Chapter 4

Pizero was a character that must not be allowed to live.

He’s the kind of villain who can disrupt everything a player is trying to do and even send information to the enemy Sorun Estate.

Whether players get rid of him quickly or not can make a big difference in the early game.

It doesn’t stop there.

Taking out Pizero also had the effect of restoring some of the public sentiment that had been so virulent.

This was because Pizero was almost as hated as Otto, the Lord of the Estate.

[Lota Estate].

Public sentiment: 11/100 Dangerous

Food: 9/100 Extremely Dangerous

Finance: 11/100 Dangerous

Security: 37/100 Caution

The current Public Sentiment of Lota Province is 11.

Decreasing it below 20 increases the chance of a rebellion by 150 %.

What happens if it falls below 10 and becomes <Extremely Dangerous>?

The rebellion is guaranteed to happen within 48 hours.

Following that?

“My neck would be hanging over the city wall. Ugh.

He shuddered at the thought.

Once he distributes the food, he’ll be able to raise the public sentiment by 5 and quench an urgent fire.

But it’s not a guarantee.

He needs a short-term boost, and the best way to do that is to publicly execute Pizero.

This will temporarily increase his public sentiment by 30.

“Getting rid of Pizero won’t be easy. If we mess with him, it’ll come back to bite us. I’m sure you know that.”

Camille advises Otto while staring at him.

“I know.”, came the immediate response of Otto.

“The knights escorting Pizero right now are of a high caliber, and there are many within the estate who act as his lackeys.”

Further by Camille to ensure that Otto knows the full scale of the odds of their group of two compared to Pizero’s number of people.

“They also have ties to the Sorun estate,” said Otto to Camille.

“Y-Yes…?”

“There are several spies from Sorun within the territory, and even if we succeed in eliminating Pizero, those spies will incite the people of the territory to revolt, and Sorun’s army will take advantage of the ensuing chaos to invade our territory.”

“How do you know that?”

“I have a way of knowing.”

“What the hell is that way….”

“That’s a trade secret, I can’t tell you.”

“….”

“Anyway.”

Otto changed the topic.

“We need to get rid of Pizero. Tonight.”

“Didn’t you just say that if we get rid of him, the spies will incite the commoners to raise a rebellion, and the Sorun estate will take advantage of that.”

“I did.”

“But you still want to eliminate him?”

“Yes.”

“Do you not think about the aftermath?”

Camille glared at Otto giving him a look saying if he asked, he’d do it.

“I have a plan, so don’t look at me like that.”

“…..”

“You really have a plan?”

“…”

“Huh?”

“….”

“It’s true, for real!”

Otto whined, his stomach churning at the fact that Camille didn’t seem to trust him at all.

“What’s the plan?”

“What if I told you that I knew the exact location and information of the spies that Pizero had planted?”

Gamer Kim Do-jin had been through a lot of trial and error while playing Territory Wars using Otto de Scuderia, and in the process, he had figured out the identities of the spies that Pizero had placed.

It was a valuable piece of information that came after hundreds of deaths and research.

“What if we could take out those spies before they could do anything?”

A smirk tugged at Otto’s lips.

* * *

That afternoon.

Pizero was summoned by Otto, and made his way to the royal palace.

‘Looks like the bugger’s finally got a grip on the situation, huff. I guess. The bastard’s trying to impress the people around him.

Pizero’s stride was bouncing.

When he didn’t get his way, he immediately enlisted the help of a group of loan sharks to pressure Otto into paying his debts.

This was possible because most of the moneylenders who had lent Otto money at the gambling tables had connections to Pizero.

The moneylenders immediately demanded that Otto pay them back, and the food distributions were halted.

It was impossible to distribute food when there was insufficient money to pay the moneylenders.

“You guys wait here.”

“Yes, Sir Pizero.”

Pizero left the six knights escorting him and entered the hall.

“I come to see the lord.”

“”You came early.”

“Hahaha! I, Pizero, always run like lightning when my lord calls me….”

Then.

“Pizero. I arrest you for treason.”

Four knights appeared and intercepted Pizero.

“What is this…?”

Panicking, Pizero said.

“My Lord, what are you talking about, what treason have I committed?”

“You’ve been in league with the Sorun Estate.”

“No, of course not! Why would I be in league with the Sorun Estate!”

Pizero bristled inwardly, but held back his own in protest.

“Well, then.”

“What…? What does that have to do with….”

“Because it doesn’t matter if you have or haven’t.”

“What on earth are you talking about, my lord, you’re making a big mistake….”

Then.

“Argh!”

“Aaaahhhh!”

“Gaaah!”

Screams began to emanate from outside the palace, but were soon subsided.

Camille then entered the inner hall, clutching his bloodied sword.

He pushed past Pizero and made his way to Otto on the throne, dropping to one knee and bowing.

“Knight Camille, at the command of my lord, I have slain the knights who serve as personal guards for the traitorous Pizero.”

There was not the vaguest hint of faltering on Camille’s face.

It was hard to believe that he was the same man who had just killed six knights.

“That must have been hard…”

Otto complimented Camille, seemingly with some exhaustion.

“My lord! You’ve made a huge mistake! You’ll regret this decision for the rest of your life! You’ve made an irreparable mistake!”

“We’ll see about that, drag him away.”

At Otto’s command, the knights dragged Pizero to the prison.

“Hmph. You damned bastard. How dare you arrest me for treason? Yeah, let’s see whose head falls off first. Hehehe.”

Pizarro remained confident even in his prison cell.

Any moment now, the spies within the estate would be stirring, and there would be a rebellion.

Pizero estimated that it would be sooner for Otto to be captured by the angry commoners than for him to be killed.

“I’ll escape during the uprising, and that’ll be it, Hehehe.

And then.

“You filthy traitors, can’t you move fast enough?”

“Keep your heads down, you bastards!”

The soldiers began to drag the men, one after the other, into the cell where Pizarro was being held.

“You, you!”

Pizero was horrified to see that the spies who were supposed to incite the commoners to rebel were being hauled in.

‘No way… did he know all along?’

It’s like being doused with cold water.

The identity of the spies is a secret that only Pizero knows.

That means….

‘You’re telling me you’ve been playing with me, you lowly wretch? That can’t be right, that couldn’t be possible!

Pizero denied reality.

He didn’t want to admit that he’d been played by an incompetent scumbag like Otto.

* * *

The next morning.

Pizero and his henchmen were publicly tried in front of the entire estate.

“For all these years, you have clouded your lord’s eyes and ears, and used your lord’s authority to commit all manner of sins….”

The list of offenses was long, and it would take over half an hour to list them all.

The idea was to deflect the anger of the people by blaming Pizero for Otto’s crimes.

And it worked.

“Kill him!

“Kyaak! Teh!”

They cursed, stoned, spat, and otherwise vented their anger at Pizero and his men.

They had a lot of frustrations piling up and needed someone to take them out on, and Pizero was the perfect sacrifice.

And there were many misdeeds and misbehaviors he committed.

“…I hereby sentence the traitorous Pizero and his companions to death by beheading.”

Camille, who presided over the trial, sentenced Pizero and his men to death according to the laws of Lota.

“Put the traitors to the guillotine!”

“Yeah!”

As the condemned were strapped to the guillotine, Camille glanced over at Otto.

“Execute… the criminals.”

Otto took a moment to catch his breath, but soon gave the order.

The blades dangling from the guillotine dropped with a thud.

*Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!*

The severed heads of criminals littered the floor.

Pizero, one of the most annoying villains in the early game, had met a suitably grisly end.

[Notification: You have defeated Pizero!]

[Notification: Public Sentiment temporarily increases by 30!]

A notification popped up.

[Lota Estate]

Public Sentiment: 41 / 100 Cautious

Food: 9 / 100 Extremely Dangerous

Finance: 11 / 100 Dangerous

Security: 37 / 100 Warning

Thanks to the defeat of Pizero, the public opinion rating has changed from <Dangerous> to <Cautious>.

‘That’s a relief.’

With a <Cautious> rating, it’s unlikely that the commoners will spontaneously revolt.

But he wasn’t reassured.

The boost in popular sentiment from killing Pizero was temporary.

In 30 days, public sentiment will drop again.

For now, I’ve put out the immediate fire, but I haven’t addressed the underlying cause of the decline.

* * *

Upon returning to his office, Otto sank heavily into his chair.

“I gave an order… and a man died.”

The game and reality were different.

Seeing a man’s head cut off in real life was so terrifying that he barely held back the urge to vomit.

The image of Pizero’s head on the ground and his bulging eyes was enough to drive him insane.

Even though it was Otto himself who had been responsible for the execution of Pizero and his men…

‘I have to adapt. This isn’t a dream, it’s a clear reality. If I don’t adjust, I will never survive. I will have to kill… countless… people… in the future.’

Otto poured a full glass of whiskey from the bottle on his desk and took a long gulp.

“Keeeww.”

He gulped down the strong liquor in one breath, but it didn’t calm his racing heart.

It would be even weirder if he was able to calm down easily.

Gamer Kim Dojin was a normal young man who enjoyed playing <Territory Wars> using Otto de Scuderia, and he wasn’t a psychopath.

* * *

In the following morning.

Otto woke up and, with the help of his servants, donned his armor.

He never knew when or how he would be assassinated or struck by lightning due to a curse, so having armor like this would improve his chances of survival.

This was one of the tricks he learned over the years of playing Otto de Scuderia.

By wearing armor, he was able to avoid most assassination attempts and the occasional blow to the head.

‘I have no choice, I must endure until I break the curse and awaken.’

As you play through the game as Otto de Scuderia and survive, there’s a chance that he’ll be able to break the curse and awaken.

And once he succeeds?

‘The character’s performance will be completely different. From shitty to fraudulent.’

Otto’s eyes sparkled.

‘I just have to wait until then.’

Otto decided to put up with this discomfort while he waited for his awakening.

Of course, he’d have to survive until then.