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After the coronation, Minhyuk entered the inner palace.

Since he was now the Emperor, this place would be Minhyuk’s residence from now on.

The servants and maidservants clung to Minhyuk and began to remove his cumbersome coronation attire.

Alfredo spoke with a bright smile.

“Serving Your Majesty is an honor that I shall never experience again in my life!”

When Minhyuk first came to the Imperial Palace, Alfredo had taken care of him.

Thanks to the connection they formed back then, Alfredo became the youngest Head Chamberlain in the history of the Imperial Palace.

Not only Alfredo, but the maidservants who had been assigned to Minhyuk’s mansion also returned to the Imperial Palace, their statuses now several ranks higher than before.

Verona’s father, Tres, became the Emperor’s personal chef.

“I ask for your continued support in the future.”

“Of course, Your Majesty!”

Minhyuk, now dressed in light clothing, touched the armor hanging on the wall and said.

“Equip.”

Cla-Clank-

The armor disassembled into several pieces and attached itself to Minhyuk’s body.

He had Ballin modify the armor slightly.

He attached the Emperor’s crown to the helmet.

It wasn’t simply to enhance his majesty.

The crown passed down to the Emperors of Asdel was no ordinary object.

<Crown Blessed by Spirits>

-A legendary item of unknown origin.

-Contains a blessing (Prevents hair loss).

It was a wondrous item that prevented hair loss just by wearing it.

He had checked all the portraits of the previous Emperors, and there really wasn’t a single one who was bald.

Since he usually spent more time wearing armor, he attached the crown to the helmet.

Now, his red hair is thick and lush, but no one can predict the future.

‘You have to take good care of it when you have it.’

Minhyeok headed to the grand palace.

High-ranking nobles, including the ministers, were gathered there.

Count Terran, the representative of the Blue Rose, spoke to Minhyeok.

“You just finished your coronation ceremony, so why don’t you rest a little before setting out?”

“Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if we set out quickly and finish this quickly?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Minhyeok had announced that he would grant territories to the nobles who sponsored the last expedition after returning from the Helkan Mountains.

He planned to first eliminate the dragons, which were an obstacle to everything, and then take care of the internal affairs of Asdel and Melbeck, but for the nobles, it was another chance to show their loyalty to Minhyeok.

The nobles competed to sponsor an enormous amount of gold for this Helkan Mountains expedition as well.

Minhyeok had earned a lot of money selling Dragon’s Breath, but it didn’t mean he didn’t need gold.

Thanks to the 8 billion won with a clear source, it became even better to use cash with an unclear source.

Now, no one would think it was strange even if he went around throwing cash.

“I pray for your safety on your expedition, Your Majesty.”

General Drake will not be joining this expedition.

However, he couldn’t say that he was excluded from the expedition.

“I’ll leave the rear to you.”

“Don’t worry!”

Gaon will be transported to the Helkan Mountains.

If they face an imminent danger, the entire expedition can evacuate to Asdel Castle through Gaon.

In addition, they can join forces with the troops from Asdel Castle through Gaon.

In fact, only 1,000 people were on the expedition, but they could be reinforced by thousands or tens of thousands of people as needed.

General Drake will command such rear support.

The general, like Minhyeok, was wearing armor.

“From now on, until the expedition is completely over, I will not take off my armor for a single moment and await Your Majesty’s call!”

***

Thud-

Whoa-

The trumpets blared, and the expedition began to move.

Amidst the cheers of the people, the expedition passed through the city and exited through the east gate.

Far to the east, where the land ends and the sea begins, lies the Helkan Mountains.

The expedition will first move to Fort Tamirn.

That’s where Gaon is.

Clack-clack-

The soldiers marched in unison, keeping a steady pace.

Tarman and his daughter, Rindo, were among the procession.

Rin whispered to Tarman.

“It’s clear that the emperor still doesn’t fully trust you.”

“You shouldn’t feel bad. The kingdom would have made the same decision.”

Tarman joined this expedition at Minhyuk’s behest.

He understood Minhyuk’s decision well enough.

It would be foolish for anyone to evacuate Astel Fortress, leaving behind an army of 200,000 from Melbeck and their general, Tarman.

“Trust is not something that can be built in a short amount of time. First, you must do your best not to become an embarrassment to His Majesty on this expedition.”

“I understand, Father.”

The princess was walking in the middle of the procession.

She had no special position or rank within the expedition.

However, since Astel was not a newly founded nation but had peacefully succeeded to the throne, she still maintained her status as the daughter of the late emperor and the princess.

Minhyuk had granted her wish to participate in all future expeditions.

Professor Raymond, who was walking beside the princess, looked up at the sky and said.

“Your Highness, the weather is very good today! Perhaps the late emperor in heaven has blessed the expedition.”

Before long, the vanguard of the expedition passed through the boundary and left the territory of Gaho.

The soldiers at the forefront were the squad led by Hans.

One of them muttered with an uneasy expression.

“The dragon won’t suddenly jump out and attack us, will it?”

Everyone who participated in this expedition had experienced the dragon’s formidable power firsthand on the last expedition.

It was an existence that was difficult to even wound, let alone kill, and it even used healing magic.

All the soldiers knew that they could not recklessly subjugate the beast’s habitat, let alone unify the country, for fear that the dragon might suddenly attack.

“Don’t worry, the dragon will definitely not appear for the time being.”

Hans’s boast caused the squad members to tilt their heads.

“How can you be so sure?”

“You all know how clever that bastard is. It’s not like the bastard doesn’t know that we’ll quickly escape into Gaho’s territory if it attacks us now. It’ll be waiting for us to get far away from Gaho’s territory. So what I’m saying is… don’t worry, it won’t show up right now.”

Heh heh heh-

Hans’s words made the squad members laugh reluctantly.

He had told them to relax, but they felt even less at ease after hearing him.

Growl-

A pack of dire wolves circled around the expedition’s procession, growling.

They too attacked after observing their opponents.

Knowing that they were no match for them, they did not rush in rashly but only kept their distance.

Half a day passed, and the expedition arrived at Tamrin Fortress.

And they took a short break in the basement of the fortress.

“Bring out the cannon.”

At Minhyuk’s command, the soldiers brought the cannon that had been in the basement out onto land.

They had brought an empty cart from the fortress.

It was a cart made of astral metal for carrying the cannon.

Clang-

The soldiers lifted the cannon and loaded it onto the cart.

“Let’s go!”

Rumble, rumble-

A dozen or so soldiers began pulling the cart.

The real expedition begins now.

***

Two days have passed since leaving the Tamrin Fortress.

Fortunately, there have been no dragon attacks so far.

But we can’t let our guard down.

It will take another week to reach the Helkan Mountains.

Barlin pointed to two towering peaks and explained to Minhyuk.

“The entrance to the ancient temple is in the canyon between the peaks.”

The entrance to the ancient temple where Barlin found the magic slate was not far from our current location.

If we go there, we can obtain a higher-grade slate that can copy magical effects.

Minhyuk led the expedition to the canyon.

In addition to obtaining magic tools, we can also let the soldiers rest underground.

As Barlin had mentioned, there was a cave entrance at the mouth of the canyon.

The entire expedition entered the cave.

Screech—

Inside the cave, there were swarms of large lizards.

<Cave King Lizard Discovered.>

<You can earn 10 seconds of return time by defeating the Cave King Lizard.>

<King Lizard meat is delicious and nutritious.>

They were just big, but they weren’t that dangerous.

They were not venomous, and their movements were slow.

Thwack, thwack, thwack—

The soldiers fired their crossbows at them.

<Your soldier has defeated the Cave King Lizard. 10 seconds of return time has been earned.>

<Your soldier has defeated the Cave King Lizard. 10 seconds of return time has been earned.>

.

.

.

Thousands of lizards were eliminated in an instant.

A total of over 10 hours of return time was earned.

It was a long-awaited sweetness.

I’ve been living in fear of dragons and haven’t been able to do this great thing.

Let’s quickly get rid of them and freely roam outside the realm of protection, Minhyuk thought, his determination reignited.

Minhyuk had the soldiers rest in shifts.

And he also allowed them to cook and eat the lizards.

The soldiers, who had only eaten buns for two days, were overjoyed to cook the meat.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk explored the cave with only a minimal number of people.

Barlin, the princess, and Professor Raymond joined the exploration.

“I stayed here for half a year. Just trust me and follow me!”

Barlin took the lead and began walking.

After walking deep into the cave, Balin pointed at something and said,

“There is an entrance to the temple behind that statue.”

As Minhyuk looked at the statue, a message appeared before his eyes.

<You have found the entrance to the ancient temple dedicated to the goddess Freya.>

<There are mysterious ancient artifacts sleeping inside the ancient temple.>

The appearance of the statue and the contents of the message were exactly the same as when he found the entrance to the temple in the bat cave.

That place was also a temple to the goddess Freya.

‘Could it be?’

Maybe there was a clue to expanding his inventory here too.

In fact, it was a time when expanding his inventory was urgent.

If the refrigerator got bigger, he could put the magic beads that he would later get from killing the dragons in the refrigerator, as well as Gaon.

If he could procure them in large quantities, it would open up new horizons once again.

Of course, he could restore the altars of the other castles that he would conquer in the future with dragon hearts, just like Melbeck.

If he connected the restored areas of protection to Gaon, that would be the completion of the great cause of unification.

After that, if he put all the soldiers of the continent under his command and hunted beasts in all areas of the Great Deluge, the return time would truly accumulate at the ‘speed of light’.

Thud thud-

Minhyuk entered the entrance of the ancient temple.

From Noble mtl dot com

A narrow passage that turned left and right continued.

And finally, he reached a large underground space.

There was the advanced magic disk that Balin had mentioned.

Its diameter was over 2 meters, so it was closer to a round table than a disk.

<Magic Storage Disk (Advanced)>

-A disk that can copy magical effects.

Hmm-

It was good that he had found the magic disk, but there was a problem.

The passage was narrow, so he couldn’t take the large disk out.

He couldn’t come here every time he wanted to use the disk.

The only way to move the disk was to put it in his inventory.

However, the width and height of the commercial refrigerator were 1.9 meters, so he couldn’t put the disk in.

Once again, it was a moment when upgrading the refrigerator became urgent.

‘Is this the innermost part of the temple?’

Minhyuk looked around.

He was looking to see if there was an entrance that could lead him further in.

Huh?

He noticed a rock with a magic diagram drawn on it over there.

As he approached the rock, a message appeared before his eyes.

<You can open the rock using magic beads.>

Minhyuk took out a magic bead from the refrigerator and brought it to the magic diagram.

Then, a mysterious phenomenon that he had never seen before occurred.

Woong-

The surface of the rock swirled and distorted.

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