Southern Federation (2)
South of the Forest of Darkness, there was another fortress similar in form to the one in the north.
The name of this fortress was the “Fortress of Freedom.”
While the Empire’s fortress in the north served as a forward base that captured Irregulars, this Fortress of Freedom existed for the opposite reason… to help Irregulars.
Of course, the Empire’s fortress had originally been built for the same purpose before its role changed later on. But in any case, the Fortress of Freedom and the Empire’s fortress were now positioned in opposite roles.
Inside the Fortress of Freedom, people from the Southern Federation and Irregulars who had crossed over from all kinds of dimensions were freely moving around.
Because this place was one where you could casually see Irregulars with all sorts of different appearances, no one found it strange when they saw Irregulars who looked very different from the natives of this world.
“Wow, this place is seriously something.”
The users from the Goguryeo Guild from Korea muttered while constantly looking around.
The Bowmaster Jumong was leading the Goguryeo Guild as its guild master, and they had already been active in this world for nearly three months.
They had been collecting mana crystals and soul stones in the Forest of Darkness, and after learning that Return Stones could only be obtained by killing elite monsters, they had been diligently searching for elite monsters.
But during that time, they happened to learn about a place called the Fortress of Freedom, and today they had finally arrived there.
“Oh… isn’t that person over there an elf?”
One of the Goguryeo Guild members who had been looking around suddenly exclaimed in surprise after spotting a woman with pointed ears wearing unusual clothing.
A woman whose appearance looked like an elf that had stepped straight out of a fantasy novel or movie.
In reality, she really was an elf, and she too was an Irregular who had crossed over from another dimension.
And it wasn’t just elves.
The Fortress of Freedom was filled with all kinds of humanoid races.
There were even giants walking around whose bodies looked roughly three times larger than a human’s.
‘Now it really feels like we’ve come to another world.’
Jumong… or rather, Hanul, was looking around just like his guild members and finally feeling the reality that he had truly come to this world.
“I heard that mana crystals are used like currency here. They said Return Stones can also be bought with mana crystals… so we should finally be able to solve the problem of going back home.”
The Goguryeo Guild members already knew a fair amount about the Fortress of Freedom.
The Guide who had led them to the fortress had already explained all the basic information.
“For now, let’s take a look around. Don’t let your guard down. Stay alert at all times because we never know where something might happen.”
Jumong thought it was still too early to relax.
The Guide had said it was safe to move around freely inside the Fortress of Freedom. However, he had advised them to avoid conflicts with other Irregulars whenever possible, explaining that even Irregulars could be arrested and punished if they committed crimes.
“Let’s find a shop first. We’re short about five Return Stones… so let’s see how many we can get with the mana crystals we have.”
For now, Jumong planned to secure the Return Stones first.
While the Goguryeo Guild wandered around the Fortress of Freedom examining various things, there were already two people who had arrived at the fortress a week earlier and were resting comfortably after thoroughly exploring it.
The two had rented a room in an inn-like lodging facility inside the fortress. They had opened the entrance to their Absolute Space inside that room and were resting within the Absolute Space itself.
They didn’t need to rest outside in the first place, so they rested like this. And since the entrance was open, they could respond quickly if something happened.
“Look at this. It’s a rough global map of this planet made using the reconnaissance satellites.”
Seon Yul showed Cheon Li Yu the screen of the pad he was holding. On the screen was a planet that was only about 30% completed, but it already looked fairly convincing.
“It looks almost exactly like Earth.”
“Right. Only the size is different. The outward appearance is almost the same.”
“Are we around here?”
Cheon Li Yu tapped a point on the pad screen with her finger.
“Yeah, the southern edge of the Forest of Darkness. From here, the Southern Federation probably spreads out further south, but since we don’t have accurate information yet, I don’t know exactly how the Southern Federation is divided.”
“What’s this?”
Cheon Li Yu asked while pointing at the massive mountain range located east of the Forest of Darkness.
“That’s probably the place called the Sky Mountains. If we compare it to our world, it’s kind of like the Himalayas… but it seems much taller.”
Apparently interested, Cheon Li Yu kept touching the pad, rotating the planet, and zooming in to examine the map.
“The reconnaissance satellites are constantly sending detailed photos of each region, so the map’s completeness will keep improving. Right now it’s only about 30% complete, but once it reaches around 80%, it should become a pretty useful map.”
Tap tap tap tap.
Seon Yul typed on the computer he had set up beside him, finishing the controls related to the reconnaissance satellites before standing up.
“Alright, the reconnaissance satellites are good enough for now… so the only thing left is the shop opening issue, right?”
After arriving at the Fortress of Freedom, Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu had been repeatedly discussing one particular idea.
“Hm… I’ve thought about it a lot, too, and as you said, it does seem better to open a shop. But the problem is how we’re supposed to open one.”
“We’ll have to find out. Judging from the atmosphere here, it doesn’t seem like there’s a rule saying Irregulars can’t run shops in this fortress.”
“But would they rent a building to people like us who have no guarantees whatsoever? Or even allow us to open a shop?”
“I looked into it yesterday, and apparently, anything is possible as long as you have mana crystals. The Southern Federation itself seems like a place that pursues extreme capitalism… at least compared to our world.”
“So basically, like the world we lived in. If you have money, everything is okay?”
“Exactly.”
Seon Yul nodded with a bitter smile.
If the Empire felt like a strictly controlled socialist society, then the Southern Federation clearly felt like an extremely free capitalist society.
“Then should we try it?”
The reason Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu wanted to open a shop was that they had too many items piled up inside Absolute Space.
At first, they had planned to simply sell those items to merchants who bought such goods.
But the purchase prices were far too low.
Even though Seon Yul’s items had been dismantled by the Shadow Worker, who had become a perfect monster-disassembly specialist, and were therefore extremely high quality, the merchants here didn’t care about quality at all and just tried to buy everything as cheaply as possible.
In the case of things like monster meat, the internal properties of Absolute Space kept them unbelievably fresh…
Yet the merchants treated all of it as rotten monster meat and tried to buy it for ridiculously low prices.
At that point, Seon Yul saw no reason to sell his goods cheaply to them, and the negotiations fell apart.
“Let’s try it. And the reason we’re opening a shop isn’t just to sell monster materials anyway.”
The second reason Seon Yul wanted to open a shop here was that there were other things he wanted to sell, not just monster materials.
If those items could be sold at the price he wanted… then Seon Yul felt like he would be able to use his Absolute Space ability much more freely.
Having decided to open a shop, the two put on their equipment and left Absolute Space.
After the previous incident, Seon Yul vowed never to lower his guard again. He wore his enchanted safety helmet, all of his armor, and even an enchanted mask.
Cheon Li Yu also wrapped herself in various defensive gear similar to Seon Yul’s, wore a mask of a similar style, and carried the legendary shield Seon Yul had given her on her back.
Because of that, they stood out quite a bit… but it didn’t matter.
After all, the fortress was filled with Irregulars who stood out far more than they did.
After leaving, the two exited the inn room and headed toward the Fortress of Freedom Autonomous Administration building they had previously located.
They couldn’t just set up a street stall, so if there was an empty building in the fortress, they planned to rent it somehow and open their shop there.
“Excuse me? You’ll lend it to us for free?”
“Yes, there’s no rent. Instead, there are taxes. As long as you use a mana crystal payment terminal, the building itself will be lent to you for free.”
“What’s a mana crystal payment terminal?”
This was something Seon Yul had never heard of before.
“Ah, it seems you haven’t used the Mana Crystal Depository yet.”
“No… we’ve only been here a few days.”
“The Mana Crystal Depository is something all Irregulars here use. Simply put, it’s a place that stores the mana crystals you possess while also guaranteeing them.”
The employee of the Fortress of Freedom administration kindly began explaining.
“Mana crystals are physical objects that take up space, so the more you have, the more inconvenient they are to carry around. Occasionally, there are people with subspace abilities, or those who possess very expensive items enchanted with subspace abilities, who carry their crystals directly… but most Irregulars store them in the depository.”
The more Seon Yul listened, the more it sounded exactly like the banks on Earth–104.
“And to allow you to easily use the crystals you’ve stored, we register your biometric record.”
This was basically a check card with a different format.
“And this device allows you to use that biometric record. That’s the mana crystal payment terminal.”
“Ah…”
Seon Yul understood immediately.
Anyone from Earth–104 would have no trouble understanding it.
“Then can’t we just use the physical mana crystals to pay?”
“No, that’s not forbidden. You can absolutely pay with the physical crystals.”
The employee shook his head while answering.
However, he continued speaking.
“The reason we don’t recommend using physical crystals is that there are more raiders than you might expect. Inside the fortress, it’s safe because the administration protects it, but once you leave the fortress, there are raiders everywhere. If you walk around inside the fortress using physical mana crystals, there’s a high chance you’ll become a target.”
“Are there really that many raiders?”
“Oh dear, it seems you haven’t been here very long.”
“Yes, not very long.”
“Then you really need to be careful. There’s a saying in the Fortress of Freedom: ‘Good Irregulars only exist inside the fortress.’ Think carefully about what that means.”
The meaning of the employee’s words was easy to guess.
“Anyway, you will use the mana crystal payment terminal, right?”
“Yes… I suppose we should.”
Seon Yul nodded in response.
“Then come with me, and we’ll look at some empty buildings. All the best spots are already taken, but we can still choose one that’s decent.”
During this entire process, Seon Yul noticed that the employee had never once asked for any form of identification and that he had not seemed surprised at all when two Irregulars said they wanted to open a shop.
Based on that, Seon Yul guessed that there were probably quite a lot of Irregulars running businesses in the fortress.
‘This place really is freedom in its purest form.’
Absolute freedom without control.
That seemed to be the defining characteristic of the Southern Federation.
But at the same time…
‘Unlimited freedom is always accompanied by extreme chaos.’
The employee’s words… “Good Irregulars only exist inside the fortress”, essentially meant that once you left the fortress, any Irregular could become your enemy.
A place where taking others’ possessions was considered normal.
In a way, although its nature was different from the Empire, this place was also extremely dangerous.
In the Empire, you had to be careful of the ruling authority, but thanks to the Empire’s strict control, there was little risk of being attacked by fellow Irregulars.
In contrast, the Southern Federation offered complete freedom without control, but you could disappear from this world without a trace after being attacked by other Irregulars.
‘As expected, nothing here is easy.’
Seon Yul gave a bitter smile as he walked with the Fortress administration employee to choose a location for their shop.
Perhaps, after coming to this world, looking for something easy would actually be the strange thing.
After all, this was what exploring another world was normally like.
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