The underground catacomb was the starting point of the Lich king's episode.
Ian, along with his party members successfully cleared the dungeon during the time.
'I couldn't find h.e.l.liem…'
The best knight of the Luspel Empire, h.e.l.liem.
And he still didn't have any idea how to find him.
It was clear that h.e.l.liem wasn't much lacking in terms of power when compared to Kaizer in the past who served as the general of the Royal Knights, and now he could be the great force for the Lotus Kingdom.
'I can't even think of him as a fine knight, he might be better than Kaizer and be much helpful too.'
It wasn't a tough task to create a knight's general with the king's authority.
If the king could allocate a clear budget, it could be created.
But raising the level of the knights wasn't such an easy task.
The level of the knights was proportional to the NPC's abilities that were appointed as the general of knights.
The most powerful chief of Knights of the current Lotus Kingdom was an old retainer of Ian's—'Pauline'.
The knights with Pauline of Lv 400, were very powerful ones, and if he could take in h.e.l.liem who would probably be of level 500, he could produce the knights to a tremendous level.
Not only didn't he found h.e.l.liem in the catacombs, but even the loyalist of the past empire didn't know of his whereabouts.
He didn't have the time to go and look over all the catacombs in the land.
However, the underground crypt of Rataphel manor seemed to have that weird smell.
Do you think there is a connection between the underground crypts and the sanctuary of darkness?
Right. The Kells who had received the power of darkness from the Lich King Chalian. Maybe a vague guess, but I thought that the dark energy that is released out of the Sanctuary of darkness might help someone.
Hmm, it could be.
Right. If my guess is correct, this underground crypt is probably a link to the Lich King, and the loyalists of the Luspel could be trapped in there.
And, you want to get their help?
Bingo. If we destroy the sanctuary and open the gates, wouldn't it be a game out?
Ian was reminiscing about the conversation he had with Herz and started to pick up the pace.
With a little more distance, they would enter the territory of Rataphel, and it wasn't good to be lost in thoughts once they reached there.
“Master, are you really sure about going alone?”
Ian chuckled while seeing Kaka all worried and replied,
“I have thought about it, and there is nothing to be worried about.”
“Even if it's you master, the sanctuary of darkness is very dangerous…”
“Well, that still remains, but why aren't you asleep?”
“I don't know either. Sleep isn't coming, master.”
“Oh, really…?”
After that, she was able to sleep—and all that she did was sleep.
And that too exactly, when they were in a fight.
It was common for her to close her eyes half-asleep like that when moving too.
However, because of the useful things that came out of the dreams of Kaka, Ian couldn't help but be fine with it.
Along with the concern of Kaka, Ian's party moved forward.
As they had chosen another path rather than the official road for the mountain, the speed they were moving at was slow.
“Who?”
Upon climbing onto a high ridge, a valley had appeared.
Ian unfolded the map and looked at it.
“Okay, we'll have to fly from here.”
As there were thick forests till a huge area, they couldn't attempt it—but now that he came to the mountains, there was no need to walk anymore.
It would be easy to cover the distance as they had to cross the valley to reach the Rataphel.
Ian, who meticulously looked at the mini-map, looked over at Bbookbbook.
“Bbookbbook-ah.”
At the call from Ian, Bbookbbook spoke with dull eyes.
“Called bbook?”
“It's been a long time, shall we fly?”
As he had to fly now, Ian had chosen Bb.o.o.bbook.
It started with Bbookbbook then to Pin, Karceus and then the recently acquired Elcarix.
But the ride of Pin wasn't as comfortable as those dragons, and couldn't think of getting on his child.
Finally, the choice left was Bbookbbook and Karceus.
Karceus had a little more waiting time for summoning, so Bbookbbook was chosen.
But Bbookbbook has a lot of complaints.
“I hate it bboom. My wings are heavy these days.”
At that Ian tried to persuade him.
“Keu, I'll give you five meatb.a.l.l.s when we reach there. How is that? Deal?”
However, Ian's persuasion was useless.
“I can already eat a lot Bbook. It's fine if you don't give Bbook.”
“I have been working at Harin noona's shop these days. And when I work, I get meatb.a.l.l.s in return.”
“Work? What work?”
“I am very good at working. I'm good at freezing, bbook.”
“Freezing?”
Bbookbbook responded by nodding with a proud expression on his face.
“If I make ice when Harin noona asks me, then I get meatb.a.l.l.s in return bbook. A lot of meatb.a.l.l.s bbook! b.o.o.bbook!”
Looking at Bbookbbook who was all excited talking about it, Ian just shook his head.
'Euh, I lost the meatball card…!'
However, it was impossible to stop Bbookbbook from doing part-time work.
Then the problem wasn't Bbookbbook, but Harin's excess treatment.
Ian pointed to the canyon and tried to persuade Bbookbbook again.
“Bbookbbook-ah, help out this hyung. We could walk this way, but how can we do that till there?”
It would take almost two hours to walk if they decided to do it on the rough terrain.
However, Bbookbbook wasn't going to back down.
“Take some other friend Bbook. The meatb.a.l.l.s I ate in the morning haven't digested yet.”
“How many did you eat?”
“Don't remember bbook. Till my stomach was full bbook!”
“Euh…”
Ian was facing a difficult situation that he hadn't thought of, and could do nothing but sigh.
At the time, someone who was hanging onto Ian's back talked.
“Dad, dad.”
“Huh?”
“Dad, you are his hyung(brother)?”
Whenever Ian talked with Bbookbbook, he usually referred to him as 'this hyung'.
Because of that, Elcarix seemed to have though that Bbookbbook was Ian's brother.
“Huh, well?”
Ian looked at Elcarix who had an exciting look like she was waiting for him to complete the story.
The next words that came out of Elcarix's mouth, were much more fun to hear.
“Dad's sibling, which means… my uncle?”
Elcarix got down from Ian's back and moved forward to Bbookbbook.
A voice full of charm came out of her mouth,
“Bbook uncle, I want to ride on your plane!”
“Boo, Bb.o.o.bbook?”
“I like the plane of Bbook uncle the most!”
“When Bbook uncle changes, it is so cool!”
A triple attack from Elcarix and the stubbornness of Bbookbbook broke down in an instant.
The name of the kingdom that was established by the Lotus Guild was Lotus, and the kingdom that was usually established by the guild normally had the guild name.
The same was with the t.i.tan guild.
If the largest kingdom in the North-eastern kingdom was Lotus kingdom, then the largest kingdom in the west was the t.i.tan Kingdom.
And Shakran, the king of the t.i.tan Kingdom already succeeded in conquering a single kingdom.
The conquered kingdom was small with just ten manors in it, unlike the Elrika that Lotus was running after.
And the t.i.tan Kingdom was strong enough to give Lotus a good war.
King Shakran was heading to the south-west of the continent, along with an army of the elite.
It was a strange situation at first glance.
All the users were heading north to battle the legion of Richie King, he was moving to the peaceful place of the south.
“Hmmm, this seems to be on the map…”
Shakran mumbled and asked Ceilron who was next to him,
“No, master. Why is it that you haven't told us about this?”
“Hmm?”
“By catching the skeleton we could have increased the experience and contribution, why do we have to come this south?”
At the question from Ceilron, Shakran smiled and responded,
“Are you that curious?”
“Absolutely. In the east, the Lotus Kingdom is doing a battle for the conquest, isn't that what we should be doing too?”
The concern of Ceilron was understandable.
After the unrestrained wars, they almost caught up with the Lotus, and by spending their time in such a place. The gap that they tried hard to cover would widen again.
However, the expression of Shakran wasn't so pleasant.
“Ceilron.”
“Yes, master.”
“Now, our ultimate goal is to expand our territory.”
“Yes…”
Thinking about it—Ceilron soon responded without hesitation,
“Building an Empire. We still have a long way to go, but is that the final goal we are aiming for?”
Shakran smiled and responded,
“Right, exactly that.”
“Huh?”
“Right now, we are moving to lay pavement for our final goal.”
Ceilron who didn't seem to understand it looked at Shakran with a distant expression and Shakran continued to speak,
“Ceilron, what's the requirement that we need to build an Empire?”
“Well, that is the fame along with securing 200 manors, and our kingdom has already achieved more than 90 percent of it…”
Shakran cut off the words of Ceilron.
“Those are all the small things, you have forgotten the most important one.”
“The most important one?”
“Huhu.”
With a cheerful smile, Shakran showed Ceilron the map.
And was pointing his finger somewhere along with continuing his words,
“Ruins of the ancient Arnovel.”
“Huh?”
The short question exclamation from Ceilron was due to the unfamiliar story that had nothing to do with their current state, and Shakran smiled.
“You know that the entire body of Kaimon was in the Arnovel Empire, right?”
“Yeah, well… who wouldn't know while playing Kailan? But why?”
“Here, this is the Arnovel…”
Giving it some time to sink in, Shakran opened his mouth with a low voice,
“I got the information that the empire's ruins are hidden here.”
“That… is it true?”
“You're speaking loudly, idi*t. Low, speak a little low.”
“Ah, okay, master.”
With a cheerful expression, Shakran opened his mouth,
“Which means, it is important to extend our land right away. How many empires were there in the Kailan? Only two empires.”
“Yeah, true.”
“Should I let you know another interesting thing?”
“Huh?”
“This was the information that Emily had obtained a few days back, the ruins of the Luspel Empire have already been obtained by the Blue Wing Kingdom.”
Ceilron was fl.u.s.tered at what he heard from Shakran.
This was much shocking information than that of the Arnovel one.
“That, is that really true?”
“Huhu, would I ever lie to you?”
“Then, do you know what that means?”
Ceilron who was still in shock, couldn't respond to Shakran's question.
And Shakran continued to speak,
“A fortress of the ancient Arnovel empire and the past Kaimon Empire. If we manage to get only this…”
Shakran then changed his speech and spoke word to word.
“In the future, the Lotus can never get past us, no matter how much they try.”
And Ceilron who now understood the entirety of it smiled with a pleasant expression.
“Keu, no matter how much the Lotus will try to fly, it can't be anything but an everlasting kingdom”
“Sure. Unless the Blue Wing Kingdom gets merged into the Lotus.”
