Chapter 18 · 9 min
Chapter 18
Chapter 18
The gate’s inauguration ceremony was quite successful.
The Charm income was surprisingly decent.
[Charm +1]
The more my seniors came to look around, the more the territory became packaged as an attractive place.
They whispered among themselves about ‘why he built it,’ then started theorizing about my psychology and worldbuilding.
“Once people start lorecrafting, they forget how much time has passed.”
The territory became famous.
Then it kept being famous because it was famous.
Fame breeds more fame!
The celebrity phenomenon!
Thanks to that, the quest was completed too.
=======
<Quest: Culture 1>
Objective: Spend Influence to establish a building.
Reward: Obtain the 「Appoint Bureaucrat」 skill
=======
A new skill.
Appoint Bureaucrat!
From now on, I could officially appoint officials.
What kind of lord has no subordinates?
=======
<Positions Available for Appointment>
[Minister of Land] (Vacant)
[Knight Commander] (Vacant)
[Director of Secret Intelligence] (Vacant)
[Governor of the Central Resource Bank] (Vacant)
========
Whoa.
More serious than I expected.
A little intimidating.
But I’m the Lord of the First Floor!
Let’s confidently make some appointments!
“I’ll appoint the Minister of Land.”
There weren’t many candidates.
Geumsul and Aqua swallowed nervously.
Gulp.
These two.
They’re seriously tense right now.
[Aqua... Not interested in power! Already tasted plenty of power!
( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ
]
[All power. Inevitably. Corrupts. To a high-performance artificial life-form. Such as myself. Power is merely. An unnecessary. Shackle.]
You little punks!
Trying desperately to pretend you don’t care...!
“I’ll give the Minister of Land position to Geumsul.”
Wooooah!
Their joy and despair split.
“Logically speaking, Geumsul can build earth walls, right? So Minister of Land fits perfectly.”
In other words!
That was literally the only reason...!
Appointing someone Minister of Land just because they could build earth walls?
Even South American countries probably didn’t appoint ministers like this.
[Aqua... Election loss!
(꜆꜄꜆⚆ ⚆ )و✧
]
“And I’ll make Aqua the Knight Commander.”
!!!!!
( ⚆ㅁ⚆)
Once again, joy and despair split apart.
Wahoooooo~~~~~!!!@!
Aqua flipped through the air in celebration.
[Aqua... Ahem! Knows how to separate public and private matters!]
[Aqua... Spirit Knight Commander from today onward! Clang clang clang!]
[
╰ つ¤=[]————
]
They say a position makes the person?
I don’t know about that.
But one thing had become certain.
‘A position definitely makes a person feel important!’
Next, I appointed Geumsul as [Director of Secret Intelligence].
Information was Geumsul’s specialty, after all.
[Concentrating power. Causes corruption. However I am. A super-performance. Artificial intelligence. Unlike humans. Holding dual offices. Totally possible.]
“You said you didn’t need power earlier.”
Geumsul bounced around happily, while Aqua started sweating as its political faction fell behind...
[Aqua... Facing danger of shrinking influence! At this rate, head gets chopped off!
(꜆꜄•ㅁ•)꜆꜄꜆
]
“What are you two doing?”
They were playing Game of Thrones by themselves.
I appointed Aqua as [Governor of the Central Resource Bank].
Why Central Resource Bank Governor?
Because Aqua handled our resource (=water).
[Aqua... Proud and smug!
ᕦ(◔ ͜ʖ◔)ᕤ
]
Geumsul and Aqua were busy gilding each other’s faces.
They now recognized each other as worthy rivals, rivals, and skilled elites.
Together with my now-arrogant cabinet officials, I began a political meeting.
“There is a very important agenda item. For lunch... what should we eat?”
Dun!
Tremendous gravity!
[Aqua... Earth’s jajangmyeon is always the best!
ꉂꉂ (ˆoˆ )
]
[Considering the territory’s. Currency circulation. And international gold prices. Jajangmyeon would be. Very suitable.]
“Then what about a large portion?”
Rumble!
Large or regular?
The cabinet fell into chaos again.
Not an easy problem.
As a compromise, we decided against large portions and settled for adding tangsuyuk.
At that moment.
A message arrived.
[Alert: Guest Arrival]
What?
A guest came?
Why would a guest come when our home consists of nothing but a gate?
We rushed to the gate and checked the intercom to see who had arrived.
“Huh?!”
That’s!
My MyTube teacher, Wol Hayeon!
A global superstar!
Why is she at my territory?
My nerves shot through the roof, so I couldn’t bring myself to go outside.
I decided to talk from behind the gate.
* * *
Whew.
Cheon Ryujin felt a chill for the first time in ages.
The aura contained by the Lord Merchant was beyond imagination.
It was an enormous water presence.
If it had been the scale of a waterfall or a lake, fine.
But this was too much.
It was like facing an ocean with free will.
‘Wol Hayeon. What the hell. Are all spirits like this? One wrong move and I feel like I’ll drown.’
‘I’ve never seen a spirit this powerful either. It must be someone with serious influence among spirits.’
Spirits had ranks.
The more elements mixed together, like [sand + air], the lower-ranked the spirit.
Conversely, the closer it was to pureblood, the stronger it became.
And if it consisted of exactly one element, it was called a spirit of a unified element.
They also held high status.
There were families that had preserved unified elements for eons.
At the pinnacle of those families were the royal houses.
They formed the pillars that ruled the vast spirit realm.
‘...Damn it. I expected a pureblood family, but royal-house level?!’
Even among pureblood families with unified elements, the power of the royal houses was extraordinary.
They were effectively gods.
If two royal spirits fought, every spirit nearby would flee for survival.
And this escape happened on a completely different scale.
You had to run at least several thousand kilometers.
Because royal spirits could split continents the size of Asia or evaporate oceans the size of the Pacific.
Attacks capable of ending the age of dinosaurs several times over were exchanged in a single battle.
That was what conflict between royal spirits looked like.
‘And something on that level is interfering in the human world...’
Hadn’t she mentioned that one pillar of the spirit royal families recently collapsed?
She’d heard the aftermath had thrown the spirit realm into chaos.
Could this be connected?
“Guests. I don’t know how you managed to come here, but...”
A voice came from beyond the gate.
The Lord Merchant.
“You cannot enter the territory.”
The tone was polite.
But there was steel inside it.
You bastards.
You came into my territory without permission?
Push your luck any farther and I’ll kill you instantly!
He had merely expressed that sentiment politely.
“Ah. Sorry about that... I’d be pissed too if guests suddenly barged into my place. Ah, right. My name is Cheon Ryujin.”
“Cheon Ryujin?”
The response sounded as if he had never heard the name.
Who’s that?
You think you’re somebody?
That was the meaning beneath it.
‘This damn spirit bastard.’
Cheon Ryujin clenched his fist but suppressed his temper.
The Lord Merchant’s pressure felt closer to a phenomenon than an individual.
It was like talking to the open sea...
Getting angry at the ocean only made you look stupid.
Buzz buzz.
A coin-shaped device began flying around the gate, and that tiny object contained absurd levels of technology.
“!!!”
Cheon Ryujin and Wol Hayeon recognized the device’s specifications.
Even China’s Yuanshi would have to bleed from every orifice trying to make something like that.
“Ah. My Director of Secret Intelligence says he’s curious why our guests have come.”
Director of Secret Intelligence...?
Apparently, the Lord Merchant had countless retainers beneath him and received advice from them.
That coin.
Was it merely a communication device used by the Director of Secret Intelligence?
If even a communication device contained technology of that level, then the Lord Merchant was probably the head of an enormous organization.
(Damn. Did we come to the wrong place?)
(I’m regretting this too.)
Wol Hayeon and Cheon Ryujin whispered to each other.
They were considering fleeing when an Asura Rakshasa handed them something.
It was.
A glass cup filled to the brim with chlorella.
At the very least, the Lord Merchant was still treating them as guests.
For now.
“Please drink.”
The Lord Merchant said.
Drink.
Before I kill you.
That was how it sounded.
“Gulp.”
Cheon Ryujin downed the entire glass in one shot.
Chlorella was something he could never get enough of.
If they were giving him this much for free, thank you very much.
He’d be set for several days.
“Thanks.”
“Not particularly.”
“...”
That probably wasn’t modesty.
To the Lord Merchant, something like chlorella genuinely meant nothing.
What kind of astonishing territory spread out beyond this enormous gate?
Probably one beyond human comprehension.
“Are you not drinking?”
At the Lord Merchant’s remark, Wol Hayeon hurriedly drank her chlorella.
She downed it in one shot.
“C-Cough... It tastes wonderful! Ugh.”
“I’m glad it suits your palate. Would you like another glass?”
“...”
Wol Hayeon turned pale.
Cheon Ryujin seized the opportunity and ordered extra.
“I’ll take two more.”
Glug glug glug.
An Asura Rakshasa refilled his chlorella.
Cheon Ryujin drank glass after glass.
“You drink that remarkably well. Fascinating.”
Cheon Ryujin felt like a seal at an aquarium.
A seal gets praised just for eating fish.
People watch and say how fascinating it is.
That was exactly what the Lord Merchant was doing.
Wow, amazing.
“Ahem. I’ll drink too.”
Because Cheon Ryujin was drinking so well, Wol Hayeon became self-conscious.
I don’t even need chlorella!
It makes my stomach churn!
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Ghk. Ugh.”
Wol Hayeon forced herself to drink the chlorella.
That should count as fulfilling her duties as a guest.
“The reason we came here is because we’re curious about the Lord’s intentions. Thanks to your lettuce, Nightmare patients have improved.”
“That’s fortunate.”
“Forgive my insolence, but what do you plan to do from here?”
“From here? About what?”
“Please, I beg you. Tell us what you hope to achieve by distributing the lettuce!”
It was a natural question for a human.
There was no way a psycho spirit sincerely wanted to help people.
And the answer they received went beyond shocking.
“If there is one immediate objective I must accomplish with lettuce, it would probably be Carcosa.”
At the casually spoken word, Cheon Ryujin and Wol Hayeon froze.
Carcosa.
To members of Academy Class 13, that word was a curse.
Ever since Ji Wuchang read a book called <The Road to Carcosa> and fell into eternal sleep.
They had continued pursuing clues to this very day.
“I need to go to Carcosa.”
“...”
And finally.
They had found one.
A being standing before them knew about Carcosa.
“Carcosa! W-What exactly is it? Where is it? What are its characteristics?”
“That is unfortunate.”
Ah.
A cold response.
“I have no specific information I can tell you.”
It was a warning.
Don’t try to learn about it.
Don’t dare question me.
The two bit their lips.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn about Carcosa!
“A deal.”
Cheon Ryujin’s eyes flashed.
He couldn’t give up.
“How about we make a deal? I’m pretty capable on Earth. If it’s something that can be done there, I’ll do anything for you.”
It was a chance to gain access to information about Carcosa.
They only needed to spend time building a relationship with the Lord Merchant.
Provide convenience, prove their usefulness, and continue helping him.
Eventually, they might secure a cooperative relationship.
“Hmm. Something I need.”
Cheon Ryujin clenched his fist.
His offer sounded impressive, but what could a monster like this possibly lack?
If an elementary schooler offered the President of the United States a deal, the President would probably pat his head and call him cute.
Or the Lord Merchant might demand something unimaginably brutal.
Burn a continent.
Massacre huge numbers of people.
“Flame Axes, Elf Boots, Orc Bracers.”
“Huh?” “What?”
Cheon Ryujin and Wol Hayeon blinked.
That dirt-cheap beginner Climber set?
Why mention that?
A spirit obviously wouldn’t need trash like that.
There had to be some deeper meaning.
I Set Up House in the Tower, and Making Money Became Too Easy