[What a pity, if I had delayed it just a little longer, it would have all been over. Truly unfortunate]
As Loria’s voice clearly echoed in his ears, the world ca to a halt.
The world stopped as if soone had pressed the ESC button in a ga, pausing everything.
The Hero King, who had been smiling at him in disbelief, froze like a statue, and everyone outside the terrace also ca to a stop.
[Ah- really. Should I have just forced it to stop in the middle?]
Loria’s voice continued to be heard.
As if she was unaffected by this frozen world.
[Well, if I had forced it to stop, you would have noticed... In the end, this was bound to happen the mont you t the rchant and got the elixir~]
She muttered to herself as if blaming her mistake, but at the sa ti, consoling herself, as if there was nothing she could have done.
Kim Hyunwoo, the only one aware of this frozen world, was about to say, ‘What-’
Crack-!
In front of Kim Hyunwoo, the world began to crack.
To be more precise, the space in front of Kim Hyunwoo began to shatter as if a rift had ford.
Snap-!
Soon, as the world shattered, a slender hand erged from the abyss within, grabbing onto the broken fragnts and starting to crawl out.
And then.
“Anyway, it’s really unfortunate.”
The girl who had been repeating how unfortunate it was appeared in front of Kim Hyunwoo.
With blonde pigtails, but with pastel blue hair underneath, she repeated the word ‘unfortunate’ out of habit, yet her face was smiling.
A mischievous smile characteristic of a young girl.
“You-”
Kim Hyunwoo opened his mouth involuntarily, then looked surprised at himself.
Unlike before, this ti his body was still frozen, but he could speak.
“Who am I? You know, right? I’m Loria? The one who’s been helping you all this ti. Oh, strictly speaking, maybe not helping? Just ssing around whenever the notification window popped up.”
Seeing her chuckle and smile, Kim Hyunwoo spoke.
“What are you?”
“I said, I’m Loria.”
“…You know that’s not what I ant.”
She smiled as if finding Kim Hyunwoo’s hardened expression amusing, tilting her head several tis as if contemplating sothing before shrugging lightly and answering.
“Well, since you’ve figured it out, let explain – I’m soone who really wants you dead. Ah~ What a sha. If I had control from the mont you first arrived and sent that letter, I could have killed you without all this hassle. But I gave you a bit too much leeway- Well-”
Loria spoke while looking at Kim Hyunwoo.
“If I hadn’t given in, I wouldn’t have been able to summon you anyway, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”
Kim Hyunwoo was focusing on her words, trying to piece together the current situation from the clues she provided.
However.
“Well, even so, I’ve done everything I needed to by dragging it out this long.”
She smiled as if completely satisfied with the current situation.
“It was a bit close, but I managed to drag it out as much as possible, and I’ve finished all my preparations. Plus, I’ve gotten a pretty decent body.”
With those words, she raised her hand and grabbed the empty air.
Crack-!
The world began to shatter like a lie.
Kim Hyunwoo felt a strange sense of overwhelm, as if the entire world was breaking apart, but the girl who caused all this did so with a mischievous smile.
“Since it’s a contract, I won’t kill you. Though, technically, I can’t.”
With those final words.
“Well then, see you next ti.”
Loria pushed her body into the fissure she had shattered open.
As soon as Loria, who had been speaking just monts ago, disappeared into the empty abyss.
Whoosh-!
“…!”
Kim Hyunwoo heard the Hero King’s voice, who was now hugging him tightly, crying with gratitude.
Shortly after that.
Kim Hyunwoo, seeing that the Hero King was still unsteady and not fully recovered, gave her the room she used to stay in and instructed her to rest.
Soon after the Hero King left the office, Kim Hyunwoo called out her na.
“…Loria.”
Of course, there was no answer.
“Estate window.”
Territory: Lartania
Territory Developnt Level: 5012
Population:
[Humans: 39,244]
–Secondary Buildings–
[Magical Engineering Research Institute]
–Sub-buildings–
▪︎ [Magical Engineering Power Plant (Under Construction 10%)]
▪︎ [Magical Engineering Weapons Research Institute (Under Construction 0%)]
▪︎ [Magical Engineering Refinery (Under Construction 5%)]
–Owned Buildings–
[Lord’s Castle LV4] (Under Construction 0%)]
[City Wall LV5]
[Residential District LV5]
[Blacksmith LV5]
[Barracks LV5]
[Tavern LV5]
[Market LV5]
[Lumber Mill LV5]
[Restaurant LV5]
[Tannery LV5]
[Stone Processing Facility LV5]
[Trading Post LV5]
[Secondary City Wall LV5]
[Inn LV5]
[Administrative District LV5]
[Paved Road LV5]
–External Buildings–
[rcenary Guild LV1]
[Wizard’s Tower Branch LV1]
[Blacksmith Guild Branch LV1]
–Owned Forces–
• Common Soldiers: 1,000
• Swordsn: 500
• Guards: 700
• Apprentice Knights: 200
He spoke, just in case, and the territory window imdiately appeared.
“……”
Kim Hyunwoo stared at the territory window for a while, then closed it, calmly recalling what Loria had said earlier.
In fact, it wasn’t too difficult to make a deduction.
If Kim Hyunwoo had listened to Loria’s story without any prior information, he would have been dumbfounded, but he had already heard so things from the Blue rchant and the Red rchant.
‘I’m not sure which side Loria is on, but it seems like it’s connected to that story.’
However, the reason Kim Hyunwoo continued to ponder was that there were still so unresolved questions from what she had said.
“Control and contract, a contract…”
Kim Hyunwoo muttered to himself.
Loria had brought up the contract several tis while speaking to him, expressing regret.
What exactly was that contract?
After pondering for a while, Kim Hyunwoo let out a deep sigh, realizing that he needed more information to make further progress.
So instead of continuing his deductions, he began to think about the territory penalty that appears when recruiting a hero.
‘Was the territory penalty sothing Loria deliberately displayed to stall for ti?’
In Arteil, there had always been territory penalties based on a hero’s disposition or relationships, so Kim Hyunwoo had firmly believed in the territory penalties that appeared before him.
But what if those territory penalties were sothing Loria manipulated to appear?
What if there were no real issues with accepting a hero?
‘This is sothing I need to verify.’
After a mont of thought, Kim Hyunwoo stood up without hesitation.
…This was a problem he could experint with.
Unlike when they first watched the Hero King with a calm heart, rilda and Rin were gradually becoming anxious about how Kim Hyunwoo was treating her.
“……”
It was because the Hero King had entered the Lord’s castle and hadn’t co out even after a very long ti.
rilda and Rin, who had assud that Charyll, the Hero King, would be in a similar situation as themselves by now, were getting increasingly nervous as Charyll remained inside for such a long ti.
At that mont.
“…!”
The Hero King erged from Kim Hyunwoo’s room.
At the sa ti, seeing Charyll crying, rilda and Rin let out a sigh of relief, even though their forr companion was sobbing bitterly.
“Phew-”
“Hah…”
“Right, of course, that wouldn’t happen… If even I couldn’t, how could a demon…?”
They thought, their expressions finally relaxing as if a burden had been lifted.
“……”
However, Giral and Loriel, who were watching rilda and Rin, had sowhat ambiguous expressions, but in the end, after seeing Charyll cry, the two nervously sat back down, relieved.
“…Still, shouldn’t we comfort her since she’s crying?”
“That’s right.”
Just as rilda and Rin were hiding their dark feelings while talking.
“Huh…?”
Their conversation suddenly stopped.
The reason was that Charyll wasn’t moving towards the exit of the Lord’s castle.
“…??”
So the two, feeling puzzled, soon realized that Charyll was heading not to her original room but to another place, and after a little ti passed.
“Uh……………?”
“……????????”
rilda and Rin could see it.
The Hero King wasn’t leaving the Lord’s castle but was entering a room on the third floor, used by heroes.
At that mont, seeing this, rilda and Rin’s minds shattered, leaving them with blank expressions.
“Th-this…this is ridiculous…”
“This is impossible…this…”
At so point, tears began to well up in her eyes.
“…Master? There’s a ssage from the King.”
Loriel, who had been quiet until a mont ago, noticed the resonance of the red magic orb and spoke quietly.
But seeing that Rin was not responding at all, Loriel had no choice but to pick up the magic orb to inform them of her Master’s absence.
[…Loriel?]
“Yes.”
“Is the Absolute Ruler of Darkness there by any chance?”
“My Master is currently unable to take any ssages.”
“R-really? That’s a big problem.”
“What’s the issue?”
“It seems the Lord of Lartania wishes to et the Absolute Ruler of Darkness.”
“Really!?”
At Sasha’s words, Ein, who had been crying just a mont ago, quickly shoved her face into the magic orb.
[Ah, yes…if possible, they would like to et you soon.]
Sasha spoke with a flustered expression.
In response, Rin, as if forgetting that she had been crying just a mont ago, began to smile.
“He…heehee…hehe…”
“Bo-Boss…?”
rilda was shattered.
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