NOVEL NEXT Chap 170: Respect, not fear.
The conversation yesterday lasted almost the whole night; when we finally went to sleep, only a couple of hours remained before dawn. Since they are Ruby rank, they can go several days without sleeping with no problem, but they decided to rest at least a few hours to recover energy and face a new day of paperwork with confidence.
Sers seems to have become more aware, not just for himself—his girlfriend has been convincing him to learn how to manage at least the soldiers of our territory. Now he is dedicating a good part of his days to studying a bit about war tactics and various formations for dungeon assaults.
I was suspicious of his girlfriend at first. I didn't know how real her feelings for my brother could be—she is the second daughter of a knight with a rather minor position in the Weri county. For a moment, I wondered if she was trying to gain some benefit, but in the end, that wasn't the case. Her feelings are genuine. My doubts were cleared by her stories. She is a good girl—definitely worth it.
Not only did we talk about my brother, they also helped clear up my doubts. At first, they didn't have much information about what could happen with my mark and banner, but fortunately my grandmother asked the Marquis to get an answer, and it was more or less what I had already suspected.
The Marquis's case was somewhat different—he entered the hero's dungeon at Sapphire rank when he already had his banner. He could only give those details, but explained that yes, it was normal for them to fuse. My mother had searched through books for information about banners, and some mention the special ones. Apparently, they are very rare and difficult to come across.
She only found a small summary: the boost you obtain from a special banner is far superior to a normal one, depending heavily on the type of mark used in the fusion. In my case, we don't know for sure. We all agreed on two points: my banner boosts me much more than a normal one would, and it will also be much harder to raise its rank.
To raise it to rank 2, I need to fight opponents or monsters of equal or greater strength, and as I gain power, I must circulate it through every centimeter of my body until it completes that circulation in every small part of me. There are other special methods that help, but at this moment, I am not capable of obtaining them—they only exist in dungeons or within monsters.
Once I fill it and make that power mine, it will rise to rank 2. The difficulty in my case is the sheer number of monsters or people I need to face. There is no approximate number for a special banner, much less for one as special as mine.
My brother was surprised when I told him again how many Laws and pseudo-Laws I have. I had already mentioned it before, but since I said them chronologically, he hadn't counted them, being too absorbed in my story to track all the details. It seems he only has one Law of Strength and two pseudo-Laws—one of Electricity and one of Sharpness.
At that moment, all my doubts were cleared by my family. Now, in these few days I have left before leaving for school, I must use them to fully recover and visit old acquaintances.
"It's changed a lot…" I stand outside Mancor, which has seen many more changes in just the few weeks I was away. Because of the attack I suffered and the dungeon, they have decided to reinforce defenses. The walls look more solid, and there are more guard posts.
Randy and Rengo are still working. Both were surprised to see me at Sapphire rank. I could sense some concern in their eyes, but in the end, they said nothing and only congratulated me. We talked a bit about how we had been doing and said goodbye. I stopped to greet a construction site of a large house, where I met my former coworkers from my first job again. Edd was there—he almost fell on his butt when he saw me, but at least now he can behave and speak to me naturally.
Walking toward the new town, I continue healing the cracks in my cube. With each fissure repaired, the pain lessens. I'm grateful for my ridiculous amount of mana right now—I can heal myself almost indefinitely if I don't spend my mana on other things.
The new town is where the most renovations are underway. They're improving security, building houses and other facilities. People don't seem to recognize me—they simply look at me before greeting me or ignoring me. Luckily, no one has been foolish enough to disrespect me. I wouldn't do anything, but the guards wouldn't act the same way.
I knock on the door of the town's second-in-command, and almost instantly, I'm granted permission to enter. "Hello, Patt. How have you been?" The enormous Ruby rank before me is surprised to see me, his shock quickly changing to happiness as he invites me to take a seat.
"Very well, Maki." He looks at the pile of papers at his side before looking back at me. "Well… not that well. By the way, I heard you won the tournament and gave a wonderful performance. My most sincere congratulations. My son is also very happy for you." He's learning to be more politically correct when speaking—it's part of my grandmother's intensive training.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"Thanks, Patt. The final was very tough—it wasn't an easy victory. I plan to visit your son soon. Where is Matt?" Patt grabs some papers to check something. It seems Matt went today with a group of guards to a new grade 2 dungeon that appeared not long ago near the city.
We talked a bit about my new rank, some general topics about how the city was functioning, and his new life. I'm glad everything is going wonderfully. His only complaints are about the paperwork—he can only stand it because on weekends, he has more free time to train with my father or dive into a grade 3 dungeon.
When saying goodbye to Patt, I remembered something my father mentioned yesterday—it seems more dungeons have appeared near our territory. There are now three of grade 1 and two of grade 2. For now, none of grade 3, which is a shame, because it would have helped me train a bit. The good thing is that now our town no longer needs cores for basic functions like light, drainage, water, etc.
The bad thing is that now there are more naturally formed monsters, and the dungeons need to be cleared periodically. That requires hiring more guards for this kind of work. The good within the bad is that the security of our territory has grown, but costs have risen too—the new cores barely cover the expenses of the new guards, and it's hard to find trustworthy ones.
"All good things always come with problems hand in hand." I can't help but sigh—nothing in this life is free or easy. I head toward the dungeon where Matt should be, to greet him.
"Who are you? This is Vichag family territory." A guard stops me. He doesn't seem to have bad intentions—just doing his job.
Before I can say anything, another guard, who had his back turned, looks at me. He runs over and whispers something into his companion's ear. The first guard's face turns as red as a tomato as he looks at me.
"I'm sorry, Sir Maki. I apologize for my mistake—I hope you can forgive me." The guard lowers his head slightly in apology. The second guard also bows, offering a silent apology.
"Don't worry. You didn't know my physical appearance—it's normal not to recognize me." With a wave of my hand, I make it seem like an act of no importance. They both let out a light sigh of relief. Why are they so afraid of me? "I'm looking for Matt. Do you know where he is?"
"Yes, Sir Matt has entered the dungeon to keep clearing it little by little with his group. I can send someone to fetch him if you wish." The second guard answers me.
"Don't worry, I can go find him myself." They guide me to the dungeon. Inside, I find something like a dead forest—the grass is completely yellow, and the trees are almost entirely withered. I follow the direction they indicated, and about twenty minutes later, I find them fighting some giant rat-like monsters.
All the guards are Emerald rank, with Matt leading them. Even though the young noble is in the same rank, the difference is obvious at a glance. Matt is far above them. Perhaps in a year or a bit more, he could ascend in rank. His group of eight is handling about fifteen rats without problem. Matt is the core of his group.
On my radar, another twelve rat monsters appear. I'm not sure they can contain them—they already have their hands quite full with the ones they're fighting. Because of the situation, I decide to move closer. I don't fully reveal myself yet—I just position myself nearby in case they need help. My cube isn't close to being healed, but I can handle these rats without magic if I want.
When they finally detect the rats, Matt shouts at his offensive partner to begin retreating little by little toward the safe zone. Safe zone? I'll ask him later. Since they still haven't noticed me, I decide to reveal myself. "Keep fighting, I'll hold them off until you finish with those." According to the guards, they should only be inside for two more hours—this might be their last wave of giant rats.
Matt and his entire group look surprised, but they don't lose their formation. They continue killing the rats slowly. On my side, I'm just playing with them, moving from side to side like a butterfly—they can't reach me with those huge teeth and spiked tails. When Matt is about to kill the last rat with his electricity-infused axe, I decide to test something.
I push my cube a bit to use my prison on these rats. I notice the enormous difference between before and after. My way of using gravity mana, ice, Imra, and now my banner makes everything easy. My rank against rats a grade below me also plays a role. The rats are paralyzed, unable to move a single muscle. Now they are statues.
When they finally settle down, I can see their exhaustion at a glance. No, their spirit is still burning—their eyes show their desire to finish the last wave. "Maki, I'm sorry. I thought we could handle one more wave, but I was wrong. We're already at our limit—I don't want to compromise the health and safety of my team. Can you finish off those rats?" I quickly nod. They haven't lost their spirit, but they need to know their limits.
I build small needles about fifteen centimeters long and four centimeters in diameter. Each monster receives one in the head and dies instantly. I can see everyone's faces—stunned, their mouths wide open. The only one shaking his head in disapproval of my actions is Matt.
Matt explains to me that there's a radius of about a hundred meters around the platform where monsters can't enter—that's the safe zone. It seems the soldiers don't fear me—they respect me for all my achievements. News about me has already reached the town: the winner of the last tournament, far superior to all his opponents, my closeness to many nobles—especially the Marquis—and that I'm supposedly engaged to three high-ranking noble girls.
I can't help rolling my eyes internally. I'm not going to deny anything—it's better to keep the morale of my territory high. As long as it's respect and not fear, it's all fine. And at the end of the day, they're not entirely wrong.