Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Absolute Ruler of Darkness (2)
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The plaza Kim Hyunwoo had left was packed with an enormous crowd of mercenaries and adventurers, obvious at a glance.
Some out of curiosity.
Some with distrust.
The mercenaries and adventurers gazed at him with all sorts of emotions.
After giving them a quick once-over, Kim Hyunwoo climbed onto the platform he'd prepared for today. He looked around and spoke.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Kim Hyunwoo, lord of Lartania. I assume everyone here knows we've gathered because the labyrinth in Lartania territory has been opened."
The mercenaries murmured briefly at his words, but Kim Hyunwoo continued right away.
"To cut to the chase, that's correct. All of you here will have free access to the labyrinth in Lartania territory for the next three days. And any items you obtain inside are yours to keep."
The mercenaries immediately buzzed at Kim Hyunwoo's declaration.
He watched them murmur for a moment, then raised a hand to quiet them and spoke again.
"That said, the magic stones you bring out naturally belong to Lartania territory, so there will be taxes on those."
Kim Hyunwoo held up four fingers, excluding his thumb.
"40%. You'll pay 40% of the magic stones you extract from the labyrinth to our territory as tax. But the rest? All yours."
In truth, slapping a 40% tax on magic stones mined from Lartania's labyrinth was borderline extortion, utterly unreasonable.
After all, it was the mercenaries doing the mining.
But even so...
"40%? That's real?"
"No way..."
"That's huge news."
"Came to the right territory...!"
The mercenaries were already whooping with joy, as if they'd hit the jackpot.
The reason was simple: in this continent where Arteil was set—a place like the Middle Ages—lords routinely gouged with insane markups. It was the norm.
Taxes routinely topped 60% here, so Kim Hyunwoo's 40% was more than enough to get the mercenaries excited from their perspective.
And above all, what had them buzzing already was the price of magic stones themselves.
Even small ones fetched high value.
Lords who could produce them exclusively doled them out sparingly.
So even if mercenaries mined ten stones and paid four in tax, the remaining six were worth a fortune because of their high market price.
Thus...
"Bring your magic stones to the reception desk right in front of the labyrinth entrance after you exit, and we'll deduct the tax and return the rest. If you'd rather cash them out immediately, we can handle that at the desk too. At cost, of course."
"Oh, and a word of caution: don't try hiding stones to skip the tax. If you're caught, you'll lose all your mined stones and get banished from the territory."
"Alright then, feel free to enter and exit the labyrinth as you please starting now."
Kim Hyunwoo finished speaking.
And at the same moment, the mercenaries surged toward Lartania's labyrinth.
Allen, leader of a small eight-man mercenary band, had already been hunting goblins on the first floor for hours.
"Another one!"
He scooped up the magic stone that dropped and grinned ear to ear.
"How many is that now?"
"Fifteen already."
"Even after six for tax, that's nine... Damn, are we gonna be rich?!"
"We're feasting today!"
Allen smiled at his excited crew chattering around him as he pocketed the stone. He thought to himself with a huge grin.
What the hell is this dream...!
Truth be told, Allen had been skeptical right up until they'd entered.
Free access to the labyrinth sounded great, but the monsters inside were finite—or so he'd thought.
He'd wondered if his band would even get a single kill. Sure enough, at the initial entry, mercenaries had snarled and drawn swords at each other to claim the first spawns.
But that chaos resolved in under an hour.
Because they'd realized goblins on the first floor respawned endlessly.
From then on, instead of threatening each other, they focused on slaying the goblins in front of them.
The stronger bands, spotting the infinite respawns, headed down to the second floor for bigger hauls—which let Allen's group farm stones undisturbed.
I have no idea how the monsters keep coming back—
What mattered to a mercenary like him wasn't the why; it was that he could keep pulling magic stones from them. He smiled.
"Hey, what if we smuggle these out? Nine's great, but fifteen? Jackpot."
"Absolutely not."
Allen shot down his bandmate's suggestion immediately.
"Why not?"
"We've got two days left. No need to risk it smuggling stones. If we get caught and booted..."
"...Yeah, that'd be a nightmare loss."
His bandmate nodded right away.
In fact, most bands had toyed with smuggling at first but dropped the idea once they saw the endless respawns.
This place let them earn far more than honest labor ever could.
So...
"Alright, back to hunting?"
"Hold up, aren't you hungry? Let's grab a bite first."
"We didn't bring anything."
"Earlier, I saw soldiers in the rest area selling food and basics."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, honestly, food and supplies are pricier than topside... but pocket change compared to our stones."
"...Let's eat then. No point wasting time eating outside when we can afford it."
"Quick bite, then smash more goblins."
Allen's band headed to the soldiers' rest area, grins plastered on every face.
Day two since mercenaries had flooded Lartania in earnest.
"One jerky here!"
"Me too!"
"Over here!"
"Everything on this side for me!"
Hans, manning a stall in one corner of the market, wore the happiest smile he'd ever had.
The reason? Business had boomed since the mercenaries poured in.
Can't believe how happy I am...!
Hans handed goods nonstop to the swarm, glancing at his wife helping out due to the rush. He smiled.
His body ached, but the coin from these two days matched his entire prior career in the market.
So even drenched in sweat, Hans grinned.
Not just him, either.
Every merchant in the market beamed the same way while serving mercenaries.
Thus, amid the frenzy with no break in sight, Hans felt deep gratitude to Lartania's lord.
Without him, Hans and the territory folk wouldn't have survived. And it was his power enabling this joy.
The lord really might be a heavenly messenger...!
Hans worked tirelessly, truly thankful.
And Kim Hyunwoo, architect of it all...
"Nice. Any grumbling from residents over tax collection yet?"
"Good."
"Stockpiling proficiency ahead of time was the right call."
Kim Hyunwoo nodded in satisfaction at Loria's report and checked his resources window.
"Whoa."
Kim Hyunwoo stared, mesmerized, as the quarterly tax ticked upward before his eyes.
1,231 gold was peanuts compared to his current holdings, but for a territory with Territory Development in the low 300s? Absurdly high.
...We've burned nearly 10,000 gold cashing out stones already.
Kim Hyunwoo grinned instead.
The magic stones piling up at breakneck speed were a massive boon to city maintenance.
Still smiling, he summoned Elena via guard, thinking...
Alright, we've given them a taste... Time to move to the next phase.
He smirked and rose from his seat.
And as Kim Hyunwoo stood to prepare the next step...
"...Hoo."
The Absolute Ruler of Darkness gazed at Lartania territory, now visible in the distance, her eyes filled with anxiety and hope.