Kang Chul-In returned to the Laputa territory quickly.

“Hooray for Lord Kang Chul-In!”

“Hooray! Hooray!”

“As expected…”

Captain James was the first one to come and greet Kang Chul-In.

The other leading figures of the Laputa Territory came shortly after.

Kwakjung, Michael, Nilus, Billy Halford… all of these people came and praised Kang Chul-In for his martial prowess and strength.

“Milord!”

Nilus ran in front of Kang Chul-In and knelt down.

“This humble one, even being a Mage, could not protect and defend against those stupid Atlases. Please, your majesty, kill me!”

Nilus despaired.

“Your majesty, this humble one… should have been stronger… This one without the Power from long ago… has become so weak…” 

It made sense.

Nilus was originally an SS ranked unit, and being a C+ unit right now, it made sense that he was frustrated.

If it was Nilus back then, he would have single-handedly destroyed all of those Atlases, so his frustration was justified.

I know that feeling too.

Kang Chul-In could 100% understand how Nilus felt.

If it was Kang Chul-In from before, 5, no, even 50 Atlases would not have been able to withstand his strength.

“It’s alright. James, how are our casualties?”

“100 dead… and 50 have been severely wounded…”

“Is that all?”

“If we think of the food and tents that we didn’t properly collect before leaving, the financial…”

“No, no.”

“Those resources, it doesn’t matter how much we lose.”

This wasn’t Kang Chul-In speaking nonsense but what he actually felt.

“Our soldiers come first. My soldiers are the ones that have been fighting tooth-and-nail the past month to conquer the territories that we have conquered. They are what are important, not those disposable resources.”

“Milord!”

James suddenly shouted.

“Please, execute me! This one, even though he had heard the retreat call, could not even save everyone, allowing 100 of our precious soldiers to die and 50 more to be injured! This is all this one’s fault, so this one should definitely receive a punishment befitting that.”

James couldn’t lift his face due to embarrassment. Just as Kang Chul-In was about to speak again…

“Milord!”

Kwak-Jung also knelt down.

“Please punish me!”

“Milord, allow me to be punished!” 

All of the leading figures of the Laputa territory knelt down in quick succession and started speaking of their “crimes”. It seemed like it was an execution ground at this point, and it became more so when all of the soldiers also started kneeling down, begging to be punished about how weak they were.

But…

“Everyone, stand up.”

Kang Chul-In spoke with his typical, charismatic voice.

“Everyone, be proud. Look at the reality. You, no, we have only lost 100 men when retreating against two Atlases. This is an incredible feat that no other Lord’s army would have been able to achieve. Be proud of yourselves! Rather than being punished, I believe that you guys should be rewarded instead! HOWEVER!”

There was something before that.

“Those. Damnable. Bastards. They made us lose our valued, precious comrades-in-arms. We’ll show them what happens if you end up crossing swords with the Laputa territory. For our dead brothers!”

Listening to Kang Chul-In’s speech, the soldiers regained their ferocity and vigor and were pumped up to fight again.

“That’s right!”

“REVENGE! REVENGE!”

“For our dead brothers! For Laputa!”

“You guys too. Stand up.”

Kang Chul-In spoke to the still-kneeling leaders of Laputa.

“Do you guys want to become stronger?” 

As everyone except Kwak-Jung nodded, Kang Chul-In smiled, satisfied.

“Good.” 

Kang Chul-In nodded.

“I will give you guys ‘special training’ when winter comes, so be prepared for that.”

Hearing Kang Chul-In’s warning, everyone’s eyes flared up. Everyone except for one.

“Of course, you’re included too.”

Unfortunately for Kwak-Jung, he was included.

“M-Me? B-But I’m just a tactician, right?”

“Tell me if you don’t want to. Instead, I’ll give you some mental…”

“I’LL DO IT! I’LL DO THE TRAINING!”

Confronted with the terrifying “mental-training”, Kwak-Jung spoke as quickly as possible, afraid that Kang Chul-In might change his mind.

Two weeks later.

Kang Chul-In kept an eye on the Mecha Dome territory, looking for any changes. 

However, it seemed like they had no plans whatsoever for coming above ground. Even though Kang Chul-In had finished his preparations, not a single ant was found.

But then, an adventurer came and delivered him a letter.

“...This bastard. I’ll crush your skull.”

Kang Chul-In growled, looking at the contents of the letter. The start of it went like this:

• Let’s fight, you stupid bastard!