Ch.6969. Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here.

Height: 4 meters. Material: The most commonly used stone for golem construction in the Empire.

The hollow chest cavity contains a transplanted human body, with limbs severed and appropriately modified.

The human body maintains its original consciousness while using the soul as a power source, and since it was originally human, it can understand speech.

This special golem with its inhumane yet simple operating principle was commissioned by me from Lunifer Ficentrius. The reason for creating such a golem is that golems are quite useful tools.

First, they have the advantage of being larger and stronger than humans while maintaining a humanoid form, making them useful as heavy equipment in construction projects.

On the battlefield, they excel as arrow catchers when sent to the front lines, or as anvils to withstand enemy offensives.

Additionally, golems possess exceptional close combat capabilities in exchange for lacking special abilities.

Not only do these characteristics work well together, but there’s also the benefit of recycling criminals.

They can be used as warnings against internal enemies or for revenge, thereby boosting morale.

The horrific appearance can also have the unexpected side effect of demoralizing enemies, and above all, they are extremely easy to mass-produce.

The most expensive part of golem production is none other than the artificial soul.

The cost of materials consumed in artificially creating souls is significant…

Additionally, having skilled mages manually input action codes one by one makes labor costs extremely high.

And decisively, since they’re essentially human, they follow orders automatically once programmed to obey. This is a clear advantage for golems, which are known for low intelligence both in games and here.

This high intelligence aspect is particularly appealing to me because it means criminals from religious orders or underground cities can be thrown into special detention facilities—

The so-called gulags or mines without issue, which is the main reason I find them so appealing.

※ ※ ※

Gulag.

The name of an underground city prison located in a remote area, about 30 minutes by underground railway from the underground city.

As the name suggests, it’s modeled after the Soviet political prison camps, making it an extremely harsh and terrible place that requires several verifications before entry.

Criminals loaded like cargo onto trains and brought here pass through doors that I’ve carefully designed to give an inhuman impression.

[Abandon all hope, ye who enter here]

Following this phrase that hints at their future fate, they arrive at the inspection room.

Here, a vampire priest on standby thoroughly reads the suspect’s memories to completely rule out the possibility of false accusations.

Additionally, after I personally verify everything, only those finally judged as criminals are allowed inside.

Given these strict procedures,

those who enter are essentially the worst of the worst.

Only the most vicious criminals, at least serial killer level, are gathered here.

Therefore, the gulag treats them as if they don’t deserve mercy, with an attitude of indifference to whether they live or die, while ultimately aiming for them to reform, repent, and be delivered to me after death.

Of course, reformation means forced labor, repentance is forced conversion through mental pressure…

And the souls of criminals delivered to me are destined to become hounds of vengeance, so there is no hope.

Life inside is, naturally, by no means easy.

To survive in the gulag, one must spend the internal currency called Sil.

Food must be purchased with Sil, as must clothing and other necessities.

When you add the cost of using beds and such things, the expenses become quite high…

And naturally, they don’t make it easy to earn Sil inside.

Everyone must work in the quarry for at least 5 hours a day, earning only 50 Sil.

With a basic meal of a fist-sized piece of bread and a cup of water costing 10 Sil, and sleeping rough costing 20 Sil, this mandatory labor barely allows one to survive.

Therefore, additional work is necessary… and there’s a structure in place that seems to allow for a somewhat decent life if one works more.

However, such comfortable living is a luxury for criminals.

Various violations incur fines, and once these fines accumulate, one falls into a swamp of debt.

For example, let’s assume someone disobeys an order once.

The fine is about 500 Sil, and since they naturally have no savings, it comes out of that day’s earnings. Surviving for 10 days without food is impossible.

Therefore, if that person collapses, standby personnel immediately rush in to forcibly revive them,

then charge thousands of Sil for medical expenses, meals, and hospitalization.

In this detention facility where most people despair, trapped in an inescapable loop of being forcibly revived after collapsing from hunger or exhaustion,

I now intended to impose even greater despair.

Those who accumulate hundreds of thousands in debt through this vicious cycle merely exist like corpses, so to bring vitality to this place…

I needed to show them that there’s always a deeper underground beneath rock bottom.

So I announced that anyone whose total debt exceeds 1 million Sil would be forcibly taken and converted into a golem, and their reaction was incredibly intense.

The criminals, suddenly burning with motivation and passion, began working diligently.

※ ※ ※

And so, after new talent joined, my power gradually became firmly established.

The underground city was increasing in size and population daily, and the mobile city was also greatly expanding.

Therefore, with nothing much to do except keep the prayer macro running, I thought,

‘Should I go… scouting?’

For the first time, I decided to use my wolf avatar to visit the holy city and see the scenery with my own eyes.

Of course, I thoroughly prepared before going out.

The robe I wear almost daily is enchanted with perception-inhibiting magic that prevents others’ attention from focusing on me and makes me difficult to recognize.

To prevent people from lusting after my rather handsome avatar’s face, I covered it completely with a mask.

Additionally, to avoid suspicion despite this suspicious appearance, I carried a staff that clearly identified me as a mage.

Having met the requirements to get away with any strange behavior because “well, he’s a mage…”, I discreetly moved my avatar to the hideout provided by Gracchus.

‘…Ugh. Dust.’

After emerging from a dusty, poorly maintained underground space designed to conceal my presence, I cautiously made myself invisible and stepped out onto the street.

“Come get them, they’re selling fast! Fresh salted herring, just arrived today! 7 deniers for a bundle of 10!”

“Fresh bread for sale! Get your warm bread straight from the oven!”

“Just 12 deniers! Just 12 deniers for fresh pork from today’s slaughter!”

‘Yellow roofs… this must be the market district.’

The area I had descended into was a commercial district characterized by yellow roofs, specifically a region where food ingredients were primarily sold.

High-quality ingredients were being traded in active commerce, creating a seemingly vibrant atmosphere on the surface.

However, this was merely the surface story.

“Hey, did you hear that rumor? They say cult fanatics caused a disturbance in the residential area yesterday.”

“Those bastards?”

“Mommy… Mommyyyyy—”

SMACK!

“Shut up! If you’re a slave, act like one and follow quietly!”

“Heheh, what can I get for you?”

“That meat, 10 pieces.”

“We currently have young meat and old meat, which would you prefer?”

“The young ones, preferably female.”

With my avatar’s senses capable of precisely detecting everything within several kilometers, I could hear and see all the ugly aspects hidden beneath the prosperity.

And among the voices detected by these senses, there were also traces of other evil gods beginning to spread.

“Hey, have you heard? There’s a plague spreading in a nearby village.”

“Really? It… won’t come here, will it?”

Plague.

“Hey, you… why don’t you come to our gathering sometime? It’s, well, really amazing!”

Pleasure.

“I heard there’s a new champion in the underground arena who calls himself the incarnation of violence.”

Violence.

“Lately, I’ve been feeling kind of low on energy…”

“You too? I’ve been feeling depressed and unlucky… why does it seem like I’m so unhappy?”

And Misfortune as well.

The influence of these evil gods, who were stealthily infiltrating the holy city while taking advantage of the commotion, simultaneously revealed a certain fact to me.

The fact that the fall of the Rom Empire was approaching—something I already knew but was made to realize again.

Kyuu.