The Difference Between A Jackpot And A Super Jackpot.

After gathering all the treasury’s treasures—not just the eleven treasures, but also the display stands that held them and everything valuable nearby—we hurried to prepare to return.

We hadn’t expected to get such an enormous reward in the first place, so the expedition had taken longer than expected, but the rewards were tremendous, and since it ended safely without a single casualty, we had no complaints.

After checking all our equipment, I opened my inventory to take out the communication crystal Sio had made earlier.

A box I had never seen before, which I found while trying to take out the communication crystal.

“Hmm?”

“Ah…!”

A hazy memory of seeing a message like this came back to me. I had forgotten it because I was too out of it from the witch’s kiss.

Since I was at it, I opened the box, and the box vanished, leaving only a heavy lump of metal in my hand.

“Partner, what is tha… huh?”

The reason Hazel came close and then pulled back was because the metal lump in my hand unfolded with a clack, clack! sound.

Like a carefully folded piece of paper unfolding, the metal lump kept growing larger, slipped free of my hand, and slowly floated into the air as it took shape.

What I had thought was a triangular lump of metal spread farther and farther to the sides, gradually taking shape into something with a round rim. It was almost like….

“A magic circle?”

“It’s a teleportation magic circle.”

For once in a long time, Arun’s serious voice continued my words. Arun, who had moved up beside me, had eyes shining with a seriousness that was truly rare.

The magic circle, under all of our gazes, including Arun’s, seemed to have finished unfolding at last, and it floated above our heads.

“…No.”

For a moment, I almost answered yes without thinking.

The place we were in now was the imperial palace treasury. It was so narrow that even the magic circle floating in midair was close enough to touch the wall.

Clack― clack― clack―! Clack― clack― clack―! Clack― clack― clack―!

The sound of metal folding came one after another. And then the metal lump returned to its original form and settled onto my palm.

As I stood there blankly, holding it in my hand, Arun came over and got excited.

“Boss! Boss! Where did you get that?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t tell me that’s some kind of overtechnology magic circle you can just install and then retrieve like that, right?”

“Looks like it.”

Taken aback by Arun’s rare and serious intensity, I trailed off and answered honestly without meaning to. But I shouldn’t have done that. I should have said I didn’t know.

“Wow! Wow! Show me again. Please? Something this absurdly ahead of its time!”

“Enough. Get lost.”

Normally, Arun would have sulked in a corner and drawn pictures on the floor in his gloomy mode after my scolding and insults, but this time he didn’t give up.

He clung to my arm and threw an uncharacteristically desperate fit, begging me to show it.

I had no choice but to throw up my hands at Arun’s desperate pleading, which was unlike anything I’d seen before.

“…I’ll show you somewhere spacious.”

“Really? Haha, you promised. If a man says two different things with one mouth, it’ll fall off!”

“…What, you brat?”

Leaving Arun, who had tossed out that absurd remark and was now expanding his imagination all by himself, we moved outside.

While moving, I took out the communication crystal and tried to connect with Shio and Talis. Fortunately, as the corrupted divine power that had been flowing across all of the Death Land seemed to disappear, the connection went through without trouble.

―Is that you?

“…Yes, it’s me. But why are you answering the call like that?”

―You crazy bastard. You’re the only one who can operate it, so why are you asking over and over? More importantly, did you succeed?

“Yes, I succeeded. But I got something interesting, so… is Lord Talis there?”

―I’ll call him and contact you again. Is that all you need?

“Ah, I’d also like you to call the magic tower masters as well.”

―Got it, hang up. And… good work.

Shio hurriedly cut the connection, as if embarrassed by what he had said. Come to think of it, even I felt awkward hearing someone tell me I’d worked hard, so how much more awkward must it have been for him?

While waiting for the call, we passed through the main hall and up the stairs leading to the garden.

The moment the wide garden came into view, Arun rushed forward with bloodshot eyes and shouted.

“Again! Magic circle! Open space!”

Arun kept pointing at the garden and firing off short words.

I use magic too, but maybe because I don’t study it as an academic discipline and instead treat it as a technique for combat, I couldn’t understand Arun’s behavior.

However, Arun kept urging me as if he were about to run out of breath, and I had no choice but to unfold the magic circle in the middle of the garden.

Clack― clack― clack―! Clack― clack― clack―! Clack― clack― clack―!

The clacking sounds came again in succession, and the unfolded magic circle was much larger than when I had taken it out of the treasury. I and the members were startled by how much bigger it had become, more than twice its original size.

“Yes.”

Like a hovering helicopter, the metal frame balanced in midair slowly descended.

Even after touching the garden floor, the magic circle dug slightly into the ground as if being pressed down by gravity magic, settling securely. And then a message appeared.

“Oh my goodness!”

“Whoa!!”

“Seriously, I love rebounds!”

“The moment you become the boss’s enemy, you might trip over a stone while walking past, crack your head open, and die.”

“Bullshit. You’d probably just die falling into the toilet while taking a dump.”

The members were marveling at things they didn’t even understand.

But I was more surprised than they were. To the other members, it would just look like a magic circle, but to my eyes, I could see a translucent barrier covered by a hemisphere far away.

―It’s me.

Just then, Talis’s voice came through the communication crystal.

I hurriedly poured divine power into the communication crystal and told Talis about the current situation.

Talis, clearly interested, thought for a moment and then told us to get the coordinates.

Arun, who had been focused on the conversation beside me, quickly gave the coordinates, and with a request to wait a moment, the call ended.

In the sudden situation, most of the members except Arun had no clue what they should do when the communication crystal rang again.

Through the crystal, Talis warned us to move back from the magic circle. Twice, even.

When the call ended, bright light poured out from the magic circle, and I could see a considerable number of people standing on top of it.

Five magic tower masters and five elders, and an unexpected figure hidden behind the masters and elders, stepped down from the magic circle.

“Tess?”

It was the butler Tess. A mage would make sense, but why Tess all of a sudden?

“You’ve worked hard, Kim Han.”

“Yeah, sure. But why Tess as well all of a sudden?”

“May I look around first and then tell you? If this goes well, it seems like it could be very good news.”

“Sure. Then we’ll rest a bit.”

Tess had always delivered results beyond expectations, so I readily granted his request this time as well.

Then, with a smile spread across his face, he began rummaging through his magic pouch and taking something out.

“Oh? It’s alcohol!”

“Wow! It’s alcohol!!”

“Beer! Beer!!”

“Whoa! Look at this frost! Ahh!! Tess, as expected!!”

Before anyone could stop them, the members rushed in, grabbed the beer bottles coated in cold frost, and started chugging.

Even though Tess had taken out a considerable amount of beer, it was clear how quickly it was disappearing.

But as if he had expected it, Tess simply set the magic pouch down on the ground.

There was probably an enormous amount of beer inside, beyond anything we could imagine.

“Then please rest.”

After saying that, he began walking around the area with the White Tower Master and discussing something.

Regardless, the members kept pouring and drinking beer, and after pestering Lee Hyo-ju, they took out all the fried dishes she had made and really got the party started.

What was unexpected was that Arun didn’t join the drinking party, but instead started a serious discussion with the other magic tower mages while inspecting the magic circle.

At first the members had looked at Arun oddly, but soon they turned away and let it be. Except for one person.

Soria flinched while holding a cold beer bottle. It wasn’t because she was cold; she was waiting for a chance to get close to Arun.

Taking pity on her, Hazel deliberately called out and spoke to Soria.

“Soria, Arun’s working hard, so could you take him some beer?”

“Pardon? Ah…! Yes! Of course!!”

Soria, carrying the beer handed to her by Hazel, trotted over to Arun. After giving him the beer, she didn’t come back, but stayed by Arun’s side.

It probably wasn’t my imagination that her gaze seemed to turn into hearts and blush pink.

‘No matter how attractive a man is when he’s absorbed in something, to like Arun… what a taste…’

I shook my head, unable to understand Soria, who had hearts in her eyes.

Anyway, it was a rare moment of relaxation. Even though the place wasn’t the legion house, the members’ faces were full of relief and ease.

It was a situation I could fully understand, so I didn’t stop the members from being sloppy.

Tess, who had looked around the area with the White Tower Master, came over. His face was full of excitement and satisfaction. Could something good have happened?

“Kim Han!”

“Yeah, go on.”

“Here—no, we’ll take over the entire Death Land!”

“Yeah, take… what?!”

“This place is a jackpot! Hahahaha!”

I stared blankly at Tess, who was laughing so hard his Adam’s apple was showing. He was normal. He wasn’t drunk. I had wondered whether he’d gotten drunk while delivering the beer, but he was perfectly normal.

“Calm down and say it again.”

“Ah! Haha. I got too excited. I’m sorry. Ahem. First, please look at this. Sio gave it to me.”

What Tess took out from his chest was a neatly folded brown sheet of paper. Tess carefully unfolded the paper.

Hidden inside the folded paper was none other than a topographic map. A map showing this Death Land and the royal castle of the fallen kingdom.

“A map?”

“Yes, that’s right. One of the elders is checking it right now, but for some reason he says he can’t feel any malevolent aura in this Death Land or the royal castle of the fallen kingdom. I came along just in case, but this place is truly a jackpot.”

“So what exactly is the jackpot?”

“A tourist attraction.”

“A tourist attraction in ruins like this…?”

“That’s a good idea.”

The voice that cut me off was cold and composed. It was Lee Hyo-ju. She approached with shining eyes.

“The tyrant who governed the Death Land has been annihilated by Kim Han. Moreover, all the high-grade undead capable of becoming leaders have been annihilated, and the corrupted world tree that was creating evil spirits in the Forest of Wailing has been purified and collected. In other words, I think the malevolent aura in this whole area will gradually be purified, except for the Wandering Swamp.”

“Oh! So that’s it! Indeed!!”

Tess and the White Tower Master Album clapped their hands and chimed in. The three continued talking.

“At present, most of the buildings in this royal castle of the fallen kingdom are preserved. Moreover, if we manage and repair it carefully, there would be enough room to build lodging or resort facilities around it. And there’s plenty of land. Using this land to build a tourist site like a historical theme park wouldn’t be bad. If we leave it alone, the Dark Empire or the Holy Realm Alliance will gladly snatch it up.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying! Haha.”

Their conversation continued after that, and I stepped back and sipped my beer.

It wasn’t some amusement park, so I couldn’t understand what they meant by building a theme park here. We were already busy enough killing other representatives as it was.

However, I had no idea at the time that the impact of this historical theme park would be much greater than I had imagined.