The Final Boss Has Returned
Chapter 64
“Good work, Drakan. Truly, you always exceed my expectations. If we continue like this, we should be able to achieve our goals smoothly.”
Having said that, Shin Ha-yeon hesitated for a moment before pulling a key from inside her jacket.
“This is a gift containing my feelings for you. I do hope you like it.”
What Shin Ha-yeon pulled out was a car key!
I blankly accepted the car key she handed over.
It was a key with a foreign car logo engraved clearly on the keychain.
“It’s a Mercedes S-Class. I thought a more expensive car might be a bit burdensome for you, so I chose a cheaper one… Is this alright? Or should I go exchange it for a Lamborghini or Bugatti right now?”
Shin Ha-yeon’s voice reached my ears as I silently stared at the key.
Lamborghini and Bugatti!
As expected of a chaebol heiress. I laughed as I watched the names of world-famous supercars—so famous that even I, who had little interest in cars, had heard them countless times—suddenly pop out of her mouth.
“No. I like it. This is plenty.”
From the start, what I was interested in wasn’t cars but the game, so no matter the price or how luxurious the car was, it had nothing to do with me.
But from her perspective, that didn’t seem to be the case; until I answered, she wore a somehow restless expression. Shin Ha-yeon’s face brightened completely at my single answer of “I like it.”
“What a relief. If there’s anything you want from now on, please feel free to tell me. I’ll buy it all for you.”
Shin Ha-yeon’s words reached my ears as I put the car key in my pocket.
Coming from someone who called a Mercedes cheap and mentioned Lamborghinis and Bugattis, somehow it didn’t sound like a joke.
And so, finishing the meeting in a good mood, I activated the capsule and logged into the game.
[Welcome to Arde Saga Second, User.]
Along with the login welcome message I was now sick of seeing, my vision changed.
* * *
The scenery that appeared before my eyes was none other than the Tidal Blade Fortress!
After the Naval Decisive Battle ended, I had dismissed the users and wrapped up the event before logging off, so the fortress remained destroyed as it was.
“Management Mode.”
Seeing that, I immediately activated Management Mode.
Then, a three-dimensional holographic map of the Pirate Archipelago and a territory information window rose before me.
[Pirate Archipelago]
[Development Level: Intermediate Stage 2]
[The Pirate Archipelago is a rocky island floating in the center of the Eastern Sea, a strategic point located at the heart of the trade routes and the core stronghold of the Eastern Sea.]
[For a long time, these rocky islands have served as a base for pirates who plundered trade ships sailing the Eastern Sea, and Pirate King Drake unified the pirate world of the Eastern Sea and made the Pirate Archipelago his headquarters.]
[But now the Pirate King is dead, the Pirate Coalition is no more, and a new master has entered the Pirate Archipelago. Now it is your turn to bring winds of change to the Pirate Archipelago.]
[Military: E (A+)] [Military strength has plummeted due to the recent battle.]
[Economy: C (C+)] [The already poor economy has further deteriorated.]
[Public Order: E (F)] [The worst public order situation has slightly improved thanks to the occupying forces.]
[Culture: D (E-)] [No one calls pillaging culture.]
[Population: 22,420]
[Available Funds: 24,343,210 Gold]
[Monthly Income: 350,000 Gold]
[Special Notes]
[Pirates make up the majority of the population.]
[It is the midpoint of the Eastern Sea trade routes.]
[Island facilities were heavily destroyed during the course of battle. The development level has fallen. Restore major facilities to recover the development level.]
[The residents fear you, who sank the fleet and executed the Pirate King. The residents’ loyalty has temporarily increased greatly.]
[The waters near the Pirate Archipelago hold abundant fish resources. Since ancient times, the archipelago’s residents, including the pirates, have relied on these fish resources as their main food source.]
[View Major Facilities]
[Golden Harbor – A large-scale port that served as the home port of the Pirate Coalition fleet. Many infrastructure facilities remain intact. Maintenance is required.]
[Reconstruction Priority: D]
[Tidal Blade Fortress – The former headquarters of the Pirate King. It was heavily destroyed during the battle. Repair costs are required.]
[Maintenance Priority: B, Reconstruction Priority: B]
[Watchtower Lighthouse – Destroyed during the battle.]
[Maintenance Priority: C, Reconstruction Priority: C]
.......
The various stats on the territory information window were quite poor, but I didn’t pay them much mind.
Development level was a stat that could be raised as long as one had money, and I was currently overflowing with territory operating funds. If I fell short, I just had to ask Shin Ha-yeon for more.
What was important now wasn’t the development level.
It was how to make use of this Pirate Archipelago.
Well, there were abundant fish resources nearby that could be put to use, but the profits obtained through fish resources and attracting fishermen were somewhat lacking.
Since the Pirate Archipelago itself was mostly rocky islands with low land productivity, this was all the more true.
It was no wonder the islands had survived on piracy since ancient times.
“As expected, should I raise it as a military stronghold even if I take some losses?”
I thought so while looking at the holographic three-dimensional map of the Pirate Archipelago.
Winning the Naval Decisive Battle was good, but the Pirate Archipelago was a dubious prize. The land itself held little potential, but militarily it was a strategic point.
The island’s position was so good that occupying this land was essential to holding dominion over the Eastern Sea. It just went to show that the Pirate King hadn’t built his fortress on this barren land for nothing.
An island with low economic value but high military value!
That was precisely the Pirate Archipelago.
Clicking my tongue, I pressed the major facilities entry.
[Tidal Blade Fortress]
[A building that was both the Pirate King’s headquarters and the Pirate Coalition’s main base.]
[It was heavily destroyed during the battle. Repairs are required.]
[Functions]
[Can distribute the class-change quest for the class “Pirate.”]
[Administrative work processing efficiency is increased.]
[Zone maintenance becomes possible.]
[Zone administrators can be appointed.]
Tidal Blade Fortress!
Surprisingly, this fortress had the function of distributing the Pirate class-change quest.
In other words, once the fortress repairs were completed, a new class called “Pirate” would appear, just like the Black Magician.
Of course, rather than real pirates who plundered like those of the Pirate Coalition, it would be treated as a type of combat class similar to “Thief” or “Rogue,” but anyway, since a new class was opening up, it meant securing a certain amount of floating population.
I smiled.
The more new content I opened, the more my image among the users would gradually turn positive—this was already proven when the Black Magician and Fishman content opened.
Especially if a new class opened after showing an image renewal through the recent interview?
Public opinion would definitely become even more favorable.
Smiling, I checked repairs for all facilities in the Pirate Archipelago, including the Tidal Blade Fortress.
[Total Repair Cost: 13,000,000 Gold]
[Proceed with repairs?]
A price a whopping 7 million Gold cheaper than when I repaired Lawless Port!
Satisfied with that price, I pressed the repair proceed button.
[Proceeding with repairs.]
[Total Repair Completion Time: 10 Days]
[Development level of the territory rises as large-scale building repair work is carried out.]
[Once repairs are complete, the Pirate Archipelago will regain its original appearance.]
At the very moment I was smiling so contentedly.
[A messenger of the Deathless King has arrived at Lawless Port Granada.]
Seeing the single line of text that appeared before my eyes, I immediately dashed out of the Tidal Blade Fortress.
* * *
Naval Decisive Battle!
The effects of this war that decided supremacy over the Eastern Sea were felt not only by ordinary users.
Ten Great Guilds!
Super-sized vested-interest forces created by gathering Arde World’s veteran players. They too were shaken by Drakan’s rise.
Among the Ten Great Guilds, excluding Yujin’s Lightwing Guild and his allied guilds—the five guilds commonly called the Five Eyes—the remaining five guilds were all affiliated with major corporations or, if not, sponsored by them.
In particular, there was a subtle sense of rivalry between two guilds owned by domestic major corporations, Simseong Milky Way and JDG. Because JDG was doing well these days thanks to its collaboration with Drakan, the atmosphere at Simseong Milky Way these days was like a sheet of thin ice.
“Don’t you see JDG’s guys rising in the rankings? And what about Drakan? Do you even know how enormous the advertising effect of the Jeil Group they gained because of that is? At this rate, when the hell are we going to catch up to them?”
Guild Master of Simseong Milky Way, Changwang Rio!
The user who wielded the spear best in Arde World. A man who occupied one of the mere twenty Over Ranker seats and a star user leading countless fandoms, but in reality, he was merely a gamer.
Especially in front of the man sitting before him.
“I’m sorry.”
Rio bowed his head.
At Rio’s words, the face of the man in a suit—Shin Jeong-hyeok, vice chairman of Simseong Group and its crown prince—twisted in displeasure.
The successor of Jeil Group—no, Shin Ha-yeon, who had even overthrown her own father through a final purge and ascended as its de facto emperor!
Shin Jeong-hyeok harbored an inferiority complex toward her.
To begin with, Simseong Group and Jeil Group were originally one group that had split apart due to a war between brothers. Even though they were relatives with the same family name, they were famous for having a relationship worse than strangers.
On top of that, his father, Chairman Shin Dong-jin, had constantly compared him with the brilliant Shin Ha-yeon since childhood to provoke him—the one who had been designated as the group’s successor. Because of this, Shin Jeong-hyeok harbored an enormous inferiority complex toward her.
To such a Shin Jeong-hyeok, the fact that Shin Ha-yeon’s JDG was recently monopolizing the buzz was a situation more than enough to offend his mood.
“Don’t just say sorry with words—bring me countermeasures. Countermeasures! Use whatever means necessary to bring me buzz. Start a war like those JDG kids if you have to!”
“Understood.”
Having been nagged several more times after that, Rio let out a small sigh as he closed the door to the vice chairman’s office after the reprimand ended.
Because the fact that no matter how well he did in the game, he was no match for the real power players of reality struck him anew, drawing a hollow laugh.
Simseong Group!
The chaebol group that had wielded the most powerful force in Korea before the game company Miracle Entertainment, the developer of Arde Saga, stole the number one spot in market capitalization. A conglomerate that had once possessed such overwhelming power that it was called the Simseong Republic!
As they say, even a dead lion is a lion. The power of Simseong Group, represented by semiconductors and smartphones, remained formidable not only in the Republic of Korea but across the entire world even now, after Miracle Entertainment had pushed it down to second place in the business rankings.
Rio never had the right to refuse an order from the crown prince of such a group from the very beginning.
“War, huh.”
Rio chewed over Shin Jeong-hyeok’s words.