Chapter 130: Red Merchant (1)

The Norba Kingdom has spent the last few months with its gates shut and gathering its strength.

Of course, the Holy Kingdom couldn’t just stand by and let the demons entrenched in the Norba Kingdom gather strength, so they had to fend off attacks from the Holy Knights sent from the Holy Kingdom.

As a result, the Norba Kingdom had to cede back eight territories they had initially conquered to the combined attacks from the Holy Kingdom and the Tesnoka territory.

Humans alone were no match for the demons, but the divine power wielded by the Holy Kingdom was the one thing that the demons, who could otherwise rampage freely in the Middle Realm, had to be cautious of.

Despite the Holy Kingdom steadily reclaiming the Norba Kingdom’s territories, the kingdom where Landaron and Kelva resided remained tightly sealed and silent.

Within the heart of the Norba Kingdom...

“Hoo-”

Kelva let out a deep sigh as he looked around.

The interior of the kingdom had become so devastated that it was questionable whether it could still be called a ‘kingdom’.

No signs of civilization were visible anymore; instead, there were only dark red, pulsating, vein-like structures.

And beneath those vein-like structures were what appeared to be human corpses, being drained of something each time the veins pulsed.

And then,

“......”

Standing at the center of the Norba Kingdom’s citadel, the one responsible for this devastation, Kelva wore a stern expression.

“...Have we gathered all the strength now?”

“Yes.”

He could soon see Landaron, who wore an unpleasant expression.

“This should be more than enough; we can summon at least three Legion Commanders.”

“That’s quite fortunate, considering all the subjects I need to govern have been drained.”

“Don’t worry, Landaron, humans can always be replenished.”

“I trust you.”

Landaron, watching humans being drained like livestock by the dark red veins, nodded emotionlessly and asked,

“So, are we about to break the seal soon?”

“Yes, we’ve gathered all the strength, so all that’s left is to act. Killing those troublesome ones who wield that power should be easy, so don’t worry.”

“Let’s do that. Then I should prepare to arm the soldiers as well.”

“Yes, it won’t take long now. At most, it will be a few days. When the time comes, we’ll summon the Legion Commanders, sweep away those Holy Kingdom bastards, and kill the enemy.”

Kelva muttered quietly.

Landaron, who had been watching him, nodded quietly.

“I hope this time we succeed.”

He muttered.

“Yes. It’s not far off.”

Kelva, watching Landaron turn and head back to the citadel, stared silently ahead, more precisely at the pulsating dark red veins, and murmured quietly.

“Truly.”

As soon as the Red Merchant’s shop opened, Kim Hyunwoo immediately accessed the shop window and saw a single item listed under the event tab.

[Unknown Item] [7,500 Stones]

“What’s this...”

Kim Hyunwoo, seeing the cash item listed in the event tab, mumbled in disbelief and scrolled through it, hoping for more information, but nothing else appeared.

In other words, the only item the Red Merchant was selling was this ‘Unknown Item’.

‘I figured I’d have to spend money again this time, but...this seems a bit too much, doesn’t it?’

Kim Hyunwoo made a perplexed expression.

Of course, the Proposal Ring he bought for 10,000 Stones wasn’t exactly necessary for him at the moment, but the idea of spending money equivalent to extending the Labyrinth Package by a month on an unknown item made him feel resistant.

However,

[Mage Tower Branch LV1]

[Blacksmith Guild Branch LV1]

–Owned Forces–

-Regular Soldiers: 1,000

-Guards: 200

-Apprentice Knights: 200

Looking at the territory window that appeared in front of him, Kim Hyunwoo made an exasperated face.

‘It’s still not finished.’

The reason was that the Magical Engineering Research Institute, which had started construction a month ago, was still not completed.

He knew that constructing the Magical Engineering Research Institute required an absurd amount of labor and resources, but despite focusing all manpower on it without upgrading any other buildings, it still wasn’t completed, leaving him speechless.

‘It did take a long time in the original game, but this is a bit much...though, considering its size, I guess it makes sense.’

Looking at the notification stuck at 95%, Kim Hyunwoo turned his gaze outside.

Just beyond the eastern outer walls was the ‘Magical Engineering Research Institute’, which was visibly much larger than any other building.

Seeing the enormous structure, which made the people working on it look like ants, Kim Hyunwoo sighed, thinking it would probably be finished by tomorrow or the day after.

‘I hope I see the Red Merchant soon.’

As he watched the countdown timer floating in his field of vision, he couldn’t help but think.

Merilda returned to the Red Eyes with a very tired expression after almost a month.

Of course, the distance from the Crimson Dragon’s lair, where she had been teleported, to here could have been covered in three days if Merilda wanted to, but the reason it took so long was because of battles.

That’s right.

Merilda had fought battles inside the Crimson Dragon’s lair.

Not just for a day or two, but for over a week...!

Having thwarted the Crimson Dragon’s plans twice, she was furious, and on top of that, Merilda had the audacity to run off with her precious photo collection, leading the dragon to genuinely try to kill her, resulting in a very painful week for Merilda.

...Well, the cause of that painful week was Merilda herself, though.

Anyway, after escaping the week-long battle, exhausted, she also dealt with some rumors that could tarnish her reputation, which took about a month in total.

When Merilda finally arrived at the Red Eyes, she greeted the Four Heavenly Kings and heard their words.

“First of all, it’s been a month, but congratulations, Boss. I think we can execute the plan.”

“R-really? But I don’t think I did it properly...”

“You may not have done it perfectly, but we got all the results we wanted the moment you meowed. So, it doesn’t really matter that you didn’t do it right.”

“R-really? What did you get?”

“The reaction of the Lord of Lartania.”

“...Reaction?”

“Yes. This plan hinges on the Lord’s reaction and how to proceed, but fortunately, his reaction was good. So, we can execute the plan. Congratulations, Boss.”

Merilda couldn’t help but brighten at Ryu’s words.

“But what’s the plan? You said you’d tell me after seeing his reaction.”

But she soon asked with a curious expression.

Ryu smiled warmly at Merilda’s question and pulled a small bottle from her pocket.

And then.

“Mate.”

“...What?”

“Mate like crazy.”

Merilda froze.