Genius Blacksmith’s Game - Chapter 105
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
The Genius Blacksmith’s Game
The Genius Blacksmith’s Game
Gale Unit (1)
Gale Unit (1)
Hyeon-su, who had arrived at the Araham territory, was walking to meet Commander Philip.
At that moment, he quickly reacted to the terror-filled voice of a soldier.
A cannonball glowing red-hot and showing signs of imminent explosion entered Hyeon-su’s field of vision.
Before the cannonball could explode, Hyeon-su quickly activated Lord’s Command to contain the explosion.
This power was also not absolute, and since his control was somewhat lacking, he sent it soaring into the sky.
Boooooom-!
With a tremendous explosion sound, Hyeon-su breathed a small sigh of relief.
And he became conscious of the gazes he felt from around him.
Nobles or knights.
Or commanders.
Those people, as Hyeon-su thought, must not show great disturbance.
‘Their disturbance would soon spread to those around them.’
Therefore, he patted the shoulder of the soldier in front of him just moments ago, acting as nonchalantly as possible.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes…! Thank you for saving me! But who are you?”
“I’m Baronet Hyeon-su. I came to see the Commander.”
Hyeon-su was soon able to spot Commander Philip looking at him.
‘Magic…?’
Commander Philip was quite surprised.
It was a strange power he had never seen in his life.
And wasn’t this man called a blacksmith wielding magic-like power?
But soon Philip corrected his thoughts.
‘Is this the power Marquis Lookburg spoke of?’
Marquis Lookburg had continuously emphasized it.
‘He stopped the assassins with an unknown power, and the holy knights cut them down.’
‘He stopped the assassins with an unknown power, and the holy knights cut them down.’
Certainly that power could be called quite strange, but he wondered if it could match a knight in terms of military force.
Soon he approached and bowed.
“Knight Hyeon-su greets Commander Philip.”
“I offer my thanks. Thanks to you, we were able to prevent casualties among the soldiers.”
Philip was a person who thoroughly distinguished between public and private matters.
He gave praise where it was due.
Philip truly felt grateful to Hyeon-su.
[Intimacy with Philip increases.]
Philip immediately got to the point.
“This place is not only a training ground for raising soldiers, but also where knights learn command, leadership, and qualifications as leaders. I will give you 30 soldiers. Enter the subjugation zone with these soldiers, kill the ogres and ogre chieftain, achieve 20% subjugation progress, and return. As a warning, never enter the forest full of green leaves. It’s not a place that knights and subjugation teams of your level should enter yet.”
Ding!
[Kingdom Quest: Hunt the Ogre Chieftain]
Grade: A
Restriction: Baronet
Reward: Three soldiers.
Failure Penalty: Title revocation.
Description: You have taken your first step as a baronet. Complete the subjugation safely and return.
Hyeon-su knew that for percentage-based quests like this, the higher you raised it, the more astronomically the rewards changed.
He recalled when he had previously raised the development level of Balas territory.
Hyeon-su had been offered 20% development at the time and created over 100% development.
What kind of reward had he received from that?
‘I gained 100 Charisma stats and even received an unexpected blacksmith shop.’
Thinking about it now, he wondered if this was one of the reasons Barad had him in mind as a successor.
“What methods are there to raise the development level?”
“It’s simple. If the soldiers are injured as little as possible, they grow, and furthermore, if they have loyalty toward the knight leading them, it will increase. Additionally, your stay here is a total of two weeks. If you conduct additional subjugations within that time, you should be able to raise it.”
“Understood.”
“You can prepare for departure in 30 minutes.”
As Philip was about to turn around, Hyeon-su asked a question.
“May I ask one more thing?”
“What is it?”
“Why is someone as excellent as Commander Philip staying here in Araham territory?”
[Commander Philip Lv.341]
In the case of NPCs, having the same level as a user doesn’t always mean they’re at the same level.
This applies to Named NPCs or commander-class characters.
Philip was Araham’s commander and a high-level NPC reaching level 341.
And currently in Araham territory, seven nobles including Marquis Lookburg had been demoted here.
The Araham territory that Hyeon-su had come to see directly was a place that had lost its function as a territory.
A territory should be where people directly farm or make specialty products to maintain their livelihood.
Furthermore, it should be where the territory’s people live their lives.
But this Araham territory had already seen most of its residents relocate, leaving only soldiers and knights.
Their role was to guard at the edge of Goyard Kingdom, preventing monsters from crossing over.
While it might seem like a crucial mission, in the end, they were those fighting desperately every day on the final front line.
‘…This is the first person to ask such a question.’
Philip was inwardly surprised. It was quite a sharp question.
“There is no work more valuable than protecting the people from monsters. Now prepare for departure.”
“Understood.”
Hyeon-su didn’t ask further. After he disappeared, Philip personally selected the soldiers.
‘Sigh…’
He let out a sigh.
Recently, too many soldiers had been annihilated by Outsider commanders.
Philip felt troubled by those who had lost their lives needlessly.
‘Such cases must not happen again.’
Therefore, Philip approached one soldier.
“Kan, disguise yourself as a regular soldier and protect the other soldiers.”
“Understood.”
Philip felt reassured whenever he looked at the soldier named Khan.
To others, it would have seemed an odd sight, and Khan asked cautiously.
“…But Commander, are we going to disappear into history like this?”
Philip couldn’t say anything in response to Khan’s sad gaze.
The knight named Hyeon-su had seen it exactly right.
Philip, who had been a war hero, didn’t belong in this place and had been given this mission by the king.
‘Train soldiers who can even cut down enemy knights.’
That had been just 20 years ago.
From that time on, war hero Philip had secretly raised soldiers.
They had begun training from childhood.
At the time, Philip hadn’t understood the king’s command.
Why not just make them knights? Why raise soldiers instead?
As time passed, Philip came to understand the meaning.
Those with knight titles and soldiers are fundamentally different.
Since knights themselves have high status, enemies target knights first in war situations.
The more decisive reason is that the name ‘soldier’ can make enemies let their guard down.
Any enemy commander tends to ignore soldiers.
In fact, they had used magic power measuring devices to select those who couldn’t rise to knight-level talent.
In this land of Ares, magic power is the measure of strength.
In reality, they had reached their limit at a certain level.
Yet the interesting fact was that they were as strong as knights.
This came about purely through ‘real combat, skill, and experience.’
Though their innate vessels were small, they wielded knight-level power through different experiences and real combat than others.
Their name was the Gale Unit, and now they were disappearing into history.
Originally, they had been raised for assassinating heroes of other nations or guarding important nobles.
But for various reasons at the time, the Gale Unit had been abandoned here.
There were two reasons they secretly hid in this place.
One was that they could continue honing their skills through endless monster subjugation.
The second reason was to find a lord they could serve.
“…It’s already been 10 years since the disbandment. The knight you and the few remaining members are looking for will be hard to find.”
The king also felt sorry for them.
That’s why he had given them a choice.
If there’s someone you want to serve, then serve them.
The problem was that finding a lord worthy of the Gale Unit’s service wasn’t easy.
They were looking for promising knights in this place.
Knights who could fly higher and farther, that is.
“This too is an important mission.”
Even so, Khan’s expression showed no signs of improving.
“Perhaps I should have an audience with His Majesty to discuss this matter.”
“…I’ll be waiting.”
Color returned to Khan’s face.
And Philip mounted his horse to have an audience with the king for the first time in years.
***
Hyeon-su looked at the thirty or so soldiers assembled before him.
[Soldier Kin Lv.201]
[Soldier Rock Lv.198]
The soldiers’ levels all seemed similar.
And Hyeon-su saw the fear dwelling in their faces.
Indeed, one soldier asked with a fearful look in his eyes.
“Subjugation Captain, is your level really in the 220s?”
Hyeon-su couldn’t lie about it.
“That’s right. But there’s nothing to worry about.”
The soldiers’ faces turned pale.
The average level of knights here was 290.
So naturally, they were concerned that a blacksmith in the 220s would lead them.
But Hyeon-su just needed to show them directly.
‘I wonder how much I can raise the subjugation rate?’
Soon Hyeon-su spoke forcefully.
“We depart.”
***
Three days later, at the border between Goyard Kingdom and Praham Kingdom.
In just three days, Philip was able to meet Barad somewhere other than the capital.
“Your Majesty, can’t you assign the Gale Unit to the royal palace?”
Barad was firm.
“You know that’s impossible.”
Philip knew this fact too.
They couldn’t be mixed into the royal palace.
Soldiers with the strange ability to defeat even knights.
The royal palace would suspect their identity, and there was a high probability that the Gale Unit, which had been raised in utmost secrecy, would be exposed to the world.
“…Didn’t I say I would give them gold and treasures to take responsibility for their entire lives?”
Barad was a man who took responsibility for his words.
But the Gale Unit’s will was firm.
“Their real mission was to secretly protect the king. Having lived their entire lives that way, it would be difficult for them to live peacefully.”
Barad sighed.
“You said that the Gale Unit members would follow without question if there was a knight who could exceed a 60% subjugation rate.”
Barad shook his head.
“So far, no one has even exceeded 40%. The level you’re suggesting is too high.”
He knew that. But it wasn’t what Philip wanted.
It was what the remaining members of the Gale Unit wanted.
In the end, Philip gained nothing.
Three days.
In just those three days, Philip returned to Araham territory with drooping shoulders and immediately became busy.
Today was the day the soldier conferment ceremony would be held.
This soldier conferment ceremony was an event of Araham territory.
Since the commander couldn’t miss this event, he hurriedly climbed onto the platform.
Philip looked at the 1,056 soldiers lined up before him.
These soldiers were the ones who would be assigned to the knights, and the knights couldn’t come to this occasion.
Five knights had conducted subjugation for one week.
Philip wanted to first ask if there was anyone who would serve Knight Ken from Valoco territory.
“Is there anyone who would serve Knight Ken…”
“Commander.”
At that moment, one soldier raised his hand.
Philip made a gesture with his chin at the soldier who had a puzzled expression, and he spoke.
“We all have a knight we want to serve.”
“…All of them?”
Philip wore a puzzled expression.
1,056 soldiers.
All of them wanted to serve under a soldier?
Philip asked with a surprised expression.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Baronet Hyeon-su, sir.”
Upon hearing those words, Philip let out a hollow laugh.
He pondered those still surprising words and asked them again.
“So you’re saying all 1,056 soldiers. All of you want to serve Baronet Hyeon-su?”
“Yes!!!”
“We absolutely want to serve him!”
“Please send us to Baronet Hyeon-su!”
Philip saw the desire to be with Baronet Hyeon-su in their eyes.
He looked at Khan with wavering eyes.
Khan’s eyes were reddening.
Philip also looked at the other Gale Corps members.
They too were slowly nodding with firm gazes.
Philip was amazed.
‘What on earth happened while I was away?’
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
