Chapter 16. The First Hero (10)
Clop. Clop.
The sound of horse hooves echoed.
There were no cries from Wild Pigs, and the sky was blue.
It was peaceful.
It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this relaxed.
Taylor had returned to Tolkhan Village to unite the villages.
Kim Seongchan’s group arrived at the Terk Kingdom and stopped in front of the guards.
“Sir Kosdal, what brings you here?”
Kosdal only frowned without saying anything.
He had practically been dragged here against his will, so he looked at Kim Seongchan.
Naturally, the guard also turned toward Kim Seongchan.
Then the guard noticed the high-grade subspace pouch hanging at his waist and immediately straightened his posture.
“We came because there’s something important to take care of. You can probably tell just from the fact that Sir Kosdal came with us.”
The guard nodded.
“It seems Sir Kosdal also came after hearing the rumors.”
“Rumors?”
“You didn’t come because you already knew?”
“What rumors are you talking about?!”
Realizing that he had said too much, the guard quickly looked at Kim Seongchan for help.
“We can go through, right?”
“Are those rumors about me?!”
“You may enter.”
“Let’s go.”
Kim Seongchan and Lee Naye walked through the gate.
Kosdal was still glaring at the guard.
“I, is it really okay to leave him like that?”
Lee Naye asked with worried eyes.
Kosdal might be the Knight Commander of the Posit Kingdom, but this was the Terk Kingdom.
If he was judged to be a threat, even Kosdal might not get away unharmed.
“He’s a Knight Commander. I’m sure he has his own plan.”
Kosdal was a Knight Commander.
He was not someone a mere guard could treat carelessly.
The kingdoms are allies, and Kosdal is famous in the Terk Kingdom.
The King of the Terk Kingdom paid even more attention to Kosdal than he did to the King of their allied Posit Kingdom.
That was how important Kosdal was to the King of the Terk Kingdom.
Kim Seongchan knew that, so he was not worried.
Lee Naye, who did not know the circumstances, remained uneasy.
She wondered whether Kosdal might actually end up in prison.
“You know, there was actually a time when a Knight Commander was dragged to prison.”
Kim Seongchan stopped walking and looked surprised.
Thinking he was interested in the story, Lee Naye began explaining.
“Sir Tern once broke through the guards and went outside. It was when so many Wild Pigs gathered that they nearly covered the mountain. After Sir Tern and I killed all the Wild Pigs and returned, the guards said it was the King’s order, grabbed both of Sir Tern’s arms, and took him to prison.”
“And after that, you were the only one who went outside to kill Wild Pigs?”
“Yes...”
Kyao...
Silnyang, the wind spirit, sensed Lee Naye’s complicated emotions and became gloomy along with its master.
Their emotional communication is working.
At first, Silnyang had rejected emotional communication with Lee Naye.
However, after spending every day sitting on Lee Naye’s shoulder and feeling her emotions, emotional communication had begun happening naturally.
“You still won’t tell me until the end.”
“We’ll know once we check, won’t we? Just looking around, it’s obviously serious.”
Kim Seongchan looked away from Kosdal’s dissatisfied face and began examining their surroundings.
The streets lacked energy.
There were stores, but many of them were closed.
“Was it always like this?”
“Well, when Sir Kosdal used to visit often, everything was fine. But after he stopped coming, more and more shops started closing, and the whole place slowly lost its energy.”
Even while explaining, Lee Naye looked at Kosdal with curiosity.
Kosdal proudly puffed out his chest.
His entire body seemed to boast about how amazing he was.
“Did you steal something?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?!”
“Since the Terk Kingdom started losing its energy after you disappeared, I thought maybe you stole some legendary magic tool that gives life to the whole kingdom.”
“What do you take me for?”
“A Knight Commander who hasn’t used his abilities properly for two years.”
“There were circumstances. I didn’t know things would become like this. I thought they would handle it well.”
Kosdal, who was normally proud and confident, suddenly became discouraged.
“Then you can do better starting now.”
“Am I the only one who doesn’t understand what you two are talking about?”
Lee Naye did not understand just how important Kosdal’s role was.
She had never once seen Kosdal fight Wild Pigs, and Kosdal had never shown her his true strength.
She probably only thought that he was good at fighting because he was a Knight Commander.
Perhaps she even saw him as being similar to Sir Tern, the Knight Commander of the Terk Kingdom.
With Kosdal right beside them, it would not be good for Kim Seongchan to casually reveal how much he knew about him.
“I’m saying he should work hard so the Terk Kingdom can function normally again.”
“So you’re saying all this happened because Sir Kosdal stopped coming.”
Kim Seongchan was basically saying that the Terk Kingdom had begun falling apart because a single person, Kosdal, was no longer involved.
Lee Naye could not understand why it sounded like everything could be solved if Kosdal simply started moving again.
“Well, there are probably several reasons, but he is a Knight Commander. And in the Terk Kingdom, he’s even more special than that.”
It did not change the fact that Kosdal was the person who could play the biggest role in restoring the Terk Kingdom.
Kosdal’s eyes trembled as he looked at the surrounding houses.
He even shook his head slightly, as if trying to deny what he was seeing.
“Just what happened while I was gone?”
“We’ll probably find out once we hear what those rumors are about.”
After seeing the current state of the kingdom, Kosdal would not remain still.
The Terk Kingdom had only one Queen.
Serina put a piece of dry bread into her mouth and chewed.
“It tastes awful.”
How had the country ended up like this?
She could clearly remember the last time she had eaten bread that was rich, savory, and had a pleasant texture.
Whenever she remembered it, anger rose inside her.
“Why won’t Oppa come here? Why do only strange knights keep showing up?!”
The quality of the food had become this bad because her older brother, Kosdal, had stopped coming.
Even the thick stew that once had a deep flavor had turned into watery soup a long time ago.
Because the kingdom was struggling, Serina had endured it and tried to solve things herself.
However, nothing went the way she wanted.
“Your Majesty, what do you mean by strange knights? How can you say that about the excellent knights trained by Sir Kosdal?”
“Nyr, are you taking Oppa’s side just because he trained you? Isn’t it about time you started taking my side?!”
Her anger turned toward the knight.
Nyr, a female knight with a long scar across her cheek, did not even blink.
Instead, she fought back.
“It is not good to blame others for your own responsibilities.”
“I’m not blaming him! He’s family. Family!”
“The closer someone is to you, the more you should try not to burden them.”
“Ah, enough! Wait outside!”
The door closed.
Serina was finally alone.
“I didn’t think he would really refuse to help this much... No, I should have done better when he was helping me...”
There had been times when she wished her older brother would work for the Terk Kingdom instead of the Posit Kingdom.
She had even selfishly thought that he could at least do that much for his only younger sister.
I thought our family was different.
Unlike other noble families where people would even kill their parents for personal gain, murder within the Harth Family was strictly forbidden.
Under the teachings of the Harth Family, schemes still existed, but poisoning and murder disappeared.
Instead, the family developed through people benefiting one another and maintaining good relationships.
Serina had grown up in that kind of Harth Family.
She had become used to receiving things from others.
Too used to it.
Because of that, she had never properly developed the persistence and effort needed for growth.
She had also developed a habit of looking for easy solutions.
I know. I know I’m not doing well.
She knew.
But there were not many things she could actually do.
Even if she tried, she had no idea what she was supposed to do.
Whenever she attempted something, the only thing that became clear was who was interfering with her.
“Even when I try to persuade my husband, he only listens to that pig-faced Count Tornjeo and that sly-looking Park Seokdu. What am I supposed to do... There’s nothing I can do!”
Serina picked up her spoon and finished the stew.
Then she stuffed her mouth with bread and chewed it irritably.
Just wait until you come here.
Tears formed in Serina’s bloodshot eyes.
She had been waiting for Kosdal to return from the Posit Kingdom.
“What was the name of your guild again, Naye?”
“The Fist Rice Ball Guild. The name came from the idea that we should eat rice balls while doing our activities.”
“You can tell from the name that it started as a simple guild. Even though its appearance is completely different now.”
While the two were talking, Kosdal spoke in a dissatisfied voice.
“Didn’t you say we were going to Terk Castle? You want to go to the Fist Rice Ball Guild instead? Looking at the situation here, shouldn’t we head straight to Terk Castle?!”
“That’s exactly why we need to go to the Fist Rice Ball Guild first. You heard what Naye said.”
Kim Seongchan had no intention of visiting Terk Castle first.
His objective was the Fist Rice Ball Guild.
“I’ve never stayed outside this long before, so I’m curious how everyone has been doing.”
Lee Naye said she was curious, but she also looked slightly anxious.
Silnyang became anxious along with her.
Apparently annoyed by Lee Naye’s mood, it created tiny gusts of wind that gently tapped her cheek.
However, Lee Naye’s anxious expression did not disappear.
“Do I really have to come with you?”
“Do you have something else to do?”
Kosdal, whom Kim Seongchan had expected to follow them, wore an unhappy expression.
Kim Seongchan followed his gaze.
It led toward the guards on the city walls.
Several guards were chatting while leaning their backs against the wall instead of watching outside.
A few had even settled down and were playing cards.
“You’re not going to cause trouble, right?”
“What do you take me for?”
“A Knight Commander with a bad temper?”
“That’s because people keep giving me reasons to get angry!”
“I can tell it’s all because you care about His Majesty too. Right?”
“Enough. Show it through your actions instead of words.”
This was the Terk Kingdom, not the Posit Kingdom.
Even if the guards were careless or sat around playing cards, Kosdal had no authority to discipline soldiers from another kingdom.
He might have done it in the past, but he shouldn’t do it now.
Kosdal was probably remembering two years ago and wanted to straighten out the guards’ discipline and teach them how knights and soldiers should behave.
But Kim Seongchan did not think that way.
The past and present had to be treated separately.
“Don’t get any strange ideas. Just focus on guarding me properly.”
“You make it sound like we’re entering a dungeon instead of a guild.”
“O, our Fist Rice Ball Guild isn’t that bad! We’re kind to Heroes, and we’re a guild where everyone grows together and trains their skills.”
“Looking at how you’ve been moving around alone, it looks like a bad guild.”
“That was my own decision. Hunting monsters isn’t our guild’s job, but I thought it was wrong to ignore them, so I acted on my own.”
“You’re the Vice Guild Master, and you’re saying you act alone? Do you really think that makes sense?”
Kim Seongchan tried to see through the reason behind Lee Naye’s anxiety.
When their eyes met, Lee Naye quietly looked away.
Kim Seongchan did not speak.
He waited for Lee Naye to explain it herself.
“They don’t really listen to me anymore. I don’t know where things went wrong. At first, whenever I moved, the guild members followed me. Then one or two started dropping out, and eventually no one followed me anymore.”
“How can something like that even happen?”
Kosdal looked at her as if he could not understand it at all.
Under Kosdal’s gaze, Lee Naye shrank slightly.
“So you thought that if you took the lead and showed them through your actions, they would start following you again. That’s why you went outside to hunt Wild Pigs, right?”
“That’s right! How did you know?”
Rather than communicating with them, Lee Naye had vaguely believed that if she showed a good example through her actions, they would be inspired and follow her again.
If she could use a sword, they might have followed her. But because of Silnyang, Lee Naye hasn’t been able to properly show her true strength. There’s no reason for the guild members to follow her.
From what Kim Seongchan remembered through his regression knowledge, the Fist Rice Ball Guild was an organization made up of Heroes.
If something benefited them, they would follow.
If it did not benefit them, they would not move.
They were not the kind of people who would act simply because Lee Naye showed them a good example.
There had to be something to gain.
And from their perspective, what Lee Naye was doing only looked like a loss.
She’s foolish.
Lee Naye’s actions looked foolish.
That was exactly why Kim Seongchan liked her.
This is the kind of person I can trust with my back.
If the Shield Hero constantly calculated profit and loss and only cared about personal gain, Kim Seongchan would hesitate to trust her with his back.
Especially when that person was supposed to protect his life.
Among all the people in this world, Lee Naye was someone truly suited to being the Shield Hero.
“So after trying to lead by example, you ended up moving around alone.”
“That’s right...”
Lee Naye looked happy for a moment that someone had finally understood what she had been doing.
Then her mood immediately sank again.
Kim Seongchan did not comfort her.
Kyaooo~
Silnyang did it for him, rubbing its face against Lee Naye’s cheek.
While they talked, they reached the guild house of the Fist Rice Ball Guild.
The guild house was enormous, taking up almost an entire block.
The three of them got off their horses.
“Our Fist Rice Ball Guild can take care of the horses.”
Lee Naye spoke as she dismounted and opened the door of the guild house.
Even though it was the middle of the day, the place was crowded with guild members drinking beer and eating meat.
They had been talking loudly, but several of them made eye contact with Lee Naye.
Silence fell in an instant.
The voices that had filled the guild house disappeared, and an strange atmosphere settled over the room.
Some are hostile, some are pretending not to notice her. It’s mixed.
About one-third of them seemed to be carefully watching the reactions of the other guild members.
That was also proof that Lee Naye’s efforts had not been completely meaningless.
If they acknowledged her ability, those guild members would probably side with Lee Naye immediately.
After looking around the entire room, Kim Seongchan spoke as if he were in his own house.
“Keep doing what you were doing.”
