Chapter 223 – Raising Talent 2 (2/2)
There must be a reason why Irene was given as a hidden reward on the last floor of the Twilight Tower.
Woohyuk took out a dragon heart from his pocket and handed it to her.
“Come and eat this.”
“What is this? It has such an enormous magical power. I can feel it from here.”
It was the first time Irene had seen a dragon heart. She had on a strange, confused expression.
Afterward receiving the heart, she began to chew and eat it without much thought.
Munch. Munch.
An ordinary person would frown when they looked at someone eating a heart raw. However, this was on par for a chimera.
Woohyuk stroked Irene’s head to let her know she did well.
“Is the taste okay?”
“I don’t know about that, but I think I’m much stronger now.”
When Irene lifted Death Side, a cold force spread out and froze the air around them.
By absorbing the power of the dragon species, her combat power increased dramatically.
After seeing this, Woohyuk wondered if he should feed her Alice’s heart.
‘But Alice’s heart still has research value.’
The potential combat prowess and sheer force Alice showed in the last battle was enormous enough to leave a strong impression on Woohyuk.
If the research on her heart was successful, it would be of great help to him later on.
After speaking with his personnel, Woohyuk encouraged and complimented Maester Liberto, who had taught the talents so far.
“Good work. The Hourglass of Time will remain here for the time being, so I hope you will further develop these talents.”
“Please leave it to me.”
Maester Liberto politely bowed his head.
Woohyuk told his party members to rest up before he headed to the Royal Rhine Palace.
“It’s been a long time, my King.”
“How is it dealing with state affairs?”
“There is no difficulty, especially with the help of capable vassals. There’s also a strong guardian looking over everything.”
The guardian Joanna spoke of was Black Dragon King Drakia.
Woohyuk looked at Drakia, who was standing next to her with an expressionless face.
“But why are you here?”
“Joanna is the last lineage of my lovely Iona. So, from now on, I will always follow her and keep her safe.”
It seemed that the Rhine Kingdom would be safe even if Woohyuk wasn’t around.
Woohyuk nodded and told Joanna what he was doing back in the kingdom,
“Joanna, I intend to conquer the eastern area of the Eeth Continent. I probably won’t come back for a while. So, as I said before, the Rhine Kingdom is yours.”
“… You’re going that far away? Unfortunately, I guess I can’t help.”
Joanna had already changed her surname to Clavis, which was her true identity.
After some time, once the succession to the throne was made clear, Woohyuk found Leifina.
“Did you call me, Lord?”
“I have to go out again for a while.”
The next destination was the Floren Province within the Rhine Kingdom.
It was a mountainous area to the left of the capital, Heidelberg.
There, he would find Choi Kayoon, who would become the Monster Lord in the future.
“Monster Lord… do you intend to send her into the training hall as well?”
“It probably won’t take her 40 years.”
It was possible to secure a growth period of more than 40 years with one month inside the training center.
40 years was the amount of time he had spent in his previous life on this continent before returning, so he knew that a month in the training room would be enough for Choi Kayoon to become the Monster Lord.
He was also planning to add Tinia, the Wind Goddess, to the 2nd cohort of trainees.
“Lord, then, am I going to train in the Tower of Arkain?”
“Yes. You will become a Sword Master after your training there.”
If the teacher who taught Princess Eleonora could teach Leifina, she’d be able to reach the level of Sword Master.
Leifina was his closest aide who had always been by his side in his past life.
Although she was already strong enough, he wanted her to grow as much as possible.
As they traveled by carriage to the Floren Province, the two conversed on all the things they didn’t have a chance to talk about before.
“I remember the first time I met you, Lord. At that time, I was trapped in the Witch Angrboda’s Sanctuary gradually losing hold of my life.”
“… All of that was the Creator’s tricks.”
As Archangel Raphael, he reincarnated with the help of Pina, the Goddess of Fate, but lost all his memories.
However, the Creator gave him Pina as a human companion.
Why?
Why did he summon races from other dimensions into this world and let him grow with Pina?
His ultimate goal was to control the demons that interfered with his system’s maintenance.
However, he was still unsure why the Creator was using him and Pina to achieve this goal.
‘I probably caused a problem for the Creator and died.’
Thus, only he and Pina could resolve the difficult problem they created.
When thinking of it this way, the story roughly fit.
The details can only be known by going to Urdarbrunn and retrieving the memories from his previous life.
When Woohyuk was contemplating all this, Leifina carefully opened her mouth to speak,
“Lord…”
“Yes?”
“I might be overly sensitive… but I feel like you have something to say to me. You don’t have to hide it.”
Leifina felt sorry for Woohyuk since he always worried and planned alone.
So, she hoped she could be of help, which was also the reason why she started to learn how to cook.
Unlike others, her fate and life were intertwined with Woohyuk’s.
As she was in a situation where she would never betray him, she wanted Woohyuk to believe in her and tell her anything.
Woohyuk nodded at Leifina’s honest remarks.
“Yes, I don’t think I have been completely honest throughout our time.”
“I’m sorry if you felt bad from my directness. I think Lord is struggling a lot…”
“Leifina.”
“… Yes?”
“First off, I want you to stop cooking.”
Woohyuk expressed his honest feelings.