Genius Blacksmith's Game

King Antro could not understand it.

Why was this man named Kabel shedding hot tears?

I need to get a hold of myself.

Antro recalled the compensation amount his official had reported to him.

Roughly 12,000,000 gold.

He had to demand an enormous sum, about 12 billion won.

And yet King Antro’s heart wavered.

This man named Kabel. He was the one who had held back Valon and the followers alone.

In the end, King Antro did not know that all of this had happened because of Kabel, but it was also true that thanks to Kabel, the damage to the people had been reduced.

Then Kabel spoke as if reading straight from a textbook.

“...Didn’t I tell you that power was not to be used? But you... you....”

“......”

“...When I think of King Antro, who lost his people, it tears my heart apart. Because you too are a monarch.”

“...!”

At that moment, King Antro realized that the sacrifice of this man named Hyunsoo had been for his sake.

Slowly.

Thud—

Hyunsoo, who had been kneeling, closed his eyes at just the right moment, and his arm dropped limply.

Kabel hurried over and caught Hyunsoo, and Antro smiled as he looked at the two of them.

“...Thank you for striving for Parkro. I will not forget this.”

Antro’s words rang in the ears of the two of them as notifications.

[Your affinity with King Antro reaches MAX.]

[All charges King Antro intended to press are discarded.]

[The reward for the ongoing Kingdom Quest: Savior of Parkro is changed.]

[The reward can be received from King Antro.]

King Antro, his eyes reddened, said,

“Attend to him with care. He is now the monarch of the nation of Hyun, which will stand together with the Parkro Kingdom.”

At that, the officials were startled.

They understood what it meant for the monarch of the nation of Hyun to stand together with the kingdom.

“The Parkro Kingdom will become a tree for Atlas. When the sun blazes, it will become shade, and when torrential rain falls, it will become a place of shelter.”

[The Parkro Kingdom requests an alliance with Atlas.]

[Atlas residents can purchase all goods in the Parkro Kingdom at a 10% discount.]

At that moment, the entire world watching the broadcast fell into shock.

There were two reasons for that shock.

“They’re forming an alliance with a kingdom before they’ve even become a kingdom themselves?”

“What’s even more astonishing is that King Antro called himself a tree. If the sun blazes, he will become shade—that means if Atlas falls into crisis, he will send troops to help. And when he says he will shield them from the rain, it means he will help them when they stand before any hardship.”

The image of the “unconscious” Hyunsoo, with Kabel carrying him in his arms as he walked, was broadcast across the whole world.

“What matters now will probably be what the Parkro Kingdom, which has volunteered to become an allied nation, will actually do for them.”

“This battle had a lot of twists and a lot of entertainment. Kabel-style ‘Wake up,’ Kabel’s Guardian, Tyrant Jebar’s descent, the appearance of the Overlord, and at the very end, even an alliance with the Parkro Kingdom.”

“It’s hard to believe the two of them accomplished all of that by themselves.”

As the entire world listened to the final words of one commentator, their hearts pounded.

“A legend is beginning.”

*****

[Hyunsoo: So? How was it, everyone? My acting was amazing, right?]

[Kabel: ...I’m the one who carried that performance.]

[Hyunsoo: You were bad at it, though.]

[Kabel: ...Didn’t you see how moved King Antro was by my acting?]

[Hyunsoo: Honestly, if I had to compare it, it’d be exactly this.]

[Kabel: ?]

[Hyunsoo: Like the chairman of a production company having a son who’s had two days of acting lessons and then parachuting him into the cast?]

That was an awfully vivid comparison.

At that, Kabel rebuked Hyunsoo.

[Kabel: You know nothing about acting, Hyunsoo.]

The members of Hyun’s Forge looked at him.

“Kabel, weren’t you actually really bad at acting?”

“Hyunsoo’s comparison was amazing. If Kabel had been acting on TV, I think I would’ve turned it off right away.”

Kabel did not know the truth.

But as Kabel got worked up and typed into the guild chat, You should at least go to an acting academy, Hyunsoo, the people of Hyun’s Forge smiled faintly.

The existence called Kabel was gradually blending into Hyun’s Forge.

And there was one amusing fact.

When Kabel had shouted, “Friend, help me,” the members of Hyun’s Forge had mobilized immediately.

Because Kabel was their close friend.

And so it had been them who blocked Valon’s followers when they tried to move in as reinforcements.

Dragon Knight Resil spoke with a worried expression.

“Nell, I don’t understand this situation. What kind of person is King Antro?”

“...King Antro is a clever king who knows how to secure practical gain, and no one reads the room faster than he does.”

The King Antro Nell knew was that kind of man.

“That is the clear reason why the completely unremarkable Parkro Kingdom was able to survive. Even if we say he fell for Hyunsoo’s acting, Kabel’s acting was awkward and strange enough that even we could tell.”

Everyone agreed.

Even they themselves—and the whole world too—had been thinking, Huh? That actually worked?

Bark, walking alongside them, said,

“What on earth is a King Antro like that thinking?”

That was the core of it.

King Antro was quick-witted.

And he was someone who knew how to secure practical benefit.

At that, Resil, whose father was a chairman, said,

“...Could it be that behind the name of ‘allied nation,’ he’s actually thinking of absorbing Atlas? In the end, it’s true that Hyunsoo and Kabel saved the Parkro Kingdom, right? But because he can’t officially hold them liable for the damage, he’s trying to absorb what Atlas has under the pretense of an alliance.”

The atmosphere in Hyun’s Forge turned cold.

At that moment, all of them were entering the royal palace of the Parkro Kingdom.

“...If that’s really true, this is bad.”

Nell said it while looking around at the royal palace, which could not even be compared to Atlas.

“...If we refuse this, we may become a clear enemy of the Parkro Kingdom. Right now, we would have a hard time handling the Parkro Kingdom.”

Just because two people had saved the Parkro Kingdom did not mean they could defeat it.

Strength was relative, but Parkro was still, beyond any doubt, a nation.

They entered in tense silence. The moment Nell stepped inside, Nell thought King Antro might make them kneel as soon as they were brought before him.

At their first audience with him—

“...Tell Kabel not to act in front of me.”

Just as expected.

King Antro already knew that all of it had been an act.

Everyone from Hyun’s Forge, Nell included, tensed sharply.

Because in front of a king, they had effectively mocked him with nothing more than a play.

Nell thought that now, at last, he might present the real “bill” and reveal the justification by which he would swallow Atlas whole.

But instead—

“...I’m /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ curious about Atlas. Can you tell me about it?”

“...About Atlas, Your Majesty?”

King Antro nodded.

Nell wore an expression of confusion, but began to speak.

“It is an independent territory located in the frontier and separated from Goyad. Most of its people are blacksmiths, and it is building itself into a kingdom on the foundation of many migrants....”

“......”

King Antro listened attentively.

What stirred his interest was the fact that Atlas was, in the end, a country being completed on the foundation of many migrants.

And Antro knew the weakness of such a place.

Because they were not born and raised there, they cannot feel any sense of belonging.

But what he was hearing made him admire it.

“You mean that in the span of several months, not even 1% of them have left Atlas?”

“...That is correct, Your Majesty.”

“......”

At that, King Antro slowly rose to his feet.

The tension among the people of Hyun’s Forge doubled, and Antro spoke.

“To tell the truth, at first I was angry. In my kingdom, a man called the Overlord appeared and burned everything away, inflicting enormous damage. But when I thought it over carefully, I realized something. There were only two of them, yet they fought. Even knowing they could not win, they bit, clawed, refused to retreat, and searched for a way.”

“I was ashamed. As the king of a nation, I had become nothing more than a bystander. As I ran over thinking I would not let them get away with it, I looked at the two of them putting on their ‘act’ and thought to myself.”

“Why are they going this far? He is the ruler of a tiny nation, and that man called Asura is not even the type of person to do such a thing.”

King Antro smiled.

“It felt fresh. To me, who had lived bowing and watching others’ moods just because Parkro was an unremarkable kingdom, telling myself peace alone was the path, seeing those two stop at nothing made me realize that they were the truly living ones, and I was the one who had already died. You said Atlas had very few who left? I could understand it just by hearing about it.”

Antro spoke as if cradling Atlas in his arms.

“The people of that small territory must cherish their young monarch.”

Antro then revealed his reason.

“I know that Sword King Barad gave you ‘strength.’ In that case, I will give you wings.” 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

“...!”

Nell looked at Antro in surprise.

Was he really just going to give Atlas wings and pure benefit?

No.

With this opportunity, he was dreaming of a new Parkro.

Challenge. Boldness. A first alliance. Cultural exchange.

And on the basis of the possibilities of the man named Hyunsoo, he was placing one foot in that future blacksmith nation.

The members of Hyun’s Forge focused on him.

What would those wings be that he meant to attach?

“The will of the people has plunged to rock bottom. More and more traitors in my Parkro Kingdom are daring to dream of migrating elsewhere.”

King Antro called them traitors, yet wore a gentle smile.

“I will drive from the kingdom those who turned against me, denied me as king after losing faith, and keep only those who remain for my sake.”

Antro was acknowledging his own fault.

If he had not been incompetent, if he had fought more desperately, they would never have formed the desire to leave.

Behind the word expelled, Antro meant to open a new path for them.

[King Antro accepts the migration applications of those who wish to leave.]

[However, migration is only possible after 3 weeks.]

[King Antro will never again accept into the Parkro Kingdom those who wish to leave.]

[The number of those who wish to leave cannot be counted.]

Nell could understand what that meant.

Atlas should take in the ones who want to leave...?

Nell’s chest pounded wildly.

The number of those who wanted to leave, appearing like a notification: cannot be counted.

Nell understood Antro’s intent as well.

But—

“...Your Majesty, the people of Parkro have no reason to come with us.”

Nell knew the truth.

“If they want to go somewhere, it will be to a kingdom that can protect them. If they mean to settle somewhere anew, it will be in a powerful nation. They have no reason to migrate to Atlas.”

Of course, Hyun and Kabel had won the hearts of the people in this war.

But that alone could not make them decide upon the place where they would live for the rest of their lives.

At that, King Antro smiled faintly.

“I told you already.”

“...?”

“That I would give you wings. But while I will attach the wings, Atlas must be the one that flies.”

Nell realized then that King Antro had something in mind.

“Monarch, call Hyunsoo here.”

*****

He’ll give us wings, and we have to be the ones who fly?

After hearing the full story, Hyunsoo stood before the audience chamber with a puzzled expression.

He too was astonished.

The number could not be counted.

That meant it might be tens of thousands.

But just as Nell had thought, they had no reason to follow them.

Hyunsoo opened the doors, entered, and was granted an audience.

And then the “wings” were revealed.

“...In our kingdom, there once existed a bow called the Heavenslaying Bow, said to protect the nation in times of crisis.”

[You learn about the Heavenslaying Bow.]

[The Heavenslaying Bow is a Transcendent artifact.]

“But the Heavenslaying Bow is a bow that disappeared long ago. A great many of the people believe that if the Heavenslaying Bow had existed during this invasion, and if I had held that bow, things would have turned out differently.”

Hyunsoo looked at King Antro.

[King Antro of Parkro Lv.495]

That was by no means a low level.

And Hyunsoo realized again.

Parkro was a nation of bows, after all. So the faith of the people was only natural.

Then Hyunsoo caught on.

No way...?

Soon Antro smiled.

“...If the hero who saved this nation were to recreate the vanished Heavenslaying Bow, I think I might find myself looking upon that nation’s monarch with new feelings.”

“......”

The wings he had given them were a stage.

“I commission you to craft the treasure of our nation, the Heavenslaying Bow.”

Ding!

[Hidden Quest: Heavenslaying Bow Commission has been created.]

The preparation for taking flight—

was to create the Heavenslaying Bow before the people, prove his ability, and lead them toward a blacksmith nation.

Hyunsoo’s chest pounded wildly.

Unlike Nell, Hyunsoo had a more concrete number floating before his eyes.

[The number of people wishing to leave is 423,105.]

“...I accept the commission.”

Antro asked,

“Are you confident?”

At that, Hyunsoo—the monarch of an allied nation—meant to reveal a vast ambition, filled with the will to see it through no matter what.

One million.

Yes, with a confident and certain declaration that he would absolutely take one million people with him—

“One million...!”

[Nell: Hyunsoo, no matter how confident you are, you can’t say you’ll take a million people. If you take a million, the Parkro Kingdom collapses. In other words, it’s the same as saying you intend to destroy the Parkro Kingdom.]

DRIP, DRIP—

Gah... was our alliance about to break the instant we formed it...?

Hyunsoo hurriedly corrected himself.

“...I will take ten hundred thousand people, no matter what!”

Antro simply smiled, as though looking at someone adorable.

“That’s right. Take ten hundred thousand people and be sure to embrace them well.”

Hyunsoo clenched his fist tight.

The wings Antro had attached to him.

Hyunsoo was ready to fly all the way into space.