Build a Human Empire by Creating Clans

An unprecedented crisis is approaching.

A crisis in which human fate is at stake, called a catastrophe.

Even I, who have seen countless endings, am not sure if I can overcome the catastrophe and meet a happy ending.

But if you see the ending anyway, shouldn’t you see the best ending?

‘I’ll be back. With more than you have.’

He bit his teeth painfully, curling up the corners of his mouth.

Their distorted faces came to mind clearly.

“Edar.”

He raised his head at Calliope’s call.

She put her hand on the scabbard sheathed at her waist and glared out the carriage door.

Frontier Olymus

###

“When are you going to do it, brother?”

The mercenary commander frowned at his younger brother’s inaction.

“wait.”

“The sound of him waiting. There will be scabs on your ears.”

The mercenary commander glanced at his subordinates.

Everyone was watching their brother’s words with their ears pricked up.

“It’s half a day now. Hey guys .. hey guys.”

“So, don’t you want to do it soon? If we go further, there will be a long way back.”

“Hey. Do you mean to say that a distance that would have taken ten days was covered in half a day?”

“Then why don’t we go back right away? You can spend some time with a few other requests.”

“mmm…”

The mercenary commander scratched his side and pondered.

– Take them to the frontier and kill them when you see an opportunity.

It was a request personally given by a vassal of the well-known Duke of Sudret.

A request to escort and kill the isolated boy to the frontier.

The real goal of the mercenaries escorting the wagon was assassination.

‘I said I could escort you without killing you. Who would say no to an extra pay?’

It took ten days north by carriage to reach the frontier from the duke’s home.

Walking hard for ten days and receiving silver coins during the winter season, or receiving gold coins in half a day, which would you choose?

‘Of course I have to get the gold coins!’

Mercenaries are such a family.

For the sake of gold, they even plundered the temples of the gods they believed in.

However, the reason why the mercenary commander hesitated was to handle the work neatly, in case there was an eye to see.

‘I have to keep my words out as much as possible.’

Even if you are an illegitimate child, noble blood flows in half.

I thought I would handle it very carefully because it could burn later.

‘But these guys can’t stand it.’

Eating with a knife makes his hair hard like a knife.

The mercenary commander, who prided himself on being a civilized man, shook his head excitedly.

“Okay, let’s do it.”

“You mean now?”

The younger brother asked, but raised his fist and made a procession.

Somehow, he did it before his brother changed his mind.

The corners of his lips had already stretched to the point where they reached his earlobes.

The subordinates also smiled and grabbed their weapons.

‘Is it too good to kill a child?’

The mercenary commander, who clicked his tongue, also had a smile on his face.

I knocked on the carriage door, thinking of scattering gold coins at the brothel I frequented.

“Boss, it’s break time.”

When the child comes out, I will snatch it by the neck, pull it, and throw it to the ground.

‘At first glance, he was a kid who had never held a knife before. If I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, he would be so shocked that he couldn’t even scream.’

I opened and closed my right hand and relaxed the muscles.

kiik-

“uh?”

The person who came out of the carriage was not the young master.

A knight in plate armor stepped out of the carriage and stood in front of them.

‘what? When did you get on?’

A knight they did not know was riding.

Surprised by the fact, while hesitating, Edar followed and stepped on the ground.

The mercenary commander spat out curses at the appearance of a fully armed knight guarding Edar.

‘For now… postpone the action.’

They belonged to the middle class mercenaries, but they were not enough to deal with the knights.

Even if you are a low-level knight, if you are from a wealthy family, you are comparable to a senior mercenary, but you are armed like this?

‘Damn my gold!’

The gold seemed to fly far away.

He tried to suppress his emotions and hid his expression.

“Bocchan, who is this…?”

“My escort.”

“I didn’t see it burning, but…”

“I guess so.”

Edar gave a short reply with a sullen expression and glanced over at the captain.

The captain twitched his cheeks because his attitude was that of treating his subordinates.

‘A child has a habit of talking…’

It is a fact known to everyone present that Edar is an illegitimate child.

In addition, he was an opponent who would have been dragged to the bush and beheaded by now if it had been planned.

It is difficult to regard an opponent who was considered subordinate to oneself as a superior in an instant.

‘Besides, there’s a strange feeling that makes people uncomfortable.’

I heard that he is a saengnim who is obviously tall and doesn’t even know how to hold a knife.

However, there was an atmosphere that made it difficult for the viewer to make eye contact.

Just like how magicians sometimes can’t control their magic and shed it.

‘Grunt. See you later. If you get a chance, definitely kill it…’

“hey.”

“yes?”

Edar looked around and kicked the weedy floor.

“Is this the right way to go to the northern frontier?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“If we continue like this, how long will it take to the next town?”

“It’s good enough to go one more day.”

“Right.”

Edar looked back and forth between the carriage and Calliope.

Calliope nodded, and Edar nodded too.

“…?”

Suddenly, the mercenary commander got goosebumps.

The moment you instinctively want to step back,

hiss—

The head of a subordinate standing next to the captain was cut off.

“What, what…!”

Calliope’s movements followed two more times before the afterword continued.

A solid red line was drawn around the captain’s neck, and he fell to the weedy floor.

The remaining 7 mercenaries also fell down with their heads cut off.

“You have to be careful with your words. My lady has good ears.”

Edar snorted as he saw the pupils of the severed head pointing at him.

Then he took out a piece of beef jerky from the captain’s chest pocket and asked.

“It’s terribly tasteless.”

Calliope sat in the driver’s seat.

“Please stay inside.”

Edar sat down next to Calliope and chewed on the jerky.

“done. What do you mean go inside alone? It won’t be long before I travel in such a secluded way, so I have to enjoy it now.”

###

‘It was dangerous.’

I would never have thought that escorts would try to kill me in less than half a day.

If it wasn’t for Calliope, I would have been dead.

‘I was lucky.’

After dealing with the mercenaries, he made three more followers while heading to the frontier.

‘D, E, F grade in order. Level 17, 12, 7. If they came out first, I would have died.’

It was on a par with the mercenaries disguised as escorts.

Since they were outnumbered, they would have died even if they attacked on the last day.

It was fortunate that Calliope appeared in the first episode.

‘I put out the fire right away, so my life won’t be in danger for a while.’

[Time remaining until next use: 1 hour 21 minutes 06 seconds.]

‘I want to reduce the waiting time by quickly raising the skill level.’

“I can see the frontier.”

At Calliope’s words, I raised my head.

At the edge of the horizon, a dot slowly grew, revealing the shape of a frontier.

‘small.’

When I counted the buildings one by one, there were less than twenty.

‘Assuming one family lives in each house, a little over 10 households? It’s a scale that’s embarrassing to pay taxes.’

It’s good if the only embarrassing thing is taxes.

It was a sight that made me wonder if it was a refugee camp in my previous life.

The house has walls made of mud on twigs and a roof woven with straw.

See how the village is left alone, defenseless, without even a barrier.

There was never a time when I didn’t even have a wooden fence out of the lord’s life I had experienced before.

Is it just a wooden fence? A little away from the village, I saw a broken waterwheel by the river.

It must have been a flour mill, but it seemed to have been neglected for quite some time.

‘I expected it. It’s more miserable than I thought.’

So it was handed over to me.

It was given as seed money by a father who believes that even though he is a descendant of blood, he is not inherited by blood.

If I hadn’t known the importance of this land from my past life experiences, I would have thought of running away to the interior by now.

‘Didn’t you know the value of this land?’

Or even if you knew, you didn’t have the energy to protect it.

My gaze looked at the long, wide plains beyond the frontier villages, and stopped at a very small mountain at the end.

The overgrown trees on the mountain gave off a gray glow, making it look dead.

That mountain must be the starting point of the great mountain range called the Gray Mountains.

‘It was always near the end when I saw that mountain.’

Whether he became a monarch or a hero, he never expected to see the scene he saw when the story was rushing towards its end, long before the story even started, without any preparation.

“who are you?”

As we approached the entrance, the watchman gave a wary look and held up a spearhead to block it.

“I came from the duchy of Sudret.”

The watchman flinched at Calliope’s answer.

“Now, please wait a moment.”

The watchman hurriedly entered the village and led the men.

Judging by the number, it was crowded as if all the pioneers had gathered.

Each of the facial expressions showed from welcoming to awkwardness, anxiety and annoyance.

“I heard that you are from the duchy of Sudret.”

Struggling through the crowd, a man with a full beard came forward.

“Are you the representative?”

“That’s right.”

He looked young for the representative of the village, but it was reasonable because it was a frontier.

Pioneering is something that even young people cannot handle.

Those who joined the Pioneer Corps were usually young people.

Among the pioneers gathered here, few seemed to be middle-aged or older, so it must have been only a few decades since they settled down.

I handed over a letter bearing the seal of the Duke of Sudret confirming the inheritance of the frontier.

After receiving and reading it, the representative gave a small exclamation and immediately knelt down.

“It is an honor to serve Edar as the lord. I am Kistler, the mayor of Olymus.”

While the colonists knelt and chanted along with Kistler, some stood blankly and looked up at me.

They were a man in chain mail and several soldiers.

“That one?”

As soon as our eyes met, the man raised his chin proudly and raised only one corner of his mouth.

“Anton Sebel. I am serving Count Doreen.”

“Ah, is that so?”

I don’t know such a count.

It’s a name I’ve never heard even after going through countless rounds.

That is to say,

‘He’s a bastard.’

“so?”

“The Count wants this place. Would you like me to hand it over to you?”

I burst into laughter at the sudden nonsense.

“That sounds very interesting. Kistler, explain what’s going on.”

As if Kistler had been waiting for him, he stood up and came next to me and told me straight up.

“Since before, Sir Anton has been asking for rent from Olymus, claiming that it belongs to the Count. Since we were serving the Duke of Sudret, we protested, saying that it was nonsense, and sent a person to the Duke to file a complaint, but we haven’t received a reply yet…”

He raised his hand and stopped talking.

Claiming ownership when there is a clear owner?

Is that also the count’s duke’s?

Even if dukes and counts cannot simply be ranked.

It really can’t be that disrespectful.

I looked at Anton scratching my chin.

“Which kingdom does the count belong to?”

“I know you belong to the Kingdom of Wallochia.”

“indeed.”

Unlike Count Doreen, Duke Sudret is a vassal of the Kingdom of Germania.

Germania and Wallochia have been enemies for many generations.

It is a relationship in which they plundered each other to live alone, let alone support them, even in the face of destruction in their previous lives.

Because it’s such a beautiful relationship, since I’m a duke and he’s a count, there’s no reason to argue.

‘The biggest reason is probably because Sudlet neglected it enough to not send an agent.’

“I don’t know how you heard the story, but this is the land that the Count occupied in advance. The duke took the ground after that. According to common sense, isn’t the frontier the one who plants the flag first?”

“Can you prove it?”

“of course! Here are the papers on him.”

Anton pulled out an official document with a pioneering order from his bosom.

I read through it and threw it to the floor.

How can we prove that an official document was created today or a hundred years ago?

Among the justifications, the most common and least reliable is an official document with a deadline.

“Are you giving me to believe this?”

Anton glared at him, his beard trembling.

“The frontier is outside the borders. Did you know that accidents are common outside our borders?”

“You know.”

Anton put his hand on the scabbard sheathed around his waist.

“You’ll have to be more docile if you don’t want to get into an accident.”

【Lv. 21]

Looking at Anton’s level, he was proud.

It’s a much higher level than the mercenary captain.

In a frontier like this, there are few levels higher than this.

‘Okay, a bastard is a bastard.’

If you have the ability, it is better to serve a better nobleman or become a nobleman yourself.

Why serve a local aristocrat who covets a frontier like this?

“I wear good armor, but fighting isn’t all about equipment.”

Looking at Calliope, he even makes a fishy laugh.

Seeing the level difference between Calliope and Anton, I laughed out loud.

‘Is it because the level difference is too big? I don’t have eyes to see.’

why do you say that

It is said that a master with profound inner strength looks like an ordinary person.

‘I’d rather have mercenaries who were frightened just by looking at their armament.’

While thinking about what to do with him, Calliope stretched out her arm.

“Huh…!”

There was a gasping sound from all directions.

An arrow stopped right in front of my eyes.

Calliope was holding the arrow that was aimed at my head right in front of my nose.

‘assassination? Is it Anton’s work?’

When he saw Anton, he had a surprised expression on his face and blinked his eyes.

‘No.’

“Where did you shoot it?”

“It is over there.”

Dust was rising where Calliope pointed.

I couldn’t see it in detail because my level was low and my abilities were low.

But it was clear that he was running this way.

Pioneers followed me, looking at the same place and screaming.

“Quaaa

As if someone knew why they were approaching the frontier, they hurriedly started to disperse.

The people standing in their place were Anton and others who did not understand the situation, and Kistler, who was pulling my collar with a pale face.

“Lord! We must run!”

“What is going on?”

“I am an elf! The elves are here to hunt humans!”

Elves, Human Hunt.

At those two words, my face twisted.

‘Is it because it’s a frontier?’

Calliope and her followers surrounded me and armed themselves.

Three horses were running, holding the dust behind them.

There were people riding on it, all of them with pointed ears.

It was the elf Kistler had spoken of.

“Come again.”

With Calliope’s warning, they pulled out an arrow, hung it on the bow string, and held it high.

Bang, the sound of exclamation could be heard from here and continued several times.

“Hey!”

Their arrows fell in front of the villagers who were trying to escape from the village.

The pioneers collapsed when they saw the arrow that fell in front of them and stuck into the ground.

There’s no way that an elf, a shrine maiden from birth, could have shot the wrong arrow.

– Don’t run away.

The pioneers who realized the meaning through intuition hugged each other and trembled.

“Do not fall away from me.”

“hmm.”

Calliope gripped the hilt.

She’s a member of my circle, so I could tell she was nervous.

It wouldn’t make sense to say that she, who belonged to the absolute strongest, was nervous, but it was worth it.