Genius Blacksmith's Game

The lords who had come with Bols.

They, too, were people of Goyad.

Some, like Lord Bellin, ruled small territories.

Some ruled territories that had only just begun to rise.

Some ruled lands with strong armies.

They were all different.

There was also something Hyunsoo did not know.

There was another truth behind the territories Barad had bestowed.

During the Battle of Goyad.

During Naval Battle.

They had been the lords of territories that would have been massacred first if the line had been pushed back.

They remembered that day.

That day.

The retainers Barad had sent to each territory arrived before the lords and delivered his final order.

“It is the royal command. Serve Hyun, the hero who saved the kingdom.”

“It is the king’s command.”

“Your king has changed.”

That day, at around the same hour, their fates had changed.

Some looked up at the sky. Some bowed with all their strength toward the place where Sword King Barad, the king they had once served, had stood.

Others wept when Sword King Barad took a step back.

Each of them accepted his departure in their own way, but their hearts were the same.

‘Your Majesty, I obey your command.’

‘Even if it costs me my life, I will protect the young king.’

‘Your Majesty’s final command—I will uphold it with all my heart.’

They knew that Sword King Barad had wanted them to watch over the young king.

To begin with, their respect and feelings for Hyun ran deep.

However.

‘The kingdom will be endlessly shaken by its finances.’

‘People will starve, and the citizens freezing to death in the cold winter will overflow.’

‘Flocks of hungry crows will tear at the bodies of citizens who starved to death.’

That was the common thought of the ten men who had led a kingdom.

Was it arrogance?

No.

They had held endless meetings.

“The reason most newly born nations collapse is poverty. It is not because the nation itself is in the wrong.”

“Neighboring countries keep up their persecution without end, and new nations are bound to hit geographical and resource limits.”

“The nation of Hyun is also in danger. It is a nation being checked by dozens of countries, including the Parion Empire.”

Like this, the reason new nations collapsed was poverty.

Under persecution from neighboring countries, a nation could not make money.

It could not trade with other kingdoms either, so commerce only circulated inside the country.

That continued, and most new nations collapsed that way.

They were worried.

They were worried that the nation of Hyun, the nation they had sworn to protect, might walk that same path.

But now......

‘Thirty million gold......?’

It was half a year of the Kingdom of Goyad’s budget.

That was how enormous a sum thirty million gold was.

‘What am I looking at right now? Am I possessed by a ghost?’

‘How long has it been since His Majesty said he was participating in the World Championship?’

‘He earned thirty million gold in barely ten or so days!?’

There was no precedent for it.

Of the ordinary new nations that disappeared, no nation had ever had its king return after earning ten million gold.

And yet, after barely ten or so days had passed.

They had rushed here thinking they needed to protect their king, and now they understood why Bols had fainted.

Also.

The ten lords had thought that because he was still young, they could fill in whatever he lacked.

Their eyes now fell on the king they had believed would be immature because he was still young, the king they had thought would sometimes make choices he should not make.

He wore a black full plate armor set, and at his side hung the Sword for the One Who Follows the King, the sword that symbolized a king.

They were astonished as they looked at him.

“Chancellor, hear me.”

His low, sunken voice rang heavily through the audience chamber.

Nell was startled by the force she felt in Hyunsoo’s voice, so different from usual.

‘Did Lord Hyunsoo have this side to him?’

That voice suited him quite well. More than that, it carried the pressure of meeting a king whose eyes one could not even dare meet.

Because Nell was a user, she realized this was the effect of overwhelming stats and multiple titles.

She naturally prostrated herself before Hyunsoo.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Then the king whom the ten lords had wanted to hold in their arms and protect spoke.

“Go at once to every territory in the nation of Hyun. Repair every broken and collapsed place there, and rebuild them into new places where people can live comfortably.”

“Winter will soon come. For those who will go hungry and tremble in the cold when winter arrives, fill their storehouses with food, and fill their homes with enough firewood to make them hot.”

“Care for the sick throughout the nation of Hyun. My kingdom is a nation that has established ties with the Ares Church. I order priests of the Ares Church to be dispatched.”

“Designate one territory and establish a new Academy there, where any child, adult, elder, or woman who wishes to learn may receive an education without discrimination. The royal family will bear the entire cost of that education.”

The lords were astonished.

The voice that rang out from the young king they had worried about spread with force.

A pressure no less than Sword King Barad’s made their hearts tremble.

And.

Thirty million gold.

That enormous sum was being used entirely for the kingdom.

Not only that, he was not simply telling them to feed the people. He was telling them to let the people eat their fill. He was not telling them to provide enough firewood to endure the cold. He was telling them to fill their homes with enough firewood to keep them warm.

‘Is he overreaching?’

‘No. This is a king who earned thirty million gold in only a few dozen days!’

It was a feat even Bolond of the Parion Empire could not accomplish.

Then Hyunsoo, who had made the audience chamber ring with his low, powerful voice, looked at them.

Flinch!

As if they had seen Sword King Barad’s gaze, they shrank back before the eyes of the one they had sworn to protect.

And because of that, there were lords who burst into tears of joy.

Hyunsoo looked at them gently.

Watching him, Nell thought.

‘You need to say something that can win their hearts even more deeply.’

Were they truly loyal subjects?

No.

They had come because of the sense of mission they had shouldered, because that was how they had lived their entire lives.

They had been saved once in Goyad, and with this, they had repaid that debt.

To turn them into true loyal subjects.

To make Sword King Barad someone they could completely leave behind.

Nell thought there needed to be a statement with that much weight.

‘Your merits are truly great.’

‘I hope you will protect me from now on.’

‘Let us make our territories like this from now on.’

As Nell thought of such words, she wondered whether any of them would truly reach their hearts.

Then.

Toward those men whom he had pressed down with immense pressure, and who had come offering everything because they doubted his finances.

As a king of the twenty-first century, as a mere twenty-one-year-old.

As the only king in Ares, he walked a path different from all kings before him, in his own way.

“Thank you. All of you.”

“......!”

“......!”

“......!”

One of the lords was so shocked that he snapped his head up.

No king thanked his ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) subjects.

A king commended their merits.

But because Hyunsoo was young, he could be more honest than anyone, and that sincere gratitude made the hearts of the ten lords pound.

Nell got goosebumps too.

‘......Does “all of you” mean only them? No, it includes the citizens as well.’

Hyunsoo was not immature for his age.

This was not simply the phrase “thank you.” By adding “all of you” afterward, the king had thanked both his retainers and his citizens.

From the start, a king’s single word carried many meanings.

One lord, who had lived his whole life loyal to the royal house and had simply believed that was his fate, heard such words for the first time.

But that single sentence melted their hearts and made their chests ring.

One lord, his lips trembling, had received enormous funds that would let his territory eat its fill today, and a repayment that would last his entire life. He sincerely drove his head to the floor.

“Your Majesty’s grace is boundless!!!”

Following him, all the lords were overcome with emotion.

[Lord Alrdo swears loyalty to you.]

[He will give even his life for you and will never betray you!]

[Lord Felien swears loyalty to you.]

[He will give even his life for you and will never betray you!]

[Lord Golohon......]

[Lord Ridron......]

Notifications rang out from all ten of them.

Though there was no formal Pledge of Loyal Retainer, the notifications proved it.

They proved that Hyunsoo had gained loyal subjects that ordinary users could never obtain.

Meanwhile.

Bols, who had fainted, woke up to the sound of sobbing and crying.

He did not understand the current situation, and after waking in a haze, he heard the whole story.

“What......? He said he would use all thirty million gold for the citizens?”

But an even more shocking blow struck him.

“He said thank you!? Urk!”

He had never imagined he would hear a king thank him in his lifetime.

Under that enormous shock, he fell into another happy faint.

THUD—

“???”

Hyunsoo, watching him, felt as if his own place under the label “another Hyunsoo-induced fainting” was starting to wobble.

‘Should I have fainted after saying thank you......?’

And one man was watching this scene.

The man who had bought the Jeoneodo.

‘All the money he has?’

Sejin was shocked.

He had invested all the money he had into the kingdom?

‘No, does user Hyunsoo have no greed for his own growth?’

Usually, when rankers had money, they invested it in themselves.

Then Sejin got chills.

‘Isn’t this a method only user Hyunsoo can use?’

Now that he thought about it......

Eighty percent of what users invested in themselves went toward artifacts.

But Hyunsoo was self-sufficient.

If there was something he needed, he made it. If there was an artifact with an effect he wanted, he used God’s custom crafting and God’s crafting method to pursue the materials and create it.

‘And yet what he makes is better than what users get no matter how much money they pour in.......’

Truly, it was a method only user Hyunsoo could use.

‘Even so, I never thought he would sweep together every bit of money he had and hand it over.......’

Sejin could only be astonished by that nerve.

Then a notification appeared on the monitor in front of him.

[User Hyunsoo’s Affinity with his subjects is extremely high.]

[This is a rare level of Affinity even across an entire kingdom.]

[User Hyunsoo approaches the conditions for a king’s title.]

“......What?”

Sejin was flustered.

A title was, from the start, a holy grail given to users who accomplished special achievements.

And there were also titles that only kings could possess, titles achieved solely through a king’s accomplishments.

However, because they were king titles, they were difficult beyond almost any other title.

Of course, Hyunsoo was the only user king.

Because of that, he had the advantage of being the only one who could monopolize that path and move forward.

‘What title is it?’

Sejin considered it together with the current situation and marveled.

He had thought several titles would appear once kings began to emerge.

However, this title was one he had thought would take at least several years to appear.

‘......Is it that title that can help a kingdom’s finances?’

A title that could help a kingdom’s finances.

It was not merely rare.

Among the titles bestowed upon kings, this was the only title that could help a kingdom’s finances.

And the reason that title was so extraordinary was this.

From the start, titles were bound permanently.

Which meant that if Hyunsoo obtained this title, he would benefit from it permanently.

As time passed, that title would exert more and more power.

And if things like this kept piling up?

‘It will have a value that can’t be appraised, not just tens of billions.’

This was possible because it was a king’s title.

It was something no ordinary user could easily reach.

Then Sejin thought of something.

This had been possible because user Hyunsoo had given away tens of billions of won.

‘Can he obtain it?’

This title was extremely difficult to obtain.

The reason was the condition it required to be fulfilled to the degree the title wanted.

That required degree of fulfillment.

‘Humans usually burn hot in the moment, then cool with time.’

So if Hyunsoo could not obtain it this time, no one knew when the next chance would come.

No, perhaps it might never come at all, and someone else might snatch it away instead.

And the first condition for this title.

‘Gain countless loyal subjects.’

That one had been fulfilled.

The problem was the second.

‘Receive the loyalty of the citizens.’

But the second condition was always harder.

Because winning the hearts of the citizens spread across the nation of Hyun was by no means easy.

But Sejin did not know.

He did not know that this would be achieved far more easily than expected.