The Overlord of Blood and Iron (WN)
Chapter 28: Gathering the Punitive Force (1)

“That is a wise plan!”

Lucia was amazed.

It was, simply put, using another to achieve victory. If they were to recruit adventurers, Laputa would not need to have additional casualties.

“Lord.”

Lucia said after realizing something.

“Speak.”

“You said that you will recruit adventurers and hunt the Peacock Dragon. Then, does that mean that although you will not take the troops, you will be participating yourself?”

“Yes.”

“I want to go as well.”

“You? You are my Secretary. If my deputy is also gone, who will run the territory?”

“There is someone!”

“Someone?”

“After seeing him work for a couple of days, Administrator Timothy’s abilities are amazing. Even if I am gone for a bit, Timothy would be able to fulfill the deputy duties. He too was an Secretary. Even if we leave it to him for a couple of days, it will not be a problem.”

“Hm…”

Lucia had a point. Honestly, even if Timothy took over the deputy duties, there would not be a problem. However, if there was something that bothered Chul-In, it was a question of how useful she would be in the battle against the Peacock Dragon.

“Lucia.”

Kang Chul-In thought for a moment and spoke.

“Yes, speak, milord.”

“Strangely, I cannot see your specialty. For me who cannot know what abilities you have, I am hesitant. Therefore, I ask you. Lucia, can you tell me what your specialty is?”

If you cannot see, you just need to ask. Lucia, who was his Secretary, would not lie to him.

“Yes, Lord!”

Lucia smiled widely and answered.

“Servant Lucia, reporting to milord. I do not have a specialty. Regarding special abilities, I have one skill. It is called ‘War Machine’.”

“War machine? No specialty?”

“Yes, milord. Do you remember the day that we first met?”

“Yes, I remember.”

It was only three weeks ago. He couldn’t not remember.

“Then, I thought that I might have been abandoned by you. I am not that smart, nor do I have a specialty that is helpful in ruling the territory. I was worried that you might have considered me useless.”

“I know.”

“As expected…did you know everything?”

“Not exactly. I just know the reason why Secretarys exist, so I was able to determine your internal state.”

Kang Chul-In had no intentions of talking big.

No matter what anyone said, Lucia was his Secretary. Even if everyone else betrayed him, Lucia would not. What was the use of talking big to the one you could trust most in this world?

“Anyways, I will never abandon you. I don’t want you to think that ever again.”

“Of course! I know, milord!”

Lucia smiled innocently like a child, nodding her head.

“Even if I do not possess any specialties in helping with state affairs, I can fight better than any Secretary if I use the War Machine skill.”

“Can fight well?”

“This Lucia is not a human. I am an artificial human made for battle, especially in defense. There is nothing that I can offer you except this skill. This faithful servant, Lucia, if you leave it to me, I will not disappoint you as the shield protecting you!” Lucia exclaimed.

Oh… she is fired up.

Kang Chul-In recognized why Lucia was so motivated and smiled a satisfied smile.

Lucia’s current emotion was a competitive one, a feeling of danger driving her.

The point was this.

Timothy, who was competent in the books and administration, had joined the territory and begun to slowly establish the internal and governing body. As such, it was understandable that Lucia would feel threatened. Also, her competitiveness in wanting to prove her competence over Timothy was also pushing her to the battlefield.

“Fine.”

Kang Chul-In saw her determination and nodded.

“In this Peacock Dragon subjugation, I will take you, Lucia.”

“Really?!”

“Of course. But!”

Kang Chul-In continued with a demand.

“You need to show me, Lucia. Your abilities.”

“Of course! I will show you well!”

As soon as Kang Chul-In gave permission, Lucia was overjoyed and fired up.

Alfred, if you meet Lucia, I am very curious how you will act.

Seeing the Lucia who was so pure and innocent around him, Kang Chul-In thought about his former faithful Secretary, Alfred.

It would not happen, but it was funny to just imagine what kind of scene would play out if the two Secretarys met. Alfred also had a side to him that was just as jealous and petty like Lucia, so it was obvious that the two would bicker and argue. However, it was all useless thinking, for the two will never meet. The Secretary Kang Chul-In chose in this life was Lucia, not Alfred.

Dungeon captures, exploring ruins, and monster subjugations were all quite important for Lords as well as the regular dimension travelers. The reason was extremely simple: it was for the Lord’s personal growth and acquisition of items.

In dungeons and ruins that were located all around Pangaea, there were monsters along with ancient treasures and artifacts.

Occasionally, the treasures and artifacts that turned up were extremely valuable, with the prime examples being Unique, Legendary, or Epic items. Gold piled up like mountains, and magic books that contained magical powers or ancient books on martial arts were abundant.

For these reasons, there were some Lords who left the management of their territories to their Secretarys and focused solely on dungeon diving. Kang Chul-In also was a Lord that had his own preference for dungeon exploration and questing for artifacts as well as having a particular fondness for monster quests.

Peacock Dragon… the monster level was about 40 I think?

Kang Chul-In spent the night thinking about this and that on his throne.

Crap, to feel threatened by a fake dragon…

Although he did not show it, Kang Chul-In was extremely upset. His current level was 14, and the Peacock Dragon’s level was 40. He would face a horrible death if he were to go hunting for it alone. For the prideful Kang Chul-In, it was understandable that he was upset because he had to strategize against a mere dragon subspecies.

But what could he do?

He was currently a level 14 Lord, and the Peacock Dragon was flaunting a level 40, respectable to its status as a subspecies of dragon, threatening his villagers. If he did not want to suffer any more losses, he needed to hunt the Peacock Dragon as soon as possible.

However, there was one upside…

I will gain the dragon heart.

It was the Peacock Dragon’s heart.

The Peacock Dragon was the weakest and lowest level subspecies of the dragon, but it still had the blood of a dragon in its veins, still had the dragon heart.

The dragon heart.

Like its name, the dragon’s heart was a concentrated source of mana, and when consumed, the user would become stronger in an instant. Of course, if one considered the level of the Peacock Dragon, you could not expect a drastic power up, but for the current Kang Chul-In, he needed the dragon heart badly.

If he had that, then it was obvious that the time it would take for him to get back to his glory days as an Overlord would be drastically shortened.

I will hide my territory using the Conceal skill. I will hide it… and then I will return to Earth, round up the dimension travelers, and hunt the Peacock Dragon.

It was perfect up to that point.

But, if there was one thing that bothered him, it was that the dimension travelers were all too inexperienced to hunt the Peacock Dragon.

The one with the highest level would be no more than 20. I myself am only 14… I must find a way.

And that way would be the key to the Peacock Dragon quest.

If the territory’s finances were more stable, he would not have needed to use such ways to hunt the Peacock Dragon and could have just used the territory’s military, but what other choice did he have? Even one soldier was precious at this time. He had to save every penny and find a way to rule Pandemonium.

Let’s start by hiding the territory first.

Because he thought he would not get a clear answer by contemplating further, Kang Chul-In chose to hide the territory and comfort the families of the dead.

“Go tell Lucia to bring the Soul Core.”

“Yes, my Majesty.”

The newly hired servant answered.

“Here it is, milord.”

Lucia appeared in less than 10 minutes, handing the Soul Core that controlled Laputa over to Kang Chul-In.

“Territory Control Manual.”

As soon as he gave the order, the status bar appeared in front of Kang Chul-In, showing the menu regarding the control of Laputa.

[Laputa Control Manual]

- Hide

- Self Heal

- Wealth

- Cosmic Force

When Kang Chul-In pressed the “Hide” option, information on the skill was displayed.

[Hide]

Will use gold to hide the castle.

Skill Level: Level 1 (Maximum Level 3)

Cost: Gold (Amount decreases or increases depending on level and cost of castle)

Skill Time: Up to 720 hrs from activation

Gold Cost: 0.5 Gold per hour

Will you activate the Hide skill? (Yes/ No)

This is a gold-eating machine.

The price of the Hide skill was expensive. If it was 0.5 gold per hour. It meant that 12 Gold would be spent in 24 hours, which meant that in order to use the Hide skill for a day, it cost $4,800.

12 Gold spent every day.

3 weeks until the Peacock Dragon conquest.

3 weeks was 21 days.

12 X 21 would be 252.

252 gold would be about $100,800. It was truly gasp-worthy.

“Sigh… I am going to go bankrupt before I can even start a business.”

Kang Chul-In covered his face as if tired.

This wretched territory had the best skills compared to any other territory, but it made up for it with the high price. If the hide skill was this much, it was obvious that the other skills, especially Cosmic Force, would be extremely expensive.

A “money eating machine” would be the perfect description.

Indeed.

But he couldn’t not use it, so with tears in his eyes, Kang Chul-In turned on the hide function.

[Notice: Level 1 Hide function has been activated on the territory! Please be cautious to not lose your way after traveling outside of Laputa’s boundaries.]

Conveniently, as soon as the hide function was activated, the speakers that were all over the territory automatically announced the updated status. Kang Chul-In thought this made the cost a little better because it was so expensive.

“Lucia.”

“Yes, milord.”

“I will go back to my homeland in order to gather the adventurers. I did turn on the hide function, but you do know that you cannot let your guard down, right?”

“Of course.”

“If there are any additional attacks, make sure there are no casualties, and if there are, the least possible.”

“Please leave it to me!”

With Lucia’s confident answer, Kang Chul-In nodded and headed towards Earth. In order to gather the adventurers, one needed the benefits of modern technology, and there was nothing else more effective than the internet to gather those befitting.

But, there was a problem that needed to be solved before that.

How would he hunt the Peacock Dragon with adventurers who were much weaker in comparison? It was almost impossible for Level 10 or 20 adventurers to hunt a level 40 monster.