Chapter 1683: Chapter 1681: Money Is No Object (What If I Want to Slack Off)

The days just went by like this.

Lina Inverse had no idea how anxious Fang Zheng was. She continued to flirt with Takasato, infuriating Fang Zheng, who cursed the Fire Dragon King and the King of the Underworld as a bunch of idiots for not taking action sooner rather than wasting time here... Oh well, besides continuing to wait, there was nothing else he could do.

But that didn’t mean Fang Zheng had nothing to do.

Having acquired Roswaal’s territory, Fang Zheng naturally also inherited Roswaal’s troubles, namely — the Demon Beast Forest.

No one knew exactly how many Demon Beasts were in the Demon Beast Forest, and in fact, no one dared to venture deep inside. Even Roswaal himself, his task was only to station there to prevent Demon Beasts from escaping the forest and causing destruction deep within the Kingdom of Lugnica.

Speaking of which, the fact that the Court Archmage was stationed there alone indicated the danger of the Demon Beast Forest.

However, for Fang Zheng, this naturally was not an issue.

"Welcome, Your Excellency Fang Zheng."

Seeing Fang Zheng arrive at the Adventurers’ Guild, the receptionist naturally stood up with a smile to greet him and then curiously glanced behind Fang Zheng.

"Why don’t I see the others today?"

"They’re all resting now. I came to the guild today for something."

"What’s that?"

Faced with Fang Zheng’s response, the receptionist couldn’t help but be curious. Previously, when Fang Zheng appeared at the Adventurers’ Guild, it was mostly to choose tasks for the Priestess of the Goddess and the others. Of course, since Fang Zheng himself hadn’t registered as an adventurer, he couldn’t take on tasks here, which made the receptionist a bit curious about Fang Zheng’s solo visit.

"I want to issue a commission, are you willing to take it?"

"Of course, please come in."

Treatment toward clients and adventurers was naturally different. Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, the receptionist immediately invited Fang Zheng to a guest room inside.

"May I ask what Mr. Fang Zheng wishes to commission?"

"It’s simple, I wish to commission the clearing of Demon Beasts in the Demon Beast Forest."

"The Demon Beast Forest..."

Upon hearing this, the receptionist frowned with some doubt.

"The Demon Beast Forest... isn’t that the territory of the Kingdom of Lugnica?"

"It belongs to me now."

"What?!"

Upon hearing this, the receptionist widened her eyes in surprise and quickly stood up.

"Does this mean you’re the Lord now?"

"No, you misunderstood. I’m saying Lugnica gave that land to me, not granted it as a title. From now on, it’s my territory and has nothing to do with Lugnica."

"What?!"

This time, the receptionist even shrieked. After all, this was big news! How come she knew nothing about it?

But thinking carefully, if what Fang Zheng said was true, Lugnica would surely be reluctant to spread it.

"Can we continue?"

"Of course, but Your Excellency Fang Zheng, the Demon Beast Forest is quite far from here; even by carriage, it would take a significant amount of time. I’m afraid most adventurers would be reluctant to take on such a task..."

"I have a way to create a large Teleportation Gate that connects here to the Demon Beast Forest, allowing instant travel."

"A large Teleportation Gate?"

Upon hearing this, the receptionist was once again shocked and stood up. She certainly knew this Excellency Fang Zheng had divine skills, but a large Teleportation Gate capable of long-distance connections? Once this technology comes to light, there would almost be no country on the continent not desiring it!

Yet, this person merely wants to clear the Demon Beast Forest...

"Any more questions?"

"No, none."

Faced with Fang Zheng’s query, the receptionist hesitated for a moment and then shook her head. After that, she didn’t dare to sit down again for fear of having to jump up once more.

"Then, next are my requirements."

As Fang Zheng spoke, he took out a map, and seeing this map, the receptionist was once again filled with curiosity.

Unlike the hand-drawn maps the receptionist was familiar with, this map looked like a landscape painting—put simply, as if someone had drawn the entire Demon Beast Forest vividly from the sky. This naturally piqued the receptionist’s curiosity, but with so many things Fang Zheng had already taken out, she was somewhat prepared mentally.

"According to our preliminary reconnaissance, the entire Demon Beast Forest is divided into five areas."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng drew a circle on the map.

"These areas are roughly distributed like this. The Level One Area is inhabited by the lowest-ranked Demon Beasts, while the Level Five Area has the highest. Some places also need manual exploration. In any case, I’ve already marked these areas; those mercenaries can freely choose which area to head towards. As for rewards, they are distributed by rank: in the Level One Area, a single Demon Beast is worth ten gold coins, and every level increase adds ten gold coins. In other words, a single Demon Beast in the Level Five Area is worth fifty. If there are additional rare enemies or findings, further negotiations can be conducted."

"That’s quite a large amount of money."

Having listened to Fang Zheng’s explanation, the receptionist became visibly solemn. The Demon Beast Forest is renowned; the number of Demon Beasts there is more than tens of thousands; even at the lowest rate of ten gold coins per Beast, that’s astronomical. Now the receptionist was glad she hadn’t sat down, or she might be jumping up again in shock.

"Money is not an issue. Problems that can be solved with money aren’t problems."

While this world may not have an FBI, Fang Zheng’s sights were already set on Lugnica.

Why not spend the money in the national treasury?

Anyway, the gold coins don’t have any anti-counterfeit marks or numbers.

"Well, I’ll leave the rest to you."

After Fang Zheng’s commission task was posted at the Adventurers’ Guild, it immediately stirred up a huge commotion. Because Fang Zheng provided a Magic Circle for long-distance teleportation, adventurers could go out early in the morning, work, and then return home directly in the evening to drink and eat meat. As a result, many adventurers accepted the commission, not just from here, but even adventurers from nearby flocked to join, attempting to get a piece of the action.

After all, the reward was incredibly generous, and even just killing demon beasts in the lowest Level One Area could earn them a lot of money. For those new adventurer teams, this was equivalent to a grand event and the best opportunity to upgrade their equipment.

Initially, mostly newcomers and low-level adventurers joined in; they were responsible for clearing the outer areas of the forest. Once the outer low-level demon beast zones were relatively safe, the more capable adventurer teams began to take action, venturing deeper into the forest, each using their skills to hunt demon beasts.

"I really didn’t expect you’d solve the Demon Beast Forest problem this way."

Standing by the window, watching the noisy adventurers in the distance, Beatrice’s expression was exceedingly complex.

"I originally thought you would take action yourself."

"Of course I could, with one sword, I could easily destroy the entire forest, but then what?"

Fang Zheng threw a grape into his mouth and smirked.

"Destroying the entire forest, how many years and how much money would it take to replant trees and restore it?"

"But I think you’re spending a lot of money now, aren’t you?"

"It doesn’t matter; money is meant to be spent."

And it’s not like I’m spending my own money.

"Knock, knock, knock."

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door, and then Ram and Rem came in.

"Lord Fang Zheng, Kurche Karsten of the Karsten Family requests to see you."

"Kurche? Who’s that?"

Hearing this unfamiliar name, Fang Zheng was momentarily surprised, while Beatrice snorted lightly.

"That’s the Young Lady of the Karsten Family. The Karsten Family is a noble in the Kingdom of Lugnica, very prestigious, and that Young Lady is not someone easy to deal with."

Saying this, Beatrice turned and headed back to the library.

"It seems you have things to attend to, so Betty will leave."

"Have a rest, will you."

Waving at Beatrice’s retreating figure, Fang Zheng yawned and then looked at Ram and Rem.

"Alright, please invite that Young Lady from the Karsten Family in."

Before long, Fang Zheng saw the Young Lady named Kurche Karsten. She had long green hair, wore a male uniform that appeared quite dashing, with a longsword at her waist. Her expression was quite serious, making it obvious that she was a very stern person.

"Nice to meet you, Your Excellency Fang Zheng."

Upon seeing Fang Zheng, Kurche also greeted him with due formality.

"I am Kurche Karsten of the Karsten Family. I have come this time for an important visit."

"I figured as much. I don’t have any special ties to the Kingdom of Lugnica... What business do you have with me? Please get to the point if possible."

"It’s like this."

Faced with Fang Zheng’s response, Kurche didn’t hesitate and got straight to the point.

"I heard you are hiring adventurers to clear the Demon Beast Forest?"

"Yes, is there a problem?" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Of course not..."

Kurche shook her head.

"But I also heard you’ve used a mysterious method to detect the location of all the demon beasts in the Demon Beast Forest?"

"Pretty much... So?"

"I hope you can use this method to help me find a certain demon beast."

"No problem... Is it in the Demon Beast Forest?"

"No."

Faced with Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Kurche shook her head.

"This demon beast is elusive, but it is a great enemy of humans. Regrettably, we’ve always hoped to kill this demon beast but have never been able to find its location..."

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Fang Zheng’s interest piqued a little.

"What is the name of this demon beast?"

Faced with Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Kurche swallowed hard and then looked up at Fang Zheng.

"White Whale."