Chapters Chapter 221: Kang Chul-In’s Decision (pt. 1) (1/2)
There weren't only Lords from Earth that owned territories within Pangaea. An example was the Fox Valley ruled by the Ninetails.
And because these territories were often ruled in different ways depending on the people, the people within the territory normally didn’t have a good relationship with other territories ruled by the Lords from Earth.
It was especially rare that there was a case like this where the people from those territories approached them first.
From what he knew, only Alex Rothschild of the past had managed to pull in these free states and territories through his wordplay and fake politeness.
As for the other free states?
They were either absorbed by other Lords, or were treated as colonies.
For example,
“Hohoho~! I’m telling you, it’s quite fun conquering those territories! I’d say that there’s great pleasure in picking which territory to pick and conquer!”
Like this.
Hecate, who was almost the female version of Kang Chul-In, went around conquering cities and territories like this.
“Last time, I went and conquered a city in the Southern Tropical Region, and they had a male to female ratio of 1:9!”
“...So?’
“What do you mean, “so?” Of course, I took them and forced them to marry my subordinates! I don’t want to be known as the Lord of the gay territory after all.”
“...”
“Anyway, if you’re feeling stressed, you should go out conquering those cities! It really is great fun.”
Ignoring Hecate’s tastes though, it was quite a bit of a shocker that these territories came knocking at Kang Chul-In’s door asking him to rule over their territory.
“...Rule over those guys as king?”
Kang Chul-In spoke, with a dumbfounded expression.
“Apparently, they have been greatly moved by what Milord has been doing.”
“What do you mean, moved?”
“Well, according to them, they have felt extreme respect and amazement at Milord’s compassion and mercy! And since then, they have been praising Milord as a benevolent ruler!”
“...”
“Congratulations, Milord!”
And Kang Chul-In’s reaction to getting this message from one of his envoys,
Me, a benevolent ruler? What kind of sick joke is this?
Was stunned.
“...How stupid are these people?”
“Kang Chul-In is a benevolent ruler?”
Even though Kwak-Jung and Dorian seemed to feel the same about this, they kept their mouths shut. It was because they were afraid that Kang Chul-In would start to beat them up.
“...”
But Kang Chul-In didn’t care about them.
“What the…”
He was just dumbfounded, and stunned.
Now that two years had passed since the Great Summoning, Kang Chul-In was seen as a brutal conquest Overlord that had conquered almost all of the nearby Lords to him.
He had acted like a tyrant, so how could he be a ‘benevolent ruler’?
But these people were now praising him, and wanted to become his citizens?
Kang Chul-In himself, who knew how evil and bad of a person he was, went speechless.
“Kuku!”
At that moment, Drakan stepped forward.
“As expected of Milord! This Drakan knew that the other, smaller cities and territories would surrender to Milord at some point!”
And soon after, Lucia, Nilus, James and the other generals quickly agreed.
“That is right, Milord!”
“Isn’t it obvious that they would want to join Milord, since Milord is obviously going to become the future ruler of Pangaea?”
“It is an obvious fact that Milord is a benevolent ruler, so it’s only expected that these kinds of rumors would spread!”
And Podolski added a weird fact to this relay of praises.
“Ehem… If I’m being honest, the news that Milord is a benevolent and wise ruler is spreading throughout mainland Pangaea. Especially in those smaller territories and cities, Milord’s popularity is unmatched!”
“W-What do you mean?”
At this ridiculous news, Kang Chul-In involuntarily stuttered.
“Did you not know?”
Podolski began to explain.
“According to a recent survey that we held, the Laputa territory has been ranked 1st as the territory that people want to live in!”
“When did you guys even make a survey like that…? That’s a waste of money…”
“Haha! Of course we wouldn’t do something like that! It’s just that we got news from traveling merchants or adventurers!”
“...”
“Even though the Laputa territory isn’t an extremely luxurious or wealthy territory, it still is a great one to live in due to Milord. After all, Milord does have a reputation of hiring anyone as your subordinate as long as they have the ability and the loyalty.”
“Hmm…”
“And not only that, Milord also respects the human rights of those that have been absorbed into our territory.”
What Podolski said was right.
Though it was true that Kang Chul-In was a conquest Lord, he wasn’t a crazy bastard that rampaged around killing innocents. He was just a ‘benevolent lord’ that led an undefeated army across Pangaea.
“Milord, it isn’t a bad thing that these people want to be absorbed by us!”
Podolski added.
“Milord is the Lord of the territory that everyone is jealous of. And since Milord also has a powerful army that is able to defend this territory, wouldn’t it actually be a loss if we didn’t take these people in?”
“...”
“Please take those people in, Milord!”
To this, the other subordinates of Kang Chul-In quickly agreed, and spoke.
And since things have already come to this, Kang Chul-In had no reason to say no.
Even though he was quite taken aback by their misunderstanding of him, it was definitely a gain if he could take 4 different cities without shedding any blood.
“Very well.”
Shaking off his previous thoughts, Kang Chul-In smiled.
“We will take them in as members of the Laputa territory!”
***
Inside a cellar of the Cyamodus territory.
“T… There’s only this method left…”
Alex Rothschild spoke, his eyes on the mountain of gold stacked up in front of him.
He had lost almost everything in Pangaea.
He had lost Lee Gong-Myung.
He had lost his own clone.
It was a given that he had lost a ridiculous amount of stats, but that wasn’t all. He no longer had the safety measures for at least a year.