RD | Chapter 21

Ian returned to the dungeon after ten days. When he arrived, people dropped what they were doing and welcomed him with joy.

“Welcome back safely!”

“Thank goodness!” Ian was surprised.

‘Were they this loyal?’

“We were worried you might collapse and cough up blood on the way. Many of us regretted not following you.”

A priest with a flushed face explained the situation. Ian did not want to entrust his body to a doctor who was hiccupping while holding a bottle of liquor. Although it was Ian who made him like that.

“……”

Anyway, when Ian took out the World Tree branch and edible plants, the people’s joy doubled.

“We were worried about what to grow on this barren land, but there are potatoes here! With these, we can survive the winter.”

“We could plant other things when the weather gets better…”

“No, we can plant them now. I’m going to plant the World Tree in the dungeon.”

Ian called up the system window and unfolded the dungeon map. The filled part of the map was bizarre because they had only dug in one place to awaken the dragon.

Anyway, Ian had no intention of going near there. What he was looking for was a ‘room with light.’

Occasionally, there were rooms in the dungeon where light filtered in from above. Though there was an opening, it wasn’t large enough for a person to pass through, so only a minimal amount of light entered. However, that small amount was enough.

The <World Tree> possessed an incredible buff that enhanced the growth of all crops. As long as the minimum amount needed for survival was met, the World Tree would amplify the rest.

‘Here, here, and here. I’ll explore the rest later.’

Ian chose rooms from the revealed parts of the map for farming. Then he led the people to the first room.

“Let’s plant the World Tree branch here.”

“That… do you mean the treasure of the elves?”

Some farmers had heard of the World Tree. They wondered if they were allowed to plant such a thing casually. They were also curious about how Ian had obtained the treasure of the elves.

‘He didn’t just take it, right?’

“Yes. I received it as a gift from an elf I met by chance.”

“You received it as a gift!”

“I thought so.”

“……?”

Ian looked at the people awkwardly behaving with curiosity.

Anyway, they followed Ian’s instructions, dug a hole in the center of the room, and planted the World Tree branch.

Ian watched them as they dug fast. They were workers from within the castle. Yet, ‘worker’ was quite a broad term; their tasks were either farming or physical labor. But Their primary duties were cultivating the royal family’s private land or fetching wood.

It meant they were talented at farming.

‘From now on, this dungeon will go into full farming mode.’

After all, these humans can’t do defense.

Ian had them plant other crops around the World Tree. He also assigned managers for each area.

Ding!
[‘Strawberry Farm’ managers Hans, Peter have been assigned.]

Ding!
[‘Potato Farm’ managers Joseph, Baker have been assigned.]

…

…

…

“Mortis, Chez, Joel, come here. You haven’t farmed before, have you?” Ian beckoned a few others. He deliberately didn’t assign them farming tasks.

“I helped with housework when I was young, but I can’t say I know much about it.” Mortis scratched his head.

“You guys do what you’re good at.”

“Yes?”

“Go fetch wood. There’s a thick forest around here, right? It’s hard for us to move around. Think about making a path and getting some wood up to the water source.”

Mortis blinked and asked. “What’s a water source?”

“Drinking water.”

Ian answered and sealed his lips. Mortis must be a character with the setting ‘I didn’t have time to study because I was always working.’

Every time he encountered these realistically set elements, he felt like this place was real, which was scary. Ian thought of this place as half a dream. He was dreaming of playing a game. He couldn’t maintain his sanity otherwise.

Shaking off these unnecessary thoughts, Ian called for Sema.

“Sema. You watch over the woodcutters.”

“Ah! Yes! Leave it to me!”

Sema, happy to have something to do, followed the woodcutters. He really likes working.

Ding!

[The construction area has been expanded.]
[You have more than 10 characters with the <Farming> skill.]
[Agricultural efficiency increases by 30%.]

Ding!

[By the grace of the World Tree, crop growth speed increases by 500%.]

The planted plants grew rapidly and became lush. It was like watching a nature documentary at 10x speed.

Ian’s surprise was nothing compared to that of the people.

“……!”

“The World Tree!”

“I told you it would grow well.” Ian took the opportunity to boost their loyalty. Even though the World Tree did all the work…

“As expected from Lord Ian!”

“Scary but competent!”

“……”

Ian began to wonder if this reputation would ever change.

Isn’t the tyrant reputation lasting too long?

Ding!

[World Tree LV.1 → LV.2]
[The second dungeon can now be opened.]
[The area expansion of the first dungeon is possible.]
[The maximum number of people the dungeon can accommodate increases.]

‘Done.’

As the dungeon grew, the level of the World Tree also increased. Now, reinforcement work for dungeon expansion was possible.

‘We can make the defense stronger.’

“Lord Ian! We’re back!” Sema waved his hand. The woodcutters each carried a load on their backs.

“Well done. Let’s make wooden armor with that. Woodcutters keep fetching wood, and Sema, you keep watching them. Farmers, you don’t have much to do for now, right? Let’s get crafting.”

Ian placed his hand on the pile of wood.

Ding!

[Trap: Created Spike Pit.]
[Trap: Created Spike Pit.]

…

…

…

Ian set up plenty of traps at the entrances to the farming area. He looked at Louise.

“Louise. When you go out, there will be spikes stuck in pits; coat them with your poison.”

“Yes, Lord Ian.” Louise went out with his poison pouch.

Ding!

[Trap: Spike Pit → Enhanced to Poison Spike Pit.]

‘Good.’

With this, protecting the farming area should be fine. Since they had cleared an insane difficulty earlier, strong monsters wouldn’t come for a while. Even game developers have some conscience.

‘Or do they?’

Considering the tutorial and the Demon Archduke, it didn’t seem like they did…

Anyway, this break time was originally meant for crazily luring in and capturing monsters to recruit defense monsters.

‘When they realize the Demon Archduke is gone, the monsters will go wild.’

The time before they stormed into the dungeon was what Ian alone called ‘break time.’ After the break, monster waves would come incessantly. But there was still time until then.

‘I need to train some soldiers.’ Ian concluded his thoughts.

“Let’s split the farmers in half. One group keeps making wooden defenses, the other gets military training.”

Just then, Louise returned after applying the poison.

Ian gave him a command. “Louise, can you teach archery?”

“Leave it to me, Lord Ian. But how will we get bows and arrows for them to shoot? Should we steal from the village?” Louise asked as if it was obvious.

‘No. That’ll cause an uprising.’ The loyalty from Louise’s village was still low.

“Let’s make them too. Until then… teach them how to hold a pose in mid-air without a bow.”

“Yes, Lord Ian.”

The people who were slightly excited about learning archery fell silent.

‘What’s that…’

Anyway, Ian participated in the military training too. Even with the <Archery> buff, the arrows Ian shot flew embarrassingly off course.

People who were bored, just holding a pose, pretended not to watch Ian.

They were astonished.

‘He really can’t shoot…’

‘Is it because his body is weak from some illness?’

They whispered among themselves.

Ding!

[People are worried about you.]
[People think you are frail!]

Though their whispers didn’t reach Ian’s ears, he could see the system messages.

Ian endured the embarrassment.

‘No, that’s not it… But what’s this ‘frail’ debuff?’

In the game, this reputation didn’t come up just because HP decreased, so what is this?

Ian checked the title in the system window.

[Reputation: Frail]

People pity you.

‘What’s this…’

He couldn’t even tell if it was useful or not. Is this really a debuff? Ian grimaced and shot arrows diligently.

What choice did he have? He had never moved his body outside of PE class. He was an orphan, so he didn’t go to the military either.

Then, a pale-faced woodcutter ran towards them.

“Lord Ian! Lord Ian! Human hunters have appeared! They’ve spotted us! We barely escaped, but…!”

“……!”

Human hunters.

People who capture humans to sell as slaves.

“Was anyone taken? What about Sema? Did you stop them?” Ian pressed.

“That, that… The one who was taken was Sema!”

“……”

Ian had nothing to say.

‘Damn…’