Chapter 73: A Gate Disappears, The Masses Panic!

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Daniela listened carefully to everything Riven was saying, slowly beginning to understand what he truly meant and the long-term plans he held for the future.

"So you have to move the whole gate, so it doesn’t belong to the Claymores anymore, I see!" she said with a bright smile. "The entrance fee is really steep, and that’s without even considering the monthly payment they demand from any guild that wants to visit regularly... Claymore Enterprises really loves to squeeze the population dry. Only the richest hunters out there can afford to go into the higher-leveled dungeons. People like me are usually stuck at D or C Rank forever..."

"Hm..." Riven nodded in quiet agreement. "Well? That’s about to change."

Daniela’s eyes sparkled with genuine excitement as she nodded eagerly. "It’s so cool! I hope we can eventually do the same with every dungeon they’ve claimed!"

"I had no idea this could even be done with my Authority, but I believe it aligns perfectly with my goals," Riven said thoughtfully. "Hence, we must hurry. We need to gather more resources and money, and then purchase proper land... For the time being I will keep this gate for myself. I’ll summon the Giants, ask them to mine the precious magic ores inside, and use those materials to create a small fortune. We’ll also come here regularly to hunt monsters so we can gather more and more loot."

"Nice!" Daniela said, her voice full of energy. "So we really have our own personal gate?!"

"Not forever, but I’ll keep it for now until we can continue with our larger goals," Riven nodded firmly.

He knew it was completely unrealistic to simply release the gate to the public right away. The Claymore Family would start investigating the sudden disappearance soon enough, and he still lacked the necessary funds to purchase safe land of his own.

The power of the Lord Authority did not care whether the Claymore Family had claimed any land with money or through the government.

The power of a true Lord was absolute, and the land would only respond to him.

The Wastelands were still generally unclaimed. Although some specific areas — such as mountains rich with magic ores or large deposits of liquefied mana and spiritual energy — had already been "purchased" and filled with Mana and Spirit Reactors, most of the rest remained free.

It almost felt as if Riven was the only one who could truly "claim" the world as his own. Whatever human society believed they controlled was nothing more than a false illusion.

A true Lord’s Authority was absolute.

"For now, we should leave," Riven said. "Let’s pretend we were also expelled."

"Oh, okay!" Daniela nodded quickly, watching as Riven stored the King’s corpse and the rest of the valuable loot before moving toward the exit.

The gate portal suddenly opened again to the surprise of the hunters waiting outside. Riven and Daniela stumbled out of it, acting as if they had been forcibly expelled right before the portal closed completely behind them.

"W-What happened?"

"It opened again for a moment?"

"Ah, two hunters came out?"

"Who are they?"

"Hey, did you see if something happened?"

A few of the panicking hunters immediately turned to Riven and Daniela with urgent questions. Both of them simply acted as if they had no idea what was going on.

"N-No, we were just hunting a headless knight and suddenly we got expelled right in the middle of the fight!" Daniela explained, putting on a convincing look of confusion.

"It was odd... as if the lord of the dungeon himself, the boss, suddenly took control and threw us out," Riven added in a calm voice.

"You guys were on the third floor?!"

"That’s amazing!"

"So it was the boss?"

"I had no idea the boss could just kick people out like that?"

"Huh, are you sure they’re not lying?"

"What would two ordinary humans even be capable of doing inside a dungeon? It’s not something we can control, you know?"

"Ah, right..."

The crowd continued panicking and talking among themselves, but because nobody had died and everyone had been expelled safely, the situation was not considered the absolute worst outcome.

However, this strange event became the first of many future cases where dungeon gates suddenly closed, disappeared completely from the map, and became forever inaccessible to the public.

While walking through the restless crowd, Riven reached out and gently grabbed Daniela’s hand, pulling her a little closer to his side.

"Let’s go for now. My wife must be waiting, and the sun is already setting," he said.

"Oh, okay!" Daniela nodded. "But damn... such a huge crowd. How many people were there?"

"Like... thirty or so," Riven answered. "The dungeon floors are very large, so hunters tend to spread out between the first and second floors."

Daniela nodded while watching the growing chaos as people argued and complained loudly to the security guards.

"I spent a lot of money just to get here! What is the meaning of this?!"

"Call Claymore Enterprises! Call them right now!"

"We’ve been robbed! Give our money back! We didn’t even get to hunt a single monster!"

"You already charge entrance fees, and we even have to pay a monster tax on top of that! And now you just take the dungeon away whenever you please?!"

As the hunters’ complaints grew louder and the chaos intensified, the guards did their best to hold the crowd back while apologizing repeatedly. One of them stood a short distance behind the others, speaking urgently onto a phone.

"P-Please calm down!"

"This isn’t something normal. We’ve never seen anything like this happen before!"

"We are already calling the authorities! Please relax! Everything is going to be okay!"

Riven overheard the man behind them sweating profusely while his superior screamed through the phone.

"Yes sir, the gate... the gate just disappeared. I don’t know— Ah!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T KNOW?! THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE! MY FATHER IS GOING TO KILL ME IF I DON’T GIVE HIM A PROPER ANSWER!!!"

"Hyeee! Please forgive me, Young Master! It wasn’t our fault!"

"WELL?! SOMEONE HAS TO ANSWER FOR THIS!"

That voice... Riven recognized it immediately. It belonged to one of his older brothers, most likely the one who owned this entire area and the three Gates within it.

"Mordred... So he’s the lunatic that owns this place."

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