122 – Legitimate Visit (2)
Maron.
He was not only the leader of the trainee knights in Lartania but also a person who showed more loyalty to the Lord than anyone else.
Although Kim Hyunwoo did not particularly favor Maron, the reason he held such loyalty in his heart was because of the opportunity he had been given.
Kim Hyunwoo, now at an age where any possibilities were dimming, had bestowed upon Maron, who was nothing more than an ordinary soldier, the blessing of becoming a “knight.”
Moreover, not a single knight in Lartania felt no loyalty towards Kim Hyunwoo.
Fundamentally, even if a “knight” fell far short of being a “hero,” it was clear that they could gain the power to transcend being a mere “commoner.”
Anyway, Maron, who sent deep loyalty to Kim Hyunwoo, had been witnessing strange occurrences around the territory recently, more precisely, around the Lord.
…Or to be more precise, among the heroes who frequented Kim Hyunwoo, he was keenly observing peculiar conflicts.
Of course, these conflicts did not involve physical combat, naturally.
To put it more accurately, they were verbal disputes.
“You’ve changed your hairstyle? Wouldn’t it be better to stick with the previous one? It doesn’t feel that different.”
“Is that so? Still, isn’t it refreshing to change in various ways rather than sticking to one hairstyle?”
“I see. Well… sometimes, putting in effort may not yield significant results. It might just make things harder for you.”
“Don’t worry. I think it’s better to change things up a bit since your hair is so full and changing it is better than not being able to.”
At the entrance of the Lord’s castle, Maron, who was standing guard voluntarily, watched Elena and Shadra exchange words with smiles on their faces.
Their smiles remained, unwavering.
…However, their eyes were not smiling.
“You must have come to see the Lord, but wouldn’t it be better to come on another day?”
“My father said it’s fine to come whenever he has time, so it should be okay, right?”
“Is that so? Ah, now that I think about it, Shadra feels like a daughter, so it should be fine. I envy you.”
With a smile, Elena effortlessly inserted a dagger.
But upon seeing Shadra halt momentarily at her words and swiftly retaliate, Maron unknowingly let out a sigh.
Lately, every time he was on guard duty, Maron noticed that whenever the women who frequented the Lord’s surroundings met, they engaged in such nerve-wracking confrontations.
Was that all?
Since the banner reading “Congratulations on the Lord’s Marriage” was displayed last time, Elena, River, and Shadra had been coming to the Lord’s castle in peculiar attire.
Elena, unlike before, often changed her hairstyle to a tidy bun.
The guild leader and blacksmith, River, wore a peculiarly airy dress instead of his usual blacksmith attire.
Shadra was seen strolling around the Lord’s castle in revealing clothing.
Moreover, recently, in addition to discreetly bribing the guards and meticulously checking who came and went, they also subtly intervened by throwing tantrums if someone entered before them.
“…Although the Lord’s abilities are undoubtedly remarkable, even considering that… it’s a mess.”
Marlon was still watching the two stabbing each other with daggers at the entrance of the Lord’s castle, thinking that way.
####
At this point, Marlon had already witnessed the breathtaking dagger fights of the heroes several times.
After the blue merchant visited Lartania and about three days had passed, Kim Hyunwoo, as usual, organized his tasks into three things to do.
“Finding a way to meet the red merchant, slowly selecting the heroes, and thinking about the fifth.”
In reality, the first task of meeting the red merchant wasn’t that difficult.
Just as the blue merchant would come to deliver goods when buying with red stones, the red merchant would also come to hand over the purchased items once a certain amount was reached.
The only issue was that the items sold by the red merchant were event materials, but this problem could be easily solved.
When Arteil was done, if no event was held, the red merchant, unlike before, seemed to sell items according to the date even when it wasn’t an event situation.
[Surprise unveiling in 82 days!]
Kim Hyunwoo thought as he clicked on the event tab and saw the notification window.
“If it’s 82 days, the red stones should have gathered somewhat, so it might be a bit easier.”
With that thought in mind, Kim Hyunwoo closed the cash window and lifted up the report left by Elena a while ago to check.
“Are there any usable heroes this time?”
Kim Hyunwoo clicked his tongue, readjusted his interest, and put down the report.
What Elena had left was the names of the heroes who had visited the tavern that day.
Since Kim Hyunwoo could only view the stats of heroes who had entered the tavern, he instructed Elena to investigate only the heroes who had entered the tavern whenever the notification window popped up, rather than going there himself.
As a result, he was able to comfortably view the stats of the heroes who had entered the tavern, but unfortunately, he hadn’t found any heroes.
“First-rate to last-rate… How can it be so dismal?”
In fact, since the blue merchant arrived, Kim Hyunwoo had been thinking of lowering his standards to accept heroes.
However, despite the fact that the territory of Lartania had expanded considerably and buildings had been raised to level 5, only heroes who didn’t catch Kim Hyunwoo’s eye were coming to the tavern.
As a result, even after about three days and confirming around 30 heroes, Kim Hyunwoo hadn’t found a single hero.
“Sigh…”
So, Kim Hyunwoo, swallowing his breath unknowingly with an anxious expression, soon shook his head.
“Let’s not get anxious.”
Kim Hyunwoo was well aware that getting anxious was pointless.
Even if he was anxious, it wouldn’t bring in any worthwhile heroes, and selecting untalented heroes out of anxiety wouldn’t be of any help at all.
Therefore, he quietly set aside those thoughts and soon recalled the last thing to do.
“…The fifth hero…”
The fifth hero.
In Kim Hyunwoo’s perspective, this part was quite peculiar.
As far as Kim Hyunwoo remembered, there were clearly four heroes.
The King of Water Spirits.
The Absolute Master of Darkness.
The Scarlet Dragon of Red.
The Hero King.
Of course, there was also the Blue Forest Commander who met his end due to Kim Hyunwoo’s mistake in piercing the maze, but Kim Hyunwoo instinctively knew.
The Blue Forest Commander was not the answer to this conflicting memory.
It was because the Blue Forest Commander retired too quickly.
Therefore, it was said that Kim Hyun-woo was a character before creating the perfect ‘Round Table.’
However, despite being convinced of that, Kim Hyun-woo had no clear thoughts about the fifth hero.
Even if it did come to mind, it was truly vague and natural, only thinking of the fifth hero when casually counting the heroes at the Round Table.
This natural yet strange sense of discrepancy continued to drag Kim Hyun-woo into a swamp of thoughts these days, but since he only received a response from Lorel that she didn’t know either.
“…Hm.”
After pondering for a while, Kim Hyun-woo suddenly organized his thoughts and let out a light sigh.
It was instinctual for Kim Hyun-woo to realize that some trigger was needed, rather than just thinking alone, to recall this contradictory memory.
“…First, I should focus more on calling the Red Merchant and developing the territory.”
Therefore, instead of pondering about the fifth, Kim Hyun-woo decided to concentrate more on calling the Red Merchant and developing the territory, especially on calling the Red Merchant.
And so, about five days had passed at this point.
—-
Territory of Lartania.
Territory Development: 4180
[Detailed development is possible!]
Residents
[Humans: 29,108]
Owned Buildings
[Lord’s Castle LV2 ＞＞＞ Upgrading 99%] [Temporary Pause]
[City Wall LV5↑]
[Residential Area LV5]
[Blacksmith LV5]
[Barracks LV5]
[Tavern LV5]
[Market LV5]
[Lumber Mill LV5]
[Restaurant LV5]
[Tannery LV5]
[Stone Masonry LV5]
[Trade Post LV5]
[Secondary City Wall LV5]
[Inn LV5↑]
[Administrative District LV5]
[Paved Road LV4↑]
External Buildings
[Mercenary Guild LV0] [Under Construction]
[Mage Tower Branch LV1↑]
[Blacksmith Guild Branch LV1↑]
Military Forces
– Regular Soldiers: 1,000
– Guards: 200
– 200 Novice Knights
—-
＜p class=”a”＞From Noble mtl dot comKim Hyun-woo’s level had reached 5 in all buildings except the Packaging Center, and his territory development had exceeded 4000, allowing him to build a second building.
“…What should I do for the second one?”
Kim Hyun-woo was deeply contemplating how to proceed with the second development.
[The King of the Kalan Kingdom has visited your territory.]
“…Huh?”
Faced with the sudden notification window, Kim Hyun-woo couldn’t help but react unknowingly.
It was understandable since the notification window that appeared before him seemed quite out of the blue.
‘Why would the King of Kalan Kingdom…?’
Kim Hyun-woo had encountered the King of Kalan Kingdom before and had received some degree of favor, but it was odd for him to suddenly appear in this situation. He expressed his doubts, but soon after, a new notification window appeared, leaving him no choice but to juggle numerous thoughts in his head.
Especially after the notification that the King of Kalan Kingdom had visited.
—-
★★★★★☆ Hero ‘Absolute Master of Darkness’ has entered the territory.
—-
“??”
The name he was very familiar with appeared before Kim Hyun-woo’s eyes.