I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild

The dragon scale, the mana stone from Master, and even the glowing orb.

I seemed to be drawing attention with these extraordinary items I was carrying.

"Gyeoul, what's all this?"

Jung Yu-na, whom I met in the lobby, showed interest in the things I was holding.

From her attire, it looked like she was heading to a dungeon.

"These are materials for a weapon. Marin and the Masters gave them to me."

"Oh... then let me contribute something too? Would you mind waiting here for a moment?"

Jung Yu-na took the elevator to the upper floors.

Was she going to get some material for the weapon?

"Gyeoul, can you hold out your hands?"

"Sure."

As I cupped my hands in front of me, Jung Yu-na pulled something from inside her clothes.

Surprisingly, she was holding a flickering flame in her palm.

"Here, take this."

"Nyak!"

When the flame dropped onto my hands, I let out a short cry without meaning to.

Fortunately, the flame wasn't hot at all.

"It's fire but it's not hot."

"That's right. It's fire that doesn't burn."

"Wow..."

With too many materials to hold, I placed the flame on top of the dragon scale, along with the mana stone and orb.

Though I wasn't sure what all these would do, I felt hopeful that a good weapon would be created.

"Hmm... we'll need the Association President to make a proper weapon."

"The Association President?"

"Yes. Just mixing good materials doesn't automatically create a good weapon. You need to balance them properly, and that's the Association President's specialty."

"Ah... but the Association President is in the beast-kin village right now..."

"Don't worry, he'll come quickly if Gyeoul calls."

Jung Yu-na took out her smartphone from her pocket.

After rapidly exchanging messages, she told me to wait a bit, so we chatted to pass the time.

"Really? You even defeated an iron golem?"

"Yes. We had a good matchup against it."

As we continued talking, I sensed familiar presences nearby.

The Wizards Association President and Jeffrey.

**

I received a mysterious black mana stone from Jeffrey and an item that helps balance materials from the Association President.

Though I wasn't entirely sure, these should be enough for weapon materials.

I hugged all the items I'd received to my chest and headed back to Master's department store.

"Hello."

Back at the basement forge of the department store.

The elderly blacksmith I'd met earlier was scolding other blacksmiths.

"Make sure you block the mana leakage during the quenching process!"

"Um..."

"Hmm?"

He seemed quite angry.

Cautiously, I held out my materials, worried his anger might be directed at me.

"Could you make a weapon with these...?"

"These are..."

The blacksmith's large hands picked up the materials I'd brought.

After examining each material, he looked down at me with an incredulous expression.

"You want to make that tree branch into a weapon with these?"

"Yes. I want it not to break even when swung vigorously."

"...My goodness."

The blacksmith let out an inexplicable exclamation.

I couldn't tell if it was positive or negative.

"Is it not possible?"

"No, it's not that it can't be done, I'm just surprised."

The idea of reinforcing a tree branch is quite remarkable.

It might seem foolish, but Gaeul treasured Woodcalibur so much after I gave it to her.

For Gaeul's sake, I wanted to do this much.

"So with these..."

"Yes, let's give it a try!"

Haha.

The blacksmith laughed heartily.

It was a laugh that conveyed joy.

"Could it possibly become as hard as steel?"

"Steel?"

"Yes. I want it not to break even when swung around a lot."

The blacksmith responded to my question with a slight smile.

From his reaction, it seemed possible.

**

I visited the forge with the children every day.

We observed Woodcalibur's transformation process day by day, though there were no obvious external changes.

Of course, the energy that had seeped into Woodcalibur was clearly different from before.

"Wow."

Energies that shouldn't normally harmonize were blending together inside Woodcalibur.

Gaeul must have felt it too, as she was wagging her tail with anticipation.

"Here, try swinging it."

The blacksmith handed Woodcalibur to us.

Gaeul received it with both hands respectfully, then immediately started swinging it wildly in the air.

"Yah! Yah!"

"S-stop!"

The blacksmith stopped Gaeul as she was swinging Woodcalibur recklessly in all directions.

Startled by his loud voice, Gaeul's eyes widened.

"Ahem, it's a powerful weapon, so you must swing it with care."

"...!"

Gaeul's expression suggested she'd realized something.

She nodded and hugged Woodcalibur tightly to her chest.

"You shouldn't swing it carelessly just because you're bored. Understand?"

"Nyeng...!"

Gaeul attached Woodcalibur to the band on the side of her bag.

Meanwhile, I approached the blacksmith with a pouch of mana stones.

"Um, the cost..."

"Just take it."

The blacksmith waved his hand dismissively, telling us to go.

I'd heard about discounted prices for guild members, but free?

Confused, I held out the entire pouch of mana stones.

"But I should pay something..."

"Forget it. I've found what I lost."

"What you lost?"

What had he found?

I wanted to ask, but the blacksmith shooed us away.

He said he needed to move on to his next work.

"Hmm..."

Is this really okay?

As I scratched my cheek awkwardly, Gaeul tapped my shoulder.

"Owner, dungeon!"

"Dungeon? Want to test Woodcalibur?"

"Hek...!"

Gaeul's tail wagged rapidly.

I was also curious about how much Woodcalibur had been strengthened.

As we were heading to a nearby dungeon, I caught a familiar scent from somewhere.

'This is...'

The scent of blue powder, like what I'd smelled on Han Yeoreum's hand.

People with that scent were moving somewhere.

As if enchanted, I followed them and discovered a dungeon different from the one we were planning to visit.

"Here."

One of them handed a pouch to the dungeon management civil servant.

The civil servant then let them through without completing any paperwork.

'What's going on?'

The blue powder group consisted of exactly five people.

The dungeon they entered was Level 3.

Were they going to use the blue powder for hunting?

I reached out to Levinas beside me and said in a small voice:

"Levinas, can I borrow your phone for a moment?"

"Mmm...!"

Levinas seemed to sense something too, and handed me her phone in a hushed voice.

I left a text message for Master and everyone else.

[People using blue powder are entering a dungeon. I'll follow them secretly.]

By the time I finished writing the message, they had entered the dungeon.

This gave me a chance to talk comfortably with the children.

"Kids, those people who just entered the dungeon are bad people."

"Yes! They smell like that powder from before...!"

"Right?"

If we followed them, we might discover some important evidence.

After thinking, I spoke to the children:

"I'll follow them secretly. Would you like to wait here for the adults to arrive?"

"No, let's go together."

The first to answer was none other than Saebyeok.

The other children also seemed to agree with Saebyeok's words.

"It's probably safest if we stick together."

"That's right!"

"Hmm..."

Is it really safer to go together?

Well, our children aren't exactly ordinary children.

I decided we should all go together.

"Then we need to be as quiet as possible, okay? We're not fighting, just observing secretly."

"Yeah. I understand."

"Got it!"

After quickly forming a plan with the children, we entered the dungeon.

As we approached the dungeon management civil servant, his expression didn't look good.

"K-kids, you shouldn't enter this dungeon."

"Why not...?"

"Entry permission hasn't been granted yet."

Ahem.

He laughed awkwardly.

It was frustrating to be stopped before we even started.

"I see..."

If I argued about why we couldn't enter, it would only arouse suspicion.

I slowly backed away while making eye contact with the children.

-Let's sneak in!

-Huok!

After exchanging glances with the children, we slowly moved to the side.

Using the beast-kin's naturally light footsteps, we silently circled around to the back of the portal.

'Let's wait a bit...'

There was a high chance those people were still wandering near the portal.

We waited about ten more minutes before entering the portal.

Woong-!

And then we were inside the dungeon.

As soon as we crossed the portal, we saw people trading blue powder and mana stones.

"Huk."

So they weren't using the blue powder to clear the dungeon, but using the dungeon as a trading place for the powder.

My ears shot up in surprise at this unexpected situation.

"What the hell?!"

"Are you kidding me?!"

"What is that civil servant outside doing?!"

As we appeared, those trading blue powder drew their weapons.

Startled, I pulled out my bow, and Gaeul grabbed Woodcalibur.

"We're screwed. They're Yeomyeong kids. Touch them and we're all dead."

"...They're just kids. Let's just knock them out quickly and run."

They gripped their weapons and approached us.

As I was nocking an arrow to respond, something amazing began to happen.

"Ownerrr! Ownerrrrrr!"

I turned to look at Gaeul who was crying out almost in distress.

The Woodcalibur in Gaeul's hands was emitting a light so bright it hurt my eyes.

"Owner! It hot! It hot! Ownerrrrr!"

Gaeul, eyes tightly shut against the light, extended her arm holding Woodcalibur straight forward.

The light began to spread in all directions from Gaeul's trembling hand.