The Overgeared Kingdom and the evil eyes would be mutually respectful and not hostile to each other. The Overgeared Kingdom and evil eyes would grow together through a mutual exchange. The Overgeared Kingdom would provide the evil eyes with a solid army and the evil eyes would add strength to the Overgeared Kingdom. The king of Overgeared and the king of the evil eyes should meet regularly to maintain a friends.h.i.+p.
This was the alliance treaty that Grid concluded while staying in the evil eyes village.
“I really enjoyed it.”
The last two days. The evil eyes king was able to converse looking at someone for the first time since he was born. It was a very ordinary experience for others, but it was a new and special experience for the evil eyes king. The king thought that Grid was special. He could avoid being blind as long as he was with Grid.
Grid pitied him and promised.
“I will try to make artifacts that can suppress the power of the third eye. Don’t you have to see your family’s faces at least once before dying?”
“Thank you for the words. But it will probably be tough.”
The bigger the expectations, the bigger the disappointment. The evil eyes king didn’t mind Grid’s promise. He wasn’t expecting it to happen. However, Grid was determined to fulfill the promise. Of course, it wasn’t pure benevolence. During the conversation with the evil eyes king, Grid learned that the king had an ability to plant an evil eye in others. Grid’s goal was to maximize his affinity with the evil eyes king and acquire an evil eye.
‘By all means.’
He would make a result that both of them were satisfied with. Grid pledged and said farewell to the king.
“I will go back now. I will send the 50 protection cloaks every month as promised.”
"I understand. Goodbye."
The evil eyes were proud of their absolute strength. Their existence itself was a weapon. Battle gear wasn’t necessary for them. But the evil eyes were chuuni. They wanted to have nice cloaks. Grid thought it would be better if the cloaks had defensive power. Grid was planning to make the Ma.s.s Produced Lantier’s Cloak for them.
‘The more battle gear I can ma.s.s produce, the better.’
Someday, the Overgeared soldiers and people would be armed with Grid’s set and Lantier’s Cloak. This would happen in the distant future and it wasn’t a fanciful goal. It would actually come true in a few years. Grid’s inventory full of insane dragon iron would realize this astonis.h.i.+ng reality.
***
“Did you hear the rumor?”
"What are you talking about?”
"It’s said that the Overgeared Kingdom’s quest rewards are being actively reshaped.”
“The quests given by the kingdom are basically good right? I’m already satisfied with the quests I am performing."
"It’s on a different dimension from regular compensation. The level 180 or high quests will give items Grid have produced as a reward.”
“What? Items that Grid has made?”
"Yes, it’s even a set item. You can get one item every time you clear three quests.”
"Wow, you can get Grid’s set items...?”
The legendary blacksmith, Grid. Most of the two billion users dreamt about using the items he made. But the supply was too small and Grid’s items became rare items that couldn’t be bought even with money. At this point, the rumor that Grid’s items could be obtained from quest rewards started to spread.
It was Lauel’s plan. Lauel invested money into hiring and utilizing people. He deliberately spread the news of the quest rewards reorganization across the continent. It was a public relations campaign to lure players. The effect was truly enormous.
"Is there any reason to not go to the Overgeared Kingdom?”
"Taxes will be cheaper when we move to the Overgeared Kingdom.”
"I can’t miss this chance to get Grid’s set items.”
Players from around the world made up their minds and started moving to the Overgeared Kingdom, even if it meant suffering damages. Every kingdom was in an emergency situation.
"Loyalty to the kingdom is necessary! It’s wrong to be allowed to move around freely!”
"Emigration shouldn’t be freely given! If you want to emigrate, you have to earn it and contribute to the kingdom!”
The 15 kingdoms made a ma.s.sive quest for players who were looking to migrate. The quest had a level of difficulty that was impossible to clear unless they had a high level or excellent specs. There was a backlash from the players. Complaints ran wild at various community sites and the S.A. customer center.
-Does it make sense for NPCs to violate the freedom of players?
-Isn’t the advantage of Satisfy the high degree of freedom?Players aren’t a puppet of NPCs.
The players wanted the S.A. Group to stop the NPCs’ actions. But no actions were taken. The S.A. Group thought of Satisfy’s NPCs as ‘residents of another world’ and respected them as humans. They didn’t intervene at all. The S.A. Group only wished for Satisfy’s evolution to flow naturally.
While the majority of players were angry at the S.A. Group, a small number of players knew that the S.A. Group’s operating policy was what made Satisfy fun. "The sense of immersion will decrease if the operators intervene every time something happens.’
The S.A. Group wanted players to recognize Satisfy as more than just a game. In fact, some players already saw Satisfy as another world, rather than as just a game. This recognition was purely due to the S.A. Group’s operation policy. If the S.A. Group interfered in the flow of Satisfy, then the immersion of the users would fall sharply.
In any case, the conclusion was that the players realized that it was impossible to receive help from the S.A. Group. They had to invest an excessive amount of time and effort to complete the quest and move to the Overgeared Kingdom, or stay in their current kingdom. Not surprisingly, a lot of people chose to stay.
So what if they coveted the Grid set? It was impossible for ordinary people to clear the immigration quest that took more than two weeks. Many players were afraid of failing and turned away from the immigration quest.
This had a positive effect on the Overgeared Kingdom. The players performing the immigration quest were more enthusiastic and capable than most players. That’s right: the att.i.tude of the 15 kingdoms had the effect of filtering out talent for the Overgeared Kingdom.
Most of the players who completed the quest and moved to the Overgeared Kingdom were above average, directly contributing to the rise in the Overgeared Kingdom’s strength.
***
“Amazing.”
What happened in the days when he was away? Grid was impressed to see the number of people after he return to Reinhardt and he checked the kingdom’s information. The number of players was close to 100,000. It was a much larger number than before.
Lauel covered half his face with his hand and laughed.
“This is a result of deliberately leaking out information that the quest rewards will be changed and using it as a means to promote the Overgeared Kingdom. Huhut, my genius and Your Majesty’s great power has combined to create the flow of this time... It is enough to thrill the world.” Kukukuk.”
“Oh, really great. You’re indeed Lauel. You have suffered a lot.”
“...?”
Lauel was surprised. Wasn’t Grid normally baffled and embarra.s.sed by Lauel’s words? Then he would ask Lauel to refrain from talking like that. However, Grid was different after not seeing each other for a fortnight. He wasn’t embarra.s.sed or confused when hearing Lauel’s words. He replied like it was no big deal. Lauel misunderstood.
"His Majesty finally knows.’
He found out that Lauel’s tone was actually cool?
“Huhuhut...”
Lauel was glad to be acknowledged. As Lauel smiled, unfamiliar people approached. They were people with 3D chibi type proportions. It was a cute combination of plump flesh and fierce eyes.
"Are they the evil eyes?’
The 17 evil eyes greeted Lauel.
“Kukukuk... It’s you. It really is you.”
"The human who shared a previous life with us.”
"You must’ve had a lonely fate, reincarnating as a human alone. Is was really tough."
“But now you don’t have to worry. Our great evil eyes will be your companions.”
"Kukukuk, after repeating a few reincarnations, we are reunited... This is the attraction of our fate. It is truly great.”
“The stars in the night sky are s.h.i.+ning brighter today. Shall we drink from the deep lake to toast our reunion?”
“...Unbelievable.”
Lauel was amazed by the words of the evil eyes and laid a hand on his heart.
Dugun dugun!
His heartbeat was several times faster than usual.
"My previous life was true.’
In fact, sometimes he was worried. He wondered if he was a crazy person caught in a delusion. But now it wasn’t a delusion. These people proved his past life. Sometimes he was a hero, sometimes a G.o.d, sometimes a villain. All of his past lives were true.
“Fate...”
"...Destiny.”
There was strong trust and affection in the eyes of Lauel and the evil eyes as they looked at each other.
***
“Summon all blacksmiths who have advanced techniques and above to Reinhardt.”
The king’s order was transmitted throughout the Overgeared Kingdom. The lords of various places immediately searched for the blacksmiths. As a result, there were eight more advanced blacksmiths in addition to the twelve directly raised by Grid and Khan in Reidan.
Grid was startled.
‘Is it natural for there to be so many advanced blacksmiths?’
Advanced blacksmiths were the best talent that kingdoms wanted. Their techniques were excellent. The reason why a large number of advanced blacksmiths could be raised in Reidan was purely due to Grid and Khan. It was extremely rare for advanced blacksmiths to occur naturally.
Apart from the empire, ordinary kingdoms normally had less than 10 advanced blacksmiths. In addition, there were five more advanced blacksmiths in Reinhardt. Adding in the 12 advanced blacksmiths from Reidan, it was a total of 25.
"Gulp."
The blacksmiths gathered in the palace and gulped as they looked up at Grid. Grid was their king and a legendary blacksmith. Now they came face to face with someone they admired.
‘Apart from the kids that Khan and I raised, there are 13 advanced blacksmiths... Was the former Eternal Kingdom specialized in blacksmithing?’
Grid questioned it. As he was feeling puzzled, a blacksmith bowed to him. It was a young blacksmith called Rector.
“Go ahead.”
"Your Majesty, if I can ask, do you remember a village called Rolling?”
"Rolling?"
Grid had visited more than one or two villages. The name wouldn’t come to him unless it was a bit city or a village where a particular incident happened. Rector explained to Grid.
"It’s a small village near the Vatican.”
"Ah, that"s right.”
Now he remembered. A small mountain village filled with Rebecca statues. This was the place where he met the crook who he turned into a healing shuttle. It gave him the chance to meet Marie Rose.
"I"m a blacksmith from Rolling. The reason I was able to become an advanced blacksmith is thanks to Your Majesty.”
"With my help?”
"Yes, I was a lowly blacksmith at the time operating the smithy after my father died. At that time, Your Majesty was an ordinary adventurer and you came to my smithy, giving me great teachings.”
“...Eh?”
Since when?
"I got great enlightenment thanks to Your Majesty. I faithfully practiced your teachings and was able to become an advanced blacksmith. I always wanted to say thank you to Your Majesty and I am very pleased to have this opportunity. Thank you very much. Thanks to Your Majesty, I was able to become the blacksmith that I am now.”
“...”
"The three people next to me are my students. They have all followed Grid’s teachings and become advanced blacksmiths."
“...”
Grid didn’t know what to say. He looked through his memories and recalled the little things he had forgotten.
‘I stopped by Rolling’s smithy to repair an item.’
He remembered that the owner was a lowly blacksmith who couldn’t recognize a legendary blacksmith.
"The person from that time became an advanced blacksmith?’
The Overgeared Kingdom. He was the reason why there were so many advanced blacksmiths in the Eternal Kingdom. A smile emerged on Grid’s face.