Chapter 797: Savior or New Threat (Patreon)

If you clicked on this chapter, just know this is the SECOND CHAPTER posted today, so you need to read the previous one first or you’ll be lost.

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Eventually, Luke ended up around one of the bonfires with the goblin quintet, Mivi, Kren, and Barb. Dwarves sang nearby, ratfolk tried to keep up, and goblins mostly competed to see who could be louder.

“And then I told him, ‘Suck my balls,’ and killed the orc!”

Barb burst out laughing, swinging her axe around.

Kren stared at her in confusion. “You have balls?”

“No.”

Barb laughed even harder. Kren laughed too, but it faded quickly when he looked down at the tusk in his hand.

“I wish I was strong like you,” he said.

He turned the tusk between his fingers once more and tossed it into the flames. “I want to apologize to all of you.”

“Hm?” Barb asked after taking another swig from her bottle.

“For what?” Mina asked.

“For everything. For shutting everyone out. For acting like I was better than everyone. For... being like this.” Tears ran down Kren’s face. “It was my fault. The orcs found the cave where my people were because of me.”

“Hey, man...” Barb clearly had no idea what to do with that.

“They followed me. Then they beat my sister. Then they went after my father.” Kren’s voice broke. “It was my fault. I’m weak. I didn’t deserve to survive.”

No one said anything. Mivi placed a hand on her brother’s back.

Barb stared into her mug. “Well, he killed the mood. Great.”

She took another drink.

“I used to be weak too.” Luke wasn’t exactly sure what to do with that either, but he moved over and sat beside Kren. “A friend of mine died because of it. She was betrayed, and I wasn’t strong enough to save her.”

Kren wiped his eyes with his forearm. “Did you get revenge?”

“Yes, but revenge didn’t bring her back.”

Kren looked down at his hands. “But I didn’t just want revenge on the orcs. I wanted to—”

“Punish yourself,” Luke finished.

Kren fell quiet.

“I get it. Back then, I kept going over all the what-ifs. What if I’d had a few more levels? What if I’d become a botanist sooner? What if I’d gotten there earlier? What if I’d been better?” Luke paused. “But none of that changed what happened. So I kept moving. I didn’t forget. I just... kept going. There were still people I could save, and I still had a family waiting for me. That was enough to keep me moving.”

Kren looked up.

“When you feel weak, think about your family. Get stronger for them. Hating yourself is a waste of time.”

“Th-thank you, Lord Luke.” Kren took a deep breath. “It was an honor to fight today, even if I got the shit beaten out of me.”

“You were brave.”

Kren took a long drink. “And it would be an even greater honor to become a citizen of your kingdom.”

Luke looked at him. “All right. Tell me again when you’re sober.”

“I know exactly what I’m saying, Lord Luke. I want to join you and protect this place.”

Ribbo pointed at him. “So the idiot’s finally done being stubborn? Then let’s celebrate!”

Luke eventually left the group and headed for the castle. Before turning in, he stopped by the children’s room and made sure Franky, Kobi, and Rheera were asleep.

“They asked about you, Lord Luke,” Teresa said. She’d been watching the children.

“Thank you for taking care of them, Teresa. And for keeping the two little orcs a secret.”

Teresa nodded, and Luke sent her off for the night.

The next morning, Kren knocked on the castle doors. Luke answered the door, still confused about why anyone was bothering him this early.

“I want to become your citizen.”

Luke studied the ratfolk for a few seconds. He’d already made up his mind, but this wasn’t something he wanted to decide in a doorway.

“You really are serious about this. Come back later.”

“But—”

“Later.”

Kren left, and Luke spent the day around the village talking with the dwarves, inspecting the weapons taken from the orcs, and checking out the strange metals the smiths were studying. Kren never really went far, trailing him from a distance without getting close enough to interrupt. Even when Luke passed through the fields where the goblin chiefs were working and headed to the human village to speak with Otto, he was still there.

That evening, Luke finally summoned him to the castle. Kren arrived in a spotless set of clothes, far nicer than anything he usually wore.

“What are you wearing?”

“My finest clothes, Lord Luke. So that I may be worthy.”

Does he think I kept putting this off because he wasn’t dressed well enough?

At least the ratfolk was taking it seriously.

“Kren, you’ve changed a lot since we met. And after what you did out there, I figured you deserved something special.” Luke held out the [Citizenship Card]. “So you get to be number one thousand.”

Kren accepted it with both hands, and three notifications appeared.

[Citizens: 1000/1000]

[Your Kingdom Core has reached Level 11!]

[Your Kingdom Core has unlocked a new Skill!]

“Congratulations, Kren. You’re officially part of the kingdom now.”

Kingdom CoreMonarch: Luke MoonKingdom Name: Moonlight Level: 11Citizens: 1000/1500Soul Energy: 18,554/65,000

Skills: [Dark Lord’s Army], [Citizenship Card], [Sovereign’s Gaze], [Domain Mana], [Kingdom’s Calling], [Safe Domain], [Kingdom Bond], [Core Soul Reservoir], [Crown Vigilance], [Verdant Domain], [Hands of the Kingdom], [Granted Profession], [Sovereign Expansion], [Experience Tribute], [Delegated Authority], [Dark Lord’s March], [Crown Roads], [Kingdom Nobility], [Core Assimilation]

And apparently the next level needs fifteen hundred citizens.

He opened the new skill.

[Core Assimilation]: Allows the Monarch to conquer another Kingdom Core and convert it into a vassal Core bound to the Monarch’s domain. The conquered Core remains in its original territory, retaining part of its structure and local influence, but becomes subordinate to the primary Core. The vassal Core contributes its territory, resources, and citizens to the growth of the primary Core.

So conquest doesn’t mean destroying the other Core anymore. I can take it over.

Kren was still holding the card with both hands. “Thank you, Lord Luke. I would also like to enlist in your army.”

Later, Luke gathered his soldiers behind the castle. He didn’t bother with a ceremony.

“Nara, you were great out there. You took on those captains and saved a lot of humans. Norn, you did too. I heard you fought a general, and you collected the corpses of the strongest enemies we left behind.”

“Norn ate some of the leaders too,” the spider said proudly.

Luke decided not to address that. “Pip, Ribbo, Mina, Boko, and Rilo. You saved a lot of wounded people, treated injuries, and handed out healing potions. You were brave.”

He turned to the ratfolk siblings. “You two moved fast. You pulled people out of the rubble and put yourselves in danger to save them. Kren, you nearly died protecting a human from an orc. Both of you fought like real warriors.”

Luke raised one hand, and black flame appeared above his palm.

[Soul Energy: 1000/1000]

“Today, I make you part of my army.”

[-10 Soul Energy]

[Kren has become a Soldier of the Dark Lord!]

Kren changed in front of everyone. His spine straightened and his muscles became more defined, but the biggest difference was his tail. What had once been cut off was whole again. He touched it with trembling hands as tears filled his eyes, then dropped to one knee.

“Thank you, Lord Luke.”

Luke nodded and faced the others. “Two of you stood out in battle. I can feel that a rank evolution is available.”

“Is it Norn, Boss? Is it Norn?” the spider asked excitedly.

“Unfortunately, no, Norn. It’s Nara.”

Norn’s face fell.

Nara looked surprised. “Me? Really?”

“I can evolve your rank. Do you want to?”

“This... will make me stronger so I can protect my little ones, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I want it.”

Luke touched her.

[-100 Soul Energy]

[Promoting Soldier Nara to Warrior!]

Nara’s body grew slightly larger. Her legs thickened, her stance became heavier, and new eyes opened across her face. She looked stronger than before, harder to knock down, and a lot more dangerous up close.

“Wow, Lord Moon. I feel even stronger.”

She was right. Besides the raw boost in power, her experience gain bonus had increased too.

Luke turned to Mivi. “And the other soldier is you.”

“Me?” she asked, startled.

“Yes. You can evolve.”

“I’m a little surprised, Lord Luke. I wasn’t even that useful in the battle... and I’m not that strong.”

“But you pushed past your limits. You earned this. Do you want it?”

“Yes.”

Luke placed a hand on her head.

[-100 Soul Energy]

[Promoting Soldier Mivi to Warrior!]

She began to glow.

[Warrior Mivi is awakening a class...]

So it really happened to her too. Just like the goblins.

[Warrior Mivi has awakened the Class: Assassin]

[Warrior Mivi has unlocked the Class Skill: [Basic Blade Handling (Common)]

Assassin? Interesting.

When the glow faded, Mivi stood a little taller. Her posture had changed, along with her face, shoulders, and hands, but that wasn’t what made everyone stare.

Kren froze. “S-sister?”

Mivi looked at him, confused. “What? Why is everyone looking at me like that? Did I change that much?”

She touched her face, ran her hands over her cheeks, then reached up to the ears on top of her head. Her tail was still there, and so were the rat ears, but everything else was different.

Luke knew Rank evolutions could change a monster’s body. He’d seen it before. This was more than he expected.

“Human!” Kren blurted out. “You turned human!”

“Human?”

Mivi looked down at her hands again.

She still had the ears and tail, but otherwise, she looked human.

***

News of Farmarug spread across the continent over the next month. Messengers carried the story from kingdom to kingdom, and soldiers were already exaggerating the hell out of the battle by the time it reached the taverns. Before the first week was over, royal offers were arriving at the Moonlight Kingdom. People knew the kingdom’s name now, and they knew Luke’s even better.

A month after the battle, Luke was in Rosehall, the capital of Rosemark, waiting for a meeting with the continent’s kings.

“This place is actually pretty cozy,” he said, sipping his tea.

Mivi stood beside him as his personal assistant. Anyone who had known her before would barely recognize her, but she didn’t seem to care. Her eyes kept moving around the hall, checking the doors, windows, and every patch of shadow she could find. She’d taken to the [Assassin] class fast.

Charlie stood on his other side as his bodyguard, quiet and watchful around the strangers, ready to move at a word from him.

The door opened, and Luke put on his mask.

A voice called from the hall.

“King Moon, the kings are waiting.”

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