Child of Destiny

……

“WHAT!?”

The group felt like losing their minds when they realized what Shin had said.

Being a duke was already crazy enough since raising the noble rank within the game was already hard since it concerned a lot of factors. It was way different compared to military rank since a player needed to reach a certain level of achievement.

However, gaining land that was under their name and jurisdiction was a completely different degree. This was the reason why Arthur and the others were currently watching this live broadcast of Guild War since it could dictate the power struggle within the game.

It was in much higher height compared to owning a town, or even a city.

Owning a city only referred to everything that was happening within its walls. Anything beyond that point was not under the control of the force controlling or owning the city.

But having a territory was on a much higher scale. Everything that was within the borders of their territory was under their mercy. They could not only collect taxes from the people, but they could also build their own army that could help them in the future when defending their land.

This was just one of the benefits that it could provide. The wealth that they could get from owning a territory was also unimaginable. There were also different kinds of resources that they could harvest from certain regions within the territory.

Moreover, they could also control the players hunting within their borders. They could even ban their enemies from entering, which would immediately tag them as ‘invaders’ or ‘criminals’ if they dared to set their foot on their land.

The guild that could own its own territory would naturally be ahead of its rivals and competitors by a large margin, which was the reason why this was a big deal. ．

Yet, here was a solo player owning a territory by himself.

Moreover, the said dukedom was much larger compared to the one that would be rewarded to the winner of this official guild war.

“Yoh! You are definitely something else. I don’t know what to say,” said Leonard while shaking his head.

Cloe smiled from the side while Alice fell in deep thought. Lorraine was quite speechless and could only stare at Shin with dumbfounded eyes while the Potter twins did not know how to react to what they had heard.

In the meantime, Arthur scratching his head as if he was going crazy. He did not know how Shin always did these kinds of crazy stunts at them all the time.

A few moments later, he was finally able to regain his composure before turning to his brother. “Hey! Do you know that Big Sis will go crazy when she learns about this? She will definitely do anything she can just to extort it from you.”

Shin chuckled when he heard that and said calmly. “You don’t have to worry about that. I have already drawn up a plan for negotiations when that time comes.”

“Actually, I have already informed her about this since we are planning to build those cities in my territory anyway, so I am sure that she has already made her own preparations for the deal.”

“Anyway, there is no need to think about this for now since there are still certain procedures before I officially own the dukedom. I still have enough time to prepare more, so I will be fine.”

Arthur stared at Shin for a couple of seconds before nodding his head. “Well, if that is what you said, then there shouldn’t be any problem.”

Shin laughed and said. “Moreover, that will be the place where our main headquarters will be located.”

Arthur knitted his brows before asking. “Can you manage such a large territory? It is going to be different from the Calderock Town.”

Shin nodded his head in full confidence and said. “That will not be a problem. I can deal with it.”

He then paused for a moment before chuckling. “Or to be more precise, the Named NPC working under me will be able to do it.”

“And if Big Sis helps, then everything will be perfect. I am confident that she will not reject my proposal since it will bring her a lot of profits,” he added before turning his gaze back to the television.

He then changed the topic. “So, what do we have here? Which guilds are going to fight for the ‘piece of land’ that that the gaming company will give?”

“It is the Hydra Guild and the Central Order,” answered Leonard as he also turned his attention back to the live broadcast.

“Oh!” hearing that Shin could not help but become a little interested.

He was quite aware of the strengths of these two Superpowers since he had met them a couple of times in the past. But from his observations, the forces that he had fought during those times were far behind compared to their main forces.

“Am I finally going to see the powers of these two top guilds?” muttered Shin as he became more and more interested in this said guild war.

While they were watching the hosts of the broadcast and waiting for the battle to start, Arthur suddenly remembered something and said. “Ah! Shin, do you remember those dudes that we fought during the battle in the Blind Abyss Empire?”

“Which ones? The one who strikes a deal with me before going back to their words due to their superiors?” asked Shin nonchalantly.

“Yeah! Some of them” nodded Arthur before continuing. “There are a couple of team captains with pretty high reputations among their group namely Legolas and Aragorn. They are quite decent when it comes to commanding and have pretty good fighting capabilities.”

Shin remembered the two before nodding his head. “So, what about them?”

“Those two were caught in a serious argument with another person named Elrond because they are being blamed for their failure during the incident in the Blind Abyss Empire,” said Arthur.

“Are those guys in their higher-ups crazy? It is because of the Great Elder that they have sent. Elrond is also to blame since he goes back on their word. If they have not, then they should be the ones controlling that ancient ruins and not suffer a huge loss,” Shin chuckled when he heard that.

“Exactly!” said Arthur before continuing. “A few days after that incident, an internal competition is held in their headquarters.”

“And guess what, due to those two being too enraged about what happened in the Blind Abyss Empire, they have teamed up and beat everyone else during the internal competition.”

“But before they can enter the final stages of that competition, Elrond plays some underhanded tricks and buys the two’s teammates, resulting in them being disqualified.”

“The two tried to raise a complaint to the upper echelons of the guild but they were repeatedly rejected due to the interference of the Great Elder that is siding with Elrond.”

Shin raised his brows as he could not tell what Arthur wanted him to hear. He then asked straightforwardly. “And?”

Arthur laughed and said. “In the pit of rage, those two strapped their emblems and quit the guild right away. Some of their loyal friends follow their lead and leave.”

“What about it?” asked Shin innocently.

“Tsk! Tsk!” Arthur clicked his tongue when he heard it before saying. “Don’t you get it? This is a good chance to poach those two! Even though they are not that famous in the eyes of the public, they are actually pretty good talents in the expert’s circle.”

“Both of them are top Titled Rankers! They will be a good addition to our friends!”

Arthur paused for a moment to think before continuing. “We are building a city, and you own an entire territory, so you will need to have more talents and people to manage and protect them.”

“Even though Big Sis and her forces will be a big help, and we have the help of a few Adventurer Teams that will be stationed in the city, having more hands that can help us will be better.”

Shin thought for a moment before nodding his head. “I get what you are thinking, but can we trust those people? I can see that Legolas and Aragorn are pretty good people, but the same can’t be said for their people.”

“After all, what happens during the internal competition is a good example of it. We can’t be sure that those people from the Central Order don’t put some moles in their group.”

“Something like that is not surprising when it comes to these kinds of organizations,” even though Shin could still be considered a new player in the virtual world, he was quite familiar when it came to these things.

Cloe, who was silently listening from the side, suddenly chimed in. “I know what you are thinking, but we can solve that issue as long as we ask for some help from the Assassin Union.”

Shin became interested and let her continue.

Cloe thought for a moment before saying. “Since Big Sister Shiella is pretty close with the current Union Master of the Assassin Union, we can ask her to do a simple background check on these people.”

“Assassin Union not only accepts assassination commissions, but they are also a top-class information merchant. They have been in the business for a couple of years inside the virtual world, so they have their own ways when dealing with this kind of situation.”

“As long as we paid enough, I don’t think identifying a spy will be a problem.”

Shin fell into deep thought as he listened. He could see where Arthur was coming from since managing such a large territory would not be easy, especially when it comes to security.

As an emerging power, there would be a lot of holes that they need to fill. Recruiting some NPCs was just one of the solutions, but it would need to take some time.

If it was about the city itself, then Shin would not have a problem since he could just build a branch of the Church of the Sun and Moon there and let the Paladins patrol the city. Given his current status within the church, such a thing was not impossible.

He could also ask Leonard and Cloe if the Temple of the God of War and Church of Light would be willing to build up a branch there.

Building a branch of the NPC Organizations such as Thieves Guild, the Mercenary Guild, and the Adventurer Guild would also help with that problem. It might be costly, but it would be worth it in the long run.

The protection of the city would be pretty decent with all these forces combined along with his own NPC army.

The problem would be controlling the players hunting in the wild. If he did not have a good force that could deal with the issues arising in the wild, then the players would not be willing to hunt in the surrounding regions.

Or at worst, there would be constant chaos in the wild, turning the entirety of the region to be a chaotic battlefield.

Building multiple barracks was a must and creating a patrolling squad was also a requirement.

Managing a huge territory would require a lot of resources and manpower.

Shin fell into a deeper thought as he started to realize the things that he needed for his territory. This was going to be much more troublesome than he originally thought.

It seemed like they also had to recruit some forces to hunt in the surrounding regions and quell down the chaos when it called for it.

This was where the Adventurer Teams and the forces of the Hand of Midas would step in.

After pondering about it for a while, Shin realized why the people had to form a guild. There was a certain limit that an individual or a small elite group could manage. In the end, they still had to rely on numbers when it came to certain things.

“I guess, Big Sis still has a card that can be used against me during the negotiations,” he muttered bitterly.

He then turned to Arthur and said. “Alright, you can try contacting them-…”

He paused for a moment as he realized that this was not a suitable job for this idiot, so he turned to Cloe. “And please accompany him during the negotiations. I am afraid that this guy will mess up.”

Arthur wanted to curse but suppressed it when he saw Jillian laughing from the side.

Cloe also laughed along with the others, making the atmosphere livelier.

‘The best solution here is to build a guild, but since it is too troublesome, I will set it aside for now. Moreover, Big Sis’ guild is already powerful enough. She can just transfer more people to our side when the time comes or even turn the city into their main headquarters.’

‘There is no need to create a new one for the time being,’ thought Shin to himself before nodding his head.

Convinced by these thoughts, Shin finally relaxed and turned his attention back to the live broadcast.

From the look of it, the Guild War was about to start.

……