135 – The Crimson Merchant (6)
“Well, I’ve delivered all the items I had to give, so I’ll be on my way. The next conversation-“
“The Mystic Merchant, correct?”
“Yes. Please go to the Mystic Merchant.”
Saying so, the crimson merchant waved her hand once, smiled, and said, “Then I’ll be off.”
“You seem busy.”
“I don’t have much to do by being here. Also, someone seems to be quite uncomfortable, so…”
With a mysterious smile, the crimson merchant glanced upwards, prompting Kim Hyun-woo to look up with curiosity, but there was no one there.
“…?”
Kim Hyun-woo, with a puzzled expression, was the one facing the red merchant, but the crimson merchant suddenly lowered his head and looked at Kim Hyun-woo.
“Anyway, let’s consider it a day we’ll meet again next time.”
With those words, he turned around, lightly flicked his finger, turning into red dust and disappearing.
“…Leaving just like the blue merchant when he left.”
Kim Hyun-woo, who left such a comment while looking at the red merchant, soon gazed at the box she had given him.
Not that big, an item Kim Hyun-woo bought for 7,500 gold, an item that could be a clue to unlocking his potential.
Kim Hyun-woo looked at it without hesitation, tore open the wrapping of the box, and took out its contents.
“…What’s this?”
Soon, he found a very peculiar red bead inside the box.
＜p class=”a”＞From Noble mtl dot comKim Hyun-woo lifted the red bead to examine it closely.
The red bead wasn’t very big.
Though red, it was highly transparent, clear enough to see through to the back, giving a candy-like impression due to its relatively small size.
“…No taste.”
Thinking it might be a magical item, Kim Hyun-woo licked the red bead, but feeling no taste at all, he made a strange expression, realizing that the item window for the bead didn’t appear.
“Loria, could it be that this bead is the type that doesn’t show an item window?”
Rarely silent at Kim Hyun-woo’s question, Loria replied.
[Actually, I was trying to bring up the window, but… since it’s an item not in the data, some of the text is glitched, so I haven’t displayed it yet. My Lord.]
“…Could you at least show the glitched part for now?”
[Yes, understood.]
Along with Loria’s words, an alert window appeared in front of Kim Hyun-woo.
—-
Red Item (Vermilion Bead)
Grade: ????
Attack Power: ????
Trait: Release
Description: An item created by the red merchant, collecting the items below enables the use of the bead’s trait. (Details of item collection process.)
Items required to use the Red Item are as follows:
– Fang of Penril
– Branch of Yggdrasil
– Emanation of Eldra
—-
“Hmm…”
Looking at the alert window, Kim Hyun-woo sighed softly at the sight of some glitched text, but then shrugged and said,
“At least the important parts aren’t glitched, so that’s good.”
[We’ve tried our best to display the crucial parts. My Lord.]
“Thank you.”
In response to Loria’s words, Kim Hyun-woo confirmed the items needed to use the bead.
“Fang of Penril, Branch of Yggdrasil, Emanation of Eldra… huh.”
Though the names sounded grand, Kim Hyun-woo wasn’t too surprised, looking at the required items.
After all, the items listed there were materials Kim Hyun-woo had collected several times before.
“Merely a grand name, but ultimately something that can be found if sought.”
As Kim Hyunwoo pondered such thoughts and contemplated how to gather the materials, on the other hand, he was also thinking about the story the Crimson Merchant had told him today.
More precisely, he was pondering over the limit imposed on him.
“…What on earth could it be.”
To be honest, Kim Hyunwoo had no understanding whatsoever of why such a limit was imposed on him, let alone the intention behind someone setting that limit for him.
No matter how much he thought about it, there seemed to be no reason for anyone to set such a limit on him.
Therefore, after pondering for a long time about why such a limit was imposed on him, Kim Hyunwoo shrugged lightly, letting go of such thoughts.
After all, he could find out the answer by listening to the Crimson Merchant’s story next.
“…Considering the Crimson Merchant is the last resort, he probably won’t say that this time is the limit of what he can reveal.”
Moreover, since Kim Hyunwoo had already found a way to release the limit imposed on him, he decided to prioritize gathering the materials for now.
####
The Norba Kingdom.
Kelba, standing alone in a place so devoid of anything that it could no longer be called a kingdom, filled only with a dark red hue, furrowed his brows slightly.
No, it wasn’t just Kelba.
Randalon, who had sacrificed all the citizens of the Norba Kingdom as offerings, also approached Kelba with a frown.
“Kelba, what on earth is happening?”
Randalon soon asked him.
“I’m not sure either.”
“…The agreed time has long passed, Kelba. If we delay any longer, other realms will start crumbling one by one.”
“I know.”
“…But why do you keep hesitating?”
Frowning in frustration, Randalon asked Kelba.
With a heavy sigh, Kelba replied, “I paused momentarily because there hasn’t been proper communication with the other side as mentioned.”
“…Why isn’t there any communication?”
“If I knew that, I would have taken action sooner.”
While responding to Randalon’s question, Kelba furrowed his brows.
It was no wonder, as according to the original plan, the two commanders should have arrived in the middle realm three days ago, wiped out the Holy Knights from the Holy Empire, and headed to Exile to eliminate them.
However, strangely, communication with the Demon Realm had been cut off three days ago.
Not just any communication, but all forms of it.
“…Of course, even in this situation, summoning rituals can still be performed.”
Despite the lack of communication with the Demon Realm, summoning rituals could still be conducted.
Even if it incurred some losses, simply opening the gates to the Demon Realm would allow the commanders to be brought over without any issues.
However, the reason Randalon refrained from doing so was the strange unease simmering deep within him.
As far as Kelba could grasp, there was no apparent reason why communication with the Demon Realm was not possible.
If there was any time communication failed, it was only when there was a temporary disturbance in the interdimensional magic, and other than that, communication should always work fine.
In other words, the fact that communication was not happening despite there being no disturbance in interdimensional magic meant that something had happened in the Demon Realm.
But there were too many oddities to firmly believe that.
At least as Kelba saw it, there was no reason for proper communication with the Demon Realm to fail.
Although there was the First Commander present.
Even if the commander of the 1st Corps caused a commotion by accidentally discovering the truth in the interstitium, there was no reason for communication to be impossible.
No matter how strong she was, she couldn’t possibly handle all the corps commanders.
Therefore, Kelba, who had been pondering in various ways, eventually had no choice but to make a decision.
“Tsk.”
In the end, he had to open the door to the demon world, even though communication was not established.
Although communication was not established, Kelba decided to activate the magic circle he had drawn under his feet.
Woooooo-!
Soon, with a loud resonance, the magic circle encompassing the entire eastern part of the Norba Kingdom began to glow, pulling the pulsating veins painfully.
Thud-thud, throb-throb!
As the flesh that had started to be sucked into the magic circle began to spew out dark red blood, the blood flowed into the cracks of the expanded magic circle, dyeing the brightly shining magic circle red.
And at that moment.
Crack-crack-crack-!!!
As if forcibly opening a stubborn door, when the red lines began to open with a chilling sound, Kelba was able to see the commander’s conference room, which he hadn’t seen in a long time.
“!”
Kelba, unknowingly, could only open his mouth.
Inside his gaze.
“…Now it’s open?”
The Hero King, covered in purple blood, with a chilling smile, was looking at Kelba.