Chapter 29 : Founding of Elysia Flower Garden

Taylor, completely restrained, began to get beaten up enthusiastically!

“Damn it! If you have any pride, then fight fairly!!!”

“Is the guy trying to assassinate really talking about fighting fairly?”

Jaeho responded with a look of utter disbelief.

“I always do my best at everything! But are you seriously insulting me with that crappy item?! And on top of that, this humiliating behavior!!!”

Even the viewers who had been watching now shared that sentiment.

The overwhelming presence radiating from Jaeho and how well Taylor was enduring the beatings made it clear.

This was pure humiliation!

“Ah, this? I’m also feeling wronged.”

Jaeho realized what Taylor meant by that.

“When you craft weapons, make sure to check if the maker is a swindler or not.”

Though he was the opponent, Jaeho gave a sincere warning.

“Otherwise, you end up with garbage items like this ‘Grizzly Hunter.’”

“What… did you say?”

“This club you’re getting beaten with right now.”

“You little brat!!!”

That confirmed it! … Taylor thought.

“Kraaaaaah!!! I’ll kill you!!!”

He shouted desperately, fiercely loyal and protective of his guild, but he was still intact.

Boom boom boom—!

“Elves!” Their barrage came flying towards him, scattering the blood in all directions.

Thud thud thud—

Jaeho’s heavy elbow strikes landed.

Stab stab stab—

Mirage Soldiers repeatedly thrust their hooves and claws into Taylor’s head.

“No, no! Come on!”

[The notorious assassin has been dealt with!]

[Your fame has greatly increased.]

[The favorability of the fleeing royalty of Guideran Kingdom has explosively risen.]

[The favorability of the noble families of Guideran Kingdom has greatly increased.]

[The Guideran Kingdom’s …]

“Hm? What’s the Guideran Kingdom?”

As expected, Jaeho didn’t know.

***

[152 members of the Grizzly Guild all perished in the Fermasa Desert expedition. Total humiliation!]

[Terrifying combat power of the Elves. Is the balance of the New World going to be okay?!]

[Appearance of mages belonging to the Red Mage Tower. What is their connection to the Luxi Royalty?]

[The Luxi Royalty finally revealed on both sides. Who exactly is the figure commanding the Elves?]

Various news reports came out, but the general public reaction was celebratory.

It was the accumulated karma of the Grizzly Guild.

Of course, concerns about the Luxi Royalty had also arisen.

Until now, no one knew whether Jaeho was a player, or what he was planning by gathering Elves in that desert — endless conspiracy theories circulated.

— This is a blatant balance collapse! One Elf can take on three ranked players by default, so does this make any sense? Think about it! If he leads those Elves to war, who could possibly stop him? World Wide, proud of being the most perfect game in the world, needs to make a statement!

As the greatest and most advanced game worldwide, even the global economy swayed by the New World caused many to be sensitive.

However, World Wide responded nonchalantly, as if it were nothing.

— As always, World Wide does not intervene in anything within the game.

Most players agreed with this announcement.

If they responded to every protest and issued patches, the game would inevitably collapse over time.

And since the dissatisfaction over the Elves’ combat power came mostly from top-tier users, it was difficult to gain popular support.

‘It’s not like I’m the one suffering, so why should I care?’ was the prevailing thought among most players.

***

After the storm had passed over Hell Jert,

and despite the uproar caused by its aftershocks, Jaeho remained unfazed.

“As you can see here, it’s almost 100 meters vertically. The plan is to divide it into 10-meter sections to build houses…”

He had been busy preparing the flower garden.

“You’ll all need to help with each house’s temperature control magic.”

He explained his plan while escorting mages from the Mage Tower, who listened intently.

But Red, who was mixed among them, couldn’t focus on Jaeho’s words.

“Wh-what is this…? Is this really a flower garden?”

No matter how hard he looked or listened, Jaeho was talking about a flower garden.

“You’re telling me the Mage Tower got involved over something this trivial?! No… that’s impossible. For someone of his power to bring those monstrous Elves and only build a flower garden?!”

Red shook his head.

He absolutely could not believe it.

“T-this is a drug! He’s trying to peddle drugs!!!”

There were drugs in the game.

But for players, they only caused status debuffs and were mostly useless, mainly demanded by NPCs.

Naturally, drugs were illegal in the New World’s worldview.

“So this human wants to become the kingpin of the underworld…!!!”

Red was convinced.

***

“Everyone okay?”

After the meeting with the mages, Jaeho met with Mei, Samantha, and Maju after a long time.

“Yeah… the incident from before wasn’t that serious…”

“Oh, by the way, who are those guys? They seem like players. Some kind of bandits?”

The two were at a loss, having known nothing.

“They’re the Grizzly Guild. You know the Grizzly Guild, right?”

“Oh, those guys?”

Only then did Jaeho understand.

They had talked about it before.

There was also talk about how the title of First King among Players would cause them to turn red with envy and go looking for him.

“But how did you know…? Oh, right…”

Jaeho remembered the moment before he died, shouting “I’ll take revenge! Luxi Royalty!!”

“Such a strange nickname to bother people with.”

Startled—

Mei, a former Luxi Association member and the cause of the nickname, stared up at the distant sky.

“Alicia, may I offer a suggestion?”

At that moment, Samantha asked Jaeho.

“What is it?”

“Since the Grizzly Guild has marked you as a target, they’ll try to interfere somehow. How about revealing your true identity now?”

Previously, Samantha also suspected Jaeho of having some other agenda.

But now, there was none of that.

From what she had seen, she believed that this crazy (?) guy genuinely wanted to run a flower shop.

“How about openly declaring that you’ve succeeded to the Throne of Cofei?”

“Hyukin was really a king?!”

Unlike Samantha, who knew from his promotion quests and various information, clueless Mei jumped up.

“I think it’s better to announce that you have the status to prevent the Grizzly Guild from doing as they please, instead of sitting there getting beaten all the time.”

“Well, easier said than done.”

The reason Jaeho couldn’t declare a nation was because of his notoriety.

He couldn’t choose an option that might bring the dislike of neighboring countries.

“No, wait, thinking about it…”

[You may declare the nation of ‘Cofei’ or a nation of your own.]

It was clearly stated as ‘a nation of your own.’

“There’s no need to inherit Cofei, right?”

Jaeho took out the crown, which he had inherited along with the throne, but never once worn.

The caution written there read:

[* Warning: Cofei is a kingdom known for a pact with a demon, and has been hostile to neighboring countries.

If you revive this cursed kingdom from history, many countries might oppose you.]

It said “might oppose” — a hypothetical.

After all, Jaeho had now inherited Brejal and obtained the qualification as King of Cofei.

It was a secret that would eventually be revealed, and there was no turning back.

“My notoriety will surely blow up… but… in the end, it depends on me, right?”

Once again, the idle thoughts started.

“Well… the Elves seem strong enough, and I don’t think they’ll invade anytime soon.”

It was the most reasonable justification.

“Alright! Then shall we declare the nation?”

“Huh? Really?!”

The anticipation was clear on Mei and Samantha’s faces.

“What should we name it… how about ‘Alicia Flower Garden’?”

“…What?”

“??”

Suddenly, their faces twisted in confusion.

Why name a country ‘Flower Garden’?

[ <Spirit of Vitality> says, ‘That’s too much.’]

Even the Spirit of Vitality groaned, and Jaeho nodded.

“Is using my name too old-fashioned?”

[<Spirit of Vitality> says, ‘That’s not what I meant.’]

“Fine, then ‘Elysia Flower Garden.’”

[ <Spirit of Vitality> says, ‘…’]

“Ah, Alicia, is the territory issue okay?”

Samantha asked suddenly, recalling a concern.

“Although the Fermasa Desert is uninhabited, it technically lies within Rasel Kingdom, doesn’t it?”

That meant there was a high chance this place belonged to Rasel Kingdom.

If so, declaring a nation here could provoke a war.

“Oh, I don’t think that matters.”

But Jaeho already knew about that problem.

He had heard from Elda many stories about the Luxi Forest and Fermasa Desert.

— The Luxi Forest was once a wasteland, but thanks to Tinlight, it became a forest.

But such places weren’t limited to one or two.

Across the continent, our Elves had places to settle, and agreements were made with the human world.

All the new lands Tinlight gained through agreements with nations were once wastelands.

Tinlight transformed them all into places where Elves could dwell, and their journey’s final destination was the Luxi Forest.

In other words, Fermasa Desert had already been judged unnecessary by Rasel Kingdom and completely handed over to the Elves.

— I know Tinlight paid a heavy price for that, but… he never spoke about it until the very end.

“Rasel Kingdom has no authority over the Fermasa Desert.”

Taking what they wanted, now they clammed up?

Jaeho had no intention of accepting such hypocrisy.

***

[Newly established nation ‘Elysia Flower Garden’ inherited Cofei has been declared on the continent.]

[The glory of the ‘First King among Players’ is widely known.]

[Your ID <Alicia> has been revealed.]

[The city construction plan for <Elysia Flower Garden> can be subdivided.]

[Currently, 99% of the population residing in <Elysia Flower Garden> are Elves.]

[ <Elysia Flower Garden> is defined as a city of Elves.]

[The Blessing of the Divine Tree descends across .]

[All grass and plants receive a slight growth buff.]

[Affiliated players and NPCs gain minor buffs to health regeneration and curse resistance.]

[Buff values increase with the growth of the Divine Tree.]

[Neighboring countries are suspicious of the sudden appearance of <Elysia Flower Garden>.]

[If it becomes known that it inherited the Kingdom of Cofei, major disputes will arise.]

[The golden cage of Brejal buried underground has been reclaimed.]

[The exact location of the golden cage buried under the sands over long years is unknown.]

(Excerpt)

“Wow. This is no joke.”

Just reading the announcements was enough to make one nauseous from the sheer volume.

Even after picking the most important ones, it was still this much!

“Wow!!! I’m officially recognized as a founding nation!”

Mei shouted excitedly.

“Hmm? Is that really possible?”

“I’m a founding nation too!”

Samantha was the same.

“Well, you both have been through a lot.”

They had been with Jaeho since right after the Brejal raid.

“Samantha seemed to have some agenda…”

But now, how important could that be?

“So what good comes from this?”

“Well… within the territory, all experience gained is increased by 10%. And… you can get a noble title?”

“Noble title?”

“Me too. Since a player is the king, I think Alicia might have gotten something special.”

“Really? Wait a moment, let me check. Too many notifications popped up, I couldn’t see.”

Thump thump—

Their hearts pounded.

Mei had no need to say anything, and Samantha was equally excited.

“A noble title…”

Nobility wasn’t something easily obtained.

Simply having a high level or fighting well wasn’t enough.

Noble titles were granted by kings, and aside from King Krolking who was recently crowned, all other kings in the New World were NPCs.

Just meeting the king was famously difficult, and even if you got noticed, you could easily lose your hair in political infighting with other nobles.

To bypass all that and receive a noble title?

“Of course, it’s not really a proper nation yet…”

Samantha viewed the potential of Hell Jert—or rather Elysia—as far greater than expected.

“I definitely want to keep a friendly relationship with Alicia.”

She already added the honorific ‘nim’ in her heart.

“Uh… this won’t work.”

But Jaeho returned a despairing answer soon after.

“The country is not yet developed enough to grant a noble title.”

“Ah…”

True, it didn’t make sense to grant noble titles in this situation.

After all, the flower garden only consisted of hundreds or even thousands of Elves.

“… You look way too obviously disappointed, Tolda.”

“Oh no, it’s fine! We still have to oversee the flower garden anyway.”

“I’m fine with it too!”

“We absolutely have to get noble titles.”

Once the nation’s level is high enough, Jaeho thought he must definitely take care of these two.