“Then let him in please, Secretary Sledge.”
Chae-Rin had been waiting for Kang Chul-In the whole time and wanted to meet him badly.
“So you’ve come.”
For her, who was being attacked by an alliance of two other Lords, she was delighted to see that Kang Chul-In had come.
However… there was someone who made the happiness go away…
“Milord, why are you letting an unidentified person come into our territory?”
It was Secretary Sledge.
“I’ll meet him first and decide whether he is fit to see you or not. So please wait here.”
Even though he was Chae-Rin’s Secretary, he had no respect for her.
The reason was complicated.
First of all, the dwarves were sexist and believed that males were greater and more important than females. They had strong and prideful personalities and would never allow a female ruler to order them around.
So the fact that Chae-Rin had chosen this territory was a disaster.
Second, Lee Chae-Rin had almost no charisma at all.
Third, to the dwarves, Nidavellir was a sacred place, and even though their Lord opposed trying to take it back, they didn’t listen to her.
All the dwarves thought about was taking it back.
In conclusion, all of these factors lead to the dwarves ridiculing and mistreating their own Lord, which had caused a disaster.
“H-how dare you….” thought Chae-Rin as she felt rage boiling inside her.
From the beginning of the great summoning, she was confused, and now, all of her pent-up feelings felt like they were going to erupt and explode like a volcano.
Not only that, after hearing from Kang Chul-In the life and ways of a Lord, she felt humiliated and disgusted by the actions that her own Secretary, Sledge, was taking.
“Calm down, me,” thought Chae-Rin as she fought the urge to punch her Secretary in the face.
Right now, Secretary Sledge was on the verge of rebelling against her for the territory of Dorado. If she raged right now and managed to irk him, no one could tell whether he would truly fight back against her.
“Secretary Sledge.” Closing her eyes, Chae-Rin spoke.
“Please speak,” Sledge retorted in a disrespectful manner.
“The one that’s here right now is someone I know from my hometown. He’s not someone to be suspicious of, so you can let him in.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes.”
“And how can I trust what milord is saying?”
“……!”
At that moment, Lee Chae-Rin felt that all the blood in her body was rushing backwards and felt that her head was about to explode from anger.
Chae-Rin was originally a nice, kind individual, and if she was this mad at Sledge, you could tell that his attitude towards her was absolutely terrible.
“Huuu…,” she exhaled loudly.
“Secretary.”
“Yes?”
“Do I not have the right to even meet my friends?”
“Of course not. But because milord is uncooperative in taking back Nidavellir, who knows whether you’ll bring in an outside force to fight and kill us?”
It was as if he thought of her as not their Lord but an enemy.
“Do you know how to count to 1 but not to 2?” (It’s a Korean idiom to express idiocy) She tried to be as patient as possible and not pull out a knife and just stab him in the head.
“Sigh… Are you trying to educate me or something?”
“I’m not trying to educate you or anything. Excuse me, Secretary, without me, you can’t use or access the shop for the Lords. Will you be able to take back Nidavellir then?”
“……..!”
“If you don’t let him in, I won’t supply us with soldiers anymore.”
This was the final, trump card that Lee Chae-Rin could play.
Although they were disrespectful to her, she was still a Lord and owned the rights to the territory with her Soul Core.
The golden necklace she was wearing right now was the Soul Core for the territory. Even the Secretary couldn’t take it away from her.
“Hahaha, using underhanded methods now, are we?” Sledge laughed as if she was saying something ridiculous.
“Milord, if you do that, I have another method.”
“Well, if you aren’t going to use that method right now, let the man in. Before I take the Soul Core and head back home.”
“Hur hur…”
She was able to win in this discussion. But… Sledge’s final words before departing made her heart clench.
“Yes, yes. I will listen to our ‘great’ leader’s orders. After all, what can you even do with one person? Haha, we’ll let him in any time of the day.”
“……..!”
Just one person. This phrase made her heart clench. When he said that he had no thoughts of bringing reinforcements, he had truly come alone.
Mr. Chul-In, what are you thinking?
After making the deal with her, she truly had no idea what he would do by himself. She just wanted to meet him as soon as possible.
Then… someone stepped into the hall.
“I missed you.”
There was a man with chains on his belt standing there, smiling at her. It wasn’t Kang Chul-In.
“……….!”
As the man saw her eyes widening, he hurriedly sent her some inconspicuous signals. It was then that Chae-Rin realized that this was man, Podolski, was someone that Kang Chul-In had sent.
“Ah, Chae-Rin, to think that we would meet somewhere that isn’t our hometown. How lovely. Since we didn’t meet in a long time, will you allow me a kiss?”
“A kiss?!”
“Haha, I see you’re still embarrassed and shy as ever.”
Podolski gave her a happy smile and walked towards her in long strides. Then… he kissed her on both of her cheeks.
This was the “Social Kiss”, one that many did in western countries on Earth.
<From Lord Kang Chul-In.>
Podolski told Lee Chae-Rin without moving his lips, a truly hard skill to master.
<He’s already inside your territory.>
She was very surprised.
<Don’t make it obvious. He sent me here in order to keep you safe.>
After telling her Kang Chul-In’s words rapidly, he put both his arms on her shoulders and spoke while laughing.
“Hahaha. As always, you smell very nice. I can’t stop myself from wanting to kiss you. What should I do?”
And as he said that, he leaned in again to kiss her cheeks and spoke.
<Tonight, he will come and meet you personally.>
With that, Lee Chae-Rin finally felt relief.
———————————————————————————————————————
About 8 hours ago.
“Hmm… Adventurers?”
Near the Dorado territory were 30 adventurers doing a sort of customs check.
“Yes, sir.”
The man who spoke was 190cm tall and had a huge beard with a bald head. He looked imposingly at the surveyors with his massive, muscular body. This was none other than Billy, who had joined in the hunt for the Peacock Dragon as a member of “Team Slayers”.
“How did you get here?”
The dwarven surveyor looked at them with an uncomfortable expression.
“I saw the recruitment poster. It seems like the Lord here wants to recruit adventurers to fight for her in the battle?”
“Oh, so you’re mercenaries then?”
“I guess.”
“Then it’s two gold per day, and you’ll have to stay in an area that’s marked for you guys. Is that clear?”
“Why just that place? I also want to take a look at the Lord who hired us.”
“That’s not going to work,” shouted the dwarf.
“Our Lord has no plans on meeting with you guys. If you want to work here, then follow the rules. If not, then GET OUT!”
After receiving the slightly harsh treatment from him, the adventurers felt a bit uncomfortable but didn’t say anything.
“There’s no reason to be so mad over that,” said Billy to the adventurer, scratching his bald head.
“Well, I guess not. The only thing that really matters to us is the money. Fine, we’ll stay in that area then.”
“Good.” That dwarf surveyor nodded, and after warning them a few more times, he let them in.
“Oi, you guys. Come over here.”
A dwarf warrior beckoned them over and led them to an isolated area. It was a very small place with limited space.
“Leader.”
The one sitting next to Billy whispered to Kang Chul-In.
“This is really weird. This is completely different from your area, leader. Those dwarven bastards are so unfriendly, and the way they look at us makes me uncomfortable. Doesn’t this mean that Miss Chae-Rin’s authority over here is very poor?”
Billy’s insight was spot-on.
“You’re right.”
“This won’t be easy then.”
“Then we’ll make it work.”
“Of course, what can’t we do with leader here?”
The way that Billy looked at Kang Chul-In was full of trust and admiration. After the hunt for the Peacock Dragon last time, Billy had truly been entranced by how strong Kang Chul-In was.
“Okay, you guys be quiet for now. Let me think.”
“Yes, sir.”
Billy signaled the others to be quiet, and everyone fell silent.
Dorado itself was brilliant. But the situation couldn’t be worse. The tension in the air could be felt.
And even though they were mercenaries, the way they were treated was almost unacceptable.
Although they took money for it, the role of a mercenary was to fight against the enemy. But the fact that the dwarves made sure that they couldn’t meet with the person that had hired them was ridiculous.
They’re afraid that she would regain authority by allying with the adventurers against them. How utterly ridiculous.
Kang Chul-In now felt that all this wasn’t really Chae-Rin’s fault but everyone’s collective responsibility.
From the beginning, it was unlucky that there was a female ruler of the dwarves. And for a naive, nice person like Chae-Rin, it was obvious that she wouldn’t have fought back and intimidated the dwarves.
Of course, if it were him, he would have long since beaten up these disrespectful dwarves and shown them their place. But for someone like Chae-Rin, this was obviously impossible. He could now see why she asked for his help.
“If I had come here with the army of my territory, they would have disrespected her even more. Wow, it really was a good idea bringing this group of adventurers here instead,” he thought.
A leader that tried to bring in an outside force or power normally didn’t last very long. Their endings were very tragic.
Even just for her image, they needed to dodge the nuance of bringing another army here. The fact that he wanted to preserve the army of Laputa and her situation fell in line perfectly.
Not only that, but the deal with her also stated that he was to help her get out of this situation and not create a leadership ruled by an outside force.
Right now, the purging of the local forces is more important. We need authority.
As expected of an experienced veteran, Kang Chul-In could see what he needed to do first.
He needed to calm the unrest in their forces before they could even think about fighting other forces.
There was no way that the war would go well if there was an internal dispute.
Kang Chul-In slowly waited for the night to come when he could finally converse with Chae-Rin.
He could almost smell the stench of blood on the two short swords on his belt.
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