Clearing the Game at the End of the World

Thunk, thunk.

“Well… it looks like there are almost none left.”

“That isn’t good. According to my predictions, we should have been greeted by a rain of arrows at the village’s entrance…”

That wasn’t an exaggeration because this was incredibly unexpected based on our group’s identity and objective, target destination, and other factors, such as the roar that happened just around the village.

The entrance village to Ray Line, Estanic, was empty.

“I am not sure. Is this really that surprising? Rodrick is almost about to collapse. And considering the fact that this village is close to the Western Frontlines, it would feel like it is natural for them to evacuate any people or valuable items that mutes may take.”

“It’s a problem because that isn’t the case for this village, Ottman.”

Comparing it to an RPG game, the Ray Like was the only possible entrance to a Lv.90+ level dungeon called the Blue Line Mountains. Splitting the World 3 activity area into four quarters, the Blue Line is running vertically through the center of the map, and to the east of that, centered around Rodrick, is the Free Trade City Association, the 3 Teldrat Nations, and other smaller countries; further east from there is the Desert Nation; on the opposite side of the Blue Line is the Baltin Empire and their numerous vassal states; and further west from that is the Eleven Forest.

And so the only path that connected the two kingdoms was the Ray Line, and the nobles who were always going crazy over anything that was rare and valuable set ridiculous prices for the trade goods that crossed the mountain range, and as a result, any merchant guild that had some level of fame in World 3 all utilized the Ray Line.

In those circumstances, although they had stabilized the path, it still passed through the Blue Line Mountains teeming with high-ranking undead and beasts, so the five major churches limited the number of people that could travel through the path at once so the monsters were not triggered.

Traveling through the Ray Line, it was rumored that just one trip back and forth would provide enough wealth for three generations to even the luggage carriers.

The competition skyrocketed when a capacity limit was added to a road so popular that the rough dirt was paved by the traveler’s footsteps.

Like it always has been, people gather where the money is. So in order to get in line to travel through the Ray Line and to bribe the church people who managed the road at the entrance of the Ray Line, the caravans of each nation created a branch and dispatched workers to Estanic, the closest village to the Ray Line at the time. Seeing that, people flocked to Estanic in the hopes of being able to participate as porters or mercenaries. And the number of shops and inns to accommodate those people also increased rapidly. And because the village became larger, retailers settled in the village to purchase goods that the merchants brought from across the mountains at a cheaper price… This resulted in the village growing so much to the point that the village, which used to be a little distance away from the Ray Line entrance, was now right up to the entrance.

So who would protect this village?

The knights of each nation were dispatched to protect the merchants, who were loaded with gold, jewels, and goods special to the Eastern Desert Nations. Not only the knights from the three Eastern nations, but the kingdoms on the other side of the mountains also guarded the village.

Clack!

“Do you understand now why I was so surprised when I saw that the village was empty?”

When he sat down on the fountain of the empty village and jotted down a brief explanation on top of the water, the rest of the group, aside from Borka, nodded in acknowledgment.

“I see. I have also heard several rumors about this place. It was something about how when a merchant guild a royal was running gained access to the Ray Line, the rivaling royal accused the churches of interfering in their inheritance fight.”

“With that much interest, the money connected to this place isn’t just one or two Shillings…”

“Don’t even get started on it. There are also rumors that the King of Idrixil, a vassal state of Teldrat, sold the crown and scepter that had been passed down for generations in order to buy a seat in the corner-most spot in the Estanic trading post, but that wasn’t enough, so he went back empty-handed.”

That was the reason I was surprised.

The Estanic Village had too many benefits to just abandon it like this.

Rodrick? They could have done that. Their kingdom is on the brink of destruction. They’re leaving the nobles out to sleep on the streets, so they could care less about money right now. So obviously, they could retreat their troops.

But what about countries like Teldrat, where commerce is the basis of the country and the fight over wealth is so fierce that one can’t even be considered on the level of an aristocrat without a free trade union or private merchant company? As rare as the opportunity is, even caravans that have the power to move entire countries take out a full loan before passing through the mountains, so if the business is canceled, then not only those merchants but the other merchant companies that had contracts to share the interest and prepared by receiving loans as well, and all of the other smaller companies connected to those merchants and the nobles that invested their money into those companies would all collapse. National crises or not, just a single day of delay in Estanic would mean at least a truckload of nobles who would raise up their weapons and start a territorial battle.

Even knowing all of that—the fact that Estanic was cleared out completely—meant that there was a continent-wide crisis so grave that counts and marquis-class nobles were prepared to live on stale bread and spoiled milk for the rest of their lives and still decided to withdraw their troops and dispatch them elsewhere.

“Or the nobles are out of their minds. It’s one of those two.”

The former was impossible, no matter how much the mutes got stronger after gaining the power of the gods. Even now, Rodrick, which was right up next to the north, was still managing to scrape by, and although they did lose, they did block the attacks, so there wasn’t a knife stuck up to the other countries under Rodrick right now. Not a single noble would be crazy enough to retreat their troops and risk going bankrupt just for ‘reserve forces’, so that guess was a no-go.

On the other hand, the latter was more than possible.

“Mmm… you must be referring to those Insomnia Crabs…”

I nodded at Ottman’s grim conclusion.

“Of course, all of the other countries are scared out of their minds. That’s why they sent all of their precious warriors to Rodrick before it collapsed and the problem spread to them. But even with Rodrick acting as a meat shield, they can’t completely stop the guerilla attacks from the mutes when they dig underground. And the Insomnia Crabs are only about the size of two fingers before entering the head, so it’s hard to catch them.”

“But… are we not preparing accordingly? They said that they found and executed about two infected nobles at the noble’s conference in Rodrick just a few days ago…”

“If what they found is two, then there’s going to be a lot more that they didn’t find. There are some, like the Level 6 mage in Tobrune, Isaac, where the mutes don’t just control them but use slight nudges and alterations in their memories to make them think that they’re doing something of their own will and make them act for the mutes. It won’t be easy to find them. The nobles who ordered their soldiers to retreat from here probably were also made to believe that ‘This is a national crisis! Even if my wealth is depleted, I cannot leave the troops to just sit idle! I will sacrifice myself and protect my country!’ and whatnot.”

Dayum. This is scarier the more I think about it. Looking at how every last one of them left this place, they figured out which noble in each country had the most influence in Estanic, and after figuring out where they lived, they sent a digging worm and an Insomnia Crab to infect their target. Actually, looking at this, any of the weaker kingdoms that didn’t have enough mages might have been wiped out completely.

If they carried out an operation targeting this place, where the majority of the money on the continent is gathered, then they obviously had economic terrorism in mind. All of the luxuries that were prepared to trade after crossing the Ray Line became worthless, and the Ray Line that was supposed to process all of these goods is across the Western Frontlines, which became a battlefield, and on that path now is a thundercloud of spirits ready to pounce on any bypassers, and there aren’t any troops to protect the village either. So they naturally take the steps to bankruptcy, and the impact…

“Supplies are going to be in shambles. Even if the nations try to deal with it, the bloodied know-how of war merchants can’t be learned overnight.”

Economic terrorism, economic terrorism… They might not only be trying to destroy the merchant companies to block transportation but also target the countries of origin as well. Like the quality iron mines of the Free Trade Association or Teldrat’s vast grain fields…

“Agrhhh! My head hurts!”

Crunch!

“W-what is it? Why destroy the fountain all of a sudden…?”

“Because I’m pissed off! I happily escaped that headache of a troop distribution, happily robbed the church’s storage house, and was just about to hope that I could live without thinking for just a second when this happened! He’s outright yelling at me with these traces that he’s going to do something! I don’t want to fight with you! I just want to be chess piece A on the board!!!”

==========

- Jokass : Don’t think so. I think they’re just trying to use tricks to make it look like a political issue instead of using mutes so they don’t get caught.

- Soygaybar : Says only people like you….

- professor : Everyone shut up! Just sit there and pretend you understand how I feel!

- Soygaybar : Mmm understandable

- Speedwagon : That’s rough buddy.

- Undam_undam : Mhm mhm. You’re 100% right. It’s hard being you prof.

- Noru_is_druig : Just think of it as fate for being born with that head of yours. For ppl like me, it would just end with ‘The village is empty? There’s no loot? F**k this garbage game.’

==========

Even if I try to ignore it, I’m just about to leave Rodrick for an entire month, and there are traces right in front of my face that tell me they’re up to something. How am I supposed to not be worried?

How did this bastard even learn all of this stuff? It’s him, right? My clone named… Palcatus, was it?

I continued thinking while crossing through the empty village, but I just couldn’t leave like this. Even if I contacted the church, all I could tell them is to ‘Check their heads extra carefully, especially the people related to the supplies’, and the church and mages are probably already doing everything they can to check. There needed to be another method. Another one…

I already had too many experiences with Rodrick’s useless noble bastards to trust them. Who cares if they have great knights? Their master is dumber than a slab of meat.

Clang!

Clang—!

It was then. When I was just about to take another step forward, the sound of metal colliding came into my ears.

“Is this… a fight? Borka!”

“Western end of the village! Crowd of undead and many humans! They’re battling!”

“How many do you mean by many?”

“At least a hundred of them! There’s enough that I cannot count them all at once!”

Even before I spoke to him, Borka transformed into his wolf form and climbed up to the roofs to report everything he could see.

“Undead! I heard that the church has been guarding the Ray Line entrance and its perimeters!”

“The church probably also retreated their troops after the people in the village left! They’re short on people too, you know!”

Crunchhh!

Carrying Ottman, who hurriedly started to make hand motions, I ran towards the western side of the village. The buildings and alleyways shooting by me, I arrived at the Ray Line entrance engraved with the 5 major churches and found dozens of carriages and carts set up as a barricade.

There were those struggling to fight against the undead, wielding halberds twice the size of normal halberds, and those supporting them behind the barricade with crossbows and scrolls.

‘They’re not knights. But their individual strengths are more than decent, and they have an organized tactic. Those random weapons are fitting together in the battle like gears in a clock. They’re mercenaries, and advanced ones at that. Then the people hiding and fighting behind them are…’

In a split second, the half-torn flag hanging on the carriage came into my eye.

A symbol with a golden sickle and silver grain crossed together. With a long history starting in World 2 and full support from the Church of Fertility, the undisputed Number 1 guild in World 3!

“Gold Geyser! Goodness! Oh my Ro Haram!”

Feeling the problems that were straining his brain flutter away with the company’s flag, Professor leaped in front of the mercenaries and swung the crimson gauntlet on his right hand right away.

Crunch!

Snap! Crunch, crunch!

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

As the red gauntlet landed square in the ribs of the Death Knight, who was in the lead, and its half-collapsed body of the undead swayed and poured out a black smoke…

“In the name of Light!”

The white gauntlets with open fingers, along with the holy relic clenched in them like brass knuckles, moved in the arc of the Light’s Martial Technique the Archbishop taught him and swung towards the undead’s hollow abdomen!

“Perishhhhhhh!!!”

Whoomph—!

Crack!

With a sound that could not have come from a top-tier undead knight with over 80% physical damage resistance, the Death Knight was flying far into the distance with its upper and lower bodies separated. In just two punches.

Thud.

The mercenary captain, who had been staring in awe at the unbelievable situation happening before his eyes, jumped back to his senses when the bottom half of the Death Knight landed back on the ground. Strength already beyond the spectrum of humans. Holy light shining from the tip of his hands. That masculine physique! Above anything else, that word those light cultists yelled out every single time in battle!

“Are you perhaps… from the Light’s Order?”

To the careful question from the battered mercenary captain, Professor glanced at his group successfully hacking away at the rest of the spirits inside of Ottman’s water bubble, then carefully placed a hand up to his chest with a solemn expression.

“Latura, Ro-Haram. I’m afraid this is not such a good evening.”

Rustle!

In response to my positive reaction, a fat man who was shooting a crossbow on top of the carriage scurried down and approached me.

“Guildmaster of the Gold Geyser, Geld Praus! So the Light’s Order has accepted our trade after all! Even when Fertility, who we traded with for so long, abandoned us!”

“Hahahahah. Ro Haram watches and cares for all. The Gold Geyser at the risk of bankruptcy is also one of those under the light’s watch, so how could we just ignore you?”

“Ohhh! Thank you! Thank you so much! Once this journey is over, I will most definitely repay the Light’s Order! I will promise it in the name of the Gold Geyser guild and the Praus Family!”

“Yes. Indeed you shall…”

Shaking hands with the guildmaster, who seemed to be nearly jumping for joy, Professor smiled widely at the mountain of valuables and goods behind him. With the situation in this state, they were the trade goods that the guild prepared with the guild’s entire fate on the line, along with other luxuries from other guilds that were deemed worthless because of the war and abandoned.

“I sincerely pray that you will succeed in your journey.”

As Ro Haram says, “When you stand in darkness, there will be light”.

If you’re killing off the merchants, then I need to revive them.

The moment I saw the rows of carts with mountains of goods stacked on them, a solution to the problem I had just been thinking about popped into my mind.

No matter how much the nation tries, the most they can do is collect the supplies in their vicinity, and in the end, for a continuous supply, they would need to sign a contract with merchants who would go around and collect more goods from various regions.

The mute’s strategy to destroy the supply network by removing merchants was incredibly novel and effective.

However!

‘All of the other merchant companies are about to go bankrupt? Perfect! If the Gold Geyser manages to trade those mountains of luxury items with food, metal, and arrows to the nations and western kingdoms that have not yet been affected by the war, then the Gold Geyser will be able to attain enough wealth to absorb all of the other merchant guilds! Instead, we could stabilize the supply through a unified system and simplified transactions!’

If they manage to complete the journey, then the tables are turned. The Gold Geyser’s guildmaster scraped together all of the bad stock, which risked everything he had, including his own life. But if this guy succeeds, then the supply route is going to become stronger than the silk from Rakshasha’s webs.