Child of Destiny

Chapter 1346: Rise of the Dukedom

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Shin was disappointed that no one responded to his invite positively. Everyone seemed to be busy with either some racial and class-related quest or their promotion quest.

Even his newly added friends, Samael and Huahua, were not available. This pair of siblings seemed to have earned more fame points after the recent event.

Samael earned more reputation with the Church of the Sun and Moon, giving him a special promotion. He was also invited to try taking the Templar Promotion Quest.

It was the third tier of the Paladin Class, an orthodox class. But compared to the regular ones, this Templar Class was a sub-branch, which was exclusive to the Church of the Sun and Moon – the Eclipse Templar.

Shin was not surprised by the news since he somewhat expected it to happen. Given the current set of equipment that Samael possessed the unique sword that he had, and the level of quests that he usually took, it was just a matter before the guy reached a high-ranking official within the church.

The little shaman, Huahua, on the other hand, was suddenly promoted to an important position within the Sacred Light Kingdom due to the contribution that he had made when she brought the chalice.

The timid girl was overwhelmed with the swarm of work she needed. Fortunately, Lorraine pitied the poor girl and helped her finish all the tasks that needed to be done.

There was no need to talk about the others as they were equally busy.

Shin wanted to ask Shiella and borrow a few people from the Hand of Midas, but he was instantly rejected.

Shiella said that she was already short on manpower, which was why she asked him to help.

There were originally enough people to clear all the area around the city and the mountain. They even had enough people to clear the coastal area to prepare for the relocation of Calderock Town.

They had gathered enough after transferring the people from the other branches that the firm had to different kingdoms.

But after the events in the Sacred Light Kingdom, the barely enough people that they needed to be divided due to the branch that they were going to build there.

Shiella was quite reluctant about this. But since she knew how unique and rare the materials from that kingdom were, she had no choice but to accept Shin's proposal. Especially when the profession of Apothecary was so concentrated within the kingdom.

She knew how much benefit and profit they could get from setting up a branch in the kingdom, especially when they would be one of the new hegemons in the area.

With all of that, Shin was left alone once again.

As he was trying to look for a way to solve his problem, he was suddenly reminded of the residents that they had rescued during the early stages of the Empire Quest.

He wondered what happened to them, particularly to the new town that they had built after gathering everyone.

He also remembered that they were now his citizens.

"Now that I think about it, the town is supposedly along the coast," he mumbled as he recalled something. "I seem to remember that I asked Big Sis to take care of them. Don't tell me she has forgotten about them."

…

Even after walking along the coast, Shin failed to find the town. He was quite confused about this. After all, he could see the names of the Named NPCs on the special panel meant for his 'influence' just like Ribbit and the others.

Chief Lucas Choi - the previous village chief and a templar knight - was on the list. His name was grouped with the Knights that he had rescued during the previous quest along with a couple of Named NPCs.

His relationship with them also reached the 'Worship' level, so they should have an absolute loyalty to him. But the problem was, how he would find these people, or NPCs rather.

He found it strange, especially when he had already passed through the place where the village or town was supposed to be located.

"What is happening? Where are these people?" he mumbled confusedly. He was not sure what was going on.

He then walked to certain places where the training grounds that they had discovered were located. He could no longer find their traces even though their ruins were supposedly there.

He might have the blueprints of those training grounds and entrusted them to Shiella, and she said she would set it up in a place where no other people could discover aside from the ones closest to them.

Those training grounds should be their secret training cards that would be their edge over the other people.

But it remained that these places could not be found. From what he could remember, those places could still be used a couple of times before crumbling. They would only completely disappear after they had fully exhausted their energies.

The training grounds were also under his control, so he was supposed to receive a notification when there were other people, who wanted to use them.

But even after reviewing his notification log, he could not find anything.

"What is happening?" he mumbled confusedly.

As Shin went back to the coast, he suddenly found something strange in the distance. He squinted his eyes and focused on what it was.

Not long after, he found something moving on the surface of the sea. It slowly moved upwards before something surfaced and revealed itself.

Shin could only see a silhouette given the distance, and it looked like a moving hill.

He was about to activate his 'True Sight' when he suddenly sensed something. He turned his gaze toward another direction and saw a similar silhouette coming from a different direction.

Then there was another and another, and another more – multiple 'hills' surfaced from the depths of the sea one by one. They appeared one after another until they formed an army.

*Ding*

While he was watching everything, he suddenly received a notification from the system, making him curse silently. "What is it this time?"

He felt like he could not get a break when he was supposedly grinding peacefully while doing the task that he had.

System: The Lord of the Land is present! Territorial Quest has been triggered!

System: This quest can be done by either a solo or group mission, but the rewards depend on your choice and the result of the quest.

Note 1: Solo Quest grants better rewards.

Note 2: Additional rewards will be added depending on your performance.

Note 3: Solo Quest will improve your influence and fame, granting you a better standing at the Royal Court.

Shin was about to pick the group mission since he felt that it was more efficient. But when he saw the additional notification, he did not hesitate to choose the former.

*Ding*

System: You have chosen the Solo Quest Mode! Please look at the Quest Panel for more details.

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[Quest Name]: Rise of the Dukedom (Part 1)

Mode: Solo

[Quest Type]: Hidden Territorial Quest, Investigative Quest, Chain Quest

[Quest Difficulty]: Default – varies from the rank, tier, and level of the Lord of the Land.

[Quest Details]:

Quest 1:

You have just returned to your Dukedom, but you find something strange. The first town that you have built suddenly disappeared due to some unknown reason.

Quest 2:

A sudden invasion of the sea monsters is approaching due to some unknown reason. They will be launching an attack on your land within the next 2 days.

[Quest Condition]:

Quest 1:

Investigate the truth behind the disappearance of your citizens and find their location within the entire week.

Quest 2:

Repel the invasion alone and force them to retreat.

[Quest Rewards]:

Quest 1:

Increase your fame and influence.

Gain more citizens and army forces.

Your reputation in the Adventurer Guild will drastically increase.

Quest 2:

Increase your reputation within the entire Saint Heaven Kingdom.

Special Title

Your voice in the Royal Court will become louder.

Additional Rewards:

The rank of your Territory will be directly promoted to advanced rank after completing both quests.

Additional features on territory management will be added once the quests are completed.

Diplomatic Relationships will increase upon the quest completion.

Special Title will be promoted to Unique Title – Duke of Valor

[Quest Penalty]:

Death of the missing citizens

Drastic decline of your fame and influence

Destruction of 30% of your territory.

Level Decrease (-10): Temporary Demotion to Tier 2 if you fall below level 150.

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Shin was quite surprised at the rewards since it was somewhat new to him. Most of them were related to his current social status, particularly that unique title.

He was not sure if they were useful, but he felt that they should be given the harsh penalties that he would be receiving.

He could accept the rest, but the destruction of his territory would hurt, especially since the size of his land was quite huge.

Given this, Shin was prepared to go all out. He would be using everything he could, especially for the quest number 2.

This sudden invasion was something that must be dealt with as soon as possible. Moreover, he did not know how long it would last.

Fortunately, he had gotten a little clue from the system for this quest, unlike the first one, which did not give any hint or anything. He did not know where to start for the first quest, but the second one directly told him to chase these sea monsters away.

The best solution was to look for the leader of these monsters and kill them to scare the rest away.

Having that simple plan in mind, Shin suddenly waved his hand and summoned all his Elemental Spirit Companions, not holding anything back.

"The system only says that I can't share it with other people, but don't mention about these guys. They are a part of my strength, after all," he mumbled.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

All the Reapers appeared and formed a line in the air while releasing the powerful auras unique to each of them.

Hanzo and Solus stood highest in the air with the former crossing his arms in front of him while the other was holding her waist with her right hand posing.

Vladimir and Grimrace were slightly beneath the two as they stood beside Hanzo and Solus respectively. Vladimir still wore his haughty and arrogant look while the latter was licking his lips as if he found something delicious deep in the sea.

Whitie, Blackie, and Astaroth were originally standing on the same level as Hanzo and Solus, but they suddenly landed on the ground, right behind Shin.

Astaroth directly kneeled like a knight behind Shin with a lowered head. He even addressed Shin as his liege loudly, giving Shin the familiar cringe feeling.

To make it even worse, both Whitie and Blackie did the same and shouted his title as their lord. Their voices were even louder than Astaroth, resembling a thunder.

Even if there were no other people around, Shin felt so embarrassed to the point that he wanted to run away or dig a hole to hide.

Fortunately, his face was currently covered with the [Nephilim's Gemini Mask], hiding his embarrassed expression. Even his slightly red ears were hidden under the hood of his cloak.

Shin shook his head before signaling everyone to move. "Get moving already. We don't have that much time. Clear the sea first and find their boss and take him out."

Hanzo and Solus did not say anything as they immediately moved.

The former entered a spatial tear and disappeared for an instant before reappearing at the center of the sea monsters. He stood within the ranks of the monsters while holding his signature dual-bladed weapon.

This Ancient Void Spirit suddenly raised his head and swept his gaze at the monsters. His body flickered for a moment before a series of crisscrossing purple lines flashed everywhere.

The next instant every monster around him was diced and turned into cube meat that felt and floated on the water.

Solus, on the other hand, raised her hand and gathered the mana in the air. She was sucking all types of mana without filtering anything, which was against the laws of elemental magic.

Not long after, all these mana transformed and became pure Fire Elemental Mana. She had converted the other elemental mana to Fire Elemental Mana through an unknown technique.

A huge sphere of fire was swiftly formed above her, sucking more mana in the air. It only stopped when it became a miniature sun that evaporated all the surrounding water around here and the part of the coast underneath her.

Without further ado, she gently lowered her hand and pointed forward, sending the miniature sun forward.

It landed at the center of the incoming sea monsters before exploding.

Boom!

The scale of the explosion was so huge and powerful that it evaporated that portion of the sea before the water started flooding back, filling that part once again.

As for the sea monsters? Nothing was left behind, not even their toasted corpse.

It then signaled the action of the other Reapers. They quickly moved and charged toward the sea monsters, attacking with their respective means.

...…