The Count’s Youngest Son Is A Player - Chapter 308

Episode 308

“I don’t think we need to worry about the frontier population anymore.”

Raoul nodded at Bernard’s report.

500 million Earthlings incorporated into Connect.

About half of them chose the First Dominion.

In a way, this was an expected result.

It has been 6 years since Connect began service.

Raoul has consistently shown a player-friendly attitude through the First Guild.

He provided more support than anyone else and created the Purple Association to protect players from the tyranny of other lords.

Additionally, the Purple Guild’s rankers constantly promoted the First Guild on their personal broadcasts and continued to inform them of the First Guild’s activities through their own channels.

Thanks to this, not only Connect players but also general viewers have a strong image of First Guild.

As a single force, Connect is the strongest.

The faction most friendly to the player.

It was also the most financially prosperous and had a large amount of land secured.

And above all, the people of Earth also liked the method of governance of the Dominion proposed by Raoul.

Raoul ensured that he would not be directly involved in the governance of each colony, which was divided into hundreds of colonies.

Instead, each colony must elect a representative, and various issues of the Dominion will be decided through a council of representatives.

The residents of the settlement could entirely decide how to elect representatives and run the territory.

Of course, the limitations were clear.

All authority over diplomacy and defense was held by Raoul, the owner of all territories.

Additionally, each colony had to pay a certain amount of taxes to the First Earl each quarter.

Simply put, it meant that the internal affairs would be taken care of and the external affairs would be represented by the First Earl.

‘But in reality, it’s the same as being subordinate.’

In any case, the resources and funds needed for development had to depend on the count’s support.

And in order to trade with the kingdom, it had to go through the First Earldom, so it was difficult to become economically independent.

Of course, one day, a system that can sustain itself would be built, but I didn’t know how long it would take for that to happen.

“We help applicants grow well by attaching them to guild members, and we manage them well so that the remaining residents do not have difficulty finding jobs.”

“Yes, I will take good care of it so that you are not inconvenienced.”

Most jobs were focused on farming or construction anyway.

I didn’t know that it would be difficult to adapt as there were a lot of people who used to do paperwork.

‘I can’t help it. Now I have no choice but to get used to life here myself.’

Fortunately, the new body provided here is much better than the body on Earth.

If you can not only feel mana but also level up a little with the help of the system, physical labor will not be that difficult.

The best thing would be to become a combat team that hunts animals or monsters like existing players, but…

‘It’s natural that there are not as many applicants as expected.’

Now that there was no resurrection power and no beginner protection, it would be difficult to pick up a weapon easily.

But in the end, to survive in Connect, having military power was more important than anything else.

Immigrants will soon realize that too.

In any case, the development of the gold zone accelerated as new players took root.

Once the frontier is fully developed, it will actually be reborn as a place no less than any other kingdom.

They would have to work hard not only for Raoul but also for themselves.

* * *

“Is there any news?”

“They say there is nothing strange so far.”

While Bernard was concerned about the settlement of immigrants, Kane was busy with another problem.

“That’s strange. There must be some movement.”

Raoul muttered with a slightly nervous expression.

The reason was the system window that only occurred to him.

The system message that emerged simultaneously with the official Connect service clearly pointed to the final scenario.

[Individual Notice]

-[Final Scenario: Coordinator – Exploration] has begun.

-Those selected as final candidates must face powerful enemies that will appear in the future.

-The candidate who performed the best in the process will inherit the power of [Coordinator].

-The first task is to determine the location and identity of the enemy.

-Please use all your power to block or delay the appearance of the enemy.

-Remaining time: 150 days

-Caution: The difficulty of the following scenario may change depending on your performance in the exploration process.

-Caution: While competition between candidates is important, keep in mind that your primary goal is defeating your enemies. If you can’t stop the enemy within the set time, Connect will face a catastrophic ending.

Other players were presented with the scenario [Settlement], but Raoul was presented with an additional final scenario.

And as promised, Raoul was also given additional clues.

-Additional clues are provided as a high score perk.

-Keyword: Empire Gate Demon World

-Location: A place with few people. Gate not yet discovered.

-P.S.: Players are not the only finalists.

Actually, it wasn’t something I hadn’t guessed.

‘In some ways, it seems too obvious.’

The empire began its movement with the first appearance of the gate.

Additionally, as the ancient seal connecting to the demon world was released, gate erosion accelerated.

The problem is that the seal was broken and the gate connected to the demon world disappeared somewhere.

Even though several years had passed, it had not been seen, but it was clear that this did not mean extinction.

In the end, it was said that the empire was plotting something through a gate connected to the demon world.

‘I have no idea where he is hiding.’

If the gate was open within the empire’s territory, there would be no answer right away, but for some reason, that didn’t seem to be the case.

‘It is clear that there is some connection between the empire and the demons. But it was ambiguous to say they were on the same side.’

There was a strong feeling that both the demons and the empire were trying to take advantage of each other.

But creating a passage to the demon world within one’s own territory?

It was questionable whether the empire would need to take such a risk.

Anyway, the important thing is that it hasn’t been discovered yet.

Because that meant it existed somewhere.

For the past month.

Raoul was mobilizing as many guild members and players as possible to scan the sparsely populated area.

But in reality, finding it this way was like finding a needle in a sandy beach.

The Connect Continent was not usually wide.

It wasn’t that difficult to find a mountain inhabited by small animals and monsters even if you left the area around the village or city just a little bit.

So I was paying attention to the movements of the imperial army, but there still didn’t seem to be any special changes.

‘Except that it’s hard to find superhumans or magicians.’

However, it was not possible to hastily touch the imperial army because the priority was to ensure the stable settlement of Earth’s settlers.

There was one more thing that bothered me.

‘That means there aren’t only players on the shortlist.’

Maybe it was something he was talking about about Raoul, who was both a player and a resident, but for some reason, Raoul didn’t think that was the case.

To be honest, none of the players could compare to Raul.

Especially after Ilwoo and other Purple Guild Rankers chose Earth.

“Have you ever heard of the ‘coordinator candidate’?”

This was what Il-woo said when he came to see me after the Geumyeok scenario.

In other words, Il-woo was also one of the final candidates mentioned in the scenario.

In a way, it was natural.

Excluding Raoul, Ilwoo is the strongest and most powerful player and has achieved many achievements.

However, when Ilwoo found out that Raoul was also one of the candidates, he made his decision right away.

“I don’t know what the final scenario is, but I will give up competing as a candidate. Anyway, I got this position because you helped me, so why should I argue with you? “It’s nonsense.”

Even though Raoul said there was no need for it, Ilwoo just laughed it off.

“Do you honestly think there will be competition? Do I look like I have enough time to worry about an outcome that has already been clearly decided? “It would be a much more reasonable choice to give up and help you.”

And that wasn’t just Ilwoo’s idea.

Among the Purple Guild members, as many as four were selected as final candidates.

They all came to Raoul and conveyed the same opinion.

Excluding the purple guild and cooperative guild rankers, there would be at most two players who could be candidates.

So it was no different from having to solve the final scenario alone.

But then I heard that he was a ‘candidate other than a player’.

‘It makes sense like this.’

coordinator.

Just looking at it, it’s an extremely important position related to connectivity.

However, it honestly did not seem appropriate to select such an important position from among the players, excluding Connect residents.

Then, all that remained was who would be the final candidate.

smart.

“A person came from the Count’s temple.”

“Temple?”

For a moment, Raoul’s mind flashed.

* * *

“Then, please cooperate.”

“of course. “Of course we must cooperate in the face of a crisis on the continent.”

“thank you. How great would it be if all nobles were like the Count? “It’s a pity that even in these dark times, there are many people who only care about themselves.”

With a sigh mixed with concern, Noh Shin-gwan left the office.

‘It was like this.’

The temple seemed to deliver information to those who could not use the connect system.

It is in the name of trust.

Of course, it did not mention clear information or compensation like the Connect system.

However, it was just a warning about an impending crisis and advice on how to move forward.

‘Well, that alone would be enough.’

In fact, it might be better for the judge to not know the reward or purpose.

At the very least, you will be able to clearly check aspects such as character and responsibility.

‘The problem is that it’s not easy to guess the other candidates based on this.’

According to the information Kane received, there were at least a hundred people who personally sent envoys from the temple.

Among them were some high-ranking nobles, some with outstanding military power, and of course each royal family.

‘If it’s like this anyway, it’s better not to worry about it.’

If you think about it, there was no need to find out the identity of the competitor.

If you only have one position anyway, all you have to do is perform better than anyone else.

* * *

“I found it!”

“where are you? “Let’s talk about it when we go.”

Four more months have passed.

There was only about a month left for both scenarios.

Not only Raoul, but also each royal family and influential families who had promised cooperation searched the continent, but still could not find the suspicious gate.

But when he finally showed up, it was natural for Raoul to move wildly.

“We were deceived. It would be accurate to say that it is not that it has not been discovered, but that it has not yet changed.”

The gate I found had a light gray color.

The gate I visited so far was a black gate, or S-class gate.

Since no other gates had been revealed, the search was conducted focusing on the highest level gates.

The problem is that the original color of the gate found this time was not gray.

“According to the person who found it, it was an ordinary orange gate until just a month ago. But a few days ago, I felt the color change and thought it was strange, but when I visited for the third time today, it turned gray.”

“If that’s true, it’s a pain in the ass.”

Gate grade variation.

It was something that didn’t happen often, and the grade that changed was only one or two levels.

However, the fact that the orange (E grade) gate changed to gray (??? grade) meant that gates of all grades may need to be monitored in the future.

In other words, unless you are lucky and find it, it is almost impossible.

‘I didn’t think it would be that easy to find anyway.’

First of all, the urgent task is to confirm the identity of the discovered gate and process it.

Raoul’s steps toward the gate were getting faster.

(Continued in the next part)