Bread thought for a moment before giving a heavy sigh. In fact, there was a reason Ark had to rush to retake Silvana. Jewel’s face had been shown to the public on TV. Of course, Jewel had withdrawn from Hermes in advance and they had officially denied the alliance’s relationship with Jewel through the forums of various sites. However 100% of Jewel’s group used to be in Hermes, not just 1~2 people. NPCs wouldn’t know but the users couldn’t obediently accept Hermes’ claim. Shortly after the broadcast of the Lancel defensive war, the Hermes alliance had been extremely criticized by the users. On the other hand Ark, no Dark Wolf was a hero! With such an atmosphere, couldn’t Ark gather users to attack Hermes? Whether in reality or the game, people gravitated towards those with a cause. If he took advantage of the current atmosphere towards Hermes then he could attract high level users.
‘On the other hand, the morale of the Hermes alliance would’ve fallen.’
The morale of the troops in the game was important. No, morale was important to win in the game. If their morale fell in the game, their eagerness to fight would decrease and they would die. Thus the battle was in his favour if the morale was already decreased from the beginning. However, there was no guarantee that the atmosphere would continue forever. If time passed then that atmosphere would disappear. This was the reason why Ark thought it was the proper time to recapture Silvana. As he mentioned earlier, it wasn’t a problem collecting reinforcements. The problem wasn’t gathering reinforcements but maintaining them. Ark had a good reason. Many users might support Ark. But there were problems if they wanted to participate in the battle. If they participated in the battle then they needed money for consumables and repairs. If they didn’t belong to a guild or alliance then there were no benefits for users to participate in a siege. So they had to receive some money for the damages they might incur during the battle. In other words, Ark had to bear the cost for things such as equipment repairs, food and various supplies. The minimum cost for one person was 10 gold. Hiring level 250 users required at least 10 gold. However Ark had already collected 1,700 users. If he collected 1,000 more then he would have 2,700 users. 10 gold per person meant 27,000 gold. The thousands of people needed in a siege was no joke.
‘I’ve prepared 30,000 gold for the war funds!’
It was an enormous amount but it wasn’t enough to hire thousands of troops. Since Ark had no guild or alliance, he had to bear that cost alone.
“But it has to be enough. It is now or never.”
Ark replied in a firm voice. The reason Ark was able to think that was because of the siege rules. After Ark revealed Alan’s use of the ghost guild, the rules of the siege had changed. Since Sid was currently infiltrating Silvana, Ark was able to hear the new siege rules from him.
“The system now is that guilds at the Shrine of War have a sequential chance to challenge a siege. Since the siege is more large scale than before, it will only occur once every 2 weeks so some people will have to wai months for a chance.”
“Then if a guild registers later then they’ll have to wait?”
“Not really. At the Shrine of War, the guilds can apply for a 100 vs 100 battle separate from the siege. The guild that wins will have their priority increased.
This was the new rules of the siege. Even if Ark collected the troops, if he didn’t have the priority right then he couldn’t participate in the siege. Of course, he could participate in a few battles against guilds but if there were a lot of guilds with higher priority than him then it would eat a lot of his funds. His funds were very tight so there was no possibility of doing that. But he didn’t have to wait this time.
“The rules right now….. In fact, recently there haven’t been a lot of sieges. Since the size of the alliance in Nagaran had become larger and their troops numbered in the thousands, few people were willing to attack them. If they tried a siege and failed then the guild would become incredible broke so there was none that would try it.”
The Hermes alliance was one of the 5 powers in Nagaran. They were a huge alliance with more than 5,000 people so trying a siege with them would just make them lost the funds. Because of that, there had been no sieges in Silvana for half a year.
‘But in fact, the Hermes alliance is actually struggling financially. If the other influential alliances known this information then they will apply for a siege. No matter how much Hermes tries to hide the information, one day it will leak.’
If someone showed a weak point in Nagaran then it was the end. When the circumstances inside the Hermes alliance were revealed then the other unions would attack Silvana like hyenas.
‘If Silvana is taken away from the Hermes alliance then I will have to fight a new union. Furthermore, they might even collect the remnants of the Hermes alliance. Ark only just had the minimum funds.
It was why he had to recapture Silvana now, even if it meant borrowing money.
“Then there is no other choice? Okay, it’s decided so I’ll depart right away for Silvana. I’ll bring the gathered troops to Silvana.”
Bread shrugged and muttered. The person giddy about the upcoming battle wasn’t just Bread.
“I’ll also do my best to help you.”
Roco was also looking forward to going onto the battlefield with Ark. Then Sapjil who was moving goods on the 2nd floor gasped and looked aghast.
“Eek? Even Manager-nim is going?”
“Of course. Why else have I been taking lessons from Melody?”
“But who will look after the store?”
“You guys will have to do that.”
“Huh? But…….”
Sapjil spoke in a worried voice.
‘Ah, that’s something I hadn’t thought of.’
Ark finally realized a problem he hadn’t considered. Even without Roco, there was still Sapjil and Ulmeok left to look after the store. But he felt anxious at the thought of leaving the store to those two. After a lot of education they had become steadier than before, but there was no guarantee that would continue without Roco there. No, Ark’s store was open 24 hours like a convenience store so he couldn’t possible trust in the two of them.
‘But Roco’s abilities will play an important role in this battle.’
Ark’s recognition of Roco’s skills had changed 180 degrees after the Lancel defensive war. Not only did Illusion Sonata have fantastic strategic value, Roco’s buffs could also be stacked onto hundreds of users. With both Lariette and Roco as rear support, the power of the buffs applied would be huge.
‘Should I leave the store to Sid during the siege?’
Ark considered this. Then Sid jumped with surprise after he talked about it with him.
“What are you saying? Do you think I’m a person without any work to do? I’m a very busy person. As the manager of the foreign division of the Continental Commerce Firm, how can I been seen in a suburban store like this?”
“S-suburban?”
“You should forget about the idea. I helped you with persuading the merchants’ guild but that is it. You should restrain from asking anything more from me at the moment. Because I am someone who also has a lot of work. I can’t just keep taking care of Ark-nim’s problems. Well, that might change if Ark-nim pays me.”
Sid snorted and muttered. Ark’s face became blank from Sid’s reaction. In the past he couldn’t even yawn without Sid flinching. However, Sid’s insubordination was long scheduled. Now Sid had fully occupied a place in Nagaran. As the foreign division manager of the Continental Commerce Firm which had a great deal of large trades, he had already changed to his 2nd profession. And he collected a huge amount of money. Now Sid no longer needed to flatter Ark anymore.
‘…… So his head has become really big?’
Ark glared at the cheeky hobbit. But Sid had been capture during his weak point so he was different from the three pigs who had been tamed with violence. He couldn’t squeeze Sid like he could the three pig brothers. Furthermore, Sid could also expose some of his internal affairs to the Hermes alliance. If Sid disclosed the circumstances to the Hermes alliance then Ark would be in trouble. Although Sid knew Ark’s character, he had gained confidence recently after realizing how important he was to Ark. Therefore he had no intention of staying at Ark’s store. Ark felt furious at the thought.
‘Unbelievable. Now he is being rebellious? I have to use some excuse in the future to re-educate him. But I can’t pay attention to Sid now. There are bigger problems so I have no choice but to move on. But who can I trust the store to if Sid won’t stay?
Ark was sighing with frustration when it happened.
“That……. President-nim, there is a visitor for you.”
Ulmeok suddenly appeared on the stairs and spoke.
“Visitor? Who?”
“It is the first time I’ve seen them……”
Ulmeok answered in a hesitant tone. In the past, Ulmeok wouldn’t have reported the guest to Roco or Ark. But after being caught by Isyuram, he now sought Ark and Roco out to report straight away.
‘Who could be looking for me?’
Ark scratched his head and descended to the 1st floor. When he went down a teenage girl wearing robes was looking around the store. Ark looked at the girl and tilted his head to one side. It was the first time he had seen the girl. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help feeling like the girl was somewhat familiar. It was definitely the first time he saw her but what was this feeling? What on earth? At that moment, the girl seemed to feel his gaze and turned her head. And she stared at Ark before laughing.
“Ah, I can tell with just one glance. You’re Hyun-woo. No, are you called Ark here?”
Ark was even more confused by the girl’s words. Hyun-woo? Ark? Didn’t that mean the person knew who he was in reality as well as the game? Furthermore, it wasn’t possible to change gend