“I’m pretty sure monsters don’t come here.”
Over the horizon, a man with a pale face and black cape, and an unbelievably beautiful girl was walking toward him.
The abandoned land, Las Phalanx. The two who walked towards the place where the undead were.
“Were there other users who were exploring this region? That girl sure is pretty like Seo-Yoon.”
Weed couldn’t understand that there could be a girl as pretty as Seo-Yoon. If there were at least 5 of such beauties, he felt like suicide rates all over the the world would decrease tremendously.
“Men especially won’t suicide.”
Looking at her from afar will make them burn with happiness of being alive and fill them with the motivation to live after all.
Savior from despair. Even the neets who do not step out from their room will run outside if they see Seo-Yoon through the window.
Death Knight Hawk also commented from the side.
“The black clothes, tall height, and pale face is just like Tori, Master.”
“Yeah, he sure looks like him.”
As Weed watched them with the undead army, the two walked toward them.
It’s been long since they last saw each other after fighting against the bone dragon and because their equipments changed, they didn’t recognized them easily. But, when their face came closer to the point they could see their face clearly, they were, in fact, Seo-Yoon and Torido.
***
The navy of Haven Kingdom Drinfeld followed exactly how the ghost ship sailed.
Using what sea creatures they witnessed, he arrived at the Deron Sea.
“Amazing. I heard he doesn’t know much about the sea, so how did he travel so far?”
Unlike what he expected, seeing Weed travel such a long distance, Drinfeld adjusted his opinion of Weed.
Weed came even to the Area of Aurora and Glacier of Deron Sea.
“Just where is the destination for the quest to make him travel so far?” The warships had to stop several times to resupply for food and rest.
Aside from Drinfeld, users of Haven Kingdom learned fishing skills previously. You can say it’s a must-have skill for a man of sea, but it wasn’t enough to feed the whole fleet.
“Captain, it’s cold!” As they sailed through glacier areas, many unprepared sailors caught the flu.
“I never thought he’d really come to the Deron Sea. The damage to the crewman will be huge.”
Drinpelt did not expect to travel such a long distance leading the navy of Haven Kingdom. If there was to be any damage to the ships or crewmen of the Haven Kingdom, he would have to take all the responsibility for them.
He needed periodic results to keep his authority, but if he doesn’t act carefully, he’ll be blamed for everything.
The vice captain opened his mouth worriedly.
“We can turn back now. Should we give up on tracking down Weed and return?” Drinfeld shook his head. “No, it is too late to turn back when we are already all the way here. Proceed through.”
Harben Kingdom navy passed through the glacier area. During the process, 273 of the crewmen had died.
It was mostly the crew members who had light clothing to adjust the sail and observe the stars.
If he had not changed their direction upon hearing that the path the ghost ship took changed because of the sea creatures, the damage would have tremendously increased.
‘Just where is he heading……’ Various conjectures and suspicion arose amongst the users of Haven Kingdom and Drinfeld.
“Did he find some treasure island? Like, some place covered with gold all over the place with high graded weapons.”
“That treasure that all users of sea dream of?”
“I think he’s looking for a sunken ship full of gems rather than a treasure island.”
“It’s Weed we’re talking about, so maybe he’s chasing after some legend of Deron Sea. Something priceless like legendary weapons or a crown covered with gems.”
“Let’s head anywhere!” Their enthusiasm ran high. The more they chased after Weed, the harsher their path became, and they believed that a worthy price was waiting for them.
The 2nd division warships that were full of simplified ships, for profit of the kingdom were often attacked when meeting ships of other kingdoms.
They were chasing after Weed, full of desire to take his equipment and even his quest.
***
The merchants of central continent who visited Morata had many complaints.
“The transit duty was only 3% before, so why was it raised to 5%?”
“Can he really just raise taxes like this just because he’s the lord?” The merchants gathered and sent in complaints, but they couldn’t get any positive support from Morata’s users.
5% for transit tax was rather cheap. In the Central Continent, 15%, 20%, and even 35% for the transit tax were often the case.
Plus, the transit tax was not for Morata merchants, but only for the merchants of other districts to pay. It was something for Morata merchants to welcome, so they did not support them.
“I can’t understand how he can raise taxes like this.”
“There’s limit to looking down on us. Does the lord of Morata not know who’s behind us? It’s the Merchant Union!” The merchants gathered and caused an uproar. Then, someone shouted.
“We shouldn’t talk amongst ourselves like this. Let’s go to the lord’s castle.”
“Let’s go and talk to him!” The merchants crowded to the lord’s castle. Of course, they were doing this while knowing fully well that the lord of Morata, Weed, was absent.
They complained to the guards.
“To suddenly raise transit tax like this. How could you do this?!”
“We came to meet the one responsible for this.”
The fame and authority of the Central Continent merchants were outrageous.
The guards politely brought them to the department that was in charge of the commerce inside the lord’s castle.
“This is the Department of Commerce where they look out for the merchants staying at Morata.”
Merchants bashed in. But, the floor was covered with straws, and female cows were looking after calves.
“Who the hell decorated the Department of Commerce like this?! Where’s the person in charge?!”
Next to the feeder in the Department of Commerce, there was a nameplate.
Representative of Morata Commerce - Yellowy
Yellowy was currently absent.
“We shouldn’t stand here like this. Don’t we have to complain to the person in charge of transit tax?”
“That would be the one to talk to.”
The merchants came out again and looked for the Department of Finance, but Geuminyi wasn’t present either. And, Wyverns were the ones who had the seat of the 1st deputy head of taxing! Wyverns sat at the top of the towers and sometimes revisited Morata.
Because of that, it was hard to meet Wyverns either.
The merchants tried to use their fame and conversational skill to persuade, but there was no one to persuade. Of course, it was a wonder if Wyverns would actually be patient enough to listen to humans talk.
“To think that all of the people in charge are absent… then how about meeting other directors of Morata? We’ll be able to sway them a bit about Morata’s government.”
“I agree.”
The representative of the merchants came out from the Department of Finance and went to the Department of Military.
Due to repairing and improving the lord’s castle, new departments formed, and there were directors for each of them.
The director of the Department of Military - Bingryong, Phoenix - hunting
Weed gave the seats to the sculpture lifeforms to gain practical dictatorship. Because of that, it was impossible for the merchants to lobby or persuade to pressure the government to change.
This was the true dictatorship! Later, the knights or merchants who stacked up contribution may be promoted into higher places, but currently, Weed ruled with absolute power.