Chapter 548 Leased Territory

“The Crisis of Eternal Kingdom, is the Changan City Guild rebelling?”

That was the headline of the newspaper on the second day.

The Winterfell newspapers were selling like hotcakes. To the residents of Winterfell, Eternal Kingdom was very popular. Any news that was related to Eternal Kingdom or Lord Sherlock would sell very well.

The Winterfell residents weren’t the only ones to purchase newspapers. Even the warriors of Eternal Kingdom had copies of the newspapers.

“The content is a teaser. Can the NPCs report on the gamers?” Sylvanas said in disdain as she put down the newspaper. Everyone knew that the news about Changan City wasn’t a compliment but a criticism from the game officials.

In the update announcement, it was stated in detail that the gamers had to obtain approval from Lord Sherlock or Queen Victoria when they created their territory and recruited their employees. Then Lord Sherlock and Queen Victoria would help them recruit the employees. The salary of the employees would be paid by the gamers, in addition to the fees that were to be paid to the Dungeon Lords.

Either the Changan City Guild wanted to save the money, or they were unhappy with the employee list provided by Eternal Kingdom. So, they bypa.s.sed Lord Sherlock and contacted Patrick Star to publish a recruitment advertis.e.m.e.nt.

If it were other online games, it would be impossible as rules were rules. However, in this new generation game, the gamers were able to bypa.s.s the rules and break the regulations to achieve their goals.

It was a futile attempt by the Guild, and they were labeled as rebels by Lord Sherlock. When the members of Changan City encountered Lord Sherlock, he wouldn’t speak to them. He would even look at them with disdain.

There were no actual losses, and the members of the Guild continued to do their Daily Missions and receive their rewards. However, it was unbearable to receive such treatment from Lord Sherlock, especially when he was the Dungeon Lord.

“They’re quite creative. I didn’t think of publis.h.i.+ng advertis.e.m.e.nts in the newspaper.”

BurningChestHair nodded as he admired the management of Changan City. Arthur pondered and said, “This could be a good idea. We won’t advertise for recruitment but for the purchasing of territory.”

“The purchasing of territory? Wait, Arthur, are you intending to buy other territories? Didn’t we decide to build our territory at the Sighing Wilderness?” NotWearingPants asked in surprise.

Previously, the Strongholds of the Guilds inside Eternal Kingdom or outside Victoria City weren’t considered territories. They were just shelters for the members to stay temporarily. With the new Territory System, gamers could create their own Kingdoms, laws, and even choose their own residents like a country.

It was a country that the gamers wanted. The gamers only had to pay taxes to Eternal Kingdom or Victoria City. There were no other disadvantages.

It was quite incredible that the gamers could achieve that in a game. Arthur was the top rich gamer, and he was in charge of the Pioneer Alliance, which was the top Guild in terms of power and finance. He wouldn’t allow the Pioneer Alliance to stay within Eternal Kingdom. As the Chairman of the top Guild, he had to create a large Kingdom.

They had to apply for approval to create a Kingdom.

The gamers couldn’t just designate any land to become their territory. Otherwise, the gamers would create havoc in Winterfell. They had to apply to Lord Sherlock or Queen Victoria for approval.

The application criteria were stringent. The Guild had to have 5,000 members before applying. Secondly, the Guild had to pay a large sum of Magic Stones. The detailed sum would depend on each Guild, the size of the territory, the employees, and the recruited NPCs. Arthur had tried to apply once. According to his calculation, a Blacksmith, Enchanter, Mana Engineer, and Lich would cost a shocking 100,000 Magic Stones.

Who could afford such a sum? Most of the Guild members were new gamers who didn’t even have bronze coins. If the sum was shared equally among all of the members, each of them had to fork out 20 Magic Stones.

Even Arthur couldn’t afford to pay 100,000 Magic Stones.

Perhaps if they obtained the territory through other means, it would save them some money. The system announcement only said that they couldn’t employ NPCs themselves, mentioning nothing about territory. If they could obtain territory from other sources, it wouldn’t break the rules of Lord Sherlock.

Arthur lifted his head and looked at his Guild members. He said, “Let’s go and find Patrick Star!”

…

Patrick Star was hara.s.sed incessantly by the gamers of Eternal Kingdom. Other news workers like Patrick Star were also hara.s.sed by gamers of Eternal Kingdom.

The gamers wanted the news workers to publish news articles like:

“Our Guild is recruiting new members, but we’re facing compet.i.tion from other Guilds. We hope to publish a news article. The t.i.tle is ‘Springfield Flower Kindergarten recruitment’. We don’t have a weekly salary, a Guild fund, or a rich boss, but we have love, women, and fun. We also have the adventures of a Sword and Mana universe… What? Are you saying that the article is meaningless? How can it be meaningless? What? Are you asking for Magic Stones? How can we have Magic Stones? Look at us. Ai, will you stop pus.h.i.+ng me?”

Patrick Star had encountered such gamers for the past few days. The articles that the gamers wanted to publish were meaningless, and they didn’t want to pay Magic Stones. It was a requirement to pay Magic Stones for publis.h.i.+ng articles. Patrick Star wasn’t the owner of the publis.h.i.+ng press.

However, there were sensible warriors of Eternal Kingdom, such as the Orc called Arthur. Arthur gave him 100 Magic Stones and said, “This is the market-rate remuneration. We require an advertis.e.m.e.nt to be published within three days. The t.i.tle is ‘The Pioneer Alliance is looking to purchase empty land’.”

Empty land? What was that? Was the territory expansion not in accordance to the Dungeon Core Level?

Patrick Star didn’t understand. He had to find out more since it was related to Eternal Kingdom.

Arthur didn’t expect an NPC to ask such a detailed question. After considering the incident caused by Changan City, Arthur pondered for a while before saying, “We intend to build a temporary camp. There are too many creatures in Eternal Kingdom, so we are unable to stay in the Dungeon.”

Patrick Star was enlightened. He didn’t know the effectiveness of a camp and whether it would alleviate the overcrowding problem. He was considering whether it was meaningful for him to publish it.

As long as it wasn’t a rebellion against Lord Sherlock and the Magic Stones were paid, Patrick Star wasn’t very concerned about it.

“I understand. I’ll arrange it for you tomorrow. Let’s discuss the detailed requirements of your land…”

…

“Shocking news! Are the benefits of the residents of Eternal Kingdom deteriorating? Five thousand warriors are looking for a new campsite! Please contact…”

“Tsk, it’s unfortunate. The deluge of Goblins will create unhappiness!”

In the Dungeon Lord Main Hall of Eternal Kingdom, Polio was reading the “Winterfell Daily Digest”.

The top headline was related to Eternal Kingdom again.

“Why are they so curious about Eternal Kingdom? There are so many new Goblins that aren’t trained and are lacking in discipline. Isn’t it normal for the Dungeon to be chaotic?”

Phoenix stood on a horizontal bar high in the air as he combed his feathers. He said to Polio, “Patrick Star has been writing nonsensical articles. Isn’t Lord Sherlock concerned?”

“Meow, meow.”

Polio turned his head, looking around to ensure there were no other creatures. When he was sure that Lord Sherlock wasn’t around, he said to Phoenix, “A few days ago, I saw Patrick Star giving Lord Sherlock a Magic Stone card. Lord Sherlock won’t be going after Patrick Star based on the Magic Stones.”

Phoenix raised his brow and nodded with understanding.

While they were chatting, the door was pushed open. Phoenix squirmed his head and pretended to sleep. Polio rolled the newspaper and squeezed it into his mouth. However, his mouth was too small for the newspaper.

The door to the Dungeon Lord Main Hall was opened, and the noises of the gamers flooded in. A gamer asked feebly, “Is this Eternal Kingdom? I’m here to ask about the Land Lease. I saw the news article in the newspapers…”

A Gnome raised the newspaper held in his hands. It was the same newspaper that Polio was reading. The Gnome didn’t have any green symbols above his head, meaning he wasn’t a resident of Eternal Kingdom.