“How much? What is the repair cost? How much is it?”

“It is 23.88 million gold. I ordered it from a domestic supplier and contracted it cheaper than the market price. It is possible because the workers cleared the schedule.”

Grid had been in a very good mood. He killed the followers, including the Triad, Haegak, and got a large amount of secret techniques. Zibal and Zikfrector also became allies so it felt like he had obtained the whole world. This was why he held a party.

Grid was happy and became interested in a system he had ignored so far. It was the king’s banquet. This was an event that invited up to 300 officials to serve alcohol and food to. He could improve the loyalty of the invited officials and dig into their personal histories. However, it needed a lot of money. It was a completely useless system from Grid’s position who had already captured people’s hearts. He didn’t need to hold such events. He was just in the mood for it today.

He decisively gave orders to prepare for a party. As a result, Administrator Rabbit came to him and said something ridiculous.

“23.88 million gold...”

This was the cost for the repair of Bairan Castle which collapsed yesterday. It was more than three times the amount he spent making the Magic Power Ejection Machine.

“An additional 24 commercial buildings were damaged. According to the testimony of the residents, the buildings were suddenly cut by something.”

“......”

Grid was reminded of the time when he used Barbatos’ Vision to cut down the followers in the city. Certainly... several buildings were damaged due to the flying sword energies. There were buildings where the corners were cut off and those where the ceiling was torn off. There were also buildings where the windows were broken. It seemed there was also a building split in half. The Undefeated King’s Swordsmanship might have skills that only hit ‘enemies,’ but not all of them were like this. Additionally, it was impossible to be responsible for the aftermath of attacking the enemy.

Rabbit told him, “The good thing is that there were no casualties.”

Grid already knew this. Only the followers entered the area where people were evacuated. “Um... The followers are really strong. It is enough to cut down buildings with sword energy. It is great.”

“I agree. I even mistook it for Your Majesty when I first heard the testimonies.”

“I’m not a bad king who destroys the homes of other people.

“Don’t you smash it often?”

“...In any case, we need to help the merchants with the repair costs. Take care of it so they don’t feel sorry.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Additionally, you need to pay 850,000 gold to Reidan’s alchemy facility.”

“Why again? Have they already spent their budget?”

“No. Your messengers and knights asked them for new consumables. I think they’ve exhausted it all in this battle. Additionally, the same items need to be given to Lord Zikfrector and Sir Zibal...”

“......”

Raids could make money. This was why the Overgeared managed raids throughout the kingdom by making separate raid teams. Still, raids also depended on the raids. If the target level was very high, then there might be a situation where there was a deficit.

Take Haegak for example. Haegak was strong. In order to raid him without much damage, it was necessary to maintain the best state and continuously consume the highest great buff medicines and recovery medicines produced by Reidan’s alchemy facility. In other words, Braham, Piaro, Mercedes, Sariel, Faker, Kasim, and Grid had consumed items worth hundreds of millions of won in this raid. It was cheap considering that the empire had suffered losses worth hundreds of millions of ‘gold’ during the Drasion raid.

‘I’m speechless thinking about it.’

A normal kingdom was different from the Overgeared Kingdom. Even the Saharan Empire had to deploy and lose a large number of troops to stop the great demons. This was where astronomical financial losses occurred. The damage was much greater than the benefits of raiding. It was extremely serious.

‘There are many cases where the Overgeared Kingdom is less likely to suffer a loss of troops, but it might be different in the future.’

Grid, his messengers, the Overgeared members, and the knights. If there was a situation where they raided enemies they couldn’t afford, then the raid would become poison. Every time there was a raid, the nation’s budget would be cut. He was already starting to get scared.

‘The price of the materials used to make the medicine will rise as much as the medicinal products are consumed... this is a really crazy game.’

The S.A Group couldn’t just watch as money flowed into players’ pockets. It had always been like this under the excuse of inflation. Grid sighed as he signed the documents approving it. This one action caused 25 million gold to disappear.

***

“Find and remove all of Zeratul’s symbols.” After the discussion with Zibal, Grid was furious about losing 25 million gold and gave this order to Lauel.

“The Overgeared Shadows are already searching the kingdom. Do you want to instruct the Overgeared members and military to speed up the progress?”

“Huh? It’s already started?”

“It is an operation that Faker has been conducting for a fortnight.”

A fortnight ago was when Zikfrector just arrived in Bairan. Faker had already known how to avoid the tracking of the followers. The actual situation was different, but Grid had to interpret it this way.

“Too competent....” The amazed Grid murmured to himself. Recently, some publishing houses had proposed to publish his autobiography. If he accepted the proposal, then the title of the autobiography should be ‘Overgeared King~ My colleagues are so competent that I can be leisurely.’ These days, the title of the book should be long to attract attention well.

“Supplement the personnel and expand the scope of our search to across the continent.”

The reason why Martial God Zeratul was so threatening compared to other gods was that he directly intervened in the human world. The followers who called themselves the apostles of the martial god might be weak compared to the angels who were the real apostles, but this was just a story from Grid’s position. Those who weren’t ranked players might not be able to fight with their followers normally so he wanted to minimize their area of activity.

“It is impossible to expand the search range at the current time. First of all, we can’t specify which ones are the symbols of the martial god. It is impossible to know what gods they are worshipping apart from the symbols of Your Majesty and Hexetia that we made ourselves, as well as the symbols of Goddess Rebecca which have been famous since ancient times.”

“Aren’t the Overgeared Shadows smashing the symbols of the martial god?”

“To be exact, it isn’t the martial god. It is the destruction of the symbols of all the gods except for the Overgeared God, Hexetia, and Rebecca.”

“Um...” Grid liked it. In fact, it was a natural process that should be done. Nominally, the Overgeared Kingdom was a god’s kingdom. It was better to worship no gods other than the Overgeared God and God Hexetia who was recognized by the Overgeared God. He also couldn’t touch Goddess Rebecca because of the Rebecca Church.

“Even if we preach the danger of the martial god and other kingdoms respond positively, it means nothing unless we can specify the symbol of the martial god.”

“Yes, there will be great resistance if we touch the symbol of the other gods. It will be a diplomatic issue.”

Not only was it impolite to intervene in the faith of other kingdoms, but it was also impossible. The convinced Grid nodded. “Then thoroughly search the Overgeared Kingdom.”

“I understand. By the way, are you going to open the secret technique books?”

The attention of the Overgeared members was focused on the secret techniques. Grid had secured 23 secret technique books in this battle. One of them was legendary, two were unique, six were epic, and 14 were rare rated.

What skills would there be? It was an exciting thing.

Grid answered with a smile, “Right now.”

***

Grid’s office was spacious but not fancy. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that it was magnificent. Lauel made it like this because he said that Grid would be the most powerful person on the continent next to the emperor. Grid thought it was a useless expense when he spent only approximately four days a month in the office. Now his thoughts had changed. The pile of documents stacked up in every corner like a mountain was evidence.

Dammit, there were too many things. Most of the internal affairs were managed by Lauel but Grid still needed to listen to the appeals of the people and create weekly quests.

‘It is time to teach Lord about the work.’

Grid had been amazed by the blue orichalcum brought by Lord.

Zibal wondered, “Really? You are going to give it to me?”

There were 23 secret technique books stacked on the table. Grid announced that he would give one of the secret techniques to Zibal in front of all his colleagues. Grid had no intention of learning a secret technique. It might be different if the skill that came out had a high compatibility with his current skills, but Grid wasn’t particularly greedy for new skills.

He had many skills now and had the right to synthesize skills two times as a privilege gained from his epic rewards. It was much more efficient to invest in his colleagues considering the future. Grid was going to give priority to the people who participated in the Haegak raid this time. The top priority was Zibal.

“If it wasn’t for you, then Zikfrector wouldn’t have survived. He wouldn’t have become my messenger and the seven malignant saints would become a mess. I am very grateful to you. Thus, I want to give you a gift.”

To add one more reason, it was a type of respectful treatment for his predecessor. The former second ranked player had joined the guild, so Grid wanted to give a gift to buy his friendship.

There was naturally no objection from the others. Zibal was the master of the magic machine and was destined to become the leader of the Overgeared Magic Machine Division that would be established in the future. The Overgeared members (who weren’t yet aware of this fact) knew that his role was very important.

“Thank you...”

Grid was too kind to Zibal who couldn’t fight well in the battle but after refusing several times, Zibal finally accepted the favor. At the same time, he remembered the days when he was the leader of the Seven Guilds.

‘If I thought like Grid at that time then the possibility of the alliance being disbanded would be much lower...’

There was no remaining obsession with the Seven Guilds. Zibal just realized now how Grid could be the best. He felt like he had found the person to learn from.

“Once again, Zibal and the messengers will be given top priority for the secret techniques. Then it is my knights and the high ranking members of the guild. It isn’t just limited to this time. In the future, the first choice for the secret techniques will be given to the messengers and knights. Of course, there are exceptions. Just like in this case, I will take care of people who were highly active in the raid. Do you have any objections?”

“No.”

“Not here.”

This was a matter agreed upon and decided by the 10 meritorious retainers. They knew the potential of Grid’s messengers and knights more than anyone. It was good for everyone to give them priority for growth. What secret techniques would come out? As everyone held their breaths and watched, Gird took out wet wipes and started to wipe his hands.

Zibal was feeling curious when Peak Sword told him in a meaningful manner, “God Grid has only one weakness.”

“Weakness?”

What was Grid’s weakness? Even if he had a weakness, what was the relationship between the weakness and wiping the hands with wet wipes?

“He has dirty hands.”

“......” The questions that filled Zibal’s mind were wiped away by the words ‘dirty hand.’

“I’m opening it.” Grid wiped his hands with a pious expression and held a secret technique book in his hand. It was a rare rated secret technique book. He was the type of person to save delicious food for last.

Zibal grasped Grid’s tendencies to a certain extent as Grid opened the secret technique book. The skill that emerged was called Rock Rolling. It allowed large objects to be moved and rolled regardless of the strength level. The cooldown time was one hour.

“...Not bad,” Grid muttered while it was hard to read everyone else’s expressions.

Lauel agreed. “The cooldown time is too long, but it can be useful in special dungeons or wars where blocked paths are often found.”

“That’s right.” Grid nodded solemnly and opened up the next secret technique. The skill that came out this time was Warrior’s Heart. It was a passive skill that increased the skill proficiency speed by 1%. Since it was a permanent skill with no cooldown time, it was clearly a good skill even if the effect was low. This felt a bit too low, but it was better than nothing. It was a skill at this level.

“...This is very good,” Grid muttered while it was hard to read everyone else’s expressions.

This time, Lauel was also silent. Then Regas laughed awkwardly and agreed. “It is good. It tastes like training.”

“......”

Since then, Grid opened the remaining rare-rated secret techniques. The results were all a failure. They weren’t bad, but there was nothing good. Even so, the Overgeared Guild members weren’t shaken. Their level was too high to expect much from the performance of rare rated skills. From the beginning, there were no expectations for the rare rated secret techniques.

“From now on, it is the real one.” The moment Vantner spoke, Grid wiped his hands again and opened an epic rated secret technique. The result was a complete failure.

The atmosphere became awkward. Grid shut his mouth for a while before suddenly handing a secret technique book to Zibal. “How about trying the luck of a new colleague? Do you want to open it once?”

“It should be someone other than me...”

The value of the secret techniques was too high. Additionally, if he put his hand on a secret technique about the epic rating and it was a failure, then he wouldn’t be able to raise his head. Zibal was about to refuse because it was too much of a burden when he observed the atmosphere around him.

Everyone in the room was avoiding his gaze. Some of them had sorry expressions.

Zibal noticed it immediately. ‘Is this putting it on me?’

The moment he got a failure, Grid’s failures would be forgotten and the arrows of criticism would focus on him?

“Huh? Zibal, open it.”

“......”

Zibal felt huge pressure from the smiling Grid. He wanted to avoid it, but it didn’t seem like a situation that could be avoided. “Then just one time...”

Zibal thought that Grid couldn’t be such a small-minded person, but he still opened the secret technique with a shaken expression. Just then, a brilliant light filled the office. The admiring Overgeared members cheered while Grid murmured, “It is thanks to my sacrifices...”

Grid wanted to escape from the stigma of having dirty hands.