Chapter 36: Preparations for Bandit Suppression

“We’re back!”

The first thing Rock Sugar Pear did upon logging in was to search for Qin Yu, who had just stepped out of his room.

“Welcome back…”

“Brother Yu, did you miss us?”

Rock Sugar Pear leaned in and poked Qin Yu’s chest as she asked.

“Missed you? Of course I did…”

Just as Rock Sugar Pear prepared to continue, Qin Yu interrupted: “If you hadn’t come back, I’d be short on hands for the territory.”

He meant that he needed them to get to work.

“How can you be like that, Brother Yu? We rushed back as soon as we finished our business. Why make us work the moment we log in?”

“Who told you to merge with my territory? Now that you’re members of my territory, you have to shoulder the work of building it.”

After some idle banter, Qin Yu got down to business. He had already learned about the surrounding area from the Amazon tribe; the resource distribution was reasonable enough that forming a supply chain wouldn’t be a problem.

The issue was that he didn’t have enough manpower to handle tasks like logging, mining, and farming. The children’s strength was limited—and besides, their aptitude was too high; making them do such grunt work would be a waste of talent. Qin Yu needed low-end labor.

He either needed cheap slaves or Goblin mining and logging robots.

“Don Quixote, could I trouble you to head to the Holy City and purchase some low-end labor?”

“It’s Quix-ote!” Sugar corrected him. “What do you mean by ‘low-end labor’?”

“Low-end labor likely refers to slaves or something similar, right?” Added Candied Hawthorn.

“Something like that, but slaves are too much of a hassle. You have to feed them, keep them watered, and watch them to prevent escape. I don’t have the energy for that.”

“Then what do you want to buy?”

“Goblin robots—the models designed for mining, logging, and farming. About 50 of them. I’ll give you 1,000,000 gold; go buy them for me.”

“No problem!”

Rock Sugar Pear agreed instantly, and Don Quixote could only nod helplessly—she couldn’t help but be indulgent toward her enthusiastic companion.

Since they had already been to the Holy City once, the five of them used a teleportation scroll to head straight there.

With infrastructure construction temporarily handled, the next step was to clear out potential threats around the territory.

Existence like bandits and outlaws had to be wiped out.

Having Yin Feixue handle it would resolve everything in an instant, but that wasn’t what Qin Yu wanted. He wanted to use this cleanup operation to train his army—the children.

For this reason, Yin Feixue was to stay home and guard the territory. Qin Yu set off with Luna and Hicari as his combat guarantors, along with the fifty children.

“Servant, are you sure you don’t want to bring me along?” Yin Feixue asked. If Qin Yu encountered someone too strong for them to handle, it would be difficult for her to help.

“No need. If I take everyone, the territory will be left unguarded.”

Even with the help of the Amazon tribe, Qin Yu wouldn’t feel secure unless Yin Feixue was there to watch over the base.

As for the dangers in the wild, Qin Yu would use teleportation scrolls to escape if necessary.

“Very well. If there is danger, servant, I will hear your call.”

Although Yin Feixue couldn’t be summoned instantly by Qin Yu from a distance like Luna, she could sense his call for help and arrive with speed.

“Rest assured, Xiao Xue. I’m heading out now~”

Taking Luna and Hicari, he departed, with Nanafu tagging along—she wouldn’t leave Hicari’s side.

Hong had the children ready. They had all gained the power of [Tier 1 Blood Believers] at the Blood Church, with ten of them already reaching Tier 2.

Not only could they use low-level light magic from the Holy See, but they could also utilize low-level blood magic.

As for equipment, only the ten Tier 2 children were equipped with the ten sets of blue-grade Observer gear Qin Yu had left over; the other children wore the standard Blood Believer robes—the sets weren’t particularly special, serving mostly as decor.

“Human, I’ll be the one to protect you this time~”

With Yin Feixue gone, Luna felt a sense of freedom. It was her time to shine, wasn’t it?

“Oh really? Do you think I’m just going to ignore Hicari?”

Without Hicari, Luna would indeed have been his greatest asset. Unfortunately, it was a case of “Why create a Luna when a Hicari exists?”

Luna snorted; she figured that since she was only one tier lower than Hicari, it wouldn’t be a big deal—once Qin Yu reached Tier 2, she would be on par with her.

With the group organized, they set off toward three bandit camps to the northeast of the territory, which collectively housed an estimated three hundred enemies—a decent challenge.

****

Inside the Holy City.

Don Quixote and her companions emerged from the teleportation point. It had been a week (in-game time) since their last visit, and the Holy City was now flooded with players who had read the beginner guides on the forums, all rushing to join the Church to find an easy way to survive.

Unfortunately, the Holy See wasn’t stupid and had already implemented a series of rigorous assessments. Joining them wasn’t as easy as it had been for the early birds.

The queue for the assessment alone had created a black market, with scalpers charging money to hold spots—much to the dissatisfaction of other players.

But complain as they might, they still paid; otherwise, they didn’t know when they’d ever get to take the test, and they couldn’t afford to log off and lose their spot in line.

“I remember the Goblin Chamber of Commerce being in that direction…”

Relying on her memory, Don Quixote and her friends found the location quickly. It was far from the city center, and the surroundings were quiet—mostly because the noise of the Goblin robots was a nuisance, so they had to be situated in a remote area.

The entrance was crowded with players looking for quests; since the Goblins were a wealthy faction, the rewards were enticing.

“I didn’t expect so many people…”

Don Quixote looked at her companions with a sigh.

“Don’t worry, just watch me!”

Rock Sugar Pear took the initiative, walking forward to chat with a male player. They chatted and laughed, and before long, the male player happily gave up his spot to Rock Sugar Pear…

“Come on over~”

Rock Sugar Pear waved to them, and Don Quixote and the others walked over.

“Pear, what did you say to that guy?”

“Nothing much, just made a friend and mentioned we might meet up in real life later.”

“Just like that?”

“Of course~ But whether we meet is up to me! The only person I want to see in real life right now is Brother Yu~”