Chapter 57 057

Midgard's online communities were still on fire two days after Seojin exposed the corruption. They were all talking about Ironblood. Ironblood had been maintaining a decent public image, so they had a considerable number of players on their side, causing arguments to ensue. Considering the number of players who watched silently, it was obvious that most users were keeping their eyes on the incident with interest.

[Stop being a mindless sheep and remain neutral until further notice.]

[How much is Ironblood are paying you guys? Don't tell me you guys are acting like their pets for free.]

[I just want to watch the community burn down lol!!!]

The fact that the devs guaranteed anonymity on the community pages made it even worse. Some of them spread baseless rumors about the unprecedented scandal. People, in the heat of the moment, didn't even filter out the most absurd gossip and simply let everything burn. It was almost like a festival. The majority of players enjoyed watching the online pit dogs bite and fight each other.

Eventually, the commotion ended up luring the key individual out.

[Hello, Robert here.]

The man, who led the strongest group in the Kingdom of Valaran, threw himself on the grill… by posting a fauxpology. He wrote as if it was an apology post, but in a nutshell, he insisted that it was the Seventh Knight's fault and that he had nothing to do with it. Naturally, it failed to calm the players down.

[He's just cutting the dead weight. He's using one of his guild masters as a scapegoat now. How could he not have known?]

[If he truly felt sorry, he should have compensated the rookies. Now he's just cutting off Henrite or whatever.]

The players were not fools and they had already seen tons of similar news in real life. They had seen many scandals where politicians or celebrities simply went radio silent without fully paying the price. However, the player's public opinion in Midgard meant much more than in real life.

[This is the reason I love online communities lmao, I can instigate without even leaving my room.]

[Protest? We can do it on the internet!]

[What a fauxpology.]

The fuss just grew larger and larger until shit hit the fan and Robert had to post a new apology. It was a proper one this time, one that expressed solid regret and a plan to prevent similar incidents in the future.

It was too late, though. The entire story was secretly exposed on a private information site operated by the Strategic Planning Department, but no one knew it was.

[The full story of that Rookie's experiences in Erzebet.]

Views skyrocketed thanks to the attention-grabbing title and the fact that it was free. The claim was also extremely plausible, as Seojin wrote down things he experienced himself. He also spiced it up with a bit of exaggeration and some information Flappy had gathered, and that caused…

[Wow, didn't know Ironblood were such dickheads.]

…things to get out of hand.

* * *

'The timing is impeccable.'

Seojin scrolled down the community page as he covered his grinning mouth with his hand. The blaze didn't go out easily once it was lit, thanks to the additional firewood promptly added by the Strategy and Planning Department. However, it wasn't just that.

[I was in the Seventh Knight. I'll tell you facts only.]

The assassin who chased Seojin in Erzebet also exposed something, causing players to cheer over the additional juicy gossip. They realized that this would not be resolved easily, so they were longing for gossip that they could enjoy without being in-game.

[To get to the conclusion first. It's true that Ironblood is keeping newbies in check. The Seventh Knight were created for that very purpose, and me too. They recruit players using the following as bait…

Of course, I felt shameful. Anyone around my age should know better than to smurf talented newbies, but they paid me a lot. Anyway, I'll tell you what was going on…]

People said that reality is oftentimes weirder than fiction. The players felt exactly the same. Everyone believed the game to be equal for everyone, but there were ones who kicked the ladder away and forced others to play the game as they designed. That was as good as denying them the joy that they felt while playing.

Ironblood fell from being generous, grateful pathfinders to the axis of evil who manipulated the entirety of Valaran from behind the scenes.

This time, however, Robert responded quickly.

[Robert here.]

He posted another short apology with a much simpler title.

[Thanks to your words, I felt that I was completely mistaken. I will check on these issues as soon as possible and be honest about the situation. My sincere apologies.]

…which could be summarized as him stating he had no knowledge of it but understood something was wrong thanks to public opinion and would look into it and compensate those who had been harmed.

"Oh, that's it for now, maybe I should have kept a secret weapon," Seojin muttered in disappointment.

He had revealed most of the cards up his sleeve now. However, public opinion began to waver the moment that Robert posted the third apology, saying that he'd sort the problem out calmed people down almost magically.

'People are all the same. Tell them that you're figuring things out and they'll stop and wait for you.'

It wasn't bad, though. Seojin hadn't expected to destroy the Ironblood's longstanding fame with such a small incident. However, Seojin had shackled them from plotting further dirty tricks and schemes against him. He also rebuilt the ladder for other newbies too. It was now impossible for Ironblood to step on the baby sprouts, so unique players would emerge from time to time, here and there.

'They won't be able to keep their eyes on me by then.'

That wasn't all. From now on, Ironblood would need justification for every action they took under the name of Ironblood. It was clear that the Ironblood brand would be irrevocably damaged if someone like Seojin dug their misdeeds up.

'All right, but you know what? I still have one shot left.'

Seojin had sent a letter of appeal to the Royal House of Valaran via the vigilance committee a while ago. He didn't expect the King to read it himself as the real target was the Chancellor of the Treasury.

The letter detailed the relationship between Ironblood and Count Erzebet, specifically, how much money he had siphoned off.

It would be hard to use this as more fuel for the community since he didn't intend to disclose it yet, but Ironblood would definitely have another headache.

'Even they can't manipulate the King yet.'

The reason Seojin thought so was simple. They would have robbed the world quest Seojin solved in Movelon immediately if the King of Valaran was controlled by Ironblood, as he was the questgiver.

Suddenly, a message arrived.

-Got time?

-Yeah, why?

-It was you, right?

-Yup.

-Got it.

His old friend, Merhen, said no more and Seojin burst into laughter.

"I think he's slowly starting to come back to the old days."

Seojin's actions had caused the entire community to tremble but seemed like Merhen was underreacting. Just like when they played Asgard together.

'Back then, he wouldn't be able to play the game if he got surprised by every single event like this. This is a good sign. At this rate…'

Seojin buried his on the sofa with his legs stretched out.

'I'll have to wait for the angry king to do something, right?'

* * *

"What happened?"

"The adventurer robbed the Lord's manor in Erzebet. He mobilized the local Thieves Guild, and even bought the vigilance committee to let it happen."

"I see. What about Henrite? Did he just watch?"

"He tried to prevent it, but it didn't go well…"

"Haa." Robert, the leader of Ironblood, sighed in bewilderment. "What is he doing now?"

"He is waiting outside."

"That's good. Send him in."

The man who was reporting on the situation withdrew without a change in expression. Soon, Henrite entered, clasping his hands together in front of his stomach like a sinner in contrast to his usual, relaxed posture.

"I'm sorry, Rober—"

"Why did you do that?"

Robert didn't want an apology, he was genuinely curious about why Henrite decided to act like that.

"I underestimated him. I thought I could subdue him and minimize the damage to our relationship with the Church of Luna by doing so."

"And the result of that is the doubling of compensation we have to pay a nose-dive in our reputation. You made one mistake and we're paying a hard price for it."

"…"

"The Seventh Knight is no more from today."

Henrite scowled as it meant he had to give up everything he had, but couldn't say a word as he knew the severity of what he had done. Robert continued upon seeing Henrite bow like a child being scolded.

"That position will be left vacant, people have to see that we're doing something at least. You can transfer to the main order after around a week."

"…What?"

"Give up on the guild master position. I have learned from this. We need a real decoy if we want to do the dirty stuff. A decoy we can get rid of at any time."

"…"

Henrite kept his mouth shut and thought to himself. Did that mean he was forgiven? First of all, by the "main order," Robert meant that he should transfer to the true Ironblood Knights guild.

"Get someone you can trust to form a new guild, so that they have no point of contact with Ironblood on the surface. They'll handle what you were doing until now."

"Robert!"

That convinced him. Henrite looked up at Robert, looking touched.

"What?"

"So you're forgiving me. I promise I'll never disappoint you again…"

"I'm not mad at you. You made the right decision. Ironblood must not bow their heads to another. Our ideals are absolute. There's no room for negotiation."

That was Robert's decision as the union leader of Ironblood. He didn't abandon anyone who was serving his will. They'd have to be prudent for a while, but sheeple were sheeple. It was clear that the controversy would quickly die down if Robert briefly acted like he was respecting public opinion.

"Refrain from partaking in any external activities for the time being. I prepared some quests for the sake of leveling up quickly. Take them and choose a good agent, someone good but easy to abandon."

"There are some assassins that I raised…"

"I'll leave that up to you," Robert replied in a calm but determined voice.

He sent Henrite, who was almost crying out of gratefulness, out of the room and stared into thin air with his chin resting on his hand.

'This could have happened at any time.'

He was cool as a cucumber in contrast to the attitude he showed in his public apology. There weren't many players in Valaran, but there could always be someone who rose up. He wasn't petty enough to care much about the small loss he was faced with. The important thing was to solidify their current system. Material damage meant nothing in the name of Ironblood, but the weight of its name should never be shaken. PR was important, but firmly reinforcing the structure he had designed was the more urgent issue.

'Even a castle like Ironblood could crumble if similar things keep happening. We've failed once, but…' Robert snapped his pen in half. 'We will stomp harder next time. In the end, it's the survival of the fittest.'