Genius Blacksmith's Game

Inside the swaying carriage, Purung folded his arms and gradually drifted off to sleep.

As he sank deeper, fragments of memory flashed through his mind—fragments that still tormented him.

“Your Highness, in a situation like this, when Prince Barsen could die at any moment, must we really fight!?”

Commander Purung.

Clad in red armor with a sword at his side, he had asked that question while standing at the head of the Ironclad Corps, the invincible army that had once served beside the Overlord.

The Tyrant was charging toward them at the head of countless undead.

To seize the Overlord’s small nation.

The Ironclad Corps knew it. Purung knew it too.

The right decision was to send the Ironclad Corps ahead, evacuate the people to the capital, and fight the war from there.

At the very least, until Prince Barsen died.

But the Overlord’s answer had shocked them.

“My name is the Overlord.”

The Overlord, the strongest king who had never once been defeated.

The unrivaled king. The mightiest of all kings.

That was why he knew that yielding territory would be his first defeat.

The feathered helm at Purung’s waist, the one that marked him as commander, slipped free and fell limply to the ground.

Thunk, thunk-thunk—

The Overlord’s eyebrow twitched as he looked at the helmet rolling across the floor.

Dropping to one knee, Purung choked back a sob.

“...How can that possibly matter more than the prince’s life?”

The prince had been frail, but he had cared for the people.

Purung knew that better than anyone, because he had been the prince’s swordsmanship teacher.

The boy had smiled and said that he wanted to become an Overlord like his father—said he would become that kind of king no matter what.

When Purung had laughed and asked why he wanted to become a king like his father, Barsen had answered:

“So that I can protect Commander ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) Purung and the people, can I not?”

Purung had smiled, deeply moved by the prince’s shy grin.

And behind him, the Overlord’s strongest army—raised by the Overlord and by Purung—

that cruel army that annihilated enemies without mercy had smiled as well behind their face-concealing helms.

Barsen had also once watched the Overlord training alone in the practice yard and said,

“And if I become stronger too, I’ll be able to lighten Father’s burdens.”

He had been a prince with a heart like the sea, a prince who knew how to think of his father.

Even at such a young age, he had wanted to share the vast name of the Overlord—a name that was glory, and also tragedy.

But those words from the Overlord shattered Purung.

And the Ironclad Corps kneeling behind him followed suit.

“Withdraw the order to march!”

Feeling tears run down his cheeks, Purung said,

“...I will not march.”

“That is an order.”

“Then kill me and go!”

“...Must I kill Barsen with my own hands before you will march?”

“...!!!”

“...!!!!”

Those words told them that the Overlord was mad.

And yet the Overlord knew a truth they did not.

The moment he gave up one thing, the Tyrant would invade the territory.

It was not a single prince’s life at stake. More than millions of citizens could die.

And at that moment, faced with the choice between his prince and his nation, the Overlord had already forced himself to erase his love for the prince and resolve to save the millions instead.

Human beings cannot look into one another’s hearts.

The Overlord did not know how to express himself, and Purung and the Ironclad Corps would not move.

He merely brushed past them and said,

“It is the kingdom I built.”

“...”

“Fools.”

The Overlord, who had chosen to make himself into a mad king, passed them by and muttered:

“If we fight, you live too.”

That was the day Purung’s trust in his king shattered.

That day, the king marched out alone, rewrote history once more, and rose even higher as a legend.

But after Purung confirmed the prince’s corpse, and then saw the Overlord emerge without a scratch on his face, his rage reached its peak.

And not long after that, the Overlord left the kingdom.

“...”

Purung found a single object waiting in his office.

It was the royal seal.

Purung knew why it had been left there.

The king had abandoned his country.

Holding the proof that could make one king, Purung struggled desperately to protect the kingdom somehow.

But without the Overlord, the nation collapsed at terrifying speed.

And the fighting over possession of the royal seal only hastened the kingdom’s ruin even further.

Gripping the royal seal, Purung said to the men of the Ironclad Corps, once called the strongest army:

“Leave. This kingdom is finished.”

Though he could not bring himself to become king with his own hands, he slew those who sought to become king.

Bathed in blood, Purung walked the roads and looked upon the people he had cherished.

“I have found a place for you. Go there and live. Our kingdom is finished.”

He guided the people to the place that would become their new home.

Before they left, the people asked blood-soaked Purung a question.

“...Do we no longer have a king?”

At that question, Purung laughed like a madman.

“Ha, hahahaha, hahahahaha!!”

In the end, a king was the guide of the people, the pillar of their spirits.

Even after being reduced to this by a king, Purung looked at those people still searching for one and said,

“Perhaps you do. Perhaps you do not. If you want one that badly, then I will go find one myself.”

Purung knew that was the path that would make the people happiest, and make things right.

So he chose to find one with his own hands.

“They say Lord Ares is looking for examiners who judge kings?”

“What is an examiner?”

“They are those who judge whether a king truly possesses the qualifications to be king.” 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“They say several examiners have already been chosen.”

“And that every last one of them is someone renowned.”

So Purung went before the Temple of Ares with the royal seal in his hands.

Weeping without end, Purung spoke to the statue of Ares.

“...I want to find a true king.”

That day, Ares answered.

[Ares grants you the office of examiner.]

And so Examiner Purung was born.

*****

“...Tsk, tsk. This is exactly why I hate sitting at the same table as sword freaks.”

Purung, who had fallen into a deep sleep, woke to the sounds inside the carriage.

The old man suddenly whipped his head around and spoke to the man wearing the thumb guard.

“Isn’t that right, bowman? Spears are the finest after all, aren’t they?”

The man who had introduced himself as Antro smiled awkwardly.

“What are you talking about? The bow is obviously the greatest.”

“...I can’t even speak to bowmen.”

“Spearman, bowmen never understand a word anyone says.”

“Shall we settle it?”

“You want to try?”

“Let me join in too.”

And just like that, the three of them began bickering.

“...?”

Then all three of them turned sharply and looked at him at once, leaving Purung baffled.

“You said your name was Purung, was it? Hoho. It’s the spear, of course, yes?”

“It would be the sword.”

“It’s the bow, isn’t it?”

Purung smiled faintly.

“The sword, naturally.”

“...So you do know something!!”

“...”

“...”

Purung watched as the man called Barad smugly shrugged at the old man Ben and the man called Antro.

Then he went even further.

“Why not take this chance to learn swordsmanship from me?”

Barad was openly mocking the other two and delighting in it.

Watching the three of them, Purung smiled faintly.

“The three of you are very close.”

All three looked at each other with expressions of pure disdain.

Him?

Me?

As if.

That was what their faces seemed to say.

Purung looked at them and asked,

“What are the three of you going to Atlas for?”

Smiles spread across all their faces.

Purung knew that kind of smile. It was the expression people wore when merely imagining someone could make them happy.

The old man smiled warmly.

“We’re going to see a friend. Our friend has just achieved something truly great.”

What surprised Purung was that all three of them wore that same smile.

Then he must be a good man.

Soon Ben asked him in return,

“And what brings you to Atlas, young man?”

Purung was an honest person.

There was also no rule stating that he had to hide the duty entrusted to him.

And so, in answer to that question, he recited the line that had become his role as an NPC.

“If one lacks the qualifications, kingship must be stripped away.”

“...?”

“...?”

“...?”

The three men looked puzzled, and Purung said,

“I am someone who judges whether a king is qualified.”

That piqued their interest.

“Oh? And what, exactly, do you judge?” the old man asked.

Purung answered,

“...Many things. The condition of the territory. The happiness of the people. Even his personal ties. If he keeps a dog, I judge that too.”

At that, Ben’s eyes gleamed.

“Then if he lacks the qualifications, as you said just now, you strip him of his kingship?”

“That’s right.”

“Hoho, so you do rather interesting work, my friend.”

Barad, who had been quiet until then, cut straight to the heart of it.

“And why do you judge his personal ties?”

“...The king I once served was alone. And when war came, no one helped him. That taught me that the ties he had built were also part of his strength.”

Purung thought of it often.

At the very least, if the king he had served—the mad Overlord—had been someone who knew how to look after others...

then perhaps, on the day he alone had needed to step onto the battlefield, those ties might have helped him.

The old man Ben, who had been sitting quietly, smiled.

“I may as well be honest. The friend we spoke of earlier is Hyunsoo, the king of that nation.”

Purung’s eyebrow twitched, but he did not much care.

By Purung’s estimate, the three of them were little more than mercenaries, or perhaps ordinary soldiers or an archer from some kingdom.

A king could hardly be said to possess lofty ties just because he knew people like these.

And the moment Purung learned that they had some connection to Hyunsoo, he felt he should speak no further with them.

Ben, however, pressed the point.

“The office of examiner sounds laughable when you put it that way. The people and the world have already acknowledged him as king, whatever path he took to reach the throne. Who can so casually decide whether a king should remain king or be stripped of it?”

Barad picked up the thread.

“Is not any evaluation born from subjective judgment? Do you truly believe you are qualified to judge the king of this new nation, Hyun King?”

Then the eyes of the man wearing the thumb guard sharpened.

“If you do believe you are qualified, then I would like to hear why. I am curious what exactly makes an examiner so remarkable that he can evaluate the father of an entire nation.”

Purung understood what they were feeling.

So even if they are insignificant, their hearts for their friend run deep.

Purung gave a bitter smile.

The moment he released the power he had hidden away, heaven and earth themselves would tremble, and the wretched men before him would not be able to endure it.

He was grateful to the old man for paying his fare, but the old man showed no sign of backing down.

So, regrettably, Purung drew out the energy he had kept hidden.

KWOOOOOO—

[Examiner’s Judgment]

[A vast aura rises, making it impossible to even meet its gaze.]

[Status ailment Submission activates.]

[Status ailment Despair activates.]

Submission was, by nature, a force created to test miserable and powerless kings.

Kings without even the strength to protect themselves would, beneath the name Submission, naturally drop to their knees and thereby admit their own unworthiness.

As the carriage rolled on, the spreading force pierced straight through the three men seated across from him.

And in that instant—

a vast blue aura erupted from the old man and stilled the trembling earth.

“So this is all?”

The red aura flaring from the man called Barad immediately wrapped around the throat of Purung, an absolute being.

“I can endure this much.”

That force reserved for kings alone looked over him, pierced through him, understood him, and grasped everything that he was.

“Khk!”

Purung choked, unable to breathe for a moment, and lost his bearings.

Then he came face-to-face with the three men, all of whom had thrown off their robes.

At the instant they fully unleashed the power they had concealed, the examiner’s eyes caught sight of something only an examiner could see—

the qualifications of kings.

[Sword King]

[A king who rose to supremacy and forged Goyad into a great power with nothing but the sword, a ruler who leads an era.]

[Azure Heaven]

[The king who leads the nation of spears, called the sky of the spear, and commands a spear corps three hundred thousand strong.]

[Archery King]

[The father of a nation famed as the nation of bows, a king of archery of whom it is said that the arrows he looses can bring down even the heavens.]

What shocked Purung most was that the Sword of Judgment had begun to activate.

[Evaluating the king’s ties.]

Still struggling to regain his senses, Purung could only stare in awe.

The blue-glowing spear in the hand of the king called Azure Heaven radiated a power as steadfast and fierce as the sea.

CRRRRRAAAACK—!

A freezing frost poured from the sword in Sword King’s grasp, turning the very air around them rigid with cold.

SHHHHHK—!

At the same time, a bow with the name Heavenslaying Bow written upon it was drawn tight and aimed directly at him.

The old man at the front pressed down on Purung’s hand before he could even draw his sword and said,

“Examiner. I find myself wondering whether you truly possess the qualifications to judge a king. So then—shall we give it a try?”

The old man looked at him with sharp eyes.

“Let us begin evaluating you.”