NOVEL NEXT Chapter 131: Red Merchant (2)
“So…what did you say?”
Merilda stood frozen, dumbfounded, wondering if she had misheard.
“Mate like crazy.”
“……”
At Ryu’s continuing words, Merilda unconsciously opened her mouth and spoke.
“Th-The…what?”
“Oh come on, Boss, you know what I mean. Mate, mate. M-A-T-E.”
As if thinking Merilda didn’t understand, Ryu carefully pronounced each letter in front of her face. Merilda then spoke.
“That’s the plan?”
“This is the plan?”“This is really a solid plan?”
“Of course?”
Merilda seriously contemplated grabbing the rabbit ears in front of her and spinning them around a few times, but Ryu spoke with a serious expression.
“Boss, do you think I’m talking nonsense?”
“…Then do you really think this is a proper strategy!?”
Merilda spoke as if it was absurd, but Ryu nodded as if it was perfectly obvious.
“Of course, this strategy will work incredibly well, don’t you think?”
“Based on what?! What if the Lord ends up hating me because of this plan?!”
As Merilda yelled, Ryu shook her head as if Merilda didn’t understand and spoke.
“Boss, what are you talking about? There isn’t a male that dislikes mating.”
“But, but it could be unpleasant with someone they dislike!”
“That’s true. That’s why you went yourself to check it out, right?”
“What…? That was the reason!?”
“Exactly?”
At Merilda’s words, Ryu nodded repeatedly and began to explain.
“Okay, listen up, Boss. Males do like mating, but as you said, they can dislike it if it’s with a female they don’t like… Generally, they do like it, but there are cases where they don’t.”
“……”
“In fact, if forced to mate in such cases, it can strain the relationship, as you know. You get that, right?”
“…I don’t know.”
“Huh? Why don’t you know?”
Ryu asked, genuinely curious.
But Merilda had been separated from the beast tribe and had a rough life from a young age, growing up in Lartania as she got older, so she surprisingly didn’t know much about the physiology of the beast tribe.
However, before she could explain, Ryu nodded as if she understood and continued speaking.
“…Well, it’s not that important. Anyway! In the end, from the Boss’s standpoint, who doesn’t want to be hated by the Lord of Lartania, it’s right to approach cautiously, isn’t it?”
“…Right.”
“So I taught you a secret technique, and you used it on the Lord. How did the Lord of Lartania react?”
“…The Lord’s reaction?”
Merilda recalled that time.
The Crimson Dragon had suddenly interrupted, so she couldn’t fully gauge his reaction, but as far as she could tell, there was no particularly negative feeling.
“There didn’t seem to be any negative feelings.”
“That’s it!”
“…That’s enough?”
“Of course, it’s more than enough. Boss, think about it. If you were sleeping and someone you disliked appeared right above you, how would you react?”
“I’d rip their head off.”
“…People usually don’t rip heads off, but they’d frown, right? In other words, a negative emotion would come out.”
“So?”
“But how did the Lord of Lartania react? Both we and you saw it. He seemed a bit surprised, but there was no negative feeling.”
“…Oh? Now that you mention it, that seems right…”
“It’s not just that it seems right, it is right.”
…In reality, Kim Hyunwoo had fallen back to sleep before fully processing any emotions, so he only showed surprise, but that wasn’t important to Ryu.
“Anyway, we confirmed that the Lord of Lartania doesn’t have any ill feelings towards you. So?”
“He doesn’t dislike me?”
“That’s it! So if you ask a male like that to mate?”
“Ah… Ugh.”
Ryu saw Merilda’s face turning red from her leading questions and spoke.
“Of course! There are males who refuse to mate even in such situations, usually saying something about keeping their integrity. But!”
She held up a very small vial in her hand and spoke.
“With this, you can forget those worries.”
“This is?”
“It’s Shayu’s Spring Water. Just one drop in the mouth, and the male will go into beast mode for the day.”
“It’s that powerful?”
“Yes, it works on females too…but you won’t need it… Oh, actually, it might be fine if you use it too.”
“M-me?”
“Yes.”
Ryu dropped some of Shayu’s Spring Water onto Merilda’s hand and spoke.
“Just one drop, and even a female goes into full heat. If you don’t feel confident in front of the Lord, just drink it and pounce.”
At Ryu’s words, Merilda looked at the Shayu’s Spring Water on her hand with a complicated expression and spoke.
“…I thought it was a bit more plausible plan.”
“Boss, don’t you think this is really plausible?”
“…It looks risky.”
“It’s risky, but the return is certain. Once you mate, the bond will inevitably become closer. Even if your hearts don’t connect, mixing bodies, biting, licking, and swallowing saliva will naturally bring you closer. And.”
Ryu spoke assertively.
“If you keep hesitating like this, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone else takes him away.”
Merilda froze at her words.
But Ryu continued speaking, even as she saw Merilda’s reaction.
“Obviously, others are targeting the Lord of Lartania too, right? If you hadn’t intervened with that merchant, who knows what might have happened.”
“That’s true.”
“In other words, you’re not in a position to be picky. It’s overwhelmingly advantageous to mark your territory first.”
At Ryu’s words, Merilda pondered seriously for a moment, then nodded.
“You’re definitely right.”
Ryu smiled brightly at her positive response.
“Okay, let’s make a plan right away. This time, we’ll make sure those two can’t interfere.”
She began preparing to draft the plan.
A few days later.
[The Red Merchant is coming to the territory to deliver the artifact!]
[Time remaining: 0 days 0 hours 3 minutes 59 seconds]
As the Magical Engineering Research Institute reached 99% completion and the Red Merchant was about to arrive, Kim Hyunwoo was receiving a report from Elena.
“-I think we should recruit new soldiers because security has been declining recently.”
Elena, wearing a different long ponytail today, finished her report and made a suggestion. Kim Hyunwoo responded.
“…Has it gotten that bad?”
“It’s not noticeable yet, but recently, reports of fights among mercenaries have been increasing. As the territory grows, it seems like our personnel can’t cover everything.”
“Hmm…that’s definitely a problem.”
In fact, this could be solved by making all 1,000 soldiers into guards.
Guards provide additional security bonuses.
However, the reason Kim Hyunwoo didn’t make all 1,000 soldiers into guards is that different types of troops were gradually needed.
‘No matter how much we advance in technology, we still need a minimum amount of troops.’
Currently, Lartania appears to be a territory of about 30,000 people, but including the mercenaries wandering within the territory, it has become a massive territory exceeding 80,000 people.
Since the establishment of the Mercenary Guild, various mercenary groups have started settling in Lartania, rapidly filling the empty lands on the outskirts.
In other words, as the territory grows rapidly, a minimum number of troops, excluding guards, is absolutely necessary.
‘Well, if more mercenaries settle here, we might be able to use them as soldiers.’
However, to suppress any mercenaries that might cause trouble, a significant number of soldiers, like scouts or enforcers, rather than guards, are essential.
“Hmm…I’ll need to think about this.”
After telling Elena that he would consider this issue, Kim Hyunwoo discussed a few more matters.
“You’re wearing a ponytail today?”
“You mentioned that you like ponytail hairstyles, so I tried it. How do you like it?”
“I think it suits you well.”
As he answered Elena, who was covering her mouth with the report file,
[The Red Merchant has arrived in the territory!]
A notification appeared before Kim Hyunwoo’s eyes.