Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: The Story Beyond
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First things first, I needed to get a grasp on the situation. The idea that I had to go there was just my gut feeling, not a revelation from the Lord or an angel.
That meant there was a chance I could be wrong.
With no time to wait for Roca, who hadn’t come back yet, I asked the nearby attendants to pass on a message: if the blue-haired beastkin child came looking for me, tell her I was at the gate in the capital square.
Rowena stood up and came along with me. She said she wanted to see what was happening with her own eyes.
“For now, let’s go take a look. I need to see for myself what kind of mess this is.”
With her by my side, nothing blocked our path. The area around the gate was already swarming with soldiers strictly controlling access, but they couldn’t just block Rowena, who had pointed ears and the status of Elvenhome’s chief ambassador.
Instead, one soldier even attached himself to us to explain what was going on.
“That’s the gate. Can you believe it? You’ll see what I mean at a glance, but what’s beyond it right now is no different from hell.”
“That’s the gate? I can barely see it. Is it on fire or something?”
Rowena’s question was a fair one. As far as our eyes could tell, all we saw was black smoke and gray ash floating through the air.
The ash had spread like a fog, completely obscuring visibility. If people weren’t emerging from it, I would’ve thought a fire had broken out.
The sulfur stench stinging our noses and the ash billowing out nonstop—if you didn’t know better, you wouldn’t think the gate led to the Citadel Republic. You’d assume it was hell.
“What’s beyond... The situation in Valles City is extremely dire. According to the people coming through, so much volcanic ash has erupted that it’s blotted out the sky and covered the ground. That ash keeps pouring over here through the air, and it’s killing us. See how we’re wearing winter clothes in this heat?”
Sure enough, all the soldiers were bundled up thickly, scarves pulled up over their mouths. Summer was almost upon us—nights weren’t even chilly, and days were sweltering—yet they couldn’t dress lightly.
“That ash is highly toxic. Just touching your skin causes rashes. Soldiers who didn’t know and worked in short sleeves have been carted off to the treatment centers. At least we only avoid contact when we’re off duty, but what about the people coming from over there?”
Blisters and rashes were commonplace, according to the soldier, Pantton.
“Are there a lot of patients?”
“Plenty. Honestly, those with skin issues are the lucky ones. No need for divine power to heal them. They just wash off the ash here, slap on some ointment, and they’re mostly fine. But while we can treat skin wounds, we can’t do anything for the internal illnesses from inhaling ash and smoke.”
Smoke this bad just from touching the skin—what do you think happens when you breathe it in? Pantton countered. Plenty of people were coughing up bloody phlegm, he said.
“On top of that... the ground over there is so unstable that aftershocks hit several times a day. People get cut on shattered glass, trip and fall from the shaking, or get hit by falling objects—the injured are beyond counting. We’re talking a number of patients we can barely handle.”
The silver lining was that priests of the Three Gods had set up emergency treatment centers to care for the wounded. But even divine power couldn’t expel ash already inhaled through the nose, Pantton said.
Not sure if it would help, but I created a spring for them, and he was thrilled.
“We were already getting so many complaints of thirst from evacuees that I planned to request water from above, but now we won’t need to.”
“If even the escapees are like this, the ones still stuck there must have it far worse.”
“Do you think those people care about their health right now? They’re desperate enough to go mad. The higher-ups declared we should charge for passage, but that’s not what matters now. People have to come through first before we can collect fees.”
They’d been ordered to compile lists of evacuees and collect payments. But they weren’t sending back anyone who’d made it through penniless—they’d just tally it as debt and let them in for now.
The problem was, debts or not, hardly anyone was coming through. No one was really to blame for that.
“The gate—hard to see now because of the smoke, but it wasn’t that big to begin with. It’s too narrow for even a single mounted rider, let alone a wagon. People have to go single file, so even if we process them all day, I doubt we could evacuate even a tenth of the citizens.”
Pantton said a tenth, but to me, it looked like not even a hundredth would make it. How could an entire city’s population escape through that tiny door?
If we had a year—or even six months—it might be doable, but six months was out of the question. Even six days seemed impossible. We didn’t know when the eruption would hit, but it was only a matter of time now.
“Most coming through the gate—barring a few exceptions—aren’t the elite. The rich and powerful already fled on warships or booked spots on merchant ships.”
He let me in on that. Of course, the Citadel Republic was a hub of commerce, and even with all those ships, evacuating the whole nation by sea was impossible.
Even the largest galleons could only cram a few hundred people at most. If they prioritized cargo or goods over passengers, maybe half that—or a quarter.
By the time those ships reached safety and unloaded people and treasure, everything would be over. So sea evacuations were effectively done. Which meant the ones left had to escape through the long line at this gate or die there.
“There are rumors the Aldehir Church is flying out children on airships, but not in great numbers. Right now, beyond that gate, there’s only people clinging to life or giving up on it.”
Just hearing it was despairing. But it only strengthened my conviction that I had to go there.
What the Lord desires is for humans to overcome calamities they thought impossible with their own strength. But this didn’t seem like something they could overcome that way.
Save a few more lives, or fail to save even that many.
Those were the only choices being forced on them. With no human solution in sight, they had no choice but to rely on the Lord’s aid to survive.
“You’re really thinking of going through there?”
Rowena asked, sounding worried.
“I thought it was crazy talk from the start, but let me correct that. This is properly insane. No one with any sense would step into a place like that.”
She stared queasily at the gate somewhere beyond the smoke.
“On the contrary, it’s made me even more determined to go.”
For a fool like me to follow the Lord’s will, I had to throw myself into danger. There would be people in that danger who needed saving, who were praying for help.
If all I could do was pray, I’d be anxious doing it—but I knew that wasn’t the case. I had a way to save them all.
So my resolve hadn’t wavered; if anything, it had grown firmer.
Pantton finished his explanation and left, leaving just me and Rowena. She sighed.
“I won’t even bother trying to talk you out of it, will I?”
“There are people beyond who hope for salvation, and the Lord is there. If I don’t go, it’s not just a sin against God—it’s a sin against people, and against myself.”
Even as I chose to thrust myself into peril, my heart grew calm.
It was the right choice, so there was no worry, no fear.
“Master.”
A familiar voice came from behind. It sounded a bit weary.
I turned to see Roca approaching, her face scrunched up in a frown. Even a little distance from the ash, the sulfur smell filled the air. For her, with her keener nose, it must have been torture.
Still, she seemed glad to see me again—her tail perked straight up.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why come all the way out here... And who’s she?”
Her tail shot up even higher. Now worry and fear had set in.
How could I convince Roca to stay behind? I absolutely didn’t want to take her beyond, but I doubted she’d obey me meekly.
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