I Entered a Gacha Game That Had Been Abandoned for 10 Years

42 – Truth (2)

About four days had passed since Rorie’s sudden visit to the Lartania Territory.

As time went on, the festive atmosphere in the territory gradually faded, returning to its original state. However, from Kim Hyunwoo’s perspective, there were two distinct changes, despite the external appearances remaining the same.

The first change was the reaction of the territory residents.

In reality, the relationship between Kim Hyunwoo and the territory residents was not that bad to begin with. He hadn’t imposed taxes to increase the influx of residents, and there were times when he personally dealt with thieves who entered the village when there were no heroes around.

Of course, their relationship had improved not because he dealt with thieves, but rather because rumors like ‘Messenger of God’ or ‘King of Logs’ began to spread, naturally earning him respect.

However, since Kim Hyunwoo successfully protected the Lartania Territory from disaster, the residents’ reactions changed significantly.

Previously, when Kim Hyunwoo appeared, they would bow their heads briefly and go about their business. Now, they would naturally lower their heads and even the children looked at him with admiring eyes.

The guards, who always maintained a certain military demeanor, responded to Kim Hyunwoo with great respect, their eyes filled with admiration.

Just like now.

“Summon Elena for me.”

“Yes! Understood!”

Unlike before when the guards would respond politely with a simple ‘Yes’ and leave, this time, they answered with all their might, their eyes full of admiration. Kim Hyunwoo couldn’t help but make a strange expression.

‘It’s nice, but…’

Of course, having loyal soldiers and residents was a good thing. The higher the loyalty, the fewer penalty factors and the lower the desertion rate. Kim Hyunwoo thought that an increase in loyalty was a great achievement. However, the respectful gazes he received every time he gave an order were honestly a bit overwhelming.

The second change was…

“You called for me?”

“Yes.”

It was Elena.

Kim Hyunwoo looked at Elena.

Her expression was calm.

In fact, at a glance, there didn’t seem to be any change in Elena.

From the beginning, except for when Kim Hyunwoo first recruited her, Elena rarely showed emotional fluctuations, and she wasn’t particularly adept at expressing emotions.

However, despite this, Kim Hyunwoo claimed that Elena had changed for a reason.

“Now that the soldiers have taken a break, shall we consider attacking the third floor? What do you think?”

“Sounds good. Should we head down right away?”

“Well, there’s no need to do that right now.”

“Just tell me, and I’ll move immediately.”

Ever since experiencing the catastrophe, she had developed a somewhat blindly trusting disposition towards Kim Hyunwoo’s words.

Of course, it wasn’t that Elena had never listened to him before.

On the contrary, she was more obedient than the other heroes he had raised ten years ago when he enjoyed Arteal.

The reason Kim Hyunwoo had such thoughts was that before the catastrophe, Elena would provide feedback when given a mission, expressing her opinions, no matter what they were.

However, now, as if there were no such opinions, she would nod her head immediately when Kim Hyunwoo spoke.

‘Did the impact of the catastrophe really have such a significant effect?’

Kim Hyunwoo pondered this while looking at Elena, but he soon shrugged his shoulders.

Although it felt a bit strange to have someone blindly follow his words, he considered it not too bad, thinking that it meant she trusted him.

After some time passed,

“So, let’s plan to attack the third floor in three days.”

“Got it. I’ll get ready then.”

As Kim Hyunwoo finished speaking, he watched Elena lower her head and leave the office. Making a sound of contemplation, he thought,

“I actually wouldn’t mind gearing her up and sending her out with just our shared intentions, but…”

Nevertheless, the reason Kim Hyunwoo didn’t equip Elena was precisely because of the blacksmith’s level.

“At least level 3 is needed to proceed properly…”

Kim Hyunwoo brought up the information window.

—-

Territory: Lartania

Territory Development Level: 298

Territorial Residents:

[Humans: 2259]

Owned Buildings:

[Lord’s Castle Level 1 >>> Upgrade in progress 99%]

[City Wall Level 2]

[Residential Area Level 2]

[Blacksmith Shop Level 2 >>> Upgrading 59%]

[Barracks Level 2 >>> Upgrading 0%]

[Tavern Level 2]

[Market Level 1]

[Lumber Processing Facility Level 1] [Under repair]

[Restaurant Level 1]

[Leather Processing Facility Level 1]

[Stone Processing Facility Level 1] [Under repair]

[Trading Post Level 1]

From Noble mtl dot com

Troop Holdings

-200 Regular Soldiers [Upgradeable soldiers exist!]

—-

Now, the territory has surpassed 2000 and reached 2200 residents.

However, unfortunately, all buildings except for the trading post could no longer be upgraded.

The reason being the resources.

The resources extracted by Kim Hyeon-woo using the blue stones were already depleted, causing a halt in the construction of buildings.

“Originally, I was thinking about how to solve the resource issue through the trading post…”

As far as Kim Hyeon-woo remembers, the trading post was a place in Arteil where various resources could be traded as long as one had gold coins. Real-time resource trading was possible even for territories located far away.

Of course, even if real-time resource trading was conducted, it still took 2 to 3 days depending on the distance of the territory due to the setting of the “Quick Delivery Dwarves” delivering the resources.

Anyway, unlike what Kim Hyeon-woo had thought, it turned out that in the game, in order to use the trading post, a trade agreement with neighboring territories had to be established.

In other words, the current Kim Hyeon-woo had no way to procure resources with overflowing gold coins.

“It wasn’t planned, but should I establish friendly relations with the neighboring territories?”

With a slightly troubled expression, Kim Hyeon-woo let out a sigh.

—-

★★★ Hero ‘Witch of Gold Coins’ has entered the territory.

—-

[Upper-ranked ‘Tiinus’ has arrived in the territory!]

“…Huh?”

He tilted his head at the familiar notification window.

The notification window appeared, and shortly thereafter, Adriah, who had set up her tent in a slightly more prosperous area than last time, exchanged greetings with Kim Hyun-woo. She then placed a massive sack of gold coins on the desk in his home office.

“What’s this?”

“It’s the sales revenue I mentioned last time. A total of 200,000 gold coins.”

“200,000 gold coins?”

“Yes.”

Kim Hyun-woo, without realizing it, found himself gaping at the gold coins, then quickly asked with a puzzled expression, “But why give this to me? As you mentioned, we agreed to conclude this deal with the advance payment.”

“Of course, I deducted that amount. The amount I gave to Lord Yeongju is only around 20,000 gold coins. According to the contract, I could give this in the next deal, but…”

Adriah smiled.

“I want to build a good relationship with Lord Yeongju if possible. Consider it earning some points.”

With that, she continued, “Well then, I’ll graciously accept it.”

As more money was always better in the current situation, Kim Hyun-woo nodded and accepted the gold coins offered by Adriah, starting a conversation with her.

“You sold it faster than I expected.”

“I guess it was possible because it’s a rare item. But, I heard an interesting rumor when I came here.”

“What rumor?”

“There was a disaster in the Lartania Territory, and I heard that you prevented it. Is it true?”

Adriah inquired.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Could you tell me the details of the situation? The rumor has spread, but it’s not very detailed.”

Nodding in response, Kim Hyun-woo began explaining the situation when the disaster occurred. Finally, when he explained how he had captured Magdaora,

“Oh my…”

Adriah said with wide-open eyes, genuinely surprised.

“You really captured it?”

“Yes.”

“…You’re truly remarkable.”

A pure admiration that seemed devoid of any hidden motives.

“Well, anyone could try it if they could just shift their perspective a bit,” Kim Hyun-woo said modestly.

“But no one else, except Lord Yeongju, has attempted it, right?”

“Well, it is true.”

Kim Hyunwoo felt a slight awkwardness from Adria, who was gilding his face.

Certainly, even thinking about it himself, he seemed to have accomplished quite a feat, but receiving admiration from an outsider with such a look in their eyes was more embarrassing than he had anticipated.

Turning his gaze subtly away, Kim Hyunwoo soon let out a small sigh and changed the subject.

“Now that I think about it, there’s something I want to entrust to Master Adria.”

“Something you want to entrust?”

“Yes. There’s something I need to sell.”

Saying that, Kim Hyunwoo stood up and retrieved the execution sword hidden behind the storage cabinet.

“!”

Adria’s eyes widened as soon as he brought it out.

“That’s…!”

“Oh, do you know about it?”

“Is that, by any chance, an execution sword?”

“Yes, you’re right.”

Kim Hyunwoo said so and placed the execution sword in front of Adria.

“I’m thinking of selling this. Do you think it’s possible?”

Looking at Adria, he asked.

She, staring blankly at the execution sword and Kim Hyunwoo, seemed to want to ask something, but hesitated.

“Hmm-“

As if organizing her thoughts, Adria cleared her throat.

“It might be better to auction this. In about a week, there will be a big auction in the commercial city of Rapenghan, which is at the center of the continent.”

She conveyed those words to Kim Hyunwoo.

At that moment,

In front of the door of the underground Grand Hall of the Kalan Kingdom.

“At Master, I’ve met the Lord of Lartania…!”

At the shout of Roriel, who had practically flown from the Lartania territory.

The absolute ruler of the shadows, who had not shown himself for several weeks,

“What, what did you say!?”

In a hurry, he showed his figure.