I Became a 6★ Gacha Character-364 - The Empire’s Hidden Strength 4

TL/Editor: raei

Schedule: 5/week

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A Border Count was a nobleman whose territory bordered another country, granted both land rights and military authority.

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The Empire had vast lands but was also plagued by monsters. In Heroes Chronicle, Border Counts faced the wilderness rather than other nations. Roland's family became Border Counts as gatekeepers against monsters pouring in from the continent's uncharted regions.

In other words, an imperial Border Count was like a mass-produced northern archduke on the front lines fending off monsters.

'...Not that revealing hidden pasts matters now.'

Of course, this story meant nothing to me.

I knew nothing about the Empire besides Lombardo and the Grand Temple, so what was the point of suddenly talking about my deceased father?

Feeling uncomfortable, I remained silent. The old nun, thinking I was lost in thought, continued her explanation slowly.

"Your father, the Border Count of Bretagne, was a truly chivalrous man."

Chivalrous in the good sense, of course. A man who served the Emperor but didn't deny the temple's authority, who took up the sword to protect the weak from hordes of monsters, who loved the Empire and refused to retreat from the enemy.

The Border Count of Bretagne, like a righteous warrior facing evil, died when young Roland left his domain to participate in Lombardo's swordsmanship tournament. The reason? The greed and selfishness of neighboring lords mixed with lax attitudes. They failed to send timely support to Bretagne as it held back waves of monsters.

"They were truly impious. To dare commit treason over petty selfishness in the face of the Empire's enemies."

'F*ck, I think I've seen this in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It's like incompetent commanders cutting off allied supplies.'

Young genius knight Roland, blessed with a robust body and remarkable swordsmanship for his age, and beautiful features inherited from his parents.

So when Roland, drunk on the honor of being Lombardo's champion after winning the tournament, received the terrible news. His father died isolated while facing a monster wave, and his mother committed suicide by poison just before monsters burst in as she evacuated the domain's people.

Of course, even though the Empire had begun to rot, it wasn't completely decayed. Other Border Counts who heard this news were so enraged they nearly drew swords on the temple and imperial court in protest.

The imperial court, furious at this clear act of treason, dispatched investigators. Men in black robes from the Grand Temple silently set out on pilgrimages at night. The nobles who tried to save resources once and opened the Empire's borders to a monster wave were dragged to dim basements, never to see light again, but...

Roland, the ill-fated protagonist who headed from Lombardo to the County of Bretagne, never showed his face in the Empire again.

"Still, the fact that you've come this far means you've sorted out your feelings to some extent..."

'No, I just woke up on an Empire-bound carriage.'

"I understand if you hate the Empire. But don't doubt the Goddess. Human malice is like weeds or pests - no matter how excellent the gardener, they'll always grow in some corner."

I heard those words, but they didn't stir any particular thoughts.

After all, the parents I thought of weren't a Border Count who died fulfilling his duty and a countess who died helping others. My father was a self-employed man facing difficult customers instead of monsters, and my mother was a housewife with no domain residents to care for.

Responding apathetically, the old nun seemed to think it was due to emotional wounds and poured another cup of tea. Actually, what annoyed me wasn't the old nun who liked old stories, but the camera stuck to my profile without moving an inch.

"What the f*ck... Two countries aren't even at war, but nobles won't defend against monsters coming to eat people because they're stingy? Is this really the Empire? Seriously?"

-Don't f*cking laugh, this is the neighborhood you have to save, hero

-When you request support during the story to kill mobs, expect replies like "Who gives a sh*t?"

-Roughly speaking, the Kingdom deals with the Tower while the Empire blocks monster waves, but why need an update?

-Those constantly coming out of the Tower will probably get involved somehow. Anyway, f*ck the Empire

"No, I thought we'd get a reliable ally when the Empire appeared, but we've just gained a nearly-dead burden. So basically, the tank pulled all the monster aggro, but the healer won't heal because they're stingy with mana? How's that any different?"

[Teacher Roland's New White Great Sword donated 50,000 won!]

I don't really get the domain stuff, but I immediately understand healers not giving heals. Lol f*ck

[Han Se-ah the First Baggage donated 10,000 won!]

As expected of a baggage carrier, immediately sizing up the burden? But it's f*cking heavy, right? Your shoulders hurt, don't they?

Han Se-ah muttered incredulously beyond the screen, and all sorts of donations exploded violently. Snarky zoomer voices shouted "whatcha gonna do?" while languid TTS voices narrated Han Se-ah's bleak future like a documentary.

Of course, viewers only focused on the Empire's bad parts, so it was a natural reaction.

The first day of a countryside merchant group, bandits appeared, low-ranking imperial mercenaries were worse than novice kingdom adventurers, public safety was a mess, and nobles neglected their duties, leading to the shocking news of a likable NPC's parents ascending to heaven.

And since the chances of getting entangled with that Empire in the story exceeded 100%, of course they were worried.

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Raei Translations

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Thanks to the talkative old nun's gossip about Roland's past, Heroes Chronicle gamers concluded the Kingdom was about tower climbing while the Empire was about monster defense, and no objections arose.

Although the clear condition was conquering the tower, Heroes Chronicle offered infinite freedom. There were even people starting restaurant franchises in the Kingdom without entering the tower, so it was only natural.

You could tell just by looking at the layout of the Kingdom and Empire.

The Empire was northeast of the Kingdom, and the Empire blocked monster waves as you went further north. The Empire was above the Kingdom, monster waves were above the Empire, and those monsters kept coming down.

"Sh*t, if we screw up, tower crap might flow down and destroy the mid tower too!"

-3-man party, missing teammate, enemy grabbing both buffs, bullets flying, ugh why am I the only one without a teammate

-Well, monsters coming down from north to south won't just stop at the Empire lolol They'll reach the Kingdom too

-Monsters invading from the north? Those BB Games bastards need their ideology checked for real

-It's a continent above and a kingdom below, so a southern invasion? This is totally China and North...

Han Se-ah's cry, as a gamer who'd played various games, succinctly summarized the continent's situation for players to understand.

Getting comfortably stronger down below, then getting caught up in sh*t flowing over from above, having your livelihood destroyed and tasting bitter defeat - it was all too familiar for Korean gamers.

Of course, this didn't just happen in the rift(league). As with all team games, when one teammate couldn't pull their weight and became just dead weight, the rest suffered.

In the now-folkgame space war simulation, if allies did stupid sh*t and died, you started with 200 vs 400 population. In FPS games, if a teammate was a liability, I instantly became Swiss cheese caught in crossfire.

Even beyond games, in the traditional K-university culture of group projects, you saw the same pattern. So viewers' worried teasing naturally turned to Han Se-ah.

"...But what swordsmanship, f*ck."

Han Se-ah getting teased in exchange for a fat wallet was nothing new, so it wasn't really an issue. With so many viewers, even with a 10-minute delay on chat and minimum donations raised from 1,000 won punches to 10,000 won punches, if just 1% of 100,000 real-time viewers threw a comment, that was still a thousand people.

The problem was the sudden flood of attention on me.

Of all things, I had to have a swordsmanship tournament winner title in the past, goddammit.

-Why's a genius swordsman from a renowned family carrying a hammer?

-So where's the hidden fiancée? When's the catfight starting, just like a dog... no, cat?

-Shouldn't have called Katie a zoomer, she copied her mentor's behavior exactly, now this is a true teacher

-So what happened to the domain? Surrounding nobles all died too, so it must be huge, did the Empire swallow it?

From baseless expectations of showing incredible swordsmanship skills if he fought seriously since he was chosen by the holy sword, to lewd expectations of having messed around with tons of female characters in Lombardo as much as he played around with the Kingdom's ladies.

On Earth, the only blades I'd touched in my life were kitchen knives and toy wooden swords from school trip souvenir shops. In the Kingdom, I lived a blunt weapon life with a warhammer as my main weapon and maces as sub-weapons.

Expecting genius swordsmanship skills from someone like that? It might be easier to hunt bosses barehanded.