Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 394: Farmer’s Kingdom

The members of Let’s Eat Sect delved deeper into the passageway blocked by the skeleton knights and saw hundreds of huge yet old mansions spread out in the area. Then, the notifications rang.

[You have entered the Kingdom of the Undead.]

[The Kingdom of the Undead houses various types of undead. Starting from mansions 1, 2, and 3, you have to occupy all 57 of the Undead Mansions.]

[You will be able to acquire the treasures that the owner of the Undead Mansion had left behind the moment you successfully finish your raid.]

“Ah…!”

All of them realized that this was a new type of hunting ground. To put it simply, each Undead Mansion could be considered as one dungeon. So far, the Let’s Eat Sect had only dealt with the skeleton knights among all of the undead in existence. These skeleton knights were strong enough to be comparable to Imperial Knights. They were proficient in swordsmanship, archery, and even magic.

They could tell that this was one of the many benefits hidden in Vormon’s gigantic lair. With the appearance of the new hunting ground in the form of the Kingdom of the Undead, they would be able to grow faster than their peers. On top of that, no other notifications rang for them. This meant that the 4x EXP buff and item drop rate from before when they first entered Vormon’s lair were still effective.

“Shall we start raiding the first mansion?” Genie asked. All of them were fully aware that it would be better for them to raid the mansions one after the other.

Just then, Minhyuk paused and said, “Wait.”

His reason…

[The Key to the Farmer’s Kingdom is resonating.]

[Only the one chosen by the Farmer Kingdom, NPCs and one other companion chosen by him would be allowed to enter the Farmer Kingdom.]

A rusty key flew up on its own and appeared in front of Minhyuk. It floated up in the air and slowly guided him to another path. The members of Let’s Eat Sect tried to follow behind him but before they could do so, Minhyuk said, “…I think, only two players can enter. The rest that I can take with me are NPCs.”

“Huh?!”

“What?!”

The members of Let’s Eat Sect felt dispirited. Their initial enthusiasm and expectations of pioneering a new kingdom, and showing off the power of new cooking ingredients, had been dashed. However, Genie looked around the mansions that surrounded them. She thought, ‘It would be both fun and interesting for us to raid these mansions too…’

Of course, not being able to participate in discovering a new kingdom was a shame, but Genie had a hunch, “This is a trial.”

“A trial?”

“Yeah. The one that hunted Vormon had eaten the ingredients that the black dragon had left behind and obtained the keys to this kingdom. This is a trial to see if the holder of the key deserves the kingdom.”

After saying her thoughts, Genie could roughly guess what it was.

“It’s like they're testing your qualifications to be king. Right?” Genie concluded as everyone, including Minhyuk, nodded in agreement.

“It’s a bit of a shame that we can’t go with you, but we trust you. In the meantime, we will clear these mansions since the treasures left by the owners sound very tempting.”

Genie rubbed her chin in thought. The undead in this place were very high in level. There would definitely be undead that are far stronger than their peers, and if they owned a mansion, then the treasure that they left behind would definitely be appealing to their guild. Besides, they had not acquired an ‘artifact’ during their stay in Vormon’s lair so far. Anyone that heard the words ‘Dragon Lair’ would always think about rare, outstanding artifacts and treasures. Genie felt that there was a hint about that somewhere here.

After a bout of discussion, they decided that Ali should be the one to accompany Minhyuk. They all felt that it would be efficient for the two of them to go together, since Ali had a 1.5x increase in attack power against the undead with his God of Magic passive skill, as well as the power that he had just used before, Turn Undead.

Minhyuk and Ali turned to follow the key, while the members of Let’s Eat Sect entered the first mansion. The two continued to follow the key until they arrived in front of a huge door. The key, which was still floating, entered the keyhole and turned by itself.

Clack—

Creak, creak, creak, creak—

The two walked through the open door, only to witness a farmer, both covered and vomiting in blood, collapse on the ground with his pickaxe still in hand.

“…?!”

Both Ali and Minhyuk were speechless at the shocking sight that greeted them when they entered.

“Y… you… How, how did you… Urk!”

Farmer Yvero knew that no one, other than them, could enter this place. However, he suddenly recalled a story that he had heard before. According to the story, the ones that could possibly enter this place were the ones that successfully hunted and killed Vormon.

Farmer Yvero’s eyes widened when he realized this. Then, he said, “Vor… Vormon’s hunters… Please, please save… our, our kingdom!”

Then, the notifications rang.

[Kingdom Building Quest: Save Rocard Kingdom.]

Rank: SSS

Requirements: The ones that hunted Vormon and have been recognized for their qualifications.

Rewards: ???

Description: The Farmer’s Kingdom, Rocard Kingdom, is now on the verge of annihilation and extinction. This is the result of the death of Black Dragon Vormon, the being that protected them. Save the desperate and hopeless Rocard Kingdom!

“…!”

Minhyuk was shocked to see the sudden appearance of a Kingdom Building Quest. He had heard about this kind of quest before. After all, the Let’s Eat Sect was now well on its way to becoming a kingdom. However, they faced plenty of problems.

First, they lacked sufficient financial power. The amount of money that they had to burn to build a small kingdom was definitely not going to be small. Second, they did not have enough civilians and troops. The number of people that they needed for the construction of a kingdom in Athenae should be at a considerable amount. Third, they did not have a large enough territory. To house and support a small kingdom, they needed a larger territory.

Finally, he was faced with a Kingdom Building Quest. These were few and far in between in the entire world.

The Kingdom Building Quest could only be triggered and carried out by those that had the qualifications to build a kingdom. However, among all of those that tried to clear this quest, none had succeeded so far. This was because the quest had a lot of difficult and complicated conditions that they needed to fulfill.

However, there was one thing that everyone was sure of, and that was one needed to clear the Kingdom Building Quest once, for them to be able to build a kingdom. Even if they met all of the conditions from the first to the third, they would not be able to build a kingdom if they could not clear this final condition.

‘Is that the reason why only NPCs can enter aside from two players?’

The Kingdom Building Quest would only recognize the player to be qualified if they clear the quest. Minhyuk believed that they put forth this limitation so that the system could assess how many outstanding people were serving him, how he could command them, and use their abilities. Ali was also very surprised when he heard Minhyuk’s thoughts about it.

“We will definitely save and protect this kingdom.”

After letting the collapsed farmer, Yvero, drink some potion, Ali and Minhyuk did not delay any further. They rushed deeper into Rocard Kingdom and soon saw hundreds, if not thousands, of undead flocking inside and entering through the wide open gates. The kingdom was engulfed in chaos and pandemonium. Screams rang loudly as the undead slaughtered everyone, including the children, the women, and the elderly.

Minhyuk and Ali briefly glanced at each other after seeing the deputy commander’s soldier get cut down by one of the undead while he protected and hugged a young girl. Ali could roughly tell that the number of the undead that entered the kingdom was around 1,000. With this number in mind, he released the power that he had gained after entering Level 400.

[God of Magic.]

[You have opened the power of the Magic God for 20 minutes.]

[Your HP has temporarily increased by 1.3x while your MP has temporarily doubled.]

[Your Magical Attack has increased by 40%.]

[Your Magical Penetration has increased by 40%.]

[Your Magic Success Hit Rate has increased by 50%.]

Ali’s body became wrapped in a golden light, his features turning gold. Then, he brandished his Staff of Despair and chanted, “Turn Undead.”

A flashing and blinding golden light stretched out from the tip of his staff and devoured the Undead Corps in the area.

Crack, crack, crack, crack—

Fine cracks started to appear on the undead’s bodies. And then…

Thud, thud, thud—

…they fell apart. While everyone was in a daze, wondering what happened, Minhyuk had already climbed on top of the walls.

“Who are you?”

“A sword? You’re not from our kingdom!”

Meanwhile, Minhyuk looked at the situation and was able to analyze everything in that split second.

‘The kingdom’s nobles have already given up and turned against their kingdom. They have fallen for their enemies' tricks and abandoned everything, even to the point that they willingly sent their own men and kin for slaughter.’

The gears in Minhyuk’s head turned quickly as he casted his Sword of Absolute Death.

‘We first have to kill those nobles. However, I can’t let the fact that I will be the one killing them be known to these people.’

Even though they were in the middle of a war, they would still be considered enemies as long as they, the foreigners, killed those nobles. As he waited for the casting time of Sword of Absolute Death to end, Minhyuk’s eyes wandered around. That was when he caught sight of a huge cage. The cage housed around ten thousand pigs, ranging from small piglets to huge, fully grown pigs. The corners of Minhyuk’s mouth curled into a devious smile.

“Sword of Absolute Death.”

Minhyuk pointed his sword towards the most prominent Death Knight. This was the most rational move. After all, their first attack should always target the strongest among their enemies to gain momentum. That existence was none other than Duke Amanthi, the person that was once hailed as the Sword Duke. However, he was nothing but a Death Knight now.

Slaaaaaaash—

Sword Duke Amanthi tried to block Minhyuk’s first sword strike by swinging his black sword, but it was completely useless.

Crack, crack, crack, crack—

Amanthi’s body started to crack. Then, hundreds of long, sharp sword lights fell down in the middle of the undead camp before exploding.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Clang—

Sword Duke Amanthi, a Death Knight, fell down on the ground as his black armor cracked and fell apart. Thousands of the undead that flocked to the walls disappeared with him. It was a tremendous show of force.

“Y… you…?”

“We came here to save you!” Minhyuk said as he hurriedly left the place. He disappeared for a moment before coming back again. During his disappearance, he had summoned Beanie and gave him instructions.

***

Marquis Roleid frowned at the sudden appearance of an unknown man and a golden mage. Their appearance had pushed back the enemies that flocked to the walls.

“Hmph… What kind of variable is this?” Marquis Roleid snorted, his brows furrowing deeper as he sat on top of his white horse. He saw the stranger try to close the gates again with the remaining troops.

“What the hell are you doing?! Don’t close the gates!!! Slaughter our enemies!!!”

Although Roleid shouted for the destruction of their enemies, deep inside he wanted the ‘death of everyone’ here.

“B… but if we don’t close the gates now…”

Stab—

Roleid stabbed the soldier that cried out in protest without any hesitation.

‘He’s gone crazy…’

‘The nobles have sold us out.’

‘Even if we try to protect it, this kingdom will eventually meet its end.’

‘I can’t believe that they switched sides like this the moment Vormon died…’

While Vormon was alive, they all tried to avoid conflict amongst themselves somehow. After all, they would all die if Vormon saw a conflict break out among them. However, the moment Vormon died, the faces of these greedy nobles immediately changed.

‘What a pest! Just hurry up and die!!!’

All of them must die for this kingdom to fall into the hands of their enemies. Once that happened, he would become the king.

Roleid had grown sick of this Farmer’s Kingdom. He would make sure that his kingdom would be fancy, wonderful, and showy, something that would be completely different from this mundane and ordinary kingdom! Under the current rule, even the nobles of this kingdom were no exceptions to the rule, they also had to farm. He had long grown sick of that kind of life. That was right. Roleid would make use of the other nobles and subjects. He would make them his limbs and use them to make a fortune.

“Open the gates!!!”

“Open the gates!!!”

“Who the hell are you?! Get out of here!”

“Kill them!!! They must be spies sent by the enemies!!! They’re after the queen!!!”

The nobles worked in tandem, shouting loudly to cause chaos. Since the war started, the nobles that did not share the same ideals with them had already been cut off. Right now, they were the center of command in this battlefield. They were the rulers, the leaders, the commanders. In the end, the soldiers slowly opened the gates again. But then…

Crack—

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump—

The ground began to shake after a strange sound rang out. Marquis Roleid turned to look at the direction from where the sound came from.

“…!”

His eyes widened in shock. It seemed like the undead had broken the cage that surrounded the pigsty.

Since this was the Farmer’s Kingdom, it was generally different from ordinary kingdoms. The kingdom was in fact formed with the huge pigsty at the center. With the cage surrounding this pigsty broken, more than ten thousand fully grown pigs and piglets rushed out. But…

“Wh… what?! Why are the pigs coming this way?!”

…the pigs might be domesticated animals, but they were still animals nonetheless. Besides, pigs were also known for their intelligence that far surpassed that of dogs. They headed to where they were, disregarding the dangerous situation that they were in. What they did not know was that there was a baby piggy, that usually walked on two feet, but was currently running on all fours in the middle of the herd.

“Oiiiiink!”

“Oink, oink, oink!!!”

“Hwiiiiiiik!”

“Oink, oink, oink, oink, oink!”

All of the pigs obeyed the orders of this mysterious baby piggy.

“Oiiiiiiiink! (You don’t want to run head on?!! Huh?! Then, I’m going to tell my master that we should go eat some samgyeopsal, jokbal, and barbeque! Oink!!!)”

Yes. That was right. The Pig King Beanie had appeared, make way!