87 – Magnifying Glass (1)
The magenta fortress, where the total power of the demon realm is gathered, is located to the east of the magenta sky that always pervades the demon realm.
In the temple outside the fortress, where only ten generals loyal to the ten commanders who represent the total power of the demon realm gather, a heavy silence hangs in the air.
“…”
The current situation is due to the events that occurred in the temple in the past few days.
‘…It’s quiet.’
The individual affiliated with the sacred temple and also a high-ranking officer of the Third Legion, experiencing the havoc of the epidemic, found themselves involuntarily contemplating such thoughts in the sacred temple.
Fundamentally, the sacred temple was not characterized by such a quiet atmosphere.
The demon race, by nature, was a race brimming with combativeness and competitiveness, and the stronger ones tended to exhibit these traits more prominently.
Hence, those who could be considered superior demons always revealed their intentions towards each other when they met in the sacred temple.
But.
‘How did it come to this…’
Because the sacred temple was filled with silence, the contemplation that occurred to me unintentionally soon turned to reminiscing about the past.
Clearly, it was when the news spread that Merba, who had manifested at the request of Kelba, had been defeated by the two mere mortals in the intermediate realm.
At that time, the demons in the sacred temple maintained a lively atmosphere, and some demons even looked disdainfully at Merba, deeming her pathetic, despite her failure to manifest perfectly.
For the officer belonging to the legion, even if he hadn’t manifested flawlessly, being defeated not just by two heroes but completely annihilated, losing a portion of his strength, was enough to become a laughingstock among the demons.
For the demons, the intermediate realm was a place where they could legitimately absorb the souls of mortals to ascend to higher levels.
So, looking at Merba, whose soul was exposed, wearing an expression of humiliation, one of the demons, Fibrac of Explosion, laughed at Merba while complying with Kelba’s request to manifest in the intermediate realm.
‘Uh, ah- ugh- uuu-!’
Fibrac returned broken, not even an hour after manifesting in the intermediate realm, just like Merba, losing a part of his power along the way.
Of course, at this point, the demons didn’t feel disgust but rather laughed at the exposed Fibrac along with Merba.
But immediately following was the next player, the lethargic Shoraim, who manifested.
‘Ah, it hurts! You devilish bastards, it hurts!!! It’s not like the infamous saying that pain changes into pleasure no matter how agonizing it is!! Kuaaah!!!’
– Watching Shoraim, who began having seizures at 30-minute intervals as if PTSD had struck, I started to feel a bit resigned.
Adding to that, as the final blow, Lira, the blood lineage, who could be considered the strongest among the officers, manifested and similarly returned after being annihilated –
‘Ah, demons, those are demons filled with madness…!’
With those mutterings echoing from lifeless eyes, the current state was established.
And thanks to that.
“…Has the Death Call arrived?”
“Yeah, fortunately, the soul was damaged, so we could avoid it.”
“I’m also grateful my leg is just uncomfortable.”
“Sigh, maybe I should cut off an arm too.”
In an atmosphere tinged with awkwardness, not malice towards each other but an oddly grotesque tension that didn’t suit them, Kelba’s support had practically become synonymous with the name Death Call among the executives of the temple outside the castle.
So far, none of the executives who had received Kelba’s support requests had properly absorbed the souls of the middle realm, and the situation of continually losing strength persisted.
Therefore.
“…Indeed, it’s better to wait quietly?”
“Yes, let’s wait a bit until the commanders arrive.”
“I agree.”
The demons, who originally wanted to go to the middle realm first, one by one began preparing themselves to cower until the legion commanders came out to the mortal world.
While silently observing the atmosphere inside the temple, Mullun, who had wanted to go to the middle realm first, spoke.
Wooong-!
Confirming the gathering of black magic in front of her, she saw Kelba’s figure.
“Ah, sorry about this. I got a cramp in my leg while listening to the legion commanders’ summon this time. It seems supporting will be a bit challenging.”
And.
“…Ugh-!”
Thanks to those high-ranking officers, Kelba, who had been preparing for the plan for about seven years, saw a third of it go up in smoke in just over a week. He turned his gaze to the two heroes.
Whether he thought the devil wouldn’t appear or not, Kelba, seeing the base where his precious time was invested being destroyed in less than a minute, made a disgusted expression.
‘How can they be worse than demons?’
Kelba had summoned the officers and had seen everything they did. Therefore, looking at them with a trembling expression, he decided to abandon the plan.
He realized.
No matter what he did here, the remaining magic circles would be destroyed by those two heroes.
‘Let’s be honest. This is just a wind-catching scheme, and it’s not the real thing anyway.’
So Kelba looked at the two heroes with a face that trembled just by looking.
“If the Corps Commander comes, let’s see then.”
With such a murmur, he disappeared.
####
The development speed of the Larthania territory was advancing at a rate that surpassed other territories.
In just a few months, Larthania had already become so huge that its territory development level had risen to nearly 1600.
But Kim Hyun-woo wanted to develop the territory even faster than it was now.
‘…In fact, there’s practically no means to raise the development level more in the current state.’
In fact, even now, Larthania was developing at a dazzling speed.
Countless immigrants were coming into the territory every day.
The streets were bustling with mercenaries, revitalizing the economy due to the labyrinth.
And more than that?
Soon, the external structures about to be built would undoubtedly spur the progress of Laritania at a much steeper pace than it is now.
In other words, it was a certainty that, as time passed, the territory’s development would naturally hit the 2000 milestone.
Of course, from Kim Hyunwoo’s perspective, he wished for the territory’s advancement to reach 2000 as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, at present, there was nothing he could do about it.
To be more precise, it was correct to say that there was nothing more he could do.
Currently, Kim Hyunwoo had already done everything he could.
…More precisely, if Kim Hyunwoo were to do anything more, the financial stability of Laritania’s territories would collapse.
Certainly, Laritania’s territories were quite prosperous even now. The taxes accruing to Kim Hyunwoo exceeded 2,500 gold, and the magnifying glasses he was producing were bringing substantial profits to the territory as they were sold.
However, despite this, the financial situation of Laritania was precarious when it came to initiating new ventures.
Immediately, any gold earned in Laritania’s territories was used for further development.
Was that all?
As the number of mercenaries within Laritania increased, the significant quantity of magic stones being produced began to be entirely purchased by Laritania.
In other words, even if Kim Hyunwoo’s daily sales with magnifying glasses approached 4,000 gold, the territory was effectively at a break-even point.
Certainly, it would be profitable if all the magic stones were replaced with red stones. However, given the current situation, the balance was teetering on zero.
“As expected, I’d like to produce more magnifying glasses.”
Kim Hyunwoo gazed at the magnifying glasses of the lowest-ranked adventurers.
Currently, the magnifying glasses of the lowest-ranked adventurers were, without a doubt, a masterpiece of Laritania, boasting tremendous popularity. Every piece he made was selling out rapidly.
Moreover, the number of magnifying glasses he was producing was not small.
Thanks to the food made by Lani, he now possessed the abilities of a 1-star hero. Consequently, he was producing well over 4,000 magnifying glasses.
However, even with 4,000 glasses, they were selling so quickly that they disappeared in an instant.
It was selling so well that the mercenaries were setting up tents and sitting in front of the store in Yeongju Castle, ready to do an open run.
In other words, the supply couldn’t keep up with the demand, and this had been the case for a while.
“Now I should start mass-producing. How should I do that?”
Thanks to this, Kim Hyun-woo had been seriously contemplating how to mass-produce the magnifying glasses.
If the magnifying glasses were mass-produced and there was additional funding available for use, he could invest in the development of the territory.
So, Kim Hyun-woo, who had been pondering over this for a while,
A ★★★ hero, “The Witch of Gold Coins,” has entered the territory.
—-
[The top-ranked ‘Tinus’ has arrived in the territory!]
From Noble mtl dot com
He was able to see a message that hadn’t come up in a long time.
After the notification appeared, a few hours later.
“Hello, Lord.”
“Yes, it’s been a while, Top-ranked Lord.”
This time, Adriana and Kim Hyun-woo, who visited a little later than usual, were able to greet each other.
They were able to greet each other, but…
“…Um, Top-ranked Lord?”
“Yes?”
“Um, your face… you look really tired.”
Adriana’s condition didn’t seem too good, to the point where Kim Hyun-woo had to look at her with a slightly serious expression.
Dark circles were visibly under her eyes, and her face had a complex expression, a mix of the Buddha’s and the demon’s, showing that she had a really complicated emotion.
Therefore, Kim Hyunwoo, who had doubts, spoke.
“Perhaps, Lady Yeongju.”
“Yes?”
“Well, Lady Yeongju, could you sell me about 5000 of those magnifying glasses you are currently producing?”
“Ah…”
“You see, after hearing the mercenaries and doing theoretical calculations, adding about 5000 more will undoubtedly lead to a significant profit.”
“Um-“
“It will definitely work. I’m really good at making these kinds of calculations, you know.”
Soon, as Adriana’s words popped out and her eyes twinkled, Kim Hyunwoo realized the reason her face contained both Buddha and demon, and he sighed softly.
Another fell to the Gacha scam.