NOVEL NEXT Chapter 75: Tier 4 (1)
In the office of the Tienus Merchant Group.
Adria, who had been moving endlessly, suddenly let out a deep sigh as she thought about the situation a few hours ago.
‘…To think that it would end up in a verbal fight for nearly two days…’
Honestly, Adria had never imagined that they would end up fighting for nearly two days.
How could she have thought that a fight, which started not as a release of long-held grievances but from the beginning, would last for two days?
Especially since that fight was to obtain information on how to secretly observe the Lord of Lartania in any form possible.
‘…Somehow, it feels like all my admiration has been shattered.’
It’s not that she admired the heroes of Lartania.
However, there was a vague image.
That’s because the Lartania territory Adria remembered from ten years ago was so powerful that no one nearby could oppose it, and the tales of each of the Round Table heroes under the Lord being of great hero caliber were already widely spread.So, she vaguely thought that such great heroes would have a certain dignity…
‘…Honestly, even aside from admiration, I didn’t expect it to be so… gloomy.’
Adria felt slightly wronged.
Thinking about it, it was because those two suddenly appeared, so she couldn’t say a bad word to the Guardian who tried to socially annihilate her using her own body.
Thus, Adria, wearing a strangely wronged expression while working, said,
“Well, I’ve been thinking a bit.”
“About what?”
“About a topic to discuss with the Lord.”
She felt slightly annoyed at the dragon’s sudden conversation, but she quickly suppressed such feelings.
Although the dragon almost gifted her with social annihilation, in the end, no matter what, the dragon was almost a benefactor to her.
Although the social annihilation was not easy, even considering that, it wasn’t enough to negate Adria’s gratitude.
“…It’s not something like sex as last time, right?”
“Of course not…!”
“Yes, yes, it certainly shouldn’t be… That, if I hadn’t covered it properly, the situation would have become very strange.”
However, not to grumble about it would be too harsh on herself, so after a bit of complaining, she asked,
“So, what’s the topic you’re suggesting we discuss?”
“Well, sex… is too provocative, isn’t it…?”
“…It’s not just provocative, it’s practically a form of social annihilation. Plus, although my consciousness is being used by the dragon, it’s essentially my body, you know?”
“Well, that’s true… sex is not an option…”
“I have no intention of doing it… I don’t have such feelings towards the Lord anyway.”
“…Eh?”
“Yes?”
“But the Lord is handsome, right?”
“…Uh…”
“But wouldn’t it be a bit off to reject the Lord’s words?”
“……”
Wondering which level she was supposed to match, Adria sighed shortly and said,
“Even so, wouldn’t it be a bit much for me to do it…?”
“…That’s true.”
“……”
What on earth…
Adria sighed and eventually said,
“Setting that aside… have you really decided on a proper topic to talk about?”
“Yes, I’ve thought about it a bit… Ultimately, we need to start the conversation with a topic men like, right?”
“Right.”
“So I’ve thought about it… In my opinion, we need a topic that men like and that would make a woman very appealing when she talks about it, right?”
“Exactly.”
Adria nodded several times in agreement with the dragon’s words, feeling relieved on one hand.
Ah, so it was indeed a mistake before, talking about sex was really because she was flustered.
However.
“Well, then… how about… masturbation?”
Following the dragon’s disastrous choice of topic,
“No!!!”
Adria couldn’t help but cut her words off with a serious tone and even using informal language, and at the same time, she thought,
‘…Does the Guardian have a curse that lowers their intellectual level whenever the Lord of Lartania is involved?’
…Very seriously, she couldn’t help but ponder this, but,
“Ah, is it not okay?”
“It’s not okay! No!”
“…I thought the Lord would like it.”
“How, how so!?”
“The Lord also brought up many topics related to masturbation ten years ago…”
“…What?”
Following the dragon’s words, Adria wore a stunned expression.
‘The Lord too, a strange person?’
Eventually, she could only come to such a conclusion.
A few days later.
Territory: Lartania
Territory Development Level:
1349
Territory Residents:
[Humans: 7656]
–Owned Buildings–
[Lord's Castle LV1 >>> Upgrading 99% (Paused)]
[Walls LV3↑]
[Residential District LV3 >>> Upgrading 24%]
[Blacksmith LV4]
[Barracks LV3 >>> Upgrading 35%]
[Tavern LV2 >>> Upgrading 0%]
[Market LV2]
[Wood Processing Plant LV1]
[Restaurant LV2 >>> Upgrading 0%]
[Leather Processing Plant LV1]
[Stone Processing Plant LV1]
[Trade Center LV1]
[Secondary Walls LV3↑]
[Inn LV1 >>> Upgrading 52%]
[Administrative District LV1↑ >>> Upgrading 30%]
–External Buildings–
[Mercenary Guild LV0 (Under Construction)]
[Mage Tower Branch LV0 (Under Construction)]
–Owned Troops–
-Regular Soldiers: 200
-Apprentice Soldiers: 200
Kim Hyunwoo smiled satisfactorily as he looked at the state of the Lartania territory.
The development level of the territory has now surpassed 1000, reaching 1200, and the population of the territory was nearing 8,000.
Indeed, compared to a few months ago, the growth rate was unimaginably fast.
As a result, the landscape visible outside the Lord’s Castle had changed so much that it was of a different dimension than before.
What immediately caught the eye were the two massive walls, which were only Level 3, but their appearance alone was incredibly reassuring.
The outer walls had been upgraded to Level 3, matching the level of the inner walls.
Moreover, unlike the outer city, which had many empty lots, the inner city was densely populated.
Considering it was daytime, the number of people inside was so dense that it was hard to imagine this place was home to just 7,000 people.
Around it, the blacksmith’s and the restaurant responsible for the soldiers and Kim Hyunwoo had grown even larger, and the newly built two-story administrative department behind the Lord’s castle, smaller than the Lord’s castle itself, was now waiting for people to arrive.
‘It’s about time to select a hero for the administrative district.’
Kim Hyunwoo was thinking about selecting the administrative district hero for the area behind the Lord’s castle.
Once the territory’s population exceeds 10,000, it would become too difficult for Kim Hyunwoo to manage the territory alone without an administrative hero.
Currently, due to the high loyalty of the territory’s residents, tax evasion was not frequent, but it was clear that such incidents would increase as the territory grew.
Moreover, since the administrative district could assist with most of Kim Hyunwoo’s tasks, including being a communication channel for the territory’s residents, Kim Hyunwoo was carefully preparing to select the administrative district hero.
Although he could place anyone in the position for the time being, given Kim Hyunwoo’s character, he wanted to bring in a hero worth nurturing from the start.
…Of course, besides that, the high loyalty of the territory’s residents meant that there were hardly any complaints, making the job practically easy.
Therefore, Kim Hyunwoo, who had been intently looking at the administrative district, soon turned his gaze downward to look at the mercenary guild and the branch of the Mage Tower.
‘It seems construction has started.’
Kim Hyunwoo, looking at the outer castle where the mercenary guild and the branch of the Mage Tower, marked as [External Buildings] because they were being constructed with resources from outside Kim Hyunwoo’s buildings, soon closed the window.
‘Now, shall we start the side job?’
After quickly checking the status of his territory, Kim Hyunwoo sat down and started making the Lowest Grade Explorer’s Magnifying Glass, smiling to himself.
Although he had been making Magnifying Glasses for almost several days, which could have been boring, Kim Hyunwoo was not bored at all.
The reason, of course, was that the Magnifying Glasses were bringing in a lot of money, just as Kim Hyunwoo had anticipated.
Therefore, he had been making Magnifying Glasses in his office whenever he had the chance. Now, he was able to make about 4,000 Magnifying Glasses a day by himself…!
‘…Normally, making 1,000 a day would be hard.’
Funnily enough, the food Lani provided had increased his stats to a level that allowed Kim Hyunwoo to make Magnifying Glasses at a speed impossible for a normal person.
In other words, he had gained the ability that all the ladies nationwide making earrings or accessories as a side job could only dream of.
…It felt a bit strange to think that he was using his increased stats for a side job rather than hunting, but Kim Hyunwoo had a different thought about it each time.
‘I will become Bill Gates through a side job…!’
Although it was a somewhat funny thought, considering the amount of Gold Coins Kim Hyunwoo was earning each day, it wasn’t exactly wrong.
‘Indeed, gacha turns into money…’
Kim Hyunwoo, seeing the mercenaries screaming for more as soon as he put the stock out, smirked evilly as if possessed by the developers of Arteil.
‘I wish everyone would fall for gacha…!’
While making such thoughts and muttering nonsense like ‘motto hayaku’ alone, Kim Hyunwoo, who was speeding up the making of Magnifying Glasses, suddenly heard a knock and tilted his head in thought.
‘Ah, I said I’d give a briefing before breaking through the fourth tier today, right?’
“Come in.”
Recalling that, Kim Hyunwoo immediately opened his mouth and called Elena in.
“Hello, My Lord.”
“Yes, but… didn’t you sleep well? It seems like there are some dark circles under your eyes?”
“Oh, it’s okay. I had some work to do.”
“If that’s the case… then I’ll give you the briefing right away.”
Kim Hyunwoo immediately started the briefing on the fourth tier.
Soon, after a short amount of time, just like with the third tier, the brief briefing ended.
“Um… uh, My Lord?”
“Yes?”
“Um, if it’s not too much trouble… may I make a request?”
“A request?”
In response to Kim Hyunwoo’s curious tilt of the head, Elena glanced aside as if pondering, then soon nodded slightly as if she had made up her mind.
“Um, perhaps… could I receive next month’s salary… in Magnifying Glasses?”
She blurted out something like that.
“…What?”
And then, only at that moment could Kim Hyunwoo properly assess Elena’s condition.
Eyes slightly empty with the appearance of dark circles.
Similarly, hands trembling slightly as if unable to grasp something.
Seeing that, Kim Hyunwoo thought,
“…Even so, for a hero to be caught up in gacha seems a bit… off.”
He thought this as he looked at Elena, who, to anyone’s observation, seemed engrossed in gacha, with a vacant expression.