I Am the Monarch – Chapter 148 : Tale Barony (3)

“I’m Lemming Ade!”
“I’m McCrum!”

Lemming and McCrum unknowingly and suddenly stood up .

‘What the? Even though our ages seem same……’

McCrum gulped as he stared at Roan .
For some reason, his heart jolted .

‘He’s big . ’

The first impression from seeing Roan .
It wasn’t that his body was big, but the pressure pouring out of his body was amazing .
Even so, it wasn’t as if Roan was violently spouting out a threatening pressure .
An air of dignity that naturally flowed out of his entire body .
That was clearly an aura of majesty .

‘How at such a young age……’

The one who was shocked wasn’t only McCrum .

‘It’s a pressure like a general who roamed the battlefield for decades . ’

Staring at Roan, who was already exuding a presence of a great general, Lemming became speechless .

‘Would a man like this sponsor us?’

Putting aside self-confidence and looking at it objectively, the current Reno school was a useless school with nothing that was worth sponsoring .

“Nice to meet you . If you are Lemming Ade, then……”

Roan extended his right hand as he cautiously asked .
Lemming immediately grabbed the hand and made an awkward smile .

“I’m not a noble, sir . I was merely granted a surname as a head of a school . ”
“I see . ”

Roan slightly nodded his head and then also shook hands with McCrum .

‘So this very man is McCrum, who blew a small city away completely . ’

He was a genius whose talent at least was the best but was born in a wrong era .
Roan offered seats to the two people and sat down on a chair on the opposite side .

“I wonder for what reason the famed sir mages came to find me . ”

He went abruptly to the point .
Lemming and McCrum hesitated for a moment .
Especially Lemming, who had only been rejected by many people, couldn’t even raise his head .
In the end, the one who stepped up was McCrum .

“I know that it’s shameless to say this after coming so suddenly, but…… could you please sponsor us, Reno school?”

Blinking his eyes, he searched Roan’s face .
Roan gently smiled and didn’t show any notable reaction .

“Ah! Just a moment please . ”

McCrum awkwardly smiled and took out the magic lamp from a large bag .

Tung .

When he put the lamp down on the table, a heavy sound echoed .
McCrum lightly glanced at Roan, then pressed the controller .

Paat!

Instantly, a small ball of light appeared inside the lamp .

“Hmm . ”

Roan let out a quiet exclamation .
Even though the reception room was on the brighter side, blinding light shined out around the lamp .

“It’s the magic lamp we made . ”

McCrum widely opened his chest .
Lemming, who was lowering his head deeply, also looked at Roan with a confident expression this time .
Roan brushed the lamp with a tip of his finger, then spoke in a calm voice .

“Does it use a magic stone?”

Instantly, McCrum’s face turned stiff .

‘Darn . To think he would recognize it instantly . ’

A magic stone per lamp didn’t meet any profit .
It was the truth that he wanted to hide it until the end .
Of course, he had no plan to back off like that even so .

‘I will express our school’s development potential . ’

McCrum purposely made a confident smile .
It was when he was just about to speak up .

“Anyway, it’s excellent . With just this, the people will no longer fear the dark . ”

Roan suddenly nodded his head with a content look .

“Ye, yes!”

Lemming abruptly jumped up and shouted .
Abruptly shocked, McCrum looked at him once .
His look seemed to be asking to please keep some face .

“Hm . ”

McCrum coughed and turned towards Roan again .

“That’s right . Although it needs to use a magic stone about the size of a fingernail because it’s still at the early developmental stage, it may be usable with just a wheat grain size, no a dust of magic stone if we repeat the research several……”

When his words reached about that point .

“Okay . ”

Roan brightly smiled and nodded his head .

“I’ll sponsor it . ”
“Yes?”

McCrum, who was rambling on and on, asked back with a completely surprised look .
Roan stared at him for a moment and then shook his head .

“No, instead of that……”

With a quiet voice, he spoke as if to whisper .

“I will build you a magic tower in the fief, so what do you think about researching as an affiliate of the barony instead?”
“As an affiliate of the barony?”

McCrum asked back with a shocked expression and turned to Lemming .

“Hmm . ”

Lemming leaked out a quiet groan .
Currently, the number of magic schools in the Rinse Kingdom was thirteen in total .
Amongst them, the top five schools with the biggest factions were patronized by the kingdom .
The rest of the schools were each sponsored by nobles or various factions and were continuing their research .
Although most of them were sponsored, they did their researches independently and only few schools were affiliated to noble houses .

‘And even they are all affiliated with the houses of dukes . ’

Because of that, there wasn’t any problem in seeing them as affiliated to the kingdom .

‘An affiliate to a house of baron……’

It was something historically unprecedented .
His contemplations went deeper .
Roan quietly stared at that sight, then took a step back .

“Since it’s a matter with the school’s future on the line, it shouldn’t be easy to come to a decision . Then, for now, I will sponsor the school . Please continue your research here and personally see, hear, and feel the Tale Barony . Let’s discuss today’s offer again at that time . ”

At those words, Lemming and McCrum exchanged their gazes and then minutely nodded their heads .
Honestly, it was a good condition that couldn’t be better for them .
The two people deeply lowered their heads towards Roan .

“Sir Baron Tale . Truly, thank you very much . ”
“We’ll show you first if we get a good result . ”

Roan cheerily smiled and lowered his head .

“Yes . I look forward to working with you . ”

His voice was composed .
But inwardly, he was greatly pleased .

‘Reno school is exactly the magic school that I definitely need . ’

If even the Reno school was added to the current alchemists and engineers’ unions, it felt as if an unbelievable product would be made .
Most of all .

‘If I mind and sponsor them, that tragic accident that blew away a city won’t happen . ’

He thought that he could stop a big accident in advance .
Roan deeply inhaled .
The season was already Winter .

‘I will have to prepare the necessary things before Spring comes . ’

He planned to finish the things that could be done before the crop seeds are planted .
A bright future of the Tale Barony was drawn inside his head .

‘The Great Warring Era isn’t far off . ’

Although he had saved Manus Pershion and disgraced Reitas Pershion, he couldn’t guarantee that the Great Warring Era wouldn’t occur .

‘Since it occurred from too many events complicatedly mixing together . ’

Three years from now at the latest .
If the Great Warring Era began, the starting point would be three years later .

‘At that time, the world will greatly change……’

His heart thumped strongly .

‘And I too will greatly change . ’

Such thoughts vaguely appeared .
A bright light shined in his brown eyes .

*****

Kang! Kang! Kang!

Sounds of hammering rang out noisily .
The sun that soared above the heads pushed away the Mid Winter’s cold .

Deng! Deng! Deng!

Sounds of a bell echoed consecutively .

“Stop working! Stop working! It’s time to change shifts . ”
“Let’s all go and eat some snacks!”

The men, who had been tirelessly carrying rocks, hammering, and sawing, brightly laughed and yelled .
They received and carried thick breads and warm tea, and sat around on a sunny lot .

“So we really built that?”

One man made a satisfied face as he stared at the stone wall that rose high to their right .
A young man who took a bite of bread spoke in a loud voice .

“Instead of Mediasis village, we’ll now have to call it Mediasis Castle . ”
“Yeah, of course .  The wall construction is proceeding on all four directions . It’s now a full-fledge castle, a castle . ”

Another man enthusiastically agreed .
Another man scrunched the tip of his nose .

“But is it fine not to build a lord’s castle?”
“The lord said we need to build the castle walls first . We need to prepare for the monsters and enemy troops’ assaults . ”
“But even so, the lord living in a shabby building is a bit……”

At those words, many people proudly smiled and spoke .

“Since our lord is someone who thinks of the fief’s citizens before himself . ”
“He said our safety comes first before his own house . ”
“So let’s quickly finish constructing the wall and build him a handsome lord’s castle . ”

The mood was peaceful .
The young man who was eating the bread nodded his head and made a bright smile .

“I’m really glad I moved to the Tale fief . Since they’re separately giving wages and plentily take care of three meals and even a snack like this . Right now is a season that should be hungry and hard for a long time, but I’m spending it well thanks to our lord . I’m really glad I moved . Really . ”

He was originally a person from Elton Coat Barony .
The people around him all nodded their heads .
The third month since Roan returned to the fief .
The season had passed the Mid Winter and was running towards Spring .
To the ordinary commoners, it was a season when things to eat decreased and people became impoverished .
But thanks to Roan carrying out various constructions and paying adequate wages, the citizens of the Tale Fief were able to live rather well-off lives unlike the citizens of other regions .
At that moment .

Deng! Deng! Deng! Deng! Deng!

The sound of bell noisily rang .
It wasn’t the bell sound that notified the change of shift .

Vvuuuuu!

Following that, a sound of horn was heard .
It was a signal that warned of an appearance of monsters or enemy troops .
However, the people didn’t show any panic .

“It seems monsters have appeared, right?”
“Didn’t the warning just now sounded from the castle gate on our side? If it’s from the west direction, monsters should be right . ”
“I wonder which troop will march this time . ”

It was a very relaxed and peaceful conversation .
They slowly stood up and headed towards the broad street that crossed through the castle .
On the street smoothly paved with stones, there originally were countless number of people crossing the street .
But now, as if they had promised, they were all moved to the sides of the broad street .
Simultaneously .

Dudududududududu .

The sound of horse hooves shaking the earth was heard .
Soon, a group of cavalry, with a troop flag at the lead, appeared from the end of the street .
The flag was embroidered with a panther’s face and design .

“Ah! It’s the Panther Troop . ”
“It seems that the Panther Troop led by thousand-man commander Tane is marching this time . ”

The people waved their hands at the troop that was bravely marching out .
The reason the passersby all moved to the sides of the street .
They had emptied out the street so that the troop could easily march through .

“Waaaaah!”
“Defeat the monsters!”

The children shouted with utterly excited faces .
Looking at those kids, the adults smiled pleasantly .

Vvuuuuuu!

The Panther Troop blew a magnificent horn as if in reply .
The men who came to watch from the construction sites headed towards the lot again while biting and eating their breads .

“There shouldn’t be any problem this time too, right?”

When the young man cautiously asked, the people around him all chortled out a laugh .

“Don’t ask something so obvious . Like always……”
“They’ll confidently defeat the monsters……”
“And return . ”

They took turns looking at each other and brightly smiled .
Looking at that sight, the young man nodded his head .

“Right . That’s obvious . Since Tale Legion is……”

He stared towards the west where the Panther Troop marched and finished his words .

“Invincible . ”

*****

Bang!

An explosion rang out .
An ugly stone statue that was placed at one side of a small lake comically exploded .

Bang! Bboom! Bang!

Explosions continued .
Each time, a stone statue explode out .
A white dust cloud blew up .

Paat!

One young man violently tore through within it .
Each time, a large splash of water soared .
A black spear moved as if dancing .

Bang!

Once again, another statue broke apart .

“Huu . ”

The young man calmed his breath and spat out a long sigh .
As the dust that thickly blew up subsided, the young man’s face appeared .
Roan .
The young man’s identity was Roan .
With his shirt off, he was clearly showing off smooth muscles .

‘Certainly, it isn’t easy moving inside the water . ’

Roan was currently at a small lake south of Mediasis village, no the Mediasis Castle, and was focusing on spearmanship training .
To make his movements a bit sharper, he had decided to train underwater .
The results were quite good .
His instantaneous velocity and balance became unrecognizably good .
Roan breathed in deeply .
His lungs felt cool .

‘I have absorbed almost all the mana from the Dion roots . ’

The five Dion roots Simon gave as a present .
After returning to the Tale Fief, Roan immediately ate all of those roots .
In the three months afterwards, he had tirelessly trained the Flamdor Mana Technique and was able to make all the mana inside the Dion roots his .

‘Mana is steadily increasing . ’

Now, he was able to at least faintly compress the mana .
Furthermore, the mana road inside his body became much more stronger and wider than before .
Even if he poured through a large amount of mana at once, it didn’t cause any difficulty .

‘The problem is the Flepsse Spearmanship……’

Roan lightly bit his lips .
The Flepsse Spearmanship was much more profound than he had thought .
To Roan, who only learned spearmanship techniques in actual battles and hadn’t learnt a proper spearmanship, there were many parts that were difficult to understand .
During the first ten days, he couldn’t even turn three pages of the spearmanship book .

‘It was good that there was at least Brian . ’

Roan asked Brian for help .
He didn’t think it embarrassing to ask what he didn’t know and request teaching .
Brian, who was tinkering with the foundational mana technique, split his time and helped Roan out .
He, who had comprehensive knowledge in various training techniques, taught Roan the basics and foundation of of martial arts .

‘The things I called real battle spearmanship until now were in fact no more than buildings built upon sand . ’

A situation where a building itself may be glamorous and large but may collapse entirely at a single moment .
It was a great fortune to be able to strengthen his foundation and basics at least now .

“Huu . ”

Roan once again let out a long sigh and closed his eyes .
The water below his waist softly wrapped around his legs .

‘It’s comfortable . ’

His mood was good .
One of the reasons that Roan didn’t stop underwater training .
When he dipped his body under water, the mana that moved harshly calmed down and his heart felt peaceful .

‘I thought that the Flamdor Mana Technique was incompatible with water, but……’

It was a hard to comprehend situation .
But right now, he didn’t want to think such complicated thoughts .
He wanted to feel the flow of water that softly wrapped around his entire body .

‘It’s nice……’

His mood naturally became good .
At that moment .

[Hey . ] (t/n: Hey! Listen . )(e/n This is my alert for text messages/emails, I love that it annoys my friends . )

He heard a buzzing sound at the edge of his ears .
With his eyes closed, Roan frowned .

‘What the?’

He wondered if he heard wrong .
But .

[Hey! Can’t you hear me?]

He definitely heard a sharp voice at the edge of his ears .

[Just how many months is this . Just how can’t the guy who absorbed the spirit king’s tears not hear my voice?]

It was a grumbling sound .
With a surprised look, Roan abruptly opened his eyes .
He looked around himself, but there wasn’t anything his eyes saw .

“Did I hear wrong?”

He spoke in a quiet whisper .
Suddenly, he heard an extremely excited voice .

[So you can finally hear my voice!]

It was a voice as if a decade-old cold had suddenly disappeared .  1

< Tale Barony (3) > End .

Translator : CSV

Proofreader: Kajin

  “decade-old cold had suddenly disappeared” : Korean phrase that means really relieved . Basically, think of it as a ten-year old stress/grudge was suddenly cleared/revenged in the most breathtaking way possible