I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 428: Though It Seems Like a Lie

"Huh...!"

At the elderly beast-kin's exclamation, the other older beast-kin led by Sophia reacted.

Their ears twitched at the thumping sounds coming from the massage chair.

"What is that sound...?"

"Why is Elder Isaac making those noises...?"

The older beast-kin's eyes turned toward the bearded beast-kin, Isaac.

His eyes had gone wide from the chair's massage, and his expression soon turned euphoric.

I'd thought he was just a gentle elder, but his expressions were surprisingly varied.

"This is heaven, pure heaven..."

"The chair is giving me a massage."

"How can a chair give massages...?"

Despite the questions from those around him, Isaac just stared up at the sky.

With an expression like he owned the world, he suddenly jumped up from the chair in shock.

"A-ahem... Elder Sophia, while this massage chair is impressive, you can't win over the beast-kin with mere objects."

Elder Isaac had returned to his serious demeanor.

At that moment, someone else quickly sat in the massage chair.

"Oh, ohh...!"

The round-eared, fluffy beast-kin's eyes went wide.

Sophia glanced at him and shrugged.

"True, objects alone can't win over the beast-kin."

"...That sounds like you have more prepared."

At Elder Isaac's question, I answered only in my mind.

That Sophia had prepared an incredible amount.

From the start, Sophia hadn't intended to simply win over the beast-kin.

She'd brought the possibility for them to become a better society.

"What I want to show you is the human system."

"System?"

"Yes. Working in human society taught me how important a systematic approach is."

Tap tap-

Sophia turned to look at her office colleagues.

Yoo Sang-ah, Momoa, and Im Se-hee who had joined at some point.

"They also follow Gyeoul. They'll teach you about systematization."

"All hail the great Gyeoul!"

"H-hail..."

Yoo Sang-ah praised me with a chuckle while Momoa joined in with a red face.

"Um..."

This acting seemed unnecessary.

While I was feeling awkward, Yeomyeong's office staff left with the beast-kin village administrators.

Trusting the guild staff would handle things well, I returned to where the children were.

The children were sitting watching the animation Levinas had put on, which was just finishing an episode.

"Want to watch the next episode?!"

Levinas puffed out her chest with an "ahem" and held out the remote toward the beast-kin children.

Realizing the remote could play the next episode, the beast-kin children stared at it intently.

"Yeah. Hurry and play the next one."

"What happens to the hero horned rabbit?"

When Levinas didn't start the next episode, the beast-kin children showed their impatience.

Seeing them, Levinas showed a somewhat evil smile.

"The next episode...!"

"The next episode...?"

"I won't show you the next episode...!"

At Levinas's shocking declaration, the beast-kin children's ears and tails shot straight up.

Even Gaeul, who had been watching with them, looked startled.

"Eeeng..."

Gaeul set off her mini siren while patting Levinas's shoulder.

She patted it like giving a massage, which made Levinas start to panic.

"Gaeul puppy, don't you remember the plan?!"

"Pan?"

"Yeah! The plan to lure them with cartoons!"

"...!"

Gaeul's eyes lit up.

Bom and Saebyeok seemed to know something too.

What's going on?

Why was I the only one who didn't know anything?

Just as I was quietly approaching the children, Levinas held up the remote triumphantly.

"If you support Gyeoul as king, I'll show you the next episode!"

"Support Gyeoul."

"Yes!"

Oh my.

So this was their plan - holding the cartoon hostage.

It was a childish strategy, but it worked perfectly on young children.

"O-okay... I'll support, just show us more..."

"Me too!"

For children who only had physical activities as entertainment, the impact of cartoons was huge.

Surprisingly, Levinas had caught onto this well.

"So you'll support our King from now on?!"

"Yes."

"I'll support them no matter what!"

The beast-kin children watched me with sparkling eyes.

Thanks to Levinas, I was starting to get an idea of how to win over the children.

I decided to teach these children, who had limited entertainment options, lots of fun modern games.

**

Flora, the beast-kin village's mage, was receiving lessons about human systems.

Having never left for human villages except for barrier maintenance, she was deeply shocked.

"This 'Excel' thing is truly amazing."

Flora could understand why Sophia had called the beast-kin village's system outdated.

Excel that could simply organize complex documents, and this 'keyboard' that was several times faster than writing by hand.

Everything she saw could reduce workload many times over compared to the beast-kin village's methods.

'I had no idea the gap had grown this large.'

Tap tap tap-

Flora tried pressing the keyboard and mouse as Sophia had shown her.

This 'computer' could instantly perform the mathematical calculations essential for village management.

Flora was astounded that one person could perfectly handle calculations that usually required four or five people.

"...Sophia, can you tell me how big the gap is between beast-kin and humans?"

"...Even those called commoners live more prosperously than us."

"I see."

What kind of society had humans created?

Flora's heart began leaning bit by bit toward Gyeoul's side.

Having talked with Gyeoul directly before, her heart leaned even more.

When they first met, rather than showing off, she had introduced herself politely.

She'd shown a kind smile even to hostile Heily.

But she wasn't simply nice either.

She had the strength to intimidate Wilder, and tools and systems that could develop the beast-kin village further.

As Sophia had boasted, she could be said to have better qualities than any previous king.

'However...'

Flora held back her half-convinced heart.

She hadn't yet seen the most important quality for a king.

'Leadership.'

Even a king with the best qualities in history couldn't do anything alone.

What was important in the end was gathering talented people around you.

However, the more talented someone was, the stronger their ego tended to be.

Those with strong egos didn't follow others easily.

'Perhaps expecting leadership is too much.'

This king candidate was kind and strong, but didn't have a king's characteristic charisma.

Without the crucial leadership, everything else would be meaningless.

Just as Flora was feeling disappointed...

"Flora!"

"Flora! Flora!"

"Hm?"

The village's few children came running toward Flora.

They were grinning mischievously, clearly excited about something.

"Flora, we're going to support Gyeoul as king!"

"Me too!"

"...?"

The village children who were wary of outsiders had become Gyeoul's supporters in the brief time she'd looked away.

What in the world had happened?

As Flora blinked in confusion, Sophia spoke up:

"In the end, the most important ability for a king is making people follow them."

"Y-yes, but how so suddenly...?"

"You'll understand if you spend time with Gyeoul. She makes you want to be around her."

So she did have leadership?

Before Flora could speak, the children were bouncing around her.

"Gyeoul is amazing! She taught us lots of fun games!"

"She's a king but she's our friend!"

"...That's wonderful."

To capture the hearts of such wary children.

Flora's heart leaned just a tiny bit more.

"Are there any patients in the village?"

"...You know there's never a day without patients."

It was a small village of about 300 people.

Having to handle monsters around the village with few people, minor injuries were so common they didn't even pay attention to them.

Sophia seemed to know this, just nodding slightly.

"Among those who follow Gyeoul is the highest ranked healing mage in the human realm."

"...You're saying the most renowned among those precious healing mages follows them?"

"Yes, I brought them here. Since you value leadership most, Flora."

"Hmm..."

So they'd brought them to prove that talented people followed this king candidate.

While having the world's greatest healing mage as a follower would certainly prove leadership...

Someone at the peak of healing mages, who were treated like nobility even among mages.

Though she knew Sophia wasn't one for idle talk, this was hard to believe.

That the pinnacle of healing mages would follow a child who hadn't even fully developed.

It seemed as far-fetched as saying the world's strongest would follow a child.

However...

"...Then could you show me?"

Flora didn't want to doubt her friend Sophia.

She decided to trust her friend just this once.

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