Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Chapter 170
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Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Chapter 170
41. The King's Eccentricity (1)
Benjamin quickly searched through his smartphone's contacts.
And he called his younger sibling, his only family, who had been lingering in his dreams.
His younger sibling in Singapore probably thought he was dead.
-Beep. Beep.
The signal goes through.
Benjamin's face flooded with joy, and a moment later.
[Benjamin!?]
The call connected.
The voice of family he had longed to hear.
Overwhelmed with emotion, Benjamin called his younger sister's name in a half-choked voice.
"Amy! I'm alive! I'm right now "
But....
-Click.
The call ended before long.
"What! What the hell!"
-Bang!
Benjamin slammed the desk he was sitting at and checked his smartphone.
And then, he saw the signal antenna icons at the top of the screen dropping one by one.
And before long.
[No signal.]
It returned to its original state.
"Damn it!"
This wasn't even teasing what kind of infuriating situation was this?
He couldn't even be sure whether the words he shouted about being alive had reached his younger sister.
Benjamin picked up his smartphone and paced around the room trying to catch a signal, but it still wouldn't connect.
Benjamin grumbled and tore at his hair for a long while.
And so one minute passed, five minutes passed, thirty minutes passed.
His smartphone still couldn't catch a signal, but as time went by, his overheated head cooled and he gradually regained his composure.
"How did it catch a signal at all?"
By common sense, this made no sense.
This place was another world.
Moreover, for the SIM card inserted in his smartphone to function, shouldn't it need to catch the signal of his original carrier?
If it had automatically roamed by catching a foreign carrier's signal instead of Singapore's, a notification message should have appeared....
"No, that's not what matters right now."
Just because something happened once doesn't mean it won't happen twice.
He couldn't offer any explanation for this anomaly, but the lord of this castle, the Grand Mage Adrian who possessed knowledge of Earth, might have a different answer.
Benjamin decided he should report this matter right away.
* * *
I only handle the big picture when it comes to estate management; the detailed operations are left to the professionals.
The administrative members of the former Duchy of Lawrence were all extremely capable and passionate, since I had used Myriad Mirror to select only those with 'above-average talent and incorruptible character.'
Naturally, I plan to bring all of them to the duchy.
As my domain becomes Arcia's, I'll need to select additional administrative personnel for the Duchy of Klein, but since renowned administrators are already clamoring to come on their own, expanding the workforce isn't difficult at all.
Once I style myself as king in the duchy, the one who will hold the top noble position in the Rhinehearts Empire is none other than Arcia.
That means it's a position where talent will come rolling in from all over on its own.
"Congratulations."
"Pardon?"
Harris Walker, Viscount, the deputy lord of the former Duchy of Lawrence, is the most important figure among the administrative retainers heading to the duchy with me.
Lately he'd been spending very busy days dealing with the handover process, and when I barged into his office out of nowhere to offer congratulations, Viscount Walker looked uneasy and voiced his confusion.
"I hereby grant Harris Walker, Viscount, the Marquis title of the Duchy of Lawrence along with the former Peria Marquisate, and appoint him as the Chancellor of the duchy."
It was still a provisional position since I hadn't formally taken the throne yet, but seeing me promise the highest treatment, Viscount Walker sighed rather than rejoiced.
"You're trying to work me to death."
"Didn't you say you wanted to do something big? A Marquis title from a duchy is recognized as a Marquis title within the Rhinehearts Empire, you know?"
The title of 'King' isn't for nothing.
After all, even a Duke can grant baronies and viscountcies.
Viscount Walker's title was also something I had granted him.
But what a Duke can grant is only a mere baron title at best.
The authority to appoint Lords is the King's exclusive right.
However, a 'King' gains the authority to appoint Lords.
A mere baron title is usually called a half-noble, but now he would become a proper Lord ruling over a great domain.
"If His Highness the Grand Duke is giving me a high position, that just means he plans to work me to death. I'm exhausted. Can't you see this white hair?"
"Isn't that just a gray hair? Recovery."
I cast a 7th Circle recovery spell on him.
That should have relieved his fatigue to some extent.
"If I'd known you'd work me this hard, I never would have followed His Highness the Grand Duke. You'll probably hand over nearly all state affairs to me once we're in the duchy, right? Honestly, I just want to retire."
The place I first met him was at the Noble Auditor's Office in the Kingdom.
Back then, I didn't even have a title yet, so my promise to him was just words, but now I can show it with action.
I had promised Viscount Walker work fulfilling enough to pull him out of his boredom, along with wealth and power as compensation, so I can't accept him backing out now.
Retiring when he's still young? That's nonsense.
"Taking care of an employee's work-life balance is basic decency for an employer. Fine. I'll hire as many people as the Prime Minister wants. And I'll cut out the overtime too."
At my words, he scratched his cheek.
It was phrased as a suggestion, but it was practically coercion.
Viscount Walker still looks unsatisfied, but he knows well he can't refuse my offer.
His answer is already decided.
"You really mean that?"
"Of course."
"Hah, fine."
If King Sejong had a minister like Hwang Hui, then I have Viscount Walker.
I had no intention of letting him go easily.
If one person suffers, all the people and ministers can be at ease, so he might as well just accept that he drew the short straw in this life.
"You know I like you a lot, right? The first use of my only two Marquis title appointments went to Viscount Walker, didn't it?"
A King cannot grant a Duke title, which uses the same 'Your Highness' honorific as himself, but he can grant Marquis and Count titles.
Two Marquis titles and ten Count titles.
Viscount and Baron titles can be granted as many as desired.
These titles are also valid as-is in the mainland of the Rhinehearts Empire.
Even having become a Marquis of the Empire, his expression remained dark.
It seems he's worried about what's to come.
I patted his shoulder to show familiarity.
'Feels like I've become a wicked boss.'
And so, as I was exchanging various conversation with Viscount Walker about future matters
"Your Highness the Grand Duke!"
It was Benjamin Theo, a connection I wasn't particularly fond of but kept around out of necessity.
Someone who had been keeping quiet as a mouse suddenly making a ruckus was rare, so naturally I had to tilt my head in confusion.
"J-just now, I picked up a smartphone signal in my room. And for just a moment, I even got through a call with my younger sibling back on Earth."
But at Benjamin's following words, my eyes went wide.
What he said was so nonsensical that I couldn't comprehend it.
"I'm sorry, Viscount Walker. Let's end our conversation here."
"Yes, understood."
Viscount Walker nodded as if used to this, and I dragged Benjamin along as if kidnapping him to my office.
Deputy Lord Viscount Walker's office and mine were in the same position, just on different floors, and rather than using the stairs, I flew up through the window.
"Give me the smartphone."
Arriving at my office, I took the smartphone.
Looking at the call log, sure enough, there was a record of a 3-second connection with a woman named Amy about 30 minutes ago.
"And the time has been corrected too."
"Oh, so it has."
Furthermore, the smartphone's clock had also gone back to the past.
Benjamin came here on December 20, 2022, by Earth's calendar.
After staying here for 3 months, the smartphone's date was pointing at March 18, 2023.
But when the connection was made, the smartphone's date corrected to Earth's time pointing at December 29, 2022.
Three months (about 90 days) had passed since Benjamin came here, yet the smartphone showed only 9 days had passed.
As if proving my guess that the time difference between Earth and Rondel was 10:1...
In other words, although I'd lived 21 years since being reborn, only about 2 years had passed on Earth.
'Why? How can this happen?'
Earth was where Grand Duke Lucas so desperately wanted to return.
But even after decades of research, he couldn't find the answer, and only after death could his soul return home.
"But that means the two worlds just became connected."
Something that had been so difficult happened without any warning.
I couldn't accept it.
If something like this anomaly had occurred during Grand Duke Lucas's time, wouldn't he have been able to return home with ease?
'Is something happening?'
Out of nowhere, Benjamin, who had fallen into water on Earth, came over to Rondel, and a communication signal was established between Rondel and Earth.
It was a series of events that couldn't be taken lightly.
"If we send a message in advance, we can go right away when the signal connects, right?"
"Ah!"
Benjamin and I decided to send messages to our families on Earth in advance.
In my case, unlike him, the funeral rites would already be over on Earth, but I was so desperate to know if my parents were alive that I sent an international text like a madman.
[Mother, it's me, Minki.]
If the signal ever connected again, wouldn't the message go through?
Even as I wrote the message, my mind was in utter turmoil.
'Could it be that someone else came over?'
If the two worlds are truly connected, that's not a guess I can completely rule out.
I should probably order Blue Moon to investigate.
"What could be going on?"
"I can't make any judgment right now. We'll need to investigate."
"Yes... sir."
"I'll make you a charger so the smartphone can stay on at all times. Keep a close watch, and let me know immediately when the signal connects."
"Yes, understood."
* * *
After that, the smartphone's communication never connected again.
There was also no news of any foreigner speaking a strange language.
I couldn't make sense of the situation, so I consulted with the Opportunity Administrator, Chester, and he revealed something I never could have imagined.
"I wonder if we should see this as mere coincidence..."
"What?"
"Actually, around the same time the smartphone signal connected, Hollywood management terminal Unit 2 came under attack."
With that, Chester brought up a holographic image to show me.
The image showed masked intruders similar to those who attacked Hollywood management terminal Unit 1 battling the management system's spider golems.
Just like with Unit 1, when the situation turned unfavorable, Unit 2 self-destructed, and as a result, administrator authority over the Hollywood System was transferred to Unit 3.
"At least there was no system outage this time, so that's a relief..."
"That's hardly a relief we can feel safe about."
"But is it my imagination that their goal seems to be destruction rather than theft?"
"I think the same. Given that they experienced the self-destruct and still didn't prepare for it, it's highly likely their original purpose was destruction."
There are still many reserve units left, but if they keep getting destroyed one by one like this, eventually the Hollywood System itself might disappear.
Since Grand Duke Lucas's Opportunity exists based on the Hollywood System, the collapse of the Hollywood System would mean the collapse of the Opportunity.
I should probably make offline backups regularly just in case.
"And you have no idea at all who these enemies are?"
"No. We might find something by investigating the destroyed site, but we didn't approach it in case they might catch us trailing them."
The enemies seem to have both Aura Masters and Grand Mages.
That means they're not an ordinary force.
And it's also a mystery how they manage to find the Hollywood System terminals that are hidden so thoroughly.
"It doesn't seem like it's related to Earth."
"The timing is certainly peculiar."
Chester and I racked our brains together, but no proper countermeasure came to mind.
The one silver lining is that quite a long time passed between Unit 1 being hit and Unit 2 being hit, right?
Since the Hollywood System has management terminals up to Unit 21, it means there's some leeway in time.
The choice I can make in this situation is...
"I need to maximize my level-up speed."
It was to fully absorb the Opportunity as quickly as possible, even a day sooner.