Even after accepting the contract with the King, Kaizen could not believe that all this was real.

It had been so many years searching for this one goal that it was almost unbelievable that the solution was finally found in an unlikely combination of him obtaining the blacksmith's trade precisely from Therkara Ironstone, a ghost of a half-dwarf woman from 200 years ago, the fact that he had opened a store and had helped Ravastine of Leohorn.

It is also hard to say exactly what were the mathematical chances of King Spelloyal offering a contract like this to a player, considering that he needed to identify the Ironstone mark on Ravastine's sword, that crafting it was Kaizen's decision, and all the other aspects that could also be considered, such as the amount of players in the game, the skills, equipment and abilities of these players to finish the quest, the vastness of Rise Online and so on.

All these possibilities only made Kaizen think more about how fucked up this game was.

However, for the generous King of Tretidian all those chests of gold still did not seem to be enough. He owed his life, his entire family and even the entire kingdom to Psyker.

So, as also a way for the soldiers to apologize for attacking Kaizen when Queen Niah asked, the King offered Kaizen the rank of Lieutenant, which was completely different from being awarded the title Commander as Taznaar was. Kaizen would literally get a commanding position in the Tretidian Kingdom, which many players longed for.

[The King of Tretidian has proposed the profession of Lieutenant. The benefits of a Lieutenant include:

- Better relationship with all the nobles of the Kingdom of Tretidian.

- Chance to obtain other higher titles in the command hierarchy of the Tretidian Army.

- A complete map of Tretidian.

- Access to military posts

- Possible missions related to this profession

- +10% Fame when you accomplish something.

(Note: you will not be able to move freely between other Human Realms, nor will you be able to move far from your action post)].

[Warning! In Rise Online, each user can learn only three professions per avatar].

[At the moment, the KAIZEN avatar has ONE profession.]

[Do you wish to accept the King of Tretidian's invitation to become a Lieutenant? YES/NO].

The benefits of being a Lieutenant sounded nice, and Kaizen wanted to have all these privileges, however, he would only accept if it was a title because, considering the maximum limit of three professions and the restriction of travel to the other Human Realms, he would rather not be limited by being only at the beginning of the game. So he humbly declined the King's offer, who had to be content with Kaizen only as a blacksmith.

When Kaizen left the throne room, he was thinking about using a teleportation crystal and then logging out when he realized that Ravastine was waiting for him by the door.

"Hi, we didn't have time to talk before, did we?" Kaizen said.

"Yes, but it was for a good reason."

"Your father looks better. Has he removed the artifact yet? He hasn't turned his back at any point so I could check that for myself."

"No, not yet. However, with the court mages no longer under Niah's mind control, this should not take much longer. They are just now studying a safe way to perform this surgery without demanding too much of my father's weakened body."

"That's good. What about Niah? What do you intend to do anyway?"

"My deepest wish would be to burn her today, except that apparently she has crucial information that no other person has."

"Like Thenomor's whereabouts..."

"That. And we also want to know why she put a vampire as captain of the royalty's personal guard. Lydia keeps thinking about how much worse this all could have been, and she's working to find out the truth behind it all."

"That guy was a vampire? Hmm. That explains a few things. I won't be able to help with these investigations and interrogations you'll be doing, much as I'd like to, because I'll be busy making the armor your father asked me to make.... Well, I can't complain either now that I've gotten the biggest contract in the entire history of my store." Kaizen gave a closed smile just remembering the amount of money he won. "Still, I have a hunch about Niah. Something tells me this may be related to the attack that happened a few weeks ago in the city as well. Ask her about The Eye of Hermodr. Thenomor is a vampire, and The Eye of Hermodr is directly connected to the supernatural."

"The Eye of Hermodr? That cult, right? That's a good guess. If what happened today had happened a few weeks ago, I would still doubt that Thenomor was a vampire, but after I saw the Skogsrås in person, I stopped being skeptical about it."

"I'm glad you've changed your mind. Also keep an eye out for Taznaar and his gang." Kaizen said and finally took off the mask that covered part of his face. "If anything happens, you know where to find me. Ravastine, you are a great friend to me, I am happy and very grateful to have met you."

Kaizen's words were totally sincere, for it was thanks to knowing Ravastine that he got the contract with her father. If it hadn't been for her, none of this would have been possible, and he might still have had to fight hard to get all that money. Kaizen was, and forever would be, grateful to her.

Ravastine blushed at his words, looked away, crossed his arms, and with his usual indulgent expression, said:

"I am also happy to have met you, Kaizen. You have saved me more than once, trusted me with everything you have, and saved my father from his cruel torment. I will be forever grateful for everything."

After her words, Psyker smiled and held out his right hand to greet her.

Ravastine looked at his hand and instead of shaking his hand, she moved closer and gave him a tight hug.

"See you later, asshole. Don't forget to call me to hunt whenever you want."

"All right. How could I forget to call the least delicate princess there is?"

Ravastine laughed and Kaizen said goodbye to her. Then, just then, Psyker used a teleportation crystal to return to his home. This time, two hundred thousand gold coins richer.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8

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