A Village Appeared on My Desktop

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Chapter

198 – Internal Enemy (8)

“It’s a shame I can’t see her. Is the angel’s descent I’ve heard about real? Anything could happen in this grassland, but honestly, it’s hard to believe. But… there’s nothing I can do now.”

It was essentially a friendly match, and it didn’t look good for the commanders of both sides to personally join in on the fray. So, Leona Riena simply observed without taking part.

Reo felt regret about that but couldn’t voice it.

“She looks beautiful even without armor. But she did refuse the prince’s marriage proposal.”

He could only glance at Riena, who had come out to watch without her armor, unlike before.

“It will be over soon, Commander. Everyone is full of confidence.”

Misinterpreting Reo’s expression, the vice-captain highlighted the enthusiasm of his knights. In fact, most of the members, being newcomers to the Northern Region, were brimming with morale.

“Though they’re a bit different from what I expected, they are still Northern Barbarians.”

“They say they’re fierce and brutal, but we are the elite guard. We can’t lose.”

From their whispers, it was clear—they were underestimating the Arin Tribe warriors.

Most of them were first-timers in this place, apart from Reo.

In their minds, the tribes of the grassland were pure barbarians. Their history stemmed from the struggle of the grassland tribes who came to pillage and those who fought against them.

Though they had formed an alliance now, the prejudice built over years wouldn’t easily disappear. One of the key ideologies of some knight orders was to push north.

“Wait, look at that! Could that girl be our opponent?”

“What?”

While they were preparing for the duel, they noticed an out-of-place figure among their opponents. Shura stepped out as the representative of the Paladin Order among the other warriors.

“Now that’s an interesting combination.”

He, who was watching the scene with keen interest from the other side of the screen, had no doubts about Shura’s participation.

He knew very well just how strong she was and what she had achieved—being the longest-serving warrior without dying after Riena.

Though overshadowed by the unusual Riena, Shura was one of the finest warriors he had painstakingly developed.

“How do they see us?”

“It may be just a friendly match, but they’re crossing a line! Can they handle it?!”

The problem was, the knights of the Kingdom of Baruk didn’t know that.

Naturally, upon seeing Shura, who was still a youthful girl, they were outraged and felt insulted.

“It seems they’re looking down on us.”

Of course, the Arin warriors picked up on that atmosphere too. As someone smiled at Shura, she openly scoffed.

“They’re so confident.”

Playing with her twin daggers, she felt assured. The knights of the kingdom were nothing more than small fish compared to the bugs she had dealt with.

“Even if our knight order ranks lower, they are still among the best in the kingdom. We should be able to handle this.”

“Hmmm, indeed.”

Just before the duel unexpectedly fanned the flames of rivalry, Reo casually asked Rihar about his prediction on the outcome. Contrary to Reo’s expectations, Rihar hesitated to answer.

Having worked as a royal mage in the kingdom and seen the level of the knights, and then having been part of the Allied Forces and experienced everything, Rihar had an inkling of the likely outcome.

“The knights will likely find it hard to win. Their level of power isn’t particularly high. They train and accumulate experience in ridiculous ways. Knights who train only by sparring with their companions in peaceful territories… are going to struggle.”

“Is that really so?!”

Reo gasped at Rihar’s response. His answer was so firm that it was contrary to his expectations.

‘They can’t lose. If they do, that’ll be strange.’

He shared that casual mindset too. It was a kind of duty for users to be stronger than locals.

Thinking that he had fulfilled that duty, he sipped coffee leisurely while watching the duel unfold from above the sky, unlike the tense crowd around him.

“F-fast!”

“Don’t break formation! Hold your ground!”

The outcome came quickly. The two groups collided and instinctively realized the gap in strength.

Especially Shura, who darted into the knights’ formation, completely dismantled their lines with her swift and destructive movements.

‘H-h-how is this possible?!’

One of the knights’ eyes shook violently at the sight of Shura wreaking havoc with her twin daggers as if she could see all their moves.

The image of Arin warriors unleashing their skills seemed utterly absurd to their eyes.

The result was an overwhelming defeat.

The knights of the kingdom, who had been proud of their abilities, got swept away like ants in a wave as soon as the duel started.

“W-what is this?”

The knights stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what was happening. They were outmatched in strength, technique, and experience.

‘If they’re the knights of the empire, I doubt they’d be any different from these guys, except for some.’

Barun, watching the scene unfold, gained confidence that they wouldn’t fall short in a possible power struggle with the empire in the future.

Moreover, thanks to Jun-young’s help, they had an overwhelming number of warriors compared to their population. If their warriors were of a higher caliber, they would obtain the power to instantly flip the overwhelming gap in national strength.

Even now, the mages had not yet stepped in.

“H-how could this happen? Our knights train every day!”

“The commander knows this as well. Training is just training, but true growth ultimately comes from actual combat.”

In the state of disbelief over the one-sided result, Riena informed Reo of a realization she had.

As someone who was merely one of the warriors, even she had come to a conclusion through her own trials. Who was it that had to lead the charge in the fight against the Demon Lords?

She was always the hope of the tribe, needing to fight against the strongest enemies. Realizing this, Reo was left speechless.

‘She really is the saintess of the battlefield.’

Though Riena was of similar age and had picked up a sword at about the same time, her journey was entirely different from his, born into nobility in a safe kingdom.

“Looks like you’re not disappointed?”

“How could I be disappointed in my lack of skills? If you learn through actual combat, the only reward is death, so finding this out now is actually a blessing.”

“That’s true.”

With a face that felt oddly liberated, Reo met Barun after instructing to clear away the knights who looked like their souls had left their bodies. Barun also had a knowing look, and they both shared a small smile.

“The Land of the Elves borders the empire. There’s bound to be friction with them, and with the emperor’s reputation, conflict may arise. And as you know, we can’t bow to anyone. That means we can’t accept the order led by the emperor. If he chooses to make this an issue, another war will break out.”

Barun subtly warned Reo about war. The Kingdom of Baruk was ostensibly tied to the empire, part of its order.

In other words, what Barun was telling Reo was akin to giving him a choice in case of unforeseen circumstances.

“One thing is for sure, we never speak falsely. All we want is peace in the world. We must punish the Black Monsters trying to ruin that peace, and we won’t allow anyone obstructing it.”

“I understand well.”

However, Barun had a powerful justification. It was a matter of great significance, incomparable to international orders that had lasted for hundreds of years. Already aware of the bugs, Reo nodded firmly.

*

“The full deployment will have to wait until tomorrow.”

The residents, now confident, believed in themselves as they had proven their skills. I also felt little worry if it came to war with the empire.

Having thought this after the system had somewhat stabilized, it was clear that our main enemies were the bugs; no other forces could touch us anymore.

– The conflicts are intensifying. Domestic issues are laughably intense and dangerous.

In fact, the real problem lay here.

“I hear the Allied Forces have decided to send out troops.”

– I think we can rule out the possibility of them uniting as one. Even in this situation, those who care about factions and ideologies are merely satisfied as long as the bugs weaken the other side.

I could sense emotions in Lee So-Yeon’s chat—sadness, anger, disbelief, and so on.

The bugs, noticing the ongoing disputes among factions, were opening gates only to certain nations, diligently sowing discord.

They were doing their best to block it, but damages were piling up, and the divide of emotions was consequently deepening.

‘Still, they’re still doing well enough to live.’

Now, their feelings had cooled; in this critical situation, those who only mouthed their petty beliefs were simply bloated.

The meaningless cries of such people could be disregarded.

– You’re not going to undertake any dangerous tasks, are you?

“For now, I don’t have any plans. I need to prioritize protecting ourselves first.”

I chuckled at her worry. Domestic issues could be tackled with our information channels, but overseas was different.

You can’t just threaten foreign leaders like a mere domestic congressman. There were quite a few dictators who were thorough about securing their own safety, and venturing into that was too dangerous and would escalate matters.

I had no desire to go that far.

– So, are you accepting my proposal?

“Sure, I’ll help. Though I will keep my identity hidden. It seems we are collaborating with domestic guardians, right?”

The method I chose instead was to assist in building a new system with the domestic guardians.

This was a project led jointly by the government and Lee So-Yeon.

With the constant assaults from the bugs showing no signs of subsiding, a proper system to counter them was needed.

We couldn’t keep sending troops to bomb cities indefinitely. The soldiers were suffering losses, and the cities getting bombed were our properties and places to live.

Originally, this was something the users should be handling, but the user overseeing Earth seemed to lack the capacity, so we had no choice but to solve it ourselves.

– There’s a meeting coming up soon. It wouldn’t be bad for you to attend and hear it firsthand. You’re registered as one of our company employees, so there’s no need to hide your appearance.

“Then let’s do that.”

With Lee So-Yeon taking the lead on this, I felt like I could just lend a spoon.

‘I’ve really changed a lot.’

Sitting there in a daze, I reflected on my recent self and chuckled. The days when I was just a clueless newcomer now felt like a memory of someone entirely different.

Watching Riena, who recognized her burden as a warrior and willingly decided to accept her fate had proven my past days were not wasted.

A village had appeared on my desktop.