Genius Blacksmith's Game

Pirate King Akao.

As he watched the endless line of some three hundred Parion Empire warships, and the Turtle Ship at the head of them loaded down with gold, silver, and treasure, he felt a deep sense of self-loathing.

Was it because they had been /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ reduced to nothing more than prisoners?

No.

From the beginning, Pirate King Akao had been someone who had already submitted to the empire.

And there had only ever been one reason for that.

The nearly ten thousand pirates who had once served Akao.

The empire had taken them hostage and sent them somewhere he did not know.

And this time, Duke Lukael had promised him.

If we win, I’ll tell you where they are.

But they had lost, and they had surrendered.

Damn it...

Because he had surrendered, Sword Emperor Bolond would slaughter them.

Even so, there was a reason Akao had surrendered.

The lives here matter too.

Akao had been the Pirate King.

But there was only one reason he had been recorded as a legend, and one reason he had been able to become the Pirate King.

Because there had been reasons behind his plundering, and because after he plundered, he had the chivalry to return it to those who had been oppressed.

He had stolen only from the ships of nobles who sucked the blood out of the people, and he had been a man who valued even the life of a single pirate.

That was who he was.

A man who was both a pirate and not a pirate.

These people here were prisoners too.

Most of those aboard the ships had originally been soldiers and knights from lands that had lost to the empire and been taken prisoner.

Akao had read Sword Emperor Bolond’s thinking.

He’s using what they call “mongrels” in the Goyad war.

Mongrels.

Those who had not been born in the Parion Empire.

And so they could never stand strong, they were people who had suffered, people who had lived with their families in the most drought-stricken place in the empire for no reason other than, Mongrels can’t live with imperial citizens.

They, too, were weeping bitterly right now.

Because they had lost, and the families living there could be massacred.

Then.

A man appeared before them.

The moment Akao saw him, he could only marvel.

It was Asura Kabel, a being so strong Akao did not dare try to gauge it.

And then he suddenly began speaking nonsense.

“Serve Hyunsoo sincerely, and help him found his kingdom.”

Akao and the prisoners were dumbfounded.

Prisoners were beings who, from the start, could never truly blend in anywhere.

They had no reason to protect whatever place they were taken to.

At that moment.

They turned pale at the sight of the massive shadow falling over them.

Akao’s face, especially, drained of all color.

Because hundreds of Turtle Ships were floating in the sky.

Th-this... these are the hundreds of Turtle Ships I heard about in the rumors...!

Hyun had turned them into this with just a single Turtle Ship.

So then why would he raise hundreds of Turtle Ships over their heads?

“That bastard, he’s going to wipe us all out...!”

The man standing before them had known it too.

That prisoners were trouble no matter where they went.

And yet.

“Captain Akao...”

“Captain!!”

Hundreds of Turtle Ships descended.

And the ones who came out of them were the ten thousand capable pirates.

[The pirate Andia Lv.474]

[The pirate Borne Lv.461]

And on top of that—

“Mother!”

“Honey!”

“KHHHHRRRR...!!”

The hundreds of Turtle Ships carried the prisoners’ families as well.

Akao could do nothing but stare in shock.

This man called Kabel had known the perfect way to win over the heart of a Pirate King who had protected the sea together with prisoners.

“...He really is thorough.”

A grateful smile formed at the corner of Akao’s lips as he said it, but Kabel shook his head.

“Sorry, but this wasn’t my plan. It was what Lord Hyunsoo told me before he passed out.”

Kabel spoke.

“I will relay Lord Hyunsoo’s command.”

Everyone embraced their families, and the pirates stood beside Akao and listened.

“Rebuild your homeland with the spoils of this war.”

“I will devote effort to the education of all of you, and from now on, the pirates will become the Atlas navy and guard the sea.”

“Grow. Grow, and point your swords at the heart of the empire. Grow, and become treasures in the founding of the kingdom.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

The words were stiff, but they understood.

He was giving them many things.

Clothes, homes, and a world they had never had.

And in return—

“Become my people.”

We were swearing the loyalty to protect him with our lives.

They did not know it, but Kabel, too, was one of the people Yi Sun-sin had meant when he said, “Leave the rear to us.”

Kabel turned away, and as he listened to the cheers rising from behind him, he smiled faintly.

If I’ve done this much, does that mean handling the rear is over?

But there was one thing he did not know.

That this Battle of Goyad Strait had come to carry a new meaning for a great many Korean users as well, and that it had turned them into part of the “us.”

*****

There was one extremely famous figure on the Ares community.

No one knew who he was.

The only sure thing was that he was a Korean user.

As proof, he regularly posted evidence that he ate Korean food three meals a day.

And the real reason he was so famous was that he analyzed things more systematically and more perfectly than the experts did, even when the experts got it wrong.

Also, whenever users had questions and worries about Ares, he solved them so cleanly that countless people in the community followed him.

And today, he brought up a new topic.

It was not an overreaction.

At the very least, the hearts of Korean users were boiling like wildfire at this moment.

And then the most famous figure in the Korean community, the man who had only ever proven he was Korean, said:

A moment later, his keyboard clattered rapidly.

The blood of the descendants who had overcome the IMF through unity began to awaken.

They quickly logged into Ares and ran toward Hyun’s Forge.

And there, they said:

“I’m filing a migration application.”

“Please accept my move.”

“Application to join!”

“I’m moving!”

And there was one person watching him from the side.

The famous Korean from the community.

It was none other than Hwan.

This much? I didn’t think it would go this far.

Hwan was in shock.

He, too, knew very well what Korean users were like as a people.

Some called it Hell Joseon, but in Hwan’s subjective opinion, there was no country quite like this one.

And now they were showing exactly that spirit.

...Hyunsoo, I carried this. I did this!

Just then, the carriage returning from the victory came back.

Inside that carriage was the sleeping Hyunsoo.

And the Korean users stepped aside to let that sleeping carriage pass, while their faces looked as though they were gazing at some exalted being.

I’m not the one who carried this...?

Only then did Hwan fully understand it.

Hyunsoo was now becoming something beyond merely respected.

He was becoming an idol to the users.

*****

Varian Plain.

It was the fastest land route for advancing straight into Atlas after crossing over from the continent.

And there, a single user appeared, leading a force of one hundred thousand troops.

The name of the user who had brought that army of one hundred thousand was Lord.

Lord was a man who had once bought from Hyun the sword that cleaved swords.

At the time, he had used it to advance into the class Heir to the Sword King.

But—

Hyun, because of you...!

After he met Barad, that class had become Sword King’s Heir in name only and had effectively been replaced.

And on the day Barad designated Hyun as his successor, Lord abandoned that class, and after the second Ares began, he crossed over to another continent.

A high-ranker was still a high-ranker.

Through sheer effort, he had risen into the class called Monarch, a class that only chosen users could obtain.

Monarch was a class only around ten people in the world could reach.

And the moment a user became a Monarch, they started out with the support of fifty thousand troops.

It was an incredible class that had appeared in the second Ares.

And Lord had raised it magnificently and built it into a force of one hundred thousand troops.

And was that all? With the territory rankings still unofficial, he took pride in it.

He believed he was probably the owner of the largest great territory in the world right now.

The invasion prohibition clause still hasn’t been lifted yet, but.

Lord did not care.

This Atlas invasion prohibition clause, in truth, effectively applied to those who had participated in the Great Atlas War at the time.

And in Lord’s case, because he was invading with his own power rather than as part of an alliance, there was nothing there for anyone to criticize.

Also—

The Atlas army is probably participating in the war between Goyad and the Parion Empire right now, and Hyunsoo is unconscious.

This was the perfect time.

Before the invasion prohibition clause was lifted and someone else seized it, this was his chance to take it first.

“Advance.”

The army of one hundred thousand led by Lord advanced.

And as Lord rode on horseback, he drew the sword at his waist.

Soon, Atlas’s soaring walls began to come into view.

And then.

“...?”

Hyunsoo appeared.

The same Hyunsoo he had heard was unconscious.

A smile spread across Lord’s lips.

Then he activated the special power he possessed.

[Transcendent Lord’s Eye activates.]

It was a power that ignored any status-related skill, and if the target was a territory lord or commander, it allowed him to peek into the total state of their holdings even if they had set them to private.

Lord first checked his own status.

[Monarch Lord’s Guild.]

[Total population: 200,103.]

[Total troop count: 106,901.]

[Named NPCs possessed: 8.]

[Legendary beings possessed: 0.]

[Those with the potential to become legends possessed: 2.]

It was incredible.

Given that the current official number-one-ranked territory only had a total troop count of eighty thousand, Lord’s thinking was by no means arrogance.

And then—

DING!

[Transcendent Lord’s Eye perceives the target’s total territorial status.]

[Hyun’s Forge Guild.]

[Total population: 601,170.]

[Total troop count: 233,101.]

[Named NPCs possessed: 38.]

[Legendary beings possessed: 9.]

[Those with the potential to become legends possessed: 21.]

[They possess at least twice the troop count of your territory!]

Lord’s eyes widened.

How can this be...?

Its population was more than three times his own, and the same was true of its total troop count.

Most of all, he himself did not possess a single legendary being.

But Hyunsoo had nine.

Then Hyunsoo, looking down from above, asked: 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“Want to fight?”

Lord violently shook his head.

Lord—the unofficial ranker, the man called a Monarch who had built the largest great territory—turned and fled at top speed.