Money was not an urgent problem, since Lenn was also the king. He could send himself as much money as he wanted.
The most urgent problem was that he didn't know where he was.
He walked to a store and bought a map. Buying a map of the kingdoms in the night wasn't something a normal person would do, but he ignored the puzzled and curious store manager and looked down towards the map in his hand instead.
His kingdom was called the Elberan Kingdom, located near the east coast of the Tarian Continent, but the Vandel Village was located in the Mardin Kingdom along with about a dozen of other villages and towns, which were adjacent to Elberan on the west side.
-"Luke really didn't want anyone to find out, huh. He was very careful."- Learning that he was in a completely different kingdom, Lenn was somewhat surprised. He thought that he was just in a random village in Elberan. -"Killing Luke quickly was a right choice. It would've been harder to kill him the longer he lived."-
Now that Lenn knew where he was, the next thing was to establish control. According to Lenn's knowledge, a town usually has three authorities: the town's adventurers' guild, a Mages' Association Division, and a noble family that was appointed to rule the village.
The noble family would have many strong mages as guards, and the Mages' Association Division, naturally, would also have strong mages. However, even though the adventurers' guild had many strong adventurers, they aren't part of the organization, which means they weren't part of the combat force.
So, Lenn decided that he should take over the adventurers' guild first.
***
At the Vandel Adventurers' Guild.
The guild leader, Beatrice, was a strong earth mage. She was born in Vandel Village and attended a mage academy at the age of 10. She graduated at the age of 20 as a B rank mage and one of the top students. After that, she became an adventurer and at the age of 40, reached rank A and finally became the leader of the guild.
Now, Beatrice is 50 years old and only a few other mages in Vandel Village were capable of beating her, including the leaders of the Mages' Association and the nobles.
Lenn was one of them.
Beatrice was about to finish signing the last documents of the day and go to sleep when she felt a sharp object touch her neck. An emotionless voice sounded in her ears.
"Don't move, or I'll slice your neck."
Beatrice froze. She didn't even feel the presence of the man behind him.
Slowly turning around, she saw a pair of cold brown eyes that belonged to a handsome man, staring at her.
-"He's so young, and he's already a B rank? No, even stronger. An A rank!"- She gasped, surprised by the young man's age.
-"If he is this young, I might be able to beat him."-
Beatrice jumped backward, casting a spell at the same time.
Four stone walls slowly rose around the young man, eventually trapping him inside. There was no way he could break out easily.
Seeing this, Beatrice let out a laugh and said to the trapped man, "Ha, I can tell you are strong, but you are still too young to fi-"
Her sentence was interrupted as she felt a sharp edge press against her neck again.
***
Earth magic was strong, but it had a fatal weakness. It was slow.
On the contrary, Lenn was capable of extremely fast movements thanks to his subtype, assassin. At the last moment, he slipped out of the space between the walls and sprinted behind Beatrice.
While pressing the golden dagger on her neck, Lenn said, "Don't try to reinforce your skin with earth magic. My blade is faster."
Earth mages can reinforce their body with earth magic, making their bodies much more durable. This is especially effective against opponents like Lenn, who are fast but lack the power for a decisive blow.
Now knowing that Beatrice was an earth mage, Lenn would not give her the chance to harder her skin.
"I need you to do me a favor. Make me the guild leader."
"What?! You want to be the guild leader?" Beatrice was stunned.
"Yes. Becoming an adventurer is too boring. You will create a meeting and tell everyone that you are tired of being a guild leader. You will say that I am your best friend and that you will entrust your guild to me."
"...Fine, I'll do it."
"Good, you're a smart woman. Don't try to run away or try anything funny. I can kill you whenever I want." Hearing the answer, Lenn slowly removed the dagger, "By the way, my name is Lenn."
After waiting for a while, Beatrice slowly turned around. "How should I contact you?"
There was no one to be seen. Lenn had already left.
-"He wasn't bluffing. He really could kill me whenever he wanted."- Although she can harder her skin, she couldn't do it forever. Moreover, she couldn't even feel Lenn's presence, so she can't do it before Lenn attacks.
There was no way she could survive against Lenn.
Thinking this, she sat down at her desk and started writing documents to give her position to Lenn.
Watching from outside the window, Lenn was satisfied. He was afraid that Beatrice wouldn't listen to him.
He was actually bluffing.
The speed and stealth he achieved previously were due to a skill he used. By injecting dark mana in his blood, he can blend into the darkness perfectly and perform inhumanly fast movements.
However, his body wasn't strong enough to withstand the power. He was now extremely fatigued and wouldn't be able to use that skill again for 12 hours.
If Beatrice escaped during this time, he would have had no way to stop it.
As he was walking back to the hotel, Lenn started thinking about the next steps of creating a power of his own. He needed an identity that could be used in public, a few trusted underlings, and a powerful organization.
The identity part was the easiest, and he was close to getting it.
Being a guild leader was useful because it would explain his wealth and power, making them less suspicious. When someone sees a powerful mage that they don't know, their immediate reaction would be to do a background check on them. However, with the identity of the guild leader as a shield, the chances of him being exposed would drop significantly.
After returning to the hotel, Lenn checked his inventory. All he had was a few gold coins, nothing else.
Although a few gold coins would be enough for a farmer to live his whole life, it was far from enough for Lenn. There were so many things he needed. A dimensional ring, good-looking clothes, weapons, and much more. All of them needed money.
Now, as the king of Elberan, he wasn't short on coins. However, all of his property was in another kingdom, making it hard to get. He could send himself some coins from the palace, but it would take at least a few days.
"S**t, that a**hole hotel manager. I swear I'll kill him one day after I buy my own house."
He laid down on the bed and closed his eyes, hoping that the next day would be just as good.