NOVEL NEXT Chapter 51: Absolute Darkness (4)
“Eh… Ah… Eh?”
The Absolute Ruler of Darkness felt her head go blank.
For a moment, she couldn’t comprehend what she had heard.
No, she did comprehend.
She just didn’t want to accept it.
She didn’t want to admit that she had heard such words.
“Ah…”
Her heart, which felt like it was about to burst, stopped.
She couldn’t breathe.
At the same time, countless thoughts began to race through her mind.What should I do? What did he say? He sold the item? The Execution Sword? He did? My item? Why? No, why was the Execution Sword there in the first place? Wasn’t I the one who destroyed it? What exactly is happening-
Rin’s mind was so cluttered with thoughts that she couldn’t even recognize herself.
However, those thoughts were.
“I thought you just threw it away, so I sold it.”
Shattered in an instant by his following words.
“No, no! I never threw away the gift! Why would I throw away a gift you gave me!? That’s impossible, I- I have all your gifts-!”
Swoosh!
From the darkness surrounding Rin, gifts started to emerge.
Starting with swords, numerous weapons clanged as they spilled onto the floor, soon filling the office.
“Look, look at this, I haven’t thrown away any of your gifts, I have kept them all…! Even the Execution Sword, yes! It seems I was mistaken…! That’s how it is-!”
Thus, Rin, laying out the gifts scattered like scrap, began to speak.
“I’m, I’m sorry, I was simply mistaken… Th-the reason I came here today was to, to seek, seek your forgiveness-!”
Now, she couldn’t even fully comprehend what she was saying herself.
She was just randomly spitting out the words remaining in her mind.
However.
“Hmm…? Why forgiveness?”
Unlike Rin, who was completely panicked, Kim Hyunwoo spoke to her with an utterly calm expression.
“Uh… why do you have to ask for my forgiveness?”
“Eh…?”
At Kim Hyunwoo’s words, which seemed genuinely questioning, Rin unknowingly opened her mouth wide but soon gathered her wits and replied.
“That-that means, even though I knew you… had come, I didn’t come to the territory quickly. And-”
“Uh… isn’t that obvious? You weren’t called in the first place.”
“Huh?”
“Since I didn’t call you, it’s only natural that you didn’t come. You don’t need to feel sorry at all; I was the one who didn’t call you.”
Kim Hyunwoo, as if to assure her it was really okay, even raised his hand while speaking.
In fact, from his perspective, seeing Rin suddenly panic and ramble, he opened his mouth to calm her down, realizing that the conversation wasn’t proceeding properly.
However, for Rin, such consideration from Kim Hyunwoo seemed entirely different due to her panic and skewed thought that she was already disliked by him, as if he was mocking her for not coming.
“Ah- uh, no… it’s my fault, my fault for not coming-”
The Absolute Ruler of Darkness tried to deny that fact forcefully.
“So, it’s okay because I didn’t call you, alright?”
Kim Hyunwoo stopped her words, and then, as if he remembered something, exclaimed,
“Ah!”
and started looking in the air for something.
After searching for a while, Kim Hyunwoo manipulated something.
Flutter-!
Soon, a fluttering piece of paper fell in front of him.
Thud!
The paper that fell to the ground.
Kim Hyunwoo picked up the paper from the ground and then held it out to the Absolute Ruler of Darkness.
“Here.”
“What, what is this?”
The Absolute Ruler of Darkness asked with a trembling voice.
Seeing her like that, Kim Hyunwoo made an awkward face and then,
“Thinking about it, I remembered you hated that title.”
“…Huh?”
“If you have this, you can change your title. And like I said, you don’t really need to be sorry-”
Though the gift was somewhat unexpected, from Kim Hyunwoo’s perspective, it was a gift he intended to give anyway, and by giving it, he meant to convey ‘I really have no hard feelings?’
However, from her perspective, his actions seemed full of mockery, and soon Kim Hyunwoo smiled and spoke.
“The reason I didn’t call you, is on me.”
And then.
“Ah.”
The Absolute Ruler of Darkness felt something break inside her heart.
Frankly speaking, Kim Hyunwoo still hadn’t fully grasped what exactly the situation was.
No wonder, from his perspective, a former hero he had raised appeared without any warning just as his territory had started to function properly.
In fact, even up to that point, although he was a bit startled, it wasn’t to the extent that he couldn’t grasp the situation.
‘…I thought she had come to reclaim the money for the item, realizing that I had sold the Execution Sword.’
Immediately, due to the words spouted by the Absolute Ruler of Darkness, Kim Hyunwoo became unable to understand why she had come here.
Honestly, at first, he thought she had come to demand the proceeds from the sale of the Execution Sword, but seeing her suddenly apologize made it increasingly unclear what her intentions were.
Moreover, seeing her mildly panicking, Kim Hyunwoo first tried to calm her down and talk things over by comforting her and even giving her the title change voucher he had intended to give her upon meeting.
“Ah, uh-”
“……”
She seemed even more panicked than before, staring at Kim Hyunwoo without saying a word.
‘No, really, what’s going on?’
Honestly, the situation was so sudden for Kim Hyunwoo that he looked a bit dumbfounded, but that was only for a moment.
“That… I-I was wrong.”
Kim Hyunwoo looked in puzzlement at Rin, who once again bowed her head deeply and answered, unable to understand what she had done so wrong.
That’s because, in Kim Hyunwoo’s opinion, Rin hadn’t done anything wrong to him at all.
“Really, what wrong have you…”
So, Kim Hyunwoo, who was about to ask what exactly she thought she had done wrong, said.
“…Well, okay, as long as you know.”
Eventually, he decided to affirm her words.
In reality, he could have asked what she had done so wrong, but he implicitly realized that asking in her state of panic would only repeat the current situation.
Therefore, Kim Hyunwoo answered in this way, intending to first calm Rin down quickly and then have a calm conversation once more.
“So, then- again, again… are you accepting me?”
Along with the question from the Absolute Ruler of Darkness.
Once again, a notification window scrolled up in front of Kim Hyunwoo.
[Would you like to offer recruitment to the ★★★★★☆ hero 'Absolute Ruler of Darkness'? Y/N]
[※Warning: Accepting this hero into your territory will create hostile territories, guilds, and nations]
[Norba Kingdom relationship:
–522]
[Eastern Union Clan relationship:
–432]
[Mage Tower relationship:
–172]
[Tesnoka territory relationship:
–282]
[Malan territory relationship:
–222]
[Hairan territory relationship:
–338]
[Rolan territory relationship:
–458]
[Bloa territory relationship:
–311]
[Shulatia territory relationship: –143]
[Mandea territory relationship: –522]
[Mihalan territory relationship: –374]
....
...
..
.
[Norba Kingdom considers you an archenemy!]
[The Eastern Union may place a bounty on your territory to bury it!]
[Malan territory has-]
[Hairan-]
....
...
..
.
[※You may become archenemies with the Norba Kingdom!]
[※Great Hero Sword God Arwen will harbor malice towards your territory!]
[※Great Hero Snow Ghost Ram will harbor malice towards your territory!]
[※Great Mage Laran will harbor malice towards your territory!]
[※Earthquake King Calam will harbor malice towards your territory!]
[※Warning: Recruiting the ★★★★★☆ hero 'Absolute Ruler of Darkness' will disadvantage your territory's population influx once the hero's truth is revealed]
[If the territory's development level is high, the recruited hero's infamy can be nullified]
[Infamy of 'Absolute Ruler of Darkness': 1618]
[Development level of Lartania territory: 332]
[Current territory influx rate: 15%]
[New territory influx rate: -1510%]
“Ugh.”
Kim Hyunwoo involuntarily let out such a sound.
Because what he was currently seeing was a relationship chart far worse than the initial one with Merilda.
‘…It’s worse than with Merilda. And the relationship with the territories in Norba Kingdom is especially bad…?’
In truth, while the relationship chart was tit for tat, in the case of the Absolute Ruler of Darkness, the relationships with the great heroes were severely worsened.
‘If they are great heroes, they would be 5-star heroes in the game settings.’
Kim Hyunwoo looked at the relationship chart that appeared before him with a dizzy expression and thought without hesitation.
‘This is a bit, you know…’
Accepting Rin now, just as his territory was starting to truly take off, would surely wreck it completely.
Accepting her would smash the newly rising territory influx rate and scatter the mercenaries as well.
Not only that? With this level, it wouldn’t be surprising if other territories or kingdoms declared war at any moment.
“…That seems a bit difficult.”
Kim Hyunwoo said so, and
Rin,
“…Ah.”
looked as if the world was collapsing, her expression filled with despair.
,Episode 51: Absolute Darkness (4)
,16
24
0