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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 12: Preparation (3)
After instructing Khan and Mari to do laps, I stepped out into the waiting room.
I immediately touched the monument to check the time.
[Allocated Points: 30]
[Points Owned: 227]
[Time Remaining Until Point Submission: 4 hours 59 minutes]
"4 hours and 59 minutes…"
I should be able to meet the deadline.
Looking up, I noticed that the other employees were going about their day as usual.
"Oh, Administrator, you're here?"
Yon approached me.
Looking past him, I saw that the employees were already gathered in front of the [Kobold Raid].
"Are you already getting ready?"
"Yes, but without your approval, we can't enter on our own."
"Right, that's true."
I set the permissions for the [Kobold Raid].
[8th-rank employee ‘Yon’ is requesting temporary management authority for the Kobold Raid.]
‘Accept.’
[Authority has been successfully granted to 8th-rank employee ‘Yon.’]
"I've approved it, so you should be able to open it with your authority."
"Thank you."
"Oh, wait a second."
I stopped Yon as he was about to leave.
"What's up?"
"Working hard is good, but take it a bit easy today. Make sure everyone is gathered by 4:50 PM."
The current time is 12:01 PM.
They need to gather by 4:50 PM to be ready for the headquarters employee who will be coming at 5 PM.
‘It'll also give us some time to talk about the headquarters.’
Of course, I could meet with the headquarters staff on my own.
But.
‘That would defeat the purpose.’
The reason I'm calling all the employees is to have them face our goal—and the barrier—in person.
"Understood. I'll make sure everyone is in the waiting room by 4:50 PM."
With that, Yon moved to the quarantine area.
I headed back to the training grounds.
‘The person being dispatched from headquarters for points is one of four.’
One of them was set to come today, and they are all first-rank employees, known among gamers as executors.
I recalled what I knew.
‘Just in case, I’ve grown as much as possible.’
For the fourth day, growing the company to this point would allow me to handle most negotiations.
However, there's one person whose personality I just can't figure out.
I steadied my breath as I stood in front of the training grounds.
‘The negotiators are Dahee, Berry, and Nice. Those three…’
The one I can't figure out is 'Yoo.'
Those are the four executors.
Of course, I don't know which one will come.
‘Hopefully, it won't be Yoo…’
Even among veterans, he's notorious as a demon.
Especially since right now, I need to request a blacksmith and supplies.
‘If it's any of the other executors, they’ll be open to negotiation.’
But if it's 'Yoo,' I know for sure he won't negotiate.
In fact, he might massacre the employees, claiming we've insulted headquarters.
It would be lucky if that doesn't happen...
"Hah, am I worrying for nothing?"
Then again, the chance of You coming is just 25%.
The chance of another executor coming is 75%.
There's no need to worry about a future that hasn’t happened yet.
"The best I can do now is to grow the company as much as possible in the remaining time."
If only I had a blacksmith, I could increase the number of creatures or improve the quality of the employees.
"I can’t really gamble on recruiting new employees either."
Out of all the employees, getting one with blacksmithing skills is nearly impossible.
Expecting to get good weapons would also be foolish.
‘Even if I get good weapons, the number of employees who can actually wield them is limited…’
There are only three employees, including myself, who can properly handle weapons.
I sighed and opened the door to the training grounds.
The first thing I saw was Khan and Mari lying on the floor.
They were sprawled out, panting like corpses, and I couldn’t help but be exasperated.
At the same time, my earlier worries vanished.
I approached Khan and Mari.
"What are you two doing…?"
"Oh, Administrator, you're here?"
Khan struggled to sit up and greeted me.
Mari also tried to sit up but failed and slumped back down.
"Ugh. It's too much. Physically and mentally exhausted!"
I smacked my forehead at the sight of the two lying down.
"Who told you to rest like that?"
"…We’re at our limit. We can't run anymore, how are we supposed to keep training?"
In short, they were exhausted and had decided to take a break.
……
But did they really need to rest?
I grabbed the collars of both of them.
Then I dragged the two to the entrance of the training grounds.
"Ad-Administrator?"
Khan was briefly confused but quickly realized what I was doing thanks to his sixth sense.
He kept quiet and didn’t resist as I dragged him along.
But Mari, who hadn’t caught on, struggled the whole way.
"Ah! Tyrant! You’re at it again!"
Hearing her mumbling, I kicked the two of them out of the training grounds.
Once they were outside, both Khan and Mari spoke at the same time.
"As expected, I feel refreshed."
"…Ah."
Khan scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, and Mari glanced at me warily.
"Alright, come back in. Training is about to start."
"Yes…"
"……"
The waiting room heals not only wounds but also fatigue.
‘That was already proven during the last marathon.’
Back then, the employees had collapsed like this as well.
But that was because they were mentally exhausted.
They hadn’t collapsed because they were physically worn out.
Which raises one question.
‘Khan and Mari should know that…’
It’s not like they wouldn’t be aware of this.
On top of that.
They claimed they were exhausted, but Mari resisted a bit too strongly.
Which means…
I squinted at them and asked.
"You two were just pretending to be tired, weren’t you?"
Their tight-lipped silence and attempts to avoid my gaze told me everything.
This was unacceptable.
I patted both of them on the shoulder.
“As punishment, you're running more laps. Start again.”
“What?!”
“I’d rather take a beating from a wooden sword…”
Mari and Khan were frothing at the mouth from running for quite a while, but I had no intention of going easy on them.
Of course, I wasn’t just going to focus on training them either.
The most important thing was for me to get stronger first.
“Hurry up. I’ll run with you.”
* * *
How long had it been since we started training?
At least several hours had passed.
‘Status window.’
[Shin Seongjin LV. 5/10 (7th Rank)]
[Skills]
- Foundation's Star (LV. 2)
[Stats]
- Strength (22/39)
- Agility (20/39)
- Stamina (17/39)
- Endurance (16/39)
- Mental Strength (EX+/??)
In less than two days, my overall stats had increased by about 1–2 points.
It was quite encouraging.
I glanced at Khan.
Khan was swinging a practice wooden sword at a straw dummy.
‘Status window.’
[Khan Aderhilt LV. 5/10 (7th Rank)]
[Skills]
- Sixth Sense (LV. 2)
- Basic Swordsmanship (LV. 3)
[Stats]
- Strength (19/39)
- Agility (15/39)
- Stamina (17/39)
- Endurance (22/39)
- Mental Strength (18/39)
‘He’s growing fast.’
The cap for 7th Rank is 39.
Even though it hadn’t been long since we started training, he already had stats that exceeded 20.
On average, 0–10 is a regular person.
11–30 is the level of someone who trains hard—this is where regular knights or adventurers fall.
Once someone reaches 31–50, they enter the realm of superhuman.
This is the limit humans can reach, but judging by our current growth rate…
Khan’s stats were fairly well-rounded.
The training I had him do to raise his Sixth Sense to LV. 2 seemed to be helping.
Mari and I were doing reaction speed training together.
“One more.”
“Yes.”
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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I threw the wooden sword.
Mari’s eyes locked onto it.
She stared at the sword until the very last moment, then barely tilted her head to dodge it with minimal movement.
The key to this training was to read the attack path to the very end and dodge with the least amount of movement.
‘Status window.’
[Mari LV. 5/10 (7th Rank)]
[Skills]
- Intermediate Archery (LV. 1)
- Focus (LV. 1)
[Stats]
- Strength (19/39)
- Agility (21/39)
- Stamina (15/39)
- Endurance (14/39)
- Mental Strength (19/39)
‘She really needs a bow.’
It was a bit unfortunate that her Strength stat was lagging behind her Agility, but… it was still okay.
She had enough strength to easily draw a basic bow.
‘I need to get her a bow as soon as possible.’
We couldn’t stick to basic training forever.
“Training ends here.”
After checking our status, I announced the end of training.
Mari and Khan collapsed onto the ground at the same time.
“Resting here won’t help. Get up and get ready to leave.”
“...I’m too tired.”
“You’ll feel better once we leave.”
Everything feels better once you pass through the gates.
I led Mari and Khan out of the training grounds.
I saw employees gathered around the stone monument.
And above it, a timer was displayed.
[Time remaining for point submission: 09 minutes]
The timing was a bit tight, but it seemed like I’d made it in time.
Next, I checked the containment room.
Seeing that all the staff were unharmed, it didn’t seem like the Kobold Warlord had escaped, but…
I still needed to check the remaining durability.
[Durability 10/100]
The durability was in a much more critical state than I had expected.
I approached Yon and pointed to the containment room marked [Kobold Warlord].
“…How long has it been like that?”
“The alarms have been going off every hour and a half since you entered the training grounds, sir.”
Every hour and a half…
That meant the escape was imminent.
“I see. Well, I’ll deal with that later. For now, everyone gather in front of me.”
The employees all gathered in front of me.
“I’ll inform you of precautions before the headquarters staff arrives.”
Executors are all people who are either broken or missing a screw somewhere.
There’s no need to provoke them unnecessarily.
“The employees coming from the headquarters are at least 1st Rank. And I can’t protect you.”
The meaning of this was simple.
Executors have the authority to purge any employees, except for the Administrator and the Sub-Master.
“You are stones. Do nothing. Just stand here and watch until it’s over.”
There was no need to risk losing valuable staff by stepping out of line.
Also…
‘It’s better to take the hit early.’
I figured it was better for the staff to meet an Executor face-to-face so they could understand what I was saying.
That’s why I had them line up here instead of hiding in the dorms.
If they weren’t made aware of the danger now, they would make a fatal mistake later.
This was from my own experience.
From when I was still a newbie.
“I’ll say it again. No matter what happens, do not react.”
I glanced at the time.
[Time remaining for point submission: 00:00.]
0 seconds.
It had already been more than enough time to enter the company through the main gate, yet there was no sign of anyone.
"…What is this?"
It was the first time something like this had happened, and even I was momentarily taken aback.
Bang!
[Durability 0/100]
The containment room door burst open, and Kobold Warlord charged out.
Roarrr!
The warlord's furious roar was filled with rage.
'Damn it.'
I had planned to time the containment failure with the arrival of the Executor, but I had failed.
The Kobold Warlord had escaped from the containment room far too quickly.
'With no D-class equipment right now, I can’t contain the Kobold Warlord.'
This meant my initial plan—dumping the warlord on the Executor and making the employees understand how dangerous the Executor was—had fallen apart.
‘I'll have to greet the head office employee on my own…’
The rest of the employees must be evacuated to the dormitory.
"Everyone, get to the dormi—"
Run away.
I didn’t finish that sentence.
Because there was no need.
"Oh, sorry. Were you trying to contain it? I reached out before I realized."
The Kobold Warlord's head fell to the ground.
Moments later, its massive body followed suit.
"Oh, you weren’t about to say containment failure or anything like that, right? Hmm?"
Behind the Kobold Warlord’s fallen body stood a young man with a smirk.
White hair and narrow eyes.
The intimidating pressure, like a snake glaring at its prey, overwhelmed me.
'This damned guy.'
It was 'Yoo.'
"Hmm, since I caught it, I'll clean it up for you. I have that much courtesy, right?"
Yoo grabbed the Kobold Warlord and tossed it back into the containment room labeled [Kobold Warlord].
Then, he approached me.
"Hmm, judging by your presence and position, you're the sub-master, right?"
The person before me was a psychopath.
I couldn’t let my guard down.
"Yeah."
For a moment, Yoo's eyes narrowed.
That snake-like stare again.
Of course, thanks to the company’s insignia, I could withstand it to some extent.
"Are you perhaps thinking... that I can't mess with a sub-master?"
Yoo gave a meaningful grin.
"Haha, I’m just kidding. I wasn’t expecting much since you're just a four-day-old company, but this is beyond expectations!"
Yoo looked around, inspecting the employees and creatures with admiration.
"Wow, impressive. I think B-rank would be good."
As expected, there was no dealing with this madman.
There was no point in having a conversation.
I immediately scanned the points and held them out.
"Here’s 30 points."
"Ooh, you get it right away, huh? Fine. B-rank canceled. A-rank sounds better. I'll be on my way, then."
Yoo turned his back.
The snake-like pressure vanished, and the tension in the office eased.
And then—
"Hiccup."
Someone made a mistake after the tension was gone.
When I turned to look, Mari had both hands covering her mouth.
"Hmm~? Was there a little rat here?"
Yoo’s gaze shifted toward Mari.
‘That guy… that’s his execution line.’
Of course, there’s no way that crazy guy would just leave.
I wondered why he hadn’t asserted dominance earlier.
Though it wasn’t confirmed, if Mari drew his attention now, she might die.
Losing a competent employee early on would shake the foundation of the company.
In that case…
I took a deep breath to steady myself.
‘This isn’t what I intended, but it might just work.’
They say crisis is an opportunity.
Since things have come to this, I might as well ask for something that could boost the company's growth.
"Wait. I have a request for headquarters."
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
.
.
.
Just mentioning the headquarters caused dozens of warning windows to pop up before my eyes.
"What did you just say?"
Yoo was suddenly right in front of me, glaring.
The murderous intent I’d felt earlier was nothing compared to this—it was now a pressure so strong I could barely endure it even with the company’s insignia.
‘It’s hard to breathe…’
This was the Executor.
But I succeeded in diverting his attention away from Mari.
I forced a smile, curling up the corners of my mouth with effort.
"It’d be a shame if you left like this, don’t you think? So…"
Yoo’s expression twisted, as if he already knew what I was about to say.
"Could you send us a blacksmith and some equipment?"
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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