Season 4: Chapter 113. Nonghyup Union vs. Knights (4)
“Haaa... Who exactly is this group opposing Almond?” Zelo trudged through the middle of the village with Choco Shroom at his side.
“Right... there’s no way Black Tea would lie about it...”
They recalled what they had heard when they tried a door-to-door sale at Black Tea’s house.
“There are people who don’t want to join Almond’s Knights.”
People who didn’t want to join Almond’s Knights... That could only mean some faction stood against him. Zelo, who spent most of his time mining outside the village, had no idea about any of this.
— &#(@
— Check server chat
— I dunno?!
— #*(##@
Something was being filtered in the chat.
‘So there really is something.’
If something was being filtered, then chances were high that the group Black Tea had mentioned was indeed hiding in Cheese Village.
“Even after looking through the chat... I can’t make much sense of it.”
“Me neither...”
The Nonghyup Union and Almond had been clashing behind the scenes, but it was difficult to figure out what was happening from the chat since they never openly confronted each other.
“Ehh...” Zelo sighed and dragged his feet along.
Perhaps noticing his mood, Choco Shroom suddenly started chattering. “By the way, Mr. Zelo, I saw when you played Northland with Pickle!”
Northland was a survival game about enduring the harsh northern winter. It somewhat resembled Survival Craft in concept, but the actual gameplay was very different. Choco Shroom just tossed out the topic because she couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“I laughed so hard watching it. It was hilarious!”
— At this point, just go on a date lol
— If Zelo is happy just walking with Choco Shroom, big win~
— Choco Shroom is so sweet T_T
Zelo’s face brightened. “D-Do you play Northland? Want to collab with us sometime?”
“Huh? Oh, no... I’ve never played it before...”
— LOOOOOOL
— Gasp
— Ah...
— LMAO
— He really crossed the line...
— If you collab with them, who’s gonna save your image, bro?!
— Asking for a collab right away, insane hahaha
“Ah... I see...” Embarrassed, Zelo fell silent again.
— Can’t watch this anymore
— So awkward wow
— T_T
— Zelo, my boy...
They walked side by side, enduring the awkward atmosphere. Then, a commotion suddenly broke out, which felt like a lifesaver to Zelo.
“The Knight Commander is here!”
That title carried a heavy weight.
“Choco Shroom, doesn’t that mean it’s... Almond himself?”
Exactly, the Knights had caused the iron ore oversupply, and its leader was arriving.
“Yes! Black Tea did say they reward people for joining. They even advertised it in chat!”
The two nodded and quickly ran toward the commotion near the agricultural market.
Rustle.
They hid themselves in the bushes and watched.
Zelo’s face lit up. “This is gonna get messy.”
He could clearly see who was standing against Almond.
“How dare you! You lowly peasants dare insult the Knights?”
“W-What? Peasants? You little lackey!”
Sweet Potato, now called Potato Servant for some reason, was clearly Almond’s right-hand man. As expected of someone promoted into a Knight.
“Black Tea! How could you be like this, huh?” Donuts seemed to be the head of the opposing faction.
“The culprit is you! Almondoyle!!”
MiddleAgedDetective and Horn Ramen also appeared to be siding with Donuts.
Choco Shroom glanced back and forth with wide eyes before whispering. “By numbers alone, the opposing side has way more people, don’t they?”
“Looks that way.”
“Then...”
Their eyes met.
“Heh, heh, heh.”
“If we sell correctly, we could unload everything, couldn’t we?”
Choco Shroom felt delighted, thinking the Nonghyup Union would buy all their iron ore.
However, Zelo had a different idea. “They need to feel the difference in strength first.”
“Eh?”
“They need to fight it out. Only then will they realize, ‘We need more weapons!’ Don’t you see?”
He was right. At the end of the day, they were an arms dealer. Only through war could they thrive. The two greatest powers in Cheese Village were the Knights and the Nonghyup Union. Those forces needed to clash first, but there was a problem.
“Wait, Mr. Donuts...” The Knight Commander himself didn’t even recognize his enemy. “You’re... the Nonghyup Union?”
— ?
— ??
— What is happening?
— Almond doesn’t even know??
— The leaders don’t even know their own conflict LOL
— What is this?
Zelo and Choco Shroom, happily daydreaming about sitting on top of piles of gold, now blankly stared at Almond.
“What... is this?”
Neither of them knew what to do anymore.
***
“You’re the Nonghyup Union?”
A trace of betrayal could be heard in Almond’s voice.
‘Donuts belonged to the Nonghyup all along?’
To Almond, Donuts had arbitrarily always been a benefactor. The idea that Donuts was actually the head of the Nonghyup never even crossed his mind. Of course, this line of thinking baffled everyone.
No one could sympathize. Not even his closest allies, the servants, could follow his logic. No matter how uninterested Almond seemed in worldly affairs, none of them imagined that he didn’t even know Donuts was the Nonghyup’s leader.
‘What is this? Some kind of strategy?’
‘Or... is this digital dementia or something?’
Radish Servant and Potato Servant each came up with their own theories while they waited for the enemies to react.
“W-What? Are you saying you didn’t know I belonged to the Nonghyup Union!?” Even Donuts shouted dumbfoundedly.
“You never told me.”
— LOOOOOOL
— Fr, lmao
— Did Donuts really never tell him? Or did I just miss it?
— Ahahaha
— Wait, did he actually never mention it??
— This is killing me lolol
The truth was, Donuts had mentioned it to Almond once.
“Don’t sell today. Store it in our warehouse. Since it’ll be used jointly by the Nonghyup Union, the price is...”
When Donuts first thought that Almond came to sell potatoes, he had tried to recruit Almond into the Nonghyup Union. However, Almond had shown up with an armful of corn instead. Naturally, Donuts’s words went into one ear and out the other.
“I’ll just sell it anyway.”
Almond hadn’t paid attention to anything about warehouses or the Nonghyup. With corn prices soaring, he only cared about cashing in immediately. The surrounding villagers grew louder.
“Wait a sec... Almond doesn’t even know the Nonghyup that well?”
“But the Nonghyup Union has been acting like they’re getting crushed by him all the time.”
Murmurs spread among the other streamers gathered at the market. These regular villagers belonged to neither the Nonghyup nor the Knights.
“So Almond didn’t even care about them, but the Nonghyup have been shadow-boxing by themselves?”
“The Potato Illusion wasn’t even Almond’s scheme?”
“Didn’t they make it sound like some evil, underhanded trick?”
Surprisingly, Almond’s clueless statement stirred up a major shift that now favored the Knights.
‘No way.’
‘That actually worked?’
The servants felt flustered, but kept a dignified silence. The villagers drew their own conclusions that painted the Knights in a better light.
“They tripped over their own feet and blamed someone else.”
“Trying to unite themselves by fabricating an enemy...”
“But the so-called enemy didn’t even know they existed!”
Even if it sounded like an exaggeration, it was the simple truth for Almond. He had known of the Nonghyup Union’s existence, but never suspected they were deliberately trying to obstruct him.
He had just mistaken potatoes for something he could plant, causing the Nonghyup to collapse. Later, he simply sold his fields to avoid the monsters, which incidentally drove Black Tea into ruins, and forced her to join him.
The three elders who led Nonghyup realized the truth and felt shaken.
“S-So... that’s how it was?”
“He really didn’t even know about us to this extent?”
“Dammit...”
However, a detective was still a detective.
“E-Even so!” MiddleAgedDetective clung to the one thread left unresolved. “Gaslighting Black Tea is still undeniable, Almondoyle!!!”
— LOOOL
— Even now hahahaha
— Pathetic...
— The tide has already turned
— And yet he still insists?
Then, Horn Ramen shouted, “They sold their own fields to draw monsters toward Black Tea’s land! They tricked her into thinking they saved her, only to enslave her! Is that something humans should do!? They ruined her fields and still made her believe she owed them!”
As always, public opinion wavered. The villagers murmured and swayed once again.
“So Black Tea was set up?”
“Oh no...”
“Wow, that’s vile. The Knights are disgusting...”
“Are you even knights at this point?!”
“Boo! Boo!”
In an instant, sentiment toward the Knights plummeted.
— lol what is this?
— The villagers' acting is on point
— They just want to blame someone, anyone
— Gaslighting is a strong word, not gonna lie
Everyone turned to Black Tea. Even the Nonghyup trio watched her, expecting her to drive in the final nail.
“Black Tea, tell us. Are you still going to stay with the Knights after knowing all this!?”
“Haah...” She sighed and turned to Almond and the servants. “Do you have anything to say about this?”
She already knew what they had done and only asked because she wanted to understand what they were thinking when they deceived her.
Only silence followed.
‘Damn.’
‘Sigh...’
The servants could only stare at the sky. Almond believed this was Black Tea’s choice to make.
Feeling a little guilty, he briefly said, “Even if you leave... take the Fertile Soil and iron gear with you.”
The Fertile Soil couldn’t actually be taken away, and the iron gear was nothing compared to Almond’s total wealth.
‘H-He’d go that far?’
Black Tea’s eyes wavered. She bit her lip as if bracing her heart.
— T_T
— Holy...
— A true magnanimous man
— Wow
— Now that’s a real leader
Exhaling, she turned back to the Nonghyup Union and declared, “I’ll stay with the Knights.”
She finally made her choice.
“A-Are you serious? After all that? Even after taking the red pill!?” Horn Ramen roared in disbelief.
The villagers gasped and chattered.
“What, really?”
“Is this Stockholm syndrome or something?”
“Unbelievable...”
Black Tea sneered. “Ha? That bit about them selling their fields so monsters came to mine? I knew from the start.”
“...?”
“I also knew they only pretended to help me.”
This time, it wasn’t the Nonghyup Unin, but the Knights looked the most shocked.
‘What the hell?’
‘What?’
‘No way...’
“I’m not stupid. At first, I only signed a fake contract to protect my field and maybe even act as a spy for the Nonghyup.”
“Y-You mean...” Green Tea felt the most shaken of all.
She hadn’t betrayed them?
“But you all just assumed I had switched sides even though we never once met in secret.”
— OMG
— Unreal
— Didn’t see that coming
— Twist after twist hahaha
— Damn
“Even if it started wrong, these people treated me with sincerity. They gave me an iron set and even Fertile Soil!”
The crowd erupted. She got Fertile Soil too?
“They’re insane. The Knights...”
“Maybe I should transfer over there too?”
“That’s like top-tier pay and benefits.”
“They really do mean it.”
“If they gave her Fertile Soil, joining the Knights isn’t a bad move.”
At the mention of Fertile Soil, the tide completely shifted to the Knights. Despite the messy process, the end result had undeniable rewards.
“So, I’m staying with the Knights.” Once again, Black Tea declared her allegiance.
The debate seemed settled.
“Woooaaah!”
“Black Tea is amazing!”
“Go, Knights!”
— ??? Lmao
— Cheering like it’s a sports match
— What even is this? hahaha
— The villagers are hilarious
The villagers cheered as Black Tea decided to remain with the Knights.
‘It was given by mistake.’
‘Good thing she doesn’t know that.’
‘Phew, the junior member stays...’
Not all the truths had been revealed to her yet. She still had no idea that Almond only handed over Fertile Soil to her by accident.
— Poor Black Tea lol
— A trick within a trick within a trick
— This isn’t even the end for her hahaha
— She’s trapped in the Matrix forever lmao
— Ahahaha
Did it matter if it was false?
“Wooooaaaah!”
“Maid Black Tea! You’re the best!”
The servants spread their arms wide and joyfully cheered.