The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player 56

Chapter 56

Despite the mass disappearance of the expedition team, the gate subjugation efforts hadn’t come to a complete halt. The noble families, bound by their pride, couldn’t easily withdraw their support.

In fact, the number of knights and soldiers participating in the expeditions had increased, which could be seen as a blessing in disguise.

“But this is just a temporary phenomenon.”

It was clear that if the disappearances continued without finding a cause or culprit, they would soon withdraw their support.

By now, the families would be busy understanding each other’s intentions and coordinating their opinions. However, this was not what Raul wanted.

After the departure of the captain of the guard, Raul, left alone, sipped his cold tea and organized his thoughts.

“Now I’m starting to understand.”

Before his reincarnation as Raul, during his time as Bae Dohyun. When he first connected to Connect as a player, it was in utter chaos.

The kingdom was almost powerless outside the capital, making the title of ‘king’ almost meaningless. Countless villages lay in ruins, and each domain sought its own survival.

Beyond the central areas of domains, monsters roamed freely, and humanity struggled to maintain its territories by relying on stockades and city walls.

Continuous battles were fought to reclaim roads seized by monsters, and merchant guilds could only operate with the protection of large military forces. Therefore, when Raul first ventured outside his domain after reincarnation, the peaceful atmosphere felt oddly uncomfortable.

When the gate appeared, he was skeptical upon finding out it was only a D-Grade gate. Despite being somewhat troublesome, a D-Grade gate was within the capabilities of most lords.

Frankly, expert-level knights should have had no issue dealing with guardians.

Moreover, wasn’t this world filled with strong individuals? Swordmasters, Archmages of the 6th Circle or higher, Great Elementalists – with such powerful beings, why would clearing such gates be an issue?

Nevertheless, the chaotic state indicated some foul play.

“It must be the doing of those Imperial bastards. Damn Imperial Hounds.”

Though not confirmed, his suspicion grew.

The continuation of such disappearance incidents would predictably lead noble families to withdraw from gate subjugations. With no spoils of war, the number of those willing to enter the gates would further decline.

Lords would opt to monitor the gates from the outside rather than subdue them. Eventually, the number of gates would increase, and their energy stacks would reach their maximum capacity.

“Once that explodes, the situation will become uncontrollable.”

Raul shook his head, imagining the future. There was no stopping this flow. There was only so much a thousand mercenaries and dozens of knights could do.

However, Raul’s efforts weren’t meaningless. Even if it seemed futile and only brought loss, if someone consistently took the lead, people’s minds would eventually change.

Normally, this crowd wouldn’t gather because the destination was rarely disclosed, but today was special.

It was because of the rumor that had secretly spread last night.

-Count Ashton’s young master Raul is heading to the **Gate himself to investigate the missing case.

Of course, it was a rumor that Raul had slyly spread through mercenaries and agents.

Thanks to this, the street was bustling with people who had gathered to see Raul and the First Knights’ Order.

“Wow. Isn’t this way more than what I heard in the rumors? Did half of the capital’s citizens come out?”

The one driving the horse next to Raul, his face half-covered with a mask, was Dalton.

He seemed pleasantly surprised by the massive welcoming crowd, despite seeing it for the first time.

And why wouldn’t he be? Not only was he finally entering the fabled Gate he had only heard of in stories, but he also received unexpected cheers (even though they weren’t exactly for him…).

“Hm. Certainly, if I could hear such cheers every day, I wouldn’t care how much money it cost. What could be more honorable for a knight than this?”

Dalton seemed utterly intoxicated by the atmosphere.

However, if he knew the amount of money Raul was actually pouring into troop movements, he probably wouldn’t speak so lightly.

“Don’t get too carried away. And don’t forget that you need to follow my orders once we’re inside the Gate.”

“Ease up on the worry, I’m not that thoughtless.”

Though he said that, his body seemed to itch with eagerness, like a rookie mercenary ready to cause trouble.

There was no need to worry about his expertise as an expert-level swordsman, but if those creatures appeared, guaranteeing his safety could be difficult.

‘Speaking of which, the Sword Duke really is incredible. To actually issue a permit. Does he have no intention of raising him gently?’

It was a relief that things seemed to be going better than expected.

Raul smiled outwardly and waved to the townspeople, his eyes sparkling.

There were definitely spies among them.

‘I wonder how they will act. With the bait this beautifully set, they surely won’t just watch, will they?’

With a modest party of fifty, Raul set out to tackle the Gate.

While other expeditions were increasing their numbers, his group indeed appeared much smaller in comparison.

However, the actual combat power was not as it seemed.

Judging by their attire, there appeared to be only three knights, but ten guild members were disguised as mercenaries among them.

And considering those three knights were Philip, Jake, and Pierce, it could be considered the best possible force.

Thus, Raul’s party disappeared into the F-Grade Gate amid the townspeople’s farewells.

As Raul expected, a few shadows that had been observing them till the end quickly left their spots among the crowd.

* * *

Swoosh! Thud.

A large frog-like creature was split in half by the man’s sword, scattering green fluid.

Dalton, the man, wrinkled his nose, shook off his sword in the air, and muttered,

“What is this? Apart from being boring, it’s disgustingly sticky!”

He trudged through the marsh covered in green blood, shaking his head.

The Gate was nothing like what he had imagined. In the midst of a fierce battle with monsters, reflecting on his swordsmanship was the least of his concerns.

Not once did anyone dodge his swinging blade. The sense of accomplishment from dealing with monsters? Instead, avoiding the unbearable stench attacking his nose took priority.

Moreover, the ground was so sticky it made walking difficult, and clothes adhered with monster fluids were utterly disgusting.

He glared at Raul, filled with annoyance, but Raul merely shrugged with a smirking laugh.

“Hey, Raul. This isn’t what we signed up for.”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t say anything.”

“That’s exactly the problem. Wouldn’t it be nice if you’d told us what to expect with this gate?”

Raul could only chuckle in disbelief.

Truthfully, Dalton was just unlucky. There were many types of F-Grade gates, and of all those, they had to end up in a terrain loathed even by the players for its repulsiveness.

In reality, Raul was a bit disappointed too. If the terrain had been plains, with the appearance of beast-type or bipedal monsters, it would have been an attractive hunting ground for Dalton. Naturally, his displeasure was to be expected.

However, Raul had no intention of appeasing Dalton’s mood.

What was gained or lost here was Dalton’s business, not Raul’s.

Right now, Dalton wasn’t the priority.

Philip approached at Raul’s signal and whispered quietly.

“As expected. It seems the number and frequency of monsters appearing have significantly decreased.”

“The scouts?”

“We’ve reduced the scouting radius, but so far, nothing unusual has been found.”

“That’s to be expected. They wouldn’t have prepared carelessly.”

Raul had a hunch even before entering the gate.

[F-Grade Dimension Gate]

Maximum participants: 300

Concurrent entry limit: None

Current entry count: 132/300

Current stack: 0/2

Gate type: Subjugation

Despite the guards monitoring and controlling entry and exit, over a hundred people had already entered.

‘Got them!’

Raul barely contained his bursting laughter, issuing a certain command to Bernard via guild communication before they could enter the gate.

And so, to give Dalton some real combat experience, they moved the troops in a leisurely manner to reach this point.

They had already cleared more than half of the gate area.

Soon, they would encounter the moles hiding snugly.

‘Let’s see who’s better prepared!’

He intended to test through the empire folks whether his preparations had been in vain.

And they would come to know who the real hunter was…

(To be continued)