Ranker's Return

Chapter 860

When Hyeonu returned from the conversation with Edward, Kapa was still standing in front of the dark iron. Now he wasn’t just looking at it with his eyes. He had approached it and was touching the dark iron with his own hands.

“Kapa, do you like the dark iron?” Hyeonu said to Kapa carefully.

“I like it. It is rewarding to come this long way.” Kapa turned his head and smiled. His smile was full of a terrible curiosity. He was able to touch a metal that he had only encountered in the documents. A dwarf couldn’t have better luck than this.

“Kapa, is it okay for me to leave first?” Hyeonu gave Kapa a small smile and bowed his head slightly.

“You must be busy... It is fine for me to go back alone.” Kapa nodded. The dwarf great tribe chief wasn’t a position to be obtained through rock, paper, scissors. It was difficult for anyone to touch Kapa’s body unless they were a monster like Raccoon.

“Edward will probably take care of you. Edward is the name of the chief of the ran tribe that you saw earlier.”

“He will send me back just like when we came here. It is a familiar thing.”

Teleportation wasn’t a new thing. Any magician above a certain level could use it. The problem was that once it reached a certain level, it was inaccessible to the average person.

“If you have spare time on the way back to the league, please stop by my territory. I will treat you properly.”

“Good, good. You are the one saying it, so I’m looking forward to it.” Kapa laughed loudly. It might be different if it were someone else, but it was Hyeonu who said it. Even if it was said in passing, it wouldn’t be an ordinary treat.

“I hope you come,” Hyeonu once again requested of Kapa.

“I will see Edchan after a long time.” Kapa nodded.

“Then I’ll see you again on that day, Kapa.” Hyeonu turned away from Kapa and exited the iceberg. He had just reached the beginning of the iceberg when a man appeared in front of Hyeonu.

“Hello, Alley Leader.” The man who was waiting for Hyeonu smiled.

“Your expression looks good?” Hyeonu also smiled at the man. He had no choice but to do so. It was because it was Hyeonu who made the man smile.

“The channel is growing every day. The number of viewers for the live stream is also increasing.”

The man’s name was Kalen, and he was the master of the Venom Guild.

“I am well aware of the rise of the Venom Guild. Aren’t the two hottest guilds currently the Venom and Behemoth Guild?”

The Venom Guild had been on the rise ever since Hyeonu’s live stream. To this day, the only players in the undead army were the members of the Venom Guild. Naturally, all attention was directed toward them.

“It is thanks to your help, Alley Leader. All of it.” Kalen expressed his infinite gratitude toward Hyeonu. He had no choice but to do so as Hyeonu had been the one who opened up the option of the undead army to the Venom Guild. It had also been Hyeonu who reversed the bad public opinion on them.

“The advice about streaming was a real help,” Kalen added.

That wasn’t all. Hyeonu had given advice to the Venom Guild on how to stream in the future and how to run their A-World channel. They should not rush but rather slow down and proceed with content as if they were climbing stairs.

“Things won’t go well just because you rush. Don’t you know? You should focus on the long run. That is how you will rise up.”

Hyeonu wanted the Venom Guild to hold onto its current position for a long time. Thus, he gave all sorts of advice.

‘I need to have friendly people everywhere.’

In the end, this was all for Hyeonu. The ran tribe had the Venom Guild. The ra tribe had the Behemoth Guild.

‘Later... I will hold it all and shake it.’

He was thinking about using it—a link to reality that NPCs didn’t know.

‘There are enough NPC connections.’

Hyeonu had connections to the different species and ridiculous monsters like Callioraks. If used well, it was enough to shake the world called Arena.

“It isn’t a big thing why I asked to meet today. Perhaps today or tomorrow, Edward will call you.”

“Edward? Did something happen?” Kalan blinked. It was extremely rare to receive Edward’s call. Ever since the Venom Guild joined the undead army, they could count the number of times they had seen Edward’s face on their fingers.

“It isn’t a big deal. He will just tell you to cooperate with me.”

“Cooperate? Do you need any help?” Kalen didn’t seem to understand Hyeonu’s words very well.

“I have work to do with you.”

“Me? What should I do with you, Alley Leader?”

“You have to give away two cities.”

“Two cities? The Venom Guild doesn’t have a city...”

“I’m not talking about the Venom Guild but two cities occupied by the undead.”

“Did Edward say he would give them away?”

“In the first place, occupying those cities was something I asked for.”

“Huh? Alley Leader?”

Hyeonu waved his hand like it was annoying to respond. He would have to say too many things if he explained from the beginning.

“You just have to cooperate with me. I will direct the battle.”

The thing that Kalen had to do was simple—do as Hyeonu instructed or add some feedback. It was to produce the most dramatic scenes for NPCs.

“It is about writing a story that is as touching as possible.” Hyeonu smiled and held out his right hand.

***

‘Return.’

Upon finishing his meeting with Kalen, Hyeonu immediately took out a return scroll from his inventory and tore it. The destination was a frontline city of the north and the very city that the Kowloon Guild was running.

“It is Alley Leader.”

“What is going on that Alley Leader is here?”

“Duke Gang Hyeonu? Is it really Duke Gang Hyeonu?”

“The hero of the last war...”

The moment that Hyeonu appeared in the city, all eyes fell on Hyeonu regardless of whether they belonged to a player or NPC. These glances were not withdrawn, and they continued to stare at Hyeonu as if possessed. There were many reasons for that.

First of all, Hyeonu’s appearance stood out. The equipment he wore were mostly purple. There were some that weren’t this color, but most of his large equipment were purple. Furthermore, there was even a purple bear, so they couldn’t help staring.

Another reason was the value of Hyeonu’s name. It was already a well-known fact that Hyeonu wore purple equipment. In other words, they knew the player in this outfit was Hyeonu. The moment the players saw that this Alley Leader was Hyeonu, they naturally looked at him. Then they started thinking, ‘Why did Alley Leader show up here?’

Meanwhile, the NPCs were different. To them, Hyeonu wasn’t just an adventurer. He had a status several times higher than that. Hyeonu was the only disciple of Lebron, the number one knight of the empire, and the new duke who was favored by the emperor. In addition, he was the person who ended the war with the last undead army.

In short, Hyeonu was a rising star of the Yusma Empire. It was only natural that they couldn’t take their eyes off him.

‘It is a bit burdensome.’ Hyeonu raised a hand and touched his face. It felt like cold metal, not warm flesh. Hyeonu received a lot of attention from people even in real life. Even then, it wasn’t this much.

‘Is this the difference between NPCs and real people?’

The number might be similar or smaller, but the concentration of emotions was different. It wasn’t just mere longing. Rather, it was an emotion that was close to worship.

‘Where is the territory’s castle?’

Hyeonu looked around. His eyes moved quickly to find a particular building.

‘Since we agreed to meet, he should’ve come out to meet me...’

Hyeonu frowned as he looked at the streets full of people and inwardly criticized Liu Shei, who was likely in the territory’s castle.

“This way!”

It happened at this moment…

A man with a familiar face beckoned to Hyeonu. Hyeonu found the man and immediately headed over there.

“Let’s go to the territory’s castle before more people come,” the man, Liu Shei, urged Hyeonu. Liu Shei ran at a very fast pace. Hyeonu also started running at the same time. Hyeonu, who had been behind, quickly moved to Liu Shei’s side.

The two of them quickly arrived at the castle. Both of them had high levels, so they had tremendous movement speeds.

Liu Shei stopped moving the moment he entered the castle. Now very few people were present, be it NPCs or players.

“I was very surprised to hear that you were suddenly coming, Alley Leader.”

“It seems so. Maybe I made an appointment too suddenly...”

Liu Shei exchanged greetings with Hyeonu over 10 minutes after they met.

“No, I didn’t have a lot of work. The scheduled hunt had finished. I had to be in the territory anyway.” Liu Shei waved his hand at Hyeonu’s words and shook his head.

Hyeonu nodded and changed the topic. “Then I’m glad. Right, is your territory growing well? There must’ve been quite a bit of damage in the last war...”

“Fortunately, the territory is fine. There were no major problems except for the repairs of the walls. It is a problem that I spend a lot of gold. However, many players came and spent gold, so I didn’t lose much.” Liu Shei smiled bitterly.

He said this, but in reality, the damage was severe. From the perspective of the Kowloon Guild, it was a loss from the beginning of this war because unnecessary expenses were made.

‘It is fortunate that the city has developed a bit more...’

However, they didn’t just suffer damage. As more cities collapsed, the NPCs from those cities flocked to the Kowloon Guild’s territory. It was true that this increased the potential of this city, but this potential was in danger of being destroyed immediately by Hyeonu’s subsequent words.

“Then I’m glad. I don’t have to go to another guild.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“A quest will appear in a few days. It is in the name of the emperor.”

“A quest? So suddenly?” Liu Shei asked with a frown. It was baffling. There was a quest, and it was given by the emperor himself.

‘Then why am I so anxious?’

It was normal to be happy when it came to a quest given by the emperor. However, Liu Shei’s senses were shouting that this was a landmine. There would be a big problem if he stepped on it.

Hyeonu smiled and answered Liu Shei’s question, “Can we just hand over the land of the empire to the undead? We can’t pioneer new land, but we can’t let existing ones be taken away.”

“Are you saying that you are going to start a war?”

“That is what the emperor means. Will the Kowloon Guild join this war?”

“To come this far and speak directly to me... I don’t think you need just guild members. Is this correct?” Liu Shei asked with a stutter.

“If you have received help, isn’t it reasonable to pay it back?” A deep smile appeared on Hyeonu’s face.