Chapter 14

Chapter 14: [Side Story] To the Enemy Territory

“Even after this, you will die on the front line!”

I admitted it.

“Every week there will be new graves here in the cemetery, and the choir will resound.”

No matter how hard you try to keep the sacrifices to a minimum, people will die. Because there can be no front line without sacrifice.

However—

“Let me be clear. Your deaths are more expensive than your lives!”

All these funeral expenses and compensation for the dead were very costly.

Nearly half of the money I earned from selling the magic crystals had to be used for compensation.

It was also used to raise the salaries of all soldiers and mercenaries, but it was nothing compared to the cost of the funeral.

That’s right. Death should not be common and vulgar. Death must be very precious and expensive. so that no one can have it easily.

“So I will keep you alive for as long as possible. I will do whatever it takes to keep you alive and have you work on the front lines.”

For my economic reasons as the lord. And also for the soldiers themselves.

We must not die.

We must live on.

We must survive.

“Everyone, don’t die so easily.”

I looked at Jupiter and the mercenaries. Jupiter was looking up at me with one eye, her mouth shut.

“Live on and take as many paychecks as you can. Don’t die and make me pay for your funeral.”

That was the end of my speech.

As I came down from the platform, Lucas swung his arm at the artillerists.

Whoosh! Boom…!

Over the evening sky, already dyed red, echoed the cannons’ roars for the requiem of the dead.

I wonder how the citizens will receive my speech.

An excuse coming from an incompetent commander? Nasty lord’s waste of money?

Either way, it didn’t matter to me what they thought.

I shall simply prove it through future results. That I am a human more capable than anyone else, as long as I stand in this monster front line.

“Alright, then…”

Crack, crack. I cracked my fingers and smirked.

“Time to clear stage 1.”

* * *

The next day, Jupiter and the mercenaries decided to join under my command.

“Congratulationsss…! You recruited cool new colleaguuues!”

Ader spoke like this as he came in with a bundle of profiles of the new mercenaries. Shut up, man.

This was the office of the lord.

Since there were so many things to deal with, I was also at work. In the original game, the city administration was also a part of the job I handled…

‘Why are there so many things to take care of right as I was inaugurated as the new lord? What did the previous lord even do?’

I muttered as I worked on the paperwork in front of me. Anyway, the important thing now is to make a strat for the next stage. I’ll have to survive first in order to do some city administration works.

“All mercenaries available in the city have been hired! A total of 114 people!”

For Stage 1, which will begin soon, we were in desperate need of fighters.

All available mercenaries were hired regardless of the amount of money they requested.

“I put all their stats in the ‘systeeem’! So you can check it on your side conveniently.”

As Aider said that, he threw all the profile bundles he had in his arms into the trash. Why did you even bring them here in the first place?

“Let’s see…”

I opened the system window and checked on the newly hired mercenaries.

In <Empire Defense>, there are two main types of troops.

Two categories, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Soldiers’.

‘Heroes’ are exceptional talents. Skills can be used and they can be organized into a party.

It can be said that it is the most important factor which makes up the basis of the strategies in this game.

Even N-rank heroes, who are low-key ignored, are very powerful compared to ordinary soldiers.

‘Soldiers’ cannot use skills, nor can they be put in a party. But without them, the front line cannot be maintained.

Soldiers also become stronger with experience, so you need to boost their morale and manage them.

‘Among the mercenaries hired this time, there are… five heroes.’

I’ve hired over 100 people, and only five of them were heroes.

Moreover, the probability of another high-ranking hero out of these five is lower. Putting it this way, it’s a pretty shit game when it comes to gacha, huh.

“SSR, please!”

I shouted as I opened up the list of newly earned heroes.

* * *

Mid credit:

[Translator: Dawn]

[Proofreader: Alissa]

Join our discord for release updates!

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* * *

Flash!

The colors that emerged in the profile images of the five new members are… one purple and four gray.

That meant, one SR-rank, and four N-ranks.

“Tch, figures.”

I snorted in disappointment, but I did expect this outcome.

This is Tombstone City, where only the lowest of the low flow and gather. The ever-infamous monster front.

The higher quality talents start gathering after the city’s reputation and income increase, which is at least after the mid-part of the storyline.

For now, I’ll have to settle with the fact that I got one SR-rank.

After roughly checking the four N-rank heroes, I finally checked the stats of Jupiter.

[Jupiter (SR)]

– Level: 35

– Title: Corrupted Veteran

– Class: Advanced Electro Wizard

– Strength 8 | Agility 18 | Intelligence 30 | Stamina 10 | Mana 35

Level 35 from the start. She finished her 2nd advancement and got an advanced class! This is great.

– Skills learned

> Passive: Lightning Rich

> Skill 1: Bleaching Zone

> Skill 2: Bleaching Again

> Ultimate: ??? (Unlocked after third-class advancement)

Her passive Lightning Rich allows her to control lightning.

An average passive skill of an attribute mage that changes the mana she possesses into an electric attribute.

Skill 1 is AoE electric magic. Strikes a lightning bolt to attack the enemy and leaves a mark.

Skill 2 is a skill that can be linked to skill 1. It fires an additional blow with a reinforced thunderbolt at the marked enemy, and its power is enormous.

As mentioned, she possesses skillsets extremely focused on AoE and damage.

Jupiter was my main striker in the game with simple and powerful abilities.

The problem is this old woman… Her trait sometimes messes things up.

[Equipped Tratis (1 / 3)]

– Goldbug (Cannot be unequipped)

An unequippable trait, Goldbug.

In other words, it’s the nature of being crazy about money, especially gold.

When a treasure chest is found in a dungeon, if a unit has this trait, it has a chance of losing control and opening the box at will.

But what if it’s a trap?

In fact, the trait had actually activated in one of my previous runs at the endgame, and the unit was chomped to death by a mimic that was pretending to be a treasure chest.

‘…I’ll have to try my best to control it.’

This place follows the rules of the game, but it still is a reality nonetheless.

I should be able to put a stop to someone trying to open up every treasure box in sight… Or else, I’d be screwed.

I don’t want to lose an SR-rank mage that I earned with difficulty so quickly.

[New Hero Characters]

– Lv.35 Jupiter (SR)

– Lv.14 Tain (N)

– Lv.14 Ron (N)

– Lv.12 Jiya (N)

– Lv.11 Peke (N)

Anyway, these are the five newly acquired heroes.

Then there’s Lucas, Demian, I, and Lily, who is about to retire.

‘How should I form the party…’

I pondered for a while.

It is good to change the party composition flexibly depending on the enemy’s formation.

It is efficient to plan to counter as much as possible according to the species and type of enemies.

‘To do that, I need to have more information about the enemies.’

I glanced at the time limit floating on the stage information window.

[STAGE 1]

– Until the start: 3 days 1 hour

There are 3 days left until the stage begins.

I wasn’t aware that the time limit was already this tight.

‘I’ll have to check the enemy information pretty soon.’

All stage information can only be viewed after encountering the enemy.

Back in the tutorial, I was able to check the enemy information right away because I was in the middle of fighting the enemy. However, now the enemy information window is covered with question marks. Reconnaissance is essential.

Usually, sending scouts would be the right thing to do, but there’s a little trick.

“Lucas.”

I called Lucas, who was standing guard outside the office door. Lucas flew in front of me as soon as I called.

“Yes! Did you call for me, Your Highness?”

“Come get some fresh air with me.”

Lucas brought my coat immediately and asked.

“Where do you plan on going today, Your Highness?”

“The lake.”

I put my arm into the coat that Lucas was holding, and said calmly.

“We will be visiting the enemy base.”

“…Pardon?”

I could almost see the question marks floating around Lucas’s face, not being able to understand what I just said. I smiled a little.

“You will see what I mean.”

* * *

After a while, in the backyard of the Crossroad manor house.

Lucas and I stood in front of the rubble. Lucas was still not able to quite get what I meant, but he quietly followed me.

I reached out to the pile of stones. Then the system window appeared in front of me.

[Would you like to activate the teleport gate?]

– Yes/No

Of course I’d press yes.

Rumble-

With a strange operating sound, the pile of stones floated into the air, spinning round and round to form a magical door.

Surprised, Lucas asked.

“What is this, Your Highness?”

“The gate leading to the dungeon under the lake.”

I bothered to tell Lucas, who was bewildered, one more time.

“It’s a free pass that leads to a hell infested with monsters, that’s what I mean.”

<Empire Defense> is a game mixed with two genres.

Tower Defense & Dungeon Attack.

Here are the rules of the game. The main content of this game, which are the ‘Stages’, take the form of the Tower Defense genre.

It is an all-out war between the monsters that come from the lake to try and advance into Crossroad, and the troops that will try to stop them from entering the city at all costs.

And between these stages,

When the enemy is not attacking, you can explore the dungeon under the lake, the enemy’s base.

This is called, ‘Free Exploration’.

Players explore the dungeon in a small raid to get hints for the next stage, farm experience and items, and search for the secrets of the dungeon.

This is the basic structure of proceeding in-game, by alternating between defense and attack.

The teleport gate is a device for that free exploration.

In the original game, the function was opened after the completion of Stage 1, but I came here just in case. I was able to get it working right away.

‘It’s one hell of a difficult game, but it isn’t an unfair game.’

Furthermore, I already know how to win against almost every single monster in the game.

And I mastered the composition and gimmicks of the dungeon under the lake by memorizing them.

In the defense stages, I’ll gently gnaw on their front lines and put them into one place, then wipe them out.

In the offense—free explorations—I’ll gather everything possible to farm in the dungeon, including EXP and items.

‘It seems pretty doable. Actually, it’s very doable!’

It’s true that I had to go through a lot in the tutorial, but now, the start is great.

I started out with Demian, who could even be called a cheat character, and an SR-rank AoE striker, Jupiter.

Plus, I have quite a lot of funds right now.

The confidence that I’ll be able to clear this game safely filled my stomach.

“Alright, Lucas. Let me tell you about it briefly.”

I explained the rules of the game to Lucas and told him that we are on the way to scout the enemy for the next stage.

“I see. Understood.”

Lucas didn’t question anything. He simply maintained his armor and weapons.

“……”

I took a dry gulp.

In fact, Lucas must have been the one who had the most amount of questions.

I, the prince who he had been serving all his life, suddenly changed, and I knew the composition of the city I first arrived in and the existence of a dungeon and whatnot.

It’d be very understandable if he found some things to be strange, and yet, he simply followed my orders silently.

“Hey, don’t you have something to ask me?”

When I asked carefully, Lucas looked at me with a blue, clear gaze.

“……”

“……”

A brief silence passed by. I took a dry gulp without realizing it.

After hesitating for a bit, Lucas turned his gaze and opened up slowly to speak.

“I…”