Chapter 109: Reinforcements Office (1)

About seven hours had passed since Kim Hyunwoo upgraded the Lord's castle.

As the sunset hanging over the mountains gradually disappeared and darkness began to fall, he was able to receive a report from Elena and Shadra, who had gone Labyrinth exploring.

"You penetrated... up to the 7th tier?"

"Yes."

Kim Hyunwoo, receiving the report in the administrative district instead of the Lord's castle, unwittingly wore a look of astonishment.

Of course, he had thought that Elena, along with the Apprentice Knights, could manage up to the 7th tier, but he still believed time would be insufficient.

After all, it took an average of four to five hours for Elena to clear a single tier.

However, this time, although they came back much later than before, the news that they had penetrated not just one but three tiers at once made Kim Hyunwoo wear a shocked expression.

"Ahem!"

Soon, Kim Hyunwoo inadvertently turned his gaze toward a voice coming from beside him.

There, Shadra, with an expression that seemed to say 'I did well, didn't I?' was puffing her chest out, seeking praise from anyone who looked, and Kim Hyunwoo, grinning, tousled her hair.

"Uhm- ♪..."

As Kim Hyunwoo lightly tousled her hair, Shadra swayed her head from side to side, seemingly in a very good mood.

"Thank you for your help."

"It's nothing! After all, I'm going to be here as time goes by, so that's only normal!"

"Thanks for thinking that way."

"Right?"

Shadra smiled brightly and then gave Kim Hyunwoo a tight hug.

"......"

Elena's eyes flashed at the sight of Shadra's arms around Kim Hyunwoo's neck, but she chattered away as if she didn't care.

"I worked hard, so you have to grant me a wish?"

"Of course, I'll grant it if I can. What is it?"

"Um-"

Thinking for a moment at Kim Hyunwoo's question, Shadra glanced back at Elena and then spoke.

"I'll tell you later! Is that okay?"

"Sure, that's fine."

Shadra, nodding in agreement with Kim Hyunwoo's nod, smiled and confidently said,

"Oh, and if you need help with the next tier too, just let me know, I'll help!"

"Um- okay. But I think we probably won't need that kind of help until we get past the 9th tier."

"Huh? Why?"

At Shadra's question, asked with an innocent expression, Kim Hyunwoo explained,

"From the 8th tier onwards, the space becomes much smaller."

Kim Hyunwoo, who had completed at least hundreds of raids on each tier, had information about the 8th tier come to mind.

'Ant hills are definitely a difficult terrain to fight in with summoned golems for various reasons.'

Even though Labyrinths are basically underground, their size isn't small, but the 8th and 9th tiers distinctly change in nature from regular Labyrinths, taking on the form of ant hills.

The paths become narrower and, in turn, numerous forks appear, entangling like a maze.

Thus, exploration must invariably precede other activities more so than in other tiers, and since the passages themselves are narrow, golems can't really be used, which is why he shared this with Shadra.

"Um- can't help it then."

After Shadra left with a nod of disappointment, Kim Hyunwoo, who was receiving an additional report from Elena, said,

"This time too?"

"Yes."

Soon, he could see the blue bones she had been waiting to show him.

The three bones laid out in front of him, indicative of the total three tiers they had conquered, varied in size, if not as much as the last time.

"...They grew a bit each time a tier was cleared?"

"That's right."

Upon Elena's nod, Kim Hyunwoo, having seen the blue bones, quickly checked the markings on the blue bones this time and asked,

"Did Shadra see this mark by any chance?"

He asked, wondering if a magician like her might know something about it, but Elena shook her head.

"No, she did check, but she said she didn't know much about it either. She mentioned that we might need archaeologists for these kinds of symbols."

"I see."

Kim Hyunwoo nodded in disappointment at Elena's words, then, after a brief chat with her and leaving a word of thanks for her efforts, he was about to leave the place.

However,

"Um, My Lord?"

"Huh? Why?"

"That- me too..."

"...?"

Kim Hyunwoo, looking at Elena, tilted his head in confusion.

To which Elena said,

"Never mind..."

She quickly turned around with an awkward laugh, saying 'haha', then turned back around and cleared her throat for no particular reason.

And then,

"Um... could you, perhaps, praise me too?"

"...Praise?"

"Yes, that- tousling my hair."

Elena's face turned red, as if it took a lot of courage to say that, and Kim Hyunwoo wore a somewhat strange expression.

After all, she had never acted this way before.

So, Kim Hyunwoo, making a curious face,

"It's not hard, is it?"

awkwardly nodded and tousled Elena's hair a few times.

Elena flinched.

As if Kim Hyunwoo had touched something wrong, Elena flinched a few times and then said,

"...I'll be going now."

"Uh... uhh..."

She left the administrative area, leaving a subtle atmosphere behind.

And then,

"...What was that?"

Kim Hyunwoo, unknowingly making a strange face at the subtle atmosphere created by Elena's slight flinching, looked towards the direction she had left.

The next day.

Finally, as the Lord's castle's level was delayed and then upgraded to Level 2, the castle where Kim Hyunwoo had been staying changed.

The Level 1 Lord's castle was essentially just minimally repaired and about to collapse, but the newly expanded castle at Level 2 was different.

To what extent was it different?

'...Was the Lord's castle at Level 2... like this?'

The moment Kim Hyunwoo saw the Level 2 Lord's castle, he unwittingly looked bewildered by how sophisticated it was.

While it wasn't quite as large as a royal palace, which he had seen when playing Arteil extensively, the Lord's castle now looked quite grand, almost like a large mansion.

Furthermore, as the level increased, all the cracked and repair-needed areas were fixed, making Kim Hyunwoo wear a satisfied expression and think,

'Since the Lord's castle isn't built up like other buildings but naturally upgrades when the lord leaves materials around, it really seems to have completely changed.'

With that thought, Kim Hyunwoo entered the interior of the Lord's castle and could confirm that even the inside was not just common wooden flooring but had been replaced with rather high-quality wooden floors.

And so, the first thing Kim Hyunwoo did as soon as the Lord's castle reached Level 2 was-

"...Fuel?"

"Yes, could you possibly research it? Since you're an alchemist, I wondered if this could work."

-to request Shadra to research fuel.

Upon hearing this, Shadra, who had been listening to Kim Hyunwoo's story and reading what he had written for a while, said,

"Um- I'll discuss this with that dwarf and give it a try!"

"Please do."

"Of course! Whose request would I refuse!"

With a lively laugh, Shadra left the office, and Kim Hyunwoo returned to his work.

Exactly one week passed from then.

At that point, with about a week left until he needed to renew the Package, Kim Hyunwoo felt genuinely satisfied with the Lord's castle level increase over the past week.

Indeed, while the Lord's castle level increase by just one didn't unlock additional functions, it enriched his life significantly.

Cooking was always done by Lani, so he didn't feel it much, but the bed was no longer the hard one from the Level 1 Lord's castle but a very soft one, and it was subtly warm at night, so recently, he no longer woke up due to the cold.

Of course, aside from the immediate improved living conditions, there were peculiar occurrences, like Elena changing her hairstyle occasionally or subtly grabbing his sleeve under the guise of reading his palm, but among these, the significant change over the past week was,

Red Stones:

30

Blue Stones:

232

Gold Coins:

325,422

Magic Stones:

242,231

The supply of Magic Stones.

In fact, the current view of Kim Hyunwoo's assets showed a clear decrease in the supply of Magic Stones.

Because even after more than a week had passed, leaving only a week remaining, he had not gathered more than 242,231 of the lowest-grade Magic Stones.

However, those were just the Magic Stones displayed in the asset window.

"Show me the low and mid-grade Magic Stones from Loria as well."

"Yes."

Following Kim Hyunwoo's words, the asset window updated.

Lowest-grade Magic Stones:

242,231

Low-grade Magic Stones:

15,231

Mid-grade Magic Stones:

1,732

"Um."

Looking at the newly updated notification window that appeared before his eyes, Kim Hyunwoo smiled.

Until now, gathering low and mid-grade Magic Stones had been impossible, so he hadn't bothered to display them, but after the Labyrinth was breached up to the 7th tier, the supply of the lowest-grade Magic Stones fell while low and mid-grade Magic Stones began to accumulate.

'I was thinking wrong.'

In fact, Kim Hyunwoo had not thought that low and mid-grade Magic Stones would gather quickly even if he opened the tier immediately.

He had judged that time was needed until high-level mercenaries, who would be the only ones entering from the 5th tier where low-grade Magic Stones were common, started to come in.

However, contrary to Kim Hyunwoo's thoughts, as soon as the 5th tier was opened, low-grade Magic Stones began to be supplied in earnest, allowing him to realize that there were quite a lot of high-level mercenaries in Lartania than he had thought.

Thanks to that, Kim Hyunwoo's face was brightening day by day.

Although exchanging the low and mid-grade Magic Stones, which had not yet dropped in market value, cost a fair amount of money, it was because there was a significant qualitative difference between low and mid-grade Magic Stones.

Moreover, a Labyrinth break triggered by low-grade Magic Stones yields 1,000 more Red Stones than one triggered by the lowest-grade Magic Stones.

This means that one Labyrinth break can yield 2,300 Stones.

'Shadra has really been a blessing.'

Kim Hyunwoo smiled as he remembered how, thanks to Shadra, they had breached the Labyrinth up to the 7th tier in just one day without a single casualty.

'If we could also produce fuel via alchemy here, that would really be the icing on the cake.'

Kim Hyunwoo thought of Shadra, who had been researching something for a week after their conversation with River, but soon shook his head.

He really hoped the fuel would be completed, but it seemed too much to hope for, so he was somewhat prepared to let go of that expectation.

Anyway,

'At this rate, maybe I could even buy a Proposal Ring next month if things go well?'

While the Gold Coins were slowly increasing, in contrast to the rapidly increasing Magic Stones, Kim Hyunwoo smiled as he looked at the current situation.

"My Lord."

At the sound of a polite knock, Kim Hyunwoo responded,

"What is it?"

"I've been told that someone from Tesnoka territory has come to visit."

"...From Tesnoka?"

"Yes, they say it's an urgent matter."

"Let them in."

"Understood."

Shortly after Kim Hyunwoo's permission,

A ★★★ hero 'Cloaked in Darkness' has entered the territory.

"I greet the Lord of Lartania. My name is Roman."

Seeing Roman bowing politely before him, he nodded and politely asked,

"Excuse me, but the Lord is currently very busy and couldn't come in person. Could we possibly communicate through a crystal ball?"

"Of course."

A simple permission.

Following that, Roman, looking apologetic, bowed his head and then placed a crystal ball in front of Kim Hyunwoo.

"It's been a while, Lord of Lartania."

"It certainly has been a long time for me as well."

Rania, the Duchess of Tesnoka, immediately greeted him and went straight to the point,

"Time is of the essence, so I apologize for being abrupt. Lord of Lartania, could you possibly assist me?"

"...Are you requesting military aid?"

"Yes, if you agree to help me, I'll owe you one. I mean it sincerely."

Before Kim Hyunwoo could even think, he heard a firm voice-

"...Yes?"

He couldn't help but respond with a surprised tone.