Chapter 28

Chapter 28

I Entered a Gacha Game That I Had Abandoned 10 Years Ago.

Episode 28: Second Hero (2).

A week after Kim Hyunwoo sent off the Tienus Merchant Group.

Territory: Lartania

Territory Development Level: 194Territory Population:[Humans: 1758]

Owned Buildings:

[Lord’s Castle LV1 >>> Upgrading 72%]

[Walls LV2][Residential District LV2][Blacksmith LV2][Barracks LV2][Tavern LV2][Market LV1][Wood Processing Plant LV0 (Under Construction 52%)][Leather Processing Plant LV0 (Under Construction 0%)][Stone Processing Plant LV0 (Under Construction 0%)][Trading Post LV0 (Under Construction 0%)][Restaurant LV0 (Under Construction 0%)]Owned Troops:-Regular Soldiers: 100

Kim Hyunwoo leisurely appreciated the landscape beyond the territory castle, along with the territory development level nearing 200.

The newly appeared market next to the residential area caught his eye immediately.

People, instead of sitting in the square selling items as before, were buying and selling items in the newly built market, and the tavern attached to the market had shed its cheap image with stone tiles added everywhere, thanks to the expansion construction, unlike the previous all-wood construction.

Moreover, the walls, which had been merely wooden fences, had developed further with the construction of wooden watchtowers near the walls, and the expanded blacksmith had also grown a bit larger than before.

“It’s satisfying to see it grow.”

Of course, considering the growth stage of the territory, it was still very early, but the changes brought about by this level of investment were quite pleasing to Kim Hyunwoo.

After all, the territory, which was becoming more prosperous day by day with each investment, was providing him with great satisfaction.

From the moment the processing plants, which required Magic Stones for production, were constructed, it didn’t matter whether Kim Hyunwoo used Blue Stones to extract resources or not.

Once all the processing plants were built, they could produce high-quality processed resources suitable for materials, even if not as high-grade as the top-quality resources created using Blue Stones.

After all, buildings made from unprocessed resources without going through a processing plant would lower the happiness of the territory’s residents and increase the chance of building accidents, which is why he had used Blue Stones to create resources.

Of course, with production being limited, he would need to build a trading post to import resources until the level increased.

Since it was important to reduce the use of Blue Stones, which could only be obtained in limited amounts through special events, Kim Hyunwoo was eagerly anticipating the construction of the processing plants and the trading post.

“Elena and the soldiers are also growing quite well.”

With those thoughts, Kim Hyunwoo opened the information window.

Considering only about a week had passed, both the soldiers and Elena were showing rapid growth.

Hero Name: Elena

Title: XStars: 2 Stars ★★

Affection: (Measuring)-Stats-

🔸️Strength: 30↑

🔸️Agility: 39↑🔸️Intelligence: 21↑

🔸️Luck: 18

🔸️Magic: 15※The hero feels trust towards you.

Kim Hyunwoo smiled as he looked at Elena’s information window, thinking.

“The hardworking trait really is good.”

Normally, as all stats increase, the rate of growth tends to slow down, but despite her being a 2-star, her stats were increasing quite rapidly.

However, Kim Hyunwoo, who was naturally smiling at her outstanding growth, had one point of curiosity.

“Why is her Luck increasing?”

That was because Elena’s Luck stat was increasing.

Kim Hyunwoo knew of only two cases where the Luck stat could increase.

One was when a fortuitous event occurred for Elena, significantly increasing her stats.

The other was when Elena survived a life-threatening situation.

“But considering that, has she… faced a life-threatening situation? If anything, it would only be the first level of the Labyrinth.”

Since most of the tasks he had assigned to Elena up to now were of a nature that did not threaten her life, Kim Hyunwoo wore a puzzled expression.

“Maybe I should be more selective with the missions, just in case. Plus, soldiers need actual combat experience to grow, so I should pair them up.”

With that thought, he opened the military forces window this time.

Troop Type: [Regular Soldiers]

Leader: Malon[Proficiency 69/100]

Number of Personnel:100 [View Details]

Combat Efficiency: Average

[No personnel are eligible for upgrade to a higher military class]

-Basic Equipment-Head: HelmetBody: Light ArmorWaist: NoneLegs: NoneArmed: Iron SpearSecondary Armament: None※ The equipment is inadequate

Compared to Elena’s growth, the information window for the soldiers was a bit bland, but Kim Hyunwoo did not look too displeased.

The fact that the penalty effect had already disappeared despite the absence of a hero primarily responsible for training in the barracks building meant that the soldiers’ proficiency had significantly increased due to exploration of the Labyrinth levels.

“I wish I could now start recruiting a culinary hero or a training-specific hero from among the support heroes.”

In fact, at this point, what Kim Hyunwoo wanted a bit more was a culinary hero.

It might seem a bit out of the blue, but a culinary hero in Arteil can make dishes that provide buff effects.

In other words, recruiting a culinary hero means that they can be put into actual combat situations where proficiency increases faster, thus quickly and stably developing soldiers and heroes.

…Of course, it’s less stable compared to training, but that’s an issue that can be sufficiently managed with mission difficulty.

“…Apart from the forces, there are many other things to take care of right now.”

Excluding the slightly unstable resources, most everything was going quite smoothly, so Kim Hyunwoo had a satisfied expression.

About three days later.

When the lumber mill was nearly completed.

Now that the tavern had reached LV2, he was checking the information window daily as two to three heroes were coming and going every day.

A ★ hero ‘Lani’ has entered the territory.

Hero Name: Lani

Title: XStars: 1 star ★

Affinity: X-Stats-

🔸️Strength: 9 🔸️Agility: 7🔸️Intelligence: 19

🔸️Luck: 19

🔸️Magic: 7

-Traits-Perfect Taste: Can distinguish various flavors and catch subtle taste differences with their tongueCuriosity: If possessing talent beyond ‘overwhelming’, the proficiency of that talent increases very rapidly-Talent-🔹️Has a natural talent for cooking-Skills-[View]

Recently, Merilda’s mood hasn’t been very good.

No, to be precise, recently she has been battling the murderous intent she felt within herself.

The reason was because of the woman next to her Master.

“I’m jealous.”

She truly thought this as she watched Elena training from afar.

Elena, the woman earnestly swinging her axe in the training ground, had everything she wanted.

She was being cared for by the Master,

sharing affection with the Master,

and had received gifts from the master.

Crack-!

Merilda’s red eyes were engulfed in murderous intent.

Killing her would be all too easy for Merilda.

Just appearing in front of Elena and slitting her throat would be the end of it.

If she was worried about being caught by the Master, killing her when she went out for a mission would suffice.

Grit-!

…Recently, she was confident despite the soldiers assigned to her for the Master’s affection.

She was confident in killing her and escaping before catching the soldiers’ eyes.

However, despite her confidence, she could never actually confront Elena.

Because the wolf knew.

If she were to die, and if by some slim chance the Master discovered the culprit, everything would be over.

“Hu-hu-hu…”

She suddenly felt her breath quickening.

Of course, the wolf hadn’t executed her plan.

She hadn’t killed Elena nor had she touched a single hair on her head.

Just the imagination of being caught by the Master made her breath tremble with instability.

Soon, as she forcibly calmed her breathing.

Thump-!

“…!”

Merilda instinctively felt a strange discomfort.

A discomfort as if magic was stickily clinging to her, something she hadn’t felt in a very long time.

Feeling that, Merilda immediately turned her head to locate the source of the sensation.

Her gaze first went towards a group moving towards Lartania, but Merilda quickly turned her gaze elsewhere.

Because the source of the discomfort she felt as the wolf was not them.

And the moment she turned her gaze back.

“……”

Merilda could see.

The Absolute Ruler of Darkness standing in the empty plain, as if she had always been there.

A woman who could only be infinitely unpleasant to her.

“……”

Merilda glared at the Absolute Ruler of Darkness without a word.

She had no intention of speaking to the half-demon in front of her and honestly wished she would just disappear from her sight immediately.

Watching her act like a mirror image of herself, she felt a loathing for herself, and thoughts of herself from ten years ago made her heart ache more and more.

However.

“…I have come to make a request.”

Following the words of the Absolute Ruler of Darkness.

“Will you not return the Execution Sword?”

“…What?”

The taboo of Red Eyes was broached.