“But there’s also a recent piece of news.”
“What news?”
“The Lord of Morata’s true identity is Wargod Weed.”
“What?!”
Wargod Weed!
It was such a feared name that it sent shivers down their spines.
Styrene was also a player who had grown up in the Continent of Magic. He had personally experienced the Continent of Magic Weed’s wicked charisma. He killed, stole, and was absolutely ruthless. Like looking at a mountain that could not be climbed, Wargod Weed had filled him with despair.
“Are you saying he’s really Wargod Weed?”
“We can’t be certain, but they say that possibility is sufficient.”
“Did he say it himself?”
“Apparently so.”
“…”
“Several news channels on broadcast are saying there’s an almost 100% possibility that Wargod Weed is Morata’s Lord.”
Styrene was silent for a while.
Wargod Weed’s nature was extremely brutal, and he didn’t condone those who challenged him. He was a figure who would be furious even after razing everything to the ground by the simple fact that there was a territory in Morata’s vicinity.
Styrene had fled the rough wolves in the central continent, but he ended up next to a tiger’s den.
He was about to recall nightmares from the Continent of Magic. However, his guild member said something that was somewhat comforting.
“A rumor isn’t always true. And there are also many opposing opinions.”
“What are they?”
“First of all, he does have quite a few connections to Wargod Weed, like the evidence of the Ice Dragon and his relationship with the Freya Church. However, it’s not certain whether it’s actually him or not.”
“Then…”
“Even if he’s really Wargod Weed, there’s not much he can do. Could he dare to challenge our guild alone?”
They were the welcome words Styrene had been waiting for.
“Right. There’s nothing to fear even if he’s Wargod Weed. And if his profession is really Sculptor, then we could even see it as a blessing and a stroke of luck, right?”
“There’s a chance for us.”
Styrene harbored grand ambitions concerning Morata. He would develop Trivan Village, draft soldiers, and seize Morata by force with his guild members! Styrene Guild had over 600 high-level players settled in the North altogether. If they acquired mercenaries from the central continent, they could field an army of about 2,000.
They were planning to take everything Morata had.
“Even if it’s Weed… this time, it won’t go as he pleases. His record from the Continent of Magic will end here. And if he isn’t Wargod Weed, then it’ll really be over for him.”
“That’s right, guild master!”
“Then hurry and go to Morata to lure in some residents so we can enact the plan.”
“…”
* * *
Weed developed his Tailoring and Sculpting skills as he immersed himself in making dolls.
“Dolls can also be called a field of expertise, after all.”
He could earn a lot of proficiency or Fame if a work he made for the first time exceeded a certain level. However, he accumulated professional experience after making several of them, so the effect on his skill level or proficiency grew as well.
It was like how it was awkward for a Swordsman to use magic, and how Blacksmiths couldn’t make tons of different kinds of weapons. Of course, a Sculptor was the profession at the very peak of hybrid characters that could combine all of those.
“A doll of a child…”
Weed tasted failure dozens of times. He couldn’t make a perfect magnum opus, a work that looked like it was carved from the light of the heavens. He could only dream of it because he knew his own humble skills well. However, it wouldn’t do if there was an aspect that he found lacking.
“A young little girl. A doll of a lovable, bright, and peaceful child.”
Weed tore at his hair. The King Hydra and Imoogi leather that had been stacked like a mountain was shrinking. If bronze or iron had been used as materials, then he could melt them down again and reuse them, but for the most part, he couldn’t recycle the leather materials and had to discard them.
“It’s hard enough making a child that’s flawlessly bright, but darkness follows brightness.”
In the eyes of the parents who couldn’t have the child, such brightness would be pain that would chip away at their hearts. Even so, their sadness would be infinitely greater if he made a child that was shrieking as it cried.
“Magnum opus. I need to create a magnum opus…”
Weed fell into confusion. His worries on what kind of work he should to make were growing even more severe.
“Should I guess how Seo-yoon looked when she was young and make that?”
Escaping from reality!
He thought it’d be easy to sculpt Hwaryeong or Irene in their youths. However, Weed soon saw the error of his ways and shook his head.
“The player named Mandol believed in me and entrusted this to me. I can’t just do a rough job.”
It seemed like doing the quest would be way easier than agonizing over something that was so difficult to resolve.
The proficiency he accumulated while making dolls also amounted to 36% of level 7. Even if his skill level and expressiveness grew with experience, it was no good if he couldn’t decide on the right subject.
“I’m not being too greedy… I just want to sculpt the best little girl that I can.”
Weed’s worries kept deepening.
Since there was no word from the expedition that had gotten the shared quest and had left for the Embinyu underground prison, he just kept sewing dolls. As he repeatedly experienced countless failures, he was trying to make that something.
Dolls, dolls, dolls, dolls!
“Gaaaaah!” Lee Hyun kicked away his blanket and stood. It was such a big issue that he couldn’t sleep. “I thought I’d never have to suffer because of a doll again.”
The dolls of young girls wouldn’t leave his mind.
“Should I just make it as a bronze statue? If I make it using gold or silver, then…”
He came up with ways to escape, but he didn’t want to run away from it like that. Such an action would be completely betraying the trust he had gathered in sculptures thus far.
“I can’t just forget about it without even being able to make the requested sculpture.”
It wasn’t his way to give up because it was hard. No matter what, he just had to find the method!
Lee Hyun went to the market to cool his head. The dawn market was overflowing with liveliness from the people buying and selling things like vegetables and meat. But even within that liveliness, he couldn’t think of the right sculpture for the young little girl.
“Should I try going to the maternity ward or a preschool?”
He could see little kids there, but it wasn’t like he didn’t know what a child looked like.
“They’re sleepy little devils that get hungry and you have to frequently change their diapers.”
No matter what kind of little girl doll he made, he wasn’t pleased.
On his way home, Lee Hyun passed a photo studio. Photographs for the first birthday celebrations of little kids and wedded couples were on display.
As he looked at those photos for a long time, Lee Hyun gained enlightenment.
“For a sculptor, the subject can be felt and seen in the finished work alone. That’s probably very different from a parent’s perspective.”
There was a life to a child even in an ordinary photo, and to a parent, that one photo would be a truly precious work.
Lee Hyun tried thinking of saying farewell to a little girl from a parent’s shoes.
Just what was he supposed to do about a parent’s breaking heart as they parted with a doll of a newborn baby!
“Making a doll of a child was wrong from the very beginning!” Lee Hyun suddenly shouted.
If he thought about it from a parent’s perspective, then he already had the most definite answer.