Besk Ronhadia Duke.
No, Besk, now a marquis, rubbed his temples in frustration.
He had been riding high on the reliable line known as the Magic Lord, but as the Magic Lord fell, that reliable line turned into a rotting lifeline in an instant.
Having lost his weapons, trust, and even his family and land, he was practically in a state of despair.
Besk, no longer the Eight Swords.
The hand that Lily Elbrite extended to him was incredibly sweet.
She promised to restore his title as a marquis and grant him the rights to protect his family.
Moreover, she even returned his weapons; all she wanted from him was one thing.
“Just manage the territory that has become a principality well.”
Since that was something Besk was already doing, he eventually agreed and was diligently overseeing things when…
“What on earth is this?”
Lily, who had disappeared after leaving him to manage things, showed up one day with a project proposal.
A proposal for securing land and construction for building an ‘Academy.’
He didn’t bother asking why they needed to build another one when there was already an academy in the territory.
Lily Elbrite was the master of this principality, and he was just a servant who had to comply.
Except for the ‘Imperium Academy’ located in the capital of the Empire, it was also partially for show.
In fact, the noble scions generally enrolled in the Imperium Academy, not the one within the territory.
Lily even claimed that she would take care of about 70% of the construction using magic.
Yeah, all well and good, but…
“Find magical stones that regenerate magical power?”
What on earth is that?
Besk felt like common sense had left the chat.
Typically, when the magical power inside a magical stone is depleted, it just turns into a rock.
Unless it’s a magical stone with a lot of magical energy that doesn’t get consumed easily—there’s no such thing as a ‘regenerating’ magical stone.
“There is. That’s why I’m telling you to find it.”
“Why is there one?”
“It existed in the past. So please find it.”
“……”
So what on earth is that?
Despite being busy, Besk, feeling like he had no choice, started snooping around here and there and eventually managed to find it.
The problem was.
“…Of all places.”
It was far from the continent.
In a mysterious land beyond the sea.
■
After the final match, I had a brief drink with Yena.
Just as I was about to head to bed, I received a message.
▶Besk Ronhadia (NPC)
-I found it.
A message linked to Deoen on my phone.
I quickly accessed Deoen and made my way to the principality to hear the report.
“Blue-Red Stone?”
“That’s right.”
Blue-Red Stone.
As the name suggests, it refers to a stone that is both blue and red, a mineral that comes from the land across the sea, not the continent.
This mana mineral was discovered a few months ago when the land beyond the sea came to light.
Although it has more mana than other minerals, it’s not overwhelming.
However, there’s one special property that no other magical stone possesses.
“As you said, even if it consumes magical power, it regenerates almost permanently. The quality of the stone itself is also excellent.”
“I wasn’t looking for it, but… good job. Get it for me.”
“However, there’s a problem.”
“What is it?”
Besk handed over a magically treated piece of paper instead of speaking.
Inside were details about the natives.
Most of the land where Blue-Red Stone is found is the territory of the Blue Ones, ‘Wenetus.’
Each individual of the race is over level 120.
Especially, the entity known as the ‘chief’ possesses a staggering ability score of up to level 150.
These are monsters that would normally appear only after the Great Cataclysm.
According to reports, such strong monsters shouldn’t have been discovered right now.
However, as Yena explained, since the Sword Saint has been messing around trying to level up, a few high-level monsters came into the world a few months early.
They are field monsters existing outside dungeons, and they are said to be more intelligent than your average human…
By the way, this race didn’t even exist in the past.
“Hmm… Even so, it seems like a fantastic material. Can’t they be traded with?”
“They’re highly intelligent, but that’s the problem.”
“?”
“When we sent trade merchants to their land, they made the merchants jump through strange hoops for proof. Even though we sent elite guards, they couldn’t keep up with two kids.”
If it’s the elites of the Ronhadia family… I believe they are at least in the top 300 ranking.
To think that such folks were toyed with by two children.
Besk ground his teeth at that.
I stared blankly at him.
“Did they make it back alive?”
“Yes, they returned, but after being thoroughly humiliated, they tossed two tiny Blue-Red Stones like finger-sized pebbles and left with three chests of gold coins. The amount was enough to buy hundreds of palm-sized magical stones.”
“Where are those Blue-Red Stones?”
“They’re in that box over there.”
I pulled out the Blue-Red Stones from the neat box.
They definitely look nice, but… they’re still too small.
Even though the Blue-Red Stones can be used almost permanently, the amount of magical power isn’t overwhelming.
To operate devices smoothly, I would need thousands of these.
“Indeed, you’d need a significant amount for it to be useful.”
“…It does count as capital, but it feels like too much of a loss. Above all, their attitude is too arrogant.”
“Well, it feels like a huge loss. Above all, their attitude is just so arrogant.”
“Hmm…”
“What will you do? My opinion is that it might be better to find another magical stone…”
“No, thank you, Marquis Besk. I’ll handle this.”
“Excuse me?”
I gripped the Blue-Red Stone tightly.
A magical stone that hadn’t lost its brilliant light even after absorbing all the mana.
The mana of the stone was slowly starting to rise again.
“It seems necessary to give enlightenment to those who dare to ignore Elbrite’s envoy.”
“Are you… planning to wage a war?”
“Wage a war? I absolutely hate wars!”
“……”
“It’s just to let them know.”
“What happens when you ignore Elbrite?”
■
Once the Duchy of Elbrite, it is located in the Northern Region.
And the land of Wenetus, where I will be going this time, also lies northward over the sea.
The problem is that the Duchy of Elbrite does not border the sea.
All four sides of the territory are blocked by other kingdoms, especially with three sides belonging to the Empire except for the north.
Of course, this is a natural result since they’ve separated from the Empire.
[Couldn’t you just not have taken it out?]
[LMAO]
[Let’s have a bit of war, Lily.]
[Let’s unify the continent!]
[Is that why we aren’t?]
Since the state’s merchant ships need to move, we have to pay costs to use the ports of allied or foreign countries that border the sea, but the seas of the continent are firmly held by the Empire.
We can’t use the ports under the Empire while having separated from it.
I thought about asking the northern alliance of the Angel Guild for help, and it seems there’s a kingdom that is currently interacting with the duchy.
“Hello, Lady Lily.”
It’s a fief belonging to the Kingdom of Russa, which borders the northern sea.
The owner of this fief is…
“It’s been a while, Miss Redberry.”
It was Redberry.
A ranker within the top 100 who takes my classes and is a mage that handles fire.
We participated together as a team in a mock siege war and even won, and during the Yena incident, she surprisingly beat Black one-on-one.
‘Of course, at her current level, she’d lose 100 out of 100 times.’
That’s only when the balance is adjusted; without any conditions, Black is quite strong.
[Oh, level!]
[It’s Redberry!]
[Level ㅎㅇㅎㅇ]
[Redberry is pretty!]
[Not as much as Lily, though, haha.]
[Her nobility really shines through.]
[Is Yena not coming along?]
[If she’s with Yena, all we’ll talk about is that again, right?]
[LMAO]
[Level is adorable!]
With her red hair and red eyes, she was dressed in noble red attire rather than her usual mage-like outfit.
As I stared at her clothes, Redberry spoke up.
“Since I’m visiting as the lord of Tere, I thought I’d dress up a bit.”
More importantly…
“Our king is quite eager for you to notice her.”
“Ah ha.”
The Lusua Kingdom, to which Redberry belonged, was a small kingdom with a relatively small territory.
Despite being a kingdom, it was less than half the size of Elbrite’s territory, which had started from a duke’s domain.
Originally, it had been one of the first kingdoms to be trampled under the imperial flag during the Imperial War, but thanks to my negotiations with Duke Huangyeol, they were able to regain their land.
To the king of Lusua, I was nothing less than a savior.
[Just Big Lily]
[Wow]
[Lily, who even the Empire fears ㄷㄷ]
[The Unfading Sun, Lily ㅋㅋㅋ]
[Shouldn’t we extort a little something? I mean, they did save us from destruction.]
[Hey, Lily, don’t you need some money?]
[Let’s merge ㄱㄱ]
[Looks like only gangsters are around here ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Lily is too nice to do that.]
“So, in hopes of catching your eye—”
“Not that I intended to. I’ll gladly accept if it’s offered.”
“Did I mention that I prepared a gift?”
“Were you not the one who prepared it?”
“Well… I guess that’s true.”
Redberry hesitated as she tried to conjure a box through spatial magic and then paused.
Maybe she didn’t expect such a reaction; she briefly hesitated before placing the box down.
The box was filled with gold coins and various jewels.
It seemed like she prepared it with great care; the quality looked very high.
At this point, it should be enough to buy the desired amount of Blue-Red Stones at regular price.
What a saving.
[?]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[This is Lily, right?]
[Ah, admitting I’ll accept it ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Let’s squeeze a little something out of this.]
[Isn’t it normal to just thank someone saying it’s nothing special? ㅋㅋ]
[Lily Special) If you offer, she takes it.]
[Just Big Lily]
[Aren’t you making it too easy? ㅋ?]
“Let’s go. I’ll help you with some training as well.”
“Uh… Yes…”
The journey began.
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