Genius Blacksmith's Game

Hyunsoo had just arrived in Araham Territory and was on his way to meet Commander Philip.

That was when he reacted instantly to the sound of a soldier’s voice, thick with terror.

In his field of vision, he saw a shell glowing red, giving off all the signs of an imminent explosion.

Before it could go off, Hyunsoo quickly activated Lord’s Command and contained the blast.

This power wasn’t absolute, and he was still a bit clumsy at controlling it, so he sent it rocketing up into the sky.

BOOOOOM—!

With the huge detonation overhead, Hyunsoo let out a small sigh of relief.

And then he became aware of the gazes on him from all around.

Nobles or knights.

Or commanders.

The way Hyunsoo saw it, people like that could not be allowed to panic.

‘Their agitation spreads directly to everyone around them.’

So he did his best to act like nothing had happened as he stepped up and gave the soldier in front of him a pat on the shoulder.

“You all right?”

“Yes, sir...! Thank you for saving me! But who are you?”

“I’m Junior Baron Hyunsoo. I’ve come to see the commander.”

Hyunsoo quickly spotted Commander Philip watching him.

‘Magic...?’

Commander Philip was more than a little shocked.

It was a bizarre power, unlike anything he’d ever seen in his life.

And the man wielding this magic-like power was supposed to be a blacksmith.

But Philip swiftly corrected his line of thought.

‘Is this the power Marquis Lukburk talked about?’

Marquis Lukburk had kept hammering the point.

‘He used some unknown power to stop the assassins, and then the Holy Knights cut them down.’

Certainly, that power was quite strange—but Philip still doubted it put Hyunsoo on a knight’s level in terms of martial strength.

Soon Hyunsoo approached and gave a respectful bow.

“Knight Hyunsoo, paying respects to Commander Philip.”

“You have my thanks. Thanks to you, the soldiers were spared needless sacrifice.”

Philip was a man with a strict sense of public and private matters.

He gave praise where it was due.

From the bottom of his heart, he was grateful to Hyunsoo.

[Your Affinity with Philip has increased.]

Philip moved straight to the point.

“This place is a training ground for soldiers, but it is also where knights learn command, leadership, and what it means to be a leader. I will assign thirty soldiers to you. You will take those soldiers into the subjugation zone, kill Ogres and their chieftain, and return after raising the subjugation rate to twenty percent. One warning: under no circumstances are you to enter the forest full of green leaves. It is not yet a place for a knight of your level or a subjugation squad like yours.”

[Kingdom Quest: Ogre Chieftain Hunt]

Grade: A

Restriction: Junior Baron

Reward: 3 soldiers.

Penalty on failure: Stripping of title.

Description: You have taken your first step as a Junior Baron. Complete the subjugation safely and return.

Hyunsoo knew that with percentage-based quests like this, the higher you pushed the percentage, the more the reward skyrocketed.

He remembered when he had raised the development rate of Vallas Territory.

Back then, he’d been told to hit a development rate of twenty percent—and he’d driven it past one hundred percent.

And what rewards had he received for that?

‘I gained 100 Charisma stat points and was granted a forge that wasn’t even on the table.’

Looking back, he thought that might be one of the reasons Barad had started to consider him as a successor.

“What are the ways to raise the rate?”

“It’s simple. The fewer the soldiers are injured, the more they grow, and the more loyalty they feel toward the /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ knight who leads them—the higher it will rise. In addition, you’ll be staying here for a total of two weeks. If you carry out further subjugations in that time, you can raise it more.”

“Understood.”

“You may prepare for departure in thirty minutes.”

Just as Philip was about to turn away, Hyunsoo asked another question.

“May I ask you one more thing?”

“What is it?”

“Why is someone as capable as you, Commander Philip, stationed here in Araham Territory?”

[Commander Philip Lv.341]

When it came to NPCs, you couldn’t always take a level match with a user at face value.

That was especially true for named NPCs—or those in command positions.

Philip was the commander of Araham and a high-level NPC at 341.

And right now, Araham Territory was where Marquis Lukburk and seven nobles had been demoted.

From what Hyunsoo had seen with his own eyes, Araham Territory had lost its function as a true territory.

A territory ought to be a place where residents farm with their own hands or produce special goods to make a living.

A place where territory folk lived their lives.

But in this Araham Territory, most of the residents had already moved away. Only soldiers and knights remained.

They were the ones holding the monsters back at the very edge of the Kingdom of Goyard.

It might sound like a weighty mission, but in reality, they were the ones fighting a grueling battle every day on the final front line.

‘...No one’s ever asked me that before.’

Philip was surprised on the inside. It was a sharp question.

“There’s no work more worthwhile than protecting the people from monsters. Now, see to your preparations.”

“Yes, sir.”

Hyunsoo didn’t press further. Once he was gone, Philip personally began selecting the soldiers.

“Haa...”

He let out a sigh.

Recently, too many soldier squads had been wiped out under outsider commanders.

Philip’s insides churned over the lives that had been thrown away for nothing.

‘I can’t let that happen again.’

So he approached one particular soldier.

“Kan, you will disguise yourself as an ordinary soldier and protect the others.”

“Understood.”

Philip felt reassured whenever he looked at Kan.

To others, his appearance would look nothing short of bizarre. Kan asked carefully:

“...Commander. Is this how we disappear into history?”

Philip couldn’t bring himself to say anything to that sad look in Kan’s eyes.

That knight named Hyunsoo had just seen right through it.

Philip, a war hero, didn’t belong here at all—yet long ago, the king had given him this mission.

‘Raise soldiers who can cut down even enemy knights.’

That had been only twenty years ago.

From that time on, the war hero Philip had secretly trained soldiers.

They’d begun training from childhood.

Philip hadn’t understood the king’s order back then.

They could just make them knights—why raise soldiers?

Over time, Philip came to understand.

Those with a knight’s title and ordinary soldiers were completely different.

Because knights, by their status alone, stood higher, enemy forces always targeted the knights first in wartime.

The most crucial reason was this: by using the name “soldier,” you could turn enemies utterly defenseless.

Every enemy commander took soldiers lightly.

At the time, they had used a device that measured mana capacity to pick out those who would never reach knight-level talent.

In Ares, mana was the measure of strength.

Those men had hit their limits at a certain level, talent-wise.

And yet, the amusing thing was that they were as strong as knights.

It was all born of “real combat, skill, and experience.”

They’d been born with small vessels, but through experience and battles unlike anyone else’s, they exhibited knight-level power.

Their name was Storm Brigade—and they were now fading into history.

Originally, they’d been trained to assassinate foreign heroes and protect key nobles.

But for various reasons at the time, Storm Brigade had been abandoned here.

There were two reasons they hid themselves away in this place.

First, they could continually hone their skills through endless monster subjugations.

Second, they were searching for the lord they would serve. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“...It’s already been ten years since the disbandment. It won’t be easy to find a knight you and the few remaining members are willing to follow.”

Even the king felt sorry for them.

So he’d given them a choice.

If there was someone they wished to serve, they had the king’s leave to follow him.

The problem was that finding a lord worthy of Storm Brigade was no easy task.

Here, they had been searching for promising knights.

Knights who would fly higher and farther than the rest.

“This too is an important duty.”

Even so, Kan’s expression didn’t brighten in the slightest.

“I’ll seek an audience with His Majesty and discuss this matter.”

“...We’ll be waiting.”

Color returned to Kan’s face.

And for the first time in years, Philip mounted his horse to go stand before the king.

*****

Hyunsoo stood facing the thirty-odd soldiers gathered before him.

[Soldier Kin Lv.201]

[Soldier Rok Lv.198]

Most of the soldiers’ levels seemed to be in the same range.

And Hyunsoo saw the fear in their faces.

One of the soldiers, clearly frightened, finally forced out a question.

“Subjugation Captain, sir... Is it really true your level is in the 220s?”

Hyunsoo couldn’t bring himself to lie.

“It is. But you have nothing to worry about.”

The soldiers’ faces went ashen.

The average level of the knights here was 290.

And yet a blacksmith in the 220s was going to lead them. Their reaction was only natural.

But all Hyunsoo had to do was show them.

‘I wonder what percentage I can push the subjugation rate to?’

Soon he spoke in a firm voice.

“Move out.”

*****

Three days later, at the point where the borders of the Kingdom of Goyard and Praham Kingdom met—

In those three days, Philip had managed to meet Barad outside the capital.

“Your Majesty, is there truly no way to officially attach Storm Brigade to the royal family?”

Barad’s answer was firm.

“You know that’s impossible.”

Philip knew that well enough himself.

They could never blend into the royal ranks.

They were soldiers who could defeat even knights—a bizarre level of skill.

The royal family would grow suspicious of what they really were, and the chances that Storm Brigade, raised in deepest secrecy, would be exposed to the world would soar.

“...I told you I’d take responsibility for their lives with all the gold and jewels they could ever want.”

Barad was a man who stood by his word.

But Storm Brigade’s will was unshakable.

“Their true mission was to protect the king in secret. After living that way all their lives, they’ll never be able to live in peace.”

Barad let out a sigh.

“You said this: that if there was a knight who could push the subjugation rate past sixty percent, the members of Storm Brigade would follow him without a word.”

Barad shook his head.

“No one has ever made it past forty. The standard you’ve set is too high.”

Philip knew that. But it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

It was what the remaining members of Storm Brigade wanted.

In the end, Philip got nothing.

Three days.

After those three days, Philip returned to Araham Territory with slumped shoulders, and the moment he arrived, he was busy again.

Today was the soldier assignment ceremony.

This ceremony was an Araham Territory event.

The commander couldn’t be absent from it, so he hurried up onto the platform.

Philip looked out over the 1,056 soldiers lined up before him.

These were the soldiers who would be assigned to knights. The knights themselves could not attend.

Five knights had carried out subjugations over the past week.

Philip intended to start by asking if there were any who wished to serve Knight Ken from Valoco Territory.

“Does anyone wish to serve Knight Ken—”

“Commander!”

A soldier raised his hand.

Philip, puzzled, jerked his chin for him to speak.

“All of us have a knight we want to serve.”

“...All of you?”

Philip looked genuinely confused.

One thousand and fifty-six soldiers.

They were saying every last one of them had a knight they wished to serve?

With a stunned look on his face, Philip asked:

“And who would that be?”

“Junior Baron Hyunsoo, sir.”

Philip let out a short, incredulous laugh.

Even hearing it a second time, he could hardly believe it. He repeated their answer in his head and asked again:

“So you’re telling me all 1,056 of you soldiers... every last one of you wants to serve Junior Baron Hyunsoo?”

“Yes, sir!!!”

“We want to serve him, sir!”

“Please send us to Junior Baron Hyunsoo!”

In their eyes, Philip saw a burning desire to stand with Junior Baron Hyunsoo.

With wavering eyes, he looked toward Kan.

Kan’s eyes were rimmed in red.

Philip glanced at the other members of Storm Brigade.

They too were nodding slowly, their gazes unwavering.

Philip was impressed.

‘What on earth happened while I was gone?’