Chapter 68: The Situation in the North
When the three arrived at the dining hall, the city lord and Roland were already chatting in their seats. Other than them, there was also a stern-faced woman who looked to be in her late thirties.
[Core Formation 9th Layer]
[Hannah Sparks] Favorability: 7
Fredrinn narrowed his eyes upon seeing her. The previous Fredrinn had a terrible encounter with this woman.
It happened when he was still in his early teens. Roland and the city lord were very good friends who recognized each other as brothers. They once talked about marrying Fredrinn and Samantha when they reached a marriageable age. The two of them had already agreed with this and even Fredrinn was made aware of it. At that time, Fredrinn approved the idea since Samantha was quite the beauty.
However, Samantha's mother suddenly intervened in the matter and caused a scene at the city lord's mansion to express her strong disapproval. After a big fight with the city lord, she came to visit Fredrinn at the Firecrown Household estate and admonished him.
The scenes from the previous Fredrinn's memories were still very vivid, a clear indication of how much this fragment of memory left a lasting impact on the fragile mind of the young Fredrinn.
The words that Hannah said at that time replayed in his head.
"Stop your delusions. You are not worthy of marrying my daughter! An untalented trash like you who has a low-grade spirit root isn't fit to become her husband! You are destined to become a pathetic loser so don't involve my daughter with your worthless future!"
A strong feeling of rage overcame him when he recalled those words.
'Villains are not born— they are made.'
This was a quote from his homeworld that perfectly fit the story of Fredrinn Firecrown.
'Perhaps that guy wasn't innately evil.' He thought thought to himself. He began to pity his predecessor.
"Come here and sit down with us." The city lord said after he noticed their presence.
Fredrinn nodded at the city lord before he took the seat beside his father.
Meanwhile, Lucas sat next to his mother and Samantha sat next to him.
Fredrinn could feel the sharp glare coming from Hannah. He turned his head and smiled coldly at her which made the latter raise her eyebrows in surprise.
She didn't expect Fredrinn to openly taunt her. 'That rude bastard!' She gnashed her teeth in anger.
Soon, the servants came in to serve their food. All sorts of local delicacies were placed on the table, filling the hall with the unique aroma of the dishes.
High-level martial practitioners didn't need to eat food. They could simply use Qi to meet the needs of their bodies. However, eating meals had already become a habit that many martial families continued to practice for generations. It was also the perfect time for family members to chat and catch up with each other during meals.
During the meal, it was mostly the city lord and Roland who were engaged in a conversation. Hannah occasionally spoke with them, but she didn't speak much.
"By the way, how is the situation in the north, Lucas?" Roland stared at Lucas. He noticed that they were strangely silent the entire meal so he decided to pull them into the conversation.
Fredrinn curiously stared at Lucas. He was interested to hear about the situation in the north. From what he knows, the Star Wind Kingdom and its neighbor in the north, the Blue Sky Kingdom, had been fighting for a long time because of a mountain called Mount Roshire. He also knew what was special about this mountain.
Lucas wiped his mouth with a napkin before he replied. "This is classified information, but there should be no harm in telling you..."
"Before I was discharged from the army, our Star Wind Kingdom managed to push back the army of the Blue Sky Kingdom further from Mount Roshire..."
"…We still haven't gained full control of the mountain, but with a little more time, I believe we can take the entire mountain."
Hearing this, Roland nodded in agreement. He had some intel on the situation in the north and he agreed with Lucas' words.
"What is so special about that mountain? Why are two kingdoms fighting over it?" Samantha asked.
Lucas shook his head. "I also don't know. I was only a company commander during my time in the army. Our superiors didn't tell us anything about the mountain."
A Core Formation martial practitioner might be rare in Red Sun City, but in the entire kingdom, there are tens of thousands of them.
"I heard a rumor from my friend that there is a unique type of ore in Mount Roshire. I'm just not sure what kind of ore it is." The city lord muttered.
Fredrinn remained silent. He knew what kind of raw material could be found in the mountain, but he didn't mention it. 'They should be talking about the orichalcum ore.'
From his knowledge as a former player, Orichalcum was a rare material used to create powerful items, specifically weapons and armor. Items made from this material were guaranteed to be at least rare-rated. There was also a high chance of creating an epic-rated item and a small chance of getting a legendary item!
'From what I remember, it was the Blue Sky Kingdom that managed to take over Mount Roshire. Star Wind Kingdom suffered a huge loss and they were forced to retreat from the battlefield in the north. The kingdom lost many powerful generals and martial practitioners which caused its military might to be significantly weakened.' Fredrinn's eyes gleamed upon recalling this event.
He didn't take it seriously at that time since he only treated the Star Wind Kingdom as his starting point in the game. However, things were different now. He couldn't allow the same thing to happen.
"I just hope that we win so that the people who were sacrificed…" Lucas' words trailed off.
The city lord noticed his gloomy mood so he quickly changed the topic. "By the way, the royal family has already announced where they would construct the…"
"Oh really? That's good news!"
Fredrinn stared at Lucas and felt sympathy for him. 'He must have experienced a lot of hardships in the north.'