The Roa Kingdom
"Your Majesty... do you know what a Hidden Piece is?"
"...!"
At Baek Hyuk's words, my eyes went wide and I stared at him.
The Hidden Piece was the very thing I had been searching for all this time. And now, of all places, word of it had come from somewhere I never expected.
Who would have thought a Hidden Piece was hiding in North Korea?
The moment the Hidden Piece came up, I also understood why he had been so careful about it.
"Yes, I know what it is."
"Then... have you managed to obtain one?"
His expression as he asked carried the absolute certainty that of course I hadn't.
I briefly debated whether to tell the truth or lie, but in the end I decided to simply be honest.
"Yes, I have."
"R-really?!"
At my answer, his face changed just as mine had, and he shot up from his seat.
"C-could you show me what you obtained?"
"Here it is."
I held out the Ring of the Earth, keeping everything else in my hand hidden, and passed it to him. He took the ring, checked its information, and let out a strangled shriek of shock.
"Le-Legendary+!"
"Legendary+, you say?!"
"Seriously?"
At Baek Hyuk's outburst, Won-ae and Baek-rim, who had been standing nearby, checked the ring's information as well, their faces freezing in astonishment.
"Would you return it now, please?"
"Ah—yes, of course."
He cleared his throat awkwardly and handed the ring back.
"Master, you've been using equipment like that all by yourself? That's a little unfair, don't you think?"
"Han Jin—no, Mr. Han Jin. You don't have any more equipment like this, do you?"
"That's the only Legendary+ item there is."
Granted, I had plenty of plain Legendary items, but I saw no need to bring that up.
"So... will you tell us the rest of the story now?"
"Ah, right."
After that, having heard everything there was to hear about the Hidden Piece, we called it a day and disbanded.
"What did you just say?"
"Exactly what it sounds like."
Greed answered Lust with the weary tone of a man thoroughly sick of the question.
That made the third time he'd asked. It was long past the point where he should have accepted it, but Lust still refused to acknowledge the truth.
"That's impossible! Even if that wretch was only a baron, he was a demon who had been granted a Rank!"
"And yet he died. Killed by a human who didn't even hold a Rank."
Greed spoke as if the matter were nothing more than a ledger entry, but irritation had crept into even his eyes.
"Then who was it? What kind of human could kill Poison of all people?"
"I don't know."
"How do I know you didn't kill him yourself and are lying to my face?!"
"Excuse me?"
At that, Greed flared his demonic energy and glared at Lust. Lust flared his own right back, refusing to be outdone, and glared in return.
Watching the standoff, Sloth simply slept, Wrath slowly curled her hand into a fist, and Gluttony did nothing but drool, a thin line of it running down her chin.
"Can you take responsibility for what you just said?"
"That's my line. Show me proof you didn't kill him."
The war of nerves stretched on until Wrath, unable to bear it any longer, looked ready to move. Then a voice drifted in from the entrance.
"And what, exactly, is going on here?"
A single flat remark. Yet the air in the room turned heavy at once, and silence settled over them all.
"It's been a while."
"Hasn't it."
Wrath, the only one in that room free of the crushing pressure, offered the greeting, and the boy who had just walked in returned it as naturally as breathing.
"When did Pride wake up?"
"Just now. I came straight to report the moment I opened my eyes... and it's a disaster."
At the boy's words, the air grew heavier still.
"Hm. How about we leave it at this much, Pride?"
Pride.
The strongest demon in history, and the worst. And the highest authority of the Seven Great Demons' council.
"Why should I?"
"Because if you keep this up, Sloth is going to wake up."
"In that case..."
At the mention of Sloth rising, Pride stopped pressing down on the room. Only two beings existed who could rein him in: Sloth and Wrath.
"Now then... Greed. Why did you summon me?"
"That would be..."
His tone treated every one of the Seven Great Demons as beneath him, yet none of them said a word. Because he was Pride.
Greed laid out the situation as briefly as he could.
"I see... how utterly irritating."
"Gahk!"
Caught head-on by Pride's pressure, Greed coughed up blood and collapsed to his knees.
"Ha..."
Watching him, Wrath let out a sigh.
"In the short time I've been away, Envy's seat has gone empty. Our territory has been stolen from us."
With every word out of Pride's mouth, the weight bearing down on the room grew heavier.
"Perhaps the simplest answer is to kill Greed, Gluttony, and Lust right here, and turn the Seven Great Demons' council into the Council of Three."
At Pride's words, the three could do nothing but sweat, offering no defense at all. They could only look toward the seat where Wrath sat.
The moment Wrath finally rose to talk him down, Sloth stirred.
"Mmm."
It was nothing more than the sound of breathing, but Pride withdrew his pressure instantly.
Sloth never made a sound in her sleep. The moment she did, it was the sign that she was trying to wake.
"Thank her for your lives."
"Hahk!"
"Haah!"
"Gahk!"
The instant Pride finished speaking, the three let out the breaths they had been holding.
Then Pride turned his back and left the room.
I don't care who you are yet... but I will kill you. That much is certain.
And the three of them cursed the mysterious human whose existence had forced this council to be convened in the first place.
"Kingdom status window."
When I finished checking the kingdom status window, a pleased smile spread across my face.
Only a week ago, the territory's condition had been at rock bottom. Yet in the span of a single week, I had dragged it all the way up to Good.
"I suppose they really could call me a strategist."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Ever since joining us, Baek Hyuk had been operating more or less as my personal secretary. And because he had actual experience running a territory, he had managed to raise the kingdom's condition at remarkable speed.
Of course, that was thanks to burning through my surplus stat points.
"Have you decided on a name for the kingdom yet?"
"I've been thinking about it..."
Over the week he had spent as my secretary, the two things Baek Hyuk had pressed on me were the kingdom's name and its flag.
"A nation must have its symbols. Without exception."
He had said it with such force that I had no answer to give, and simply accepted the mission.
"So, what have you come up with?"
"The name I had in mind is..."
The moment Baek Hyuk heard the name I had chosen, his face lit up completely. Seeing that expression, I let out a breath of relief.
"Will you use Cheongun and Cheong-ah as the symbols?"
"That's the plan."
For Baek-rim, Won-ae, and Baek Hyuk, I had summoned the gate and shown them the world inside. Along the way, they had met Cheongun, Cheong-ah, and Juliet, and I'd had everyone exchange greetings.
"A divine beast like a dragon or a nine-tailed fox makes the perfect symbol for a nation, doesn't it?"
Granted, Cheongun wasn't a dragon yet, only an imugi, but one was as good as the other. As far as I was concerned, he should have ascended to dragonhood long ago.
"Then when shall we set the official announcement for?"
"The sooner the better. Let's make it tomorrow."
"Understood."
With that, Baek Hyuk slipped out of the room.
"Is any of this actually real?"
"What about it wouldn't be?"
The announcement had been yesterday at noon. And yet a full twenty thousand people had gathered in front of the royal palace.
The capital's population barely exceeded a thousand, which meant the remaining nineteen thousand had all come from other regions.
"They want to witness the birth of a new nation, I'd imagine."
"That alone draws a crowd this size?"
"If their hearts are in it, I suspect everyone else would have come too, if they could."
"Really?"
When I said I couldn't quite believe it, Baek Hyuk only shrugged.
Time slipped by, and at last the hour of the announcement arrived.
"The Hero King!"
"The Hero King!"
Outside, the air was already thick with voices calling for me.
"Wow..."
"It's time to go out, Your Majesty."
As I stood marveling at the roar of the crowd, Baek Hyuk nudged me from behind.
"I'm going."
I muttered it half to myself and stepped out onto the balcony. Baek-rim and Won-ae followed, and then Baek Hyuk.
"Waaaah!!!"
"It's the Hero King!!!"
The moment I appeared on the balcony, the cheering swelled even louder. I waved for a moment in greeting, then raised my hand and clenched it into a fist.
The roar died down, and in the space of a breath, everything went quiet.
"Ahem. I am Han Jin, the Hero King."
Left to my own devices, I would have given the whole speech in casual speech, but there was such a thing as a king's dignity, and Baek Hyuk had drilled it into me until I was sick of hearing it: under no circumstances was I to speak casually on this stage.
"Honestly, I'm sure there are people who aren't happy that I've become your king. If any of you have a problem with that... then come find me and attack me. Beat me, and I'll hand the crown over."
At my words, silence swallowed the crowd whole.
But I paid it no mind and kept going.
"If you don't have the guts to face me, then you're free to leave. But if you're going to live as my people, remember one thing: I do not abandon my own. Not even if it costs me my life."
"Woooah!"
"The Hero King!"
At my declaration, the crowd erupted in cheers.
Perhaps because they had lived under a dictatorship, and then been treated like livestock by the demons, they cheered my words with a fervor that felt almost desperate.
I can barely sense anyone who opposes me being king at all.
In a democracy, this would have been pure chaos—people screaming what kind of king is this?!, riots breaking out in the streets. But the people here showed no resistance whatsoever to the idea of me as their king.
"Now, I will announce the name of this nation, its flag, and its guardian divine beasts."
"Divine beasts?"
"I get the name and the flag, but divine beasts?"
Murmurs rippled through the crowd at my words. But I continued on, steady and unbothered.
"First, the name of the nation."
At my call, everyone fixed their eyes on me in silence. And in that taut, breathless moment, I declared the name of our country.
"The name of our nation is... the Roa Kingdom. That is what we shall be called."
The nation Roa Kingdom has been proclaimed.