Chapter – 08
“Thank you for the warm welcome, Mayor.”
Raoul walked forward and shook Reynoldo’s hand.
He looks perfectly fine.
Raoul’s appearance was completely different from what Reynoldo had expected.
The mayor had imagined someone short and frail, with stick-thin limbs and a pale complexion, so the sight before him came as quite a surprise.
Raoul was almost as tall as Reynoldo, and his limbs carried a moderate amount of muscle, giving him a lean and agile appearance.
Above all, he was extremely handsome.
Reynoldo nearly found himself staring blankly at Raoul’s face, but he quickly came to his senses and spoke.
“So, Young Master Raoul. What brings you to our city?”
“I heard this is a good place for training.”
Hearing Raoul’s answer, Reynoldo felt deflated, thinking, Just as I thought.
Still, as always, he had a prepared speech for this situation.
“Of course. If you’re looking for a place to train, you’ve certainly come to the right place. As for this city…”
Although it irritated his pride to explain the same things over and over as if he were a tour guide, he knew that one needed money to maintain one’s dignity.
He’ll probably be just like the others. He’ll pretend to train for a while, kill some time, and then go home.
There were generally two reasons why young nobles came to Mira.
Either they had caused trouble in their territory and were sent here to reflect on their behavior, or they had heard that Mira was an excellent place for training and wanted to see if the rumors were true.
The rumor that Mira was an excellent training ground was not a lie.
The city had received the blessing of the gods, which prevented anyone from taking another person’s life.
Social status did not matter. As long as someone received permission to stay in the city, they were granted absolute protection.
If they were injured, their wounds would heal. If they died, they would be brought back to life.
It was quite literally divine protection.
Because of this, people could fight with real weapons in the city’s training grounds without the risk of losing their lives.
What better training ground could there be for young nobles who lacked real combat experience?
And yet, the reason the spoiled young nobles avoided training was simple:
Pain.
The city’s protection could preserve their lives, but it could not eliminate pain.
There was no way people who had grown up pampered would enjoy such grueling training.
That was why Reynoldo assumed Raoul would be no different. According to the rumors, he was supposed to be an extremely weak and delicate young man.
But the moment he heard Raoul’s next words, Reynoldo could hardly believe his ears.
“I would like permission to enter the Cursed Forest.”
“……!?”
Reynoldo stared at Raoul with a stiff expression.
Does this kid actually know what kind of place that is?
Yet there was nothing to be read from Raoul’s expression.
After a brief silence, Reynoldo spoke.
“That place cannot be opened. It’s far too dangerous. There would be no point in going inside anyway.”
The Cursed Forest was the part of Mira’s territory where monsters had settled.
The problem was that monsters could be resurrected, while humans could not.
Why would anyone risk their life hunting monsters that left nothing behind even when killed?
In the past, many people had entered out of curiosity and never returned.
That was why, ever since Reynoldo became mayor, he had prohibited anyone from entering.
“I know exactly what kind of place the Cursed Forest is. But I really want to enter it for training. If you grant me permission to enter, I’m also willing to invest money in this city.”
Reynoldo was tempted for a moment, but soon shook his head.
Someone must have told him that I’m desperate for money. But I can’t put a young man’s life at risk for a small amount of money. If something goes wrong, it could even cause trouble with the count’s family.
Besides, even though Raoul had mentioned an investment, how much money could the youngest son of a count possibly have?
Even if he were the son of a wealthy family, Reynoldo calculated that he couldn’t possibly have more than 5,000 gold.
Even that amount would be a blessing given Reynoldo’s current situation, but it wasn’t enough to justify the risk of opening the Cursed Forest.
Reynoldo decided to politely refuse.
“I appreciate your offer to invest, but I cannot open the Cursed Forest—”
“Five hundred thousand gold!”
“…for you! Of course, I was going to open it for you!! When would you like to enter?? You can go right away if you want!”
Reynoldo suddenly sprang to his feet, grabbed both of Raoul’s hands, and spoke in an excited voice.
As he stared at the sack of gold coins placed on the table, a huge grin spread across his face.
It seemed the negotiations were going to proceed quite smoothly.
Raoul and his group stayed in a residence provided by the mayor.
It was a large three-story building capable of accommodating all fifty people, and there was a spacious training ground in the rear courtyard.
The basement was even equipped with a private training room, a swimming pool, and a bathhouse, showing just how much effort the mayor had put into preparing the place.
Raoul stood on the terrace of the most lavishly decorated guest room, gazing at the sunset as he pondered.
The mayor has had a tough time too. I thought he was simply a stern and taciturn man.
This was something Raoul never would have imagined in his previous life.
Back then, Mira had been an extremely prosperous, wealthy, and vibrant city.
Naturally, the mayor’s power and authority had been high enough to overwhelm the surrounding territories, making him such an influential figure that it was difficult to even see him without making an appointment a month in advance.
But the Mira of today was nothing more than an undeveloped and unbalanced city.
There were far too many lodging facilities compared to the number of visitors.
There was a gigantic shopping district, yet only a few stores were actually open.
There were excessive public facilities and various guilds compared to the number of residents.
It was only natural.
The city had originally been designed with the assumption that players would eventually stay there.
Raoul even found it impressive that the mayors of the Hart family had managed to keep such a city from going bankrupt all this time.
But thanks to that, Raoul had accomplished everything he wanted.
Permission to enter the Cursed Forest had merely been a side benefit.
What he had really been after was Mira’s undeveloped real estate.
Through negotiations with Mayor Reynoldo, Raoul had purchased several prime pieces of undeveloped land and also agreed to acquire numerous strategically located shops in the outer city.
On the land he purchased, he planned to build luxury residences for nobles, guild houses for player guilds, communal housing for ordinary players, and even a ten-story luxury hotel.
It wouldn’t be long before this land, which was currently worth almost nothing, became incredibly valuable—worth hundreds of times more than what he had paid.
Once players began pouring into the city and war broke out across the continent, this place would become the ultimate refuge, a place where people could remain safe from the threat of death thanks to the blessing of the gods.
In my previous life, they never sold land to anyone. They made an incredible amount of money simply by renting it out. Sorry, but this time I’ll have to take a share for myself.
Fortunately, his budget was more than sufficient.
He had earned 4.5 million gold from betting on the tournament and borrowed another 500,000 gold from the count, giving him a total of 5 million gold.
That was an enormous sum—nearly half of the count’s entire territory’s annual budget.
Since one gold coin was worth roughly 100,000 won, it amounted to an astonishing 500 billion won in Earth’s currency.
The scale of the gambling stakes had simply been different.
The count’s territory alone had dozens of subordinate families, and when the surrounding territories were included, the population exceeded several million.
And it wasn’t just the residents. Wealthy nobles, knights, and even professional gamblers had all joined in.
I thought I’d handled quite a bit of money in my previous life after becoming a ranker. But when you’re playing in a completely different league, the amounts changing hands are on another level.
But…
Considering the coming war and the potential enemies he would have to face, even this amount of money was nowhere near enough.
No matter what it took, he had to create as much wealth and as many sources of funding as possible before everything happened.
Free City Mira was only the beginning.
Before the other players arrived, Raoul intended to secure a foothold in as many free cities as possible.
Then he would use those foundations to expand his businesses and steer the players in whatever direction he wanted.
In his previous life, he had been crushed under the financial power of the massive guilds.
But this time would be different.
They’ll throw money around like idiots anyway, won’t they? But it won’t be as easy as it was before. That precious money of yours… I’ll suck it all dry like a leech.
Raoul clenched the bundle of gold coins in his pocket and made a firm resolution.
The next day.
Raoul went to the government office early in the morning and registered a guild.
Now that the guild function had appeared in the system, there was no reason to delay.
The guild’s name was First.
He had chosen the name because he intended it to become the first guild and the guild that would always stay one step ahead of everyone else.
Naturally, Raoul was the guild master, and the guild members were…
“So you’re saying I just have to sign here?”
Jake asked with a slightly bewildered expression.
“That’s right. Everyone else has already signed. How long are you planning to drag this out!?”
Raoul raised his voice slightly, prompting Jake to scratch his head before reluctantly picking up the pen.
“My mother told me never to sign things without reading them…”
I already explained everything to him last night. What a slippery little bastard.
Raoul shot Jake a glare before taking the final document bearing his signature.
With that, all fifty of his subordinates who had accompanied him had joined his guild.
Once the registration was completed the following day, they would probably witness an entirely new world.
In Connect, residents could also participate in player guilds.
Not only that, but the moment they joined a guild, they could receive assistance from the system as quasi-players.
Although they were restricted from using certain functions, they could still level up quickly through hunting just like players.
However, in reality, there were almost no cases of residents becoming active members of player guilds.
From a player’s perspective, there was no reason to fill their limited guild slots with residents.
If they needed manpower, they could simply hire mercenaries.
Besides, once a resident dies, that’s the end for them. There’s no reason to invest in them just to make them guild members. But my situation is different.
It was only natural for Raoul to accept his own subordinates as guild members rather than rely on players he couldn’t trust.
They shared the same roots as Raoul and had the same goal of protecting their territory.
Raoul submitted the signed documents to the government office and headed toward his next destination.
Now that he had finished registering the guild, the only thing left was to equip himself with a new weapon for his growth.
[Warrior Association — Mira Branch]
Raoul glanced up at the sign before stepping inside the building with his subordinates.
“W-Welcome. How may I help you?”
The female employee stammered slightly, startled by the sudden arrival of such a large group of customers.
“I came to look at skill books. Up to what rank do you sell here?”
“Oh, you’re looking to purchase skill books? Our branch sells skill books up to C-rank.”
“Hoh, all the way up to C-rank?”
Raoul had expected to find skill books only up to D-rank at best, so he looked pleased.
But the female employee immediately added,
“W-Well, we only sell up to D-rank to ordinary customers. You need VIP membership to purchase C-rank skill books.”
Raoul’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
“What are the requirements for VIP status?”
“To become a VIP, you need to increase your contribution through our association’s quests. Otherwise, you need a certain amount of purchase history, but the required amount is rather large. So, if you start by increasing your contribution…”
“Enough. How much do I need?”
The female employee seemed embarrassed to say it and cautiously lowered her voice.
“T-Ten thousand gold. That’s a little excessive, isn’t it?”
Raoul let out a small chuckle.
“That’s not much. Then I’ll buy everything up to D-rank for now.”
“Which type of skill books would you like to see? Swords, spears, axes, blunt weapons, shields. Just tell me!”
“All of them.”
“What?”
“I said I’ll buy every single type from F-rank to D-rank.”
Raoul pointed along the shelves from left to right with his finger.
The female employee could only stand there dumbfounded for quite some time.
