The Villain Who Made the Empire Prosper

Completion of the Trade Route

“Randor. What the hell is this bastard thinking?”

The word ‘eyesore’ wasn’t enough to express the disgust for someone like Randor. Duke Pellings was irritably muttering while nervously tapping his fingers on the table.

Randor was like a slippery eel.

After persistently tracking him for nearly three years, he had succeeded in uncovering a significant portion of the embezzled funds, but he knew well that there was much more hidden money that he couldn’t find evidence for.

Duke Pellings predicted Randor’s next move would be to relocate the remaining funds out of concern they would be discovered. While funds were hard to trace when sitting still, they left traces when moved.

He had planned to catch that moment and expose all the remaining secret funds to deal a major blow to Randor’s power.

But nothing had gone according to his expectations. This guy had taken all his attacks without resistance and then moved all his power and remaining secret funds to Baron Elrond’s domain – a backwater territory that ordinary nobles wouldn’t even want to hear mentioned.

While it was more satisfying than having him lose all his secret funds, Duke Pellings became rather uneasy as things developed too favorably for him. Whenever Randor yielded too easily, there was always some suspicious plot behind it.

“When the hell is he going to report!!”

A week ago, he had already sent a spy with orders to precisely investigate the situation in Baron Elrond’s territory. It was understandable that Duke Pellings was angry, as the spy who should have reported by now was still silent.

Just then, the crystal ball on his desk began to glow. Realizing it was a long-distance magic communication, the Duke quickly grabbed it.

“Report.”

“Randor is using all his resources to dig a tunnel through the Rako Mountains.”

And suddenly, the spy dropped an absurd and strange statement.

“What did you say?”

“He’s digging a tunnel through the Rako Mountains, Your Grace.”

The Duke’s expression became bewildered.

“Digging a tunnel through the Rako Mountains? Is he thinking of creating a trade route with the West?”

There wasn’t a single imperial citizen who hadn’t thought about how much more convenient it would be to tunnel through the Rako Mountains that divided east and west, rather than taking a month-long sea route.

However, everyone had given up on this dream due to its impossible difficulty.

The Rako Mountains were famous for being treacherous. Even if one had the ability, equipment, and funds to make a hole through one mountain, it wouldn’t be an easy task.

It was a place of severe cold and teeming with tremendous monsters.

“Has he gone mad?”

Even as he said this, Duke Pellings thought that the Iron Blood Legion might be able to handle the monsters in the Rako Mountains. If they used the spirit arts of the northern nomads, digging tunnels through the mountains might be easier, making him think they might actually be able to create a trade route.

But the Duke quickly realized how absurd this thought was.

“How would they know where to dig?”

Many merchants and nobles had given up their dreams of creating trade routes after seeing the detailed maps of the Rako Mountains that adventurers had created over many years at the cost of their lives. The mountains were arranged like such a maze that even with the ability to dig through them, it was impossible to know how long it would take to find the perfect spots to create paths.

To Pellings, it seemed Randor was just wasting effort on an impossible task.

“Is he crazy?”

“And one more thing. He’s carrying out large-scale construction in Baron Elrond’s territory using military engineers from the Legion.”

Duke Pellings asked back, even more bewildered.

“Construction?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of construction?”

“Large-scale lodging facilities, shopping districts, and they’re paving roads connecting to other regions. And they’re also building something rather strange.”

“What is it?”

“An… amusement park? They were definitely building some strange structures they called that.”

After receiving all the reports, Pellings’ expression became even more irritated.

“Has this bastard finally gone mad?”

His doubts weren’t resolved but rather deepened.

The territories near the Rako Mountains were mostly poor regions. Rural villages. Unremarkable countryside where nothing but cold and snow fell. Naturally, the lords of these places didn’t want to live there, and most had abandoned their territories to live in the capital.

I asked the Emperor if I could buy those regions and incorporate them into Baron Elrond’s territory. Both the Emperor and the lords of those territories agreed, and my territory expanded significantly.

And I offered gold to the gloomy-faced residents there.

The 750,000 gold in secret funds was enough to bring smiles to the faces of the depressed residents.

“Work from 10 AM to 6 PM. Lunch provided. Daily wage of 7 silver.”

After offering an amount that made the residents’ eyes spin, I ordered them to help the Iron Blood Legion’s engineers build structures and pave roads. The ruins that were Baron Elrond’s territory began to transform into an unprecedented magnificent city as massive amounts of gold were poured in.

The power of money was remarkable.

Like all other nobles, the aristocrats who ruled the territories near Baron Elrond’s domain were the type to squeeze their residents dry with excessive taxes, and as a result, the residents were gradually withering away with only resentment towards the imperial nobles who took everything from them when they had nothing to begin with.

But when I, their new lord, suddenly offered eye-popping amounts of money while neatly organizing the surroundings and building infrastructure, the residents were quite surprised.

Before long, the local residents came to respect me even more than the Imperial Emperor.

I poured money in without hesitation.

It seemed there were nobles in the capital calling me crazy for building several buildings that could accommodate thousands of people in a remote mountain area where hardly anyone passed through. But they could only say that because they didn’t know what would happen in three months.

I continued doing what the capital nobles called foolish.

No.

I was doing even crazier things.

It was obvious that before long, this place would become the area with the highest floating population in both the western and eastern continents.

So shouldn’t there be landmarks and entertainment?

“An… amusement park?”

Even Karia, who would give her life for my words, had a bewildered expression when I told the engineers to build an amusement park.

What on earth is that?

This is the North and there’s lots of snow, right? I’m going to build a ski resort. Along with an ice skating rink.

Ski resort… skating rink. What on earth are those?…

Just wait and see, Karia. You’ll understand what I’m talking about soon enough.

Though the engineers and residents were bewildered about what they were building, since it was an order from Karia and me who were like gods to them, they worked without question. The daily wages would be substantial too. There was no reason not to do it.

The hill suitable for skiing and the nearby frozen lake began transforming into an excellent recreational space with magnificent accommodations. The surrounding buildings also started transforming into shopping districts and inn facilities that could accommodate hundreds of thousands of people.

After that work was done, I began focusing on paving the roads.

‘Make them clean. They need to be paved to the same standard as the Emperor’s roads in the capital!’

Spirit mages shaped the paths and carved stones with earth spirits, piling them up, while residents and engineers carefully laid them on the ground. When cement was poured over them and dried in the cold northern wind, it became a solid road.

Since the project was so massive, I had to contact Karl Hansen in the capital.

‘Send me about 20,000 skilled workers.’

‘What?! Where am I supposed to find that many people all of a sudden?’

‘Recruit farmers from the provinces, not the capital. Gather them and send them our way.’

‘What exactly are you doing? Are you really serious about building this trade route?’

‘Yes.’

There was no response from Karl Hansen through the communication crystal for a long time. It was a silence of lamentation meaning ‘this crazy bastard is really going through with it,’ but I smiled confidently.

‘Never mind that, just send them quickly.’

Though he probably wanted to tear me apart, Karl Hansen had no choice but to follow my orders due to the mind magic placed on him. A week later, he sent hundreds of carriages loaded with people looking for work.

‘Really… will you really pay these wages?’

Most were farmers with half-dead expressions due to the nobles’ exploitation and tyranny. To these people who came here looking for side work since farming wasn’t profitable, I offered the same wage conditions, and they gladly agreed to work for what was an exceptionally high income by farmer standards.

‘Hey Karl, send some people from the Merchant Guild. Those who are good with accounting and bookkeeping.’

I made another support request to Karl, and this time he sent people without even shouting about why I was burning through money and people on this impossible project, as if he had given up.

By then, word naturally spread about the abundance of well-paying jobs, and farmers from across the continent flocked to Baron Elrond’s territory looking for work. The nobles didn’t try to stop this phenomenon at all. They thought I wouldn’t last long.

‘What a foolish way to waste money. How long can this last? He’s just throwing away money without any source of income!’

Amidst the nobles’ contempt and mockery, the Emperor and Merchant Guild’s support, and the Iron Blood Legion’s solid backing, I continued to expand the work.

And as time passed, more buildings began to be constructed and the roads continued to extend further.

And the tunnels through the Rako Mountains were being opened one by one.

‘Monster!!!’

The northern nomads, who were melting the frozen earth with fire spirit Salamanders and digging with earth spirit Gnomes to create tunnels, screamed in terror. Monsters were pouring in from both the ground and sky.

The monsters living between the mountain valleys and the flying monsters had never seen such a large number of humans enter their territory. They rushed mercilessly at the humans, not wanting to miss such a delicious buffet, but before long, they came to regret it just like many other monsters before them.

‘Kill them!’

Beings that defied common sense and those that followed it appeared to block the monsters.

Wind spirit mages floated in the air, using spirits to intercept flying monsters, while Iron Blood Legion soldiers equipped with magic gear began dealing with the monsters pouring in from the ground.

‘Activate the aura!’

When the troops equipped with magic armor, shields, and spears pressed the buttons on their spear handles, mana poured in from the mana batteries equipped on their armor’s back. As mana gathered at the spear tips, an eerie red aura began pouring out.

Defensive magic also began to frost over their shields. In this state, the troops formed a battle line and easily turned the incoming monsters into swiss cheese, pushing them back.

‘Come on! What are you all doing? Open the passage again!’

The monsters that had suddenly swarmed in were all dealt with. After confirming this, Tamir Khan began directing his tribesmen to continue opening the passage. They moved huge rocks with high-level earth spirits and then molded them into desired shapes. Afterward, they placed them on both sides of the road to transform them into excellent walls.

‘Bring the excavated earth over here!’

The earth that had been frozen solid was melted by fire and used for building bridges or paving roads once it became moist. After laying the earth flat on the ground or compacting it like clay to make bridges, the terrifying cold of the Rako Mountains would instantly harden it to be stronger than steel.

It had been three months since work began. Befitting troops who had overcome all sorts of dangers in the North, there hadn’t been a single casualty so far. Moreover, everyone here had clearly felt it over the past few days.

‘The temperature is different.’

The temperature and smell were gradually changing. The cold was slowly subsiding, and the air that had only smelled of snow and stone was now carrying a subtle freshness. Everyone realized they had almost completed the path.

‘Khan!! There’s a huge rock blocking the way, we can’t dig any further!!’

‘Noas!!’

Tamir Khan immediately summoned his contracted highest-level earth spirit. Then he asked it to remove the massive rock blocking the end of the passage.

[Not difficult, contractor.]

Noas’s enormous hand began working on the rock. The rock started trembling, then separated from the mountain with a cracking sound.

‘We broke through!!…..’

Tamir Khan was about to cheer at the final ninth tunnel being opened but stopped abruptly. All the Iron Blood Legion soldiers and tribesmen who had worked together until now stopped with him. Under the brilliant sun, vast plains stretched endlessly, boasting unique smells and colors.

They realized it.

They had created the trade route connecting the Eastern and Western continents, something they had long believed impossible.