The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
chapter-716

“Prince,” Secretary Antonio called.

A healthy copper-skin man who was wearing a comfortable outfit sighed and said, “I beg you, please tell me that those bastards did not make another move.”

“Forgive me, sir. I am here to give a report about the damages.”

The man, whose name was Al Hajat, once again let out a deep sigh, “Hoo...”

He had not been able to sleep for a few days now and it was already starting to take a toll on him. As part of the royal family and a figure that should set an example for his people, he should remain unwavering. He must not show any signs of weakness. However, he was left feeling hopeless.

It was fortunate that Al Hajat, who was also known as Alhazard in Alf Online, had become one of the Awakened. He never expected that the game he was playing simply for enjoyment would actually give him power. But the problem was that the abilities he had awakened were blacksmithing and tailoring.

At Level 50, he was considered a ranker-level production class player, so his level was actually not bad at all. By the time a person reached level 50, they could already be considered a production-class player of the highest caliber. In fact, at that level, he could already create all kinds of items. And because of his tireless efforts, Al Hajat became one of the famous production-class rankers.

But now? He felt devastated by the fact that he had not become a combat-class Awakened who could deal with the monsters threatening the safety of his country. What good was it to be at this level when he was only a production class Awakened?

Al-Hajat had even heard of a story about a ranker-level Awakened who appeared in America. This person was said to have personally dealt with and successfully stopped a monster raid all on his own.

If he had only prepared himself for combat and not played the game for fun alone... No. If he only knew that this would happen in the future, then Al Hajat would not have to suffer and face such devastating destruction and huge losses.

Actually, the country where Al Hajat lived was rich in oil deposits. It was to the point that he used to joke that he lived and ate oil rice[1]. Naturally, they knew for sure that they would eventually run out of those reserves. But for some reason, they discovered several huge oil deposits after the emergence of the monsters.

That was why his country's number of deposits was incomparable to other nations. But that naturally did not matter at the moment.

There once was a proverb that said, "You never know what the future holds for you."

Yes, it was fortunate that they found vast oil reserves. But the unexpected appearance of a monster in the vicinity posed a problem, especially since it had taken complete control over the oil deposits. On top of that, they still had no clue about this monster's powers.

Given how they had never made contact with it in the first place, much less fought against it, it was only natural for them to not know at all. But it wasn’t because they were afraid that they didn’t attempt to make contact, even though they were worried. Being scared wasn’t the case at all.

Al Hajat had encouraged the Awakened in his country, made thorough preparations, and set up several raids to subdue the monster. However, they were weak both in terms of numbers and strength. This meant that dealing with the monsters that ceaselessly appeared was already too much for them to deal with, let alone taking down the monster that had taken over the oil deposit.

He had asked other countries for help in the end. However, all he received were rejections. They kept on saying that they could not help since they were also in a difficult situation and were preoccupied with their own problems. But Al Hajat knew that they were all lies.

Oil was oil. But a huge amount of materials that could be used to make equipment for the Awakened were discovered after the emergence of the monsters. This was the root of all their problems.

Great nations were keeping Al Hajat’s country in check. They were making a lot of excuses as they waited for his country's power to decline so they could seize control and reduce his country's influence. Yet, Al Hajat did not want to sacrifice many lives, even though his country was capable of preventing the decline and weakening of its power.

Al Hajat had been putting in endless effort to prevent this from happening. They had used a lot of capital and lobbied their case. But when the crisis actually happened, they still found themselves in the predicament they wanted to avoid in the first place.

Their nation's finances began to falter since they were unable to drill any more oil. On top of that, a lot of their Awakened ended up ill or severely injured. This left them incapable of regularly driving out the monsters. If only their country had an Awakened who had a little more power, then their situation would not have gone this bad.

Then he received a comment on the post he left on the production class Awakened community site back when he first became an Awakened. But he had already explicitly expressed his intentions and already stopped his activities there.

But with a very heavy heart, he entered the community site. He was then greeted with what seemed to be a very playful comment, which said that the commenter would solve all of his problems if he made something for them.

That would’ve been great. After all, as a production class Awakened, he would continue to grow if he also continued to produce something. He actually wanted to take the request and do it so badly, given that it was something he truly enjoyed doing. But he was slapped with reality. It was now impossible for him to do what he liked.

But the guy who left the comment was very persistent.

“This is making me a bit angry.” Al Hajat then said

Secretary Antonio asked, “How shall I handle it?”

“I believe this is the aggro that they are talking about on the internet. Although there are a lot of people dying, there are still those who fool around.”

Secretary Antonio stroked his chin. “If it’s making you feel a bit uncomfortable, should we find them and punish them?”

“No. We can’t afford to go to another country and fight someone just because of something like that. It would be for the best if I just delete my account.”

“If you do that, then...”

“It’s enough for me to produce things in my own country,” Al Hajat replied.

His secretary could only nod in agreement. Then he swiftly deleted Al Hajat’s account in the community site, which did not allow anyone to create another account after deleting their first one.

Secretary Antonio found the decision to be a shocking one, but since it was the order of his master, he did as he was told without any hesitation.

“Let’s prepare to send reinforcementsI’ll go and make the equipment myself.”

“You have done more than enough. I believe it would be better for us to get help from America...”

“Our country has remained rich for a very long time because of our oil deposits. If we give up our ownership and rights over those oil deposits, then the consequences that we will have to face will be far more devastating than what we are experiencing now.”

Oil was the only way for them to survive in the barren lands of the Middle East. Although America and Russia had requested a joint development agreement over the newly discovered oil deposits, they were only mere words. Besides, there was only one possible outcome for their nation if they approved of this arrangement and granted rights to America in exchange for borrowing their Awakened.

In the end, his country was left in a situation where they had to choose what to give up—the rights to the oil deposits or the help they needed from America. But regardless of the choice they would make, it was obvious that they would still lose their oil deposits.

“Excuse me... Prince...”

“I told you to make preparations for the reinforcements. And yet, you’re still here, doing nothing.”

“How about trying to ask the Saint of Tionis for help?”

“The Saint of Tionis? Ah. I have heard about that. He solved all of England’s major problems in just a blink of an eye.”

“Yes. If we could get his help, then...”

“Do you have any way to contact him?”

“We’ll send a communication request through the South Korean government.”

However, Al Hajat shook his head at Antonio’s suggestion. “We can’t do that. I heard he has no affiliation with the South Korean government and was merely staying in their country. Not only that, their relationship is also on the rocks. And so, I think we won't get a positive outcome if we contact him through them.”

It would be great to get the help of the Saint of Tionis. If only they could contact him. But they couldn’t do that, and this left Al Hajat feeling extremely suffocated.

“Then how about we try his personal live broadcast?”

“Personal live broadcast?”

“Yes. I have heard that he’s doing a personal live broadcast because of some kind of random box.”

“Interesting. A member of a royal family from another world is doing a personal live broadcast.”

“The random box requires the attention of the people before he can pull an item out. We can go there and try to ask for help.”

“Then has he been doing any live broadcasts recently?”

“He’s not doing it right now.”

“Then that’s a meaningless choice of action.” Al Hajat sighed as he stood up from his seat. He then looked out the window.

The city outside used to be thriving and lively. But now, it was enveloped in a gloomy and dreary atmosphere.

“In the end, do we have to give up the only resource that this country has?” Al Hajat mumbled in a daze.

But then...

Knock, knock–

Someone knocked somewhere.

Al Hajat paused. Then he looked around and followed the direction where the sound came from.

‘Wait. Aren’t we on the 20th floor?’

He kept looking around until he spotted a little girl floating in front of the hard window, knocking with her small white hand.

From the silver hair that was tied in pigtails and was reflecting the blue hue of the sky, to the fluttering wings on her back and the angelic halo hovering over her head, the girl looked very much like a fairy. But it was her eyes that were the most mysterious thing about her. Her blue irises had patterns etched in them that were nearly impossible for the naked eye to see.

And the unexpected arrival of this girl, who looked nothing like a human, caused the entire room to descend into utter silence.

Clang, clang, clang!!!

Right at that moment, the bodyguards stormed inside the room. They immediately pressed Al Hajat down and pointed their guns at the girl.

“It’s an attack!!! A monster attack!!!”

“Duck!!!”

Chaos suddenly befell the room. But the girl did nothing but knock, in spite of the cries of a sudden attack. She looked like she was murmuring to herself as she chewed on her lips cutely.

But they could not hear a voice.

Meanwhile, the girl was left outside for a very long time, floating in a daze.

Al Hajat, who was guided by Antonio to take cover behind the bodyguards, suddenly realized that the girl was not hostile at all. “Wait! Hold on a second!” Al Hajat shouted as he raised his hand, effectively stopping everyone from moving.

The bodyguards looked at him in shock, but they still ended up lowering their weapons. After all, they could not just go against the orders of their master.

For a long while, the girl did nothing except chew her lips in contemplation. But it seemed like she had finally come to the conclusion that things could not continue like this. So, she raised her small and dainty hands.

Shiiiing!!!

But the thing that appeared on the back of her hand was not cute at all. It was a sword made of compressed light with an extremely high temperature. With one swing of this weapon that had appeared on the back of her hand, she cleanly sliced the hard glass in front of everyone. No one even had time to react. No one even had time to react.

Swoosh!!!

Wind suddenly rushed into the room, and the guards immediately pointed their guns at her again.

“Wait!” Al Hajat cried out.

Clang!!!

But in spite of his protests, one of the bodyguards fired a shot at the girl. Had she been a regular child, the impact of the bullet would have likely caused her head to burst in an instant. However, the girl just raised her hand in front of her face and...

“Sh-she grabbed the bullet?!”

She crushed the bullet with her bare hand and let it fall to the ground. “Master Davey has sent a message. Master Davey is seriously asking for a deal, so why did you delete your account and run away?”

“Wh-what?”

“Rinne’s master, Davey O’Rowane, attempted to request a production commission through the production community site. However, the target does not hold any trust for Master Davey and has deleted their account.”

Her explanation caused the entire room to descend into silence.

“Rinne has to personally make this trip. Rinne rates this lowly.”

“Wha-what are you talking about?”

When she heard Al Hajat’s murmur, Rinne squinted her eyes—an action that looked extremely adorable. There was a brief moment of silence before Rinne's eyes lit up as she opened her meager chest area. Then the light flashing from her eyes projected a screen that showed a very familiar place.

A soft voice then rang in the room. “Aah, ahh. Can you hear me?”

Al Hajat stared blankly at the screen projected in front of him.

“First of all, I’m not a person from this country, so let me ask for your understanding and forgive me for entering your airspace so rudely. You see, this looks like a pretty huge guy,” the young man on the screen said. He was wearing a soft smile that highlighted his attractive face and figure.

“You see that over there? Those that keep on trying to crawl out,” the young man continued as he stretched out his hand and pointed at the oil rig below them.

Near it, the land had collapsed and left a sinkhole where strange-looking monsters were crawling out.

“I’ll deal with them and sort all of them out within thirty minutes. However, you will have to make something for me.”

Al Hajat felt breathless at the young man’s proposition.

‘This... This is not a joke, right?’

Al Hajat had assumed that the user who sent a production request to him was simply an ordinary person. Because what are the chances that the user would be the Saint of Tionis, Prince Davey? The thought completely left Al Hajat in a daze.

“Excuse me... You see, people are coming here. Are they the police? No, maybe they’re the army? Anyway, please make a quick decision before these people come and get in my way. I’ll definitely exterminate the monsters. You won’t even see a trace of them left,” the young man said with a grin on his handsome face.

Having watched the Saint of Tionis on the screen, Al Hajat screamed, “Please... Please help us!”

1. This is an old Korean joke. If Koreans have too much of something, they say they have enough to eat it for meals. The joke is from how important meals are to Koreans. ☜