I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 107

Aider read the official letter that had arrived from the capital.

“The main Imperial Army has captured the capital of the Bringer Principality, which was at war on the Western Front, and is now taking over the remaining areas one by one.”

“……”

“As stated in our previous position, they cannot lend us troops until the situation on the Western Front is completely stable…”

“So, we should fend for ourselves whether it’s hard or not?”

“Well, it seems that’s what they’re saying.”

“Oh, for crying out loud…”

I swallowed a groan and rubbed my stiff neck.

Seriously, they took the capital of the principality? Then the war is almost over.

Can’t they lend us some troops? Huh? Is it that hard to lend a tiny bit of troops to a pitiful, poor youngest prince?

“If this Southern Front falls, the human world itself will be destroyed, you know? Do they really not know? Well, they wouldn’t be acting like this if they did, you bastards!”

With a string of curses, I tore up the letter that had been sent down.

At the bottom of the letter, the seal of the Minister of Administration and my second older brother, Fernandez ‘Emberkeeper’ Everblack, was clearly stamped.

I tore that part into especially small pieces. Go to hell, you son of a bitch!

“Haa.”

Trying to cool my heated head, I spoke calmly to Aider.

“Aider, send another messenger.”

“I don’t think it will be of any use…”

“Just send it. The message is this. This is our final notice. If they don’t send reinforcements this time…”

Aider, who was writing down the message, rolled his eyes and looked at me.

“If they don’t?”

“Next time, I’ll show them the best kind of chaos the youngest prince can create. Tell them that.”

“Understood. By the way, is it okay to send such a blatant threat to the Imperial Family…?”

“The front line situation is worse, so this is nothing.”

Aider, who had finished writing the message, adjusted his glasses and pointed to the last sentence.

“And I’m curious, what exactly is this ‘best kind of chaos’ you mentioned?”

“There’s something.”

I smiled bitterly.

“It’s a last resort that will definitely bring reinforcements from the capital. But I really don’t want to use it.”

There is one method that I should only use right before the game is over.

But it’s a method that’s no different from self-destruction, so I won’t use it unless absolutely necessary.

“Yeah, if it’s absolutely necessary…”

“Heeek.”

Aider looked frightened as I chuckled evilly.

What’s with this director? If I die, you die with me!

***

Crossroad City. The blacksmith.

I entered this place where hot air was blasting out.

The head of the blacksmiths’ guild, who seemed to have already heard of my visit, bowed from the entrance.

“You’ve arrived, Your Highness!”

“Hmm.”

I glanced at the system window floating above the entrance of the blacksmith.

[Blacksmith – Lv.5]

Level 5.

It went up about 2 levels after I kept pouring in support funds.

The blacksmith’s facilities had expanded, and the number of people working there had also increased.

At this point, it could almost be called an equipment factory.

“We installed additional facilities last week. It’s all thanks to Your Highness’s generous investment!”

The guild leader said. Of course. And I’m going to get my money’s worth.

“Today, I’m here to order weapons for my personal guard and direct parties. Make sure to put extra care into making them.”

“Of course! What kind of weapons do you need?”

“Silver weapons.”

I recited the necessary list concisely.

“Ten silver longswords, ten daggers, ten spears, and fifty bundles of arrows. Three weeks. Is that possible?”

I ordered more than necessary on purpose. Silver equipment is effective against vampires, but its durability is terrible.

The guild leader, who had been weighing the order quantity and the blacksmith’s production capacity for a moment, nodded readily.

“Of course! However, with this amount, the current silver stock in the warehouse will not be enough.”

“I have silver that I bought. I’ll send it this way.”

“You are indeed thorough. We will start working on it as soon as you send it.”

“Good. Then, deliver them to the lord’s mansion in order of completion.”

“Understood… Is there anything else you need?”

I gestured with my chin towards the piles of metal lumps in the blacksmith’s warehouse.

“Can you collect the metals I’m about to mention? I need some refined metal. Of course, I’ll pay for it.”

“Of course, we will. But what are you going to use it for?”

“Well…”

After thinking for a moment, I summarized it simply.

“A bribe, maybe?”

“……”

The blacksmith guild leader, who had been blankly staring, asked in a daze.

“……Excuse me? A bribe? With metal?”

***

Lake Kingdom Underground Dungeon.

Safe zone in front of Area 4. Base camp.

Whoosh-!

I lightly landed on the ground after passing through the teleport gate.

Lukas and Evangeline, who had arrived earlier, were looking around, wary of any possible enemies.

I only brought these two today.

“No enemies in sight.”

“Still, let’s not let our guard down.”

It was then.

“Gone, gone! If you’re worried about those masked bastards, they won’t be able to come near here anymore.”

A familiar old man’s voice was heard. When I looked that way, the blacksmith Kellybay was striding towards us.

Kellybay’s face was overflowing with undisguised joy.

“You damn bastards! I told you to come often, and you really came quickly. Did you put honey on this gloomy place?!”

Even though he’s complaining, he seems happy that we came. He’s really like a grandpa waiting for his grandkids during the holidays, which is kind of sad and funny.

Anyway.

“If you say they can’t come near, does that mean the Nightcrawler unit can no longer enter this place?”

Kellybay nodded at my question.

“That’s right, that’s right! How about it, isn’t it refreshing?”

“How is that possible? They have a lot of numbers and are powerful.”

“Kekeke…”

Kellybay, who let out a sinister laugh, pointed to the opposite side of the base camp with his hand.

“The old hag, Coco the Cutter, the guardian of this camp, has returned!”

When I looked that way, it was true.

An old witch was seen installing tombstones with magical characters engraved on them around the base camp.

Even though her back was hunched over, she looked like a giant who was at least 2 meters tall.

“Huh?”

The witch, who had discovered us, came running with heavy footsteps.

“Uhihihi! What’s this! Newbies?! Are they newbies?!”

Lukas and Evangeline, who were terrified, tried to draw their weapons, but I stopped them. She’s a friendly NPC [Non-Player Character], so don’t do that.

“Nice to meet you, you little blood bags! This auntie is called Coco. I’m here to support you adventurers, so don’t be scared!”

Coco patted Lukas and Evangeline on the back once each with her huge hand.

“Cough!”

“Gack!”

“By the way, why are you all so skinny? You’re all bones? Tsk tsk… Come here! Let’s have a snack and talk.”

The witch arbitrarily dragged Lukas and Evangeline to one side of the base camp.

A witch’s workshop, which had been restored, was there.

“Come on, eat this. I prepared something delicious to feed you kids when you came.”

The witch took out a suspicious green jelly from a glass bottle and fed it to the two knights.

“Juuuun?!”

“Senior?!”

Lukas and Evangeline looked at me with pale faces, but I ignored them. Eat well and grow taller, you guys.

‘Coco the Cutter.’

I carefully observed the giant witch who was laughing, “Uhihihi,” (and the two knights who were suffering while eating the jelly).

It’s not some scary naming like cutting everything in half.

This witch grandma is a space mage who can cut space.

In other words, she’s an NPC in charge of teleportation. All the teleport gates in this underground dungeon were installed by this grandma.

“Ah, Crown and his goons? I’ve ‘cut’ those damn bastards so they can never come near this place again!”

Her words are scary, but it just means she’s putting up a barrier to stop them from coming.

The tombstones she installed earlier must have been barrier stones.

Anyway, that’s a relief. With this, the base camp has become a safe zone from the Nightcrawler unit.

Another enemy might appear, but Coco, who is the strongest of the friendly NPCs, has returned, so it should be fine.

‘Just by seeing her use teleportation magic, which has been lost in the outside world, like breathing, I can roughly guess how strong this grandma is.’

At that time, Kellybay, who had come next to me, tilted his head towards my back.

“What are these metals? What are you going to use them for?”

Behind me, there was a pile of metal lumps that I had brought through the teleport gate.

These are the ones I bought from the blacksmith today.

“They are materials to be used for making Saint-grade weapons. You told me to get them, right?”

“You got them in one day…?”

“There’s no need to do things slowly.”

I glanced at the sub-quest window.

[Limited Equipment Crafting Quest]

– Obtain the materials needed to craft Saint-grade weapons. (3 weapons)

> Saint-grade Fragments (3/3)

> Refined Steel Ingots (15/15)

> ……

> SR-SSR Grade Magic Cores (0/3)

> Dark Crystals (0/3)

There were a lot of things, but most of them were bought with cash from the blacksmith in Crossroad.

That’s why I expanded the blacksmith.

“There’s some metal left over?”

Kellybay frowned when he saw that there were too many types and amounts of metal for just three weapons. I shrugged.

“It’s nothing much, just a small token of my sincerity.”

I brought all sorts of things, from gold, silver, and bronze.

I thought it would be a good gift for this metal-loving blacksmith.

“Hmph. A gift with low-grade metal from the outside world. It’s absurd.”

Even though he said that, Kellybay took all the metals and brought them to his blacksmith.

“But I’ll take it. The blacksmith is lacking in many ways since it just reopened.”

He’s grumbling while smiling. He’s an old man who can’t be honest.

“Okay, let’s see… Then, the remaining materials needed to make Saint-grade weapons are… two.”

Kellybay, who had counted the remaining materials, looked at me suspiciously.

“Three top-grade or special-grade magic cores. And… three dark crystals. Can you really get them?”

“Of course. I’m going to get the magic cores today. Special-grade ones.”

If I’m going to make them, I should make them SSR grade [Super Super Rare]. That way, I can stab the bellies of those precious monster nobles better.

“Can you get special-grade magic cores just because you want to? Are you confident?”

“Of course. Just get ready to forge the weapons.”

I confidently said, leaving Kellybay’s doubtful gaze behind, and headed towards the witch’s workshop.

Actually, I was going to mix and use the SSR magic cores and SR magic cores [Super Rare] that I had, but thanks to Coco coming to the base camp, I now have a way to get SSR magic cores.

“Coco-nim.”

“Huh? What is it, sweetie? Do you want some jelly too?”

Coco, who was feeding Lukas and Evangeline purple jelly, turned to me.

Lukas and Evangeline, whose faces had turned dark, shook their heads violently at me. Not that I was going to eat it anyway.

Clang.

I took out a golden key from my inventory and held it out.

It was the [Golden Room Key] that I had obtained by killing the golden gargoyle during the free exploration of Area 3 last time.

“I have a ‘key,’ and I was wondering if you could open the ‘door’ for me.”

“Hoo-ooh!”

Coco, who had received the key, sparkled her glass-like eyes.

“This, this, you’ve picked up an interesting item!”

I smiled.