CH 165

The quest was quite simple and straightforward as all he had to do was to collect the materials required, but the problem was the number of materials he had to collect.

[This is All You Need!]

[Bring the following materials to Quandt, the head blacksmith of the Bavarian Workshop.]

[Progress: 16%]

[Dimensional Fragment: 21,812/25,000]

[Heavenly Silk: 0/10]

[Blood Moth Wings: 0/2]

[3KG of Black Steel Ore Lump: 0/3]

[Titan’s Tendons: 0/30]

He had to collect five types of materials.

The easiest was the Dimensional Fragments, but he had to collect a jaw-dropping twenty-five thousand pieces. It was an extremely tedious task to collect so many Dimensional Fragments, but fortunately, he had already collected 21,812 fragments.

‘It’s good that I picked those up and kept them. Otherwise, when am I ever going to gather twenty-five thousand of those? Even five thousand is going to be a difficult task.’ 

Siegfried let out a sigh of relief when he saw that he already had a ton of Dimensional Fragments in his Inventory.

“So what do you think? Can you get them for me?” Quandt asked.

“Yes, there won’t be any problems,” Siegfried replied confidently with a nod.

Then, a message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Alert: You have accepted the Quest – ‘This is All You Need!’]

After accepting the quest, Siegfried left the Bavarian Workshop.

“Owner punk! Where are we headed? Kyu!”

“Let’s stop by Proatine first to get some rest. Then, we’ll have to prepare before we gather the necessary materials.”

“Sounds like a plan! Kyu!”

Siegfried and Hamchi then headed for the Proatine Kingdom.

***

“…Huh?” Siegfried was surprised. An unfamiliar scenery greeted him upon arriving at the Proatine Kingdom.

“What the hell? Why is everything a mess? What happened here?”

“Kyu? What’s going on? Why is everything in shambles?”

Everything was in shambles because the entire city was currently being renovated, with the royal palace in the middle of it. Obviously, Siegfried and Hamchi had no idea what was going on, so they were stupefied by the sight.

“Welcome back, Your Majesty,” Michele greeted Siegfried.

“What’s going on? Why is everything—”

“We have started a large-scale construction.”

“A large-scale construction?”

“We’re installing an energy system that will use mana stones as fuel all over the city with the royal palace at the center.”

“You’re already installing it?”

“It’ll be completed soon, and our treasury is also full thanks to our recent trade agreement with Stone Island, so I did not see any reason to delay it any further,” Michele explained, “Everything should be done in a month or two, according to what the technicians had said, and we also have quite a lot of mana stones in our storage.”

The reason why the kingdom the size of a booger had so many mana stones was all thanks to the unfair agreement that Michele had forced upon the three nations back then, which resulted in Proatine owning a mana stone mine.

“Really? That’s great, then. I am looking forward to the result,” Siegfried replied. He remembered the highly advanced streets of Stone Island, and he couldn’t help but look forward to Proatine’s transformation.

‘Yeah, I’ll grow it step by step until we will no longer be called a small and weak country. I mean, we’re not a punching bag, but why is everyone looking down on us wherever I go? It always makes me feel like shit…’ he grumbled inwardly.

He then looked at Michele and asked discreetly, “What about my personal treasury…?”

“Pardon me?”

“I’m the king, right? So… shouldn’t I have my personal treasury?”

“You do not have to worry about that, Your Majesty. An ample amount has been set aside for your personal treasury.”

“That’s a relief…”

Siegfried couldn’t afford to invest everything he had earned into the kingdom’s development.

He needed money to live abundantly in real life, and he also needed money in the game to regularly upgrade his character’s gears. He also needed money to hire other Adventurers who would help him in his war against the Genesis Guild in the future.

‘Sigh… I guess I will need to keep earning money no matter what…’ he sighed inwardly.

This was the main reason why he was becoming greedier and greedier as time went on. He had a lot more things to pay for compared to a normal Adventurer, so he had to constantly grind for money.

“Oh, do you know if Stone Island mines Black Steel Ores?” Siegfried asked.

“Yes, they should be mining that ore. I believe that the quantities are limited, but they do mine it as well,” Michele replied.

“Then go ahead and call Stone Island. I need a few Black Steel Ores[1].”

“As you wish, Your Majesty.” Michele bowed and called a signalman over.

— Your Majesty! I did not expect you to call so soon! Have you been well?

Lord Angele appeared on the screen and greeted Siegfried.

“I am doing well, thanks to you, and the energy system construction is progressing quite smoothly as well,” Siegfried replied with a smile.

— That is great! I hope that you will be able to get it running soon.

“But… Do you have any Black Steel Ores by any chance? Would you be willing to sell some to me if you do?”

— Black Steel Ores? Please give me a moment to check.

Not even a minute later, Lord Angele returned.

— We have around eleven tons of it. How much do you need?

“Eleven tons?!”

— We are one of the largest producers of Black Steel Ore on the continent. Anyway, how much do you need?

“Ah, well…” Siegfried hesitated for a moment before he said weakly, “Three pieces of three-kilogram lumps…”

— Hmm? Three tons?”

“No… three pieces of… three-kilogram lumps…”

— Your Majesty needs three pieces of three-kilogram lumps of Black Steel Ore?

“Y-Yes… I don’t need tons of it, so can you sell me just three pieces of lumps that are three kilograms each?”

— We will immediately send it over.

“How much would that be?”

— No, Your Majesty. We cannot simply take money from you over something like this. We will give those lumps to you as a gift.

“Thank you very much…” Siegfried had no reason to spend money and buy those expensive Black Steel Ores when the rich noona was willing to splurge on him.

However, he was inwardly crying tears of poverty.

‘The wealth gap is real…’ 

“Your Majesty! We have received three pieces of three-kilogram lumps of Black Steel Ore from Stone Island!”

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

Lord Angele sent over the Black Steel Ores as soon as she told Siegfried that she was going to give them for free. Siegfried received them instantly, thanks to the Warp Gate that was connecting Proatine and Stone Island to each other.

[3KG of Black Steel Ore Lump: 3/3] ✓

Thanks to Lord Angele’s prompt action, Siegfried managed to obtain the fourth material he needed for the quest. Then, he started walking away with Hamchi in tow.

“Aaaaack! Save me! Spare meeeeee!”

Siegfried was startled by the sound of someone screaming at the top of their lungs.

“W-What was that?” he asked the servant behind him.

“That is the voice of one of the prisoners we had captured, Your Majesty.”

“Prisoner?”

“I believe he is an officer from the Adunyadet Kingdom.”

“Ah, it must be that guy, then.”

Siegfried finally recalled the owner of the screaming voice.

The voice belonged to the one who ordered the shelling of Stellarlumen Mine.

“The Labor Forces members must be torturing him right now,” he said.

“Yes, Your Majesty. They are subjecting him to all sorts of cruel torture without killing him.”

“Tsk, tsk… I knew it.”

Siegfried clicked his tongue when his presumption ended up being right.

“Kill me. I am a proud officer of the great Adunyadet Kingdom. I have no intention of begging for my life.”

“No, you’re going to end up groveling…”

Siegfried could still remember that the man was confident that he wouldn’t beg for his life. However, the members of the Laber Forces were just getting started, but the man was already begging for the sweet release of death.

“Just go and bite your tongue or something…” Siegfried grumbled.

“Yeah, but I don’t think he has the balls to do that. Kyu!” Hamchie added.

Siegfried looked at the servant and said, “It’s too noisy. Ask them to torture him at an underground prison or something.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“And tell them to lock him up in a coal mine or something if they aren’t going to kill him,” Siegfried added before walking away.

He and Hamchi eventually arrived in front of the Warp Gate.

“Where are we going? Kyu?!”

“Who knows?”

Siegfried was in a dilemma. He only had to collect four materials. The Dimensional Fragments weren’t really a problem for him to collect because he could simply go to a nearby dimensional rift to collect the rest of them.

In that case, Siegfried’s destinations were clear.

‘I can only obtain the Titan’s Tendons from the Vaxen Mountains…’ Siegfried went over the quest details once again.

[Blood Moth]

[A gigantic moth that inhabits the Sunset Forest near White Town. It is large and powerful, so caution is advised when dealing with it.]

[Heavenly Silk]

[A silk produced by a mysterious worm. It can be purchased from the Thierry Merchant Company at White Town. It is quite expensive.]

Siegfried had two destinations—he could either farm the Titan’s Tendons at the Vaxen Mountains, or he could head over to White Town, where he could obtain both the Blood Moth Wings and Heavenly Silk.

He would eventually have to visit both places, so he only had to decide where he would go first.

‘Finishing everything as soon as possible is always the best choice, right? All right, we’re going to White Town.’ 

Having made his decision, Siegfried activated the Warp Gate.

***

Siegfried immediately went to look for the Thierry Merchant Company as soon as he arrived at White Town.

The Thierry Merchant Company was famous for dealing with silk, trinkets, leather goods, shoes, clothes, et cetera. The merchant company had a deep foundation, and they were also famous for their high prices.

In other words, the merchant company was like a luxury brand in this fantasy game world. Of course, they dealt with various things aside from fashion goods. After all, they were still a merchant company.

“Wow… Their building is a work of art…”

“It is..! Kyu!”

Siegfried immediately went to the receptionist and requested a meeting with their supervisor. He also expressed his intention to purchase the Heavenly Silk from them.

“Excuse me, but would you mind telling me who you are? We do not simply sell the Heavenly Silk to anyone, you see…” said the manager.

“Ah, yes… I am from the Proatine Kingdom—” Siegfried started.

However, the manager interrupted him. “Oh, are you talking about that small and weak kingdom?”

Siegfried almost lost his composure when the manager described his kingdom as both small and weak, but he was able to suppress his anger through superhuman self-control.

“Yes, I am the king of that small and weak kingdom. Let me introduce myself once again, I am King Siegfried van Proa, the king of a small and weak kingdom.”

“Huh?” The manager was momentarily stupefied, but his eyes quickly shot wide open in shock. “I-I apologize, K-King Siegfried van Proa. Forgive me for my insulting words…”

“Not, not at all. What you said wasn’t insulting at all because everyone knows that my kingdom is. the. size. of. a. booger.”

“I-I will immediately call our head!” the manager exclaimed before running away.

Soon, someone else arrived and introduced themselves. “Greetings, Your Majesty, Siegfried van Proa. My name is Guccio de Thierry, and I am the current head of the Thierry Merchant Company.”

“My name is Siegfried van Proa.”

“It is an honor to meet you, Your Majesty. I have heard from my staff that you were hoping to purchase our Heavenly Silk, is that correct?”

“Did he also mention that I was the king of a small and weak kingdom?”

“Pardon me? I am not sure that I follow—”

“No, it’s nothing…”

Hamchi looked at Siegfried and thought, ‘This owner punk is extremely petty, all right.’

Hamchi came to the conclusion that his owner was extremely black-hearted compared to other humans. He also judged Siegfried as cunning, ruthless, and petty.

“I regret to inform Your Majesty that only a limited quantity of the Heavenly Silk is being sold for now,” Guccio said with a troubled look.

“Limited quantity?”

“There are simply too many people wanting to purchase it compared to the amount we can produce so—” Guccio tried to explain.

However, Siegfried cut him off and asked, “Hmm… Do I need a high enough social standing and significant wealth to purchase it?”

Fortunately, he was wrong this time.

“What you have mentioned is the criteria used by the top three workshops. Our merchant company is different from them. Haha…”

“Then?”

“To earn the right to purchase our Heavenly Silk, you will have to defeat the three Maestros of the Weapon Academy.”

Guccio’s words sounded weird in Siegfried’s ears.

‘Hey… What’s the correlation between the Heavenly Silk and defeating three Maestros or whatever?’ Siegfried grumbled inwardly. He decided to ask Guccio the reason behind such a requirement because he simply couldn’t quite grasp why he had to fulfill that condition before he could earn the right to purchase their Heavenly Silk.

1. Steel come from iron ores. I know. ☜