Fairy Kingdom Reconstruction Project (2)
Fairy Kingdom Reconstruction Project (2)
There was no need to clear out the entire Reverse Side right away.
How many monsters were in this vast space? Killing them all at once was too cumbersome.
For now, only the area around the Inner Core needed to be tidied up.
- His Majesty desires war...!
- It's a war of conquest!
- Death to all monsters!
[...You got all that, kids? You really understood, right?]
Whoooah! The gathered spirits banded together and steeled their resolve. Despite my explanation, their eagerness didn't seem likely to dim.
"They're having a lot of fun, aren't they?"
"Given what they're saying, can we really call that just having fun...?"
Ellia said with a light laugh. Lee Ha-sol, watching the spirits as they prepared by constantly releasing energy, wore a strange expression.
[Ahaha... They're not being serious, they're just talking like it's a joke.]
"I know that. But Ha-yul's spirits really do have the power to easily wage a real war of conquest, so it just feels real."
Lee Ha-sol, who had approached from behind, placed her hands on my shoulders and gently massaged them.
Professor Liana, Ellia, and Lee Ha-sol all possess Spirit Affinity.
Though Lee Ha-sol's affinity is specialized in wind, she seemed to have grasped the purely honest intentions the spirits were displaying.
I smiled awkwardly and continued my explanation.
[You lot head north and clear things out along the way. If you run into a monster that's 4th Rank or above, make sure you gang up on it. And if you can, leave the corpse behind and give me a call. Got it?]
"I'll be in command, so don't worry."
- Clank
It was Seo-yul, who had come close. As this matter involved the Fairy Kingdom, she had come along.
Seo-yul was wearing armor.
Armor that covered her whole body from head to toe. Even amidst the gloom, the elegant silver armor exuded a heavy momentum.
At the sight, Ellia's eyes went round with admiration.
"Woah...! Seo-yul, you look so cool! Just like last time, armor really suits you!"
"Hmm hmm... Ahem. That's only natural, since I'm a knight."
Seo-yul, who had walked up looking remarkably confident, twitched the corner of her mouth and puffed out her shoulders.
Her helmet hid it from view, but I could feel it since I was maintaining my observation.
"It's different from the armor you wore last time, isn't it? Did Ha-yul make you a new one?"
"Yep, he finished it a few days ago."
The main material for the armor was the scales shed by that Tower Master of the Dead.
Her main body had been annihilated by a direct hit from the Five Ends, but she had shed plenty of scales while wrestling with my soul.
Most of the time went into processing those scales.
The performance in the test results was satisfactory.
It had far surpassed the minimum desired defensive threshold.
I had used the Proof of Protection as a design reference and invested the Earth Dragon's scales as materials, so of course the performance had to be good.
[Even so, I'm still uneasy...]
Swallowing a sigh, I placed a hand on Seo-yul's stomach.
Feeling the cool, hard texture of the armor, I layered on new safety measures.
I crammed in as many protective spells as I could, stacking layer upon layer, and wove in the Authority of Protection for defense and the Authority of Space for emergency evacuation in just the right measures.
On top of that, I pumped it full of my mana to boost its base performance even further...
[...I'm uneasy.]
"Dad, it's hard to get hurt wearing something like this."
Seo-yul, who had been staring down at my actions, said, sounding utterly bewildered.
[I can't help being uneasy, okay? What if you get hurt by mistake?]
"At this level, even if a 2nd Rank hit me, I'd be perfectly fine."
[Don't say such scary things...!]
A 2nd Rank is born in the Reverse Side in the original work. It's just that the Reverse Side had been forced into a rampage before that could happen, so it never got the chance to be born.
Telling her to stop with the ominous words, I swatted her stomach. Seo-yul just shook her head from side to side.
"If you're this worried even after putting me in armor like this, I might have to spend my whole life holding you in my arms, Dad. ...Come to think of it, that would be nice."
While Seo-yul mumbled with a peculiar expression, I finished inspecting the armor.
In the end, Seo-yul led hundreds of high-ranking spirits and left to clear the north.
When I couldn't hide my lingering attachment to the growing distance, Professor Liana slowly rubbed my back.
"Even if they go far away, isn't the child still within your observation range?"
"Well, yes, but..."
"She has Terramor and hundreds of other high-ranking spirits swarming around her, armor made from the scales of that Earth Dragon, and if things get dangerous, you can not only respond remotely right up to the point where you can't anymore, but you could just fly over with a spatial leap yourself..."
Folding down a finger for each point she listed, Professor Liana laughed.
In conclusion, her question was whether I was still uneasy despite all these precautions.
I pouted and turned my head towards the undead.
I had mobilized a four-digit number of undead.
They were almost all special undead created based on Taesan, and that included Aerus and Aupreut.
[You lot clear out the south. Make good use of Aupreut, and gather the corpses of any usable monsters.]
I more or less gave command authority to Aerus and sent them off.
Their average combat power falls behind the spirits, but since they have Aerus and Aupreut, into whom I've painstakingly poured care, they'll be fine.
Even if those two break, I can always just fix them again.
Just as I was indifferently sending off the undead, Lee Ha-sol, who was by my side, whispered to Professor Liana.
"He clearly treats the undead differently. Anyway, I think that even without the spirits stepping up, he could easily wage a war of conquest by just mobilizing the undead."
"In war, necromancy might actually be more useful."
"If Ha-yul ever got wicked intentions, what would happen... gives me the chills."
"That's why we have to stay by his side and make sure he can remain our good Ha-yul."
At Ellia's final words, the three of them all nodded their heads in agreement.
I could hear everything even if they whispered. In the first place, the way they were sneaking meaningful glances this way made it seem like they were saying it so I would hear.
[...Shall we talk about the work now? Kariade?]
- Yes, Your Majesty.
Kariade, who had been standing quietly beside me, lifted its head.
[First, the central region... meaning I intend to designate this place as the capital. This is where the core is located, even within the Inner Core.]
"When you say core..."
Kariade, trailing off, turned its gaze toward the pillar visible far off in the distance.
[Yes, that's the core.]
The middle of the pillar, which seemed to connect all the way to the sky, was completely hollow.
It was the original location of the Reverse Side's core, and that core had collapsed when I forcibly drove it to rampage.
[It's not a big problem even if you destroy the core. The pillar is what sustains the Reverse Side's existence; the core was a kind of will.]
"Are you planning on replacing that core with something else, dear?"
Said Professor Liana, her arms folded as if supporting her chest.
"Yes, exactly! I'm going to entrust the role of that will to the Fairy Tree."
Now that it'd been mentioned, I immediately approached the pillar.
"It's much thicker than it looked from afar. Well, I suppose that's natural since it's the heart maintaining a space of this scale."
Enjoying Lee Ha-sol's amazed reaction, I dug a hole in the ground next to the pillar and took out a sapling from my subspace.
It was a sapling that had branched off from the Fairy Tree I personally raised in Siyoram.
Compared to its parent body, which was like a World Tree, the sapling was a tiny little thing that fit right in my arms. Its fresh green leaves were cute, too.
- Hmm...?
I planted the sapling in the ground.
Its branches twitched as if it had just woken up. The planted roots wriggled as they naturally absorbed the mana and vitality in the soil.
Thanks to having been fed plenty of blessings beforehand, it showed signs of wanting to grow right away. I chuckled and manifested Taesan through my two hands placed on the ground.
Boom! The dominance of Taesan spread across the ground. The dominion of the unclaimed earth yielded easily.
I channeled the mana and vitality from the soil into the sapling. The sapling wriggled its roots energetically, hungrily devouring the nutrients.
Taesan Expansion Ability
Life and Death Judgment
- Krrrrk...!
The innate talent of Taesan seeped into the sapling.
The trembling sapling quivered as if an earthquake had struck, then rapidly grew, swelling in size in an instant.
It was as large as an average tree in no time.
The ceaselessly growing Fairy Tree gradually reached the Pillar. Soon, following my wish, it began to slowly devour the Pillar.
"Ahh..."
Everyone marveled at the mystical sight.
Kariade's reaction was especially intense. Her body trembled, and she gazed endlessly at the Fairy Tree's growth with an ecstatic expression.
I smiled inwardly and stirred my mana.
The mana pouring from my Core filled my throat, lingering in my mouth.
I parted my lips. Will mixed with the mana, and power charged it with an abstract purpose.
Word Command.
『Child born under my blessing』
"Huh?"
The Word Command flowing from my mouth spread far and wide.
While Ellia and the others blinked at the unfamiliar sensation, the called-upon sapling shook its branches vigorously.
I smiled brightly and continued the Word Command.
『Embrace the pillar of the world, and grow up healthy』
The Word Command scattered in all directions, then gathered together and seeped into the sapling.
- Crunch, crack...!
The already rapid growth accelerated even more.
Now, the speed was closer to expansion than growth.
The trunk grew incomparably thick. The branches vigorously split off and grew, soaring into the sky, while the roots dug deep and wide into the ground.
At last, the roots touched the Earth Vein beneath the surface.
From that moment on, there was no need to assist with Taesan. I stood up and slowly stepped back.
The sapling became a Fairy Tree.
The Pillar was now being swallowed by the Fairy Tree, slowly dissolving into it.
Despite the massive growth, my companions did not step back. The Fairy Tree had grown while perceiving us, ensuring we wouldn't be caught up in the process.
"Ha-yul...?"
"Just... a moment."
I shook my head at Ellia, who was blinking blankly.
"It's not over yet."
After exhaling deeply, I closed my eyes and brought my two hands together in a prayer clasp.
White mana gushed out of my body. My mana is pure, holding the potential to become anything.
『I beseech through my child』
The Word Command, manifesting while carrying the white mana, seeped into the Fairy Tree.
The Fairy Tree, which had been digesting the Pillar of the Reverse Side, responded to my wish.
『Let the sky be dyed blue, and hold clear wind and water』
White mana poured from the wide-spread branches.
The mana, carrying a clear intent, spread across the sky. Starting from above the Fairy Tree, the dull sky began to be dyed white.
The sky, dyed white like a snow-covered plain.
Soon, as snowflakes began to fall one by one, the blue sky revealed itself through the gaps.
『Let the earth hold countless life, and spread out deep and high』
The white mana, pouring through the roots, spread across the ground. A white wave swept across the surface, stretching out far into the distance.
It was like the sky.
Mana covered the murky black soil like snow.
Where the snow scattered, crumbly, reddish-brown earth spread out, and fresh green sprouts began to poke their heads up one by one.
"Hoo, keup... hoo..."
My hands trembled.
'My throat hurts...'
The Curse of Silence activated.
Because it was treated as a Word Command, the pain rose. And because the range and scale were so large, it felt like my uvula was being ripped out and gouged with a heated blade...
Gulping down the nausea rising in my throat, I slowly spread my two hands apart.
Pure white mana condensed between my palms. I mixed an innate talent into the mana, which was crumpling together into a round sphere.
'Calamity Flame and White Night.'
Fire and light were conceived within the white mana. Gently soothing the two innate talents, I compressed them together, raised both hands upwards, and opened my lips.
『Let the sun rise at dawn and ascend the sky, and set at dusk and sink into the earth』
The innate talent, leaving my hands, rose up wrapped in the Word Command.
The innate talent arrived at the center of the sky, swelled unevenly, then soon swallowed the Word Command and scattered its light.
- Fwooosh...!
Bright light brightly soaked the ground. Seeing the sprouts, warmed by the light, squirm with joy, I broke into a grin.
"Hwaaaa..."
[End]
The smile quickly disappeared. My shoulders drooped from the fatigue soaking my body.
[So tired...]
As I shook my head from side to side, the gazes of three people landed on me intently.
It wasn't four. Three people were staring at me with dumbfounded expressions, while Kariade was lying on the ground.
...?
[What]
[Why is Kariade lying down...]
"Uh... What did you just... do?"
Ellia spoke up.
Her round eyes scanned the surroundings before returning to me. Confusion was clear in her bright yellow eyes.
Chewing on my numb tongue, I answered.
"Environmental correction... I explained before, that I'd do it together with the Fairy Tree..."
"Uh... Is, that so...? Environmental correction...?"
Letting out a deep breath, I nestled snugly into Ellia's arms.
Though Ellia was stuttering like she was malfunctioning, she held me and stroked my head as if by instinct.
[Warm]
[Happy]
"Hehe..."
Being held and petted like this made the fatigue subside at once. I rubbed my face against Ellia's chest and continued speaking.
"It's not complete yet... It's still lacking, so I need to keep supplementing it steadily..."
"This is incomplete... ?"
"Yeah... still incomplete..."
I felt the lacking parts. If I had to say, Heavenly Thunder and Gale? It feels like it would become more perfect once those two innate talents settle in.
"Something huge just passed by in the blink of an eye..."
"Suddenly the sky flashed... the earth flashed... the sun flashed..."
Professor Liana and Lee Ha-sol murmured blankly. And it was nice how they gently stroked my head and back as they did so.
Giggling, I lifted my face from Ellia's chest.
"Hehe, I told you you'd be surprised, right? Kkonnim... the Word Command I learned from the Tower Master of Growth. I said it was truly amazing— keup, kack, ughh..."
My stomach churned violently, and its contents surged back up.
I tried to swallow the blood back down, but there was nowhere for it to go. Flustered, I used magic to erase the blood from my stomach.
"Gulp."
- Pshh
A tiny amount of blood came out. A single drop of blood, no exaggeration, landed on Ellia's cheek.
"......"
"......"
"......"
With just that one drop, the dazed eyes of the three people came into sharp focus.
Very intensely and sharply.
[Eep...]
The necklace that observed the future let out a gloomy cry.