The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor

Tenbain, an unknown dungeon in the North.

Against the breakouts of sickle carrying Ghost-type Monsters, there was a troop advancing to oppose them.

“Complete dismantling of the traps!”

“A horde of Monsters, 30 meters ahead. Approximately 25 of them.”

“Clerics, Blessing. The Warriors equipped with full sets, lead the advance.”

The Champion of Blood, Deimond, leading the Predators of the Land guild.

A force of one of the top 50 guilds in the Central continent.

In possessions of three castles, all with high tax rate set.

Users living there had issued their complaints, but they were all suppressed by the guild’s overwhelming force.

Those that resisted were often punished.

But that’s not all. Whether they were users of other guilds or of another kingdom, the Predators of the Land slaughtered them all indiscriminately.

“Kill them. So they can’t get a foothold on our land again!”

While growing and lacking of equipment and money, the so-called outlaw guild.

Based of their forces, they were triumphant, but at the end of the attack from the alliances of the guilds, they faced their destruction!

Now, they were forced to become wanderers, away from the Central continent.

They wandered and made their way toward the north.

“Yesh. This, it must be the Boss Monster Death Lord’s place.”

Deimond’s motivation soared.

Owning castles or towns, that was the easy part. Not needing to mind about maintaining guild alliances with others nor care for the sizeable growth of the guild; all they needed to do for now was to concentrate on only hunting and questing for themselves!

The Predators of the Land’s growth of power was continuing in full swing, without having to care for influencing the fattest of castles or towns, nothing can beat their enjoyment of playing Royal Road.

“Suban, pay full attention. Maban, Attack!”

The Barbarian Warrior Suban fiercely wielded his ax with both hands.

Monsters were flocking to him.

The Theif Maban stuck out of the Monsters’ shadows and attacked them with poisonous daggers.

Predators of the Land, although numbering many more than any of the other guilds, the working relations.h.i.+p between them was excellent.

While leading the combatants of the Predators of the Land, Deimond led then up till the end of Tenbain dungeon, and hunted the Death Lord.

And then, as a reward, they received one statement.

1. Will instill fear in all - If you want to walk on the Road of Death, then find the temple that has disappeared from mankind’s memories.

Deimond wrack his head and began to investigate.

“Create fear. Lost temple. What the h.e.l.l is this?”

Though he enjoyed plundering and killing, Deimond was not slow-witted. Even if this was something seemingly trivial, the phrase had somewhat of a presence; thusly, not negligible.

“If we go and check on the history of the Versailles Continent, it aint going to be helpful. It states here…"disappeared from mankind’s memories"…”

Suban also showed signs of being intrigued.

“Quite unique, huh. Wherever we will look or ask, there isn’t going to be some concrete explanation regarding it.”

“Then it’s better to s.h.i.+ft our focuses to the missing temple, yea? If not, then we have to collect more clues on it.”

Deimond, together with his colleagues, covertly probed the hidden rooms in the dungeon seeking for information. They casually picked up random unknown written objects and a.s.sembled the lot.

1. Ohhh! This world is shrouded in darkness. The empire"s destruction, and it seems like the Versailles Continent may meets its end on this year.

1. There is nothing at all that can escape from the hands of death.

1. Their prison of death and their followers are exponentially growing.

They listed the many strange legends from an array of residents from various nearby towns.

“My grandfather’s grandfather, rather, the story have been pa.s.sed down long since the time before my grandfather’s; for some reason, people could not carelessly talk about the past of the earlier days of the Nippleheim Empire.”

“There are unusually a lot of traces of the destroyed castles that are at the ruins of the Nippleheim Empire. Why are there a lot of traces? If it weren’t for the lot of Monsters invasion, then their fort or castles wouldn’t have fallen.”

They got more and more clues.

In some Grandfather’s home, he showed a booklet that has been handed down.

Ding!

“Difficulty Grade S!”

Deimond bursts with ecstasy.

Grade B quests were typical to them, as they have encountered a substantial amount of such.

Difficulty Grade A quests were commissions that gave huge rewards or power, or even affecting the balance of the Versailles Continent.

Therefore, this was not something one can conveniently obtain, because there was the issue of risking the very life of the guild that needed to be addressed.

The reason Jeons.h.i.+n Weed received a tremendous amount interests from public was due to being the first to solve a Grade A quest, the Legion of Immortality.

The emotion of the Elemental Shaman of the guild, Imperial, was also sparked.

“It’s a difficulty Grade S of a quest, it’s something needed to be unconditionally accepted.”

The Witch Nardo was being cautious.

“Our current power right now has been stretched thin. This isn’t like the Central continent.”

The Predators of the Land guild was currently isolated from the Central continent; but if needed for a fight, the number of support they can gain for cooperation wasn"t small.

In example, fighters that fights for their spoils! They could request the help of the Mercenaries or request help from an army.

It was difficult for them to judge the success of the quest if they guild went alone.

“So it’s better for more to accept the quest huh. Since this came from a Monster like a Death Lord, then it means that this is an amazing quest. We will likely receive a huge reward if we solve it on our own.”

“We don’t know how many Boss Monsters will come into play…if the Monster is a Dragon, then we’ll be annihilated.”

“Annihilation? You’re frighten of something like being annihilated?”

“I don’t mean that, but…”

“Since it’s adventurous, let’s not mince words any longer.”

The opinion of the gang was gearing toward embracing the quest.

They may have ran castles and towns, but each and everyone of them have not abandoned the pure joy of a challenge and of a fight.

Deimond’s ambition pulsed.

‘We’re going throw away everything.’

Their castle in the Central continent has been taken, and they can no longer take up the shame-filled flag of the Predators of the Land anymore. They might as well put the times where they had influenced the Versailles Continent and memories of the past behind them.

‘I think my chance has come.’

An opportunity to turn everything around after from returning back to square one!

Through the use of the Priests of Death quest, they can stand again in the midst of everything.

Deimond strongly clenched his fist.

“As for me, I want the power of the Priests of Death. Anybody that will defy me will be swept away, and I want to grasp the Versailles Continent within my hand!”

***

Only when the rising sun indicates that it was noon, that Weed could meet up with the Village Elder in the Lord’s Castle.

“The old me could have taken on many things, but for you to go play around and only to meet up with the me now, wow.”

As soon as the Village Elder saw Weed, he complained since.

“A sudden advent of people coming into Morata…with the increasing residents, there are mountains of things that needed to be done…”

He was nagging.

Weed’s unique secret of how to get along with those who nags in the world!

At times like these, you do not pile it up more with vain excuses.

‘Nothing to say here.’

In one ear and out the other!

Only after the long lecture ended, the Village Elder hurriedly say.

“You must take hold of Morata’s affairs and security. Now that the castle became somewhat sustainable; now Lord nim must directly take a stand on what you want of our Morata. The remaining fund of the Morata province is 39845 Gold.”

Ding!

1. Do you want to use the Affairs of the Lord Mode?

The mode to enable the Lord to maintain the domestic state of affairs!

Weed accepted.

“Yes.”

1. The on-screen view will switch to Affairs of the Lord Mode.

From the empty room in the castle where Weed had a conversation with the Elder. Suddenly, things changed.

Now, he had an overview of the region of Morata.

The thing he saw below him, as he remained in the sky, was a view of Morata.

“Well, now what should I do.”

Weed silently looked down on Morata. Everything was apparent to him, from the movement of people on the streets, buildings, even up till the landscape from the castle walls.

If he wanted, he could change his view point and take a closer peek, it was even possible to hear people’s voices.

The Domestic Affair Mode that was only available to the Lord!

A message window popped up to inform him the current state of Morata.

From things such as construction, commercial, military, change in taxation; currently, all were in Weed’s command.

“First, I have to take care of the poor residences in Morata, hmm.”

Weed searched up buildings that needed construction.

Then at this time, more than 300 names and shapes of buildings popped up before him.

From things such as maintenance of the Lord’s Castle, and a number of building of specific types for residents were coming up.

Palace of the Lord

Morata does not belong to any kingdom.

Though it did said that the land once belonged to the Nippleheim Empire, ever since the fall of the nation, every village had to survive relying on themselves.

Therefore, there won’t be any friction with those who affiliated with the kingdom.

But Weed lightly shook his head.

‘I don’t need such a thing.’

The state of the village was in its early development, no good conscience of a reason to be building a grand palace for just the Lord. It sounded more like a waste of money, while planted trees on the roadside seems better looking than a palace where the Lord could freeze to death.

Golf course only for the Lord

“The h.e.l.l..?”

Most of the facilities available for the Lord, Weed immediately turned them off.

Now, on top of the priority list, there were only necessary buildings to be constructed.

***

The Haven for Adventurers.

The only location for liquor in Morata where people were standing in line waiting for vacancies.

Fail, Meiron, Mapan as well as other colleagues too, were waiting so they could eat and drink.

But, they have been waiting for an hour now and still no vacancy.

“Boy, can we even sit down to have a drink by the end of the day?”

“It’s lunchtime too and so it"s full of people.”

While complaining, they couldn’t leave their positions.

There was no other place in Morata where they could enjoy alcohol if they leave the Haven for Adventurers!

If there was a hunting party in the North, then the first place they’d come to in Morata once returned was the Tavern.

While drinking coconut, fruit wine, beer and such, they can shoo away their Fatigue and loosen up, as well as catching up with colleagues in many of the other parties.

“About when can I get a spot…”

Jaffe was complaining with a sigh that follows.

He was in a serious predicament since this was the only location where girls didn"t mind him placing himself near them to chat them up.

Then, the roof of the bar suddenly gets torn away.

A whole side of the wall disappeared altogether.

“What the?”

“What’s going on?”

The users who were eating food and getting drunk were wholly surprised, as if they were struck by lightning.

A perfectly natural reaction to something so sudden.

Since the completion of dismantling the pub, walls, pillars, and ceiling were recreated in expanded form.

Now it was able to seat as many as 2000 people!

It had converted into a super tavern.

Only then the users understood.

“The Lord.”

“Morata’s Lord is working on domestic affairs!”

***

Using vacant land, Weed extended the Tavern and the Inn, while also building a large Dining Hall.

In the more compartmentalized lands, hundreds of buildings were still being erected.

Renovation of the Tavern was 12000 Gold, the Inn was 9300 Gold, and the construction of the large Dining Hall was 16000 Gold.

Various windows informing the status of Morata popped up.

1. With the expansion of the Tavern: Economy +2, Public Security -1%.

1. With the expansion of the Inn: Economy +1, Hygiene +3.

1. Along with being able to afford the construction of the Dining Hall: Culture +3, Economy +2. For the next 3 months, the town’s Productivity will increase by 1%.

As he modifies, he could see the immediate effect taking place.

It was revealed from things such as the current Military, Economy, and Hygiene that accompanied the addition of the new Dining Hall which were all severely low, affects the influx of people negatively.

When public Security is low, crime rate will increase as well as problems in the development of commerce.

“The next thing…”

Weed’s eyes turned to the Central Square. And with 100 Gold, he opened five stalls.

Stalls that sell simple snacks!

Although they have minor economic impact, they play an important role to enhance the town"s income.

Along with the momentum of this act, the Central Square was having a riot.

“Lord, please make a Blade Master Guild!”

“Adventure shop…”

“I hope you build private homes and warehouses.”

“A traveler’s a.s.sociation must be presented in Morata!”

Everyone was talking about their specific needs.

Just like noisy young birds chirping with both limbs raised wanting some food.

Evidently revealed they longed to have many great things.

Even if the Lord doesn’t commences the constructions, the residents or the Architects are capable of building the things they need themselves. But on the Versailles Continent, the number of Architects is uncommonly low; because it isn’t easy to build stores and houses to put up for sales.

Generally, as for the Lord, if they want to go ahead and build buildings according to the town and castle, it was meant as a development to create a city.

If the Lord of the castle was a Magician, then he would make a lot of Magic Guilds and Magic shops in line with his traits. If it was an Elemental Shaman, then wood and water would be abound in the dominated castle, along with making it eco-friendly.

Development under the accommodation of the Lord!

While merely listening to the breeze of users, Weed also had to choose.

However, the fund of the village was only 2045 Gold.

Leaving just 100 Gold of his private fund, Weed began investing wholly in Morata.

Until now, the lot of money he used for the construction was Morata’s own Fund.

Shacks!

New houses were needed because of the explosive increase of population of Morata.

Hill and mountain trees were simultaneously disintegrated together forming Shacks.

Each Shack was a mere 30 Silvers per household.

“Make it a Shack of dreams as well!”

Weed made an investment of 3000 Gold into 10000 furnis.h.i.+ngs.

The Morata’s users were surprised by the changes made.

“Woah!”

“This crazy Lord!”

“They’re just Shacks but they’re huge!”

Shacks also appeared in the Central Square.

Shacks that were built near atop the mountain were packed tightly together.

The next thing Weed chose to build was the Commodity Exchange.

This played a similar role to that of the trading posts, but this has the possibility of carrying out large-scale commerce.

Morata has already exported their stuff to other places, and this building can effectively supply to those insufficient towns!

Traders’ warehouses and pickup areas were widened.

This was warmly welcomed by the Merchants.

“Morata lord knows whatsup.”

“If you ignore the Merchants then the growth of the city is a no go.”

He also conceived a Union for the Merchants.

Even when there is a large amount of work or procurement required, they can divide the commission up among the Merchants within the Union!

The building is the cornerstone of the Merchant Guild.

A lot of building arose in the vacant lot near the Morata Central Square.

Weapon shop, Armor shop, Tourist shop, Adventurer shop, Cartography group, Fruit store, and including Grocery store were made.

Rows of buildings were built on the once empty streets of Morata caused the users to cheer.

“Hurrah!”

“It’s going to be much convenient now, huh.”

The other compet.i.tive town was of poor quality at a time. Even with the advent of some famous guild dominating the towns, which attained the users’ awareness for a while, the number of users was not something comparable to that of Morata. Being able to purchase items from Morata made them a bit more comfortable; hitherto everybody was delighted.

But this was not the end of Weed’s construction.

Kuuuung!

The land rang out in a thunderous noise while materials were piling up on the vacant lot next to the Smithy.

“What, what is that?”

“What is he trying to make?”

As a place to manufacture weapons and armors, the Smithy boasts a pretty s.p.a.cious area. A building five times larger than the Smithy was being a.s.sembled on the vacant lot.

A large building with a large chimney.

As soon as the building was complete, the Blacksmiths who were unable to overcome the curiosity nimbly navigated towards it.

They went inside then jumped and screamed all around.

“Huge hearth!”

“The hearth can pull out high quality Iron from just Iron Ore!”

If there isn’t a large fireplace, then only skilled Blacksmiths were able to extract Iron, and even so, it takes a lot of time. Because of this reason, if they want to fabricate what they want, then they will have to dissolve a lot of other swords and armors in order to do so.

But now, when they obtain just simple Iron Ores from the hunt, they could come to this large furnace and quickly after, they can extract high purity Iron from them.

If the supply of Iron shoots up, Blacksmiths could potentially make weapons with improved quality, as well as increasing quant.i.ty.

This was something the fabricators desperate needed!

Although it took up 50000 Gold, Weed did not hesitate using the money.

Because with more Blacksmiths and Jewelers(Jewelry cutter) flooding in using it, there will be an increase in the production of weapons and armors, needless to say the influx of the tax revenue that comes with them!

To the unaware users, outside of the village of Morata, other construction projects were going on.

The Iron mines, Copper mines, and Silver mines that once belong to the Nippleheim Empire of the past!

Weed was trying to transform the mines that were neglected.

He repaired the tunnel system again; some villagers have moved to the locations while holding pickaxes. Paladins of Freya were also included among those villages in order to hunt Monsters who were currently dwelling in those abandoned old mines.

“He’s been slacking off from Morata, finally he returned with the mindset of its Lord.”

“I guess now we’re having a bit of progress.”

The user base as a whole all wore smiley faces.

But the changes did not stop there.

Kuuuuuung!

This time too, piling materials were appearing at another vacant lot.

The lush weeds grown there were cleaned off with the founding of a guild.

Tailor Guild!

There were a lot of Tailors who were far ahead in the mastery of the skill and could take advantages of Morata’s Advanced Fabric and Leather.

While they were skillfully experienced, several other guilds were built that can could help them out as well.

Farmers Guild and Freya Church’s Altar were constructed.

If their offering to the altar exceeds than what was asked for, curses can be lifted in addition to the temporary increase in Luck.

While the Freya Church’s Clergymen were well liked; user Clerics, Priests, and Adventurers fervently hope for this building.

“Even the Altar! That’s really excellent.”

Blade Master Guild was also created.

“The Lord musta used a bit of money.”

Thief Guild was founded.

“This crazy Lord, he’s just throwing money from one place to the next.”

The users that were in the village greatly cheered.

It wasn’t their village, but a place where they mainly stay while adventuring becoming more developed was making it comfortable for them.

A Warrior Guild emerged as they were blindsided by their chatting.

Bard Guild, Archer Guild, a.s.sa.s.sin Guild, Kung-fu Master Guild, Fist Guild.

Guilds of the Magician series were not built because each of the trait was 40000 Gold. However, almost all of the basic combat cla.s.ses’ Guilds were built.

An enormous amount of Weed’s hidden a.s.set was invested into the village.

All the material items he earned from Todoom resulted in 340000 Gold attained by utilizing his Tailor and Blacksmith skills.

And the Diamond he received in exchange for making the statue appraised for 145000 Gold.

Together, the sum of Gold was 485000.

While the money obtained from those who he receives for their partic.i.p.ation in the creation of the statue along with the sales of porridge exceeded 150000 Gold, the production cost of the statue came out to be 160000 Gold, which bled him.

But still, the money earned from hunting, combined with the money he previously have came out to be more than 500000 Gold.

Has triggered the development of a New City in Morata Province.

Weed still did not leave the Domestic Affairs Mode.

As there were still many necessary buildings remain.

“There are as much as 12 mine-able mines…”

To bring forth the development of one mine took 50000 Gold.

While Morata does not having the money to develop the 12 mines, but when it does cultivate them, the value of every Ores will most likely to crash and discarded.

Regarding Hygiene, much of its value will decline more so in comparison to when the residents were just farming; and in other areas, work productivity will also drop because of the mining they will do.

Material production, economic strength, and the source of military are all important resources consisted of the residents.

If there was such a thing as a Mithril or Mana Stone mine, they would unconditionally excavate it, but unfortunately, such high grade resources did not exist in Morata or will they ever be found.

But still, it was lucky that they had Ivory.

While he was observing the province of Morata, in a gra.s.sland located north-west of its vicinity, Weed found a large herd of Elephants. If they were authorized to hunt these Elephants, then they would be able to obtain high quality Ivory.

Ivory is something that could be called the "jewel of the living."

“Gotta catch them sparingly.”

It was now time to nurture the Soldiers.

Morata still have seven months remaining of the received protection from Freya Church, but the Soldiers need much more time than that in order to grow.

“I need to recruit about 100 Soldiers and 10 Knights.”

Recruiting station and training ground were built to recruit Soldiers and to give them basic training.

It was not possible to have a proper training facility for the Knights, so he ordered the hired Knights to venture out.

Weed was done with the army.

Frankly speaking, the head of any guild was the leading user of any group. However, it was different for the Lords of any town or castle. By using the fund to drive the town, he will possess his own army.

***

It was when the users of Morata were bursting with cheers as the town was going through with its development.

Users amidst light appeared in the Central Square.

“Ah!”

“Is this the way how I move the body?”

“This is Royal Road!”

They were complete novices.

Morata had become a place where new users could start out.

“This is the North?”

“Wow! So this is how the villages in the North look like.”

New users accompanied by light were constantly being generated.

This was the only starting point for beginners in the North.

An explosively large amount of new users who saw Morata village chose the place.

“Uwahhhh!”

“Newbies.”

In the midst of the beginners’ bustling, the general users who once felt lonesome and forlorn also became more delighted.

Even though they are just beginners, their worth is very large.

While hunting for fox, deer, rabbit and the likes, they can deal with the town with the meat and leather they saves.

This isn"t similar to the high level users who hunt meat and leather for production purposes, these were useful materials for the beginners to obtain money and weapon.

Thus they become a force to procure a huge quant.i.ty of food, weapon, and armor materials for the town.

Whether it was a chip of Wood, a rolling Ore, or cheap Herb, they serve as a driving force to develop the town as these new users sell what they can.

This also makes it easy for the Merchants and production cla.s.ses to save time in collecting basic materials, making it great for them to comfortably make the goods and sell the lot.

Although there wasn’t a place that the beginners could get help immediately, the normally specific combat job venues became convenient shops to sell out of miscellaneous weapons and armor to the beginners to use.

The novice users felt greatly welcome while the Clerics, Priests, and Knights were able to earn Honor points, Faith, Devotion as they helped out.

***

Kang Jin-Cheol was in great anguish as he scanned Royal Road’s board.

“Is this really alright? Is this fine letting it grow?”

On the Versailles Continent, he went by the handle Mapan, and had a bit of commercial success.

But he was feeling severely remorseful at the moment as his conscience beat down on him.

“Even beginners are coming to Morata…”

On the bulletin board, he could see many articles coming up regarding the subject.

Information about Morata acc.u.mulated the board.

Users" reactions were enthusiastic.

Questions and answers took place in real-time. Much of the people’s core interest was toward Morata.

The town was a hub covering the entire North’s trading, hunting, and commissions!

It was still a small town that had little development, though still there were a lot of people wanting to start in this Morata.

Kang Jin-Cheol lamented.

“These poor souls are continuing to migrate.”

The Smithy, Tavern, Trading Post and such that were established by Weed denotes that prices were cheaper.

At the large Smithy, the residential Blacksmiths were regularly employed to produce stuff. If they continue to make increasingly growing luxurious goods, then their skills can climb resulting in better and better goods.

In this way, the Lord who directly built the buildings can earn a share as each location reap in profit.

Prices in the Tavern can hardly be called fair already, while the Inn has its own pulls.

As the town welcomed the poor novice users and gave them a peace of mind, it was a critical juncture to lure them in for them to start in Morata.

But like a sudden storm coming in at any time, so will their future be exposed to exploitation!

“I cannot let them go!”

Kang Jin-Cheol dramatically decided.

It was not a bad thing for him if Morata was becoming more developed. As a Merchant who had invested here and there in Morata, it would only increase his income further.

He wrote, having already prepared himself for this penalty.

“It’s done now.”

He was anxious with the written article, but pretty soon, malicious comments piled up.

“Keuheuk!”

Kang Jin-Cheol grabbed his pounding chest.

Since he was only reading the negative comments coming in real-time in real life, he wasn"t hurt externally.

Despite him being slammed, extremely strange things were going on.

Besides Kang Jin-Cheol, different articles from other people trying to discourage the user base from starting in Morata or coming to Morata.

They were posts that weren’t possible if they didn’t know the little things about Weed!

But as such articles appear, they were heavily struck down by negative comments.

So much so that they deleted the posts since every single one of them were fed up with the accusations; as the authors made out to be antagonists.

“Ahh.”

Realization dawned him.

It wasn’t just him that had a conscience, but Fail, Meiron, and the others as well.

They too, tried to be saviors but could not turn the tide.

They were hardly able to change the current.

By means of attacking Morata, they faced a procession of users!

The definitive definition of evil was winning.

The world is dominated by the ill-intent.

And standing in the apex of all the swirling wickedness is Weed!

END Chapter