Chapter 191

Chapter 191: Gyeonghui Palace

A season so hot that even the morning dew barely manages to make a brief appearance.
The scorching summer sun makes its heat felt the instant it rises from the east.
“And still……”
Despite the light and heat that seemed to pierce through everything, the land beyond was dark and gloomy, as if sunlight never touched it.
They said it was even darker when Godwin lived, but it did not feel real.
Why did Godwin try to create such a land?
Why did he try to return everything to nothingness?
“Mysterious Land, huh……?”
It was a name given because it wielded a magic that could not be understood by modern magical theory.
Most of the mysterious elixirs originated in the East, but it was a land with suspiciously few records about them.
Since it was also a place Ferda had excluded to reach the Ninth Circle, it was natural that he remained indifferent until the declaration of conquest.
— Do you have to go there, absolutely?
The one who asked that question was Ruri, standing one step behind.
— Because that is where the happiness she desires resides.
— Do you know what Lady Valdrova desires?
— I know.
Her dream was always a humble life.
— And still, you are risking your life.
From Ruri’s perspective, it was an extremely trivial matter.
But for Ferda, it could not be avoided.
Ferda knew that a terrifying monster remained within himself.
That monster would undoubtedly try to devour Valdrova again someday.
That was why Eastern magic was needed.
The driving force behind elven magic was emotion, similar in form to the Red Circle of humans.
Easterners learned to use the Red Circle of elves and had researched its control, amplification, and efficiency.
Amplification could be done at any time.
What was needed was control.
Ferda looked silently toward the east, then asked her.
— Her Majesty Valdrova is……
— She still does not wish to meet.
— ……Is that so?
This was a matter of life and death.
They said they would go with veteran adventurers, but it was also a matter of life and death for them.
The mere possibility of not seeing tomorrow weighed so heavily on the chest.
He wanted to relieve that tension, even if only a little.
“Eleanor……”
Ferda had given her the name Eleanor.
But since that day, he could not bring himself to utter that name, so even in his heart it became increasingly awkward.
— Isn’t that quite fortunate? —said Ruri.
— If you do not return alive, you will not be able to see the Mistress, right?
— ……True.
The reason was that it was not a final farewell, but an “I must return to see her again.”
Framing it that way, he felt the tension transform slightly into courage.
— Thank you.
Ferda’s hand moved toward Ruri’s head.
Ruri flinched upon seeing that hand, but said nothing.
— Regent Ferda-nim!
Just as he was about to pat her head, a lively voice called Ferda.
It was Rize.
His face was filled with an embarrassment that would not fade.
— It took quite some time to prepare.
— I’m sorry! The spirits wouldn’t stop clinging and begging me not to go……
— The spirits stopped you?
— Yes, they said the demonic energy is too dense and that they cannot enter……
Those who are easily corrupted by demonic energy are those sensitive to mana: spirits.
Although they are cute individually, when those three gather they become an unimaginably fierce existence, and if they were corrupted by demonic energy, they would undoubtedly become a calamity.
— They kept making a fuss saying I would die if I went there, pulling and dragging me back……
— By the wind?
Rize hesitated, then turned around in silence.
His clothes were torn, revealing his fair skin and the curves of his back in plain sight.
— I should ask at the guild if they have clothes.
— Y-yes……
Rize nodded with a flushed face.
Ferda still found it confusing that he was a man.
The meeting point for the expedition was the East Gate of Hestia Village.
Normally there would be few people there, but not only the guild members, even passersby had gathered en masse.
Pushing through the crowd and stepping inside, he saw men who appeared to be scholars and technicians huddled around a large object.
Rize’s eyes sparkled upon seeing it.
— Wow…… Is that the mana car?
— Yes.
— At first glance it looks like a carriage. Something protrudes where the horse would go……
It truly looked like the prototype he had once seen in the nonexistent future.
However, since this thing had to accommodate 12 people, its size was considerably large.
Even so, it was not completely identical; the design was a level more refined.
Dean Escolea’s long-cherished desire had been poured entirely into it.
“He put a tremendous effort into this just to spite people who use carriages.”
Knowing the inside story, Ferda found it pathetic, but could not call it useless.
Because it was boosting the morale of the adventurers and guild members.
A mast was erected on the mana car, bearing an emblem and these words:
— Flint Expedition.
Flint is a fire stone.
For an expedition that includes everything cool like Golden Wings, Eagles, etc., to be named Fire Stone.
“Given that it is an expedition departing from Hestia, a promise to ignite the first fire……”
Thinking about it that way, the name did not seem so bad after all.
— You arrived early.
Erica greeted Ferda.
She scanned Ferda’s body from top to bottom and said:
— You are also fully armed. There is nothing to criticize.
— Since it is an important matter, I cannot be a hindrance.
— If you had spoken like that last time, it would have been great.
— But I also spoke like that last time, didn’t I?
— No matter how I look at it, were you telling us to only worry about yourselves?
— That meaning was also included.
— Look at this noble lord who graces us with his presence. Rize-ssi…… seeing that back, you will need new clothes.
— Y-yes……
— Let’s check the storage. Shall we go together?
Erica walked away with Rize to look for wearable clothes.
Ferda was checking his condition like the others.
At that moment, he felt someone’s gaze directed toward him.
Turning his head, the Armored Knight was there.
He could not see inside, but Ferda knew it was a gaze directed at himself.
— ……
— Do you have business with me?
A gesture of tilting the head slightly upward.
She swung her head as if thinking of something.
She nodded.
The Armored Knight held out a single sheet of paper to Ferda.
It said:
— Please take care of me.
— ……
Just those six characters, was it something to agonize over so much?
He examined it closely, wondering if there was a hidden meaning.
“The handwriting is quite refined.”
That was the only information given.
Did she receive it from a ghostwriter, or did she practice and bring it herself?
Did she do all that just for that single greeting?
Surely she would not have come all the way here with a childish purpose like wanting her handwriting praised.
— All right, please take care of me as well.
Ferda returned the paper and replied.
She seemed dissatisfied on the inside, but the Armored Knight did not insist.
Shortly after, Erica returned and spoke with the scholars and technicians.
— We will depart shortly! Everyone to your positions!
— To positions!
At her booming voice, the adventurers who had been sitting on the ground stood up and headed toward the back seats.
Ferda tried to follow and move to the back seat as well.
— Wait a moment.
The one who stopped him was Erica.
— Would the Regent-nim like to sit next to me?
Erica tapped the seat beside her.
Ferda frowned reflexively.
— May I refuse?
— You have a precious body, so shouldn’t you get the seat of honor?
— That is not the seat of honor, it is the coachman’s seat, right?
— True. Isn’t it strange that the Branch Master of the Adventurer’s Guild is sitting in the coachman’s seat? What do you think would happen if the Master of the Blue Eyes Magic Tower sat in a place like this?
Who knows.
They would think the Magic Tower went bankrupt and that is why she is doing coachman work.
But chatting in the back was not his personality, so he sat obediently next to Erica, just as she said.
— Let’s see. First pull this lever, hold down this button…
After going through the complex operation process, a sound began to echo from the front.
Wooooong—!
The sound echoing from inside the vacuum tube.
The engine had started.
After a few more manipulations from Erica, the wheels began to turn.
Very smoothly.
— It moves!
— It is moving!
The scholars and technicians erupted in cheers upon seeing the wheels roll.
Seeing the vehicle pull away,
They even shed tears of emotion, making Ferda tilt his head in bewilderment.
— You don’t know why they like it so much, do you?
— Yes.
— Just the other day they were saying it couldn’t carry the weight of 12 people, right? Didn’t they consider armor or extra supplies?
— And?
— I gave them 24 hours.
— It wasn’t simply giving 24 hours, was it?
— Of course not.
It would be a lie to say Erica’s neat solution did not sit well with him.
Thus, they left the village and headed toward the Devil’s Land.
They crossed the dividing line, so distinctively colored that it is called the boundary between life and death.
— We are entering. Everyone get ready!
At Erica’s signal, the members of the expedition checked the amulets around their necks once more.
The moment they stepped inside the boundary, the sensation hit them.
— Mmm…
— Ugh!
Those exposed to demonic energy for the first time reacted immediately.
Especially mages sensitive to mana felt it with greater intensity; the others felt demonic energy pressing against their bodies.
Ferda was no exception.
“If there were no reason to enter, I would have turned back immediately.”
He slowly circulated his circles and stabilized his breathing.
He reminded himself once more that this was his sanctuary, which demonic energy could not invade.
— It reminds me of the old days.
Erica initiated a casual conversation via telepathy.
— Back then we received blessings from all the dragons and gods and somehow managed to break through. But even so.
“Is that so?”
— Even now we managed to gather exactly 12 people. Just like back then. Back then I also recruited the expedition members to go kill the Demon King.
“I understand.”
— Sorry for telling you a story you’re not interested in. But please, listen a little. Honestly, there is no one I can tell these things to directly.
He thought about blocking her, but feared that would create a gap through which demonic energy could sneak in, so he let it be.
Erica, immersed in her memories, continued.
— Back then, no one believed. Not even me, who was recruiting. They said we had to destroy the entire Eastern region called the Mysterious Land, break through this thing called demonic energy, and go kill the Demon King. Honestly, it makes no sense, right?
“That’s right.”
— So everyone believed we had to coexist with Godwin and satisfy his demands. But exactly one person did not.
“Valdrova?”
— Yes. She believed in human potential. Honestly, back then it was really…
“Did she seem like an idiot?”
— I was going to say it was irrational and emotional foolishness, but you said it for me. Didn’t I say it?
“Just continue the story.”
— Anyway, expectations for humans were not high. I believed the human race, busy fighting among themselves, had no choice but to follow the path of destruction.
“Yet the outcome was different.”
— Yes, in the end we saved the Serdes Continent. And human power keeps growing stronger. In the end, she was right.
“Is this a story you already knew?”
— I knew it, but it became something I couldn’t even follow. Because the final incident changed everything.
Godwin died, and Silverwind died.
Countless people who threw themselves onto the battlefield died, including the Spawns.
Dragon Spawns share their deaths.
Due to that trait, Valdrova’s appearance was impossible not to hate.
Silverwind still only wants war with Valdrova.
— Since she never argued or spoke, I wondered if she was just a shameless dragon.
“She simply could not speak.”
— No one even considered that possibility. What dragon in the world does that? If you answer back, we punish immediately, that is what our kind does…
Saying it herself, she had nothing to say.
— So I decided.
“You decided what?”
— If the day comes when Lord Iorga rises with justice, we will formally apologize for the rudeness we committed.
An apology.
It felt strange for a dragon, not Valdrova, to apologize to someone.
Ferda hid his true feelings and replied.
“As the Tower Master, thinking that way… I am only grateful.”
Ending the telepathic conversation, Erica started a casual conversation.
— But this is more comfortable than I thought. You just step on it and it moves on its own.
— Is that so?
— Celestial carriages or simply mana-driven carriages are quite tricky. If you don’t consider the return condition, it’s common to simply fall from the sky on the way back.
— That is true.
— Going comfortably for 1 hour is fine, but if there were a way to supply additional mana stones while completely blocking demonic energy, that would be good…
— If we apply magitechnology to create transport equipment with demonic energy shielding, efficiency would also be maximized…
They exchanged trivial magitechnology ideas and chatted animately.
Valdrova, sitting deep inside, stared at them.
She was eavesdropping on their conversation.
“I don’t understand a single word.”
Two people having an intellectual conversation that her head could not comprehend.
Ferda’s figure as he did so seemed to be glowing.
The sound of the mana car’s engine, which had been running for 2 hours, gradually weakened.
At the same time, the spinning wheels lost power until finally coming to a complete stop.
The energy of the mana stones was completely depleted.
At the same time, it proved how precise Erica’s calculations were.
Before them stood the foundation stones that had supported the main gate, welcoming them.
They had arrived at Gyeonghui Palace.
Erica stepped out of the driver’s seat and shouted.
— From now on is the real beginning. Everyone stay alert!
— Phew, it’s starting!
All veterans with more than 5 years of adventure experience.
But in this business, being a veteran does not guarantee a long survival.
They were people who always kept that in mind.
Erica, captain of the Flint Expedition, began large-scale command.
— Position A. We are going in.
Upon entering through the entrance of Gyeonghui Palace, a spacious front courtyard welcomed them.
Despite having been abandoned long ago, its shape remained strangely intact.
The sharp eyes of an archer gleamed.
— Enemies spotted!
The enemies were not hiding.
They slowly revealed themselves toward the fresh prey that had arrived on its own two feet.
Monstrous shapes imitating human silhouettes.
To be precise, they resembled Ghouls.
Unlike common animal forms, they moved on all fours with slender, nimble-looking bodies.
— Kieeeek!
— Kieeeek!
They shrieked, signaling their kin.
They moved as if waking from a long slumber.
— The count is 50!
They thought it would be an easy fight.
— No, 100…!
Still a doable fight.
— No, 200!
A fight that could be a bit difficult.
— 300!
No more thinking.
Ghoul monsters crowding the front of the palace.
With purple skin emitting green ghost lights, they looked anything but ordinary.
— I guess easy money really doesn’t exist.
— What the hell is easy!
Even in a situation where they might die, they smile.
Because that is the best an adventurer can do.