Genius Blacksmith's Game

Before they departed from the Papal Palace of Ares Church.

Hyun sent a reply to Barad.

The content of the reply was simple.

‘I will depart for the Kingdom of Goyard at once, leading Saint Aria and the Holy Knights. Since she has said she will offer the Saint’s Prayer, please do not worry too much.’

It would not be too late to explain the full story afterward.

Flap flap flap—

After sending off the hawk, Hyun turned to look at Aria and the Holy Knights, already prepared.

[Holy Knight Cocoon Lv.323]

[Holy Knight Zenel Lv.331]

Levels high enough to make his heart tremble.

It drove home once more just how incredible a person Saint Aria was.

And Ares Church, concerned about Aria’s recent kidnapping and the loss of the Fifth Calamity by the Cult of Calamity, had assigned the ten greatest Holy Knights of Ares to guard her.

The Holy Knights mounted their horses and pulled on ragged, beggar-like robes.

When Hyun looked puzzled, Aria explained.

“Every move we make can become fodder for gossip. That’s why the Holy Knights and I act like wanderers whenever we go out.”

At those words, Hyun nodded.

They urged their horses forward, galloping, and a reply arrived.

[Right now, a man called Marquis Lukburk and eight nobles wish to meet you. In addition......]

Barad explained the current situation in full.

‘They’re after His Majesty Barad’s throne?’

Even to Hyun, that was something to get angry about. And there was something even more shocking.

The part about assassins having infiltrated the place.

When he explained that to Aria, she said,

“A powerful entrance would be best. That’s what His Majesty Barad needs right now.”

Hyun understood that as well.

Why Barad wasn’t simply purging the assassins on the spot.

He wondered if he could really deliver that “powerful entrance.”

‘When I’m still only in the 200s.......’

Something flashed through his mind.

He took it out from his inventory.

The brown coat dropped by Fifth Calamity Jack.

Surprisingly, the coat looked similar to a modern-day coat.

It might have looked like nothing more than a piece of cloth, but it possessed truly astounding power.

(Coat of Calamity)

Grade: Unique

Durability: 9,000/9,000

Defense: 403

Restriction: Level 200 or higher

Special Abilities:

· Charisma +30.

· Active Skill: Calamity’s Majesty.

· Active Skill: Calamity’s Command.

· Passive Skill: Calamity’s Command.

· Passive Skill: Instant Death.

· When additional Calamity Artifacts are equipped, all effects increase by 5%.

Description: An artifact closest to Legendary, symbolizing Fifth Calamity Jack.

An artifact closest to Legendary.

‘So each of the Calamities has one of these artifacts?’

He could infer as much from the artifact’s description.

Looking over the effects, Hyun was impressed.

‘With this.......’

He could make a strong entrance. Hyun immediately equipped the brown coat.

By the time they had ridden on for a while, rain had begun to fall.

Ssssshhh—

Cutting through that rain, they reached the Kingdom of Goyard.

As he walked the corridor and made his way inside, Hyun activated it at once.

[Calamity’s Majesty]

[Strange phenomena occur as if a Calamity were approaching, and you emit a powerful aura of pressure.]

[As a visual effect, every step you take sends black currents scattering from your toes.]

[Status effect Fear is applied.]

Hyun walked in with as imposing a demeanor as he could muster.

He fixed his eyes on the eight nobles threatening Barad, as if looking down on petty insects.

And standing at the entrance, he gave them a warning, then walked farther inside.

Standing in the center, he began the countdown.

“One.”

Deputy Commander Brock of the Red Dragon Corps, hidden above, could not help his confusion.

[Assassin Brock Lv.299]

“Two.”

Who could have guessed this stranger would see through their existence?

And yet, his assassin’s senses were telling him that the man was weak.

Brock revised his thinking.

‘We cannot kill Barad.’

In that case, they would kill the nobles in this hall and the man standing in front.

Before the count of three finished, the assassins, taking Brock’s signal, moved like flashes of light.

‘It’s done......!’

Brock felt a thrill as he drove his dagger toward Hyun’s neck.

Three centimeters between dagger and throat.

Just then—

[Calamity’s Command]

[Calamity’s Command seizes everything nearby with telekinesis.]

[The force is so overwhelming that no movement is possible.]

[Duration: 6 seconds.]

Brock could move nothing but his eyes.

With those eyes, he looked around.

The assassins aiming for the nobles, and the other members targeting the man in front, were all caught in midair as if time itself had stopped.

The man, his gaze chilling, lowered the arm he had raised.

Fwoooooosh!

Brock saw swords, shining with the name “Ares” etched into them, slice in a single stroke.

Having lost one arm, Brock watched as his men were cut cleanly in two—and then he blacked out.

Hyun walked past the fallen Brock, and he saw Barad nod in a way that others could not see.

And then it began. The stage they had set together.

“Why did you have to come?”

“My benefactor. Because it was Hyun who asked, I had no choice.”

At the affection in Saint Aria’s eyes, the nobles stumbled back.

Marquis Lukburk looked at Barad, Hyun, and Aria, his gaze shaking.

Then one of the nobles said something he should never have said.

“Th-thank you for saving us.”

Marquis Lukburk’s face twisted in ruin. The man had given them pretext.

Sword King Barad rose to his feet.

“I see. Hyun, you saved the eight greatest nobles of the kingdom. You all must feel an immense debt of gratitude toward my friend.”

Barad’s eyes grew sharp like a hawk’s.

Under that gaze dissecting him, Lukburk slowly bowed his head and was forced to admit it.

“I too feel great gratitude toward that man.”

“Do you, now?”

Strength returned to Sword King Barad. In a voice gone cold, he said,

“Come to think of it, there have been matters far too cruel taking place lately in the territory you govern......”

At last, Barad had his justification.

Now the people would stand on Barad’s side.

And so he would finally do what he had long hesitated to do.

“You and the nobles here—how about you try bringing prosperity to Araham Territory?”

Araham Territory.

The kingdom’s outermost borderland, all but abandoned due to its barren soil and the monsters swarming the surroundings.

For twenty years, the territory’s people had been steadily fleeing to find new homes.

The reason for sending them there was simple.

They were being demoted.

From the most luxurious and splendid territories to the most wretched place, where it would never be strange if they were attacked and killed at any time.

“We receive Your Majesty’s command.”

Marquis Lukburk and the nobles no longer had any power left to defy him.

And Barad looked at Hyun with an expression full of excitement.

‘He was just one among dozens I’d kept in my heart.’

A single hope—that he might be able to make Hyun his friend.

Hyun was now making that hope real.

At last, what Barad had planned was about to be realized.

*****

A notification rang in Hyun’s ears.

[Sword King Barad’s long-held dream is coming to fruition.]

[And it all began at your fingertips.]

[You take one step closer to him.]

Hyun’s expression turned puzzled, and Barad said,

“Make it known to all the people.”

Barad looked at Hyun as if he were proud of him.

“That here today, one man saved eight nobles and Sword King Barad. And that he will also save Bella.”

[Stories of one man spread among all the people.]

[Stories of the man who saved Sword King Barad, the eight nobles, and Bella.]

[The people repeat his tale.]

[Bards compose songs about him.]

[The people show boundless favor toward you, who saved the king, the nobles, and Bella.]

[You gain 500 Renown.]

[You gain 100 Charisma.]

“Kneel before Hyun.”

Hyun’s face remained puzzled. He did not know what dream Barad had been harboring.

He only knelt as told.

Following his lead, Aria and the Holy Knights stepped outside.

Everyone of the Kingdom of Goyard present in that place knelt as Hyun had.

“To you who saved everyone here, I wish to bestow the title of Junior Baron.”

Hyun could not help his shock at those words.

[You may rise to the rank of Junior Baron, one of the noble titles of the Kingdom of Goyard.]

[Junior Barons receive 5,000 gold per month from the state.]

[You may command and lead soldiers.]

Hyun had just gained the ability to receive roughly 5 million won every month, indefinitely.

‘But it’s not enough for me.’

He’d had many such offers before. To accept the title of Junior Baron simply because of his friendship with Barad?

‘Refusing would be right.’

Just then—

[You may one day become king.]

That thought turned on its head.

Barad was smiling faintly, nodding slowly.

He too had to know that Hyun would not remain a mere Junior Baron.

On the Korea server, there were about 200 users who held the title of Junior Baron.

There were 23 Barons.

Seven Viscounts.

And about two Counts.

But not a single one of them—

‘I’ve never heard this notification.’

Hyun’s heart pounded.

He had been the weak one. And now there was a message saying that weakling might become a king.

“I receive Your Majesty’s command.”

[You have risen to Junior Baron of the Kingdom of Goyard.]

Barad wore a satisfied smile.

Before long, he looked down the long corridor.

It was a sign, telling Hyun to go save Bella.

Just then, a notification reached Hyun.

Ding!

[Sudden Quest: The Woman Who Has Resolved to Die has been generated.]

[Sudden Quest: The Woman Who Has Resolved to Die]

Grade: A

Restriction: One who will save Bella

Reward: ???

Penalty on failure: None.

Description: Bella may fall into rest within a few days. Put her at ease.

Hyun’s expression turned puzzled before he went to see Bella.

Because the reward was listed as ???.

But he decided not to worry about [N O V E L I G H T] it for now.

He hurried his steps to go see Bella.

*****

Special User Management Team.

Team Leader Kim murmured,

“Bella was meant to die in the first place.”

She was a pitiable woman.

She possessed talent that could match the Sword King himself. As time passed, she would only have shone brighter.

“Now she’s going to be able to keep growing.”

Of course, Ares had such high freedom that unpredictable things like this happened from time to time.

And the two of them knew what the reward hidden behind ??? was.

“Loyalty, huh......”

Kim Taeseok gave a bitter smile.

The loyalty of a woman whose talent could succeed the Sword King—that was the reward.

This was the problem.

[Sword King Barad will bestow a great reward upon user Hyun, who saved Bella.]

[Among those rewards, he may later send Bella to him.]

The way the Special User Management Team predicted rewards was simple: notifications told them.

And the Hyun they had seen was sharp.

If he saved Bella, Hyun had every confidence that Barad would give him something on par with that—if not more.

And the notifications were proof of that.

But soon Kim Taeseok said,

“Do you really think Sword King Barad could order Bella to follow Hyun, and she’d obey?”

“No. I don’t think so. Bella’s loyalty to Barad is far greater and deeper than what Sword King Barad thinks—or what we think.”

“Right. And faced with Bella’s adamant refusal, Barad will later retract that order.”

The two finished their conversation and got to their feet.

Three in the afternoon. Monitoring so many users, they hadn’t even eaten.

On their way to get food, they chatted.

“Radiance will need outstanding knights.”

“NPCs sometimes accomplish things users can’t.”

Users logged into the game, but NPCs lived there.

And that was why NPCs had the great power to turn the users’ finiteness into something infinite.

And it was also NPCs who bore the responsibility of defending bases.

After their late meal, the two of them returned.

When he got back, Kim Taeseok was stunned by the notification on the monitor.

[Liege’s Grace is activated.]

[...]

[...]

[...]

Taeseok stared at the final notification, unable to believe his eyes.

[Knight Bella holds another sun in her heart.]