170 – Competition (4)
Kim Hyun-woo and Elena’s gazes intertwined in amazement.
One with a blank expression on his face.
The other with an expression that gradually felt shame and embarrassment.
“Th, this is-!”
Elena hurriedly backed away from the mirror and tried to explain herself, hiding the catsuit she was holding behind her.
“Th, that’s why I suddenly wondered why something like this was lying around in the office?! And I just picked it up, but somehow I just happened to hold it in both hands, so I was just holding it like that, Your Majesty!”
A desperate excuse.
Kim Hyun-woo smiled awkwardly at her words, which perfectly explained why she was holding the catsuit in such a way, in just one sentence.
“Oh, I see.”
In fact, there was still a question as to why she was standing in front of the mirror with the clothes on, but he didn’t ask about that part.
Because when he saw her face, which seemed like it was about to burst into flames, he figured that the moment he asked, he might not be able to see Elena for a few days.
“First of all, can I have that?”
“Oh, yes.”
At Kim Hyun-woo’s words, Elena approached him as if she understood, holding the clothes she was holding in both hands to give to Kim Hyun-woo.
And that moment.
“My Lord, I have something to tell you, but-…huh?”
Kim Hyun-woo could see the Hero King’s face as he opened the door and entered at a good time.
“Ah…”
Elena sighed lowly at him.
Charles looked at Elena like that, at the clothes she was holding, and at Kim Hyun-woo, and with a very confused face.
“So, sorry…I’m acting like an idiot.”
He hurriedly turned to go out.
“Oh, no, it’s not like that, so you don’t have to leave!”
Kim Hyun-woo immediately turned around to block Charles, who was about to go out, and let out a deep sigh at the twisted situation.
Shortly thereafter, after listening to Elena’s very simple morning report, Kim Hyun-woo sighed as he watched her go out to work as usual… no, with a slightly more clumsy movement than usual, and spoke to Charles.
“So. What’s up?”
“Ah, that’s…”
In response to Kim Hyun-woo’s question, the Hero King, who had been hanging her head with a flushed face until now, scratched her cheek awkwardly and said,
“Can I ask something else first?”
“…Something else?”
“That thing I saw earlier…”
“Ah.”
At Charles’ question, Kim Hyun-woo felt dizzy.
In the first place, he had sent Elena away, saying that he would talk to Charles first and explain it in the next report because he couldn’t find a proper excuse for her.
Of course, naturally, there was nothing particularly difficult for Kim Hyun-woo to explain.
If he just summarized the story from yesterday briefly and simply in one or two lines, this story would be over.
However, the problem was that summarizing the story in one or two short lines wouldn’t be of much help to Charles or Elena right now.
So, as Kim Hyun-woo was agonizing over it and making an awkward expression.
“My, my lord…! To find my clothes-“
Thanks to Lynn who suddenly opened the door and came in.
“Ah.”
“…”
“…..”
Fortunately, Kim Hyun-woo was able to avoid any explanation.
…To be honest, it was a bit ambiguous to say that he was glad.
####
After some time, after Lynn returned with her clothes, the Hero King, who had been making a very subtle expression, finally brought up the main topic.
“So…you’re saying you don’t have a weapon?”
“Yes, as I said last time, I don’t have a weapon because I’ve already used up most of my weapons. So, I was wondering if I could get some of the weapons left in Rartania…”
Kim Hyun-woo nodded at Charles’ story.
Unlike other heroes, Charles was a hero who could only exert her full power with an artifact, so the fact that she didn’t have an artifact meant that she couldn’t exert her original power.
However, the problem was that Kim Hyun-woo didn’t have an artifact right now.
‘Even so, it’s ambiguous to buy it right now.’
Kim Hyun-woo glanced sideways and looked at the wealth window.
[Red Stone: 1125] [Blue Stone: 125] [Gold: 422,331] [Magic Stone: 382,421]
Right now, thanks to the red stone he used right after blowing up the Eastern Allied Clan last time, Rartania’s wealth hasn’t decreased that much.
‘If I exchange all the remaining magic stones… I think I can collect up to 20,000 red stones.’
Unfortunately, there was no artifact that could be purchased with the remaining 10,000 stones after purchasing the dungeon package.
“Um… First of all, it seems a bit difficult to give you an artifact right now.”
“Then, let’s go.”
“First of all, I’ll try to get something from outside. The only thing I can get right now is a proposal ring.”
Charles listened quietly to Kim Hyun-woo’s bitter laugh as he talked about the artifact he could buy for about 10,000 red stones, and then spoke blankly.
“That too. It might be okay…”
“Huh?”
“Ah, no, no…!”
Kim Hyun-woo, who had been looking bewildered at the Hero King who had spoken in a hurry, soon let out a low exclamation of “Ah” as he pondered.
“Come to think of it, there is something I can give you.”
“Really? What is it?”
Kim Hyun-woo told Charles, who was tilting his head, to wait a moment, and immediately moved his body to open the door and headed somewhere.
Like that, a little later.
“First of all, I’m going to try to get a new artifact here and there, so can you use this for now?”
“This is…”
The hero king was able to receive the Execution Sword from Kim Hyun-woo.
####
The fact that Kim Hyun-woo spent a night with Lynn spread throughout Lartania very quickly once again and at the same time reached the ears of many heroes.
And.
“Huh~♪”
Thanks to that, a strange atmosphere was forming in the Round Table, a space where heroes could currently gather.
Right now, Lynn, the source and center of the rumor, was sitting at the Round Table with a face full of endless smiles.
Shadra and River were making expressions soaked in a deep sense of defeat.
Of course, no other heroes had arrived yet, but even so, everyone gathered here could be sure.
That this atmosphere would not disappear no matter who came.
Creak-!
Just as everyone was thinking that, Merilda entered the Round Table.
“Are you here?”
Lynn, watching her come in, wagging her tail as usual, spoke first.
“Yeah.”
Merilda replied calmly.
Looking at her, Lynn smiled with satisfaction and said.
“Your words were wrong.”
“What?”
“Didn’t you say that? That you couldn’t use all your strength with me! No! When my lord was with me, it was bigger than that time!”
Lynn, intoxicated with a sense of victory, got up from her seat and talked, forgetting that there were other heroes there.
Of course, she sat down again immediately after getting up, but her unique expression full of a sense of victory did not disappear.
However.
“I see.”
“…?”
Lynn’s smile cracked slightly at the indifferent voice, and Merilda, who was looking at her, spoke with a smile on her lips.
“Why, did you think I would be jealous just because my master slept with you?”
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As Lynn made a surprised expression at Merilda’s words, she continued to speak.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter who my master spends the night with. The important thing is whether or not you were ‘chosen’.”
“!”
“You weren’t chosen, were you?”
“Ugh-!”
At Merilda’s words, Lynn frowned unconsciously.
Certainly, both Merilda and Lynn had made overwhelmingly more progress than the other heroes by spending their first night with Kim Hyun-woo, but that didn’t mean they had been chosen.
That’s why, Lynn, who had been frowning,
“Huh.”
Soon, she burst into laughter.
“?”
This time, with her expression reversed from before, Lynn spoke.
“…For someone who says it doesn’t matter because you weren’t chosen, aren’t you too sensitive?”
“!”
At Lynn’s words, Merilda realized that her own tail was puffed up as if threatening someone, and she hurriedly grabbed it with both hands.
“Th, this is just because I suddenly had a bad thought!”
“It seems that the bad thought is easy to see-“
“Nonsense! The Lord will never choose someone like you!”
“Huh?”
And the two of them naturally began to transition into their usual bickering, with Shardra and River watching them with defeated expressions.
At that moment.
“…”
Elena, who had been handling external affairs as usual instead of going to the Round Table for guard duty.
“Lady Elena? What’s the matter?”
“Ah, no, I just have something on my mind. Let’s just leave it at this for today.”
“I understand.”
She soon nodded and looked at the guards moving far away, recalling the rumors about Lynn that had spread today and the clothes she had seen this morning.
“…”
Honestly, Elena thought of the cat costume, which was more revealing than any other outfit she had ever seen.
‘…My Lord likes that kind of cosplay, huh.’
With that thought in mind, she looked at the Lord’s castle, and soon, as if she had decided on something, she looked around and began to move somewhere.
…To the recently established shady area of Lartania.