“Did anything happen?”

Kraugel returned to Reinhardt as soon as he cleared the world quest because he was worried about Lord. The prince of the great empire should be the safest person in the world, but his safety had been in jeopardy the past few days.

Lord’s role was to protect Grid’s full-term wives. Grid had as many enemies as people who respected him. If his wives happened to be targeted, the safety of Lord, who was guarding them, couldn’t be guaranteed.

Lord ran out with the Daughters of Rebecca and greeted Kraugel politely.

“Fortunately, nothing happened thanks to you taking care of me. Thank you for your hard work, Teacher! News of your great deeds have reached here as well!”

Lord looked at Kraugel with gratitude and envy. Kraugel got second place in the contribution rankings. He was second only to Grid in this war. He had also increased his reputation after being acknowledged by the Sword Saint of the previous generation.

However, Kraugel felt ashamed.

“I just went on a rampage. There are many people who performed better than me.”

For some reason, NPCs hadn’t been included in this world quest. Some people such as the Tower members, Apostles, or Juander’s group hadn’t been counted in the contribution rankings. However, Kraugel wasn’t talking about strong individuals like the Tower members and Apostles when he said that others had performed better than him.

Lauel had paved the way for his allies to excel in battle thanks to his amazing tactics and strategies; Jishuka had increased the power of the army by 200% with her charisma and mercenary skills; Huroi had demoralized the cultivators by cursing them out until they coughed up blood; and Damian and Haster, who had lent their support to the Absolutes.

Knight had turned the death of a key figure into an opportunity to turn things around; Katz and Chris had made the enemy lines collapse several times; Zibal had moved the Tomb of the Gods freely like it was an extension of himself and wreaked havoc on his enemies; Euphemina had destroyed the enemies’ carefully prepared plan with her spells; Peak Sword and Ibellin had killed an Absolute, while Vantner and Toban always had their allies’ backs at critical junctures...

There were countless people who did a lot using their own wisdom and abilities. If it hadn’t been for them, the world quest wouldn’t have been cleared in time. If things had really looked dire, Grid would’ve taken care of everything by himself. But, in any case... Kraugel didn’t think others were inferior to him.

Lord saw the sincerity in Kraugel’s expression. “I understand,” he cheerfully said. He was happy that his father and other teachers always served as role models for him.

“Lord-chaaaaaan~~”

A brilliant beam of light fell and Damian popped out of it.

Did his eyes become faucets...? People had such doubts upon seeing Damian burst into tears and run up to Lord to hug him.

“I almost died more than a thousand times! That wicked old man Braham kept pushing me in dangerous situations!! Lord-chan! Please be sure to tell Grid! Please ask him to scold Braham!”

“T-Teacher, there are many eyes on us,” Lord whispered. He barely pushed Damian away.

Damian finally came to his senses and looked around. The Daughters of Rebecca and caretakers of the palace were around. Hundreds of people were watching them. Lord was genuinely worried about the reputation of the Overgeared God Church leader, but Damian didn’t care.

“It’s a good thing that they’re watching. Braham’s evil deeds must be denounced to the whole world...” Damian shouted vigorously before his mouth twitched like a crucian carp. He had been hit by a Silence spell.

This was Lord’s doing. Damian, who was the rank 1 paladin, broke the Silence spell with his purification magic. He looked shocked.

“L-Lord-chan...? How could you do this to me...?”

That good, innocent child had cast a spell on him! Damian was already distressed from Braham’s abuse, so he became very upset now that this happened. His wide eyes shook wildly.

Lord responded firmly, “Calm down, Teacher. The conduct you are showing right now isn’t befitting of your position.”

“......!”

Damian was even more shocked. He never thought he would hear such a thing from his beloved student. He was speechless even though he wasn’t under the Silence spell anymore.

Lord advised him, “Teacher, you are the leader of the Overgeared God Church. You are one of the people representing the empire and you can act on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor. How can you not be careful about how you behave in front of people?”

“R-Right...”

Damian finally came to his senses and bowed deeply. He blushed in embarrassment and sincerely repented.

“...I’m sorry that I dared to admonish you, Teacher.”

“N-No! It is all my fault! Don’t apologize, Lord-chan!”

“You came running as soon as the war was over. You were probably worried about me... Thank you, Teacher.”

“As expected, Lord-chan understands my feelings!”

The day had come when Damian was admonished by a child. He was both ashamed and deeply moved. He was happy to witness Lord’s growth.

Kraugel stared as Damian whimpered in the arms of his student, who had grown bigger than him. Kraugel wasn’t looking at him with contempt, but with interest.

‘They get along quite well.’

Kraugel thought it was necessary to have a teacher like Damian to help Lord relax since all of Lord’s other teachers were strict and serious. Damian was sometimes silly, but he had good intentions. He was like a younger brother, but he was reliable.

Kraugel thought that perhaps Damian was Lord’s best friend.

Kasim seemed to think differently. “Bah, how pathetic,” he grumbled from the shadows, making Kraugel laugh.

***

At last, everyone was back to their daily routines.

The Overgeared members organized the situation and returned to Reinhardt. The rankers returned to their respective homes and the crowd gathered on the battlefield dispersed.

The news that all the cultivators had been wiped out spread around the world, so people in both reality and Satisfy were celebrating. They were no longer afraid of the cultivators.

“Asgard?”

In the Overgeared Guild’s meeting room, Peak Sword was happily watching the people who came out on the streets for the first time in a while and returned to their daily lives. He scowled when he heard about Grid’s whereabouts.

“He took on that vengeance battle by himself? Why not wait for us? There is no need to rush. Isn’t there still time before the Full Moon Fortress of the demon cultivators is completed?”

Jishuka’s answer stunned the Overgeared members. “He was tracking down Marie Rose and ended up accidentally solving this issue.”

“......?”

Peak Sword saw his expression reflected in the window and realized he looked very stupid so he came back to his senses. He asked, “Could it be that Marie Rose invaded Asgard first? By herself?”

“Yes. I guess she was going to destroy the Full Moon Fortress of the demon cultivators so that Grid could focus on the war on the surface. It’s something that only Marie Rose would do. Well, in the end, Grid succeeded in destroying the Full Moon Fortress.”

“I-Is this for real...?”

“If even the remaining Full Moon Fortress in Asgard has been disposed of, doesn’t this mean the cultivators have really gone extinct?”

“Yes. This was very easy thanks to Dominion and Mumud’s cooperation.”

“Yesterday’s enemies are today’s allies... This happens a lot when Grid is involved.”

Zibal, who had been silent throughout the meeting, suddenly interjected. “If it was you, would you be able to keep fighting against Grid?”

He looked like he was fed up. Losing twenty-seven battles against Grid... He seemed to have been reminded of the humiliation he had suffered every time he was defeated.

Eat Spicy Jokbal’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You fought Grid twenty-seven times...?”

He also had a history of losing to Grid. He had lost a lot of things from that one defeat and was ultimately recruited by Peak Sword.

Katz and Chris couldn’t help gulping. They had also once been Grid's enemies. Zibal, who had challenged the monstrous Grid twenty-seven times, didn’t seem human at all.

Toban also felt impacted by this information. Back when the Tzedakah Guild still existed, he had betrayed Grid and ended up serving him for months. Ever since, he tried to not even step on Grid’s shadow. Yet Zibal had fought Grid twenty-seven times!

Zibal became proud when he saw their envious gazes.

“Grid and I were inseparable rivals.”

“...Every time you participated in the International Competition, your events overlapped. Once you settled down in the Saharan Empire, the prince attracted Grid’s aggro and dragged you into the conflict... Wasn’t it simply thanks to bad luck that you fought Grid so many times? Sometimes when you are drunk, you talk and complain about it.”

“Shut up, Vantner.”

Zibal’s useless story had an anticlimactic ending...

Pon praised Vantner for doing a good job and got down to business.

“Then it means that the Asgard issue is effectively sorted out... The fact that all of us are gathered here means there is something important to do, right?”

Lauel nodded. He clasped his hands together.

“Let me explain.”

The door of the meeting room opened and Rabbit came in. His hair was completely white. Unlike the players, he had been beaten by the winds of time. He was middle-aged, but his hair had turned white. He had been appointed as the Minister of Finance after the kingdom became an empire.

The most important thing in running a nation was money. Rabbit was in charge of managing the empire’s finances and was clearly under more stress than anyone else.

“Ew...”

There were many people who hated the sight of Rabbit. Rabbit had cut people’s salaries, so they had a history of destroying dueling grounds or scarecrows during sparring and practice. A lot of people only had bad opinions about Rabbit.

“For those of you who just clicked your tongue when you saw me, it means that you are in a bad mood.”

"Don't make me laugh. You are a petty human who can’t praise people who train hard on a daily basis. You only take money away from them.”

Rabbit snorted. “There are monsters all over the nation. If you are going to train, you should hunt monsters for the sake of keeping people safe. Aren’t you just going on a rampage under the guise of sparring in order to show off the fact that you’re slacking off? If you had kept your strength in check, then the arena wouldn’t have been destroyed. But you can’t be delicate...”

He scattered the papers he was holding. The title of the thick bundle of documents was The Imperial Reconstruction Plan.

“...Reconstruction? Are we ruined...?”

“We are on the verge of financial ruin.”

Over the past few months, the cultivators who had appeared out of nowhere had been too violent. A lot of villages and cities had been severely damaged because ordinary soldiers and knights couldn’t handle the cultivators. Plus, the amount of military funds invested into destroying the Full Moon Fortress was enormous.

The finances of the Overgeared Empire were faltering.

“For the time being, everyone here should concentrate on their duties as lords.”

“......”