Chapter 103

Chapter 103: Mapo District Rift Outbreak Uproar

The fortress wall construction was underway.

It would have a circumference of roughly three kilometers and a height of six meters.

Two gates were planned: an East Gate and a West Gate.

The wall would be built entirely from Erdotte Stone.

Harder than ordinary stone, it boasted excellent defense.

I took out Erdotte Stone from Acresia to keep pace with the construction.

I also helped with the wall-building whenever I could—early in the morning or after the lunch service.

'I feel bad about Ria.'

I should have been finishing work early and staying by her side.

But I felt bad leaving it all to the Eckard clan dwarves, so there was no helping it—I had to pitch in.

THUD, THUD, THUD!

I pulled the neat, rectangular boulders stored in Acresia and set them in place one after another.

There was no need to carry the stones at all.

When I pitched in, the work went twice as fast.

And there was another whose efficiency matched mine.

GRAAAAH!

It was Ashley, in dragon form, breathing her Breath onto the ground.

Wherever the Breath passed, deep grooves were carved into the earth.

According to Ashley, dragons could use two types of Breath.

One was a Breath imbued with an attribute.

For a Silver Dragon it was ice; for a Red Dragon, flame; for a Black Dragon, poison, and so on.

The other was the basic Breath without any attribute applied.

The Breath Ashley had just used to dig a long trench in the ground was precisely this.

"Thank you, great one!"

The dwarves applauded toward the sky.

"Terrifying..."

"If that hit you, you wouldn't even leave bones behind."

The Hunters working as laborers were thoroughly spooked.

And it wasn't only Ashley—Fenrir was also hard at work.

Like a mole, she was digging at the earth with her mana-wreathed front paws.

"Why am I the one doing this...?!"

She kept grumbling as she worked.

Ashley landed on the ground, polymorphed into human form, and spoke to Fenrir.

"If you want free meat, you need to work!"

"Damn it. Meat is not something I can give up."

Like the other Hunters, the two of them had been promised free grilled meat in exchange for helping with the work.

A full five servings per day.

And so, blinded by the promise of meat, the two of them were helping out.

They were especially invaluable in the foundation work—digging out the ground and laying down the cornerstones.

'The work is going faster than I expected.'

The wall was advancing at an average of seventy meters per day.

According to Maxim, at this pace, the gates would be finished within two months.

'A truly insane pace...'

Dwarves, top-tier Hunters, a dragon, and Fenrir.

And me as well.

With beings wielding superhuman abilities all pitching in, the construction pace was unrivaled.

'Building the fortress walls is just the start of developing the territory.'

Once the walls were up, construction inside the fortress would begin as well.

My current plans were as follows.

The Bedrock Zone surrounding the restaurant at the center would become the heart of the outpost, where key facilities would be built.

Around that, rental buildings and inns would be constructed.

The outskirts close to the wall and the northern area would be used for campsite base camps, outposts for guild members on watch duty, and training grounds and sparring arenas.

'To make that happen, I'll need to form a guild first.'

I needed guild members to stand watch on top of the walls.

For now, it had already been decided to merge with the elder Sword Saint's Bamboo Fragrance Guild.

On top of that, Eriksson and Santos had agreed to join as well.

And the front-of-house staff trio, too.

'When I asked Ye-rim and Joel to join, they teared up with joy. Myeong-hun didn't cry, but he was incredibly happy too.'

At present, Kim Myeong-hun had climbed to C+ rank, while Jeong Ye-rim and Joel had reached D+.

Each of them had moved up a rung.

That was thanks to their employee discount, which let them buy stat dishes at a third of the price.

And it was also the result of pouring effort into raising their growth stats after work.

Their next goal was to save up their wages and buy a Highest-Grade Magic Stone.

'Ria's promised to forcibly awaken them later.'

She'd give them the same Forced Awakening she had given me when I was an E-Rank Hunter.

After channeling mana into their bodies to check, Ria had determined it was feasible.

However, she said the mana absorption efficiency wouldn't be as high as mine had been.

'F-Rank bodies wouldn't be able to withstand it, so it's impossible for them. E-Rank shows the best results, she says. And up through D and C-Rank there should still be an effect.'

It wouldn't work as well as it had for me back at E-Rank, but if they received it, they'd go up at least one rank apiece.

Of course, that would only happen after Ria gave birth and her body had recovered.

***

Early in the morning, I used a Gate Portal to travel to the wine shop's aging room.

When I opened the door and stepped out, Director Jang welcomed me warmly.

"Oh, welcome, Master Seon-u."

"Yes, hello, Director Jang. I'm here to deliver fruit wine and wild grape wine."

I immediately pulled out two twenty-liter barrels of fruit wine and one twenty-liter barrel of dungeon wild grape wine.

"The fruit's color looks wonderful today as well. It seems to get better every time you come."

"That's thanks to an S-Rank farmer raising them with great care. Her abilities are growing day by day too."

"Little Rin really is a blessing."

"Absolutely. A blessing indeed. And these days, she's started calling me Papa."

"Oh, at last! You look very proud, Master Seon-u."

"Proud is an understatement. I'm thoroughly happy."

And so, I went on bragging about my daughter, and then about my wife, for a good while.

When I was done boasting, I asked carefully,

"So about relocating the wine shop—have you given it some thought?"

On a previous delivery, I had asked him whether he'd consider relocating.

At the time, Director Jang had said he'd consider it positively.

"Yes, I've thought about it."

He answered right away, without hesitation.

Could I hope for a positive reply?

Director Jang continued,

"I'll join the guild, and of course, I'll relocate the wine shop. However, I'd like to keep this place as a branch—would that be acceptable?"

"Of course."

There was no need to close down a business that was thriving.

He must have been planning to move his main branch to my building and run this place as a branch, hiring staff to manage it.

"Thank you. And by any chance... might I ask how much you were thinking for the rent?"

"Rent? Free of charge, of course."

"Pardon? Free?"

"The profit split between you and me on the fruit wine and dungeon wild grape wine is still nine to one, isn't it? On top of that, to charge you rent would make me a terrible person."

Compared to what we earned from the Applecherry fruit wine and the dungeon wild grape wine, rent was a mere drop in the bucket.

So I had no intention of squeezing rent out of him too.

"All you need to do is come over and set up shop."

"...Master Seon-u, thank you! Meeting you truly seems to have been the greatest blessing of my life."

"Haha, you're being dramatic."

After that, Director Jang and I hashed out the specifics of the relocation plan.

Then, as a source on the Hunter industry, he filled me in on the current global issues in that world.

The first was the news of Ria's pregnancy.

"So word got out, then."

Because Fenrir had announced it so loudly, everyone in the restaurant had heard.

Which meant the Hunters outside the restaurant would all know as well.

And word had spread through guests returning from the Rift.

"It started getting around last night. As the saying goes, a rumor has no legs but travels a thousand miles. The speed at which news spreads is staggering."

"You can say that again."

"And thanks to you and Lady Emeria smashing the WPA, the attention is all the greater."

"Haha... What sort of attention?"

"How strong will the child born of such a powerful couple be? And people are abuzz with talk of Lady Emeria, who crushed the world's number-one ranker while pregnant."

"I see."

We had learned of Ria's pregnancy at three weeks.

Smashing the WPA had likely been during her second week of pregnancy.

Director Jang continued,

"And the WPA is currently keeping silent regarding the rumor that they tried to frame you, Master Seon-u. The main culprit, Hunter Hyera, has been officially expelled from the WPA. In effect, they've tacitly admitted the rumor while redirecting all the blame onto Hyera."

So she had been used by Gerald, ended up taking the fall for everything alone, and was expelled.

A pitiful life. Used and then thrown away.

Such was the end awaiting a woman who had fallen for a scumbag like Gerald.

"Hyera's accomplice, Colt Guild Master Benson, is also taking his share of criticism."

"Good to hear."

The way he, as an accomplice, had tried to slip away by pushing all the blame onto Hyera had been infuriating.

"As a result, the WPA's and Gerald's reputations have fallen into the dirt. They tried to frame you, and on top of that, they lost in the process. Recovering their lost honor won't be easy."

"I imagine not."

And soon, our guild would be founded as well.

A guild that had beaten them.

In other words, we would push out the existing world number one, and a newborn guild would take its place.

Which meant that unless they surpassed our guild, the WPA could never recover the reputation they'd once had.

'Goodbye, WPA.'

***

Time flew by.

Two weeks had swept past.

I visited the obstetrician's again with Ria.

Ria underwent her first ultrasound examination.

The yolk sac was clearly visible, they said.

Which meant her condition was excellent.

After leaving the university hospital,

we took a deluxe taxi and headed to the building.

On arrival, we toured the fifth through seventh floors.

Construction was still underway.

After looking around the building, we returned from the second floor to the Rift house, as usual.

And not long after we had left,

WOOOMMM!

a Rift phenomenon appeared on the road near the building.

***

My daily schedule was terribly busy.

In the morning, I helped briefly with the wall construction.

Then I returned to the restaurant to prepare for business.

After the lunch service, I helped with the wall again.

Then I headed to the Rift house and decided on the next day's menu.

I took stock of ingredients and did simple prep work.

After that, I spent some time with Rin and Ria.

Then more dungeon expansion work to level up the dungeon skill.

'On top of that, errands outside the Rift—bank visits, fruit wine and wine deliveries, ingredient purchases, checking on the building construction.'

I was living busy days all around.

'Still, less busy than salaried workers commuting to and from work.'

Once the wall and building construction were finished, I'd have more leisure time again.

And right now, I was expanding the dungeon with Rin.

Then—

[Your Dungeon Creation level has risen.]

The Dungeon Creation skill had reached level three.

[Dungeon Creation LV 3 Additional Effect: Dungeon Closure ability.]
[TIP. You may close a dungeon you have created yourself or a dungeon that has been successfully cleared (however, in the case of cleared dungeons, only those whose Rift has been open for less than a month may be closed.)]

Oh? A skill I needed had come up.

I'd been wondering what to do with the dungeon now that all the Erdotte Stone had been mined out and it had served its purpose.

So closure was possible from level three.

There was also a limit to how many dungeons I could own.

For now, I could only own three dungeons.

When I had asked Maxim about the closure method, he had said he knew nothing beyond having heard that Eos had been capable of it.

But it turned out that required level three.

Rin, seated on my lap, asked me,

"Papa, youw skill weveled up?"

"Yes, Rin. The skill leveled up."

"Wow! Kongatulations, Papa!"

"Hehe! Thank you, my daughter. Who told you to be this cute?"

I hugged Rin and rocked her in my arms.

"Eeeek! Mama, hewp!"

"Hehe!"

Ria sipped her tea and watched the two of us, father and daughter, with a fond smile.

What kind of dungeon should I make next?

I'd have to discuss it with Maxim.

The next day, in the early hours of dawn,

I stepped outside the Rift for the first time in two days.

Today I needed to restock ingredients.

Meat, especially.

So I came out to the second floor of my building.

'Off to Majang-dong.'

To handpick freshly butchered, high-quality meat and buy it in bulk at wholesale.

I went down from the second floor to the first, unlocked the door, and stepped outside.

But something was off.

There were no cars on the road.

No one on the sidewalks.

And up in the air—

THWHUP-THWHUP-THWHUP-THWHUP!

helicopters were flying overhead.

'What is this? Has a war broken out?'

I opened Acresia and quickly pulled out my phone.

To check the news.

On the phone were dozens of missed calls from Director Jeong Jae-yong of the Rift Management Bureau and his senior officials.

'What is going on...?'

Just as I was about to call back—

"You over there! Why haven't you evacuated yet?!"

A group of officers in Police SWAT gear, rifles in hand, shouted at me.

"What? Evacuate for what?"

"For goodness' sake, didn't you get the emergency alerts?!"

Emergency alerts?

I checked my phone.

Oh—there they were. Emergency alerts.

When I looked at them—

[28th 17:52 — A Rift has appeared near the Sinsu-dong Intersection in Mapo District. Residents in the vicinity of Sinsu-dong are ordered to evacuate immediately.]

[28th 18:35 — Entry within a 200m radius of Sinsu-dong Intersection is restricted.]

[28th 20:43 — A High-Grade Monster has emerged from the Mapo 1 (Sinsu-dong) Rift. Residents in the vicinity of Sinsu-dong are ordered to evacuate immediately.]

[29th 04:55 — A Mid-Grade Monster has emerged from the Mapo 1 (Sinsu-dong) Rift. Residents in the vicinity of Sinsu-dong are ordered to evacuate immediately.]

What was this...?

A Rift opening was a plausible enough occurrence.

But High-Grade and Mid-Grade Monsters coming out of one?

And the Sinsu-dong Intersection was barely a hundred and twenty meters from my building.

Which meant the building I had purchased was now within the Rift restriction zone.

'Are you kidding me...!'

The more than twenty-four billion won I had spent buying the building and on construction was about to go up in smoke.