116
Golden Matiz
[How dare you stand before me.]
I lowered my head against my will due to the overwhelming presence.
He looked like a knight, his knees bent as if he were meeting the king.
This was not something that was commanded by anyone, but rather an instinct ingrained in the species.
But I couldn’t achieve my goal by bowing down like this.
I stabbed myself in the thigh with a dagger.
I came to my senses with the sharp pain of the blade digging into my flesh.
The warm blood that flowed down the dagger soaked my hand.
But this wasn’t enough.
‘···What a fucking place.’
I gritted my teeth and drew my dagger.
Only after the dagger ripped through my muscles and cut through my bones with a crunching sound could I raise my head.
The bone-cutting effort was more painful than I thought.
Before me was a dragon so huge that it filled the world, literally a legendary dragon.
The shell of that huge body was as red as blood. Even the setting sun could not pass through the red shell and flowed down.
I couldn’t help but feel a sense of respect for the empire that had allowed such a man to hide.
However, I sighed when I realized that I was being chased by such an empire.
‘There really was a dragon… It really is a fantasy.’
I smiled bitterly and slowly stood up.
The sharp pain in my leg shook me, but it was actually a stimulant that helped me come to my senses.
If left alone for a little longer, it will turn into a sleeping pill.
I somehow managed to get up, shivering, and looked up at the guy.
The thing was so big and tall that I had to bend my head back so much that I staggered backwards.
The red dragon was looking down at me.
There wasn’t even a hint of contempt in that gaze.
Emotionless eyes, as if looking at a tiny speck of dust passing by.
I met his gaze and forced the corners of my mouth to rise.
It was a very unequal dice game.
A dice game where you risk your life, but even if you win, all you get is a little bit of attention from your opponent.
Of course, if you win, that’s fine.
“We are both being chased by the empire… so let’s do it properly.”
I squeezed my clogged throat and spit out the words.
[That’s funny,]
The guy laughed.
Even though he was just smiling, the aura he was radiating from me weighed heavily on my shoulders.
I guess he’s just interested in waiting a little longer without crushing the bug.
‘I guess I’ll survive again.’
Sadly, I smiled bitterly as I saw another way out.
***
“···Get down. Human.”
My thoughts were broken by BbungBbung’s unpleasant voice.
Even though we had a long conversation, we failed to tame him.
Compared to the red one from before, BoongBoong looked more like a wyvern than a dragon, but it was still a dragon.
‘I thought it would work.’
I tapped the hard shell of the bungee.
I managed to get on the guy’s neck by mobilizing the dragon vein, but it seemed like I couldn’t do anything more than that.
‘That’s because you didn’t follow the taming rules.’
I was supposed to squeeze and beat it into rags before taming it, but I didn’t have enough strength to squeeze the dragon.
‘To fight this guy…, the aura would need to last at least 10 seconds.’
I wasn’t just trying to kill the bastard, I was trying to communicate with him and make him my own car.
To do that, I had to use my fists instead of my sword, and now I felt like I was lacking something.
If you fail to tame it and it hides, you’ll lose your chance forever, so you have to be careful.
– I guess I’ll have to eat a lot of devil candies.
The tenant said as if he had been waiting for me.
I tried to say something back at the excited voice, but held back.
‘Because this is where all the devil candies are gathered.’
I had ‘Samgochoryeo’.
No matter how stubborn he was, it was clear that he would fall over after being hit three times.
‘If it doesn’t work even after three times… I can’t help it. I have no choice but to use it as a health supplement.’
I didn’t want to do that to the baby dragon, but…
If you keep ignoring my innocence, I have no choice but to become a dragon slayer.
‘It’ll be dangerous if we go down any further.’
I clicked my tongue as I looked at the scared guys below.
“Haven’t you come to the place you promised?! Get down! Human! Keep your promise!”
After having quite a few conversations trying to convince him, his speech became quite fluent.
Since his head is big, his brain seems to be big too, so he seems to learn quickly.
I nodded, smacking my lips in regret.
“See you next time.”
The beginning is always difficult, but once you get over it, the rest is easy.
And the promise I made to him included a next meeting.
‘Next time we meet, shall we fly over the sea?’
“······.”
BbungBbung did not respond.
“Oh, an adult is speaking.”
After yelling at him three times, the bastard shuddered and answered very quietly.
Baby green shell dragon-like clumsiness.
There was a reason why the green-shelled dragon was the first to disappear among the dragons.
‘You’re lucky you met me. If you had met a bad guy, you would have been in big trouble. The world is so dangerous these days…’
I shook my head at the horrible thought.
BbungBbung almost got into a really bad situation.
Then I patted BbungBbungi once more and jumped down, aiming at the troll.
Jumping off gave me a different kind of pleasure than riding on a buggy.
The wind blew wildly across my face.
The corners of my mouth went up involuntarily at that coolness.
The river was as fun as the ascension.
Gravitational acceleration took over and the speed increased.
I squinted my eyes and looked down.
The troll was still looking up at me from the same spot.
As I approached, the troll raised both its hands in confusion.
I don’t know if he was trying to stop me or take me, but he had no choice.
I bent my knees and braced myself for the coming impact.
Boom-.
The troll’s arm that had received me snapped at an angle with a terrible sound.
Thick bones popped out and blood spurted out.
The troll’s arm took the shock, but I also felt a considerable shock.
I quickly took a falling stance and dispersed the impact.
I rolled around on the floor and put my hands on my stomach, but it didn’t seem to have much effect.
I took out the potion I had prepared and sprinkled it on my body and drank it.
I quickly looked at the troll.
The thick bone jutted out and the torn troll’s arm shook in tatters.
The troll cried out loud in pain.
‘Opportunity.’
I immediately drew my sword.
I felt a little grateful to the troll who accepted me, but I had to distinguish between public and private matters.
He thrust his sword forcefully into the troll’s split arm, revealing the bone clearly.
The troll’s hide was so tough that it was difficult to insert a sword into it, but when I put it inside and turned it, it split more easily than I thought.
The troll was soft on the inside and strong on the outside.
Kkwaaa …
“Oh, you didn’t tell me it would sting. It’ll sting a little.”
It was truly amazing how resilient it was, as it was still bouncy on the cross-section even though it had just been cut.
However, because the wound was so large, it seemed like it would take quite some time.
I put strength into my cold legs, jumped up, and stabbed the troll in the right shoulder with my sword.
This is the troll’s weak point, the troll has excellent resilience, but if there is foreign matter in the wound, the speed becomes very slow.
Of course, it wasn’t easy to pierce a troll’s hide without an aura, but I had the famous sword Twenty Goal.
Twenty goals were slightly painfully cut into the troll’s hide.
‘You are the best among twenty goals.’
I exclaimed in admiration and hit the handle of my sword with my fist.
With each strike, the sword went in.
Soon, only the handle was visible.
At that moment, the troll went crazy and lost his balance, but he held on and held on to his deeply embedded sword.
And when the bastard became slightly quiet, he grabbed me by the neck.
‘No matter how great your regenerative powers are, if you can’t breathe, it’s over.’
Trolls in particular were more effective when strangled, as they would glow and spit out their remaining breath.
The troll glowed with his other arm, but couldn’t reach it.
I just held on to the troll’s neck.
The troll that had been raging for a long time fell, but I didn’t let go of my arm.
Trolls have a cunning side; when their lives are threatened, they pretend to be dead and then suddenly wake up.
‘It’s useless to use tricks where they’re not.’
As expected, the troll suddenly stood up.
Eventually the troll stopped moving and I checked the sword I had placed next to me.
Blood flowed from the scar, but the flesh did not move.
The troll’s recovery has stopped.
It was a sign of death.
Only then did I release my numb hands and look around.
The other guys looked at me with their mouths open in a daze.
The look in his eyes was quite distant and burdensome, unlike their usual looks.
“Kkwobarou! I have to collect the blood!”
I shook my numb hands and called out to Kua Ba Rou.
Kua Bao Rou, with an extremely complex and subtle face, ran towards the troll and grabbed him.
Guobarou, who was about to say something while looking at me, closed his mouth and quietly collected the blood.
Then I raised my head and looked at the sky.
BbungBbung had already disappeared.
It didn’t matter because I already knew the bastard’s nest by heart.
‘If you just fill up the devil’s candy, you’ll be a total idiot. Bbungbung-.’
I smacked my lips as I looked at the spot where the bungee had been.
“······Big brother. Is that a younger brother too?”
The weasel asked with a face full of expectation.
I could tell what he was thinking so I laughed.
At that moment, Kuabarou shouted.
“It’s overflowing! It’s over capacity!”
“What? It’s just two trolls, and you’re saying we’re over capacity?”
“Even you wouldn’t be able to catch two trolls···.”
“All right! Get out of the way!”
I brushed away the aggrieved expression on Kuabarou’s face and put my mouth on the part where the blood was flowing out.
It tasted extremely fishy, but I couldn’t throw it away because it was expensive troll blood.
Moreover, troll blood was a proven health food that was diluted and sold separately as a priest potion.
Even now, when I drink blood, I feel like my fatigue is being cured.
Thinking back, I guess it was just my mood.
However, there was a limit to the amount that could be drunk.
I gestured to the guys who were just blankly watching.
Dylan was already drinking on the other side before I even called.
“Drink it quickly! It’s good for men!”
I chanted a magic spell at the hesitating ones.
They quickly rushed in and drank the troll’s blood.
“I think I understand vampires a little bit! Big brother! Hehehe! Blood tastes so good!”
The sight of a weasel laughing with a mouth full of blood was not a pleasant sight.
The troll was so big that even though everyone was running towards it, they couldn’t drink it all.
Even though they managed to get Dalus, who had a pale face, to drink it, it wasn’t enough.
So the remaining blood was sprinkled on the garlic field as fertilizer.
Troll blood was more effective than nutrients, and when sprinkled, monsters and wild beasts would not approach.
After finishing like that, I returned to Cassadic.
I made them confess that I saw a dragon.
If the story about the dragon had leaked out, there was a very high possibility that the Empire would take action.
It was clear that he would affect not only the dragon, but also those of us who faced him.
Instead, I decided to let him ride me once in a while if I ever tame him later.
The expressions on the faces of those who heard the suggestion were something to behold, and when I shook my fist in medieval fashion, they all nodded quickly.
Kuobarou asked for help in conducting research on dragons.
His eyes were filled with a different kind of passion than before, and he agreed to bring the gold in return.
“In times like this, it would be nice to go together and have a beer to end things more neatly.”
Berman caught Dalus as he was about to turn back.
Dalus hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Kkwobarou also left first, saying he was studying troll blood, but no one caught him.
Even Kuobarou didn’t look particularly upset.
“Arong! Are you here?”
The bar was bustling even though the sun was still up.
I sent the guys who should have gone to work back to work after beating them up one by one.
Among them was Scar, who complained of injustice after being hit.
“I have a holiday today!”
“Say it before I hit you.”
“I told you!”
The guy looked a bit disappointed for a moment, but he quickly cheered up when she said she would buy him a drink.
“Ah… Aaron! You’re back! I’ve been well taken care of by the wonderful and knowledgeable Kanna-sama!”
Ted, with his arm around Kanna’s shoulder, stammered as he spoke.
To be exact, it was Kanna grabbing the guy by the scruff of the neck, but it seemed like the two of them were getting along well.
After drinking like that, and at the end of the workshop, I gave each of the group members 30 silver coins, and they were all very happy.
It wasn’t a lot of money, only about two gold coins if you added it all up, but the guys were crying and rejoicing.
The story of the golden cane Bongbong received as a housewarming gift was not brought up.
“It’s a workshop…! Why didn’t you call me!!”
Scar said in a voice full of regret.
“Scar, you’re not a guard. If you’re so jealous, join the guard.”
Berman responded with a pitiful tone.
“Ahem… That won’t do. I’ll be in the shade, Aaron in the sun….”
‘You didn’t give up.’
It seemed as if Scar had not yet given up on his ambition to occupy both the sunny and shady sides of Cassadic, just like me.
He was more like a vigilante than a back alley lord, but he seemed to think otherwise.
Although the other guys openly teased and teased Scar, Scar stood his ground steadfastly.
“But Dylan, is that story true?”
Scar, who was being teased, poked Dylan with his arm and asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Aaron and the great dragon.”
The atmosphere instantly froze at the unexpected words that came out of Scar’s mouth.
At Scar’s question, the weasel opened its eyes wide and waved its hands wildly from side to side as if it was being wronged.
The others bowed their heads in silence.
The grass took out a silver coin and put it in the weasel’s mouth.
The weasel, who had been hesitating for a moment, opened his mouth to the others.
“Huh? Dylan, didn’t you tell me about Aaron’s dragon back then?”
“I… When did I! I never mentioned dragons! And I won’t ever! You punk!”
“No, you are definitely saying that there is a dragon living under Aaron···.”
At Scar’s words, the weasel, who had been sweating profusely as if he had met a troll, laughed and clapped his hands.
“Ah, that story! Of course! Under our eldest brother, there is a dragon. No, even a dragon is not enough. A very large dragon······.”
‘How far has this kid been talking?’
I clicked my tongue at the sight of the weasel.
The weasel was chattering away, and everyone listened to him with awkward laughter.
Scar, who had been listening to him attentively, opened his mouth again.
“I see! But, did anything happen in the Kirtin Mountains? After all, it’s a place with a lot of rumors!”
Scar asked as if he was really curious, but the others just laughed and avoided eye contact.
“Let me know about this too! I feel left out for no reason…”
Scar whined for a long time, at a level that was disproportionate to his size, but no one answered.
‘You were well educated.’
I chuckled as I looked at the beer mug filled with ice, with me, Hannah, and Kanna engraved on it.
“This is Arong!”
Hannah pushed the weasel next to me aside and sat down, handing me a piece of bread with a particularly large piece of meat in it.
As I took it and chewed on it, the image of a cow grazing on grass flashed before my eyes.
Last time, we even saw cows running around, and it seemed like Hannah’s cooking skills had improved.
“Arong. Aren’t you tired?”
Hannah, sitting next to me, looked at me with clear eyes and started making inappropriate gestures.
‘···Why the sudden twist?’
I shook my head as I watched the silver bracelet on Hannah’s wrist swing.
***
Knock knock- knock.
“Come in.”
I cleared my throat and went in at the strangely irritated voice.
Inside was Nova, thinner than before.
The pile of papers on the desk seemed to be the cause of its thinness.
Nova looked at me and took a deep breath, clearing the venom from his eyes.
It felt like a poisonous snake hearing the sound of a flute.
Nova, who had been moving his mouth for a moment, opened his mouth.
“What did you say… Workout?”
“Workshop.”
“Yeah, the workshop. … Was it fun?”
A voice strangely filled with discontent.
It seemed like he was criticizing me for working so hard here and then going out to play.
“Workshops are also part of the job. They help build unity and foster cooperation.”
“···Really? Then we should go too? The guards are going, so it would be embarrassing if the secretary doesn’t go.”
Nova said nonchalantly, turning the page.
“Are you turning the paper over backwards?”
However, I had no choice but to point it out because the paper direction was opposite.
“······What! I usually read it backwards?”
Nova, her face red enough to burst, screamed and began to flip the paper back furiously.
It was a bit too much, but I held back because I thought Nova would bite her tongue if I pointed it out any further.
Whether he wanted to maintain the concept or not, Nova ended up turning over all the papers.
However, after he finished turning it over, his fingers froze as if he hadn’t thought about it.
Then, when the hand tried to turn the desk over, I hurriedly opened my mouth.
“If I go to the secretary workshop, will the expenses be covered?”
“Huh? Oh! Of course! It’s going to be a huge workshop, so don’t worry, Honorary Secretary!”
Nova’s face quickly became crooked again, and one corner of his mouth rose.
“···Strawberry Orange.”
“Ahem! Anyway! I called you because of the reward I was talking about with the lord! Honorary Secretary.”
“Oh, the reward.”
When the main topic finally came up, I sat up straight for no reason.
“I heard the story. I want Vivian’s bodyguard position and the position of captain of the inner castle guard to be converted into gold.”
I nodded at Nova’s words.
“···Why did you refuse?”
Nova asked, looking down at the paper in front of her.
Then, he glanced at me and made eye contact, and for no reason, he tapped the paper.
I scratched my head at the unexpected question and then answered.
“Because it’s annoying.”
“···Because it’s annoying?”
Nova followed my words and laughed very little.
“Ahem! Yes. It’s really annoying! It’s all work, I tell you. And you don’t get much gold either. It’s not even comparable to the gold I give you.”
Nova coughed to hide her laughter.
However, because the laughter went on longer than expected, I ended up coughing five times in a row.
“Anyway, about that compensation. You have a lot of gold right now, right?”
Nova raised one eyebrow, her mouth pouting.
Although his tone was reeked of a swindler, he motioned for her to continue.
“Cathedic has gotten quite a bit of business from his recent victory in the siege of the Vault Castle.”
Nova waved her hands together, then tilted them to one side.
“In addition, trade with the city of Karzan is going smoothly, and with the completion of the city walls, the number of visitors is on the rise. This means that things will only get better from here on out.”
Nova raised her voice in an uncharacteristically excited manner.
“yes.”
“Is it right to receive gold in compensation from Cassidy? I don’t think so.”
Nova wiggled her fingers with confidence.
I have a feeling what the story is about.
‘I guess you’re thinking of paying in shares rather than gold.’
It seemed like they wanted to tie me down a bit more by offering long-term equity rather than short-term compensation.
It was a wise suggestion.
It wasn’t a bad offer for me, since I was going to be staying at Cassidy anyway.
However, Nova’s face was so unlucky and showy that it made my mouth itch.
“I like gold coins. Please give me gold coins.”
“Hey… Wait! You didn’t hear what I said?! Cassidy is going up! I told you that there’s only room for improvement from now on? This is a really good opportunity.”
Nova, who had been making a sullen expression, suddenly sat up and leaned forward.
It was nice to see the urgency on Nova’s face.
“Because I’m the kind of person who puts the whole marshmallow in my mouth.”
He shook his head, trying to control the corners of his lips.
“What the hell? No, wait, I guess you didn’t understand, but the value is different. Even if you receive gold now······.”
Nova grabbed me and talked to me for a long time about shame and the future.
The blueprint was more specific than I thought.
‘What a smart orange.’
As I’ve felt before, Nova’s head is turning quite well.
I shook my head a little more, finding it amusing to see Nova struggling like that, and then nodded as he pulled out the quill pen.
“Since it’s Orange’s offer, I will specially accept it.”
“···I don’t appreciate it.”
Contrary to the ticking words, the corners of Nova’s lips twitched.
‘I guess I can’t do sales.’
I was amazed at Nova’s appearance, showing her emotions even when she pretended not to.
‘But it’s a stake···.’
I rubbed my chin as I looked at the organized documents Nova had handed me.
On the paper was a crudely drawn graph, in the same format I had drawn before.
The graph was steadily trending upward, but there were sections where the increase was very large.
‘The deal with Karzan, Youngae’s birthday, and the siege with Bolt.’
Among them, the siege of Bolt Castle in particular stood out the most.
‘This was the operation.’
Stocks that I can raise with my own hands…
I swallowed hard.
“No! Don’t do that! No! I don’t know what you’re thinking, but no! Don’t make that face! No! Look here! Change your eyes! Don’t make those eyes!”
Kkung kkung kkung-.
Nova was pounding my chest with an urgent look on her face, but it felt quite far away.
***
It was such a bland day that the biggest incident was Kanna swinging her dagger and spitting lightning from her mouth in the morning.
‘···Isn’t that a really big deal?’
After thinking about it carefully, lightning seemed cooler and more efficient than fire.
It was a series of peaceful days, but the feeling of riding a buggy lingered, and I kept feeling restless.
I wanted to make a BbungBbungi into a car as quickly as possible.
‘I guess I should hurry and go to Au.’
After all, meeting the conditions with devil candy was the most urgent task.
I was also curious about what the devil candies would do together.
However, it was quite a distance to Flitton Castle where his brother was.
The one who solved that problem was none other than Park Daegari.
Whether Fullfoot had given up on taking care of his children or not, Park Daegari would wander around the outer city openly, often running into each other.
However, today, unlike usual, his face was serious.
“···So, are you asking me to go with you to the banquet at Flitton Castle?”
Park Dae-gari immediately stuck his face in at my question.
“Yes! We went together last time too!”
The astonishing logic that since we went together last time, we should move together this time too.
It was a ridiculous logic, but because he said it so confidently, it was strangely persuasive.
For a moment, I leaned back towards Park Daegari’s face, which had become too close.
An opportunity that came at a truly opportune time.
It couldn’t have been a mere coincidence.
‘My brother called me. He even threw a party for me.’
It was a sentence that could come out of a romance novel, but the genre changed because the opponent was an unidentified demon candy.
“All right.”
It was a good suggestion for me as I had to meet the minimum requirements for a BbungBbung driver’s license.
“Huh?! So easy?! Why… why don’t you ask?! Something small and shiny!”
When I nodded, Park Dae-gari looked at me with eyes full of suspicion.
‘What is this Park head talking about?’
I didn’t bother to answer.
But since Park Dae-gari kept giving me suspicious looks, I had no choice but to ask for something ‘small and shiny’.
Only then did Park Daegari show his usual bright smile, bow his head, and disappear.
Adela, who was behind him, muttered something for a moment and followed him.
‘You travel a lot for business.’
I nodded, sipping an ice cold beer.
“······promotion.”
At that moment, Kel, who had been silent, called out in a trembling voice.
“Where on earth did you get such a hideous armor?”
At that I looked down at myself.
I heard that the original owner was a renowned giant knight.
When the giant knight died tragically during the Territory War, the soldier next to him quickly took off his clothes and sold them.
They said they modified the shape a bit to avoid being caught, and rolled the original angular shape into a round shape.
Perhaps because he was anxious about the knight’s belongings, he also added some colorful dye to it.
The two combined create an incredibly impressive piece of armor.
However, because the previous owner was so large, it was difficult to find the owner, and it ended up coming to me through Jackson.
‘···It looks like a golden Matiz.’
It looks like they wanted a gold color when they dyed it, but they used cheap stuff so it ended up being, to put it nicely, a yellow-brown color.
To put it bluntly, it was the color of cheap shit that ate gold.
It was so big there that if you crouched down, it would really look like a golden Matiz.
I guessed that the reason this armor didn’t sell was not necessarily because of its size.
Of course, it doesn’t matter if the armor is hard and sturdy.
“I picked it up.”
“That leader… no matter what… this isn’t right. I’ll try to find new armor somehow….”
Who is buying whose armor?
I gave the guy a thump on the head to silence him.
“Even if you get hit, it won’t hurt, right? Just don’t wear armor······.”
However, this time it was quite serious, so Kel, who would normally have kept his mouth shut, spoke again.
I hit him again and he became quiet.
It didn’t seem like anything too serious.
***
“There is no trace.”
Imperial Knight Bakan frowned at the report he heard from the side.
Gromwalbetz, who was furious at Count Behar’s provocation and disappeared with his spear in his hand, never returned.
Gromwalbetz, with his fiery temper, had often disappeared to vent his anger before, but never for this long.
Unable to bear the wait, I went out to look for him, but where I expected Gromwalbetz to be, all I found was his spear.
Plus, there was blood splattered everywhere, as if they had been slaughtered.
The spear of Gromwalbetz and the excited blood.
Although it was clear evidence, I couldn’t believe that the target was the Imperial Knight Gromwalbetzinter.
…Is there anyone in the East who can defeat Gromwalbetz?
Gromwalbetz was an imperial knight.
There was no way that could happen.
‘···Did I get taken by surprise?’
I searched the surroundings, but found nothing.
Since quite some time had already passed, there was no more delay.
‘···Is this Count Behar’s doing? Does he have the power to do that?’
Bakan frowned and gestured.
‘You dare touch an imperial knight. You’re crazy.’
The most important thing right now was to get back and report.
“I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
The soldiers and knights answered by beating their chests.
Hey knight- Hey knight-.
A very small sound.
He looked around, but it seemed like no one else had heard him.
I thought I was hallucinating because I couldn’t sleep.
Bakan shook his head, brushed him off, and mounted his horse.
‘You have crossed the line, Count Bechard.’
Of course, there was no evidence that Count Berhard had done it, but no evidence was needed in front of the imperial name.
