Volume 18 Chapter 5

The Establishment of the Grass Porridge Cult

After Lee Hyun came back from his vacation, he began to play Royal Road earnestly. After making breakfast and lunch for his sister, he devoted the rest of his time to playing. He had to make up for the time that he spent in Europe and submerged himself into Royal Road. Of course he was very unhappy that Choe Jihun was meddling in his little sister’s life.

“It may see childish…but I will not leave this alone. That is my right.”

First, he made contact with a number of the kids in the neighborhood.

“Contact me if they meet and leave with each other. Let me know immediately if he tries to put his arm around her shoulder.”

With those words he managed to get the young children on his side. Kids these days were not so easy to persuade. But with a small bribe of 1000 won and a little intimidation, he managed to get the kids to be his spies.

“If you refuse my request…it will be difficult for you to live in this town. Don’t you know about the ones known as sixth graders?”

The faces of the young children would turn pale white.

“Think of what would happen if I told them your names.”

He used another simple technique at the dojo.

At the dojo, once he bought four hot dogs for some of the elementary students so he could get them to do as he wants. He told them about several locations such as the library, the Movie Theater, hotels, and karaoke and showed them the picture of the two.

“Call me immediately if you see these two.”

A total of 500 thousand won spent.

With this in mind, he sent Choe Jihun a text message.

‘If you do anything, I will not let you live and kill you. I will kill you. I will track you to the end of the earth and kill you.’

With all of this in place, Lee Hyun could comfortably access Royal Road.

“This is because it’s my sister’s life. I want her to go out and be happy with a man that she will love!”

News of the Ahreupen Imperial Granaries spread throughout all of Morata. They were the only buildings that existed from the Ahreupen Empire, the only empire that unified all of the Continent of Versailles.

“When did Weed perform the quest for the Ahreupen Empire?”

“That quest…perhaps it was really a quest about the Ahreupen Empire.”

“Does that have anything to do with the King Hydra being summoned? Usually no one would even think of bringing such a monster… when it was summoned there is no way that anyone could hunt it alone.”

The number of rumors constantly grew!

The number of rumors that appeared increased because of the specially constructed Ahreupen Imperial Granaries that Weed had made. In fact, many broadcasters had live conversations about that very topic. All sorts of people brought it upon themselves to satisfy their curiosity about the Ahreupen Empire.

Legendary Moonlight Sculptor.

If Weed released the fact about the Emperor of the Ahreupen Empire, it was obvious that it would heat up all of the Continent of Versailles.

However, more people would know then.

It was because there were not supposed to be any other professions that are supposed to know about sculptures. Among all the high level users, there were many that did not want others to known the secrets related to their class.

“Why did he decide to build the special granaries?”

“Maybe there’s a lot of money in it? Perhaps it has something to do with a quest.”

There was a lot of users chatting and speculating. The stone consumption was very large so he could not build such another large building.

Weed activated his intervention mode.

“Construct a scholar’s school.”

Weed moved on the area near the square that had the portal that connected to the River of Wailing. In Morata, old wise men usually came to chat or sleep here.

“Construct the Astronomical Observatory.”

All the stone was finally depleted! Buildings of the Ahreupen Empire consumed large amounts of stone. Now he could only construct buildings made out of wood.

“Construct the Ahreupen Merchant Center.”

“Construct Leather Goods Center.”

“Construct Ahreupen terraced gardens, fruit trees, wells, and wagons.”

He spent more than 500 gold on intensive construction.

The buildings of the Ahreupen Empire were not the only things that were going to make Morata more prosperous.

“Open an accessory store, open a small theater, open a jewelry store, open a furniture store, open a winery, open a chicken farm, and open a sheep farm.”

He did not forget how lucrative users were in Morata.

“The money spent will eventually come back to me.”

He was building all sorts of facilities to extort money from the users. The creation of wineries will provide good wine and the chicken supplies will help towards the sales of pubs and inns. Aside from farming and mining, these were core industries and an important source of income. Of course he had to be careful of running a deficit, but it was worth it to extend its operations all over Morata.

“The square seems a bit narrow…”

From the influx of users and buildings, there open space now felt a lot narrower. In the fountain there was the merchant center and users went around obtaining quests and parties on a day to day basis. Morata was growing exponentially such that users had to wait in lines at store.

“This time I’m going to expand Morata to be larger.”

Weed began to build four more squares at the outskirts of the town.

“Construct the Wyvern Square, construct the Bingryong Square, construct the Light Tower Square, construct the Yellowy Square.”

It cost 40 thousand gold to have a square built with a fountain but it was a decent strategy.

Gravel was evenly spread along the spoil but it was still very spacious.

It was a much larger area compared to Serabourg, the capital of the Kingdom of Rosenheim. The Statue of Freya was surrounded by five squares in the shape of a diamond.

“Connect them so that you can make your way from one to another…”

He gave instructions to the building of roads through commercial buildings and residential areas.  The city was now five times larger than it was before!

Looking from the sky, he could see the five squares surrounding the statue.

“Buy the land now and as the lord I will get money from all of them in the future.”

Reporters from each broadcaster were dispatched to the North. The reason was because there were no movements in the war between the Kingdom of Haven and the Kallamore Kingdom. Because of this, they focused their attention to the clouds of war that were stirring in the Northern region.

“This time, the God of War Weed will taste bitter defeat. It is reckless to think that he would be able to fight against several guilds.”

“Is that so. Are the various guilds of the north truly united? They have temporarily joined in an alliance in name but it was will hard for them to work together.”

Challengers appeared to counter Weed’s large quest.

Public interest was concentrated on the north from the broadcasters and the Internet. They were all thinking about who was going to win the upcoming war in the live broadcast. Many were anticipating seeing the God of War Weed commanding his troops and defeating the unified alliance of guilds. A female adventurer from the CTS Media spent four days interviewing over half of the villages. More than five villages were shown training their soldiers in preparation.

“Is the Styrene Guild really going to invade Morata?”

“Of course.”

The Styrene Guild Master replied confidently.

They were constantly training their soldiers and purchasing weapons and armors from the central continent. They had also gathered enormous funds to sign up several mercenaries and Dark Gamers. CTS Media had millions watching the new because they wanted to know what was going on in the world. At the time, the biggest news was the users and their guilds aiming in the North for Morata.

“May I ask how much preparations are being made?”

“We have roughly armed all of the soldiers and contacted a blacksmith in the Central Continent to create siege weapons as well. After the Protection of Freya ends, we are going to invade Morata.”

The Styrene Guild was preparing enormous amounts to war. Over half of the towns were dominated by the Styrene Guild and almost all of their troops were being used for the goal of occupying Morata. More than 100 thousand troops were being prepared to overwhelmingly occupy Morata.

Pale was maintaining his bow while Surka was looking over her gloves. Zephyr was checking his rod to see if the line was working well. They were hunting in Morata and they could feel the surrounding atmosphere.

“A big war is coming.”

Pale calmly said.

Archers had the opportunity of playing a significant role in the war. They did not fall as quickly as warriors since they did not make confrontation. Pale and the rest of the party fought in the battle against the invasion of monsters. He ran around the walls shooting arrows, aimed at the back of the heads of medium sized monsters. Because of this, Pale had a lot of combat experience and a high level. Hwayrung was checking out her dresses and accessories.

“I think this is going to be a big stage!”

Romuna said.

“This time, I’m going to sweep them all away with my magic!”

For the siege, a lot of money went towards hiring mercenaries to fight. You could drop dead, lose a few levels and items, but if you win then there was an opportunity to earn a lot. However, for Pale and his party, such a thought did not exist and they just wanted to protect Morata. This was because Weed was their friend. They were not even afraid if it was going to be a difficult fight.

“So how you think it’s going to go?”

“I’m sure Weed has something in mind…probably.”

“By the way, where is Mapan?”

Irene asked, to which everyone could only shrug their shoulders.

“I don’t know. I saw him trading near the River of Waling and didn’t see him much after that.”

Merchant Mapan ran a number of profitable stores. She probably knew where he was but didn’t reveal it.

Weed was left with a mere 260 thousand gold left! Morata did not have any defense facilities and could not recruit an army like the other guilds.

“I’ve been trying to live a good life but then you try to touch my rice bowl…”

Weed wet his lips as he said.

He did not know how to use this boiling rage!

At that moment he made a difficult decision.

“Open a military camp.”

On the outskirts of town, he spent 70 thousand gold in order to construct a professional military camp. It was a camp that was made to train infantry, archers, and spearmen. With training, soldiers could increase their levels. There could also be a center to train horses and cavalry. However that cost an enormous 200 thousand gold!

“Heuheuk this is better.”

Weed was alone in his room bitter as he tried to sooth himself.

At that moment he made his most heartbreaking decision since he had become a sculptor.

“Draft 8 thousand people as soldiers.”

He conscripted a total of 8 thousand soldiers.

Forced conscription of soldiers raised dissatisfaction among young people. It would also lower the morale of the soldiers that are drafted. 10 gold was consumed per drafted unit. There was also a monthly salary of 3 gold.

“Huuk huuk.”

Weed had to rest from shortness of break. Breathing became difficult from the high levels of pain and suffering.

“Now, I’m out of money.”

It cost a lot to upkeep soldiers. Each soldier costs 3 gold to upkeep and a wizard’s salary was at least 600 gold. To arm four horsemen cost 3000 gold. Intermediate level cavalry cost 10 thousand gold apiece. The military camp cost him 70 thousand gold and the draft cost him 80 thousand! He had to give money to hire soldiers otherwise the people’s complaints would rise. This cost 100 gold per household for each soldier. It was not easy to raise so much money. Knights required horses and they needed to train soldiers to be loyal to their lords. With an increase of soldiers and knights, the lord had access to greater power and influence. However Weed could only think of the costs.

“My lord has asked to recruit soldiers.”

“Come and join. Protect Morata with your own hands!”

In the Intervention Mode, he could observe the situation of sturdy young men running up to the camps to provide their services. The loyalty of the people was considerably higher than normal and the draft period ended quickly. But Weed still did not expect very much. Even with proper training, they did not have enough time to train and were only there to increase the headcount. These soldiers would drop very quickly in the war. Of course if the commander was excellent, then the deployment could alter the fight in their favor but that was different since 8 thousand soldiers was not much. However more additional unexpected situations occurred.

People began to volunteer in large scales at the military camps for a total of 2680 people!

It was like exploiting human resources.As if he wanted to eat chicken and the chicken has shown up in front of him already plucked, seasoned and holding a lighter!

“Nevertheless, their lives will not be in vain.”

Weed gladly accepted them all.

“All of them are Morata’s authorized soldiers.”

There is some difference between the new soldiers based on their experience of combat experience.

The recruits that were assembled were just like a house that has nastily cut corners like the windows were made out of leather clothing. They had better training than the other villages but their behavior was different. Morata had lower morale, training, levels, and weapons in all areas. The Protection of Freya over Morata ends in 36 days!

“Where do these soldiers’s hearts lie…”

He still had some time left, but Weed could not be relieved yet.

The other guilds had many high level users.

Even after recruiting, the soldiers were no different than scarecrows.

They could be picked off by arrows over devastated from an enemy magic attack.  Without the Order of Freya, the number of soldiers, weapons, and armor were not reassuring.

“Call Death Knight Van Hawk!”

The Death Knight appeared in black smoke as he summon.

“I answer the master’s call.”

“I need you to go get your hoobaes(juniors)”

“Hoobae?”

“Kolderim. Go to Kolderim and use all of my contributions to bring the Kallamore Knights here.”

The kingdom of Kallamore had the best knights and they were known as invincible in the battle against the Kingdom of Haven. In the end, he got 23 thousand contribution from saving Kolderim in the Kingdom of Vampires.

“With Kolderim here, then the soldiers will grow a little faster.”

In effect, it was killing two birds with one stone by having Kolderim here.

“Take Wah-2 with you.”

“I will leave immediately.”

While Weed was in intervention mode, aside from building more buildings, he set up a new position in the castle.

“To take care of the department of taxes and financy, Geumini will represent the agency on his behalf…”

He could think of no other than the expensive life sculpture Geumini.

Wah-1 was the Deputy tax officer, Wah-2 was the tax collector, Wah-3 was the Bureau, Wah-4 was the Secret Service, Wah-5 was the special Tax Bureau.

“Bingryong will be the Minister of War. Phoenix will cooperate and be the deputy minsters of war.”

Yellowy was appointed to the department of Commerce. He appointed himself to the Agency of City Beautification. It was not an option to distribute the power.

He kept all the key positions in Morata to himself.

Morata had exceptionally small guilds.

It was rare for beginners to rent a shack, much less start a guild office.

Morata’s dawn!

There were many wandering the streets. In the distance, the light tower sprinkled the moonlight faintly. Morata at dawn was more beautiful than it was during the day.

“Soreuban, are we almost there?”

“Yes Huteo, it’s just up ahead.”'They were a novices that were wearing rabbit leather armor. It was made from sewing together a bunch of different pieces. Morata had the advantage that armor made from sewing skills was very good for low level users. Clothes that were sewn by craftmen were usually expensive so it was probably used.

“No one’s following us right?”

They stopped with an uneasy feeling of being robbed.

“Stop turning around to look. Even if we don’t check, they will.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at the shack.”

The roughly built shacks had their windows open.

Within the windows was the glint of sharp eyes!

They would catch anyone that was following secretly.

The Soreuban said to the other in a whisper.

“Do not say anything of what goes on today outside of this place. One wrong word and then for me and you…we will be done for in Morata."

Gulp.

Huteo swallowed his saliva from the tension of the meaning of those words.

“Of course, you said that you will never talk about the meeting or the place?”

“Yea, if we said it then it will spread and we won’t be able to get into parties or hunting quests.”

“You have to be careful of what you say in Morata.”

“Not only in Morata. Their power is becoming more and more widespread. It might as well be in all of the Northern part of the Continent of Versailles. In the worst case scenario then we may need to quit Royal Road!”

To be robbed of the charm of playing Royal Road.

Most people played Royal Road at least once a day. As newcomers they did not have the benefit of starting over.

“It’s such a powerful group. That the…”

“Shh, this is not the place where you can speak that name freely.”

“Oops.”

Huteo was urgently made silent.

Soon the two of them reached their destination without a word.

The destination was on top on a hill on a dense field of shacks.

Even though it was plain, there was in fact a basement that opened up to an incredibly wide area.

Hidden dungeon!

This Morata’s shack was originally a dungeon.

It was a large dungeon and with the contributions of a particular group that hunted down the monsters within.

At the entrance they had to perform a simple entrance test.

“Chwiik.”

The toll to get in by a user was to respond with a larger nasal sound.

“Chwiyik!”

“Chwek!”

“Go ahead.”

Suddenly at the back of the dungeon there were a lot of people. There was a maze of shacks and a large number of people in them.

“Thank for letting me in. So…”

The two of them went around the dungeon. There were more than 20 thousand people gathered here. It much was evidence to the secret society in Morata.

Torches covered every wall.

“Here is the meat from the dragon slayer.”

“Oh, the dragon!”

“Here is your change.”

“Keep the change. Keep it.”

There were a bunch of people talking passionately. Most of them were beginners but there were also many high level users. They were the ones that were envious of Weed from the Continent of magic. He was a free as the wind but as destructive as a volcano. He did not tolerate the oppression of the big guilds. There was a large range of his supporters. Weed, from the Continent of Magic had built up a reputation and Morata was a good place to live so high level users were attracted there. That is how the underground society was formed. In the corner there were people that were handing out food for free. It wasn’t much so the people were eating it sparingly. The identity of the food they were eating was grass porridge. The group that Huto and Soreuban had joined was the Grass Porridge Cult. They had a total of 320 thousand members. The person that started the Grass Porridge Cult in the North was a user called Lemon. Lemon was a Saint from the Kingdom of Rosenheim. She had encountered the grass porridge for the first time during the construction of the pyramid.

“Oh cool.”

It was delicious.

Beginners did not eat much because they could not cook. In addition they were always hungry because of the huge physical labor they performed. When this happens, drinking the delicacy of grass porridge was exceptional. She had transported stones thirty nine times during the construction of the Pyramid and Sphinx.

She would never forget that emotional moment.

Thanks to the fame from the quest, it was a big help to her as a novice in and outside of Rosenheim. Lemon then began hunting and arrived in Morata. She remembers Weed exactly. He was an unscrupulous employer that exploited workers without any better treatment but there was the potential for compensation at the end! After the completion of the Statue of Freya, grass porridge spread through Morata like a wildfire.

New players would be given grass porridge to drink and then follow the group with respect. They would drink grass porridge after hunting. They would endure their problems with the Grass Porridge Cult. There were many advantages to grass porridge since it did not require many ingredients and it was filling. There was no need to eat at fancy restaurants since they had improved the grass porridge with sugar, ginseng, and moderates amounts of meat. There was plenty of it to eat and it tasted good.

Beginners faced a period of suffering. However, those that had participated in Weed’s quests formed close friendships. Lemon and the other players from the Kingdom of Rosenheim handed out free grass porridge to hungry players. Thus the Grass Porridge Cult formed with the shacks as the base which alleviated the sufferings of the beginners. Once it came to be known that Weed, the sculptor, and Weed, the God of War, were on and the same, then high level players started joining in Morata. They were disgusted with the unjust actions of the large guilds. Weed, the God of War was a symbol of power and freedom to them. Thus the Grass Porridge Cult grew rapidly in Morata. There were over 312 thousand low level users over level 50 and 8000 high level players!

Even if they left Morata for a quest, they would never forget their alliances to the province of Morata. The goal of the Grass Porridge Cult was to blindly follow Weed.

“In a moment, we will see a video of Karichwi.”

“Ohhhh!”

The atmosphere of the secret meeting became even more enthusiastic. Instead of an unorganized rally speech, it was more like a festival. There were cooks that were making delicious grass porridge. In the center there was a bonfire with people dancing.

“Oh, there’s bamboo in it.”

“To think that I died once from eating poisonous mushrooms.”

The Grass Porridge Cult members were so happy from eating that they could die.

They were complete novices but they could still share their joys with each other.

After a lot of time, the sun started to come out.

In the center of the event a voice yelled out. He was wearing a thick robe on top of his head.

“Gentlemen, as you know there are many northern forces that intend on invading Morata!”

The atmosphere of the group was like a glass of cold water being spilt.

Beginners could only express hostility and anger from their eyes.

“They have spent a large sum of money on buying mercenaries to take over Morata. However, it will be like any other city. They will raise taxes.”

In order to regain their investment, they were bound to raise taxes. Especially if the guilds occupy Morata. Because of their greed to attack other cities, Morata was going to be caught in the vortex of war. The beginners were not deaf nor blind so they understood the situation. It had become very worrisome.

“We will lose our shacks. There will be a need to get licenses to hunt rabbits. This stops now. Let us protect Morata with out power!”

“Woooaaah!”

The beginners lifted their rusty swords and shouted cheers.

“Let’s sign up more members to the Grass Porridge Cult. Let us increase the number of people in Morata that believe in freedom and justice!”

To overcome the crisis, the beginners began to access the situation. The eyes of the man that started all of it lit up.

‘To think…that the technique that Weed taught me would work.’

Inflame the Grass Porridge Cult!

The user’s identity that conducted the event was Mapan.

Weed had handed over the production of fabrics to the Grass Porridge Cult for the duration of the war. With a minimal investment he would reap an maximum effect. Weed had concocted war preparations from behind the scenes.

“Hmm.”

“Ahem.”

“Cough.”

In a large clearing, Geomchi was sitting awkwardly. They had made a meeting with a group of female orcs. The one that organized it was Seechwi.

“This is Meru.”

“Please call me Meruchwi, chwiik!”

“I am called Geomchi.”

“My name is Chilcwhi. Chwichwit.”

“What a lovely name. I am Geomchi3.”

The Geomchis were busy introducing themselves to orcs. Favorable rumors were spreading among the orcs about Geomchi so the atmosphere was very friendly. After they came to a meeting, Geomchi132 sent a whisper.

-A war is going to take place in Weed’s Morata. We would like permission to go fight the invaders.

Geomchi’s thick eyebrows twitched since he was the representative of the group.

-What did you say?

-We would like to help with Weed during the siege.

-Siege? Are you sure that something so interesting is happening?

-It is. It’s all over the television about how they’re going to finally attack.

-It’ll be broadcast on the television?

Geomchi jumped up from the spot.

“I’m sorry something urgent just came up. I’ll have to be going back now.”

“What…did I do something wrong. Chwit!”

“No, its just that the youngest is getting in a fight so can I have your contact info?”

Fighting a war was the most fun in the world. He had the opportunity to participate.

“Chwichwit, please just whisper me.”

Geomchi got up from the meeting with the orcs to gather everyone else.

“Is going to be on the television?”

“I was already on the television during the dragon fight so are we going to be on again?”

Geomchi opened his mouth to say.

“I have not seen a siege yet. Is it really awesome?”

“I saw one once before.”

“What happened?”

“It was like a movie. At the end we will have to bear with endless incoming enemies.”

“Keueu.”

“That makes me feel better about going to Morata now.”

“In what way?”

“Half of them are girls.”

“There are so many girls?”

Even if the orc woman look like pigs, he would still want a woman. In Morata, over half of the novices were woman. Geomchi50 said.

“After the battle with the dragon and dying, Geomchi16 got a girlfriend.”

“It was a very memorable day.”

The first Geomchi to have gotten a girlfriend was a great event. Since then, the Geomchis have been completely looking for their chance.

“It happened because he protected a woman against the dragon.”

Geomchi3 hit his knee. How could he not be excited.

“Come on and let’s go!”

“For the siege!”

The Geomchis from all over Rosenheim Kingdom and The Yuroki Mountains. They heard the news and headed to Morata on horseback. The disciples among the Orcs came along as well.