Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: Water Gates and Border Incursions
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“Chairman, are you going to keep summoning me like this? I can’t get any work done.”
“Jae-in, the people here are starving to death.”
“Sigh… So drought and food shortages come first. Luckily, the timing isn’t bad. I just finished the core made from the Dragon Heart.”
Jae-in placed a large metal case on the desk and opened it.
Inside the case was a blue core, with white light emanating from within.
Unlike previous unstable cores, this one didn’t feel hot or unstable.
“It was red before, wasn’t it?”
“It changed color because it burns energy purely. The energy efficiency is several times higher than before. Just a few of these could solve Earth’s energy problems.”
“We don’t have Dragon Hearts, though? Unless we resurrect extinct dragons, that’s impossible.”
“......”
Her eyes lost focus—Jae-in was thinking something weird again.
“Let’s test the core.”
I took it out of the case and held it in my hand. I thought it would be ice-cold, but it was just a bit cool.
I drew out energy and circulated it through my body. An amount several times what I’d absorbed from the angels poured out endlessly.
I had no immediate use for the absorbed energy, so I stopped.
“It’s good. But how does this solve the food and water problems?”
“We open a gate to the sea floor with this and spray seawater over drought-stricken areas. Up until now, gates cost too much energy to transport water, but with this massive power source, it’s possible.”
Tellus’s oceans weren’t completely salt-free, but the salinity was very low.
“Once water’s solved, food should follow in time. In the meantime, we open a gate connecting Korea and the Newus capital to procure food.”
Earth was overproducing food in its current state. Selling surplus to Tellus and buying needed resources would benefit both sides.
“A gate to Earth? Is that possible? We’ve only opened gates inside gates so far.”
“We have the Dragon Heart core, and tech exchanges have deepened our understanding of spatial movement. But while we’re using it like this, you won’t have access to the core, Chairman. That okay?”
“I don’t need it now. This side is more urgent, so let’s do it.”
I gathered Jae-in, Nayeoung, and the former imperial mages for research. Voices rose with back-and-forth opinions, occasional curses flying—I hated headaches, so I left.
While Nayeoung and Jae-in researched the magic circle to Earth, I took a young court mage to the sea.
“Ready?”
“Yes!”
William, the mage who came along since I’d inherited the emperor’s seat, was pumped up.
William cast a round mana shield and entered the sea. I dove deep naked.
William placed Jae-in’s device on a flat rock. He raised both hands overhead in a circle, signaling he was ready.
Seeing that, I swam through the sea searching for fish.
Sensing life force, I found a school of large tuna-like fish.
I blocked their path, herding them toward William like sheep.
Thousands of man-sized fish charging at him made William’s face tense.
I veered the school wide and swam to William.
William startled at me swimming faster than the fish.
I nodded to him, and he activated the device. A gate opened in the water.
Using the Dragon Heart core, the gate was at least ten meters wide.
The school, unable to turn, got sucked into the gate’s whirlpool.
I grabbed William’s shield with both hands to keep him from drifting.
Once enough were sucked in, William shut it down, and we surfaced.
“Check the other side, please.”
“Yes!”
William contacted the water-dumping site via communication orb.
“They filled the lake! I’ve never seen anything like it! People can’t even move unless they’re VIPs, and here we’re using gates just for water!”
“No more holding back gates for money. Lots more to do. Prep the next site.”
We repeated this dozens of times, pouring water into rivers upstream or lakes across the alliance lands.
The fish were a bonus for immediate food.
Our sea had no salt but mana dissolved in it, so the fish had trace mana. Tellus seawater fish were poison to Earthlings but a tasty dinner for Tellus natives who’d had mana since before gates.
After water supply, heading back, I remembered the village I’d visited before.
I grabbed the biggest fish and went there.
“You’ve come?”
Dropping from the sky with a huge fish, the boy who’d lost his mother didn’t flinch. I’d sensed it last time—he wasn’t an ordinary kid.
“You knew I’d come?”
“I just thought you might return, since you saved us.”
“I see. Doing alright?”
“People mustered strength from your food and foraged enough to scrape by. Thank you for your grace.”
The boy bowed deeply, and villagers gathered, bowing too.
They weren’t sprawled on the ground like before, but all skin-and-bones—clearly short on food.
I beckoned, and people rushed to butcher the fish.
“What’s your name?”
I asked the kid.
“Alice.”
“...Alice? You’re a girl?”
Always so calm, like an old soul, but at my words, she pouted childishly. So grubby and thin, I couldn’t tell her gender.
“Yes.”
“I see. Alice, want to come with me?”
“Heroes are lechers—they chase women the moment they find out. Lusting after me now?”
“Cheeky. You know that’s not it. Hard surviving alone here, right?”
“It’s fine. That’s a commoner’s life. And this is my parents’ hometown.”
“Hmm, you seem sharp—thought I’d get you studying. Too bad you won’t go.”
“...You’d educate a lowborn like me?”
“Smart is smart, lowborn or noble. I’d send you to school if you want.”
“I’ll go.”
“Your hometown?”
“I can ditch a hometown that can’t even give me a book. Parents would be happy if I’m going to study.”
Alice glanced at the two graves behind the house.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
I took Alice back to the capital, Duram.
“Alex, what’s Newus’s academy like?”
“You mean the academy? Nobles enroll to learn academics, martial arts, and magic. Several in the territory.”
“So commoners can’t?”
“...Where would commoners get that money?”
“Doesn’t the country have funds?”
“We’re on the brink of bankruptcy.”
“Nayeoung, some money.”
“Huh? Oh. Disband the capital guard, cut banquets to a tenth, eliminate dignity upkeep fees… This enough?”
Nayeoung, mid-research with Jae-in, scribbled a budget cut plan and handed it over.
“Yeah, plenty.”
Hearing that, Nayeoung dove back into research.
“Alex, use this for a new academy open to commoners. Near the World Tree.”
“No… Disbanding the capital guard?!”
“Who’s invading here? With me and Nayeoung?”
“Ha… But…”
“No money, right? Isn’t education more important?”
“...I’ll implement it.”
An academy couldn’t pop up overnight, so I’d get Alice into a noble one for now.
“Alice, for now…”
But Alice was already sitting on the floor, reading a book as thick as her torso.
Her eyes sparkled more than ever while reading.
Even in Tellus, where life was cheap and death rampant, a child doesn’t easily forget losing her mother.
Alice’s eyes always held grief, but this moment reading, she seemed to forget it a bit.
Now we had another bookworm after Nayeoung and Jae-in.
If Alice grew smart and lightened my load, I wouldn’t need headaches.
“Wait!”
Nayeoung suddenly shouted, standing.
“Yes?”
Alice blinked wide-eyed at Nayeoung.
“You…”
Nayeoung glared at Alice.
“When’d you last bathe?”
“.....”
“Come on.”
Neat-freak Nayeoung couldn’t stand Alice’s smell and grime, so she took her to wash up herself.
* * *
“Your Majesty.”
“Alex… More work?”
“Yes.”
“I suddenly get Jae-in’s mood.”
“Did you think kingship was easy?”
“I never wanted it.”
“No choice. You’re king now.”
“So, what?”
“Ailstovik and Wihol attacked Volbowen’s breadbasket regions.”
Alex scratched his head. A few remaining hairs fell out.
“Dwarves and elves on Volbowen? South of the elf and dwarf kingdoms, right?”
I pointed at the map.
“Yes. Elves live in the great forest east of the World Tree, dwarves in the easternmost mountains. Neither suited for grain farming, so they supplied empire with magic and weapons, buying Volbowen food with proceeds.”
“And?”
“East-West continent war ended, slashing weapon and magic demand.”
“Wait, didn’t we fill water and add fish near elf and dwarf lands? Shouldn’t they be fine for now?”
“Elves are vegetarians, dwarves don’t eat fish.”
“They’re hungry. No food their way, so teamed up to seize nearby lands?”
“Not teamed. Each attacked Volbowen separately for breadbaskets. Volbowen army, weaker than either, evacuated; now elves and dwarves fight over the land.”
“Crazy bastards… Wait, with war recovery needing materials and mages galore, can’t they export something besides weapons?”
“Elves and dwarves have superiority complexes—hate menial work.”
“So they steal farmland?”
“Yes.”
“I said no wars.”
“They won’t listen to humans. Troubles with previous emperor too.”
“Why’d he let it slide?”
“West continent alone was handful; couldn’t afford internal wars. Needed their power—elf magic and dwarf weapons useful in battle.”
I needed neither.
“Send warning. Keep it up, I’m coming.”
“...Understood. But they might not listen.”
“If not, I’ll meet them personally.”