After regaining a sense of reality after eating Choi Kayoon’s overly salty and spicy meat stew…

“I should start preparing to head off.”

Together with the three women who cared for him during the period of his unconsciousness, Woohyuk headed to Heidelberg, the capital of the Rhine Kingdom.

Swordmaster Granver was supposed to come to find him.

Though he was the inc.u.mbent teacher of Princess Eleonora, thanks to Woohyuk’s success in conquering the Northern Front, Woohyuk was able to obtain permission to use Granver from Emperor Tiberius.

“… But why are we moving in a wagon? If we use the shuttle, we’d reach Heidelberg in one day,” Helena, who was sitting next to Choi Kayoon, complained as everyone else was keeping quiet inside the carriage.

Woohyuk shook his head, turning his gaze towards her,

“The flying shuttle can’t be controlled by anyone. For now, only Aris can fly the shuttle, and she’s busy with her research a.s.signments right now.”

“If it’s research, are you talking about the Qliphoth Fruit? Obviously, there’s a need to take a countermeasure against it. Because of its proliferation, several small kingdoms are in a financial and civil crisis.”

The Qliphoth Fruit transformed non-demons into Awakened people, and at the same time, it made them into faithful servants of Aleister.

And in the latter case, one could become a servant even if one didn’t become an Awakener.

People couldn’t avoid this fate if they even took a bite from a Qliphoth Fruit.

As the topic turned to something serious, Choi Kayoon spoke up with an anxious expression,

“Then, not only should you develop a cure, but you should also find the supplier of Qliphoth’s Fruits, right? If the number of hosts grows exponentially, the supply of the treatment may lag. Aleister may even manipulate the hosts to reject the treatment.”

“As for finding the origin and production center, I’ve had informants investigating for a while now,” Woohyuk answered.

Up to now, while he traveled around, his other va.s.sals had been busy trying to find out the whereabouts and movement of the Witches Cult and the supply channels of Qliphoth’s Fruit.

Even though he was busy, he didn’t gloss over these small details.

The talented individuals under him, who were not yet developed to immediately enter the battlefield, were entrusted to educational inst.i.tutions to develop their skills. Additionally, those who were not capable of joining them on the battlefield were given other required tasks.

Leifina nodded in admiration at Woohyuk’s explanation.

“He is truly my Lord. You are skillfully deploying so much manpower in the right places and with great efficiency.”

“Thanks to the painful experiences I acquired from the recent past.”

Woohyuk’s words meant that he hadn’t successfully performed his role as a monarch from the beginning.

When he first came to the Eeth Continent, he lost many clan members in his clash with other clans, and several va.s.sals were sacrificed due to misjudgment in the wars with the regional overlords.

However, through trial and error, Woohyuk was able to learn many lessons from his mistakes.

As Woohyuk raised his head as if deep in thought, Leifina hesitatingly spoke,

“Uhm, my Lord…”

“Yes? What is it?”

“When do you plan on having your marriage with Princess Eleanora?”

The Kazak tribe members, who had been raging in the north, were almost eliminated, and the demonic camp’s provocations had declined noticeably these past few days.

So, at least, there was peace in the western continent, for the time being.

There was still quite a bit of time left before they had to leave for the eastern conquest, so now was the best time to build internal solidarity and develop his human resources (these individuals will be referred to as ‘talents’). It was probably also a good time to consummate the marriage if that was wanted or needed.

However, for personal reasons, Woohyuk decided to postpone his marriage with Princess Eleonora indefinitely.

“To be honest, I have no intention of marrying Eleonora. It was an engagement due to political necessity. Furthermore, in the present situation, the Holy Aperia Empire can be fully controlled behind the scenes. Therefore, I plan to maintain a continual postponement, using the crisis as an excuse.”

He didn’t want Leifina to feel discouraged or concerned, as he knew she loved him.

Of course, he also had unspeakable feelings for Leifina.

Was it because of the relations.h.i.+p that originated from his previous life?

Once his fragmented memories started piecing together into a more holistic picture, he started to view Leifina as more than a knight.

As Woohyuk stared at Leifina, Helena opened her mouth to speak with a gloomy look,

“When I see that he’s giving up on one of the finest-looking princesses, there must already be a woman that he loves in his mind. Well, I can’t bring myself to verbalize who that is.”

“… So noisy, Witch of Annihilation. Let me make it clear right now, you’re not her.”

Helena’s s.e.xual approaches were often done so that she could help him relieve his repressed desires and to prevent Verserios from taking over his conscience.

In other words, she was thoroughly fulfilling her duty as a member of Ethereia Rodinus.

Personal feelings and attraction followed this main objective.

‘Lucretia will probably have to give up on him now, too.’

After returning to the Rhine Kingdom, they heard, from the Holy Pope’s information network, that Lucretia was engaged to a young man in the same clergy.

Woohyuk couldn’t hide the bitterness that came from his heart, but what was done was done.

Nothing could be done as he and Lucretia were getting farther apart as time went by.

So, he decided to forget about the past and focus on Leifina.

With a determined expression, Woohyuk stared out the window.

Their current location was at the border between the Floren and Serendia Province.

The rugged mountain range disappeared from view, and a wide plain emerged.

“Lord, when do you plan to plant that oak tree seed? There are still many suitable places, but…”

“As soon as this schedule is over, I plan to plant the seed.”

[Oak Tree Seeds containing Lyla’s Wish].

It was a hidden item obtained from the Primordial forest, which was the tutorial area, but it remained unused.

It must be an important quest, as Lyla was the manager of Paradise Lost.

The place where he planned to plant the seeds was already set, a place inside Neustein Castle in Inotia, the Hextech city.

There were two more catastrophes still to come, so the land within Inotia would be the safest place for a growing plant.

‘By now, Inotia’s reconstruction must have progressed to a considerable level.’

The dragon tribes were very cooperative with Woohyuk, probably because he developed and gave them a cure for the infectious disease that plagued their race.

The Erendia Kingdom was quickly regaining vitality thanks to their volunteer annexation.

In addition, a new immigration policy was actively being implemented, as was requested by the former Queen Fiona.

As a result, the Hextech (City of Magic) and its surrounding areas were occupied by humans and various other races, and the rest of the mountains and wilderness of Sky Island were occupied by the dragons.

In terms of safety, there was no safer place than the Eeth Continent.

Therefore, Woohyuk was also planning to eventually move all of his high-end manpower to the Erendia Kingdom.

“I want to quickly conquer the Arkain Tower anyway. That way, I don’t have to be away from the Lord’s side.”

“A month or so should be enough. Of course, that’s based on the time outside.”

By the arrangement of the Creator, the time inside the Arkain Tower flowed at -600 times the flow of time outside.

In other words, 25 years there was the same as 1 month in this world.

This meant that Leifina would be 65 years old, which included the extended time that she spent in the training center.

That was probably enough time to achieve the combat level she attained from when he left his previous life.

The others in his party had already reached their previous levels.

Choi Kayoon trembled at Woohyuk’s words of explanation and antic.i.p.ation,

“Wait, really? Why didn’t you tell me about how much time was needed?”

“At the time, the circ.u.mstances made it difficult for me to explain everything.”

It had been difficult to progress through everything while finding the time to develop those around him, never mind a large number of talents. 

Of course, with Neustein Castle, that problem of developing talents had been solved to some extent.

However, Choi Kayoon was unaware of this fact because she was buried in the pits of a mountainous region this whole time.

“I guess a lot has happened while I was in the Floren region. I thought I was just helping to build a university to cultivate some basic talent.”

“We haven’t had enough room and time to build large-scale educational inst.i.tutions. But it’s different now.”

“Well… I think we’re doing pretty well if we compare ourselves to the facilities and infrastructure of education in the Middle Ages. Of course, money is still the main problem.”

In an era where illiteracy reached 90%, building education infrastructure required considerable funds.

Unlike an academy that selected only a few outstanding talents and trained them selectively, colleges and universities educated a greater number of students and were larger in scale.

However, since Woohyuk confiscated a tremendous amount of money from his slaves in the Talis Kingdom, such worries could be relieved for a while.

‘In the future, I’ll need more money.’

An astronomical amount was required considering not only the eastern conquest but also the development of magic engineering technology and the purchase of various resources.

No matter how much Eleonora helped, and no matter how much Woohyuk squeezed out from the smaller kingdoms, there was a limit.

Without a clear source for funding, it was difficult to proactively solve the great talent-need crisis that would arise.

Woohyuk fell into thought for a moment and then took out the Hand of Midas from his pocket.

It was a legendary artifact that he acquired in the Memory Garden.

Although King Midas’ lineage had disappeared long ago, the value of the artifact still remained.

If he took advantage of the hidden cla.s.s that he obtained from Hevnia’s Tomb, the ‘Mythic Heir’, he’d be able to utilize the Hand of Midas artifact to his advantage.

As if she had read Woohyuk’s intentions, Helena clapped her hands and made an amused expression,

“I’m curious what the outcome will be. That artifact has the ability to turn anything it touches into gold, so I wonder what type of quest will be given.”

“If I can secure enough money, it’s even worth giving up one of my five slots allotted to the Mythic Heir cla.s.s.”

Currently, the only skill he had as a Mythic Heir was the Power of Resuscitation.

There were still four slots left, so Woohyuk didn’t care that he’d have to use one slow for a non-combat skill.

Soon, as he activated the Hand of Midas, a series of system messages appeared in his mind.

[Legendary Quest: ‘Alchemist of Death’ has been given.]

[For more information, open and check the status window.]

[Alchemist of Death].

It seemed to be a presence that seemed to possess quite awe-inspiring abilities just from reading the t.i.tle alone.

Of course, he wouldn’t know what he was up against until he actually started the quest.

‘I’ve certainly never heard of a guy like this before in my previous life.’

Nakron may know something, but unfortunately, he didn’t present himself.

Probably because Woohyuk didn’t have any summoning vouchers left.

Even if he had any vouchers left, it was probably a waste to use a voucher for this kind of thing.

‘Well, it’s a legendary quest, so I shouldn’t need Nakron’s help.’

Legendary quests were one level lower in difficulty than Epic quests.

Based on his current level of growth, having beaten the Fallen Angel Cruella and the Ancient Devil Harpes, Woohyuk felt that he could take on a legendary quest without much difficulty.

When Woohyuk opened the status window, specific quest information unfolded in the air.

[New Challenge a.s.signment]

Name: Alchemist of Death

Type: Legend

Description: Defeat Cadiz, a contractor of the Ancient Devil Lucifer. Information on Cadiz can be obtained from the Krobaichen Isthmus.

Others: One-time quest. Failure does not allow a user to repeat/retry the quest.