Slumped at the seat of honor, Leone watched the merrymaking of the Alborin Tribe.
By now, everyone had already learned of the truth—he was an exile from the Kingdom of Britannia who had ended up crashing here due to shoddy teleportation magic.
That should have been ominous.
Instead… It sparked hope.
It made no difference whether it was an accident or fate. In their eyes, Leone was still sent by their goddess. At least, that was what they wanted to believe at that time.
"Eat up, Leone!" Ulric said, grinning. "Men should eat, drink, and enjoy life to the fullest! Hahahaha!"
"Thank you, Chief," Leone replied before eating the plate of roasted meat handed to him. "Wow! This is delicious!"
Ulric watched the young man enjoy his meal before drinking a mug of mead. Truth be told, this was perhaps the last time they would hold a celebration in their tribe.
After all, they were stuck in a precarious situation with nowhere to run. As such, he decided to just enjoy the festivities and stop worrying, even for a brief moment.
Drinking and eating quietly beside him was his daughter, Yuni. She was well aware of what everyone was doing their best to forget.
In two weeks, their ceasefire agreement with the Black Wolf Tribe would reach its end.
Perhaps she would end up a slave of the enemy chieftain, doomed to spend the rest of her life as a tool for his desires.
In the past, the Alborin Tribe and the Black Wolf Tribe had been allies. Their chiefs had been as close as brothers. However, the former chieftain of the Black Wolf Tribe had died because of an "accident" during a hunt.
His real brother had replaced him. Since then, things had taken a turn for the worse. The new chieftain had entered an alliance with two other tribes before turning on the Alborin Tribe by declaring war.
The ultimatum was simple.
Surrender within two weeks and become part of the Black Wolf Tribe. Otherwise, every man in the Alborin Tribe would be slaughtered, leaving only the women behind.
Leone had tried to strike a conversation with Yuni, and perhaps due to the mood of her people, she decided to tell the young man everything.
"I see! Now I understand the situation." Leone nodded. "Thank you, Yuni!"
Yuni blinked, unsure of what to make of Leone's cheerfulness. However, before she could say anything else, Leone turned to her father.
"Chieftain, I now understand that you are indeed facing a dilemma," Leone said to Ulric, who was on his fifth mug of mead. "But don't worry. Now that I'm here, everything will be fine!"
Ulric chuckled before filling his mug with more mead from a barrel. He had taken a good look at Leone earlier and realized the young man was neither a warrior nor a mage.
He was just a happy-go-lucky noble, probably spoiled by his family. With this in mind, Ulric didn't bother taking the young man's words too seriously.
But one person voiced his thoughts.
"What could a weakling like you possibly do?" Yuni commented without even looking at Leone. "Even if the Black Wolf Tribe don't kill you outright, they'll probably use you for ransom. And once they discover you're an exile, they'll likely feed you to their wolves."
Seeing that the father-daughter pair had no faith in him, Leone decided to talk to his partner.
"Daedalus, they don't believe me," Leone complained.
"Action speaks louder than words," replied the Grimoire, now named Daedalus. "If you want them to believe in your greatness, you must do something to earn their acknowledgement first."
Leone's shoulders slumped.
"But don't worry," Daedalus continued. "We have two weeks before the tribal war starts. I've vowed that I will make you a Hero King, and I will make that true. This is the perfect stage for you to debut. Don't worry, this opportunity will not be wasted. For now, eat, drink, and make merry. Tomorrow, you shall take the first step to your legendary tale."
Leone felt satisfied. His partner sounded very dependable. With its assurance, he enjoyed the feast with everyone else. The night passed in cheers and chatter.
However, when dawn broke again, Leone felt his confidence slipping away.
"Can you really make me a Hero King?" Leone asked, sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Daedalus hovered in front of him, radiating a confidence backed up by experience and time.
"I've made such men before," Daedalus replied. "World rulers. God kings. Absolute sovereigns."
"You didn't answer my question," Leone pointed out. "I asked if you can make me a Hero King."
The book hummed thoughtfully, as if gauging whether its new host had the potential to be a ruler among men.
"… I can," Daedalus admitted. "But history proves that those who walk this path often meet tragic ends."
Leone's expression became serious. "I want details."
"Oh, you know. Things like assassinations, honey traps, being pushed and falling off a flight of stairs, getting backstabbed by their own family members, or accidentally slipping on a banana peel and ending up with a fatal head injury."
"I'm prepared," Leone declared without giving this topic the thought it deserved.
Daedalus nodded. "You should be. That's the price of your dream."
Leone shrugged. "If I'm going to aim high, I might as well aim for the top."
The ancient artifact fell silent again, its pages flipping rapidly as if reviewing countless memories.
"I remember an emperor who swore to rule forever," Daedalus said. "He was assassinated by his own wife."
"I'll marry carefully." Leone promised.
Yuni, who was eavesdropping, couldn't help but chuckle after hearing the silly exchange.
Leone and Daedalus glanced at her, but she only tilted her chin towards them like she was daring them to do anything about it.
The two decided to ignore her and resume their conversation.
"Ahem! Thanks to my guidance, a warlord unified half the world!" Daedalus announced.
"Only half?" Leone frowned. "What went wrong?"
"… You are focusing on the wrong part."
"Actually, isn't that the most important part?"
Daedalus coughed and feigned deafness.
Leone leaned forward, staring at the book that was called Kingmaker. "You want me to become a Hero King, so does this mean that you will help me build a kingdom? Isn't this too far-fetched?"
The grimoire chuckled as if it found this question funny.
"Building a kingdom from scratch may not be easy. Building an empire is even more difficult!" Daedalus acknowledged his partner's doubts. "However, with my knowledge, strategy, and power… It is possible."
"Very well, let's build this kingdom," Leone declared. "How about I declare myself the Demon Lord? Usually that is enough to make everyone fear me, right?"
"Certainly. Becoming Demon Lord has its perks. But heroes will be racing to hunt you. You'll also be resisted by nations and hated by Gods since they hate competition," Daedalus warned. "If you want to make your life difficult, then shall we set my difficulty settings to hell mode?"
"On second thought, let's just stick to becoming a Hero King for now."
"Heh."
Daedalus then opened its pages and asked Leone to take a good look.
Words began appearing on previously blank pages. Aside from that, there were also pictures, some moving as if they were alive.
"Since you are now my master, you can now accept missions which will earn you BP or Builder Points," Daedalus explained. "Think of BP as a currency you can use to exchange items from the Arcane Shop.
"Now, please use your finger to tap the [Mail] symbol located at the upper left side of the page. The one with a red blinking dot."
Leone did as he was told. A moment later, the contents of the page changed to show a wrapped present with the words [Beginner Package!] blazoned on it.
"Now, tap your gift and get your first batch of resources that will help you start your Kingdom Building Journey!" Daedalus said proudly.
Leone obeyed with a calm look on his face. However, deep inside, he was very excited. Everything simply looked magical. How cool!
The moment he tapped the present, a list of items appeared before his eyes.
Items that, if used wisely, might just help him overcome the first obstacle that would put his mettle to the test.