Veraher, a former peasant, has been subjected to harsh labor since he was reduced to serfdom.
He's lucky he wasn't part of the murderous suicide squad of the Serf Challenge, but that doesn't mean life isn't hard for the rest of the serfs.
The Lionheart King is determined to kill his serfs through overwork, and he refuses to allow them to have a normal day, even at mealtime.
Veraher froze for a moment at the sight of the tray in front of him.
"What, what is this?"
-Meal.
The tray was filled with an opaque, whitish liquid. Was it some kind of oatmeal?
"Necessary nutrients. Properly mixed with salt and sugar."
"...."
Sugar-salt water.
The infamous Yakt Spinner of the Ten Thousand Gods Guild was even harsher on the serfs.
"Damn, damn, damn!"
Veraher longed for the past, for the glory days.
After sacrificing tender young human flesh to the demons, he could still eat old, tough meat without resentment but now he has two meals a day and fills his stomach with sugar and salt, then picks up his pickaxe.
"Pfft…!"
At the site of the former Hanbit Palace, there's a huge piece of star iron that Leon dropped.
-Dig it up. 20 kg per person.
Under the command of the cruel killing machine, the serfs began pounding the iron with pickaxes.
-Clang, clang, clang!
The sound of pickaxes rings out but the teeth of the pickaxe were no match for the terrifyingly hard meteorite.
-Bang!
"Clunk!"
The moment the pickaxe collided, a numbing shock traveled through the pickaxe and into his palm.
"Ew…!"
He hadn't struck the soft part of the meteorite, but the hard stardust. Veraher lost his grip on the pickaxe, and the supervisor approached.
"Why did you stop working?" the supervisor demanded with his whip in hand.
He could even recognize the tone of their gibberish, and usually within three seconds, the whip would be flying.
"All right, I'll do it again!"
Veraher immediately raised his pickaxe and tapped on the iron.
-Giggle!
"Do the job right!" yelled the supervisor.
Although the words were directed at Veraher, the hundreds of serfs around him picked up the pace.
-Chaaaah!
It was then that the pickaxe struck the meteorite, cracking it open and spilling out the top chunk of stardust.
"Uh-uh-uh-uh!"
"Falling!!!"
Veraher scrambled out of the way of the falling mass, but there were serfs who couldn't dodge the falling chunks.
"Ugh!"
...…
...
…
TTG Star Iron Mining Team.
Today is the 15th day without an accident.
Beware of falling rocks..
* * * *
After finishing the morning's mining, the afternoon is spent sorting it.
It is to remove impurities from the mined nuggets, find pure nuggets, and sort them into grades.
You'd think that sorting nuggets would be easier, since no one would die because of falling rocks or tear their palms off with pickaxes but the serfs described the sorting as a hellish time.
"Ew, ew, ew…!"
Veraher moved a lump of pure stardust to the tongs but his hands were smoldering, as if they were burning.
"Ugh, ugh!"
Veraher drops a chunk of stardust into the sorting bin and falls backwards. His hands and feet are scorching hot, and the skin on his face is burning.
As followers of the demons, the serfs are an evil species condemned to a life of fire, and for them, star iron imbued with the power of the gods is a poison in itself.
-Faster!
It was then that a voice called out to Veraher, who was in the midst of heavy labor.
"Oh, I get it, I get it, I get it, please stop being such a twit!"
As usual, Veraher, irritated and ready to be whipped, felt a cold iron touch on his face.
"Lord Yakt Spinner!"
The most feared being in this serf labor field.
Even the Lionheart King and the Magician Queen are wraiths in their own right, but this killing machine drives the serfs to their death.
Second only to the stinging lunatic Lionheart, this horrific creature has the highest serf mortality rate and it was right in front of him.
"Now, wrong…."
-Follow me, number 137. I have a mission for you.
"Yes?"
Veraher, who thought he was going to be cut to pieces by the wire, followed Yappy, relieved to be alive. In addition to Veraher, Yappy had recruited a hundred more serfs.
They followed Yappy to the heart of the factory being built, where they learned it would contain the energy fuel rods that would power it.
It was weird. Every time they followed Yappy, he felt a strange tingling sensation all over his body and a nauseous feeling in his stomach.
"Hey, Yakt Spinner… What the hell is this....?"
They arrive at a horrifyingly holy space, and in the center of it all…was a neatly machined cylindrical wand.
It's unmistakable.
Those are fuel rods, forged from the finest stellar iron.
-Transferring the fuel rods to the Maintenance now.
Moving those things? Just watching from a distance makes them shudder, it's like being asked to die!
"Hey, Yakt Spinner…I don't think we should move those to ...."
-Ordinary workers also suffer from holy power excess. Drones also malfunction when exposed to high concentrations of holy power.
We're going to die!
The serfs wanted to throw up their hands in frustration, but Yappy's camera eye was still cold.
-Do it.
They heard the order and against their will, the serfs trudged toward the stardust fuel rods.
Serf radiation mortality rate 100%.
Sixteen days without an incident.
* * * *
"Ohhh...."
Hanbit Palace Lord Park Yong-shin looked at the factory built on the ruins of the defunct Hanbit Palace and sighed in admiration.
The building style was futuristic, different from the modern Earth and Park Yong-shin almost thinks he's in the future.
"Mr. President, please enter!"
The ceremonial red carpet was rolled out, and President Ahn Dong-gil and other government officials entered.
"Welcome, Mr. President."
"Palace Lord Park."
Cultist aside, Park Yong-shin, the guild leader of one of South Korea's top 10 guilds, shook the president's hand.
"This is the new factory...."
"A workshop, Mr. President."
"...."
President Ahn looked at the giant factory, which was not a normal size even by his standards, and glared at Park Yong-shin for calling it a workshop.
They are similar but have a completely different legal interpretation.
It's a tax issue and the construction permit issue is also different.
"Let's go to the podium, where His Majesty Lionheart and Lord Yakt Spinner, the workshop master, are waiting."
With Park Yong-shin's guidance, President Ahn faced Leon, who was waiting at the podium.
"Oh, President Ahn, my friend. Welcome."
Ahn wanted to say, "Why am I your friend, you democracy destroyer?" but he couldn't because he knew Leon's irritation would grow out of control.
"Haha, Your Majesty. It's been a long time."
"Yes, thank you for coming today to celebrate the completion of TTG Temple's new workshop. I'm afraid we've attracted more attention than I expected."
"That's because you built the factory right where the meteorite fell...."
It was a six-kilometer meteorite and its value was proven in the defeat of the Demon Archduke of Slaughter.
Leon planned to issue a downgraded version of the Stellar Iron Armor to the entire army, a plan that caused a stir in the country.
-Your Majesty.
"Ugh…!"
President Ahn and the government dignitaries gagged as the massive fuselage of the Yakt Spinner approached.
Four to five times the size of a tank, there's something about this killing machine that overwhelms people with its cold camera eyes alone.
"Lord Spinner, what is it?"
-The factory is up and running. Urged to move forward.
"Hmm, that's fast. All that grinding of serfs was worth it."
-Leaves plenty of serfs behind.
"...."
Grinding? What's left? President Ahn stared at the 32nd day of no accidents sign hanging above the entrance to the workshop.
'If there are no accidents, why are there so many beds....?'
President Ahn averted his gaze.
"Well, then, let's start the cutting ceremony, everyone, please smile for the camera!"
After the world's most awkward cutting ceremony, President Ahn walked into the workshop with Leon.
"Wow...."
President Ahn toured several workshops run by domestic craftsmen.
The quality of the items produced in the country is crucial to improving the power of the hunters. It is no exaggeration to say that master craftsmanship is directly linked to national security.
Typically, it's the work of individual craftsmen, often with the full support of large corporations, to forge swords and polish armor.
Even with modern technology, hunter armor still relies on such primitive means.
But Yappy workshop was different.
-Clank, clank, clank!
The rails spin, carrying large chunks of ore.
The ore is carefully sliced by an ultra-precise crusher, which breaks down the gas layer, water, and methane into pure iron.
And there are many facilities to process it. Presses and charged particle accelerators pound and polish the stellar iron.
At the end of the day, swords, spears, and armor are cast.
Fully automated workshops, not hammered by hand like the masters.
'It's a factory....'
Of course, this type of workshop isn't new. It's just that they take the form of factories to mass-produce cheap equipment.
"Your Majesty, Mr. President, here's a prototype."
The armor brought in by one of the employees had an aura of formality about it. Even for the outsider, President Ahn, it was an unusual piece of armor.
"Appraisal results…Unique item 'Star Iron Content Mass Production Armor'...."
'Unique items were something that could be mass-produced?'
From what he heard, it's an item that even the best workshops in the country have to work hard to make.
An item that is printed in a factory is a unique item?
"Hmm, not bad."
'Not bad!'
President Ahn is stunned by Leon's assessment.
"It's not even blessed by the gods, it's just coated. Well, I didn't expect the workshop to be able to mass-produce it so quickly."
"Oh, that's great."
Still, he thought that a medieval king from another world with old-fashioned values wouldn't have much in the way of science and technology, but the more he looked, the more he was surprised.
President Ahn wonders if Leon will build a country like this.
-Your Majesty, I need your advice.
"Advice?"
-Your armor. Under construction. No matter how much I work on it, it will never be as good as Holy Knight Antoine's.
Leon had heard about the armor Yappy had been working on.
It was said to be 99.9% complete, just 0.1% short.
-This.
Yappy showed him the armor he had brought, and as soon as he saw it, President Ahn gasped.
The armor is so beautiful and perfect. The refined lines and perfection of the armor were enough to impress even ordinary people.
Such a treasure, was still 'unfinished'?
"Don't be too hard on yourself. This king's armor is the perfect armor forged by Heto, the God of Blacksmith, when he descended upon Lord Antoine. Recreating it is a task beyond the reach of even the Blacksmith Holy Knights."
Leon's words were meant to be encouraging, but somehow Yappy was not convinced.
If Antoine could do it, he should be able to do it. It's a stubborn insistence that he, an artificially intelligent being, can't be outclassed by organic matter…
-Will investigate further.
"Hmm…very well. If it is your will, then try it until you are satisfied."
Indeed, can Lord Spinner recreate his former armor?
If he could, it would be no exaggeration to say that Yappy had indeed approached the feat of a god.
* * * *
After the formalities of the ceremony, President Ahn Dong-il and Leon sat down separately for a more intimate discussion.
"Please speak."
The two exchanged pleasantries before Ahn cut to the chase.
"Your Majesty, are all the items produced in this workshop going to be supplied to the soldiers only?"
After taking a long look around the factory, President Ahn realized that he had to fulfill the request from Oh Kang-hyuk to secure the star iron armor.
'Although it is not comparable to the Knight's Star Iron Armor, it is an amazing item just because it contains star iron.'
If they could arm their hunters with it, it would be a huge step forward.
"If you don't mind, why don't you supply our government's Hunter Association with the armor produced by this workshop?"
"Oh, Kang-hyuk, that friend must have asked President Ahn."
"Yes…Our country's hunters need these armor pieces to increase their survival rate."
Leon thought about President Ahn's request for a moment but he's already making enough money and he's not in a hurry.
It would be more beneficial for him to receive something other than money.
"It shouldn't be too hard to get some stardust-coated armor. Though I can't give you the blessing of the gods."
"That would be enough!"
Of course, it's not a losing proposition, as Leon also needs things from the government.
President Ahn, who had guaranteed accommodations for the large guilds and their recently octopus-footed affiliates, was the last to be cautious.
"Uh… Your Majesty, I actually received a letter from the United Nations recently."
"The United Nations? The United Nations of the world?"
President Ahn wanted to know what he thought of a letter from the United Nations about human rights abuses in the TTG Temple.
'The sugar-salt water in TTG Temple is very famous, but it's only served temporarily during the training period, and there are no other human rights abuses.'
He was especially cautious about the existence of serfs who had been "kidnapped" from the Demon Archduke's estate.
"What do you mean, human rights abuses? There are no such things."
"Well, is it?"
Don't bullshit me, I know all about it....
"Nothing to worry about. This king doesn't exploit 'humans', only justice."
Serfs aren't humans.
"Still…there have been so many reports that the United Nations will be sending their own inspectors."
"I see."
"They'll be looking into the illegal use of the gate…and the accidents that occurred during the construction of the factory, so I thought I'd offer my government's help until they arrive."
You mobilized serfs to change the gate, right? And you faked accidents while building the factory, right?
The government is going to help you rig it, so take it.
"That's fine. No problem."
He nods.
"Are they really coming to investigate?"
'Seriously. You think you can stop them?'
"Hehe, this king has no shame under heaven."
If they're coming, let them come.
President Ahn was jumping up and down like crazy.