Chapter 152: Trustworthy Comrades (4)  

Change in term: It finally clicked in my head for some reason that it was west and not south.

It will be called the Western District from here on instead of the Southern District.

“Then what is your goal?”“I plan to develop the dead mine into an underground city.”“An underground city?”“Why build something like that in abandoned land……?”“I’ve actually been curious for a while.

I didn’t say anything because I assumed you had a reason, but I’ll ask since it was brought up.

Why are you even developing High Village? That place is covered in demonic aura, so people cannot live there.”It is difficult to live there because the sun never sets, however, it will not be difficult to live there for only a couple of years.

It will be even easier if we build the city underground instead of above ground.That was why I was planning on developing the dead mine into a city.

There were no better people to develop the dead mine than these people here.“I cannot tell you the details, however, a large number of people will flock to High Village soon.

Furthermore, the veins are not completely dry.

There will be a decent amount of mining profit as well.”“I really don’t get it.”“Me neither.

I don’t know what you are trying to say.”I was frustrated as well.

I really wanted to at least tell Jonnan the secret information.However, that would not be beneficial for Jonnan.And someone like Jonnan wouldn’t need me to explain to follow me.

Goultan and Batoom should be the same.At least I hoped that was the case.“Anyway, the decision is up to all of you.

Whoever wants to stay can stay and whoever wants to go to High Village can go.

Of course, I will give the first ones there the best positions.”“I already told you.

I will go with you no matter what.”It was Jonnan, as expected.

He raised his hand before I even finished my statement.Batoom and Goultan soon followed.That was just the beginning.“Me too.”“Hyung-nim, me too.”“And me……”Huh? What’s this? Over 200 miners were here and they all wanted to go with me.

Nobody said, ‘No thank you.’With all of them going there, I probably won’t need to worry about High Village.Well, it wouldn’t have been an issue if the miners did not come with me I guess.

Humbley is putting a lot of money into it.* * *

Knock knock.I opened my eyes after hearing the knocking.It was still early morning.

Jonnan wouldn’t normally wake me up this early.“Come in.”The door opened and Jonnan came in.“You have a guest.”“A guest? At this hour? Who is it?”“Humbley-nim.”“Ah! Humbley!”It had already been 5 days since I met with Kaldera.

I planned on heading to Avanguarde in the evening in order to see him, but it seems that he’s saved me the trouble.“I will be right out.”I did a quick wash and got dressed.I then walked down the stairs.This was Jonnan’s house at the edge of Titan Valley.

He sold off his old house that looked ready to crumble at any moment and bought this new three-story house.My slaves Jul Goo and Eruni also stay here on their off days twice a week.I could smell something delicious being cooked.I then heard Humbley’s voice as well.“Long time no see, Kang Hwi Ram-nim!”“Why did you make the difficult trek? I was planning on coming to see you today anyway.”“I wanted to see you sooner.

Hahaha.”Kaldera was with Humbley as well.

She was in her usually tidy outfit.

Damn, she really was born a beauty.“Please sit.

Food is ready.”Jonnan’s wife Amelia walked up to the stairs and guided me to the table.There was a feast set up on the table.“You didn’t have to do all this.

I’m always causing you more work.”“Not at all.

You are our savior.

I’m just happy that I can repay the favor like this.”“Thank you for the meal.”We all sat down and started to eat.Humbley took a bite before complimenting Amelia’s cooking.“Oh! The food tastes amazing!”He wasn’t just trying to be courteous.Humbley, Kaldera, and I were all people who traveled a lot of the time.

It was only natural that we had been to many famous restaurants and tasted delicious foods.However, this food was just as good as those meals.The more amazing thing was that these dishes were cooked by Eruni.

I was so shocked when they told me about it.“I think Eruni was born to cook.

Her cooking skill is already past Intermediate Level 6.”“Eruni?”This is probably Humbley and Kaldera’s first time hearing about her.

Eruni, who was wearing an apron and serving from the side, blushed as if she was embarrassed as soon as their gazes landed on her.“She is Kang Hwi Ram-nim’s slave.”“Ah, I see.

She is very talented for someone who looks so young.”It was because of how hard she worked in the Northern Mines.

Her skill went up without her knowledge because she was responsible for cooking meals for all of the miners.She also went to the Titan Valley library and learning about brewing in her free time.

Thanks to that, she is able to brew alcohol that gives you a small temporary stat boost.The pretty girl continues to do pretty things.

[ref] This is the literal translation, I kept it because of the repeated use of pretty.

Basically, it means that she does things that are praise-worthy.

[/ref] We headed to the side building after the meal.

It was just a small building off to the side, but it was a good location to have a private chat.Only Humbley and I were in the building.We could finally get down to business.I asked the first question.“Are the preparations going well?”“We have done as you asked and hired 3,000 men who have worked as miners for over 10 years each to train.

They are all leveling up quickly and all have reached close to level 200.200 levels in one year.

That was an amazing speed.Of course, it was because I created a good environment for them.“They should be able to participate in battles in about a year.

We need to raise their levels as much as we can until then.”“I understand, but we do have a problem.

I do not think we have enough Demon Cave scrolls.”I had given all 15 boxes of Demon Cave scrolls we got from the Church of the Sun to Humbley.

That should add up to approximately 3,000 scrolls.Harrison’s group had taken even more boxes.

Putting those together, there should be no reason that they do not have enough.“Why……?”“Harrison-nim seems to be using the Demon Cave scrolls in order to train soldiers as well.

I offered to buy them at almost any price, but he would not sell me any of them.”“Ah, I see.”People really tend to think similarly.

Harrison must have also realized that he could use the Demon Cave scrolls to train soldiers as soon as he saw them.It was fine since Harrison’s forces were pretty much my forces as well.“Then there is nothing we can do about it.

It seems that it is time to start our plan.

Is the defense line properly constructed?”“There are five defense lines, just as you asked.

All of them are fortresses with natural barriers, so it should be stable no matter how strong the Jeppi tribe’s attacks are.”“Perfect.

Then I will head to the Western District within this month.

You should be able to start as soon as Harrison-nim leaves.”“But will Harrison-nim really leave?”That was already determined.

Shione had delivered the message of their decision.He will probably only bring the most talented individuals within his forces.

He needed to do so because only those who are partied with me can climb the Altar of the Sun and learn how to use Spirit Energy.“It will end up that way.

If it fails……”I did not finish that sentence.If that happened, hundreds of soldiers would lose their lives for no reason.

The revitalization of the Batoru Kingdom would take much longer as well.I don’t see this happening, but there was one thing that I was worried about.

I was worried that there might be an issue getting Shione out.If that happens, things could get a bit complicated.I could only hope that they arrive at High Village with Shione.“Anyway, I will take care of that.

All you have to do is take care of things based on our timeline.

I’m sure that you are already aware, but timing is the most important thing.

If we miss the timing, we will lose more than we gain from this plan.”“Of course.”

“And please take this.”I handed a magic bag to Humbley.“What is this?”Humbly was about to open the magic bag, however, he stopped after hearing my response.“A Golden Troll’s blood.”“Excuse me? Did you just say a Golden Troll?”“I luckily ran into it while clearing Demon Caves.

I heard that Golden Troll blood was more useful than regular troll blood.”“Quite a bit.

But you are fine after running into a Golden Troll? The heavens must have helped.”What is he talking about? I’ve even hunted a Golden Bone Dragon before.

It was a bit difficult to hunt a Golden Troll, but it was nothing compared to the Golden Bone Dragon.Well, there was no need to flaunt that in front of Humbley.“I debated selling it to the Shapir before thinking that Humbley-nim would be able to put it to better use.

Please consider it a small gift.”“Excuse me? You are giving me this precious item?”Money didn’t mean much to me anymore.

I had over 4 trillion won at the Magician’s Tower, and more was flowing in.I also had one of the main colossi of the continent with me.

With our partnership, Humbley’s money was pretty much my money.“We’ve gotten on the same boat anyway.

Humbley-nim needs to do well in order for me to have stronger support.”Humbley’s expression brightened up.

It seemed to be his way of showing his joy for working together with me.“I understand.

I will use it in a way that is beneficial for your plans, Kang Hwi Ram-nim.”20 days later.“So this must be High Village!”Goonto looked around before starting to frown.It was not just Goonto.

All of the other Dwarves were frowning as well.

They frowned the most while looking up at the sky.“This really is an eerie place.”It was bright without a single cloud.

This exact type of weather continued every single day.

In fact, it was like this 24 hours of every single day.The sun remains at the apex and does not move even 1 millimeter.

That was why there could be no night nor seasons.However, the temperature was not very high.

A thermometer would show that it was approximately 40 degrees Celsius.That itself was very hot, but it was cool if you considered the fact that the sun was up all the time.“But is this it? Isn’t it too much to go to the Western District with just this small group?”The Dwarves seemed to have some fear about the Western District as well.However, there was no need to worry.This was not it.I happened to notice some people looking at us at that moment.

They were all hiding while looking at us with concerned expressions.But they soon revealed themselves.I couldn’t help but smile.

It was because some familiar faces were in the front.I started to speak in order to calm the Dwarves down.“They’re here.

They will be heading to the Western District with us.”It was Harrison’s group.

There were approximately 100 soldiers, as well as Bernard.Shione was next to Harrison as well.

She had taken off her white priestess robe and was now wearing a gray robe.

Seeing her safe made me let out a sigh of relief.“You’re here.”“It took some time getting Shione out.”“I’m sure that it must not have been easy.”“It was thanks to you sharing the layout with us.”Shione smiled brightly before I continued to speak.Anyway, I was relieved.“Everybody is here.

Please come this way.

The rest of the party is waiting for us.”“You have others as well?”“Just a few of them.”Harrison’s soldiers moved to the shade underneath the building.

I started to walk with the others.

We headed toward a building not too far away.Since the sun is so strong, it looked as if the other side of the shade was a completely different world.

The atmosphere changed as soon as you headed into the shade.It wasn’t an issue for me, but others felt as if this side was too dark, to the point that you could not even recognize people.Five people were waiting inside of the building.

Maybe it was because they were weird, but none of them were talking.However, that silence had to be broken.“Ah! Dark Elf!”It was Harrison.

He had taken out his sword in shock.

Bernard also started to chant a spell.However, they soon stopped moving.

It was because everyone other than Harrison’s group was abnormally calm.I guess I still need to explain it a bit.“He is my slave, so……”You really get better at things if you keep doing it.

I could quickly explain the Dark Elf situation now.Thanks to that, Harrison and Bernard could stop being anxious.However, their shock did not end that quickly.“By the way, is that person perhaps……?”He really is famous! Harrison and Bernard easily recognized Kaicher.Of course, Goonto and the Dwarves had no idea who he was.With that going on, Chief did not draw much attention.

If you took a good look, it was actually Chief who did not fit in the most.However, they would all soon know about him.

They will quickly learn how important Chief is to this Western District mission.My other slaves, Jul Goo and Eruni, were pretty much just baggage.

(PR: Well that is rude to Eruni.

To Jul Goo that is perfectly true.)“Then shall we get started?”“Sure.

There is no reason to waste time here.”That was how our group of over 130 people headed toward the West.

Miraclerifle

Proofreader: Borderline Masochist