“Some guys have been preparing for a long time to become the player known as the ‘First King.’ They’ve really been boasting about it.”
When Wansik mentioned the ‘First King,’ Jaeho flinched noticeably.
“Hmm? What’s wrong with you?”
“Hmm? Me? What about it?”
Jaeho casually changed the subject.
“Well… the problem is that the player title ‘First King’ never appeared. Most people guessed that there would be a global announcement for something like that, so…”
Jaeho felt quietly relieved.
If a notification like ‘Would you like to declare a nation?’ had popped up, it would have been like showing off to the whole world.
“They’re probably scouring everywhere, their eyes bloodshot.”
“They’re searching?”
“Of course. You know how obsessive those guys are.”
Wansik nodded in agreement.
“What would happen to ‘that person’ if they found him?”
Jaeho’s question made Wansik pause, then speak carefully after some thought.
“They’d probably chase him down and kill him until he quits the game. They’ve done that kind of thing plenty of times before.”
“But… you know,” Wansik hesitated, “I can’t help but feel the ‘Seo Poongjeonya’ incident might be related to this.”
“What?”
“Doesn’t the timing more or less match up? That guy must have known already that a player First King had appeared.”
“Uh… isn’t that a bit of a stretch?”
When Seo Donghyuk, the Worldwide Representative, announced ‘Seo Poongjeonya,’ Jaeho was still far from earning the title of king.
“Wait a second. Wouldn’t that be around when the Regent of Spirits was appointed?”
Suddenly, Sam’s expression tensed with unease.
“N-No way…”
Jaeho deliberately pushed down his worries.
***
“Could it be… Alicia? Or not?”
As soon as he logged in, Mei’s question came through.
Since it wasn’t something to be broadcast around here and there, he didn’t tell Wansik either.
Although she was a good friend, the men had a tendency to be mischievous and flamboyantly try to mess with others.
On the other hand, Mei asked with a pure and innocent expression.
She too was a regular user who didn’t think highly of the Bulgeom Guild, so she looked at Jaeho — who had defiled their hard work — with a respectful gaze.
“Alicia… isn’t she the player First King?”
“No, she’s not.”
“No? Really?”
Mei’s doubt-filled question.
“If she were, things would have broken out immediately.”
Besides, Jaeho had never called himself king.
There was no proof to back it up, unlike Samantha, who trembled while bowing down.
“Oh… I guess that makes sense.”
Mei quickly understood the situation and nodded.
“Just because someone wears a crown doesn’t mean they’re king. Samantha was probably a little eccentric too.”
“That’s right.”
As Jaeho said that, he suddenly turned his head toward a sharp gaze poking at the back of his neck.
“Hmm! That woman…”
The one giving him that look was Samantha!
“Definitely. That guy is the player First King!”
She had already confirmed through the Quest Window that Jaeho had inherited the King of Cofei’s throne.
So she was confident that the recent hot topic of the ‘player First King’ was indeed Jaeho.
“How do I silence her…”
Jaeho was worried.
“The idea of running a flower shop is just a disguise to make himself look crazy…”
Samantha spun her own wild imagination.
Still, after thinking it over, Samantha’s conclusion wasn’t a bad direction from Jaeho’s perspective.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. Those Bulgeom guys deserved what happened.”
She didn’t like the Bulgeom Guild either.
But Jaeho couldn’t know her true thoughts.
Drooling, he approached her.
“Hey, Samantha.”
“Speak.”
Now that she was used to his respectful address (or had basically given up on exactness), Jaeho casually continued.
“So… you know, right?”
She was pretending to know that he was the player First King.
“Y-Yes.”
“Well, since you know, I’ll say this in advance. I’d rather keep things quiet. I hope there isn’t too much gossip.”
“Understood.”
“So, if possible, just pretend you don’t know.”
“Got it.”
“… You really do understand, right?”
“Yes… of course.”
“Alicia… Alicia! The Elves have returned!”
Just then, Mei shouted.
Rumble ㅡ
The Elves were pulling logs using dozens of Spirit Horses.
“We’ve arrived, Alicia! Good to see you again, Mei.”
“Hehe… Yes.”
Mei smiled brightly as they exchanged greetings.
“Is it okay for the Elves to come all the way here?”
Jaeho asked anxiously as he watched the panting Spirit Horses.
The Elves, who lived freely in lush places, must have found crossing this barren land very difficult.
But the Elves just smiled and waved their hands.
“Haha, of course. Spirit Horses aren’t such fragile beings. They’re descendants of unicorns, after all. During the Elf Great Migration, they crossed through even harsher environments. They’re tough.”
Heheing—
Watching the Elves untie the harnesses and leap toward the Oasis raised questions about their tough words.
“Thank you very much.”
Jaeho averted his gaze from the Spirit Horses and looked over the logs the Elves had brought.
[< Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday >]
[Grade: High]
[Usage Condition: None]
[This is lumber from the Moonlight Elm, infused with moonlight and sunlight. It is especially resistant to heat and grows stronger the more moonlight it receives.]
These were the materials for building his precious base.
“If we’re short of anything, just say so. The surroundings have changed a lot, haven’t they?”
The Elves looked around the Oasis, amazed.
“To think that greenery has already sprouted in this desert…”
It was the result of their hard work, pumping water to moisten the soil, and planting Epfeltz Flowers.
“This is just the beginning.”
Jaeho’s eyes burned with desire.
It was finally time to build the house.
The flower shop he had wished for and wished for again!
“It took longer than I thought.”
Until the previous job, he had expected it would take two months.
But with the extra months spent, it had almost been half a year to get this far.
Considering the quests and farm events Jaeho had handled so far, it was actually a short time.
But those things didn’t hold much meaning to him.
“All right, shall we start?”
“We’ll help too!”
“Of course. Even though you’re the Regent of Spirits, when it comes to handling original raw wood, we’re better at it. Haha!”
The Elves rolled up their sleeves.
Jaeho didn’t refuse their help.
***
The building made of Moonlight Elm lumber crafted by expert Elves.
Although it looked somewhat off here and there, with gaps in the walls making it seem flimsy for an expert-built structure, the Elves were very satisfied.
They explained why.
“Moonlight Elm is a very difficult material to handle. These trees grow on their own at night and fill the empty spaces among themselves, becoming as solid as a rock. They even send roots underground, creating an iron fortress that withstands any disaster.”
“Oh, really? That’s amazing…”
To someone clueless, it was a risky material to use.
“But it even sends roots underground…?”
Even in a fantasy world, that was a wonder.
“Wow, it’s beautiful!”
Some people admired the fact that the Elves made it without knowing these details.
“Th-That can’t be…”
Meanwhile, Samantha was in shock.
“To have built such a close relationship with the Elves is surprising enough, but to be able to command Spirit Horses as pack animals and even use Moonlight Elm!!!”
To her knowledge, Moonlight Elm was a top-grade material.
Since the guild’s close friend Kruwa was a Sanginsangin Merchant Class, she had seen him treat Moonlight Elm like a precious treasure.
In fact, from the player perspective, Moonlight Elm’s applications weren’t very diverse.
It was mainly used to make top-grade bows and arrows for Archer Classes.
But even among those top-ranked archers, Moonlight Elm was so rare it was hard to acquire.
“I heard it’s almost impossible to cultivate without Elves…”
Most of the Moonlight Elm traded on the continent came from the Midst Empire’s Great Spirit Tower, the strongest country on Hasper Continent.
There, excellent spirit users grew small amounts of it.
But nothing compared to what the Elves grew themselves.
The fact that such precious material was poured into building a house in the desert shocked Samantha.
“It might even be more expensive than some castles…”
“Samantha.”
“Y-Yes! Ah, yes!”
She snapped back to reality from the calculations in her head when Jaeho called her.
“Help dig the well here with the Elves. If you just dig the hole, the Elves will handle the rest like always.”
“Okay.”
Her gaze turned toward the Elves… and
“Ugh…”
Sure enough, Samantha was mentally anguished when she saw they were going to use Moonlight Elm even for the well.
***
The flower shop built beside the Oasis.
Around it, weeds full of vitality had grown, and the Epfeltz Flowers Jaeho had planted were in full bloom, scattering seeds.
They were flowers with the survival power to thrive even in the harshest environments.
[ <Spirit of Vitality> says ‘Even so, you can’t grow in the desert.’]
“…Thanks a lot.”
Jaeho chuckled softly and muttered.
His efforts made this possible.
[ <Spirit of Vitality> says ‘But reconsider what you’re about to do…’]
“No. If I hesitate, it will only be later than necessary.”
[ <Spirit of Vitality> says ‘It’s okay to be a little late…’]
“No!”
He had already made his decision when inheriting the King of Cofei’s throne.
This place was Jaeho’s precious base, and also the place to get this troublesome (?) quest done.
“<Summon Mirage Soldier>!”
The soldiers of Cofei appeared.
“When you were first summoned, you lamented the cursed life that began again,” Jaeho said to them.
“But not anymore.”
He reminded them of what their once horrible daily lives had been like.
Though he was mad in a different way from Brejal, they didn’t think he was so bad.
So now they accepted Jaeho and started thinking about their position differently.
Not as a curse, but as an opportunity!
“Go and bring me some Spirit Horse manure and dung.”
“Yes, sir.”
That opportunity wasn’t very lovely.
While the Mirage Soldiers carried dung, Jaeho diligently dug.
[ title acquired < Master of Digging >]
[Strength increased by 2]
[Digging speed greatly increased]
Proof he hadn’t been just lazing around!
He dug wide and deep, mixing the manure from Mirage Soldiers and Spirit Horses evenly into the soil.
Phew…
Then he pulled out the thing that would be the base for a rich and cozy bedding.
[< The Seed of the Divine Tree >]
He planned to plant the Sacred Tree here.
Though there was a chance of failure, he wasn’t too worried.
“Even if such an important item fails, it won’t disappear.”
The height of nonchalance.
Ordinary people would have been too nervous to even attempt it, but Jaeho was boldly pushing forward.
He could say he had done his best at this stage.
He had prepared fertilizer made from soil full of life from Luxi Forest and Spirit Horse manure.
“All right… then I’ll plant it!”
[<Spirit of Vitality>…]
Ignoring the Spirit of Vitality’s cries, Jaeho covered the seed with soil.
Bangㅡ bangㅡ bangㅡ
He finished by jumping and stamping the ground together with the soldiers.
[ < Sacred Tree Seed > has been planted.]
[*Class Quest*]
[To fulfill the oath with the Sacred Tree, you have finally planted the Sacred Tree in the land.
How to grow the Sacred Tree is unknown, and it will never be an easy task.
However, the possibility lies only with you, the Regent of Spirits.
If it grows roots and blossoms twin flowers, the will of the Sacred Tree will belong to you.]
“Good.”
Just the quest update alone was a great gain.
It meant something was progressing.
[ < Spirit of Vitality > says, ‘This doesn’t feel right.’]
Now it was just an annoying voice in the background.