Puoook!

Kieeek! Kiek!

One of the soldiers threw the harpoon and it pierced the griffin. The Dragon Harpoon was deadly for flying type monsters and large monsters. It was impossible for the one horned griffin to avoid all five Dragon Harpoons.

“Now!”

“Oh!”

The five soldiers pulled the chain attached to the harpoon embedded in the griffin.

Then.

Kuwuong!

The one horned griffin crashed to the ground.

“Wow...”

The one horned griffin was neutralized instantly?

‘It’s also by soldiers!’

Coke was frozen like a stone statue, despite already recovering from his stunned state. The soldiers urged him.

“What?”

"Come on, collective beating!”

‘Collective beating?’

The Overgeared soldiers were Grid’s subordinates and spoke Korean slang. Coke grasped the meaning when he saw the situation and attacked the griffin’s horn.

Kik. Kieeek!

The griffin tried to resist, but the soldiers were well trained. The soldiers kept pulling the chain to increase the binding time of the harpoon, while throwing new harpoons as well. Thanks to this, Coke could hunt the one horned griffin in a relatively straightforward manner. All types of mana and skills poured towards the one horned griffin.

[Your level has risen!]

[Your level has risen!]

[The feather of an one horned griffin has been acquired.]

[The beak of an one horned griffin has been acquired.]

[The spellbook ‘Wind Cutter’ has been acquired.]

[Reinhardt Soldier Rio has levelled up.]

[Reinhardt Soldier Gashu has levelled up.]

...

...

“A-Amazing...”

He thought that he could complete this quest if he acted well. But he didn’t expect it to be so easy. At this moment, Coke was convinced.

“Everything is God Grid’s arrangement!”

The reason why Grid made such difficult quests was to use the soldiers to help them grow. Indeed, Grid was great. Then the soldiers approached the thrilled Coke and held out their hands.

"Hand out the spoils.”

"We fought together so the rewards should naturally be shared.”

“Yes...? No, I will share it later when I receive the quest reward...”

“Hey, this friend. The mission reward is the salary from the kingdom. The shares from hunting monsters is calculated separately.”

“King Grid always said this. Take care of your own rice bowl.”

“...”

On this day. The Overgeared Kingdom became an issue on the community sites of each country. It had been a long time since the founding ceremony.

-It’s easy to ride the soldiers’ bus if you are a citizen of Overgeared. I want to move to the Overgeared Kingdom.

-But the soldiers are expensive...

-Still, the result is beneficial...

-Isn’t this a plane instead of a bus?

Thanks to Coke’s determination and the publicity effect of Overgeared Kingdom Today, the population of players in the Overgeared Kingdom started increasing rapidly. It was over 50,000.

***

"There are only 1,000 soldiers stationed in Reinhardt. They alone can’t support every player’s quest. Please, please adjust the difficulty of the quests from now on. Yes? Your Majesty.”

“Hum hum, the result is good. The players surpass 50,000 and the number of people is close to 800,000.”

"You should be more careful. Your position is very different from your old one. Don’t forget that your actions will directly affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.”

“...I’m sorry. Now that the population has increased, won’t the taxes also increase?”

"There still isn’t a profit. As you know, the cost of investment in developing a kingdom is very large. If it wasn’t for the support of Duke Steim’s funds, the kingdom would be in a deficit right now.”

Currently, the Overgeared Kingdom had 16 territories belonging to it.

Six of the northern territories were well ruled by Duke Steim, but the remaining ten territories ate up money like a hippopotamus. It was the result of erasing the remnants of the Eternal Kingdom and growing sectors such as domestic affairs, culture, and facilities from the ground up.

"Aren’t you too passionate about erasing the traces of Eternal? Due to this, the damage is too big.”

"It’s because it has an adverse effect on the thoughts of the people. What if the remnants of Eternal remain in our territory? There will be all types of problems if the people from Eternal are reminded of the Eternal Kingdom.”

"The stakes are thin.”

"If you’re talking about the period where Japan occupied South Korea... Sorry.”

“It’s a joke. I didn’t mean to speak ill of you. I believe and respect your choice. But I can’t get over Reidan. Are you still investing a large amount of money into the alchemy facilities?”

Lauel believed that alchemy’s growth was directly linked to wealth, but Grid didn’t agree. What? Alchemy could add options to items?

‘Nonsense. They only give garbage options.’

Grid was angry as he recalled old memories, while Lauel grinned.

"As I already mentioned, the combination of alchemy and blacksmithing will one day produce the greatest synergy. A large amount of funds have already been invested. It’s too big to stop now.”

"Well, if you say so... Okay, I understand.”

“Don’t think so badly of it. Isn’t the alchemy facility playing a very big role right now? The potions produced by the alchemy facility has dramatically increased the survival rate of our soldiers.”

"...The value of the potions are also expensive.”

"It’s better than losing the soldiers.”

"That's right, that's right."

Grid knew that Lauel’s words were 100% correct. Since various advanced medicines started being supplied to the Overgeared soldiers, their survival rate was close to 100%. Considering the time, effort, and money spent to nurture the soldiers, he shouldn’t worry about the cost of the potions.

‘I can’t calm down when it comes to alchemy. I have to be careful.’

Lauel asked Grid a question.

"Are you not planning to attend the talent selection competition?”

A large-scale talent selection competition hosted by the Overgeared Kingdom and screened by the Overgeared members would be held in Reinhardt next week. The goal was to select individuals talented in specific fields such as the military, intelligence, production, and support.

Grid replied without thinking.

"Won’t you be able to pick out talents well, even if I’m not present? Your eyes are much better than mine. I don’t see the point of wasting hours sitting there. It’s better to use that time to make items.”

"But isn’t it good to enjoy the privileges of a king every now and then? Based on recent reports, you can afford to spare some time.”

He did it properly. Most of the hard work was left to Lauel, but Grid didn’t neglect his responsibilities. Recently, Grid had been training blacksmiths in large quantities, which was a very hard task. He observed the people daily with the Great Lord's Sword, screened those with talent for blacksmithing, and trained them.

"I can’t afford to relax until there are at least 100 advanced blacksmiths. The Overgeared Kingdom will be a kingdom of blacksmiths.”

Grid clung to advanced blacksmiths for a reason. The advanced blacksmiths were able do the work of a blacksmith and help Grid when making items. The time it took Grid to produce items was greatly shortened when he received the assistance of an advanced blacksmith compared to when he was working on items alone.

"Well, it will be fine. I will trust you as always.”

“Thank you.”

Grid and Lauel. There were no doubts when they looked at each other. The two of them trusted each other. It was a relationship between king and subordinate, master and guild member, and fellow friends.

***

"Hey, what is this? The power of the empire exceeds imagination.”

Taturans Plains. A large scale war was taking place here at the border of the Saharan Empire and the Belto Kingdom. God of War Ares directed the Belto Kingdom’s troops, while 1st Knight Mercedes directed the imperial army. A bloody river was formed as the two sides exchanged blows. After three days and nights of war, the Ares army was on the defensive.

“Lim Cheolho, that bastard!”

Ares, who was calm even when dealing with Kraugel, couldn’t help making a twisted expression. The power of the empire exceeded his imagination. It felt like Lim Cheolho had embedded a nail called ‘a player can’t overcome the empire’ into him.

"The 1st~3rd knights are on a different dimension. Kraugel and Grid... Even Agnus can’t win against them.”

Scott felt sick. The person who was highly evaluated by Kraugel was overwhelmed by the 3rd~10th knights. Despite Ares’ passive that increased all stats by 10% and all skills by 20% when there were over 1,000 enemies, they didn’t dare approach the 1st knight.

“A transcendent named NPC. Her level is too high.”

For the first time in his life, Ares felt despair. Despite accumulating strength in the Belto Kingdom for the past three years, he was frustrated because he couldn’t cross the borders of the empire.

"The pillars favored by the emperor didn’t even come out... Sheesh, everyone retreat. We’ll stop the enemy’s invasion at Grand Prix Fortress.”

Ares lost a great deal of troops and chose to retreat. Mercedes sent him a telepathic message as his army started to move.

-Don't forget that the only owner of this continent is the empire.

'Shit, I thought they can’t send whispers to players. I have goosebumps.’

Winning the war against the empire meant becoming the master of the continent. Therefore, Ares only aimed at the empire from the beginning. But on this day. He realized that his goal couldn’t be met.

'The war with the empire will be in the long term. It would be better to completely swallow up the Belto Kingdom and rise to the throne first.’

Ares judged and led his army in retreat. He sacrificed a unit to block the empire’s pursuit. Looking at the distant Ares army, the empire became aware of the small kingdom they had been ignoring. It was the precursor to the massive ‘West Continent Unification’ episode in Satisfy.

***

“Reidorn?”

"He didn’t open his mouth today.”

"Really stubborn. How could he endure the torture for over a month?”

Reinhardt. Grid shook his head on his daily visit to the dungeon. The bloodied Reidorn bound with shackles smiled coldly at Grid.

“Only ruin is waiting for you.”

"Shut up, you mannerless dog.”

"Ggweg."

Grid showed no mercy to his enemies! He stabbed Reidorn’s thigh with a spear. But Grid didn’t feel any excitement.

'This strong determination to protect his secrets to his death... He’s as stubborn as the Yatan Church.’

The calm before the storm made Grid uncomfortable. The number of storms that Grid squashed was countless.