The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

“You no longer need to worry about the population in the frontier territories.”

Raul nodded at Bernard’s report. Five hundred million Earthlings had been integrated into Connect. Of those, about half chose the First Autonomous Territory.

In hindsight, it was an anticipated outcome. Since Connect’s service began six years ago, Raul had consistently shown a player-friendly attitude through the First Knight Order.

He had provided more support than anyone else and established the Purple Association to protect players from the tyranny of other lords.

Moreover, rankers from the Purple Guild endlessly promoted the First Knight Order on their personal broadcasts, and the Guild’s achievements were continuously shared through its own channels.

As a result, not only players but also general viewers had formed a solid image of the First Knight Order.

The strongest single force in Connect.

The most player-friendly faction. Also, the wealthiest in terms of finances and land holdings. And most importantly, Raul’s governance model for the autonomous territory appealed to the Earthlings.

Raul promised not to directly interfere with the governance of the numerous frontier territories. Instead, each territory was to elect one representative, and these representatives would form a council to decide various matters for the autonomous territory.

The method of selecting representatives and managing the territory was entirely up to the settlers.

Of course, there were clear limitations. All authority over foreign affairs and defense belonged to Raul, the owner of all the territories. Moreover, each territory had to pay quarterly taxes to the First county.

In simple terms, internal matters were up to the territories, but external affairs were represented by the First county.

‘But in practice, they are almost dependent.’

They would still rely on the county’s support for resources and funding needed for development. And for trade with the kingdoms, they had to go through the First county, making economic independence difficult.

While a self-sustaining system might eventually be established, there was no telling how long that would take.

“Support the applicants by pairing them with guild members to help them grow, and manage the rest of the residents to ensure they don’t have trouble finding jobs.”

“Yes, I’ll ensure they are well taken care of and comfortable.”

Most of the jobs involved farming or construction. As many were used to paperwork, there might be some difficulty in adjusting.

‘It can’t be helped. They’ll just have to adapt to life here on their own.’

The fortunate part was that the new bodies they received were far superior to their original ones on Earth. Not only could they feel mana, but with the system’s help, even a bit of leveling up would make physical labor much more manageable.

Ideally, like existing players, they would become combatants hunting animals or monsters….

‘It’s only natural that not many are volunteering for that.’

Without the power of resurrection or newbie protection, taking up arms would be daunting. However, to truly survive in Connect, acquiring combat skills was paramount. The immigrants would soon realize this fact.

In any case, the arrival of new players accelerated the development of the Forbidden Zones. Once the frontier areas were fully developed, it would become a place comparable to any other kingdom.

They had to work hard not just for Raul but for their own sake as well.

*

“Any unusual news?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary so far.”

While Bernard focused on the settlement of immigrants, Kane was busy dealing with another matter.

“That’s strange. There should be some kind of activity.”

Raul muttered with a slightly tense expression. The reason was the system window that appeared only for him. Alongside the start of the official Connect service, a system message indicated the final scenario.

Individual Notice

『Final Scenario: Mediator – Exploration』 has begun.

Those selected as final candidates must face formidable enemies soon to emerge. The candidate who shows the greatest prowess in this process will inherit the power of 『Mediator』.

The first task is to identify the enemy’s location and identity. Use all the power at your disposal to prevent or delay the enemy’s appearance.

Time remaining: 150 days

Note: The difficulty of the subsequent scenario may vary based on your achievements during the exploration phase.

Note: While competition among candidates is crucial, remember that the primary objective is to defeat the enemy. Failure to do so within the given time will lead to Connect’s catastrophic end.

While other players were presented with the scenario 『Settlement』, Raul received the additional final scenario. And as promised, Raul was provided with an additional clue.

And, as promised, Raul received an additional clue.

Awarded for achieving the highest score: additional clue provided.

Keywords: Empire, Gate, Demon World

Location: In a sparsely populated place. An undiscovered gate.

P. S.: Not all final candidates are players.

It was something Raul had already suspected.

‘In a way, it almost seems too obvious.’

The Empire’s movements had started with the emergence of the gates. Then, with the unsealing of an ancient connection to the Demon World, the gate erosion had accelerated.

The problem was that the gate connected to the Demon World disappeared after the seal was broken. Even though it hadn’t been seen for years, that didn’t mean it had vanished.

Ultimately, this meant that the Empire was plotting something through the gate connected to the Demon World.

‘But where is it hiding?’

If the gate was within the Empire’s territory, there wasn’t much that could be done for now, but Raul didn’t think that was the case.

‘There is definitely some connection between the Empire and the demons. But it’s ambiguous to call them allies.’

Both the demons and the Empire seemed intent on using each other. Would the Empire really risk creating a portal to the Demon World within their own territory?

It seemed unlikely that the Empire would take such a risk without a good reason. The important thing was that the gate hadn’t been discovered yet.

Which meant it existed somewhere. For the past month, Raul had mobilized as many guild members and players as possible to scour sparsely populated areas.

However, finding it like this was akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.

The Connect Continent was vast.

Just stepping away from villages or cities a bit, one could easily find wildlife and monsters in the hills. Raul had been watching the movements of the Imperial Army, but there still didn’t seem to be any significant changes.

‘Except for the fact that it’s hard to spot any superhumans or war machines.’

But he couldn’t rashly provoke the Imperial Army, as the top priority was ensuring the Earth immigrants settled stably. One more thing was bothering him.

‘Not all final candidates are players.’

Maybe it was a reference to Raul himself, who was both a player and a resident, but Raul had a feeling that wasn’t the case. To be honest, there were no players who could truly rival Raul.

Especially after Ilwoo and the Purple Guild rankers chose Earth.

“Have you ever heard of the ‘Mediator Candidate’?”

This was something Ilwoo mentioned after the Forbidden Zone scenario concluded. This meant Ilwoo was one of the final candidates mentioned in the scenario.

It made sense in some ways. Besides Raul, Ilwoo was the strongest player, had significant influence, and had accomplished many feats. But once Ilwoo learned that Raul was also one of the candidates, he made a quick decision.

“I don’t know what the final scenario entails, but I’m dropping out of the candidate competition. After all, I reached this position with your help; competing against you would be absurd.”

Even though Raul said it wasn’t necessary, Ilwoo just smiled and brushed it off.

“Do you really think we’d have a competition? Do I look like I have the time to waste on an obviously decided outcome? It’s much more rational to forfeit and support you.”

And Ilwoo wasn’t alone in this thinking. No less than four members of the Purple Guild were chosen as final candidates. They all came to Raul, expressing the same sentiment.

So, excluding the rankers from the Purple Guild and allied guilds, there weren’t likely more than two other players who could be candidates. It essentially meant Raul had to tackle the final scenario alone.

And then he heard the phrase ‘non-player candidates’.

‘That makes sense.’

Mediator.

Just thinking about it, it was clearly a tremendously crucial position related to Connect. Choosing such an important role solely from among players, while excluding Connect’s residents, didn’t seem appropriate.

So the question remained: who were the non-player candidates?

Knock, knock.

“Count, someone from the temple has come.”

“From the temple?”

A sudden realization struck Raul.

* * *

“Then, I kindly ask for your cooperation.”

“Of course. In the face of the continent’s crisis, cooperation is essential.”

“Thank you. If only all nobles were like you, Count. It’s disheartening how many prioritize their own interests in these grim times.”

With a concerned sigh, the elderly priest left Raul’s office.

‘So this is how it’s been.’

For those who couldn’t utilize the Connect system, the temple served as the conduit for information. Under the guise of divine revelations. Unlike the Connect system, it didn’t provide precise details or mention specific rewards.

Instead, it warned of the impending crisis and offered advice on how to respond.

‘Well, that is sufficient.’

In some ways, not knowing the rewards or objectives might lead to more genuine decision-making. At least aspects like integrity and responsibility were better assured.

‘But the problem is that this makes it hard to guess who the other candidates are.’

According to Kane, the temple had privately sent envoys to hundreds of individuals. Among them were high-ranking nobles, those with exceptional combat skills, and inevitably, members of various royal families.

‘Given the current scenario, it’s better not to concern myself with this.’

Upon reflection, there was no pressing need to identify the competitors. After all, if there was only one position, it was enough to outperform everyone else.

* * *

“We’ve found it!”

“Where? Tell me as we go.”

Four more months had passed. Now, there was barely over a month left for both scenarios. Despite the combined efforts of Raul, the cooperating royal families, and major noble households in scouring the continent, no suspicious gates had been located.

But now that one had finally surfaced, it was only natural for Raul to move swiftly.

“We were deceived. It wasn’t undiscovered; it just hadn’t changed yet.”

The newly discovered gate emitted a pale gray light. Up until now, the gates they had encountered were black gates, or S-class gates. They had focused their search on the highest grade gates, as no higher-grade gates had appeared before.

The issue was that the original color of this newly discovered gate wasn’t gray.

“According to the one who found it, just a month ago, it was an ordinary orange gate. But they noticed the color changing slightly a few days ago, and today, upon their third visit, it had turned gray.”

“If that’s true, this is troublesome.”

Gate grade mutation. It was a rare occurrence, and when it did happen, it was usually only by one or two grades. But an orange (E-Grade) gate turning into gray (???

-class) indicated they might need to monitor gates of all grades from now on.

In other words, unless they were exceedingly lucky, it would be almost impossible to find such gates.

‘Not that I ever thought it would be easy to find.’

The immediate priority was to identify and deal with the gate they had found. Raul’s pace quickened as he headed towards the gate.

(To be continued)