Chapter 58 058

The Lord was replaced, and so was the name of the town. It was to be referred to as Dunkehr thereafter. The King was furious about the stolen money and changed the name of the town at once. At the same time, he remembered Seojin's name more clearly… as an adventurer who contributed to the treasury.

Players also remembered his name.

"I heard it was him who changed everything, isn't that crazy?"

"The Count? No way."

"Wait, is that true?"

"Yeah, really. I heard that the Count got busted for doing something dirty with Ironblood…"

News and rumors filled the square. Most of them were quite plausible, as was the information sold on the Strategy and Planning Department's private information site.

'So, this is the income from that?'

Seojin was laughing hard at the message he had just received.

[Deposited: 8,430,000 KRW]

That was only a day's worth of revenue. The department also mentioned that Seojin was taking one hundred percent of the earnings while other players had to split them 50:50 with the company.

'At least they showed some common sense. Of course, they had to do it like this.'

Seojin would never have shared such information with them if they tried to act selfishly.

'I can't hate them forever when they're showing their sincerity like this.'

They showed their true capabilities by supporting him at the right moment and proved that they had sense, so, Seojin decided to ignore the fact that they tried putting a tail on him. Seojin could overlook one mistake as long as they didn't do it again.

'Let's gather all the money first.'

Seojin logged back into the game.

Auction fees received.

First of all, he received payment for the goods he had put on auction another day, and…

Dear adventurer who left a great mark on… I can't do this. Seojin! How are you? We didn't forget what you said…

…then he received Mac Gray's affectionate letter and the money he sent via post.

Acquired: 2,250 Gold

'Why is there more?'

The deal was that he'd received two thousand gold in return and Seojin had no idea what the ambiguous two hundred and fifty gold was about. However, the answer was at the end of the letter.

With consent from all of the residents, I added some extra gold. Many of us were worried that it would look too formal. Of course, that included me. Thank you, Seojin.

Seojin almost felt like he was hearing Gray's voice, witty yet good at expressing his sincerity.

"Well, I'm grateful."

Seojin didn't even realize that he was smiling. While he did all that work for the sake of the reward, it was nice to see people appreciating him.

'I'll definitely pay a visit.'

First, he had to finish calculating his earnings.

Seojin logged out, only leaving one thousand gold in the game. Now, he had nearly 300,000,000 won in his account.

'I have to pay my loan off first, and… oh, taxes too.'

He kept the rest in his account. The country was aware that Midgard was a golden goose, and the revenue he gained from the auction would be reported to the National Tax Service.

"Ugh… my money…"

Seojin was just ranting as the amount of money he earned hadn't sunk in yet.

'…I'd like to spend it.'

Seojin felt somewhat obligated to do so. What was the point of earning money if he wasn't even going to use it? And only thirty minutes later…

"Haha, I finally bought it."

Seojin was smiling down at his smartphone screen.

[Order complete.]

Those two words made Seojin happy. He had purchased a cutting-edge gaming device worth 20,000,000 won. He bought a bunch of accessories too, like a portable refrigerator stand that would allow him to have a cool drink right after he logged-out, and an interlocking tool used to answer calls and read messages while playing the game.

"I can play the game more conveniently now."

The equipment he was using now was not that bad either. However, a machine never betrayed the money it ate up!

'It's gonna be delivered in a week. Oh, I can't wait.'

It was going to take a considerable amount of time as the product was being imported from abroad. He couldn't do anything about that.

'Gotta go.'

Seojin didn't waste any more time shopping and sat on the machine like a natural-born gamer would. It was time for him to return to Midgard.

* * *

Rachael bowed her head deeply. "I'm sorry."

"…What?"

"I'm sorry for turning a blind eye, pretending not to know, and showing signs of discomfort."

There was a calm expression on her face. It was not the face of someone who was apologizing. Despite that, Gemini shook her head.

"It's all right."

"It's just who I am, and if the same thing happened, I would do it again. I value my own life above all."

"Why are you apologizing then?"

"I wanted to say sorry. I don't want it to weigh on my mind…"

"It's all right."

Gemini cut off Rachael's words. That did not mean she would accept such an apology, however, she knew how Rachael felt.

"If I were that situation, I would have acted like you. You looked away, and you were worried that you might caught in the crossfire. I wouldn't have done as much as you did for me."

"I didn't do any—"

"I know you were taking care of me from behind the scenes. I also knew why you felt uncomfortable around me, you were sorry that you couldn't help me out in the open."

Rachael did the best she could, and Gemini had already noticed that. She reduced Gemini's working hours while pretending it was her mistake, hinted about irregular contracts whenever a competent adventurer showed up, and constantly asked Shamir to improve their working conditions under the pretense of improving the committee's public relations.

That was just her nature. She did as much as she could from her position, but there weren't that many things she could do with her power in the first place.

"I was always grateful. I couldn't say anything because I was worried that other members would notice. I didn't want you to suffer like me."

"…"

"I wouldn't have held out until now if you hadn't helped me."

The fact that someone in the committee was on Gemini's side gave her the strength to hold out, even if it was only one person.

"…Seojin asked what I wanted to do before he left. He asked me what I wanted in exchange for everything I have suffered."

"…"

"So, I told him that I didn't want anything, I just wanted to be a normal member of the commitee, but he wouldn't accept that."

Rachael nodded. She had lived her entire life trying to climb the social ladder, but even she couldn't reveal her hunger for success in front of Gemini. Gemini continued speaking.

"I'm a rewards officer, Rachael. On the principle of that, I will never give in to any pressure."

Rachael was confused by her words but waited to hear what Gemini wanted.

"First of all, I'll apologize to the clients and pay them the compensation that the new Lord has provided. To do that…" Gemini held out a document. "…I need your approval, newly-appointed commander."

* * *

Shamir, the ex-commander of the Erzebetian vigilance committee, smiled gratefully.

"I knew that siding with you was the right choice from the start."

"Shut up. Don't forget, you'll lose your head by the hands of the new Lord the moment you think something funny."

"I will never forget, no matter what happens. Hey, what was your name?"

Kartna, the master of the Thieves Guild, stood next to Shamir. He was wearing a similar grin to the man he was looking at.

"It's Kartna, steward."

"Let's do our best and take it easy. Just call me Shamir, it sounds better than 'steward,' that's too formal."

"I will, Shamir."

The ex-commander of the vigilance committee became the new Lord's steward. Of course, Seojin pressured him to do so with the influence he gained by blowing off Count Erzebet. The King didn't hesitate to show how angry he was and even praised Seojin directly for his contribution. Having Kartna, the leader of the thieves, and Shamir, the steward who could monitor the Lord's every action, and the support of the alchemy guild and Street of Fire, meant that Seojin had a good base to replace the Lord if things went south. Having put the two together, his job was done. Seojin shrugged his shoulders.

"You two must have a lot to talk about. Get along well."

"Where are you going, Seojin?"

"None of your business."

"Of course. Have a good time." Kartna waved, a huge grin lighting up his face. He had already gained more than expected and was simply grateful for whatever Seojin said.

'Enough about the Lord. Things will be much easier if I can take care of the Church of Luna…'

They were patrolling in groups in order to retrieve the holy relic stolen by Seojin. Since makeup packs didn't work on NPCs, Seojin had no choice but to avoid them.

[Hostile in thuh sekunt alley on thuh raht.]

[Thanks, I'll take a different route.]

Of course, they couldn't even step on Seojin's shadow thanks to Flappy. Soon enough, Seojin arrived at the alchemy guild master's laboratory. The impact that the incident had on the alchemy guild was considerable, as the alchemist who contributed to Seojin's success became the new guild master.

"Guild master."

"You're here!"

Jeriel, the new guild master, ran out to greet Seojin barefooted.

"I've been waiting for you. You must have been curious about the research, right? Thanks to your support, we've already achieved a great deal…"

Jeriel told Seojin the results of his research with a look of excitement on his face. The reason why he was so excited was simple. He had adamantine, the mineral of Gods. The two fragments of darkness he possessed were also precious, but the adamantine completely outclassed it.

"So, you can melt it, right?"

"Yes! As expected, you are a great adventurer. To be able to distill such a complicated conclusion so succinctly!"

"…Can I take a look?"

"Sure, come here. You're leaving an unforgettable mark on the history of alchemy!"

Seojin had his own reasons for entrusting the mineral of God to an alchemist rather than a blacksmith.

'The full potential can't be drawn out if it's processed like normal metal.'

He remembered how people utilized adamantine back in the days of Asgard and tried to adapt. Orichalcum was famous for its extreme hardness, but adamantine had the "Power of God" it harbored, which was way more important than its physical properties. In other words, what Seojin had asked Jeriel to do was simple.

"I succeeded in extracting its energy! It was just like you said. I could filter the energy as soon as it was liquified. How in the world did you find out about this?"

"I had a hunch. Let's just say it was an adventurer's instinct."

"I knew you were different from the beginning. No other adventurer can keep up with you! So, what are you going to do with this now?"

Jeriel's eyes were gleaming with curiosity as Seojin replied.

"I'm going to make equipment. Equipment that only I can use."

He was talking about exclusive gear for a Silver Tongue.