chapter 55
55 – Distance to the Sun – 1
“Ugh uh uh uh… Haam…”
In the morning at Hyperion Castle, I woke up and stared blankly at the ceiling while lying on the bed.
A few days have passed since I came to the Empire.
I don’t know what the emperor meant, but he promised to give me the money I needed to live without any conditions.
From a rough estimate, I thought something had happened with Veronica, so I asked Veronica herself what happened, but she just smiled and didn’t answer me.
She didn’t want to argue about her personal relationship, so she didn’t ask Veronica any more, and the day went by.
-Did you cough, King?
“Did you wake up?
-Then did it happen, King?
“Uh… Haam…”
This bastard’s [Cool mind] Doesn’t apply at all when it comes to sleep, but he always wanted to sleep for about 10 more minutes when he woke up early in the morning.
“…Would you like to get some sleep…”
-You sure didn’t say you were going to go downtown yesterday.
“Oh right…I got a free pass from the emperor…”
In the end, I decided to get out of bed for an efficient day, even if it was a bit annoying, and as soon as I got out of bed, I stretched out and chased away the rushing drowsiness.
“Ughhhhh.
-What is it?
“This…? It’s just stretching…”
-Oh…Is this a gymnastics designed by humans to get rid of drowsiness when waking up?
“It’s not, but…It’s similar.”
It is also true that if you stretch out as soon as you wake up in the morning, your sleep will fly away.
Grumbling…
“…But I’m hungry. Let’s go eat some food.”
-It doesn’t matter if the king wants to do that, but… There are a lot of good things to eat in the downtown area of the empire.
“Ohh… Looks like there are a lot of street stalls.”
According to Veronica’s opinion, I decided to simply go out to the downtown area for breakfast.
After that, I simply washed my body in the private bathroom (for reference, this time, Veronica came out of my shadow), dried my hair with wind attribute magic, and got ready to go out.
Squiggly…
“Enough money and…”
A total of 100 gold coins were handed over to me by the Emperor last night through her handmaid.
In Korea, it was a fairly large sum of about 100 million won.
Besides, it didn’t seem like there would be much trouble buying something because the emperor had a sensible mix of copper coins and silver coins.
“Then let’s go now.”
I left the room and headed outside the castle, keeping the money bag in my pocket.
In the case of the Hyperion Castle, there were more than 10 ways to go out. Except for the main gate, which is only open for important events, most of the entrances were structured so that you could easily get out of the castle with a simple permission.
However, I was bothered by even such a simple test, so I just passed the knight guarding the entrance with the [Dark Curtain] And got out of the castle.
“Should I just turn [Dark Veil] On normally? I just turned it off in the Maze of the Sun and then got into a fight with Hubert.”
-I don’t think it’s a bad choice.
When I came out of the labyrinth, I turned off the ability because I felt like I would become too self-willed if I walked around with [Dark Curtain] On, but after experiencing Hubert’s time, I changed my mind a bit.
What if people can’t see me? As long as you don’t get hit, you’re good.
-If you go straight along this road, you will come to the street of the sun.
‘Thank you for the navigation.’
-Please call it a guide, not a navigation. Isn’t it too machine-like?
Veronica gave me directions without hindrance, as if she knew all about the geography of Eos, the capital of the empire, even if she didn’t know why.
As I was enjoying the leisurely 10-minute stroll following the Veronica navigation, more and more people began to appear around me.
We arrived at the street of the sun, the busiest street in Eos.
“Is this the street of the sun?”
-That’s right, it’s the street where the most people live, regardless of whether they’re nobles or commoners.
“It’s really spacious.”
Although it was early in the morning, Taeyang Street was very crowded with people preparing for business and people passing by.
This was comparable to the streets of Hongdae in Korea after 10pm.
-Alberto’s blacksmith’s shop is a little farther from here…How about a quick refreshment?
“Yeah, I’m hungry. Is there any good place?”
-I don’t know that much, can’t we just eat just about anything?
That’s right.
Could there be a place that sells food that is so tasteless that [Baal Zebub] Is activated?
“Let’s see…”
But looking at it now, it was early in the morning, so there weren’t many stalls selling food.
There are only about three food stalls that I can see.
One was owned by a lady, the other was a place where a macho uncle made the dishes himself, and the last one was a street stall run by a woman who looked to be in her late twenties.
However, the odd thing is that the street stalls run by the aunt and the macho uncle were full of people, but no one approached the stalls run by women in their late twenties.
“Isn’t that a little tasteless? No one’s going.”
-It seems like that.
“Hmm…”
I was troubled.
The canteen where the aunt and the macho man cook are full of people and have to wait for a long time.
However, at a canteen run by a woman in her twenties, you could eat the food right on the spot.
Time or taste? That’s the problem.
“Hmm…”
-Still, there’s still a lot of time left, so it’s better to wait a bit…
“No, it’s okay. Let’s just solve it quickly. It’s morning anyway.”
Originally, I’m the type to simply eat breakfast, so I decided to buy some food from a stall owned by a woman in her 20s, even if it wasn’t very tasty.
“Hey there.”
“Ah… A guest?”
When I turned off the [Dark Curtain] And approached the woman, she greeted me with a bright expression.
“Do you have a business?”
“Yes! What do you want? The menu is here.”
The menu the woman showed me had meat skewers and mushroom soup as the main menu items.
The price is 10 dong for both.
It was a very cheap price, equivalent to 1,000 won in Korea.
“A meat skewer, please.”
“Yes! I’ll make it delicious!”
I chose a simple meat skewer rather than a seated mushroom soup, and the woman started preparing the meat skewer with a bright smile.
“It will take about a minute!”
“Yes.”
I hurriedly turned my eyes away from the woman preparing the dish and started to look around the streets of the sun.
Just like that, after about a minute had passed, the woman handed me a meat skewer with black sauce.
“Here it is!”
“Oh, thank you.”
After receiving the meat skewer, I took out 10 fairy tales from my pocket and handed them to the woman.
Then the woman bowed her head at 60 degrees and saw me off as I left the stall.
“Thank you! Please use us again next time!”
-You are a lively woman.
‘Yes.’
As soon as I left the stall, I took a bite of the meat skewer the woman gave me and asked.
But…It doesn’t taste like anything?
[Baal Zebub is activated.]
“…?”
-…?
Damn it.
***
-This is Alberto’s blacksmith’s shop.
After a brief issue, following Veronica’s guidance, I was able to arrive at the Alberto Forge, which was my goal.
-…King?
“Ah…Uh…”
Is it because the shock of the black seasoned meat skewer was so great?
I was still blinking my eyes with a dumbfounded expression until now when I arrived at the forge.
‘What the f*ck was that skewer?’
If [Baal Zebub] Is enough to activate, it must be said that it is filthy and tasteless, but I wondered how such a thing was possible.
I have seen with my own eyes that skewers were grilled using ordinary meat, but I can’t believe that such a thing is possible…
‘Isn’t that woman actually a warlock?’
Couldn’t she actually be one of those female warlocks who tried to assassinate me?
-Are you still thinking about that food?
“No…Humanly, isn’t that a food that shouldn’t be sold?”
-There is always a reason why there are no customers.
“No, there’s a minimum limit..?”
-The Hyperion Empire doesn’t have a department like the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety like Korea. In other words, even people who can’t cook can open a restaurant if they want to.
Come to think of it, I forgot. Because this place is set in the Middle Ages, the system itself is different from Earth.
-For now, isn’t Alberto’s blacksmith’s priority?
“Yes…That’s right… Let’s go in.”
I wiped the thoughts of the shock and horror of grilled skewers from my head and stepped into the large Alberto Blacksmith’s entrance.
As soon as I entered the blacksmith’s entrance, I heard the sound of iron banging along with great heat, which aroused my interest.
“What… A guest?”
At that time, a man appeared inside the smithy.
“…sh*t…”
At that moment, as soon as I saw the man appearing in the forge, I couldn’t help but exclaim.
The man in front of me right now was not a normal human being.
Dwarves are a representative fantasy race with a shorter stature than elementary school girls and bushy beards.
That was the identity of a man.
“Sibeol, why are you staring at people so intently? Customer, no, just say this.”
“…You are a guest.”
“Yeah, but since we only make custom orders, how much money did you bring?”
“That’s…”
I took out a brooch with a pattern from my pocket at the Dwarf man’s question.
“Do you understand when you look at this?”
“What…Isn’t this the imperial emblem?”
The brooch I showed to the dwarf male was a brooch with the pattern of the Hyperion family, and he said that if the chambermaid showed it to him, he would take care of it.
“Imperial request?”
“No, this is my personal request.”
“Hmm…So, do you want a defender or a weapon?”
“I want armor.”
Since I currently have a fairly useful weapon called the Amplification Sword, I didn’t need any more weapons.
However, in the case of armor, even the basics were not worn, so I was thinking of requesting armor from the beginning.
“Armor… What material should I use?”
“Can you determine the material?”
“Of course, but since it’s an expensive material, you have to pay extra for commissioning, so be careful.”
At that moment, I quickly began to shake my head.
Since it was a coupon given by the emperor, the royal family would obviously pay for it.
So you’re saying it doesn’t matter to me how much I spend?
Of course, I can’t help it if I use too much and the emperor gets angry, but fortunately, Veronica Nunna is next to me, so I don’t have to worry too much.
-…Does it snow…? Koreans really make up a lot of useless words…
‘I agree with that part.’
Anyway, after all the judgments were over, I started talking about the options I wanted to the dwarf male without hesitation.
“First of all, I want it to be very light.”
“Draw…Light…”
“And it has to be very hard.”
“..It’s light, but it’s hard…Then I’ll do it with mithril…”
“I don’t need magic resistance, so please use a material with high physical resistance.”
“…Then Mithril is a dropout…?”
“Additionally, it must show no sign of burning or melting, no matter how hot it is touched.”
“…Hmm… That material other than the Fire Dragon’s scales…”
“I would also like to be able to spray demons from armor.”
“…Mercy who spreads demons..?”
“And then…”
After that, I spent a few minutes listing a lot of options that I wanted to put on my armor, and the dwarf man finally stopped talking and shouted as if he was dumbfounded by my appearance.
“Wait a minute… I can’t find such armor material even if I search the entire continent?!”
“I heard it can also be enchanted.”
“That’s about it, sir! What kind of city should I answer if you ask me to attach a laser that can destroy a city?!”
“I’ll give you any amount of money, please.”
“I can’t do it! I can’t do it before then!”
What is it, the legendary blacksmith race, the Dwarves, can’t even do something like this? I’m a bit disappointed.
-…To be honest, King, I’m a little embarrassed.
‘You have to eat as much as you can eat.’
It was a free armor that the imperial family paid for.
“What the hell is going on?”
At that time, a very old-looking Dwarf grandpa appeared in the forge.
“No father, this man came to ask for a request, but did he just say something strange?”
“Ugh, didn’t this father always say that a craftsman should not discriminate against his customers? Have you already forgotten that Alberto Blacksmith’s iron rule is to do what the customer asks for?”
“That’s true…Is that guy’s request too absurd? At first, I thought he was a normal guy because he had a brooch guaranteed by the imperial family. f*ck, he’s just a crazy guy, nothing more. !”
“If you have the imperial family badge, the emperor will pay for all the expenses anyway, but isn’t it natural for you to accept even a slightly unreasonable request, you bastard! Eh tsk tsk…”
“No sh*t…”
An old dwarf, presumably the father of a dwarf man, approached me with a benevolent smile and asked.
“If there’s anything you want, feel free to tell me. I’ll carry out the request even if I risk my blacksmith’s honor.”
“Ah…Really…?”
At that moment, I thought.
‘What the f*ck is this rice cake?’