Overgeared

“Prime Minister! Why didn’t you stop His Majesty?”

Administrator Rabbit visited Lauel’s office and raised his voice. He was so furious that his entire face and neck were red.

“Why were you silent while His Majesty destroyed all of the kingdom’s insane dragon iron?!”

Over the past few years, the economic market of the Overgeared Kingdom had changed significantly. Agriculture used to be the center of the economy but now the armory business had become the industry that represented the Overgeared Kingdom. The reason behind this was the insane dragon iron. Thanks to the infinite multiplication of the insane dragon iron, the battle gears were produced almost free of charge. This meant enormous profits were made. The insane dragon iron was one of the treasures that promoted the profit of the battle gear industry of the Overgeared Kingdom.

Then Rabbit received the news that King Grid, after returning today, recovered and destroyed all the insane dragon iron. Rabbit was the administrator with the duty to make the kingdom rich and felt like he had been struck by lightning out of the blue.

“His Majesty should still have some of the insane dragon iron that he owns separately! You need to persuade His Majesty to re-supply the insane dragon iron to the blacksmiths!”

After Rabbit’s insistence, a notification window popped up in Lauel’s vision.

[Administrator Rabbit has proposed the quest ‘Persuade the King.’]

Rabbit was the top official who manages the Treasury. It was hard for players of the Overgeared Kingdom to refuse the quests he gave because it was an ‘order.’ However, Lauel had a higher position than Rabbit. It was much higher. He easily rejected the quest and asked Rabbit a question, “When did the insane dragon iron belong to the kingdom?”

“That...”

“The insane dragon iron has always belonged to King Grid. He just loaned it to the kingdom for a while. We have no right to intervene, no matter how His Majesty disposes of it.”

“That is true but... isn’t your duty to admonish His Majesty when needed? If he disposes of the insane dragon iron, the economic growth rate of the Overgeared Kingdom will be many times lower than it is now. We can’t stand idly by...”

“No, it is the duty of a true servant to trust His Majesty before admonishing him. Why did His Majesty make this decision?”

“......”

Rabbit stared dumbly. He realized that he had lost his temper for a moment due to the pressure of calculating a profit and loss. Lauel’s words were right. He was Grid’s servant before he was the administrator. Rather than questioning Grid’s choices, the right attitude was to trust him and try to understand.

Rabbit thought silently for a moment before speaking, “Is His Majesty burdened by the danger of the insane dragon iron?”

"Yes, that is correct. I personally think that His Majesty did well.”

Everyone made mistakes. One of the tens of thousands of blacksmiths might forget to suppress the proliferation nature of the insane dragon iron. It was possible that the insane dragon iron would cause unforeseen accidents. Looking back on the incident where the empire struggled to deal with the insane dragon iron needles embedded in the walls of the empire and the gift presented to the empress, the dangers of the insane dragon iron was too great.

‘It can even bring dragons.’

Lauel shook his head as he recalled the information he received from Grid. Since he didn’t want to get involved with dragons, the insane dragon iron gave him the creeps.

‘I don’t know if we can meet one who can talk like Nefelina.’

The dragon’s presence in the National Competition was huge. The impact that was imprinted on his brain hadn’t disappeared. Rabbit spoke to Lauel, who had taken off his glasses and pressed a hand to his forehead, “I will respect and follow His Majesty’s choices.”

HIs agitation had completely subsided.

“Business has similarities to gambling so you take risks and put profits first. However, ruling is different.”

“Thank you for your understanding.”

Lauel smiled as he turned to look outside the window. The scenery of the Overgeared Kingdom that had become a great power was both magnificent and dynamic. Grid, Lauel, Rabbit, and their colleagues had joined together to create it. No risk was tolerated. This place must be protected. Just as Lauel was making a vow, there was a slight shaking. The palace had become more solid since Dwarf Ke’s expansion, indicating that it had been greatly impacted. Yes, the ‘minimum’ impact required to create this shock...

“Don’t tell me?”

Rabbit’s eyes trembled with agitation and his face was white.

“Administrator Rabbit! You were here!”

A knight rushed in. He first saluted Lauel before reporting the situation to Rabbit, “K-King Grid and Sir Piaro have started dueling in the fields!”

“Again?!”

Piaro had a very high position in the Overgeared Kingdom Rabbit didn’t want to scold him since he was the second most popular person after Grid. Yet Rabbit had to keep playing the villain.

“Dammit! If they’re going to duel then go to the wasteland in the distance!”

He didn’t know why the two people with the power to destroy a mountain kept fighting here. They could adjust their power but the problem was that both Grid and Piaro didn’t want to lose.

“I have to go!”

“I’ll go with you. I need His Majesty’s seal here.”

The flyer held in Lauel’s hand as he chased after Rabbit attracted Rabbit’s attention. It was a flyer specifically commissioned from Picasso to recruit new farmers. The main model was naturally the legendary farmer Piaro. The sub-model was Aura Master Hurent, who was known to be Piaro’s successor. Piaro was carrying a sack of rice on his shoulder and Hurent was holding a bunch of rainbow potatoes by their stem. They both showed white teeth as they smiled happily while exclaiming, “Farming is so much fun!”

“What is that...?”

The flyer in Lauel’s hand caught Rabbit’s attention.

★ Reidan’s rice grown directly by the legendary farmer and the Aura Master ★

★ Rainbow potatoes enjoyed by great magicians ★

As Duke Piaro said,

“I met King Grid and learned the true taste of farming!”

Have you tasted it?Rainbow potatoes~

Can you feel it?Your body becoming healthy~

All of this is a farmer’s grace!It is the grace of farming!

Let’s be proud farmers together!

The countryside!It is calling you!

“......”

It was a flyer that was impossible to turn a blind eye to even in the midst of his rush. Rabbit was engrossed in the colorful and crude phrases and stopped walking for a moment. The effect of the flyer was verified through Rabbit’s reaction and the satisfied Lauel explained, “Weren’t a lot of mines found in the previous Gauss Kingdom’s territory? It seems many young people will be attracted over there so this flyer is designed to minimize this. Agriculture is the backbone of the Overgeared Kingdom.”

“No... even so, using a noble duke as the model for recruiting farmers...”

“Can I hear this from the person who tried to confiscate the salary of that noble duke?”

“......”

“Well, you don’t have to worry. The people are familiar with Piaro’s image.”

Piaro was the highest ranking noble after the king and a general who led tens of thousands of troops but he was always spending time with the people. For the people, he was like the farmer next door. He was a slightly handsome and pleasant uncle.

Lauel was confident that he was loved by the public and it would be a master stroke to use Piaro as a publicity model.

***

It was completely different from the duel just a few days ago. Grid and Piaro had reviewed their previous battle dozens or even hundreds of times. This meant they attacked their opponent more thoroughly, leading to a long-term battle. It was largely because Grid had become more cautious.

In the previous duel, Grid had poured out all of his skills from the get-go. This time, his style had completely changed. He observed the situation, waited until Piaro attacked, then used evasion or defense as he bided his time for a chance to counterattack.

‘Has he developed coping techniques after experiencing free farming several times?’

Certainly, Grid was responding well to Free Farming. He took full advantage of the fact that he was superior to Piaro in terms of speed and he turned most of Piaro’s attacks to naught. However, the faces of the observers, including Dante and Singuled, weren’t very bright.

This was a rich farming field. It was an overwhelmingly favorable space for Piaro. All types of crops were restoring his strength and health in real time, so a long-term battle of attrition was a disadvantage for Grid. The bigger problem was the variable of sowing seeds among the free farming method. Dozens of seeds were already flying around Grid and it was unknown when they would sprout at any time and threaten Grid.

‘How can he not know this?’

What was Grid’s aim? Would the young king really have a strategy to target Pirao who was accustomed to fighting?

“...!”

Among the dozens of questioning observers, Dante, Singuled, and Hurent’s eyes suddenly widened. It was because Piaro’s attack style suddenly changed drastically.

“Matchless Heart Farming 2nd Style!”

“...?!”

It was matchless heart farming, not free farming?

“Super Growth!”

The earth shook. All the seeds scattered around Grid sprouted simultaneously and became trees. The hardy trees blocked off all of Grid’s retreat paths and pressured his entire body.

‘What?’

All the observers were amazed by the momentum of the former Free Farming Style that was now much more powerful than ever before. Among them, Aura Master Hurent was astonished.

‘What is this?’

Piaro had learned Natural State. As an Aura Master, Hurent could read the concept of ‘energy’ and knew that Piaro always recovered and accumulated his strength through the process of gathering and soothing the surrounding magic power. At first glance, the resource was close to infinite but it wasn’t a complete advantage. He had to gather and embody it. There were clear delays in this series of processes so Piaro sometimes exposed gaps.

The Free Farming Style itself was a skill that consumed a lot of resources. The more times that Free Farming was used, the longer the cooldown was and the power would be lost little by little. Yet it changed at this very moment. Piaro’s pure energy was restored several times faster than before. Additionally, the capacity of the energy that could be accumulated had increased. This resulted in a significant increase in the power and speed of Free Farming.

‘What happened suddenly?’

Hurent’s gaze suddenly shifted to Grid. The one who should be the most flustered actually looked so calm. Meanwhile, the battle was intensifying. The power of Sweet Potato Battering caused an impact that was second only to Pounding Mortar, causing the bodies of the observers to shake.

'Piaro is overwhelming...!’

It was completely different from the previous duel. In just a few days, Piaro’s skills had surpassed Grid. The moment that Hurent had this thought, fire appeared around Grid. It was the usage of Storm of the Fire God that previously cooked Piaro’s sweet potatoes. In the midst of the fire—

“Flower, Link, Transcend, Kill, Wave, Drop, Pinnacle, Revolve...”

Grid started to unleash every single sword dance and fused sword dance that he had. It was like his resources were infinite as he used it nonstop! The field was turned into a complete ruin. Once again, no exception had been made.

“Siiiiiiir Piaro!”

Rabbit could be seen approaching. Grid and Piaro, who had been exchanging blows with smiles on their faces, became as stiff as statues and the observers slowly stepped back.