“Ugh…” 

Even while getting beat up, Sledge endured.  

After all, his dwarven pride would not allow him to make any sounds after getting beaten up by a mere human. 

POW!

PAPOW!

Kang Chul-In’s fists flashed like lightning and hit all over Sledge’s body like the full force of a waterfall.

Kuh…

Out of Sledge’s sealed mouth came a small whimper.

“So you’re saying that your bones are quite tough, eh?” Kang Chul-In smirked as if he were proud of Sledge. It was a gesture to admit that Sledge wasn’t all that bad. 

“Kuh… Do you think someone like you will truly be able to control me? Huhu, there’s no way. THERE’S NO WAY! HAHAHA!” Sledge started laughing maniacally at Kang Chul-In.

“Oh, is that so?” replied Kang Chul-In as he started showcasing hits that couldn’t be expressed in just words. To him, there existed methods to make these tough dwarves scream with every hit he landed.

“Kuk… Argh… AGHH… GUHH… With just this… You cannot...Defe...ARGHH! P-P-PLEASE!”

As soon as Kang Chul-In started using some of his real force behind the hits, Sledge’s mouth begged for mercy. 

“A-AGHH!! ARGHHHHHHH!” 

And they were soon replaced by ear-splitting screams. 

“P-PLEASE! AGHH!”   “JUST...KILL...KUH!!” 

“ARGH! S-stop… KUGH...Hitting...Stop...Please…”

Not even 5 minutes later, a crying Sledge started to beg Kang Chul-In. 

How the hell does he hit like that?

Wow, I really shouldn’t mess with our leader. Yep, definitely. 

The adventurers watching themselves started trembling with fear. That was how terrifying the hits were. He truly showed how killing someone quickly and cleanly was actually a type of mercy.

“As expected of a dwarf, it actually feels quite good.” While in the middle of torturing Sledge, Kang Chul-In muttered. If there was anyone that heard him at this moment, they would surely stare at him like he was a freak.

“M-mr. Chul-In?” Lee Chae-Rin cautiously spoke. After all, who wouldn’t after seeing such a scene?

If a normal person saw Kang Chul-In beating up and torturing Sledge until the point where he couldn’t even speak properly, they would surely be terrified. 

“What do we do with him then? Will we kill him now?”

“No.” Kang Chul-In shook his head.

“Then…”

“We make an example out of him.”

“Example?” 

“Tomorrow, I plan on publicly executing him in front of all of your civilians. Then, they would probably what happens to the ones who rebel against you. They need to see with their own eyes what happens if they think things they shouldn’t against their leader.”

“Oh……!” Realizing Kang Chul-In’s thought process, Lee Chae-Rin gasped in enlightenment.

“That’s right. If I killed Sledge after losing control of my emotions, it would have been bad. I just needed to wait one more day… Then, I would also be able to reinstate my authority…” She nodded her head.

“You’ve improved.” Kang Chul-In had a rare smile on his mouth. He could finally communicate with Lee Chae-Rin like another Lord. It was almost like he was unknowingly teaching a disciple.

“The death won’t be pretty.”

“... It’ll be a gruesome execution.”

“Do you not want to do it?”

“No. I also hate this man. Although I could maybe forgive the other dwarves, he is the only one I won’t be able to.”

“Well, the execution will be very bloody. Something that would instill the fears into the hearts of the ones watching.”

“I only hope that I can withstand that then.” Lee Chae-Rin’s body unwittingly shook after Kang Chul-In described the events that would take place. She couldn’t imagine an execution that even Kang Chul-In said was gruesome.

“Podolski.” Kang Chul-In called Podolski.

“Yes, milord.”

“Wrap him up and put him in the dungeons. You have to wrap him up very tightly so that he isn’t able to kill himself.”

“Understood, milord.”

Kang Chul-In didn’t know anyone as experienced and trustworthy as Podolski when it came to the ways of tying someone up.

“Hmm.” After taking a glance at the unconscious Sledge, Podolski began to work.

As expected of him, he tied up Sledge as if he was a piece of ham. Looking at it made one feel amazed. It seemed impossible for Sledge to even move his eyebrows.

“Mr. Chul-In.”

“What do we do? If the news is leaked to the dwarves, they will begin to protest.” Lee Chae-Rin’s worries were well-founded.

“There’s a method.” But to Kang Chul-In, it was no problem.

“Don’t tell me… you plan on massacring the dwarves?”

“As if.”

“The working rate of the dwarves is insane. They are the number one among all the races at working. If we kill all of them, it’ll be a loss for you. It’ll also be a loss for me since we are allied.”

“Then, what are we….?”

“We use him.”

Kang Chul-In pointed at the Sage Majestic who was trembling in fear right now.  “Him?”

“When you wrote the Death List, what was the reason that you wanted to spare him?”

“That’s because… he’s the leader of the religious group. Although he did try and betray me, I was afraid of the rebellion and protests that the dwarves would do.”

“Exactly.”

“Excuse me?”

“If we just use him, it won’t be hard to get the respect and authority that you so need from the dwarves.”

“Oh…” She sighed in enlightenment.

“And… that dwarf.” Kang Chul-In pointed at workforce leader Urad.

“That man still has loyalty towards you. If you are able to control him well, you will be able to earn the hearts and respect of the dwarven miners.” Kang Chul-In had already calculated what to do after the purge.

“60-70 people at max? We only need to kill around that many. The ones that had actively helped the rebellion.”

“I understand.”

“Well, if you do, you should start moving.” Lee Chae-Rin started moving towards Urad.

“Workforce leader Urad.”   “Yes… milord.”

“I had no choice. If I didn’t do this, my life would have been severely endangered.”

“I… understand.”

“I want you, Urad. Although you did stand by their side, I know it was because of your wish to take back Nidavellir.”  “You mean….!”  “Yes. I have no intention of giving up Nidavellir. Just that I was planning on taking it back after taking care of the invaders in our territory. Can you just wait until then? I promise we will be able to take it back after just a month.” 

“Just a month?”   “Yes, no matter what.”

Lee Chae-Rin showed her steely determination.  “Milord!” Urad kneeled down to Lee Chae-Rin.

“This Urad will definitely remain loyal to milord until the day I die. Please forgive my disloyalty before!!!” Thanks to this, Urad, as well as the 150 miners who followed him, was now under Lee Chae-Rin’s control.

“You’re a sage?” Kang Chul-In asked. 

Sage Majestic was Kang Chul-In’s task.

“Y-Yes…”

“Will you make a speech debasing and vilifying Sledge tomorrow or not?”

He wanted to make Sledge the “biggest son of a b*tch” after the speech.

“Do it! I’ll do it! Of course I’ll do it! I will also tell the civilians how much I support our Lord Lee Chae-Rin! Just leave it to me!”

The Sage even promised that he would support Lee Chae-Rin from now on. It seemed like he definitely wanted to live.

“And if you speak nonsense?”

“No, no. Never. Please, just spare my life…!”

“I’ll watch and see how things play out then.”

“Yes, sir, just leave it to me! Oh, milord! Would you please forgive this unloyal idiot of a sage?” he emotionally said before running and kneeling before Lee Chae-Rin.

It seems like all the high-ranked people are cleaned up for now. After just a few more, the authority of this territory will be completely hers.

Now, it was time to get rid of some of the rotten parts.

“Urad.”   “Can you take some of your underlings to get rid of the trash in this territory?”

“T-the thing is…” Urad hesitated as he still had no idea who Kang Chul-In was. Kang Chul-In had popped up and single-handedly turned the tables against the Iron Hammer group, so he was cautious of him.

“Urad.” Lee Chae-Rin spoke.

“This is another Lord from a different territory that allied us.”

“Is… Is that so?”  “And he is also the one who will act as the commander of the army until the day we conquer and take back Nidavellir. You should think of his orders as mine.”

Only then did the suspicion and caution on Urad’s face disappear.

“Then, of course I will, commander.” Urad accepted Kang Chul-In’s orders.

“Good. If you do well on this, I will spare you and your miners as well the ‘good’ dwarves who did not participate in the rebellion. I’m not telling you to kill them all. Just think of it as getting rid of the trash. I will leave it to you on who should and should not be killed.”

“Ok. Go now. Prove your loyalty to your Lord. But don’t make it too obvious. You have to get rid of them slowly and quietly.”

“Yes, sir!” 

“Billy, take twenty adventurers and assist Urad.”

“Yes, leader.”

Urad and Billy, as well as the twenty adventurers, left the Lord’s hall soon after. With this, all of the “bad guys” of the Dorado territory had been taken care of.”

“It’s finally… over. The only thing that’s left now is the execution of Sledge tomorrow and how I use that as an opportunity to get the civilians’ respect and loyalty.”

“Well, that guy’s role will be important.” Kang Chul-In glanced at the Sage. 

“But I believe in him. He has a lot of fear after all. Because he’s afraid, he won’t be able to think of anything else.”

“Lee Chae-Rin.” 

“Yes?”

“You have an eye for people.”

“What… do you mean?”

“It’s just as I said. It’s a good talent so make sure you hone it even more. It’s something that I don’t possess.”

After saying this much, Kang Chul-In made Lee Chae-Rin follow him.  “Let’s go.”

“Where?” 

“We need to make you a personal guard.”

He meant for her to use the “Lord’s shop”. 

After the purging, she was left without guards, so he wanted her to have a new group that protected her.

She needed a steady grip on her control of this territory, and the guards would play a big role in that.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the deepest area of Dorado was a dome-shaped gym. It was ironic that Kang Chul-In brought Lee Chae-Rin here as the Lord of this territory had not been here before.

“I don’t know what sort of units you’ve used before, nor do I want to know,” Kang Chul-In said.

“You need to differentiate the units that will be used as guards and those that will be used in war. Units that are good at fighting in groups normally shouldn’t be used as guards.” Lee Chae-Rin carefully listened to Kang Chul-In’s words, afraid that she might miss a single word.

“The most useful unit to you is one that you can control even with your lack of charisma. They need to be easy to control.”

 “You’re right. I can’t control the units whenever I summon them.”

“Well, there’s a good unit on sale right now. Open the Lord’s shop.

“Yes.”

Listening to Kang Chul-In’s words, she held her Soul Core in her hands and opened the [Unit] menu of the Lord’s shop.

-Unit Shop- 

-- D, E, F Rank units are purchasable.

-- The rank of the units sold will change depending on the Lord’s level.

[Land Unit]

[Mobile Unit]

[Water Unit] 

[Air Unit]

[Special Unit]

[Named Unit] (Locked. Only available for Overlords.)

[Items related to Units]

• Unit purchases require gold, jewelery, or Lord points, etc.
• Units from the S rank and above cannot be purchased in the shop.

“It’s open,” Lee Chae-Rin said.

“Click on the submenu ‘Land Units’ and then ‘demi-humans’.”

“Yes.”

“Then, purchase the ‘Dog-men’(half-dog/half-human as the name suggests) of the ones in the D rank.”

“Dog-men…”

“Dog-men guards.”

“It’s quite expensive. 80 gold.”

“But they’re definitely worth it. Long story short, they’re the best choice for the current you.”

“I’ll buy it. If you say so, then I definitely will.” She nodded and then moved her fingers to click the purchase button.

PZZT, PZZZZTTT!

As soon as she hit the purchase button, a gigantic “Magical Formation” appeared, and many of the “dog-men” appeared.

Surprisingly enough, they looked quite majestic and imposing.

They wore black tuxedos and hats that made them seem like English policemen. They were armed with a 1.1m-long staff each. Not only that, each of these guards had different heads and was a different dog breed.

Money…

Staring at this scene, Kang Chul-In shook as he thought of the price of his Laputa territory.

Because he had no money, he couldn’t even think of expanding his own territory, let alone buying 30 units that cost 80 gold each. So watching this scene, his stomach felt bitter.

But he wasn’t jealous.

After the deal with Lee Chae-Rin, he knew that he himself would become rich over time.

While Kang Chul-In was thinking of the future, the leader of the dog-men walked in front of Lee Chae-Rin. This specific dog-man had the head of a Doberman and a muscular build.

Then, the leader greeted her, doing a salute that only the dog-men did.

“It’s an honor to meet you, sire! This one’s name is Anubis, and I will use my heart and soul to serve you from now!”

As expected of a dog-man, Anubis seemed reliable and loyal.

“Nice to meet you, Anubis.” She nodded.

“I will now appoint you and your squad as the elite group and force of this Dorado territory.”

“Yes, sir!”

“I will give you your first mission now. Please guard the place while commander Kang Chul-In and I talk.”

“We will do so immediately, sir!”

As soon as her orders were given, the dog-men all started rushing towards the ends of the gym, guarding the place perfectly.

“My orders… are working.”

“Dog-men start with a max loyalty of 100. But whether you are able to keep it that way is up to you.”

“Oh. Thank you, Mr. Chul-In.”

“No need to thank me. It’s in the contract.”

“Oh, but… what’s this ‘random unit’ in the middle of the special units? What costs 500 gold?”

“That…” Abruptly, Kang Chul-In’s face stiffened.

“That… I advise that you just leave it alone.”

“Huh?”

“That’s a rigged gamble.”

“Rigged?”

“And that’s a very low-quality gamble. As it suggests, the units are completely random. You don’t know what unit comes out but… in my experience… one hundred times out of a hundred....” 

“Something like a goblin scout comes out.”

Kang Chul-In’s brain thought of a past memory that he didn’t want to remember.