Ranker’s Return

Hyeonu felt reassured by the return amulets that filled one corner of his inventory. He had said those words to the emperor, but in reality, he didn’t know who would participate in the quest.

'If I need help, then...’

Hyeonu had no intention of calling people randomly as he had previously called too many people in the main scenario.

‘Should I call Seokjung hyung-nim?’

Still, he wondered if Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu should be called. The relationship between them wasn’t one where he had to calculate things like this.

‘I’m sure they will come running if I call...’

His thoughts lasted up to there. It would only be a matter of consideration after meeting them, so he delayed the decision. There was a lot of work to be done right away.

‘Return to Territory.’

The management of his territory was first. Hyeonu disappeared from the East Continent.

***

[Territory Status Window]

[Territory Name: Phinis Earldom (formerly the empire’s direct territory)

Lord’s Name: Gang Hyeonu

Territory Development: Economy: 51 (-27)   Military: 76 (-17)   Magic: 56 (-45)   Culture: 37 (-17) 

Territory Population: 184,133 people

Territory Assets: 22,938 gold

Consumption Cost: 16,020 gold

Levy Amount: 3,520 gold

Security: Average

Owned Facilities: 7 (excluding residential facilities)

Status: The Knights of Keon are watching over the territory. They are nurturing troops and preventing the invasion of monsters.] 

The territory restoration work was in full swing with the Goldberg Commerce Group as the main axis. The consumption cost had reduced while the levy amount had increased. Hyeonu calculated it roughly, and it was exactly a 10% difference.

‘Is it a title effect?’

This was the effect of the First Lord title. There was a smile on Hyeonu’s face as he continued to read the rest.

‘The recovery is very fast.’

The economy had recovered by 9, the military by 14, and culture by 20. The Goldberg Commerce Group had really poured money into the territory’s economy and culture. He hadn’t confirmed the outside scene yet, but in terms of numbers, it had recovered tremendously.

‘The military is the responsibility of the Knights of Keon.

The Knights of Keon played a large role in the restoration of the military figure. It was a result of Lebron’s relentless care for Phinis.

‘The problem is magic...’

The issue was with the magic figure. It hadn’t recovered at all, and Hyeonu didn’t know why. Why wasn’t the figure restored? The senses he’d developed from his years of gaming were shouting that there was a problem with the buildings. Hyeonu tapped on the current facilities column to check the buildings in the territory. 

[Owned Facilities]

[Lord’s castle, city walls, knights’ dormitory, soldiers’ dormitory, cafeteria, smithy, general goods store.]

It was simple, too simple. He had guessed it from the number ‘7’, but he hadn’t expected it to be so shabby.

‘There is a reason why only the military is high.’

Looking at the facilities, he understood the figures on the territory status window. There were five military-related buildings, which was why the military value was high and had recovered.

‘There are no magic-related buildings.

This was why there wasn’t a rise in numbers.

What was necessary to let it recover?

‘Should I build it? There must be magicians though...’

Hyeonu felt like he had to meet with the emperor and Suped. It seemed that building a magic tower alone wouldn’t raise the figure. So he intended to grab some magicians from the empire.

‘I just need to leak a bit of information about Senu to Suped, and he will take care of it.’

He just needed to catch Suped with bait, and Suped would send magicians to support him. Suped was the best great-magician of the empire, so Hyeonu believed he would have some degree of power.

‘I’ll check the construction site.’

Hyeonu wanted to see for himself the scene that was sucking up gold like it was blood. He was going to confirm the use of every gold coin.

‘Corruption can’t be forgiven!’

***

Hyeonu held Tang-E in his arms and went out on a patrol of Phinis. To be exact, it was surveillance. He was going to make sure there wasn’t any leakage of money.

“He’s the lord. Is that a bear in his arms? It’s really cute.”

“I agree. How can it be so cute?”

“Is it the lord’s pet? It is said the earl is raising a strange pet.”

The residents saw Tang-E in Hyeonu’s arms and were fascinated by him. They couldn’t take their eyes off Tang-E. It wasn’t just the residents of the territory though. Even the construction workers and Knights of Keon patrolling the territory focused their attention on Tang-E.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to do the construction?!!” 

The same was true for Jerry, the owner of the GoldbergCommerce Group who had appeared to reprimand the paused workers. He stopped moving when he saw the golden bear in Hyeonu’s arms. Then he rushed to Hyeonu. “E...Earl! This bear... What is it?”

As Jerry was currently a money bug digging into Hyeonu’s vault, Hyeonu responded to him in a sullen manner: “He is my one and only precious pet. Tang-E, say hello. This is the money bug, Jerry. There is no need to worry about him too much.”

At Hyeonu’s words, Tang-E scanned Jerry from top to bottom and then opened his mouth, “Yes, human dude. Since you are here, say a greeting. Worship Tang-E!!!”

Tang-E looked down at Jerry with really proud eyes. Normally, Hyeonu would hit Tang-E’s head, but not today. It was because the target was different. Jerry stared at Hyeonu like he couldn’t figure out the situation, but Hyeonu just stared back with a cold expression. No, Hyeonu was already no longer looking at Jerry. He was staring at the construction site behind Jerry, who didn’t know this and was silently oppressed by Hyeonu’s actions.

“I worship Tang-E!” Jerry knelt down and cried out reverently toward Tang-E.

Then everyone else also started to kneel toward Tang-E, crying out: “I believe in Tang-E!”

It was only then that Hyeonu grasped the seriousness of the situation.

“What did you say? You— Shit. Do you want to be disciplined?” Hyeonu whispered in Tang-E’s ear in a murderous voice.

“No, I was just playing around as usual... These humans took it strangely,” Tang-E responded like it was unfair, but the situation had already occurred.

“Get up. What are you doing? Aren’t you going ahead with the construction? Weren’t you placed here personally by the emperor? Are you just sucking up money??” Hyeonu exploded.

Immediately after that, Jerry stood up, bowed, and quickly organized those surrounding him.

“Everybody, start working!!! There is no bonus if you don’t reach the target today!” Jerry shouted at the workers.

After a while, Jerry confirmed that the construction was going on as usual and approached Hyeonu again. He asked, “Why have you come here all of a sudden?”

Hyeonu got to the point: “I think we need to build a magic tower. There might be knights, but... I think this is lacking.”

Hyeonu’s words surprised Jerry. A magic tower...

It wasn’t needed in Phinis right now.

“It’s already tight just to restore the city right now. Building a magic tower...”

“I’m not asking you to put your manpower on it right now. It doesn’t matter if the speed is slow. I just want to set up the framework so it can be built later.” 

Jerry nodded. It was possible like this.

‘Then that bear... I will have to make a statue of Tang-E.’

Jerry made a plan that Hyeonu didn’t know about. It was a plan to idolize Tang-E.

***

After parting with Jerry, Hyeonu returned to the lord’s castle. There were people he had to meet. They were the Knights of Keon that Lebron left behind. Hyeonu was going to have a proper first meeting with them.

‘I need to make use of them more systematically.’

Currently, it was good enough. The soldiers trained on their own and sorted out the territory. Still, there would be a clear difference once Hyeonu set up guidelines.

Hyeonu was thinking about this when he arrived at the knights’ quarters, a facility in the lord’s castle. One of the Knights of Keon discovered Hyeonu and jumped up in a hurry to meet him. “Hello, Earl Gang Hyeonu. I am a member of the Knights of Keon.”

“Yes, Letner. Can you call the other knights as well? They are helping me with the estate, but I haven’t said a single greeting to them yet,” Hyeonu summoned all the Knights of Keon with natural words.

Disappearing as quickly as when he came to Hyeonu, Letner went calling out for the Knights of Keon. The knights soon appeared one by one.

“All 40 people except the eight who went on patrol around the territory are gathered, My Lord.” Letner reported that they had all gathered except for those who were inevitably absent. 

Hyeonu stood in front of them and spoke, “Hello, Knights of Keon. I am Earl Gang Hyeonu. There are some familiar and unfamiliar faces. There is a reason I’m here today. It is to thank you and make a small request.”

The Knights of Keon listened silently to Hyeonu. They didn’t give a single reply. It was the influence of being thoroughly educated under Lebron.

“You just need to put in a bit more effort into training soldiers than you are now. However, if there are those with talents more suitable to be a knight than a soldier, I would like you to manage them separately.” The moment Hyeonu’s words ended, murmurs emerged among the knights. Hyeonu’s words meant that they were to raise disciples.

“Are you telling us to raise disciples? That is impossible without the permission of the knight captain. No matter how much My Lord says so...” Letner explained the reason for the murmurs.

Hyeonu shook his head and replied, “I’m not saying to raise disciples. I’m just asking you to intensify the training. They will be reborn as the Phinis Knights, not the Knights of Keon.”  

He was going to build up the Mysterious Sky Sect in Phinis. There would be dozens or hundreds of knights who learned the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art.

‘I will have to start raising them now if I want to use them in the siege warfare.’

It was an investment for the future, not Phinis.

“We understand. At My Lord’s command, the outstanding people will be trained separately.”

“Thank you. I will also tell Master.”

***

Hyeonu personally practiced the saying of ‘strike while the iron was hot’. He tore a scroll from his inventory and moved to Laek.

“Suped! Suped!”

When Hyeonu appeared in Laek and saw there was nobody nearby, he started screaming. There was still no reaction, so he raised his magic power and tried to punch the wall around him.

“This guyyyy!” You are just like your master. Full of muscles all the way to your brains!” 

It was only then that Suped appeared. He was holding a glass bottle in his hand like he came out urgently while doing something.

“It has been a while, Suped. How are you? Has your research resulted in anything?” Hyeonu greeted Suped with a casual expression.

“My life would be peaceful without you and your Master. Very much so. There is no longevity,” Suped said while frowning heavily.

“Then shall I just go?” Hyeonu pretended to tear the return scroll in his pocket.

Suped quickly exclaimed, “What brings you here? Did Lebron send you?”

Hyeonu smiled. “I found Senu.”

He said it very casually like it was nothing.

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