Fairy Kingdom Reconstruction Project (3)
Fairy Kingdom Reconstruction Project (3)
Everyone was left speechless by the cataclysmic transformation, but it wasn't as difficult as it looked.
"Not difficult, you say?"
"It would be more complicated in the real world, but this is a subspace."
The Reverse Side is not a complete world.
It's the gap left in the world after dungeons endlessly repeat creation and destruction. The pit that remains after all that accumulation—that is the Reverse Side.
The scale differs, but the essence is the same as a dungeon. It's a subspace connected to this world.
If there's one real difference, it's that a subspace has two kinds of cores.
The Pillar that physically sustains the Reverse Side. And the Core that was the Reverse Side's fundamental will.
'So that's why the Reverse Side saw me as an enemy back then.'
To the Reverse Side, I was an invader who'd come to wreck it, an enemy it had to expel. No wonder it suppressed me so viciously.
Not that it mattered—the Core still went berserk and shattered thanks to my meddling.
"Then what about the Pillar?"
"The Fairy Tree just gulped it down."
"Ah."
Professor Liana let out a sound of admiration and looked behind me.
The Fairy Tree now occupied the spot where the Pillar had been. More precisely, it had swallowed the Pillar and was diligently digesting it.
"The Pillar just needs time to digest, and as for the will, my child can already act as its proxy. That's why it's easy for me to intervene in this space."
The Reverse Side's existence and control now essentially belong to the Fairy Tree's authority.
And that Fairy Tree is a good child who follows me, the Fairy King, unconditionally, so interfering with the Reverse Side through it was simple.
"It's still absolutely ridiculous by any common-sense standard."
"I do have several Authorities as well."
The Authority of Space had been a huge help, and I'd used the Authority of Knowledge to capture and bring in space from outside.
I had plenty of Innate Talents that could project onto nature, like Calamity Flame, Azure Sea, Taesan, and White Night, and my mana itself had a Pure nature that blended easily into the world.
"Hearing the explanation just makes my head spin more."
"The fact that it's 'complicated, not impossible' even in the real world is honestly scarier."
"Right?"
Professor Liana shook her head with a bemused expression. Ellia and Lee Ha-sol exchanged ambiguous looks too.
"Ahem. Anyway, I'm planning to build a city around the Fairy Tree."
Building a city. Fairies and humans are different, so it won't be entirely easy. Fortunately, we had an expert among us.
[Kariade?]
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Kariade, sitting deferentially beside me, answered with vigor.
[You were the one who cultivated the district in Taesan Territory, weren't you, Kariade?]
"That is so."
Kariade already had experience establishing a settlement in Taesan Territory.
She wasn't a king, so she couldn't bring forth a new Fairy Tree, but she could help a sufficiently grown sapling flourish.
"Unlike humans, who require various facilities for their settlements, fairies have no survival issues as long as they can bring forth a Fairy Tree."
Kariade spoke.
"Fairies are born from the Fairy Tree and make it their home. The Fairy Tree shapes the environment and provides safety, and when fairies fuss, it offers fruit and sap."
"The children from the mansion and the ones from the Taesan Family—whenever they get bored, they end up playing and sleeping beside the young one and the Fairy Tree."
Kariade gave a small laugh, her wings fluttering gently.
"However, that is the situation at the village scale."
[Village scale?]
"A kingdom-scale settlement divides districts under planning, much like human cities, and establishes a variety of facilities."
"Is that so?"
"Although the fairies gathered at Your Majesty's side now number only a few hundred, the fairies belonging to the kingdom of old exceeded one hundred thousand."
"Huh—one hundred thousand...?"
Lee Ha-sol, who'd been listening with perked ears, swallowed her breath. Fairy stories clearly intrigued her. Kariade smiled lightly and continued politely.
"To take responsibility for such numbers and maintain a kingdom-scale power, proper facilities were a necessity."
"Ah... with a hundred thousand, you wouldn't have a choice."
"Indeed, Queen Lee Ha-sol. Moreover, a significant number of fairies—such as myself and Princess Lee Seo-yul—possessed physiques similar to humans."
"Ah-ha..."
So rebuilding the kingdom wasn't the kind of thing you could wrap up by just planting a Fairy Tree.
Even with Kariade's help, an enormous amount of effort would be required.
Well, it is a kingdom's reconstruction. Of course it wouldn't be simple.
"Above all, the Fairy Kingdom over which Your Majesty has ascended will surely prosper far beyond the kingdom of old."
[Hm?]
As I was nodding to myself, Kariade suddenly spoke with emphasis.
Her voice carried unshakable conviction.
Her eyes, fixed on me, glittered.
That same conviction radiated from within them.
Ever since Kariade regained consciousness after fainting, her already strong faith had deepened even further.
"To open a new sky in place of the ill-omened one, to revive the earth, to kindle a sun—such miracles..."
Kariade clasped her hands to her chest, her shoulders trembling. Emotion and rapture dripped from her dark eyes.
It was the gaze one might give a god descended from heaven. Faced with a look that bordered on reverence, my expression grew involuntarily complicated.
"Hmm... listening to this, it doesn't sound like a plan that'll be done in a day or two."
"......"
Ellia nodded and rested her chin on my head.
I was leaning back against Ellia's soft chest, sitting in her lap.
A very comfortable and happy position. She was even gently stroking my stomach, which was wonderful.
...Still, no matter how nice it was, being in such a posture in front of a vassal who was sending me that much reverence and faith was a little embarrassing.
"...Ellia..."
"Nope, stay still."
When I subtly wriggled, Ellia twitched an eyebrow and shook her head.
I made a sulky face.
"Can't you let me go now...?"
"Why? So you can overexert yourself and bleed from the mouth again?"
I was lifted and spun around. Ellia settled me in her lap facing her, her eyes narrowing.
All because I'd dribbled a little blood from my mouth earlier. It had been less than a drop, but it was enough to earn a temporary detention in her arms.
"I'll really be careful..."
"So earlier, was that you not being careful and just throwing your power around?"
"That's not what I..."
Honestly, it's because my body is too frail.
The performance is fine. But after the curses acted on it for so long, this life-worn body just bleeds far too easily at the slightest thing.
"...Hoo."
[Dejected]
Ellia let out a rare sigh—not held back, but released.
My shoulders reflexively hunched, and then the hands cupping my cheeks tilted my head back until I met her golden-yellow eyes.
"Our darling King?"
"Yes..."
"Even when you work, you have to do it within limits that won't strain you."
At her soothing, coaxing words, I bobbed my head obediently. Ellia, who had been gazing into my eyes, leaned in.
- Smooch
A rush of sunshine scent. It was a brief kiss, but affection and Recovery Melody's energy spread richly through my body.
My eyes went round, and Ellia pulled my head to her chest, stroking my back.
"I'll be watching from beside you to make sure you don't overdo it."
"Okay, okay...!"
Delighted at the conditional freedom I'd finally secured, I nodded so fast my head bobbled.
* * *
The sky was blue, and healthy sprouts were pushing up through the earth one after another.
Between them, fluffy clouds drifted and colorful flowers bloomed.
The clouds shifted in the cool breeze, and the grass and flowers swayed together in harmony. Lee Ha-yul straightened the hair the wind had tickled and hopped lightly.
[Yap]
A rather unassuming sound rang out. His feet, which had lifted off the ground, touched back down.
And then.
- Rrrrrumble...!
The ground shook violently. A tremor that made the world hum accompanied it, and then one axis of the terrain abruptly shot upward.
Swoosh! As his toes drew a long line across the ground, stretches of land rose up in succession beside the mountain.
A single hop raised a mountain. A single gesture of his foot connected a short mountain range.
This time, Azure Sea manifested. His other leg stamped the ground.
The Azure Sea energy that had stretched deep underground touched the Earth Vein and stirred a Water Source.
- WHOOOOSH!
The surface crumbled in places as groundwater surged upward. A rainbow floated into view through the rain-like spray.
Water pooled in the collapsed hollows, and artificially directed channels carved through the earth, linking into a continuous river.
"......"
Lee Ha-sol kept her mouth firmly shut.
This was the Lee Ha-yul who had just changed the sky and earth and created a sun.
At this point, she was not going to be surprised just because he raised mountains with a hop and made lakes and rivers.
This was simply part of the environmental reformation.
He had interfered with the Reverse Side to alter the nature of the space, but that was limited to the Inner Core. The Outskirts were still that murky, gloomy wasteland.
And as for the Inner Core itself, Lee Ha-yul claimed it lacked fine detail and was now personally dashing around changing the environment.
[Phew, done here]
"Should he really be saying that as casually as if he'd just finished the dishes...?"
At the voice transmitted to where they stood, Liana let out a dry laugh.
They were keeping a little distance—watching to ensure Lee Ha-yul didn't overdo it, but also staying out of his way.
Liana dipped her hand into the river that had just begun to flow.
Cool water soaked her hand.
The pure Water Energy that climbed up her skin told her just how clean and mana-rich the water was.
"Really... incredible..."
"Professor Liana, couldn't you do something similar? Raising the ground to make mountains, connecting rivers..."
Ellia, who had been watching Lee Ha-yul with a hawk's gaze, tilted her head.
"Of course I could. I have contracts across the Five Great Spirits and plenty of mana. But permanent changes like this are difficult."
Professor Liana shrugged and directed her gaze into the distance.
The mountains, lakes, and rivers left behind in the sections Lee Ha-yul had already passed through. She shook her head as she surveyed those and the many other natural features.
"Even if you raise a mountain, without a connection to the Earth Veins, it'll collapse in no time. Even if you connect a river, without a Water Source, it'll quickly run dry."
"Then Ha-yul is..."
"He's touching the Earth Veins and the Water Source. He's literally creating nature."
Liana, who had been trailing her hand through the water, lifted her head.
She could see Lee Ha-yul bouncing along.
The action was exceedingly cute, but the miracles unfolding behind him—mountains thrusting upward and groundwater bursting from bare earth—produced a deeply surreal spectacle.
"...Is that really 'not overdoing it'?"
"I asked through the necklace, and he says there's almost no strain."
"Well, that's a relief, but... then what's he doing now?"
Tilting her head, Lee Ha-sol pointed at Lee Ha-yul.
Spirits that had returned to his side at some point were now visible beside him.
Lee Ha-yul smiled brightly, petting and hugging the spirits in praise, then laid his hand on a monster they had captured alive.
Immediately, the monster contracted and was drawn into Lee Ha-yul's hand.
His hand now held some kind of... slime? Something like clay.
He kneaded the dull clay with both hands for a while, then promptly buried it in the ground.
After a brief moment, grass and trees began to sprout rapidly around the spot.
"From what I heard, it's like Necromancy. Something about directly kneading and processing souls."
She'd heard the explanation, but honestly, understanding it wasn't easy. Where did he keep picking up and using such bizarre things?
'That thing where he turned his body into a dragon last time too... really... ...?'
Liana, murmuring internally, blinked.
A familiar presence brushed her Qi Sense.
Her Innate Talent resonated in welcome of the presence.
That meant it was a spirit's presence.
'Beneath me?'
The presence was extremely close.
She'd only noticed a spirit's presence at this distance? Liana, a Spirit Affinity manifester, couldn't possibly fail to sense it.
She hurriedly dropped her gaze and saw the clear river flowing gently.
Inside that pure, clear Water Energy, a spirit was palpable.
No.
They were appearing. One by one, then more and more, the numbers were swelling...
- Hm?
"Huh?"
"Oh?"
A beat slower than Liana, but Kariade was racially born with Spirit Affinity.
Ellia and Lee Ha-sol, who had both greatly nurtured their own Spirit Affinity, were also drawn to the river.
- Poof
Soon, a cluster of blue light popped up from the river.
Liana's mouth slowly fell open at the light cluster that had floated up right before her eyes.
The light flashed, and the presence sharpened.
A spirit.
- Woonng...?
"Uh, uh...?"
The newly born spirit blinked its light before her eyes.
Liana's eyes blinked back, dazed.