The Black Dwarf Guild arrived at the entrance to Atlas.

It was a guild that had once ranked within the top ten blacksmith guilds in Korea.

At the head of the executive group stood their guild master, CocoCat.

CocoCat, once ranked fourth among Korea’s blacksmiths, kept getting pushed farther and farther down the rankings.

I have to find a way somehow.

CocoCat believed that if things kept going like this, the Black Dwarf Guild would lose its unity and might even disband.

CocoCat had been searching for all kinds of methods that might help the guild grow. More than that, methods that might help CocoCat personally grow as well.

But every attempt had ended in failure.

The biggest reason was simple: it would not be enough for CocoCat alone to improve.

The Black Dwarf Guild consisted of close to fifty blacksmiths.

And what was needed to hold their position and then rise higher was for guild master CocoCat and the guild members to grow together.

But this Atlas visit was little more than a last straw to cling to.

“This is bad. Really bad.”

The several-month Atlas invasion prohibition pact they had obtained as a victory reward from the Great Atlas War would soon come to an end.

Which meant Atlas would have to go through a territory war.

They were too complacent.

CocoCat had thought Blacksmith Hyun, the one and only handcrafting blacksmith, was reckless.

Ever since Hyun had declared he would found the nation of Hyun, countless eyes had turned toward Atlas, so there was no telling what might happen in a territory war.

After Atlas revealed itself to the world, countless users had obtained noble titles and become lords of territories.

And on top of that—

“It’s a territory that nearly ended up with people starving to death... That just shows Hyun’s incompetence. Of course, I acknowledge his blacksmithing ability.”

“It must be the result of increasing migrants too aggressively and expanding the territory too fast. And there’s something else I don’t understand.”

“What is it?”

“Not long after Atlas absorbed Black Anvil, it turned everything related to the ‘blacksmith sector’ status private. And for Atlas itself, and for the blacksmiths grouped under ‘Hyun’s Forge,’ even their ranking positions were hidden.”

Everyone had questions about that.

If you learned the work of handcrafting blacksmithing, you grew more.

That’s Atlas’s advantage.

So why had they hidden the single most important thing—the blacksmith rankings?

“...Because handcrafting can’t beat artifact production shaped by the system. Hyun can do it because he’s a genius, but ordinary users can’t keep up.”

That was CocoCat’s conclusion.

In the end, teaching blacksmith work to NPCs and users alike was a pipe dream.

“Been a while.”

“Have you been well?”

“Of course. Come on, let’s head in.”

They were able to meet Roun, who had come out to greet them.

After exchanging greetings for the first time in a while, they entered together.

The moment they did, their mouths fell open.

This is the territory that nearly had starvation deaths?

I’ve never seen a territory this extravagant...!

CocoCat also belonged to a territory and had visited the capitals of several kingdoms and more.

But this was the first time CocoCat had ever seen a territory this flashy, this stylish.

Did Hyun spend all his money on appearances?

That felt possible.

That method really did work.

It was an excellent way to lure outsiders into migrating.

But CocoCat was still a high-level blacksmith.

CocoCat was not someone who would be dazzled by something like this.

Then CocoCat saw something astonishing.

[Atlas’s Hero, KyooKyoo.]

[The Day Atlas’s Pretty Arrived!]

[Our Kkoko did it.]

[Our small and precious heroes.]

It was because of the brightly hung banners all over Atlas.

There were an especially large number of banners about a being called KyooKyoo.

“Did Atlas recruit an unofficial ranker named KyooKyoo by any chance? So he was the one who saved Atlas during the Gremory invasion? Just how incredible is he for them to hang banners like these?”

Roun made a puzzled face.

“...That one?”

CocoCat and the executives all turned their eyes toward a single spot.

WADDLE, WADDLE—

A baby bird that was little more than bones, holding a “One-Week Unlimited Snack Pass” in its wing, had a flower garland around its neck and was exchanging the pass for snacks.

And on top of that—

PUFFED UP—

It thrust its shoulders back and took long exaggerated strides, looking like it was imitating a hero.

And everywhere it walked—

“All hail Lord KyooKyoo!”

“Lord KyooKyoo, try this too!”

“The hero Atlas gave birth to!”

And that being called KyooKyoo—

“Kyoo—”

—raised a wing coolly in response, accepted the parade of cheers like it was only natural, and disappeared.

“???”

“???”

“???”

Was this territory insane?

The people were strange, and that bird was strange too.

“This can’t be some joke. What is that thing doing right now? What even is that bird? And judging by what’s written on those banners, they’re all animals. What is this, some kind of animal farm?”

“Aren’t they cute?”

CocoCat was disappointed.

What kind of person was Roun?

A person who had once been thorough, who had possessed a clear sense of judgment, and who at times had even been cold to an excessive degree.

And now that Roun was saying they were cute?

It felt as if CocoCat were witnessing the fall of someone who had once been a personal idol.

As they walked again, Roun asked,

“What’s the Black Dwarf Guild’s monthly revenue?”

CocoCat was confident.

After all, it had once been one of Korea’s greatest guilds.

“1.3 billion won.”

That was the amount when converted into cash.

Over the course of a year, that came to nearly 15 billion won in revenue.

That was what fifty blacksmiths produced, and back when there had been close to a hundred of them, there had even been a year when annual revenue had exceeded 20 billion won.

At that, Roun said,

“This time, that being called KyooKyoo donated 2.6 billion won’s worth of spoils to Atlas.”

“What do you mean...?”

“That little one is a dragon. The four of them saved this territory by themselves, then handed over more than 2.5 billion won—a fortune any human would covet—so the territory’s people could buy food. And then they made a demand.”

“......”

“Give them a one-week unlimited snack pass. When Lord Hyunsoo approved it, they got so happy the four of them danced together.”

CocoCat’s thoughts changed.

...So they weren’t merely cute. They were lovely.

CocoCat had started envying Atlas for being a place that held creatures that lovely.

Before long, CocoCat continued walking with Roun and then entered a tavern.

CocoCat’s eyes went wide.

“Lord Roun, what is all this...?”

Quite a number of blacksmiths famous not only in Korea but across the world had gathered there.

Some of them, like CocoCat, were masters leading their own guilds, while others were ranked blacksmiths unaffiliated with any group.

“Didn’t they all come because they were curious whether Hyun’s Forge was truly as good as the rumors said, and whether it might be of use to them? Since they were coming anyway, I called them all at once.”

“......”

From that, CocoCat could infer one thing.

Atlas was trying to recruit them.

But CocoCat shook their head.

He’s really making a gamble this reckless?

In CocoCat’s own case, the guild was in decline.

That was why CocoCat had come here, clinging to even the last straw, to see whether handcrafting blacksmithing really could improve them.

A great many of the people gathered here were not like that.

“If you can’t satisfy us, you’ll never be able to ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) recruit us again.”

That was what one ranked blacksmith said.

They had come because the call had come from a blacksmith who had once represented Korea, but if they were not satisfied, they would never set foot on this side again.

And that was another reason CocoCat thought this was foolish.

If they were going to come, they would have come already.

The people who were going to come had all come back when Hyun first declared he would found the nation of Hyun.

The ones here were the ones who preferred being alone.

Or the ones who had stayed put for the sake of their guilds’ interests.

If he can’t show them something extraordinary, Hyun’s standing will only fall instead.

While CocoCat was thinking that—

“All right, everyone, let’s head to the forge now. Guild members accompanying your guild masters, please remain in the tavern and wait.”

Sixty-four guild masters, including rankers.

They began walking toward the forge.

*****

Meanwhile, in an officetel in Gyeongju.

Takashi, once called a master blacksmith, smiled as he looked at a photograph of his grandson Aoi.

Not long ago, Takashi had taken part in a meeting.

It had only been because he was bored.

But the contents of that meeting had been grave.

“Soon, territory wars will break out on all fronts, and it’s impossible to even estimate how many there will be. And if the Parion Empire sends troops as well, our Atlas may collapse.”

Those had been Nell’s words.

At that time, Hyunsoo, who had attended the meeting, said to Roun,

“We’ve secured the funds, and it’s time to show the skill of the blacksmiths we’ve tempered and honed. It’s time to recruit more blacksmiths. Our first priority will be to absorb the skilled blacksmiths that exist across the world and expand the territory. Lord Roun, please mobilize every connection you have and call the blacksmiths in on the same day. On that day, we must recruit as many blacksmiths as possible and begin preparing for war. We must succeed in recruiting as many blacksmiths as we need.”

“The recruitment rate I’m expecting is 15%.”

Takashi ended his recollection and looked back at the photograph of his grandson Aoi.

He had thought it was only a game.

But that expression Hyunsoo had worn then—grim like that—had been the first time Takashi had ever seen it.

So this really is a dangerous moment.

Takashi was also listening to the opinions of experts coming from a game channel.

—Before long, the Atlas invasion prohibition pact that Master Blacksmith Hyun won in the Great Atlas War will come to an end.

—It appears dozens of territories will join the battlefield, and since all continents are now integrated, if you widen the scope to the whole world, hundreds of territories may end up targeting Atlas.

—Atlas is a blacksmith territory created by Master Blacksmith Hyun. One of the greatest dreams users have is obtaining excellent artifacts.

—Their primary objective can be said to be reducing the NPCs of Hyun’s Forge, who can make that dream real, into slaves.

—The movements of the NPCs also appear unlikely to be ordinary.

Takashi could feel it.

The whole world was making Hyun its enemy.

That was how the world worked.

From their point of view, when one outstanding person tried to grow, the easiest thing was to crush that person before they truly could.

Before he became a king, they wanted to destroy Hyun.

Takashi carefully set the photograph of his grandson Aoi down.

“Grandpa’s off now.”

Then he logged into the capsule Hyunsoo had bought for him.

And when he did, he saw the blacksmiths gathered in front of the forge with Roun.

They looked at the sudden appearance of the old man with puzzled expressions.

No one recognized him.

The first reason was because they were not real blacksmiths, only blacksmiths inside a game.

Ordinarily, people often did not know the faces of blacksmiths who had once been famous.

Hard to believe?

If you were curious, the easiest way to think of it would be this: could you name more than three famous real-world blacksmiths right now?

Of course, they knew about Master Blacksmith Hyun.

He was simply too widely famous.

But they knew little about the man who had remained in Atlas as nothing more than a blacksmith mentor.

“Huh? I know that old man.”

One young ranked blacksmith laughed.

“That old man works serving at the soup shop, doesn’t he!?”

A ranker’s arrogance could pierce the sky.

And if it was a young ranker, that tendency was even worse.

Even that ranker had been curious about Hyun, and while in Gyeongju had once seen the old man Takashi serving at one of the few soup shops in the area.

And because of that one remark, several others who had seen him recognized him too.

And someone else even joked,

“One spicy soup over here.”

But some people looked at the old man with uncertain eyes, only to dismiss their doubts the moment they heard “soup shop.”

At last, Takashi stood before the furnace.

“Huh? Sir, were you a blacksmith too?”

At those words, an indescribable tremor spread through Takashi’s chest.

“I was a blacksmith. Once.”

The old man had not held a hammer a single time since that incident.

And yet—

I’m curious too. Whether the ones wearing expressions like that right now will end up taking me as their master or not.

Hyunsoo had expected a recruitment rate of 15%.

But Takashi knew the current situation.

Fifteen percent would not be enough.

More people had to light the forge fires for them.

That was why, for the first time in years, Takashi intended to bring his final masterpiece into the world.

At that moment, Takashi felt something.

It was the kind of intuition only a master blacksmith who had spent long years devoted to a single thing could possess.

That intuition was telling Takashi this:

A masterwork is coming.

RUMBLE—!!!

The flames of the furnace that had been with him for decades welcomed back an old friend.