༺ The Man Who Directs the Wave, Korin Lork (1) ༻
“Interesting. Go on.”
Seeing Marie open her mouth despite quietly standing behind Korin the whole time, Allen couldn’t help but reply with a frown.
“Are you the Deputy Master? I guess you’re not experienced enough to understand how much that is, but I have made an extremely generous offer. In fact, you could even call it a gift.”
“Haht…! Sorry, I wasn’t trying to make fun of you or anything.”
There was no hint of spite in her harmless voice. With the pure intent of a girl trying to find an answer to her question, Marie raised a comment.
“But you can’t even buy a small building with 2,000 gold coins…”
“What?”
“Don’t you need at least 20,000 coins to buy a potato field?”
“Haha… Young students these days are quite ambitious, I suppose. Or perhaps I should say you have a limited understanding of finance. You have no idea how many things you can do with 2,000 gold coins…”
“Doggo said that wasn’t enough though…”
“W, what?!”
2,000 gold coins? That’s Doggo’s monthly allowance.
20,000 gold coins? The Hresvelgr is more expensive than that.
For the oldest daughter of the Dunareff family, who possessed an immeasurable amount of wealth that normal people couldn’t even comprehend, money was probably like a set of numbers on the scoreboard of a game.
‘Is that how much I earned this month? I see,’ was probably her impression every month.
“Anyway, we have no plans of giving away our position.”
“You damn brats…! Do you even know who my father is? He’s the boss of the Gold Hand Merchants!”
“Uhh… Why are you angry?”
Marie let out a clueless comment that irritated Allen even more. There was a look of bright and pure innocence on her face as she innocently crushed the other person’s hopes.
“Hmph. I see how it is. The bravado of young kids, huh?”
Allen was used to such people.
Young brats who pretended to keep their cool because of their overwhelming passion and zeal.
They were the type of people who would immediately tuck their tails in and lower themselves upon seeing a larger and more overwhelming amount of money.
“Huhu. Alright. I love your passion so I will double the price just for you. 4,000 gold coins!”
“4, 4000 gold coins?”
“As expected of the second son of the Gold Hand Merchants. He’s on a whole other level!”
4,000 gold coins. 4 million dollars. With that much money, it was possible to build a decently tall building at the center of the capital.
However, Allen did not consider it a loss, because he considered the potential profit from the Tower of Mages raid to be over 10,000 gold coins at the very least.
But that would only be attainable in the hands of someone like Allen, who could mobilize his whole guild plus several hundreds of mercenaries.
It was natural that most guilds would find it hard to even reach half of that amount in terms of profit.
“Umm… 4,000 gold coins?”
‘Right, I knew it.’
Allen smirked as he watched the dumbfounded look on the girl’s face. It was an obvious result. As expected of a young kid, she probably wasn’t expecting the price to rise by thousands.
“From 2,000 to 4,000; all you changed was the number at the front. Isn’t it…?”
“H… huh?”
He couldn’t understand what she meant for a solid second. All that changed was the number at the front? Did she not even know how to do calculations?
What was up with that look on her face, as if she couldn’t tell if jumping from 2,000 to 4,000 was a big leap or not?!
“6,000 gold coins…”
“???”
“7,000… gold coins…!”
“Huaahm~.”
“8,000…!”
“Uhh… How about you talk to someone else?”
“Yeah! We at the Modern Magic Research Group are willing to sell you the position for 8,000 gold coins!”
“Don’t listen to them! Buy it from us instead!”
“Shut up…!”
The second son of the Gold Hand Merchant group, Allen Goldhand, never had his pride trampled on in his life. Ever since a young age, he had been receiving hundreds of gold coins every month, lived in an enormous mansion by himself with servants and maids, and hired a famous knight to be his instructor after finding out that he had the talent to be a knight.
There was no way that he could allow a mere academy student to trample on his pride!
With the stubborn intent of trying to take the position of these little brats, Allen called for a number that was well above the allocated budget.
“100 white gold coins!”
“What!?”
“That can’t be…!”
“100 white gold coins? That’s the yearly budget of most small cities, isn’t it?”
After calling out that outrageous amount of money that equaled 10,000 gold coins, Allen looked at Korin and Marie with a proud look on his face.
Now that it reached 10,000 gold coins, it was obvious that they would immediately get on their knees and shout, ‘Thank you very much Sir Allen!’, and—
“Hmm?”
But what he noticed was that there was still a calm look on the face of the young student. Even though the veteran guardians inside the auditorium were all creating a fuss in shock, there was not a single ripple on the tranquil expression of the girl.
“Y, you…”
Who was she? How could she be so calm in the face of 10,000 gold coins? How? What did I miss?!
After glaring daggers at Marie, Allen caught sight of a necklace that was hanging on her neck. Hanging in front of her white skin and the deep crevice of her chest was a necklace of red diamonds.
Even the lace had dozens of small red diamonds, and at the center of that necklace was an enormous 69-carat diamond.
That necklace… where have I…
‘W, wait! Isn’t that the ‘King of Jewels’ that came out at the royal auction?!’
It was an incredible treasure that was printed on the first page of the Kingdom’s daily newspapers and the weekly newspapers of the continent. That necklace was most certainly that legendary treasure that was finally sold at the historically highest price of 140,000 gold coins!
‘I remember hearing stories about it! The one who bought it was Duke Dunareff of the South and… it was said that it was a gift for his daughter…’
Wait, isn’t the oldest daughter of their family around the age of the girl in front of…
“Huahk…! M, Marie Dunareff?!”
“Huh? Do you know me?”
Hearing that, Allen started chattering his teeth and sweating buckets. Marie used to stay holed up in the south, and news about her became harder to obtain after she awakened as a vampire, so it wasn’t strange for him to not recognize her at a glance but…
In any case, that didn’t change the fact that she was the untouchable existence of the South… or rather the entire Kingdom!
“M, my sincerest apologies…”
He couldn’t even disguise the shiver in his voice. At last, he realized that the person he had been talking to was the inheritor of a super-rich family that could wipe out their merchant group with a single sentence.
“L, let me take my leave then…”
“Nnn? Are you okay? You seem to be sweating a lot.”
“N, no no no. I’m okay. I am so so sorry.”
Allen’s previous vigor was nowhere to be seen, as he became a lot more respectful in the blink of an eye. Marie offered him a steamed potato with sugar cast on top, but Allen refused it with constant apologies before taking his leave.
“D, Dunareff…”
“If the Dunareff is the Deputy Leader then… Kuhum!”
The guardians nearby started to avoid us like a plague after realizing that Marie was the oldest daughter of the Dunareff family. Seeing that, Korin gave a hollow smile.
“Seriously, how did I not know this?”
It was interesting how he had been so oblivious in the previous iteration.
***
There were seven guilds dispatched from each branch that were participating in the Saintess rescue operation. Added to that, all the non-participating guilds could still send up to 4 people, so it amounted to an enormous group that was over 500 people.
390 knights and 110 mages. Plus there were also the war priests and holy knights, the Kingdom’s military, and… countless mercenaries who were all going to participate in the fight.
Actually, although the mercenaries hadn’t been officially invited by the Kingdom, they were there to make money off of the free plunder verdict that had been given to the Tower of Mages. Their goal was to obtain small fishing boats and raid the Steel Archipelago by themselves.
Even though the commanders were aware of it, they turned a blind eye to it because it allowed them to have more meat shields without having to use up their limited stock of ships and wyverns.
Saintess Estelle had been kidnapped on the 7th of June, and right now it was the 18th of June. Less than 2 weeks had gone by since the event and yet there were already more than a hundred ships on the shore, ready to attack the Steel Archipelago.
“This is quite a shocking sight. Wouldn’t you agree, boss?”
“It’s none other than the Saintess that got kidnapped after all.”
Dorron was also the Deputy Captain of a famous group of mercenaries, but as a member of a mercenary group that primarily focused on hunting demonic beasts in the countryside, it was understandable that he wouldn’t be used to seeing such a large number of men that amounted to several legions.
“More importantly, where are the Warsky Mercenaries?”
“They just arrived. All 300 of Warsky, that is.”
Warsky Mercenaries.
They were high-level mercenaries that could be hired in the hiring system of ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱, second to only the Arden household. Usually, they moved around in groups of tens but the whole group was here for this occasion, meaning there was no questioning about their combat potential.
“Have you had a chat with the leader?”
“He doesn’t mind as long as you give the money. We’ve already finished talking about what to do with the plundered resources.”
“That’s good.”
“But boss, it suddenly struck me but… going across the ocean is pretty risky. You’ll have to be careful.”
The Steel Archipelago was composed of dozens of islands and a main island that was twice the size of Jeju Island, and in order to reach the main island where the Tower was located, there was the need to conquer tens of islands in a row.
Obviously, it was safe to assume that the Tower would have prepared some countermeasures already.
“So, do you mean you won’t be a part of it?”
“Of course not. We are a credible group of mercenaries. Once hired, we are very much loyal.”
Right. I knew that very well, in fact, that was the reason why Park Sihu used to love hiring the Warsky Mercenaries in the last iteration.
Even though they were expensive, they proved their worth several times on repeat.
“Don’t worry. I won’t make you guys do something as dangerous as landing on the shores or attacking the campsites.”
“Mhmm?”
Dorron returned a questioning gaze, but that was when Marie walked into the tent.
“Korin! The vanguards are about to depart!”
“Alrighty. Time to get to work then.”
“…Boss? Vanguards are the most risky position to be in. Are you sure?”
Yes, of course. Most of the people in the vanguards were the greedy mercenaries that would probably be acting as a meat shield. There was no need to mix into the crowd and shoulder the risk with them.
“Trust me. It will be a wonderful adventure.”
The Man Who Orchestrates the Waves, Korin Lork. Here he goes!
The Tower of Mages kidnapped the Saintess.
The Kingdom and the Guardian Alliance reacted fast.
Straight after her disappearance, the Kingdom and the Alliance issued a stand-by command, gathering strong guardians to attack the headquarters of the Tower of Mages, the Steel Archipelago.
However, the Steel Archipelago was a place that was separated from the continent. There was no other way than to rely on large ships and land on the coasts in order to conquer the islands one by one.
And the Tower had made ample preparations for that already.
Hundreds of mages had created several magic circles on the coastlines, and the anti-naval magic circles that the Tower had installed to protect themselves from external threats had made the Steel Archipelago into a large war fortress.
Although their numbers had decreased quite a bit ever since the Witch Revolution, they used to be the ones with full control over magic.
The abundant magic artifacts that had been left behind by their ancestors for a hundred years, chimeras that were created by horrendous human experiments, and a large group of mercenaries hired with their financial power were all ready to attack their foes.
The Steel Archipelago was like a pit of hell waiting to unfold on the ignorant visitors. The naturally formed defensive fortress of small islands and munitions that had been built up for centuries meant that the intruders from the Alliance of the Kingdom were going to be devoured due to their ignorance.
“Fufufu… At last, it is time to make use of this magic artifact.”
The leader of one of the seven cults of the Tower, Elder Blayne of the Green Cult, chuckled as he gazed at the ships sailing toward the Steel Archipelago.
They knew with the help of their spies that the Kingdom had yet to involve their actual soldiers, which meant that the countless ships sailing across the oceans of the archipelago… were not from the Kingdom.
In other words, they were guardians, mercenaries, and adventurers, and carrying them across the oceans were hundreds of large and small ships. The ships ranged from small boats to medium-sized fishing boats and large carriers.
“Elder Blayne. That is quite a lot of them.”
“Fufu, they’re still nothing but a group of insects – moths that do not value their lives.”
Unlike the organized ranks of a naval army, the ships were all advancing forward in a disorderly fashion which gave away their internal thoughts. There was only one reason why they would be so reckless.
『Every act of plunder against the Tower of Mages is permitted by law.』
It was because of the announcement made by the El Rath Kingdom a few days ago.
The unprecedented attack and abduction of the Princess and Saintess, Estelle Hadassa El Rath, infuriated the Kingdom and made them announce the destruction and annihilation of the Tower.
“They probably needed a fitting bait to mobilize mercenaries and the likes.”
“As vulgar as always.”
Whether they had hundreds or thousands with them did not matter in the slightest. This was their land. The moment they landed on the shores, the Tower of Mages was ready to use everything in its arsenal to eradicate the ignorant fools.
Right – as long as they landed on the shores, that is.
-Kwaaaaaaaa!!
-Kugung! Kwang…!
It happened in the blink of an eye.
The boats that were in the lead suddenly flipped and were capsized by an abrupt wave, and struck the fleets furiously as if trying to swallow them whole.
“Uaaahk!”
“What the hell?!”
Boats were turned and shaken. Stuck on the jolting ships, the men screamed and fell down.
Their world was being flipped upside down. The world turned on its head as nature forced them from advancing forward.
Naturally, they looked for the one to blame.
“D, damn it, it’s the Tower! Those guys are even controlling the weather!”
“The bastards from the Tower are creating waves! Shit! Fall back for now!”
“How could they possibly do such a thing…!?”
The soldiers and crew members who were trying to infiltrate the Steel Archipelago gazed at the distant mages on the other side of the ocean with eyes of hatred and fury.
How fearsome was the Tower of Mages? To think they had been hiding such power the whole time?!
“Lightning and tidal waves… Was that Elder Blayne?”
“Ohhh! As expected of Elder Blayne! A grand spell of this level is unheard of!”
The mages of the Tower faced Blayne with eyes of awe and admiration at the unbelievable phenomenon of controlling Mother Nature.
However, Elder Blayne of the Green Cult was sweating buckets, unable to close his mouth.
“…That wasn’t me though?”
The dumbstruck voice of the mage was buried by the churning waves and thunderstorms.
………
……
…
And at the center of the storm was a large and fancy frigate with the flag of a ‘golden potato flower’, that was big enough to overcome the enormous waves.
“Uahhk…! The wave! Our ship is going to sink. Mr. Koriiiiiiiiiiiiinnn!”
“W, we have to escape!”
“Calm down Junior Kranel! This ship is not going to sink that easily! After all, it’s the anti-magic frigate of our Dunareff Trade Fleets!”
“I don’t careeee…! Uweeeek!”
At the very center of the frigate, in the middle of the churning waves and violent storms was a man who was withstanding… or rather, who had already become one with the nature around him. His soul was burning bright as a musician.
His name, Korin Lork.
A new musician who debuted just today.
Singing the song of the late great musician, Chuck Berry’s School Days, he energetically ran his fingers down the harp.
-KIYOOOOOOOOOOOT!
His appearance reminded one of the legendary guitarist – the astonishing legend who had given birth to one of the modern genres of music.
Although his technique was most certainly not up to par with the great legend, the burning flames in his soul did not lose to the thunderstorms and waves around him!
“ROCK N ROLL! MOTHER FUCKERS…!”
『Uaithne. Grade: Legendary』
The string instrument of the King of Gods, Dagda. Playing the string made with the liver of the king of cats will result in special magical effects.
It is the legendary bane of giants that smacked nine giants to death. Believe in yourself and bash them down.
-A magical effect is applied to every location affected by the sound.
-It will fly into the master’s hand from anywhere.
-Bashing a giant with the harp inflicts 1,200% additional damage.
“Hehehe…! You’re not going anywhere! Absolutely noooooooo-oooonneeeee is allowed to goooooo…!”
