Chapter 375: Gods or Men
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 375: Gods or Men
A colossal Thundermill spun, a quarter of its side submerged in the Cloud Waterfall. At its opposite end, a Lightning Tower, larger than any other, gently touched its edge to the mill, looking as if it were pressing the massive wheel down into the cascade.
Below the Cloud Waterfall, a reservoir formed from the collected clouds faintly revealed its presence. Its exact size was obscured by the mist—clouds that had not yet turned to water—creeping down the terrain.
Tyr, who had been silently observing the scenery, murmured as she gazed at the Thundermill, which must have been a hundred meters in diameter.
“…The world has changed so much. There was no such waterwheel when I last passed the Cloud Waterfall.”
The Thunderarch answered each of Tyr’s musings.
“The first Thundermill was the size of an ordinary waterwheel. As people fleeing the Golden Lord began to gather in Claudia, the city grew, and the Thundermill grew with it. Acquiring metal is a simple matter in the Fallen Dominion, after all. However…”
The Thunderarch gestured toward me and Azzy, who were hesitating a good distance away.
“Are you two still afraid of the lightning?”
Afraid of lightning? Hah, what nonsense. I declared proudly.
“It’s not just lightning I’m scared of. I’m always afraid of threats I can’t control.”
“Woof woof!”
A tingling sensation still crawled over my skin. Azzy’s fur was now puffed up like a lion’s mane. How could anyone not feel uncomfortable here? Anyone with a survival instinct would naturally keep their distance.
Seeing our firm stance, the Thunderarch nodded.
“I understand. The power of thunder is too wild and potent for ordinary humans to handle. It’s only natural to tremble in fear unless you’re a human of my caliber.”
“Wow, talk about an ego.”
“For one who has earned the right, it is merely a statement of fact.”
Not a shred of shame could be felt from the Thunderarch’s confident words. It was a new experience, meeting someone so utterly self-assured.
“The area beneath the Thundermill is where the power of thunder is strongest. It can’t be helped. Please rest wherever you feel most comfortable. As long as you don’t leave the vicinity of the Lightning Tower, you won’t be harmed by the lightning.”
“Great. Azzy and I will stay here while you all go on ahead. We’ll wait over there, where it looks safe.”
“Woof!”
“Let us go together. I wish to look around as well.”
As it happened, there was a square room built into the wall of the Lightning Tower. Sealed in steel from ceiling to floor, it looked like a strongbox. It seemed it would remain unscathed whether thunder and lightning struck or a carriage crashed into it.
Azzy and I led the way, and Tyr followed behind us. Just as Tyr, the last to enter, stepped inside the box, the Thunderarch, who had been guiding the others, finally had a moment to spare a glance our way.
“Wait. That’s…”
That’s the elevator to the top of the Lightning Tower.
Huh? An elevator? What’s that?
“Woof?”
Just inside, a red button caught our eye. Azzy, who had been staring at it intently, pressed it as if mesmerized.
In that instant, the steel door slammed shut with a clang. While Azzy froze in surprise, the steel box began to shake violently and ascend.
“Woof woof woof!”
“Whoa! We’re being kidnapped!”
And so, I, Azzy, and Tyr were carried upward in the elevator, leaving the ground far below as we rose at a considerable speed.
After shooting up for some time, the box came to a soft stop with a thud. The door opened once the elevator had completely halted, and we scrambled out as if escaping.
Tyr eyed the elevator with curiosity.
“A device that moves without effort, I see. Does it use magic? Or is it powered by human hands?”
“No. It seems to be using the power of the spinning Thundermill.”
As if in response to my words, the edge of the Thundermill grazed the top floor of the Lightning Tower as it rotated.
The massive Thundermill, turning against the Cloud Waterfall, was etched with fine grooves. A swarm of much smaller gears was interlocked with them. The gear that turned the elevator’s pulley was one of them.
“When the Cloud Waterfall turns the Thundermill, the connected parts must rotate and provide power. It seems to be used for more than just the elevator.”
It was clear the gears were connected to more than just this lift. Seeing as the Thundermill passed through the Lightning Tower, there were likely many more mechanisms inside. The tower wasn’t just a structure to avoid lightning; it was a device to convert lightning into power.
“Hmm. It resembles the gear-based toys I saw in the Military State.”
“Maximilien, the one who designed the Military State, was from the Fallen Dominion. He must have drawn his inspiration from here.”
Claudia, a city powered by the unceasing Thundermill, over a hundred meters in diameter. It was obvious where the inspiration for his vision, conceived during his time here, had come from. He must have dreamed of creating a city where everything, not just the power source, was made of gears. Even the people.
…Well, if that had worked out, he probably wouldn't have come to the Military State.
Azzy trotted over, her claws clicking on the floor, and looked around the top of the Lightning Tower. She shook her head, tapped her head with a forepaw, and hopped once. Then, as if puzzled, she said:
“Woof? It’s… okay here.”
“You’re right. You’d think a higher place would be more vulnerable to lightning.”
How strange. When we were at the bottom, my skin tingled as if lightning could strike at any moment. But now that we were on top of the much taller Lightning Tower, that sensation was completely gone. Was this the power of the tower?
As my curiosity grew and I began to look around, a few children near the point where the Thundermill met the tower spotted us, their eyes widening.
“Hey! You’re not supposed to be here!”
The children were dressed in outfits similar to the Thunderarch’s. Wrapped from head to toe in thick, priest-like robes, they ran toward me in alarm.
“Only Thunder Disciples are allowed here!”
“Access is forbidden to anyone without the Thunderarch’s permission!”
The children were quite desperate, but their chattering just seemed cute. Seeing them hurrying over, Azzy barked in a friendly manner.
“Woof woof! Let’s play!”
The eyes of the two children in the lead went wide.
“Oh! A beastkin!”
“I’ve never seen one before! Should we play?”
“Is this really the time for that?!”
One of the girls scolded the others with an angry look. The two children, and even Azzy, shrank back, their ears drooping. The girl sighed and spoke in a clear, sharp voice.
“I don’t know who you are, but the Thundermill is the most important facility in Claudia. It’s also the first place the Thunder God attacks! That’s why civilians aren’t allowed near it!”
“We’re not civilians. The Thunderarch herself invited us.”
“Really…?”
“Yep. If we were intruders, do you think the Thunderarch down there would have just stood by and watched? The great and powerful Thunderarch?”
We hadn’t exactly gotten permission to come up, but the Thunderarch didn’t seem to think it was a big deal, so it was probably fine. The girl shrugged at my words and replied.
“That’s true! The Thunderarch is the most exceptional and powerful human alive!”
“I don’t know about ‘most,’ but she certainly seemed strong.”
“Besides the gods, there’s no one who can stand against the Thunderarch!”
“Hey, be careful. You shouldn’t invoke the gods so carelessly.”
The children were referring to the Thunder God, but they needed to watch their words. The Progenitor of vampires, who burned with hatred for the Sky God, was right here…
Ah, too late.
Tyr, having noticed something, slowly narrowed her eyes. On the wrists of the children dressed in their priest-like robes… gleamed rosaries made of iron.
Ugh. This is dangerous. First things first.
“Does your great and powerful Thunderarch fight with the Thunder God often?”
Nothing piques a child’s interest like a good old-fashioned showdown. As I kicked things off, the children answered excitedly.
“Yes!”
“Who wins?”
“The Thunderarch wins, but she tells us not to let our guard down, saying the Thunder God is just retreating for now!”
“She says he’ll come back after disappearing beyond the Cloud Waterfall!”
“So we have to train harder, so we can fight in her place when she gets old!”
“Even though the Thunderarch never ages!”
They were chattering away, excited to talk about something they knew, but they had no idea. No idea that their lives were hanging by a thread.
Before the conversation could go any further, I quickly changed the subject.
“But that’s strange. Why does the Thunder God attack this place? It can’t be easy with a human as strong as the Thunderarch around.”
At my sudden question, the girl asked in a slightly condescending tone.
“Mister, you don’t even know the story of the Lightning Thief?”
“I know the gist of it. A long time ago, the Lightning Thief climbed the Cloud Waterfall, stole lightning from the Sky Palace, and ran away, right?”
It was a famous story, and I could have just read their minds, but that wasn’t what I needed right now. I needed to draw blasphemy from their own mouths for them to survive.
“But the Lightning Thief was the one in the wrong, wasn’t he? It’s not your fault, so why is he taking it out on you?”
“Why? Because Claudia is where the Lightning Thief hid the lightning.”
“The first Thunderarch returned the lightning, but its power lingered in the land where it was once hidden. The Sky God found this displeasing and sent the Thunder God to punish this land!”
This is bad. They shouldn’t have brought up that god. Well, might as well go for it.
“The Sky God is pretty petty, isn’t he? Punishing you even after the lightning was returned.”
Tyr’s mood improved slightly. The children, on the other hand, gasped and covered their mouths.
“Shh!”
“The Sky God will hear you!”
“You’ll be divinely punished!”
Quiet, you fools. The Progenitor is listening right here. You may not know it, but the Progenitor who can kill me right now is far scarier than the Sky God who might kill me someday.
“So what if he hears? It’s the truth.”
“But!”
“And he’s coming after you for something that happened before you were even born, something that was already returned? Even the nastiest debt collectors have their limits.”
“N-No, that’s not it. We…”
The children, who had seen the Thunder God with their own eyes, faltered, unable to answer easily.
Still, the faith here wasn’t as blind as in the Sanctum. This was a land with a nation of vampires next door and the Golden Lord roaming its front yard. There could be no shrines, and priests couldn’t visit rashly. For the people of the Fallen Dominion, who were shrewd calculators of profit and loss…
“Besides, why do you think your great Thunderarch fights the Thunder God? It’s because the Thunder God is the bad guy, right?”
When I made them weigh their faith in the Thunderarch against their fear, the children surprisingly came around easily.
“…That’s right. The Thunder God is bad. He torments the Thunderarch.”
“But the Thunderarch said so herself. That gods are different from humans. That the Golden Lord and the Thunder God are beings we cannot resist, so we must always treat them with reverence.”
“That can be true. Even if someone is bad, if they’re strong and reckless, you have to bow your head and follow. You don’t avoid them because they’re dirty, you avoid them because they’re scary.”
Just like the Progenitor standing next to me. You kids were almost killed, you know? Though her expression has softened a lot now!
‘Hu is deeply worried. I do not care, so long as they do not express their faith before me.’
So you’re saying you’d kill anyone, man, woman, or child, if they showed it!
In any case, having performed a good deed no one would ever understand, I felt a wave of relief and said:
“But don’t worry. The great Thunderarch and our secret weapon will take care of the evil Thunder God…”
I was mid-sentence when it happened.
The Thundermill let out an ominous roar. Simultaneously, electricity crackled across the surface of the Cloud Waterfall. As if pulling on the mill’s surface, the point where the waterfall and the Thundermill met was connected by a bridge of brilliant lightning.
Then came the tingling sensation. The strange feeling of bugs crawling on my skin and every hair on my body being pulled at once.
Most importantly, the fur on Azzy, my personal lightning detector, stood on end all at once. The direction it pointed wasn’t up… but toward the Cloud Waterfall.
Haha. Speak of the devil. To show up so tactlessly right after we were badmouthing him. Maybe I should have just agreed with the kids and tried to persuade Tyr later.
The girl’s face turned pale as she shouted.
“It’s the Thunder God!”