no issue.
A bit farther than from Mangul by distance, but no gunpowder tech meant cheaper overall.
Shacha never messaged again, but as if tipped off, Deep Ones grew more proactive with Heukrin trades.
Heukrin refined gunpowder weapons with high-purity saltpeter.
Now Seong-un grew puzzled.
'Why no attacks on this route?'
He'd routed it east of Heukrin, hidden from usual paths, with extra precautions.
But those delayed discovery, not prevented it.
He expected eventual finds.
'Wait, rethink this.'
Seong-un assumed Wisdom and allies hadn't discovered—or even considered—his route.
'What would they think I'd do?'
Simple: If no saltpeter for gunpowder, steal someone else's.
Third Continent's top source, easy by sea: Alkhum in Mangul.
'So Wisdom thinks I'll hit Alkhum?'
Not impossible.
If no Fourth Continent, Seong-un might have.
'But if so, I wouldn't have stopped after hitting Kramphus's Dan Yeom.'
Needing extra merchants anyway, Seong-un built warships and watched developments.
Alkhum bolstered defenses.
Seong-un saw his hunch confirmed.
'Looks like it worked.'
Runda and Eldar focused on border skirmishes.
Helping avoid wasting resources before Heukrin's next war.
Seong-un figured he could force the same on foes.
'They lose if we both build more ships.'
Seong-un sent a Heukrin fleet—half-loaded, no gunpowder or troops—to Alkhum's waters.
Wisdom's alliance bit, wasting on needless coastal fights.
Meanwhile, Heukrin armed mains with upgraded cannons to breach Asbestos walls and hand cannons for cavalry single-shots.
The alliance, lagging on resources, couldn't match Heukrin's pace.
Underestimating black powder quality led to real battle woes.
Seong-un ignored Kramphus's curses.
Kramphus continued,
"Tell me, Nebula. What went wrong this time?"
"What went wrong? If predicting foe actions is puzzle-solving, I don't think my skills lacked."
"Then?"
"You didn't grasp the game's rules."
"Game's rules?"
Kramphus echoed, and Seong-un explained.
"To solve a puzzle, first check if you have all the pieces, right?"
To Seong-un, the alliance lacked vision—or imagination.
Everyone knew of the Fourth Continent, yet never dreamed Heukrin would trade with its Deep Ones.
'Prejudging Shacha as unreachable like Jeolubi.'
Never assume without checking.
"Overconfident, Nebula."
Not Kramphus's voice—Seong-un looked up.
Wisdom's face beside Kramphus.
Wisdom said,
"The battle isn't over."
Asien Castle.
New Dan Yeom's walls crumbled before founding the nation.
But a massive shadow loomed, visible even atop the walls.
Seong-un manipulated below the video chat, retorting,
"I know."
Lightning struck behind Heukrin forces again.
The roar alone drew cheers.
Thunder poured, and Rakrak appeared astride his monstrous bird Anakse.
Rakrak charged the front, shouting,
"Who dares defy the power of Wild Heaven!"
Some New Dan Yeom soldiers atop the walls dropped weapons and fled.
Rakrak's fame doubled his might—Kramphus's face hardened.
Wisdom thought,
'This time won't be like before, Nebula.'