Clang.

  After a moment, the dungeon door opened. Imprisoned virgins shivered with fear, wondering who would be dragged out today. But the one who entered through the door was not the Blood Ruler spreading the smell of death nor the three horny knights. It was their savior with a golden halo.

  “I know what you’ve been through. I’m sorry, I couldn’t come earlier.”


  “Your…… Highness?”


  “Your Highness…… did you defeat them?”


  “Your Highness! Your Highness!”


  The girls found their strength again and surrounded the princess to kneel and cry.

  Seeing their haggard faces and bare bodies on the cold, dirty prison floor, Ereka cried.

  When the late king was the ruler, this used to be a real prison where the real sinners were imprisoned and punished. But now, the Blood Ruler dishonored this place and imprisoned innocent people to abuse them.

  She couldn’t let this be repeated.

  “I’m happy to see you okay during this time of sorrow.”


  “Your Highness……”


  A woman in a rug grabbed Ereka’s dress. Looking at the grubby woman, Ereka greeted her with a smile.

  “Oh, Lady Narnia. You’re okay!”


  “You remember…… my name……”


  “Of course. When I visited Charity Hospital, you showed me around. I was worried about you.”


  “Your Highness……”


  Her name was Narnia, not number 29. She burst into tears.

  “Now. Everyone go back to your place. Now…… from now on…… I will not let this happen again.”


  Ereka comforted every one of them.

  Looking at that scene, Sungjin was proud. If the words “hope” and “salvation” had a body, this must be it. This was a perfect example.

  Yes, this was a true victory.

  What he used to play on earth were e-sports games, but in this world, it was a war of victory or defeat. That meant that his choices had bigger consequences. He was able to do as much good as he was able to do evil.

  The feeling of achievement was better, and of course, the reward and the honor following the victory were great. But those were not the only things he got from their victory.

  He was also able to protect and save many people. There were people who were imprisoned in order to become sacrifices. And above all…… there was a girl who abandoned her happiness to save them.

  Beautiful.

  Sungjin admired Ereka, who was comforting everyone. Her graceful smile as a royal princess was also the bright smile of a girl. Her tearful devotion as a ruler all concentrated in one person—she was beautiful.

  And Sungjin protected that beautiful flower, which made him feel more proud and feel like this was the greatest victory ever.

  In the world where a game was a war and not a sport, he realized how glorious victory could be.

  Hm. This was tasteful.

  He won in a battle where the destiny of a kingdom was at stake. There were other bigger words such as “honor,” “pride,” “self-respect” or “glory” that were better suited for his victory, but he summed it up as a tasteful experience and smiled.

  After saving people, Ereka took Sungjin to another place—the state coffers of the castle.

  When Ereka unlocked the magic spell, the coffers were full of gold bars and gold coins.

  “Is everything pure gold?”


  “Yes.”


  Sungjin estimated the quantity. One gold bar was 1kg. Comparing this to the things on earth was impossible, but one bar was worth at least 40-50 thousand dollars.

  “200 thousand gold bars…… is there a similar amount of gold coins?”


  He was speechless when he estimated the total worth of around two billion dollars.

  When one won first place in the world on earth, the prize would be 1/10,000 of what he was looking at. Even if he took additional income into account, the best would be 1/1,000.

  This was the next level of a national budget.

  “Yes, we won this over thanks to you. Half of this is yours.”


  “Half……?”


  “To continue your journey to become an Arc Master, you will need a lot of money. This is yours.”


  Half was one billion dollars, and in front of an unrealistic figure, he shook his head,

  Living off the insurance money from his parents and having a ten-dollar chicken was a luxury for him. This was too much for him. If he were a normal high school student, he would have lost his mind.

  But he quickly refocused.

  Yes, this is a national budget, and the battle I fought was an internal war.

  He was not just a gamer but a commander who was commanding in the middle of an internal war.

  On earth, a national budget was normally a few dozen billion dollars, give or take, depending on the country’s economy. The taxes from ten million people would be around one billion dollars. Having half of the kingdom meant that.

  Ha. Look at me. I said I would become an Arc Master, and now I am realizing what that would be.

  When he saw the people he saved and now when he saw the countless gold bars, he realized again that this was not a game, but a war between kingdoms. He didn’t know what to do with this enormous amount of money.

  Sungjin took one gold bar into his pocket as a souvenir. That was already worth tens of thousands of dollars.

  And the rest……

  “You can do whatever you please.”


  “What? But……”


  “I told you from the beginning. I will titularly become an owner of half of the kingdom, but you will be the sole ruler. The army of the Blood Ruler retreated, but the people’s livelihoods must be still miserable. Use it to take care of them.”


  “Will it be…… okay?”


  “First things first. I will get the rest after you manage everything.”


  Sungjin was reminded of the weary people that were freed from the prison. Becoming an Arc Master meant he would defeat kingdoms, which also meant that he would get political and financial power to control this enormous budget.

  He didn’t decide where to use it yet. But he wouldn’t forget to use it to save people.

  Looking at Sungjin, Ereka’s heartbeat started to rush again.

  You…… really are a man of your word.

  He promised to give her sole rulership, but she didn’t expect him to keep his promise in front of gold.

  He was really a man of his word.

  She slowly approached Sungjin.

  Huh?

  When her clear and beautiful eyes came close to him, he lost his next thought for a moment. That moment, she kissed him on his cheek.

  Huh!

  Sungjin, who was cool in front of the massive amount of money, froze due to her actions. He didn’t know how to explain the warm and tingling feeling spreading out from his cheek.

  Anyways, this was the first time for him.

  While his brain stopped functioning, Ereka stepped back blushing.

  “Oh…… don’t think that this is strange. I was following the traditional manner…… as a princess…… I showed my appreciation to the knight who saved the kingdom. There was…… no other intention.”


  “Ah, I got it. Hahaha,” answered Sungjin a little stupidly. This was completely out of his character.

  “Yes. There was no other intention…… then…… I will leave you to it……” Ereka stuttered then ran away.

  Without looking her way, she bumped into a wall on the right. And then, ran towards the left only to bump into a wall on that side too.

  Sungjin vacantly stared at Ereka running zig-zag on the straight corridor.

  Hm. Well…… she said it was a gesture to thank me…… it was a traditional manner…… don’t try to think about it too much. Hahaha.

  Sungjin put his mind together with an awkward smile. But…… the warm feeling remained.

  On that day, Sungjin freed many people, and by giving up his gold, he provided enough food and hospitals to take care of them.

  He deserved to have pride that he saved many people. His reward for that was his self-respect, the many people’s appreciation and…… a special appreciation from a girl.

  * * *