Chapter 65

Тhе sоund оf hot heаt аnd сlаshing irоn echoеd frоm all direсtions.

Clаng! Сlаng! Сlаng! Сlang!

Clаng! Clang! Сlаng! Clаng!

Тhе ‘Flаmе Forgе’, the lаrgest forgе in Аsmаr.

In this Flаme Forgе, ovеr ten blacksmiths wеrе each hammеring аway at their own stаtiоns, striking red-hot iron ingots.

“Hоо, the matеrials аrе rеаlly subpar.”

Thе man wiping swеаt whilе hammering аn irоn ingоt was Brоn, the ownеr of the Flame Fоrgе.

Bron wаs in his mid-fоrties, а man who hаd lived his entire lifе in the fоrgе, more sincere аbout thе wеаpоns he crаftеd thаn anyоne еlsе.

Не сonsidеrеd his сreаtiоns to be ‘works of art’.

So it was absurd that he had somehow ended up mechanically producing weapons and armor for mercenaries.

“Absurd. I didn’t set up shop to make such trash.”

Muttering to himself with a bitter laugh, Bron wanted to quit this work immediately.

Asmar’s Flame Forge was originally famous for its pride.

It wasn’t a forge that accepted item commissions from just anyone who paid.

Bron was a blacksmith but also possessed alchemical abilities.

And with that skill, he only crafted items for people he deemed capable.

The reason Bron was now mechanically producing weapons and armor was due to an unwelcome guest who visited the forge three months ago.

‘Is this the famous Flame Forge? I hear you craft items rarely seen in the countryside! Who’s the owner here?!’

The person who visited the Flame Forge was a man named Kalsen, the Leader of a fairly large mercenary group from Erindel.

‘Oh-ho, so you’re the owner? I’m Kalsen, leading a mercenary group in Erindel. You know Erindel and Silvanor are at war, right? I’d like you to make some weapons.’

Bron didn’t even respond to Kalsen’s insolent and arrogant attitude, simply closing the forge’s door.

However, Kalsen immediately resorted to force, and true to being a mercenary group Leader, he slaughtered all of Asmar’s Guard Unit and Knights with tremendous skill.

The Kingdom of Sinsiniel was still in a very chaotic period since the king’s death, with the throne vacant, and powerless small towns in the provinces were even being swallowed up by larger cities.

‘Tsk, things might get a bit noisy. You explain it well to the mayor. Otherwise, I’ll kill everyone in this forge.’

‘……Trash.’

Afterwards, Asmar’s mayor tried to investigate the incident’s circumstances, but due to Kalsen’s threats, Bron ultimately had no choice but to comply.

And so, it had already been three months since it became a factory merely churning out weapons.

“Kalsen… If I could just kill that bastard, it would all be over.”

Bron had conducted a lot of research on Kalsen during this time.

He was the Leader of the Kalsen Mercenary Group, the largest in Erindel, and rumors even circulated that he had defeated three Knights in a fight.

“Hoo, there’s no way…”

But no matter how hard he tried, no method to kill Kalsen came to mind.

Bron was only skilled at crafting weapons, not fighting.

“Hey, you over there, what are you doing just standing still!”

“……”

At the shout of a mercenary monitoring the forge, Bron began hammering again.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Asmar’s Flame Forge was soon filled with the ear-piercing sound of iron.

* * *

It had already been three days since Khan obtained the ‘Spatial Movement’ Skill.

Descending from Asmar’s mountain range, Khan spent the last three days conducting various experiments with his newly acquired ‘Spatial Movement’ Skill.

Although it took longer than expected due to his low Mana, it wasn’t without results.

First, the distance he could move at once with the ‘Spatial Movement’ Skill was roughly 100 meters.

Also, even though the Skill had no Cooldown, it couldn’t be used immediately.

‘After using it once, I could use it again after about 3 seconds.’

Still, it was practically as if there was no Cooldown, so Khan was satisfied with this.

Additionally, he tested whether he could use ‘Spatial Movement’ to pass through objects, and that was also possible.

In short, the ‘Spatial Movement’ Skill could be understood as the same concept as teleportation we know.

‘I never thought I’d get such a cheat-like Skill.’

If it hadn’t been a Hidden Quest, he would never have been able to obtain the ‘Spatial Movement’ Skill.

‘Speaking of Hidden Quests…’

Over the past three days, Khan had also thought quite a bit about Hidden Quests.

After finding the Hidden Skill in Asmar, no more Hidden Quests had appeared.

However, he was still convinced that more Hidden Quests remained.

The message that appeared at the end, stating he had cleared all of Hidden Quest Chapter 1.

Seeing such a message made him think that clearly, Chapter 2 or 3, or other Hidden Quests, must still exist.

There was one more reason Khan spent three days experimenting with the Spatial Movement Skill.

The possibility that while resting and waiting, Hidden Quest Chapter 2 might begin.

But even after three days passed, no message appeared before Khan’s eyes.

‘The Hidden Quest is finally over, and now Quests will progress based on how I act.’

In <Geo Arc>, the direction of the Main Quest changes depending on what actions the Character takes.

‘Because a Hidden Quest appeared in the middle, the entire content of the Main Quest must have changed…’

That meant that from now on, even Khan wouldn’t know what the Main Quests would be.

‘But it’s still Asmar… so the Quest difficulty should be quite low.’

Asmar was a region not far from the game’s starting city.

Therefore, not only the Monsters but also the NPCs’ Levels would be low.

On the other hand, Khan had cleared Hidden Quests and gathered quite a few Hidden Skills, becoming significantly stronger.

At Khan’s current level, he could easily defeat Monsters in the 30s and clear Quests quickly.

‘Shall I start moving now?’

Khan thought about crafting an Artifact using the Griffin’s Horn and Cerberus’s Hellfire Soul as Materials.

Since there was a tremendously skilled blacksmith in Asmar, he planned to entrust the crafting to him.

‘The forge door was closed; I wonder if I can enter today.’

Asmar’s Flame Forge.

Even when playing the game, Khan had crafted Artifacts at the Flame Forge a few times.

Crafting Artifacts at the Flame Forge allowed you to level up your Character a bit faster and easier later on.

Coincidentally, the time to meet up with Byutek and Sharin was almost upon him. Khan got up from the inn and went outside.

Stepping out of the inn and walking to the meeting place, Byutek and Sharin, who had arrived early, greeted him.

“Let’s go to the Flame Forge.”

“Ah! Are you going again today?”

“Yes.”

“Sir Khan, I inquired around for a few days and heard that recently the Flame Forge hasn’t been opening its doors at all.”

“What?”

What was this about?

While playing the game, the Flame Forge had never closed its doors.

As far as Khan knew, Bron, the owner of the Flame Forge, was a man overflowing with pride in being a blacksmith.

It didn’t make sense for someone like him to suddenly stop operating the forge.

“I saw you visiting the forge for several days, Sir Khan, so I investigated separately. According to old local merchants here, they say that ever since receiving a Commission for weapon and armor production from a mercenary group three months ago, they’ve only been making those weapons.”

“Is that true?”

“That’s what I heard, at least.”

Since Byutek had brought fairly decent information, it seemed necessary to verify it properly.

‘Since this world is set a bit later than the time I played the game, it’s entirely possible that the in-game story or settings have changed somewhat.’

Like the alchemist Lilia he met earlier in Eldridas.

She wasn’t originally such a skilled alchemist either, but now she had become a highly skilled one.

‘Something is definitely going on…’

Khan knew Bron’s personality well.

He didn’t craft weapons for people he didn’t acknowledge.

To commission weapon crafting from him, there was even a Quest where you had to pass his test and earn his recognition of your ability.

‘First, I need to meet Bron somehow today.’

It would be nonsense to visit Asmar and just pass by the Flame Forge.

The Griffin’s Horn and Cerberus’s Hellfire Soul that Khan possessed were quite good Materials, so if entrusted to him, they would surely become incredible items.

And also, who knows.

‘Like Lilia, his skills might have improved even more…’

Then wouldn’t a truly incredible item be crafted by his hands?

Thinking such thoughts, Khan quickly made his way to the Flame Forge.

* * *

Kalsen, Leader of the Kalsen Mercenary Group.

He was the man with the strongest military force in Erindel.

“The money earned from the war with Silvanor alone is enormous! Kekeheh…!!”

Kalsen was formerly a Knight of the Kingdom of Sinsiniel.

Now, he had completely hidden that status and was leading a mercenary group.

The city he had settled in, Erindel.

Erindel was a city about twenty times larger than Asmar, and Silvanor, the neighboring city currently at war with Erindel, was also a city of similar size to Erindel.

A year had already passed since the war began. It was gradually coming to an end.

The victorious city was Erindel.

Silvanor had been over 90% successfully occupied by Erindel, and the one who contributed the most there was Kalsen.

“Now I can finally become a Noble…!”

Not a mayor of a small provincial town, but of a city with a certain scale.

Since he had already finished discussions with Erindel’s mayor as well, Kalsen was confident he would soon become Silvanor’s mayor.

Being Silvanor’s mayor was a higher rank than even provincial titled Nobles.

‘After Silvanor, next is Erindel…!’

He planned to attack Erindel again immediately after securing the position of Silvanor’s mayor.

Erindel and Silvanor were cities led by Viscount Aldrik and Viscount Kalos respectively, but currently, the entire Kingdom was in chaos, making control completely impossible.

Kalsen only thought about properly exploiting this situation.

‘And after that is Viscount Aldrik!’

It would have been unthinkable if the Kingdom weren’t in chaos, but with the current regime collapsing, the influence of Nobles was weakening.

‘Now, if you only have power, you can rise up.’

Of course, if he tried such madness in a city within the Kingdom’s Capital Region, he would be killed immediately.

This was possible because Erindel and Silvanor were located quite far from the Kingdom’s center.

‘That guy will continue to be useful in the future.’

Currently, Kalsen was in Asmar, quite far from Erindel.

Since the war was practically over anyway, it was fine to be away, and the Flame Forge where he and his mercenary group were supplied with weapons was located in Asmar.

Since he would need to continue receiving weapon support from Bron and the blacksmiths, he had to come check on the forge like this from time to time.

The Flame Forge guys might be preparing a rebellion, after all.

He had also bribed Asmar’s mayor, so whatever he did, the mayor wouldn’t interfere.

“Shall I go take a look?”

With a sinister smile, he headed towards the Flame Forge.

Arriving at the Flame Forge shortly, he could spot some bold Guests standing at the forge’s entrance.