Genius Blacksmith's Game

[Lord: You said it yourself. Because I bought your sword, you were able to pay your father’s hospital bills. That’s why you spared me.]

Hyunsoo had not killed a single one of the hundred thousand troops Lord had built.

[Lord: If you had killed a hundred thousand men, your soldiers could have achieved tremendous growth and gained countless spoils of war. You could have reached the founding of a kingdom faster and more easily as well.]

[Lord: You could even have stood there with the cheers of having defeated me—the Barbarian King, the one called a Monarch class—at your back.]

[Lord: At first, I thought it was hypocrisy. But as time passed, I came to understand. You were someone capable of making a different choice. And you were acknowledging what I had built in one year—this army of one hundred thousand. Because of that, these men were able to live.]

Lord had gathered a hundred thousand troops through bitter struggle over the course of a single year.

He had been no different from ordinary users.

He had thought of NPCs as nothing more than artificial intelligence.

But after that day, his thinking had changed completely.

[Lord: Because of you, I was able to grow further. And I learned what path I had to walk. In the end, someone has to become king.]

Because the second Ares had been fated to move in that direction.

And so Lord, no longer through a whisper window but with his own voice, looked at him and said,

“Become king, Hyunsoo.”

Lord was thirty-one this year.

And after that day, he had left the nation he had originally belonged to.

His original class had been Monarch.

But through the opportunity Hyunsoo had given him, he had raised a new army of one hundred thousand and gone around gathering scattered troops.

He had decided to try thinking the way Hyunsoo did.

And when he cherished and embraced the NPCs the way Hyunsoo did, they in turn lifted Lord up.

That was how his original forces and the barbarian armies came together, and how he had recently risen to the name of the Barbarian King.

And Lord, clad in armor that looked like rags yet seemed solid, rusted armor that still evoked the color of blood—

the sight of him walking toward Hyunsoo and telling him to become king was more than enough to captivate the entire world.

The members of the User Kingdom Union were thinking the same thing.

Exactly 270,000 users, watching the two men, submitted migration applications.

The biggest reason they had been reluctant to migrate to Atlas—

Atlas was always exposed to danger.

I thought it could fall at any time. But the Barbarian King is protecting it like this?

And why is he telling him to become king?

Everyone was sincerely curious.

And Hyunsoo, too, didn’t know the exact reason.

Because I make great artifacts?

Or because I forged two Mythic artifacts?

Then—

“...Tell that brat to become king? Every last one of you has lost your damn mi—urk!”

That bastard was still alive? Huh. Now he’s dead.

Fond, the loudmouthed leader of the User Kingdom Union.

Bella’s thrown dagger pierced the space between his brows, and he turned to ash.

[The commander of the User Kingdom Union, Fond, has died.]

From the moment most of the deputy commanders had died because of the four absolute knights,

the battle between the User Kingdom Union and Atlas had already been all but over.

And right now, the User Kingdom Union side and the Atlas side were no longer attacking one another.

There were two reasons.

Because 270,000 had submitted migration applications.

And because the 160,000 still alive were wavering.

Of course, the ones who had served top-ranked users from the beginning tore up their scrolls and vanished the moment those people died.

The only ones left were those who had purely wanted to earn merit for helping found the first kingdom.

There was no way such a thing existed in them.

And the users who had wanted, from the very beginning, to participate in founding a kingdom were wavering.

What do we do?

Should we migrate to Hyun’s Forge?

Why is the Barbarian King acting like that?

The Barbarian King had shocked even them, and they could not understand his words telling Hyunsoo to become king.

That means he saw some kind of possibility.

And then that possibility revealed itself.

What are these bastards doing?

???

The User Kingdom Union remembered the four absolute knights.

Because in truth, this battle had been lost because of them.

And those four absolute knights...

“Pick up everything.”

“Leave nothing behind.”

were busily looting.

Then they walked to Hyunsoo and prostrated themselves at the same time.

In their hands were piled the most valuable spoils acquired in this war.

“To our lord, we offer them.”

“......!”

“......!”

“......!”

“......!”

That sight dealt no small shock to viewers all across the world.

The reason was simple: today had burned into everyone’s minds that those four knights were Atlas’s strongest group.

“What the hell is this...?”

“This is crazy.”

And yet Hyunsoo, on the contrary, looked like he genuinely didn’t understand.

“Why are you all acting like that?”

Hyunsoo had once saved Bella’s life. That was why the bond between her and Hyunsoo was sky-high.

Borne had been the commander who led Atlas’s Blackwind. He had tested Hyunsoo’s qualifications, found them more than satisfactory, and had been delighted by Atlas’s revival.

There was no need to even mention Luxiu. In order to save them, Hyunsoo had fought the Blood King and, with the help of many others, had unlocked the Passive Skill that made them loyal to Hyunsoo.

Akao was a Pirate King with a strong sense of honor, and after the Parion Empire had scattered every pirate who had once shared life and death with him, Hyunsoo had brought them all to Atlas and provided them with homes and land.

Of course, that was thanks to Kabel.

Because of that, Akao’s loyalty was likewise extraordinary, and since this was something Hyunsoo experienced every day, he had grown used to it.

But the world was overturned.

This was not mere loyalty. This was life-offering loyalty, and Lord’s eyes gleamed as he watched it.

“This is the reason.”

“...The reason?”

Hyunsoo looked dumbfounded.

“No, isn’t this much just obvious?”

At that, viewers all across the world were flustered.

Because Hyunsoo had sat back down on the throne with a face that plainly said he truly couldn’t understand it.

And the fact that he took it all so naturally shocked the viewers.

Just like one viewer had said.

Those were NPCs ordinary users would go their whole lives without even speaking to once.

No, even if they did try to speak to them, they probably would not receive a reply.

Lord tilted his head.

Did he really not know? That among users, he alone was someone with the qualifications to become king—someone who could command vassals like these and build bonds with them?

That was why Lord acknowledged him.

A king had to care for his people.

And those people were, more often than not, NPCs, and they had to love him without limit.

And unlike his former self, he could not think of them as mere artificial intelligence. He had to truly cherish them and love them.

That was why Hyunsoo should become king, ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) and why so many had gathered because of that.

Did I judge him wrong? Or is age really something you can’t hide?

He had forgotten that Hyunsoo was only twenty-one.

Then Hyunsoo said,

“So the Union was trying to become king without even being able to command this much? That’s a little disappointing.”

“...?”

A chill ran down Lord’s spine.

What the hell?

Because he realized Hyunsoo had intended it.

Even now, acting as though he did not know, speaking casually—he had just driven the point home, saying it as though this were as natural to him as breathing.

Don’t tell me... from the moment I showed up, he had already intended all of this?

And the fact that he said it with four vassals kneeling before him gave those words even more weight.

That matter-of-fact attitude carried a charisma and force all its own.

In truth, Hyunsoo was always nothing but grateful.

...They catch on fast.

And several more boards had been laid.

The murmur only kept growing.

“...Now that you mention it, that’s true. A user nation would probably have the fewest citizens of any kingdom. Then it would need at least that level of military power.”

“And that’s not all.”

One of the spies Nell had planted said,

“Hyun is allied with Sword King Barad and Azure Heaven Ben. And recently, he also became an ally of Parkro, the nation of bows. They say that if you go to the Parkro Kingdom right now, the NPCs talk about nothing except the Heavenslaying Bow and Master Blacksmith Hyun.”

“......!”

“Then why didn’t they come to this war? Even if Ares’s super-Named NPCs don’t move without compensation, Antro is someone who only recently received that compensation.”

“Because Hyun was confident.”

“......!!?”

The impact of those words was enormous, and it had already been proven by the four knights.

Have I laid down enough groundwork?

After scattering plenty of bait, Hyunsoo spoke.

“Starting now, Hyun’s Forge will sell the Unique artifacts it possesses. The auction time is three minutes. The total is one thousand five hundred.”

At those words, the entire world was baffled.

It was a truly staggering quantity.

Hyun’s Forge currently possessed a total of 10,000 Unique artifacts.

But when taking into account what users were wearing, the territory’s actual holdings were different.

And these were the blacksmiths’ assets.

But those blacksmiths’ assets—

Hyun’s Forge had been steadily buying them up whenever money came in.

On top of that, he had sold the Great Bow of Demon-Slaying to Hyeji, and she had sent over 5 billion won in cash.

With that money as well, he had ordered Nell to buy up every last one.

And there was one more thing people had gotten wrong.

They think it’s because of pressure from the Parion Empire that we couldn’t sell them.

But that was not the answer.

They had not been unable to sell.

They simply had not sold.

Even so, Hyunsoo was worried.

The quantity was too large.

Will it all get taken?

And Nell, who had already put them up on Hyun’s Forge in advance on Hyunsoo’s behalf, sent a message.

[Nell: H-Hyunsoo...]

[Hyunsoo: Yes?]

[Nell: They sold out in one minute.]

“...?”

What was this, a sold-out concert?

And the migration applications from the wavering members of the User Kingdom Union rose sharply.

In total, 330,000 users submitted migration applications.

Moreover, that number was limited only to the users present here.

And Hyunsoo felt his own power.

[There are too many migration applications.]

Just as Lord had said.

The people before him, and the viewers around the world watching on television as well, were acknowledging him through migration.

At the beginning, Hyun’s Forge had stood at around 1.5 million, including the valuation that Legends were worth 100,000 each.

And the entire world was baffled by what Hyunsoo was trying to do after suddenly liquidating those Unique artifacts.

Hyunsoo was now witnessing it himself.

[53,301,016 gold is deposited into the vault of Hyun’s Forge.]

[You have fulfilled the funding requirement for founding a kingdom.]

[Hyun’s Forge accepts all migration applications.]

[The total is 1,401,301.]

[You have fulfilled the citizen-count requirement.]

[You have fulfilled all minimum conditions to found a kingdom.]

Hyunsoo rose from the throne and swept his gaze across everyone gathered there.

Then, with his heart swelling, he said,

“I establish the nation of Hyun.”

[The nation of Hyun has been established!]

[The first kingdom ever created by a user is born.]

That final notification heated Hyunsoo’s chest.

[The king’s name is Hyunsoo.]