Chapter 49

Otherwise, one day, someone will come knocking on your door with a blade in hand.

None of the settlers dared to respond.

And yet, the resentment in their eyes never fully disappeared.

The moment their speech ended, Aaron wasted no time preparing for the vote.

He had offered to postpone it, but no one had wanted to wait.

Thanks to the system, the entire process—from the start of the vote to the final tally—took less than ten minutes.

The result was as expected.

“Pioneer Zachary has been elected as the first leader.”

Nox ground his teeth, but Justin merely shrugged.

If a few words had been enough to change things, the shift would have happened long ago.

His speech had been nothing more than a warning.

And if they had heard that warning and still chosen to ignore it? That was their responsibility.

As the newly elected leader, Zachary stepped forward to address the gathered people.

“As I stated earlier, nothing will change. Everything will remain as it was before. There will be no taxes, nor will this authority be used to oppress anyone. However.”

A pause.

“The system has shown us, time and time again, that pioneers and settlers are treated differently. And that disparity… will continue to exist.”

As soon as the uncomfortable topic everyone had been avoiding surfaced, the atmosphere turned heavy.

Zachary gauged the mood before reinforcing his words with newfound resolve.

“The only way to eliminate this fundamental inequality is for everyone to strive to become pioneers. I’m sure today’s events have made that clear. If you’re willing to raise your level, come to me—I’ll help however I can.”

His voice brimmed with confidence.

Clearly, he thought the speeches from Justin and Nox had made him realize the urgency of the situation.

It seemed he believed that abandoning his previously passive stance and taking a more proactive approach was the right move.

“….”
“….”

But the crowd’s reaction remained at best.

Instead of nodding in agreement, people deliberately avoided his gaze, turning their heads away.

An awkward silence followed, leaving Zachary and his faction of pioneers visibly embarrassed.

“I—I understand you’re all overwhelmed right now. Get some rest today, and starting tomorrow, come to me for assistance.”

His attempt to salvage the situation fell flat.

And truthfully, it was unlikely things would change tomorrow either.

Nox turned abruptly and left with his faction, his back stiff with frustration.

Justin, seeing no reason to linger, gathered his team and returned home as well.

Their actions seemed to trigger the rest of the crowd to disperse, leaving Zachary standing alone, visibly disoriented.

It was then that Aaron approached him.

“Congratulations on being elected as the leader. If you need advice on managing the territory, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“…Understood.”

The bitterness in Zachary’s voice was obvious, and Justin couldn’t help but smirk as he overheard it.

This situation was far from what he had envisioned.

But from Justin’s perspective, things hadn’t even started yet.

Let’s see how long you last.

“Take this!”

Crack!
“Grah—!”

With a sharp battle cry, Derek’s warhammer crashed into a gnoll’s chest, shattering it on impact.

The gnoll convulsed for a few seconds before collapsing, motionless.

Justin clapped, impressed by the display.

“Not bad. At first, you couldn’t take them down unless you hit their heads.”

“Come on, that was ages ago. This is basic stuff now.”

Whizz—Thwack!

Their banter was interrupted as an arrow shot past them, striking a charging gnoll squarely through its eye socket, avoiding the thick skull entirely.

The creature didn’t even have time for a death cry before collapsing.

“Our levels have gone up quite a bit in the past week. We’re getting used to combat too,” Nathan said confidently.

“The problem is that none of us can seem to break past level 19 to reach 20,” Ethan grumbled.

Slash—

As if on cue, Ethan swung his sword, tearing through a gnoll’s neck and nearly decapitating it. Blood splattered across his blade, and he flicked it clean with practiced ease.

“I guess there’s no solution but the grind. It was the same with the hobgoblins,” Nathan sighed.

“Should we move to a different hunting ground? We’ve gotten used to this gnoll territory,” suggested Derek.

“No, that’s too risky,” Justin cut in, his tone firm.

“For safety’s sake, it’s best if at least three of us reach level 20 first. Remember when we first moved to this place? We had three people at level 10, and even then, it was tough.”

“Yeah, but if you’re with us, wouldn’t we be fine anyway?”

“That’s only about survival odds. If I handle everything, your experience gain will slow down. You might even earn less experience here than you would sticking with gnolls.”

Besides, if their hunting speed outpaced the experience gain, it would defeat the purpose entirely.

Fighting stronger enemies would only slow them down if they weren’t fully prepared.

The group nodded in agreement, understanding his logic.

“By the way, that Zachary guy—he hasn’t changed anything since becoming the leader,” Ethan pointed out.

“He said he wouldn’t change anything from the start, but it’s already been a week,” Derek added.

Indeed, Zachary had stuck to his original promise.

He hadn’t changed a single rule, nor had he exercised any special authority.

He had simply maintained the existing order.

But from Justin’s perspective, even that was a ticking time bomb.

“It’s not that he won’t change things—it’s that he can’t.”

“Huh?”

“He said it himself from the beginning. He wanted to give everyone a taste of wealth and encourage them to become pioneers. And to do that efficiently, he’d need to tax us.”

The simplest method was clear: collect taxes from the pioneers and distribute mana stones to the settlers.

If any settlers were tempted by the wealth, they’d eventually want to become pioneers themselves, renting equipment and joining the hunt.

It was a brutal but undeniably effective system.

“But if he tries that, the other pioneers won’t sit quietly. Zachary knows that too, which is why he’s just maintaining the status quo.”

It was easy to use authority to force compliance.

The problem was that the resulting resentment could explode unpredictably.

And since pioneers still held the most military power, suppressing them could lead to catastrophic consequences if the tension ever boiled over.

“Well, he could try ruling like a tyrant and forcing everyone into line, but I don’t think he has it in him.”

If he had, he wouldn’t have spouted those idealistic speeches in the first place.