Chapter 171: Who Owns This Place (1)  

Flash!

The white flash disappeared and my sight returned.

I lowered my stance while remaining alert. I was ready to take out Goonto’s Twin Blades at any moment.

However, my worries did not come true. I heard a human voice instead of a Jeppi tribe member’s voice.

“Ah! Kang Hwi Ram-nim! You’re back!”

It was the Titan Valley magicians. They seemed happy, shocked, and concerned once Harrison’s group and the Dwarves came through as well.

Some of them hunched forward and looked around as well. It was as if this current situation could not be noticed by someone.

I could sort of understand the current situation after seeing the magicians’ expressions.

“Did something happen?”

I feigned ignorance and asked in a quiet voice. A magician responded in a just as quiet voice.

“That...... This place is currently under the Jeppi tribe’s rule.”

“W, what? The Jeppi tribe?”

Harrison was jumping up and down. This should be shocking news to him since I didn’t tell him anything about the Jeppi tribe.

I pretended to be shocked as well.

“Does that make any sense? How could the Jeppi tribe be here?”

“We thought so as well. We thought that the Jeppi tribe was divided into four or five factions and were busy fighting each other, but they had gathered together long ago under a strong leader. They had been waiting to attack the continent and used the opening created in the sea route when General Suani was imprisoned.”

Harrison became even more furious at the magician’s explanation.

“General Suani was imprisoned? How could such a thing happen? The General is one of the kingdom’s top heroes, so how......?”

“It seems like he secretly sold off military rations. I do not know the complete details, but I think this was a ploy by the Ameri Kingdom.”

‘Actually, that was my ploy.’

General Suani is the greatest hero in Harrison’s Batoru Kingdom as well as the continent’s greatest naval commander. Listening to General Suani’s achievements is like hearing about Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s merits in the Japanese invasion of Korea.

The Jeppi tribe is well aware of General Suani’s fame as well. He was the one who always ruined the Jeppi tribe’s attempts at piracy on the sea route.

He had a record of no defeats in one hundred battles.

That was why General Suani was the Jeppi tribe’s eternal enemy. They would never even consider attacking the Batoru Kingdom as long as General Suani protected the sea routes.

However, General Suani will die in a few years. He was imprisoned after being framed by the Ameri Kingdom and then eventually executed by the Jeppi tribe after their invasion.

At least that is how it went down in the game.

That is why I changed the future a bit. I did the same thing to him that the Ameri Kingdom would have done, but I did it first.

That way, I could protect General Suani and the Batoru Kingdom.

Of course, this is something Humbley, myself and only a select people know about.

I jumped up and down in anger as if it made no sense.

“General Suani is not someone who would do something like that.”

“That is why I think he was framed.”

“Then where is the General located right now?”

“I believe he is in the Bellincher prison.”

“Then we need to hurry up and go free him.”

Harrison raised his voice as if he was frustrated. This made the magician jump in shock before shushing him and looking around. It was as if the Jeppi tribe was guarding the area.

That seemed to be the case. They heard someone coming toward them and speaking in a voice that sounded extremely nasal.

“What seems to be the issue? Snort.”

“This is why we shouldn’t be nice to these human bastards. Snort.”

I turned my head to see monsters who looked as unique as their tone. But should I call that a monster or a human?

They looked like chimpanzees with a lot of hair pulled out. Their arms were so long that they almost touched the ground.

This was the Jeppi tribe that lived on another continent south of this continent.

The Jeppi noticed us. Their few remaining hairs stood up straight like needles as they became alert.

“Snort. There are some weird individuals!”

“Isn’t that a Dark Elf? There’s even a Kobbit! Snort.”

“Are they rebels? Snort. Hurry up and contact the soldiers!”

“Snort. Everybody down to the ground. We will kill anyone who resists!”

There were a total of four Jeppis. One of them suddenly ran out as if to call for reinforcements while the other three pointed long spears at us and carefully started to approach.

The magician waved his hand in anxiety.

“Not at all. These people are just traveler......ugh!”

However, the magician could not say much more. It was because all three of them suddenly died.

One died from the Spirit Energy I launched, while the other two were killed by Dark Elf Rohas’s sword and magician Bernard’s lightning magic.

The magician’s expression turned to one of despair.

“Damn it! How can you kill the Jeppi?! This is the end of this town now.”

According to the magician, the Jeppi were extremely cruel and violent. They killed anybody who showed even the slightest signs of going against their will. The Magician’s Tower had lost five magicians already as well.

Furthermore, there were so many of them that nobody could even think about revolting.

“Are the Jeppi tribe’s forces that strong?”

“There are over 30,000 Jeppi that came to Titan Valley. Everybody surrendered in less than a day.”

“Then now......?”

“There are about 1,000 Jeppi left in Titan Valley. However, there are over 5,000 currently attacking High Village......”

According to the magician, the Jeppi tribe charged in like a tidal wave and quickly left like the tide.

However, there were many Jeppis nearby that they could gather over 30,000 Jeppi warriors at any moment’s notice.

The most important thing was that there were less than 1,000 Jeppis in Titan Valley right now.

“What happened to the citizens?”

I quickly gathered information on Titan Valley’s situation from the magician.

The situation was not much different than I had expected. Humbley’s people moved most of the citizens to High Village as soon as the Jeppi tribe started their attack.

High Village then closed its gate shut and fended off the Jeppi tribe’s attack until now.

Humbley would naturally be at High Village with Kaldera.

Then is it my turn to make a move?

“Let’s wipe them out.”

“......Excuse me?’

The magician seemed shocked. She seemed to think it was easier said than done.

I guess that’s how scared they are of the Jeppi tribe’s strong abilities.

But there was no need to listen to the magician anymore. Everything was already planned and we just needed to do things according to plan.

“The mercenaries that I have prepared will be in High Village. We will first meet up with them and regain Titan Valley first.”

“Let’s do that.”

Harrison nodded his head. His confident expression made it seem like we had already taken care of all of the Jeppis in Titan Valley.

It made sense. We had easily defeated even tens of Demon at once. There was also the large number of Stone Elves I could summon.

The issue was the Dwarves.

“What do you think? Will you help us?”

The Dwarves did not easily respond. They had a rule not to get involved in human affairs.

However, there were always exceptions. And unlike the Shapir, they showed their fighting abilities every so often even in human affairs.

“Didn’t you guys say that I am your friend? You can help a friend out. Furthermore, this is a battle with the Jeppi tribe who are pretty much monsters.”

The Dwarves looked refreshed after I reinforced the part about the Jeppi tribe.

“That makes sense. We would not be Dwarves if we ignored our friend’s issues.”

“Ahaha. I’ve been waiting for you to ask for our help. I think it’ll feel wonderful to destroy some Jeppi bastards’ heads!”

“Goonto, let’s do that. Isn’t the battlefield where we belong?”

Goonto stopped contemplating after hearing the other Dwarves.

“Fine. But how long do you need our help for?”

“One month is enough. That should be long enough to get rid of all of the Jeppis in the Batoru Kingdom.”

He would have the strength to fight against the Jeppi tribe even without the Dwarve at that time.

“Fine. We will help out for a month.”

Goonto nodded his head. They would go all out since they said they would help.

“What about you?”

I gave the magician a chance to decide as well.

Honestly, there was no need to ask. In terms of abilities, even ten of these magicians were not as strong as Bernard alone.

Most importantly, the fact that they were still alive in the Magician’s Tower even though the Jeppi tribe took over Titan Valley is an issue. They should have died while resisting with their lives.

But they would indeed be helpful if they were around. I would gather many of these magicians to create a large unit.

“Are you planning on continuing to be a Jeppi pawn?”

Then they would be branded as a traitor and could be killed by the residents later. Actually, that is not a could, it would be that way.

‘They should make a smart decision.’

Did the magician manage to read my thoughts? She bit down on her lips before nodding her head.

“Please wait for a moment. I will go gather all of the magicians remaining in the tower.”

There was no time to do that. It was just important that they will fight with us.

“We will head out first. Please follow behind us once you gather all like-minded magicians. Then we should be able to meet up on the way to High Village.”

“I understand.”

The magician quickly started to run up the tower.

“Then shall we head out as well?”

“Let’s go.”

The Magician’s Tower was located at the center of Titan Valley by the Titan Plaza. This was a street that was normally crowded even at night time.

But it was empty right now. It felt as if it was a deserted city.

We did see some residents every so often. But they all seemed to not want to be seen by the Jeppi as they were curled up and walking quickly.

Someone flinched after seeing us and approached us.

“Wait, aren’t you Kang Hwi Ram-nim?”

They know my face? Am I that famous now? Anybody in the real world should be able to recognize me if they’ve seen me through TV or the internet, but they didn’t have something like that in here.

So how could he know?

“Do you not remember? We were at the Batoom Mines......”

Oh, it was one of the miners. Then of course he knows my face.

Perfect.

“Do you know where the Jeppi soldiers are gathered together?”

“Of course. They are using the inn next to the plaza as their headquarter. But why do you ask about that? Perhaps......?”

The miner looked toward Goonto’s group and Harrison’s group. His eyes then filled with anticipation.

Yes. It’s time for you to stand back up. That was necessary for Titan Valley and the entire Batoru Kingdom to heal faster.

“Please spread the news to others. My friends and I will recover Titan Valley. Tell them to gather at High Village as quickly as possible once things are safe here.”

“I understand.”

“Let’s head out!”

I took the vanguard as we started to run toward Titan Plaza.

This was the beginning. We will almost instantly kick out the Jeppi tribe that was taking over the continent like a tsunami.

Miraclerifle

Proofreader: Borderline Masochist