The hooded man realized a clear fact upon seeing that over a dozen viges had been devastated.

    ‘Someone is deliberately destroying the summoning circles I’ve created.’

    Had only one location with a summoning circle been attacked, the man would have let it slide.

    After all, the ces where he had hidden the summoning circles were mostly sh-and-burn viges or territories, which could easily be discovered and affected by external factors.

    However, once the number of attacked viges and territories exceeded ten, it could no longer be considered a coincidence, so the man began to investigate quickly.

    It didn’t take long before the hooded man actually found the beings who were ravaging the viges.

    “Don’t interfere!”

    “Rather, aren’t you the one interfering!?”

    Boom!

    In the middle of the sixteenth sh-and-burn vige he found, two heroes were rampaging.

    ‘Those guys, what exactly are they?’

    The man gazed indifferently at the two heroes.

    ‘…I’m not sure about the ck hero, but the one rampaging with that hero has red eyes.’

    The man, who had identified the presence of the two heroes moving too fast for even his eyes to easily follow and devastating the vige, soon wore a puzzled expression.

    At least, he had no clue why the hero with red eyes and the other, whose identity he couldn’t fully grasp, were interfering with his n for some reason.

    But, of course, the man had no intention of letting those two heroes interfere with his n.

    This n was very important not only to him, but it was also crucial for the demons.

    “If you can’t keep up properly with your short legs, stay away, you leech!”

    “Shut up, you bastard!”

    The man, upon seeing the two heroes who had eithere to destroy the vige or were fighting each other, devastate the sh-and-burn vige and disappear in moments, immediately harnessed his magic power.

    Swoosh-!

    As soon as the man harnessed his magic power, ck magic spurted out.

    The ck magic, even more viscous and scattering than what the Absolute Ruler of Darkness emitted, seemed to contaminate the surroundingnd and quickly coalesced into a sphere around the man.

    “……”

    As an iprehensible voice came from the man’s mouth simultaneously-

    “Can you hear me?”

    The man spoke while looking at a giant shadowed figure appearing on the surface within the ck sphere.

    “Hm? What’s this, Kelva?”

    “Yes. Can you hear me properly, Merba?”

    After the man called Kelva’s brief reply, the giant figure quickly lowered its gaze and answered with augh as if amused.

    “Yes, I can hear you well, but why did you contact me? Didn’t you dislike sending direct connections from the middle realm to the demon realm?”

    “You’re right, but it’s an unavoidable situation, so I had to contact you.”

    “Hm?”

    “I don’t have the luxury to exin at length, so I’ll get straight to the point. I will summon you shortly.”

    “Me? But the preparations aren’tplete yet.”

    “Even if the summoning is somewhat unstable, there’s something you need to take care of.”

    “Me?”

    Merba replied with an overtly annoyed tone, but soon sighed as if resigned and spoke.

    “Are these the vermin I have to stop, even if it means being summoned unstably?”

    “Yes, those creatures are sabotaging our n.”

    “Tsk, we have no choice then.”

    At the man’s words, Merba murmured as if without a choice, and then,

    “Understood.”

    With those words, he disappeared.

    Swoosh-!

    The man, after looking at thepletely vanished ck magic sphere, smiled as he saw Merilda and the Absolute Ruler of Darkness running into the distance.

    Kelva couldn’t assess the heroes’ exact strength immediately, but he was sure they would not get past the next vige.

    After all, the being Kelva had gone out of his way to contact, ‘Merba the ughterer’, was considered quite powerful even within the demon realm, effectively stronger than a grand hero.

    ‘Even if he hasn’t reached the rank of a legionmander and manifests in an iplete form, capturing a couple of rampaging heroes should be easy.’

    With this thought, Kelva began to murmur a spell, recalling the summoning circle in the vige towards which the two heroes were heading.

    Several days had passed since Kim Hyunwoo started speaking informally with Elena.

    Territory: Lartania

    Territory Development Level:

    1499

    Territory Residents:

    [Humans: 8,156]

    -Owned Buildings-

    [Lord's Castle LV1 >>> Upgrading 99% (Paused)]

    [Walls LV3]

    [Residential Area LV4↑]

    [cksmith LV4]

    [Barracks LV4↑]

    [Tavern LV2 >>> Upgrading 60%]

    [Market LV2]

    [Wood Processing nt LV1]

    [Restaurant LV2 >>> Upgrading 55%]

    [Leather Processing nt LV1]

    [Stone Processing nt LV1]

    [Trading Post LV1]

    [Secondary Walls LV3]

    [Inn LV2↑]

    [Administrative District LV2↑]

    -External Buildings-

    [Mercenary Guild Branch LV0 (Under Construction)]

    [Mage Tower Branch LV0 (Under Construction)]

    [cksmith Guild Branch LV0 (Under Construction)]

    -Owned Troops-

    –Regr Soldiers: 200

    –Apprentice Soldiers: 200

    “Hmm.”

    Kim Hyunwoo smiled as he checked the information window for the first time in a while and saw the newly listed cksmith Guild Branch among the external buildings.

    ‘It really didn’t take long, just as she said it wouldn’t.’

    Kim Hyunwoo hadn’t expected it to be quick, even though River had mentioned it wouldn’t take long.

    River really brought materials in as soon as Kim Hyunwoo provided thend, building it faster than any other external structure.

    It had only been a few days since the work started, and the rough shape of the building could already be seen from the castle’s terrace.

    “……”

    Kim Hyunwoo, looking at the cksmith Guild still being actively constructed, made a curious expression and then nced at the aging inner walls of the castle visible from the terrace side.

    ‘Come to think of it, I need to upgrade the castle too.’

    Currently, Kim Hyunwoo had upgraded the castle to 99% but had not proceeded to take it to the next level.

    Of course, it wasn’t because Kim Hyunwoo liked having a Level 1 castle.

    As the level of the castle increases, so too would Kim Hyunwoo’s quality of life.

    However, the reason he had been dying the castle upgrade was that it would be inessible for a day during the upgrade.

    This was due to the setting that the castle undergoes a magical transformation using the power of the Territory Stone.

    …Anyway, despite such settings causing dys, Kim Hyunwoo had been considering upgrading the castletely.

    After all, to start constructing third-level buildings in the territory, the castle needs to be upgraded.

    Thus, Kim Hyunwoo, who had been pondering when to stop this tedious Magnifying sses manufacturing and start traveling, saw:

    [The Territory Development Level has reached 1500]

    “Oh.”

    He let out a low exmation as he saw the development level reach 1500 while looking at the information window.

    At that moment,

    [You have achieved a specific condition of the quest, "Rebuild the fief 'Lartania' and Eliminate the Labyrinth"]

    [The quest "Rebuild the fief 'Lartania'" has beenpleted]

    [Congrattions. You have earned the qualification]

    “…?”

    Before Kim Hyunwoo could fully process his thoughts, he was taken aback by the sudden notification that appeared before his eyes.

    The First Clue

    You can obtain a clue when the first high-ranking demon who descended into the middle realm is dealt with

    “…?”

    The notification window, which he had been seeing since he arrived in this world, had changed its text for the first time.

    To be honest, Merba the ughterer was not particrly pleased with this situation.

    ‘To be summoned ipletely, of all things.’

    Originally, it should have taken more time for Merba to be resurrected.

    Although the number of humans sacrificed for Merba’s emergence into this world exceeded several hundred, he could only be summoned unstably.

    Simply because Merba the ughterer is powerful.

    Thus, despite being somewhat irritated, Merba felt satisfied as soon as he was summoned to the middle realm.

    Having lived in the demon world for a long time, it was his first visit to the middle realm, and although he descended ipletely, he realized something immediately upon arrival.

    That this world did not have many beings stronger than himself.

    Therefore, Merba was thrilled.

    After all, he was born with the very demonic nature of preferring to torment others over genuinely enjoying a fight with them.

    Furthermore.

    [Hmm, it seems you are the ones Kelva mentioned]

    Merba felt amused because, immediately after being summoned by the summoning circle, he was faced by two heroes who were looking at him with wide eyes.

    The wolf beastfolk with crimson eyes and the half-demon hero, whose blood was mixed with that of a demon, were staring nkly at Merba.

    “De-demon?”

    As soon as he heard the wolf’s trembling voice, a grin spread across his face.

    To Merba, the wolf’s trembling voice seemed full of fear towards him.

    Merba, about to speak while smiling at the two heroes who looked startled at him, realized something was off.

    “…?”

    He noticed something strange.

    Because, despite the trembling voice, Merba could not feel any fear from the wolf directed at him.

    No, rather, Merba-

    “This is a demon, right? The very demon that does all sorts of trashy deeds.”

    “Can’t you see? It’s obviously a demon.”

    “Right? It’s a demon, right? A demon, correct?”

    -From them, he could sense a deep delight.

    “Yes, I am a demon.”

    “Infamous to the core.”

    Following those words, Merba realized the wolf had thrown something at him and immediately caught it.

    Woooom-!!!!

    The stone turned a blood-red hue as soon as the demon caught it.

    And then.

    “Jackpot-!”

    A deep smile formed on Merilda’s lips.