Transmigrated into the Gacha Game I Abandoned for 10 Years

Chapter 122: Legitimate Visits (2)

Malon.

He was the leader of the Apprentice Knights affiliated with Lartania and a person who held the most loyalty to the Lord.

Of course, Kim Hyunwoo didn’t particularly take care of Malon, but the reason for his full-hearted loyalty was because of the opportunity he had created.

After all, Kim Hyunwoo had given Malon, who was of a certain age and had only faint possibilities left, being nothing more than an ordinary soldier, the blessing to become a ‘knight’.

Not only that, but there was no knight in Lartania who did not feel loyalty to Kim Hyunwoo.

Essentially, being a ‘knight’, even though far from being a ‘hero’, definitely means acquiring the power to surpass an ‘ordinary person’.

Anyway, Malon, who held deep loyalty to Kim Hyunwoo, had recently been witnessing strange events around the territory, more precisely around the Lord.

…More precisely, he was blatantly witnessing odd fights among the heroes circling around Kim Hyunwoo.

Of course, those fights naturally did not mean physical battles.

“You changed your hairstyle? Wouldn’t it be better to stick with the original one? It doesn’t feel that different anyway.”

“Is that so? But isn’t changing it up in various ways better for a change of mood rather than sticking to one style because it’s voluminous?”

“I see. Well, in truth…you might not see much effect despite the effort, right? It could be hard on you for nothing.”

“Don’t worry. I thought it’s better than not being able to change because of voluminous hair.”

In front of Malon, who was voluntarily standing guard at the entrance of the Lord’s castle, Elena and Shadra were exchanging words with smiles on their faces.

The smiles maintained their unchanging laughter.

…However, their eyes were not laughing.

“Since you came to see the Lord, wouldn’t it be better to come on another day?”

“Dad said it’s okay to come whenever I have time, so it shouldn’t matter, right?”

“Is that so? Ah, come to think of it, Shadra, you have a feeling like a real daughter, so it might be okay for you. I’m envious.”

Elena, smiling and without hesitation, stabs with a verbal dagger.

However, seeing Shadra immediately counterattack after momentarily stopping at her words, Malon couldn’t help but sigh without realizing it.

Lately, whenever he was on guard duty, the women circling around the Lord would engage in such nerve-wracking confrontations whenever they met.

And that’s not all.

Since the sign saying ‘Congratulations on the Lord’s Marriage’ appeared once, Elena, River, and Shadra had been oddly dressing up every time they entered the Lord’s castle.

Elena, for instance, had started coming in neat uniforms, frequently changing her hairstyle unlike before.

River, the head of the Blacksmith Guild, wore not her usual blacksmith attire but strangely fluttery dresses.

Shadra had been entering and leaving the Lord’s castle in outfits that were oddly revealing.

Furthermore, recently, they had been strangely bribing the guards to meticulously check who came and went and subtly interfered if someone else entered first, thus engaging in checks and balances.

“…The Lord’s abilities are certainly remarkable but…even taking that into account…it’s a complete mess.”

Malon was still watching the two of them stabbing each other with verbal daggers at the entrance of the Lord’s castle, thinking just that.

While Malon was watching the heroes’ breathtaking dagger-stabbing for the umpteenth time.

Three days after the Blue Merchant visited Lartania, Kim Hyunwoo, as usual, was going about his work and had organized his tasks into three categories.

‘Finding a way to meet the Red Merchant, slowly selecting a hero that had been postponed, and thinking about the fifth one.’

In fact, the first task, finding a way to meet the Red Merchant, was not that difficult.

Just as buying goods with a Red Stone would summon the Blue Merchant, the Red Merchant would also come to deliver goods if the purchase price of an item reached a certain amount.

The only problem here was that the goods sold by the Red Merchant were event materials, but this issue was quickly resolved.

Unlike the time when playing Arteil, where goods were not sold without an event, the current Red Merchant seemed to sell items according to the date, even without a specific event situation.

[Surprise Reveal in 82 Days!]

Upon clicking the event tab, Kim Hyunwoo saw the notification and thought.

‘In 82 days, I should have gathered a decent amount of Red Stones, so I’ll have some leeway.’

With that thought, Kim Hyunwoo closed the cash window and picked up the report Elena had left behind a little while ago to check it.

‘Again, no useful heroes this time?’

Kim Hyunwoo clicked his tongue and put down the report.

What Elena had left behind was a list of heroes who had stopped by the tavern that day.

Since Kim Hyunwoo could only view the abilities of heroes who entered the tavern by name, instead of going to check every time the notification popped up dozens of times a day, he had instructed Elena to investigate only the heroes who came into the tavern.

As a result, he could comfortably view the abilities of the heroes who entered the tavern, but unfortunately, he had not found any heroes.

‘They say the first step is crucial, but how can this be so disastrously bad?’

In fact, since the arrival of the Blue Merchant, Kim Hyunwoo had been considering accepting heroes with significantly lowered standards by anyone’s thoughts.

Yet, despite Lartania’s territory having grown significantly and buildings reaching up to Level 5, only heroes who did not meet Kim Hyunwoo’s standards were coming and going to the tavern.

Because of this, even after about three days and checking around thirty heroes, Kim Hyunwoo had not been able to find a single hero.

“Sigh…”

Therefore, swallowing his breath unconsciously with a worried expression, Kim Hyunwoo soon shook his head.

‘Let’s not be anxious.’

Kim Hyunwoo was fully aware that being anxious would not make any difference.

After all, his anxiousness wouldn’t bring in any heroes worth raising, and selecting talentless heroes in his nervousness wouldn’t be of any help either.

So, setting that thought aside quietly, he soon recalled the last task to be done.

“…The fifth hero…”

The fifth hero.

In fact, from Kim Hyunwoo’s standpoint, this part remained strangely peculiar.

The heroes Kim Hyunwoo remembered were clearly four.

Beast King.

Absolute Ruler of Darkness.

Crimson Dragon.

Hero King.

Of course, there was the Necromancer of the Blue Forest, who died due to Kim Hyunwoo’s mistake while going through the Labyrinth, but Kim Hyunwoo instinctively knew.

That the Necromancer of the Blue Forest was not the answer to this contradictory memory.

After all, the Necromancer of the Blue Forest had retired too quickly.

Meaning, he was a figure before Kim Hyunwoo had perfectly formed the Round Table.

However, despite being certain of that, Kim Hyunwoo had no clue about the fifth hero.

Even if something came to mind, it was really vague, and naturally, when counting the heroes of the Round Table, he thought of the fifth one.

This natural yet peculiar sense of dissonance had been sinking Kim Hyunwoo into a swamp of thought lately, but he only received answers of ignorance even when asking Loriel.

“…Hmm.”

After pondering for a while, Kim Hyunwoo eventually organized his thoughts and let out a light sigh.

Kim Hyunwoo instinctively realized that in order to recall this contradictory memory, he needed a catalyst rather than thinking about it alone.

‘…First, I should focus more on summoning the Red Merchant and the development of the territory.’

Therefore, instead of worrying about the fifth, Kim Hyunwoo decided to focus more on summoning the Red Merchant and on the development of the territory, especially on summoning the Red Merchant.

And then, about five days had passed.

Territory: Lartania

Territory Development Level: 4180

[Detailed development is possible!]

Territory Residents:

[Humans: 29,108]

–Owned Buildings–

[Lord's Castle LV2 >>> Upgrading 99%] [Paused]

[Wall LV5↑]

[Residential District LV5]

[Blacksmith LV5]

[Barracks LV5]

[Tavern LV5]

[Market LV5]

[Lumber Mill LV5]

[Restaurant LV5]

[Leather Workshop LV5]

[Stone Workshop LV5]

[Trading Post LV5]

[Secondary Wall LV5]

[Inn LV5↑]

[Administrative District LV5]

[Paved Road LV4↑]

–External Buildings–

[Mercenary Guild LV0 (Under Construction)]

[Mage Tower Branch LV1↑]

[Blacksmith Guild Branch LV1↑]

–Owned Troops–

-Regular Soldiers: 1000

-Guards: 200

-Apprentice Knights: 200

At the point where, unbeknownst to Kim Hyunwoo, all buildings except the paved roads had reached Level 5, and the Territory Development Level had exceeded 4000, allowing the construction of second-tier buildings.

“…How should I proceed with the second-tier development?”

Kim Hyunwoo, who was earnestly pondering how to carry out the second-tier development.

[The 'King of Calan Kingdom' has visited the territory]

“…Huh?”

He couldn’t help but react to the sudden notification that appeared before his eyes.

That was because the notification that suddenly popped up in front of Kim Hyunwoo seemed quite out of the blue to him.

‘Why the King of Calan Kingdom…?’

Kim Hyunwoo had seen the King of Calan Kingdom before and had certainly received some favor, but it was strange for her to appear out of nowhere in this situation, raising questions. However, a new notification soon popped up, leaving him with many hooks over his head.

Especially since this happened right after the notification of the visit from the King of Calan Kingdom.

A ★★★★★☆ hero 'Absolute Ruler of Darkness' has entered the territory.

“…??”

It was because a name he knew very well had appeared before his eyes.