Golden Experience

Chapter 189: “Colony”

“Your Majesty, there is no excuse I can offer…”

“Huh? What happened? Did you let the king escape?”

Since the situation had concluded, Deas was [Summoned] to the Hiers Castle.

As soon as he appeared, he knelt and began apologizing abruptly.

“No, we killed someone who seemed to be the king, but it seems some of the royal family members managed to escape.”

“Oh, is that so?”

After destroying the main camp where the king was located, Deas, leading the Adamant Scouts, launched a surprise attack on the palace. It seemed that all the elves and high elves inside the palace were killed, except for the king’s eldest son, the first prince, who had already escaped to the town.

“It’s strange that he managed to escape after we launched a surprise attack. The plan details were probably known only to you, Deas. If that’s the case, maybe he left the city regardless of how the attack on the capital would turn out.”

“If the city is under attack, one would normally think of taking refuge in the most heavily defended palace. However, if he was in the city when it was attacked, it might mean he had a great deal of trust in the king and the knights.”

Even if that were the case, if the king left the palace empty for interception, it would make sense for the first prince to fill in. In the central palace, which is crucial for the country, there should be someone capable of making decisions in case of an emergency.

Although it’s unclear how important matters in the city were, it seems lacking in self-awareness for someone who would eventually bear the responsibility of the nation.

“He might not be interested in national affairs or something like that. Well, I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t want to inherit the throne? If the king was healthy enough to come to the front lines, there would still be time for a succession, and maybe he hadn’t fully grasped his role and position yet. Unfortunately, his grace period moratorium ended forcibly.”

“Thanks to his own foolishness, he ironically survived alone…”

“No, I don’t know. Maybe he really had important business in the town.”

Deas seems frustrated, but the situation is not bad.

The execution of the main objective, Portree’s king, has been achieved, and according to reports, the prince is the only surviving member of the royal family.

Considering the possibility of the lizardmen quickly reproducing, it’s not entirely without risk, but according to the official site, Portree’s population is low, and that’s because elves, as a race, don’t reproduce easily. So, it should be safe to assume that only one royal family member will remain for a while.

Depending on the future developments, we might have to produce a Spirit Lord from the Portree Kingdom, and it would be better if some survived. More options are always good.

If necessary, we could [Subordinate] and forcibly reincarnate them, but paying a huge amount of experience points just for a key item is something she hesitates to do. If I’m going to spend experience points, I would prefer to use them on something more useful.

“For now, the result of the assault on Portree is reasonably good. Good job. Now, I’d like you to give me the next report, especially about the issues with the Adamant team.”

“Yes. Regarding the Adamant Knights, there is no concern about their defensive capabilities. However, there are many challenges remaining in areas other than defense, such as attack and evasion, this time.”

“Weapons have been replaced with Adamas, so there’s no problem with attack power, but if the opponent is superior, it becomes difficult to land a direct hit. Even with armor, if the opponent is superior, it can be difficult to land a direct hit. Even when we try to dodge, the lack of experience in receiving damage from normal attacks makes them somewhat lax in recognizing evasion. As a result, they are easily defeated by opponents who use powerful skills occasionally.”

“So, it’s better to promote a change in mindset rather than easy strengthening?”

“No, it might be possible to change their mindset through training, but it might be more efficient to strengthen them quickly by investing experience points. After all, they have weak self-awareness, so it’s unclear if the method of mindset change will be effective. If they can move faster than the opponent, evasion becomes easier, and landing an attack becomes easier too. Also, becoming smarter will make them more capable of learning, and they can predict the next move from the opponent’s actions.”

While there is a problem with their lax mindset, the idea that it will be fine if their foundation improves is not entirely without merit. Perhaps the minions tend to become similar to their master no matter what.

But that is more convenient for me.

“Understood. However, I don’t have enough experience points to do something about everyone. I’ve already used quite a bit. Well, I don’t plan to use the Adamants for anything immediate, and I can use the points earned in the next event.”

“Also, not an immediate problem, but all the Adamas clumps dropped in Portree were not completely recovered. Some of them might be reused within Portree.”

“I knew that to some extent from the beginning, and it doesn’t bother me. What’s more important is that we wiped out their elite guards by defeating the king. According to reports, the Royal Guards were significantly more outstanding compared to other knight orders, right? We can easily create weapons with skills, but gathering talented individuals takes time.”

The overall excellence of the people in Portree, an elf country, is largely due to their long lifespan. The low population is also a reason. Because they are hard to get rid of, they are hard to generate.

So, it would take a considerable amount of time to recover the lost talent.

I don’t know how many years have passed since the current king took over, but for the surviving prince to inherit the country and cause trouble for Hiers and Aural again, it will take some time.

However, it’s not guaranteed that they have that much leeway.

After all, this commotion originally started because Lyra used bandits to provoke Portree. She said during the tea party that the goal was to efficiently sell agricultural products, but considering the final goal is economic domination, the sale itself is important.

“When temporarily losing labor due to injuries and experiencing a drop in harvest, there is no reason not to jump at the chance to obtain cheap food from elsewhere. I recall Lyra mentioning that she was practically giving it away for free.

If people realize that this service is available continuously, some might stop working seriously.

Well, considering that the main food source for Portree’s elves seems to be fruit, it wouldn’t be surprising if Lyra ordered bandits to raid orchards. Unlike wheat and vegetables, orchards cannot resume operations the following year after being raided. In that case, there won’t be a decent harvest for a while, regardless of the residents’ intentions.

With the loss of the king and elites due to the attack, the shaken leadership of the Portree Kingdom is in no position to handle this situation.

Portree only has relations with Hiers and Aural. Well, Hiers is probably no longer a nation in their eyes, leaving only Aural.

In a situation where a force that successfully executed a lightning-fast decapitation operation against monsters is nearby, a new and inexperienced king cannot rebuild the country without relying on anyone. If the same thing happens again tomorrow, the country will surely be destroyed. They will likely seek help from the neighboring Aural.

Especially since Aural is providing cheap food to the villages that were attacked by bandits. It’s not unreasonable to mistake them for a friendly nation.

With assistance from Aural, they will try to rebuild the country.

If this situation continues for a while, Portree will be unable to sustain itself without Aural’s assistance. It may be fine as long as there are gold coins, but once those run out, they won’t be able to obtain food from Aural. At that point, Lyra’s plan will enter its final stage.

She will leverage the supplied food, pushing for something effective for Aural in place of orchards, possibly producing something that cannot be consumed directly.

If I were to do it, for example, it might be cotton or rubber trees. In terms of being difficult to use as food alone, spices, oil palms, coffee beans, cocoa, and such might also be suitable. Assuming they exist in the game.

Once that happens, even if Portree realizes Aural’s malice and tries to break free, it will be too late. Food self-sufficiency will have dropped to the extreme. They can only survive by selling the crops they produce to Aural. Even if they try to find other trading partners, the only neighboring country is Hiers. Well, not really a country.

Since Lyra has control over all of Aural’s cities, whether they sell to the country or the city is the same, and the possibility of having decent trade with the remaining cities on Hiers’ side has been crushed by the previous king of Portree.

There may be other cities within trading distance besides the invaded one, but no one trusts groups that suddenly invade, even if they were mistaken for bandits.

Unlike Portree, the player’s position in Hiers is not bad. That incident has likely already been spread to the NPC residents of nearby cities by players.

The lack of time for Portree to rebuild its country is due to such circumstances. There is even a possibility that someone like Queen Cecilia may end up becoming the King of Portree. Whether it’s allowed in the game is unclear.

“I didn’t expect Portree to provoke us, but thanks to that, Lyra’s plan has been accelerated. Probably, Lyra intends to colonize Portree.”

There is no need to worry about how much Adamas flows into such a country. There are probably some players in the country, and if Portree’s gold coins are gradually being drained by Lyra, Adamas will flow to the players in exchange for gold coins. Considering that high-level players like Wayne already have Adamas equipment, it’s too late for players to get their hands on Adamas.

“Anyway, I think the concerns before the event have been settled. If I have to say one more thing, I would just advise the managers of each dungeon to be vigilant. During the event, players might push forward with reckless strategies without fearing death.”

“And, well, it’s not a big deal, but just one more thing.”

“What is it? I might as well hear it since we’re at it.”

“We’ve recovered what seemed to be the legacy of the Spirit Lord, which the enemy leader intended to use. Please accept it.”

Something large was taken out in front of Rare. It seems it was stored in the inventory.

“What’s th—Heart of the Spirit Lord? An artifact!”

Players who once defeated me in this Hiers capital used an item that was precisely the Heart of the Spirit Lord. This is without a doubt the name I heard from Hiers’ Prime Minister Douglas O’Connell. At that time, I believe he said he had obtained permission from King Hiers to use the Heart of the Spirit Lord.

“What the hell. Do the royalty on this continent just use the heart if their capital is attacked? For someone who has never experienced war, they all seem to think boldly, throwing their maximum forces in from the start. Or maybe it’s just that their malice is too high. After all, they are descendants of those who seized the country. “

The heart is the item with the greatest power among the curses left by the Spirit Lord. I confirmed its effects in the treasure trove of Aural, so there is no mistake.

And there is no longer the Heart of the Spirit Lord in the treasure trove of this royal castle. There was only one in Aural. In that case, it’s safe to assume that it’s an item left in each country. In other words, Portree no longer has theirs. Their threat level has decreased by another notch.

“The heart that was intended to be used to threaten Aural was returned to Lyra, and it’s fortunate that we were able to obtain it here. Deas, this is a splendid achievement.”

“Yes.”

The fact that they were able to take it means that the enemy brought it to the battlefield with the intention of using it.

How they managed to take it away from them before it was used will never cease to interest me.

“There’s still some time until the event starts. Let’s take it easy and hear about it. Not in the form of a report, but of your tale of valor.”