Chapter 40

“Y-Yes?”

Startled, I tore my gaze away from the hunter chat. The one who had grabbed me was Count Biya.

“I definitely want to receive a lesson from you later!”

He wore an expression of deep admiration.

“Pardon?”

What lesson out of nowhere? You wanna play Go or something?

“I was greatly impressed by your skills during this incident. I’ve felt like I’d hit a massive wall in my training up until now, but watching you has given me a flash of insight. I can almost see the breakthrough.”

At his words, I glanced up above Count Biya’s head.

We weren’t close at all, and since his rank was higher than mine, no rank was visible. But in system terms, it was clear he hadn’t received a Rank-Up Quest yet.

In other words, he had plenty of experience points but hadn’t found the trigger to awaken.

Countless hunters stalled out at this stage, unable to break through the wall.

But Count Biya was saying he’d found the key to smashing that wall—through me.

No wonder his eyes were practically sparkling.

I got it, but…

“Uh, your hand…”

It’s getting a bit burdensome?

“Ah, my apologies!”

If you’re sorry, just say sorry. What’s with the overly formal “my apologies”?

“Anyway, we must definitely cross swords and talk it out sometime later! I’m busy now, so farewell!”

With that, Count Biya flushed red and vanished from in front of me.

What the…?

I was flustered in that moment.

Watching my stats climb, I couldn’t care less about Biya or whatever.

…This seems worth holding another banquet for. No more quests?

Damn it!

After the nobles, including me, returned to their territories…

The lands were a mess, as expected. Fortunately, my knights (or rather, the ones I called knights but read as Shin Jae-heon’s knights) who were on patrol sensed something off and responded immediately.

Since they were A-rank level knights, whether the gates exploded or they entered them, monster cleanup was no issue.

So the damage was minimal.

But some families seemed to have taken heavier losses.

As the western empire descended into chaos like Korea right after gates first appeared…

An imperial decree from Shin Jae-heon arrived.

Attached were basic documents on gates.

Of course, it wasn’t everything we knew about gates.

Just that they were doors to a kind of pocket dimension, and if no one entered, they’d explode and spew monsters.

But still, gates here too?

Oh, was that it?

Well, Shin Jae-heon might look thoughtless, but he’s not the type to act without thinking.

That was the moment I placed 1% trust in him.

…A true dealer’s choice.

Early gate outbreaks seem similar no matter the world.

It was the same in Korea.

[(Breaking News) ‘Phenomenon’ sighted in heart of Gangnam… Seoul issues evacuation order]

Back then, no one knew what gates were.

Even I, one of the early awakeners who could see system windows, didn’t realize the one in Gangnam was a gate.

We took too long approaching cautiously, and it eventually went berserk.

And it seemed the people of this world were the same.

“Reports are coming in simultaneously from various corners of the territory.”

The moment I arrived at the mansion, it was all gate-related briefings.

“And the handling?”

“The patrolling forces were stationed nearby when the phenomena occurred, so there were no major issues. However…”

Helen, the butler giving the report, looked troubled.

“Monsters poured out from the ‘gates’ that weren’t handled in time.”

Helen looked troubled, but it wasn’t unfamiliar to me.

Who would approach something weird that popped up next to their house?

Like the Gangnam gate, they’d probably waited for ‘experts’ to arrive.

“Deployed forces?”

“We still have plenty of leeway.”

Helen seemed surprised that I wasn’t shocked.

This won’t trigger a penalty, right? Should I pretend to be surprised? If I need to act shocked, tell me now!

Good, the system stayed silent. Alright. I decided to push forward as the ever-calm Count Edelweiss, no matter what happened.

“Evacuate all territory folk near where monsters poured out, and deploy knights. Three knights paired up should handle two or three monster groups without issue.”

Early gates weren’t high-rank anyway.

I naturally swallowed the follow-up that could land me in penalty hell if said aloud.

“Understood.”

Helen bolted straight to the knight barracks.

But then.

“Family Head!”

“A gate in the west!”

“A gate appeared in the southeast!”

“A gate in the mountains we missed…”

Soon, work came pouring in.

My head was spinning!

“Send two knights each to those gates, and rotate out any fatigued ones.”

After monsters spilled from gates, dealing with the corpses was another job.

In Korea, experts would swarm trashed streets and clean up gate byproducts with their tools, but here, no such people existed.

Well, exactly one did.

With all her skills, Hunter So Yeri could probably handle it.

Not as good as pro dissectors, but B-rank or lower byproducts? Easy to harvest and process.

The problem was, this world had only one such person: Hunter So Yeri!

They didn’t know about her Appraisal skill, so anything magic-related went straight to the Mage Tower lord, and unknowns too.

…Being too competent is a curse sometimes.

Of course, she wasn’t the only busy one.

Gates didn’t politely stick to 9-to-6 hours; reports came lightning-fast even at dawn.

Reassigning forces was my job. Butlers like Helen or the knights had limits.

Gate difficulty varied by spawn location!

Even early on, gates in forests or mountains with lots of life had more monsters.

High-level gates could appear too, so constant vigilance on surroundings was key.

“Family Head!”

“Emergency!”

Thanks to that, I worked day and night for three days straight.

Joo Yian seemed busy too.

Her messages dragging on… Joo Yian seemed a bit…

She wasn’t the type to snap “Don’t bother me, just die already!” but she was clearly pissed off.

I’d curse the gods for abandoning the empire. Am I too cynical?

Of course, the pope tasked with conveying that Shinsian’s grace was fuming.

I could vividly picture Joo Yian, light brown bangs disheveled, hand to her forehead.

Joo Yian replied right away, but the chat exploded in laughter.

Everyone was dead serious about teasing Joo Yian.

I wasn’t holding back either.