93 – Items (4) (Revised)
From the perspectives of Merilda, Lynn, and Sarong, they were well aware that at this moment, whatever action they took had little significance.
Kim Hyun-woo currently had no knowledge of the chaos caused by their battle.
However, even if they knew this, the reason they all tried to act was due to the situation they were anticipating.
If, just if, Kim Hyun-woo found out that the path was destroyed by the heroes?
Of course, as the result is the result, there was a chance that it wouldn’t be easy to just pass by without hearing anything special. However, that was just a probability to some extent, and Kim Hyunwoo certainly had a probability of reproaching them.
And the three heroes immediately associated with this situation were heroes who were not only extremely afraid but even panicked at the mere thought of Kim Hyunwoo having negative feelings towards them.
In other words, for the slim chance, not even 1%, that no one would know as long as they kept their mouths shut, they leaped into the Roland Forest as soon as stories from beyond the Lord’s Castle reached them.
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Of course, amidst this, incidents like casting spells at each other or pulling out nearby trees and hurling them occurred quite frequently.
In this situation where Kim Hyunwoo might feel uncomfortable if he noticed, they each did more work than others, thinking about the possibility of getting caught, to instill the perception of “I did more work than others in case we were caught!” in each other’s minds.
…Of course, every time they carried out a disturbance operation, some unfortunate road would be destroyed or the entire forest would be pushed aside, but it wasn’t that important to them.
From the beginning, the only thing important to them was not earning Kim Hyunwoo’s resentment.
So, without anyone saying who should go first, they arrived at the Roland Forest in an instant and immediately began cutting down trees around the forest.
Thud!
When the absolute ruler of darkness swung his sword, ten trees were instantly cut down.
Kwaaang!
As Merilda swung her nails, the trees shattered as if they were made of twigs, scattering in all directions.
Chit-!
Using Adria’s body, the life dragon casually waved its hand, instantly burning the tree stumps and cutting down the trees.
Materials began to pile up in an instant.
And at some point,
Merilda, Lynn, and the life dragon, who had been watching each other, disappeared from the Roland Forest in an instant.
Like the wind.
Of course, distant booming sounds could still be faintly heard, but there was no longer anyone in the Roland Forest.
The only things present were countless cut trees and the empty, desolate ground left by them… that was all that remained.
Originally.
“…”
Kelba, who had been absentmindedly observing the situation in Roland’s forest, looked at the wide clearing with a bewildered expression.
Certainly, just 20 minutes ago, the space that was densely filled with the forest was now completely empty.
“…What on earth?”
Muttering to himself, Kelba unconsciously lowered his gaze.
There, the makeshift summoning circle he had discreetly prepared in case all 50 summoning circles he had drawn in Roland’s forest were somehow destroyed was gruesomely shattered, with only a portion of it remaining.
In fact, calling it a makeshift summoning circle was an understatement; similar to when he prepared the summoning circles, he had diligently prepared this one for seven years.
Even though he had prepared it discreetly, it was by no means haphazardly done. Given his meticulous and thorough nature, the summoning circle in Roland’s forest was not only a contingency for when all 50 summoning circles were destroyed but had taken even more time to prepare than any other summoning circle.
At least, with this one summoning circle, he could cover about ten summoning circles drawn in the village.
“…What in the world…”
Kelba recalled the hardships he had endured.
In this forest, which emitted a unique magical power and always induced hallucinatory effects on those entering, he had truly suffered while drawing this summoning circle.
He could have drawn it elsewhere immediately, but at least in his opinion, there was no other place as safe as Roland’s forest to conceal summoning circles.
Roland’s forest was fundamentally a place where trees imbued with magic grew, making it excessively dangerous for lumberjacks. Moreover, with the help of a mage, magic-infused trees could be created easily.
In other words, it was a place where, seven years ago, the demons, ignorant of the intermediate realm, had gradually built a village, recruited followers, and learned about human knowledge. Among these, they had focused on economic activities and learned about land, realizing the principles of supply and demand…
It was a place containing the essence of knowledge about Roland’s intermediate realm.
…In reality, Kelba’s choice was not wrong.
He had never been caught drawing summoning circles in the past seven years, and until today, the summoning circles remained intact for activation.
Yeah, just a moment ago.
“…”
Kelba looked down at the summoning circle.
Could there possibly be a way to restore it? With that thought in mind, Kelba reached out to the summoning circle.
Ssshhh!
As soon as Kelba’s hand touched it, the summoning circle made a sizzling sound, as if it had already lost its power, and melted away.
And Kelba, who was watching it.
“Heh-“
Unbeknownst to himself, a hollow laughter escaped his lips as he twisted his mouth and smiled for the first time since coming to the intermediate realm.
“Ha… hahahahaha…”
Then, he laughed like he had never laughed before in the intermediate realm.
“hahahaha-!”
It was as if he had never laughed like this even when he was in the demon realm, so much so that Kelba laughed until the forest of Roland trembled.
And then.
“Hey, you-“
Kelba had learned it in the intermediate realm, but he had never thought of saying such a vulgar word, never once uttered it on his lips-
“-You f*cking bastards!!!!”
-he spat out a curse, expressing his burning anger.
####
The next day.
“…So, are you saying that all the materials have arrived now?”
“Yes… Well, I’m not entirely sure, but this morning, before urgently inquiring about the materials towards the Mahtap and upper sections, I went to report the exact material requirements based on the information I had gathered from the hot springs side… and all the materials were already there.”
“…Including wood?”
“Well, wood is there, of course, but beyond that, all the necessary materials were laid out. In fact, not just enough but rather quite abundant…”
Watching Karok, who seemed perplexed as if not understanding the situation despite explaining it himself, Kim Hyunwoo made a peculiar expression but soon continued speaking.
“Just to be sure, check the materials, and if there’s really nothing unusual, proceed with the construction.”
“Understood. Then, let’s proceed as planned.”
After hearing the words, Kim Hyunwoo, who had been watching Karok leave with his head bowed, spoke again.
“Loria.”
[Yes, my lord.]
“…By any chance, have you received anything as a quest reward?”
[No, I haven’t. Also, if your question is about the sudden appearance of materials outside the territory, it’s definitely not something that came as a system reward.]
“Then?”
[…That’s an affair outside the territory, so I…]
“…Fair enough.”
‘Even though the territory development level hasn’t reached 2000. What on earth is this?’
Kim Hyunwoo spoke like that and opened the information window but soon shrugged his shoulders.
There was no immediate way to know where the materials came from, but ultimately, as long as there was nothing wrong with the materials, there was no problem.
‘…Of course, even though it’s not a reward, it’s strange for materials to suddenly appear overnight.’
At least from Kim Hyunwoo’s perspective, materials were needed.
“I should look into this as well.”
He thought that he should find out where the sudden appearance of materials came from, while at the same time hoping that there would be no issues with the materials.
And then.
“Your Highness, I have brought it.”
“Thank you.”
“No, not at all. Well then!”
Kim Hyun-woo was able to receive a ledger from the guards right away.
It was a fairly thick ledger, about three volumes in total.
When Kim Hyun-woo flipped through the ledger, he saw numerous names densely written on it, along with numbers written next to them.
“…They’ve organized it quite well.”
What Kim Hyun-woo was currently looking at was a ledger that recorded the number of times mercenaries had used the magnifying glass and taken a picture of the ceiling since the recent introduction of the ceiling system. He had asked the guards to bring the ledger to check how well the ceiling system was being utilized.
“Indeed, the ceiling system seems to have been effective.”
As Kim Hyun-woo confirmed the ledger, he smiled with that thought in mind.
To be honest, he was a little worried because the ceiling was not a confirmed item but a lower-grade magnifying glass. However, the ceiling system was fulfilling its role even better than he had expected.
Considering how many mercenaries had already taken pictures of the ceiling, it seemed that some had taken more than three times.
“Some have already taken more than three times?”
Kim Hyun-woo, who confirmed that there were mercenaries who had already taken pictures of the ceiling more than three times, despite the fact that the ceiling system had been introduced not long ago, was quite surprised.
“…”
Soon, he found himself unable to close his mouth.
And that was understandable.
[Elena: Total Purchase Count: 272 times Ceiling: 3 times.]
“…”
The reason it was written in the ledger he was currently looking at was because there was a very familiar name to Kim Hyun-woo.
“Elena… What are you doing?”
Kim Hyun-woo sighed quietly.
And then, three days later.
The personnel from the processing plant who confirmed that the materials were in good condition immediately began the construction of the hot spring, and in just three days, they succeeded in building the hot spring building, albeit a bit simple.
[The territory’s development score has reached 2000, so you have completed the ‘second clue’.]
Kim Hyun-woo was able to obtain the second clue.