Golden Experience

Portree Kingdom.

This country, located in the southern part of the continent, enjoys a mild climate throughout the year.

The soil is firm, and the undulating terrain makes it unsuitable for cultivation. However, since most of the land is covered in forests, orchards benefiting from the warm climate are prevalent.

The main food source for over 90% of the population, who are elves, comes from the fruits harvested in these orchards.

However, recently, incidents have been occurring where certain orchards are being attacked by unknown assailants, causing harm to farmers and others.

“Bandits, perhaps?”

“Yes. In some cities near the northwest border, there has been an increase in food raids by individuals believed to be bandits.”

In the administrative office of the palace at the heart of the Portree capital, King Ustashe receives a report from a palace official.

Normally, Ustashe wouldn’t be concerned about the food of local citizens being stolen. However, this is a turbulent time with the emergence of the Seventh Calamity and the neighboring country of Hiers being annihilated. In such times, anything could become a catalyst for the downfall of a nation.

According to reports from agents infiltrated in Hiers, there were no significant mistakes in Hiers’ response. They had even repelled the threat once, implying that they simply lost in a pure display of strength.

High elves like Ustashe and the nobles of Portree are far stronger than the nobility of Hiers, not only due to racial differences but also the accumulation of years. Elves have long lifespans.

However, this doesn’t mean they are arrogant enough to believe they can counter a calamity-level monster. While it’s not impossible if an artifact is activated, it’s not something they are eager to test.

In preparation for the worst-case scenario, careful attention must be given to securing resources, including food.

Despite the responsibility trusted to the ruling royal family, if there are damages, it falls on the shoulders of the local lords.

“Being taken advantage of by mere bandits suggests that the city lacks adequate defense. Who is the lord?”

“The reports indicate Viscount Pasquier and the territory of Count Cobell.”

“Cobell? That place has a sizable territory nearby and should have its own substantial knight order. They shouldn’t be incapable of dealing with bandits.”

“According to the reports, the monsters in that region have been restless lately, and there are changes in the types of monsters appearing. They are fully occupied with dealing with that, and handling bandits is beyond their capacity.”

“…When you say that the types of monsters have changed, does that mean that higher-ranking species are appearing?”

This is no joke. If the ranking of monsters in the territory is increasing, it implies that the boss’s rank, the ringleader of the region, has also risen. If that’s the case, it’s unpredictable when they might come out of the territory to attack the city.

Just about a month ago, monsters flooded from territories across the country, causing significant damage. It was the large-scale flooding triggered by the birth of the Seventh Calamity.

“No, it seems different types have appeared.”

“Again with the undead?”

During the previous flooding, undead creatures emerged from the territories of various monsters. Either the undead overflowed and triggered local monsters, or local monsters stimulated by the undead flooded out. The flooding happened in that manner.

“No, according to the reports, various monsters like goblins and kobolds have appeared.”

“…What is that? I’ve never heard of such a thing. Is the report accurate?”

“The sign of Count Cobell is there, so there is no mistake.”

If this man says so, there is no doubt. He is also the heraldic officer employed by the court. He has memorized the signatures of major nobles. Since summoning him every time a letter arrives for a [Discernment] is cumbersome, he was also assigned the task of a court official serving the king. Though it might be troublesome for him, being a heraldic officer used to involve traveling throughout the country as a military envoy or messenger in the distant past. Compared to that, this is much more manageable.

“Things are getting suspicious lately. We may need to investigate what is happening. The Seventh Calamity is occurring in the north. It might be related. Even the bandits might not be unrelated.”

“The bandits seem human.”

“If we consider that they flowed in from the destroyed Hiers due to the calamity, it’s unlikely that they are unrelated.”

“…Certainly, the damage is in the northwest, but it’s not far from the Hiers border.”

The Old Hiers Kingdom is to the northeast from Portree, and when looking to the northwest, there is the Aural Kingdom there.

However, despite the recent coup, Aural is surprisingly politically stable now, and it’s hard to believe that there are refugees resorting to banditry. Most likely, the bandits are using cunning tactics to disguise the location of their hideout within the Old Hiers territory.

“Send knights for investigation to Cobell’s territory.”

“What about Viscount Pasquier’s territory?”

“Send a punitive officer there. If Pasquier is involved in any wrongdoing, bring them to the capital. If Pasquier is incompetent in dealing with bandits without committing any wrongdoing, his incompetence is serious. Execute him.”

Perhaps due to the long lifespan of elves, their reproductive ability is weaker compared to other races. Their numbers are inherently small.

Among the few elves, High Elves are even rarer.

Recently, crude elven mercenaries without manners have been appearing from both within and outside the country. Choosing the profession of a mercenary at the outset means they are not noble elves. Those beings, despite having similar appearances, are considered a different race. While not said publicly, Ustashe refers to them as “long-eared barbarians”.

Such rare High Elves are deeply immersed in the concept of being the chosen ones.

Even among the already small population of elves, High Elves are the selected few.

Therefore, incompetence is not tolerated. Born as High Elves, they must be outstanding without exception.

An incompetent High Elf is more harmful than a High Elf committing misdeeds.

“Also, no matter how hungry, it is unforgivable to enter the country where noble elves reside with dirty shoes. Send troops to the nearest town in Hiers where the bandits are presumed to have their lair. We need to recover the stolen goods.”

“Is that acceptable? The location of the bandits has not been confirmed yet.”

“I don’t mind. The country called Hiers no longer exists in this world. Therefore, the people of Hiers also do not exist. Even if it was a case of mistaken identity, there will be no complaints no matter how many non-existent people are killed. The stolen items are mainly food, and even if we do manage to recover them, we can’t just return them as they are. Plunder the equivalent amount of stolen food.”

Most countries have self-contained economies, and until now, there haven’t been countries willing to engage in disputes with others.

Also, each royal family owns artifacts. In the event of a full-scale conflict, it would be troublesome if those were activated.

Or, in the unlikely event of a war breaking out and one country acquiring artifacts equivalent to two nations, other nations wouldn’t remain silent.

Before such a situation arises, it would either be supporting the weaker side or forming an alliance with the stronger side and dividing the stolen artifacts. If every country were to think like that, it would escalate into a continent-wide war. Even if they were to win, it wouldn’t be without consequences.

There’s no strong motivation for war since they are already satisfied, and every country has lurking monsters nearby. They are too busy dealing with creatures they can communicate with to engage in conflicts.

Even if conflicts were to arise, the existence of artifacts should ensure outward peace.

However, on the flip side, a country without artifacts is considered no threat at all. Speaking specifically about Hiers, without even a royal family, it’s no longer a country.

So, there’s no need to be considerate to those living there, and if they are spreading disadvantages to one’s own country, it’s only natural to eliminate them.

“There’s a possibility that the bandits are coming from the Aural Kingdom, but even if that’s the case, I can’t honestly inquire about it, and attacking Aural’s cities is out of the question.

If the opponent is a legitimate nation, there are procedures to consider.

Just because the bandits crossed the border and attacked doesn’t mean we can blame the other country for everything. It’s a different story if the nation is orchestrating the looting.

Bandits who don’t belong to any country are essentially no different from local monsters. It’s the fault of the poorly defended towns in the first place.

However, that doesn’t mean I intend to passively accept the situation. The stolen goods need to be recovered, and honestly, whether the ones we recover from were actual bandits or not is not important. What matters is whether they are opponents who won’t complain.”

“Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention, send troops only to the town. Strictly instruct them not to approach the monsters’ territory.

There’s a calamity in that country. I don’t want to provoke it over trivial matters.”

＊

Portree’s population is mostly elves, and their numbers are few.

In addition, the cost of [Subordinating] High Elves is high, and they can’t afford to have too many subordinates.

For these reasons, Portree’s military is small in number, with only a few knight orders.

However, the power possessed by their soldiers is significantly greater than that of other countries. In a sense, each soldier is a force to be reckoned with.

The territories of monsters are distant, and in agricultural cities without dedicated knight orders, it was impossible to resist them.

The city at the edge of Hiers was devastated overnight from the start of the battle, disappearing from the map.

Renamed by the Portree army as the “First Frontline Base”, all residents were killed.

Players who focused on agriculture or happened to be passing traders were also killed without exception and respawned. Those who were lucky enough to be sent back to their original city were the fortunate ones. For players who had never left this city, a random respawn point lottery was conducted across the continent since the Hiers Kingdom no longer existed, and they respawned randomly.

This sparked discussions on social media, and players were very passionate about organizing a volunteer army to reclaim the city. However, someone noticed that all the residents who should be handed over after reclaiming the city had already been killed. This revelation halted the plan, leaving players with only negative feelings towards the Portree Kingdom, and the discussion subsided for the time being.

Even though the discussion ended, the logs on social media didn’t disappear.

And there were players who regularly checked threads with the name ‘Hiers’ for updates on the Hiers Kingdom.