The Dragon's Lair Becomes an Airport
The glow of flowing lava seeped into the lair like molten light.
Amid the acrid smell of sulfur, Nax in her true form locked eyes with the Leather Artisan in a fierce staring contest.
“He approaches.”
At that moment, the Leather Artisan stood up and hurriedly pasted a clean white square of wallpaper onto the wall.
Beyond the barrier marked with a blue circle, Kim Hwang-je’s face flickered into view.
“Hey, everyone doing alright in there?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Is this your main body?”
“Yeah. Can’t exactly move this one with an avatar.”
“Move it? What do you mean?”
Kim Hwang-je ignored the Leather Artisan’s question and spoke to Nax, who sat waiting beyond the passage.
“Nax! We need to fix these planes!”
“…What is a plane?”
Nax tried to address the face she couldn’t fully see, but a hulking mass of muscle suddenly emerged from the corridor, forcing her to yank her head back.
“Whoa, it’s hot in here!”
The Bandit had dragged the plane in like a strongman pulling a truck with ropes!
“Hurry up and get inside, mister!”
“That’s right!”
Behind him, the Mountain Bandits came out one after another, piloting the planes.
“Wait, this is my house…”
“Ah, we can just set them down over there? Dragon sis, could you move aside? We need to get through.”
The female bandit cheerfully shoved Nax’s tail aside with one hand.
“Uh… uh? Okay…”
Nax instinctively pulled her tail out of the way.
And that was only the beginning.
As they kept hauling planes inside one after another, Nax first had to tuck her tail in, then hug her hind legs while pressing herself flat against the wall.
After watching in a daze, she finally protested with her back plastered firmly to the stone.
“Prince. What in the world are you all doing!”
Kim Hwang-je entered using an avatar.
He pushed the rear of a plane alongside the bandits and answered, “It’s called an AN-2. It flies in the sky.”
“Ugh… that’s not what I’m asking! Why are you putting them in my lair…!”
Just then, the Bandit dragging another plane locked eyes with the massive Nax.
He turned to the Leather Artisan and said, “Puhahaha, Artisan! So you really got beat up by this dragon? Still hurting?”
“You tactless, ill-mannered, rotten, rude bastard!”
Watching the Leather Artisan retreat in disgust, the Bandit grinned.
Then he spoke to Nax. “Listen here, dragon girl. Our Emperor can do whatever he damn well pleases.”
“This is my lair!”
“Stop fighting and get to work.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The moment Kim Hwang-je appeared, the Bandit bowed deeply and hurried off to haul another plane.
Nax was stunned by the Bandit’s blind loyalty.
Kim Hwang-je walked up to the shaking-her-head dragon and stopped in front of her.
He pointed at the wing of the AN-2.
“Look at this. It’s cracked, bent, shattered, and broken. Just fix it up a bit.”
“You want me to repair something I’ve never seen before?”
“There’s nothing you can’t fix. Just do it like the picture.”
Kim Hwang-je turned to Seo Jun-seo. “Please put this up for her.”
“Understood.”
Seo Jun-seo laid out a printed schematic of the AN-2 on the floor to help Nax understand.
Dragons were intelligent creatures, after all.
Nax understood what Kim Hwang-je wanted.
But… there were far too many planes coming in.
“What exactly are these things?”
“Machines that fly through the sky.”
“They have no feathers, no proper wings, they smell awful, their color is dull and ugly, and that red star is hideously deformed. Do your soldiers truly wish to fly on something like this?”
“Yep. Oh, and you need to completely erase that red star.”
No need to be mistaken for communist invaders.
Nax snorted and began chanting.
“Awaken, forest! Awaken, trees!”
Wood spirits crawled out from every corner, digging up the ground as they emerged.
They were tiny, delicate beings shaped like little people made of young green sprouts.
The spirits gathered around Nax, whose green hair fluttered like leaves.
“Kuu?”
“Kyuu kyuu!”
Nax picked up the small creatures staring up at her from the floor and hurled them at the planes.
“Go fix them!”
“Kyaa!”
The wood spirits screamed as they slammed into the aircraft and were instantly absorbed into the broken fuselages.
“Even for me, sixty-four is the maximum number of these spirits I can control at once.”
“Hmm, then the rest will have to be handled by the elves…”
Kim Hwang-je sent hunters to gather the elves and put them to work on repairs as well.
“Just fix them the way Nax is doing it.”
Perhaps the command had already become routine?
The elves followed the confident Emperor’s orders without question and got to work.
“Um, is this correct, Prince?”
“Yeah, nice job.”
About ten elf druids joined Nax in repairing the AN-2s.
They tore out damaged panels and connected living plants to the control systems.
Soon every Antonov AN-2 was beautifully dyed in a soft young-green glow.
“This is the ignition button. Press it and the engine starts.”
When the button was pressed, the engine roared to life with a thunderous rumble.
The elves jumped back in terror at the mechanical clatter and the thick black exhaust pouring from the rear.
North Korean engineering, as expected.
It was no joke.
“The stench is horrible!”
“It will surely destroy the forest!”
The elves looked horrified, but Kim Hwang-je casually ignored them.
In a world this clean, a little airplane exhaust wasn’t going to cause any real harm.
“Boss, how exactly are we supposed to pilot these?”
“Don’t worry. This guy will handle it just fine.”
Seo Jun-seo’s anxiety was through the roof.
But Kim Hwang-je already had a plan in mind.
“Come forth, [Rice-Harvesting Farmer].”
“Mechanical equipment detected!”
The tin golem dropped straight down from the sky.
His right arm was still bent at a weird angle, but he looked lively enough.
“Emergency situation! Contaminant source detected! Requesting permission to destroy for the sake of nature preservation!”
“No. We’re using it. You can control this thing, right?”
“Possible. However, Your Majesty, I request installation of pollution-reduction devices.”
“Sure, that much is fine…”
The elves began murmuring among themselves.
“Oh my god… it’s the hero from the legends…”
“He’s negotiating with the Prince!”
Only then did the tin golem notice the whispering elves and nod.
“Village elves. Hello. Have a strong and good day. I am [Farmer]. Nice to meet you. Last pride of the surviving elves.”
“Ooh… it’s true… an ancient golem…!”
The elves swarmed around the tin golem, stroking his metal body.
Yangcheol seemed pleased by the attention. He manually pulled his tin face into a smiling shape using his fingers.
Watching this, Kim Hwang-je muttered, “That’s gotta be hard on him.”
“Gratitude for the attention. Commencing work now.”
The tin golem suddenly lifted his head.
Then, like a matryoshka doll, a smaller tin golem popped out from inside his body.
“…”
“What the hell is this?”
Nax asked.
Everyone held their breath and watched the spectacle like desert nomads seeing a waterfall for the first time, wondering when it would end.
But it went on for quite a while.
Another doll emerged from inside the smaller matryoshka golem.
Then another, and another, and another.
In the end, fifty separate bodies had appeared, each smaller than the last.
“That’s insane.”
Kim Hwang-je spoke honestly.
“Acknowledged.”
All fifty tin golems pulled their mouths into smiles using their fingers.
When fifty of them smiled together, the entire lava-lit lair glowed bright white.
Having given up on everything, Nax sat in the corner drawing pictures on the floor with her tail.
Her eyes met Seo Jun-seo’s, who was equally unable to smile.
You too?
You as well…?
The silent exchange didn’t last long.
Kim Hwang-je spoke to Nax. “Nax. Let’s go.”
“Where to?”
“Time to get friendly with the people. We’re heading to the royal castle. All you elves, get on these planes too.”
“All of us?”
“Yes. Everyone. You can come back once it’s safe. For now, we’re going to the castle.”
“Prince. There is only one small kingdom to the right of here. I sensed a rift in that land. If that is where you wish to go, it has likely been destroyed long ago…”
Kim Hwang-je shook his head.
“Just follow me for now. And kids, you can stop bringing out more planes.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
“Whoa, Your Majesty. Are we riding these too?”
“That’s right. I’ll allow it just for today!”
It took some time for Kim Hwang-je, the Hunter, the Leather Artisan, the Mountain Bandits, the Bandit, Nax, and hundreds of elves to board the AN-2s.
But once the tin golems took control, the AN-2s raced down the wide road in front of the lair and soared into the sky with glee.
“It’s flying! We’re flying!”
The elves pressed against the windows, chattering excitedly.
The ride quality of these AN-2s—with their plastic windows instead of reinforced glass—was terrible, and the wind noise was deafening, yet…
“This is fun!”
“It’s loud but fun!”
Both the elves and Kim Hwang-je looked thoroughly satisfied.
Soon a formation of fifty AN-2s flew across the sky toward the royal castle.
Thick black smoke trailed behind them like a long carpet across the heavens.
After flying for some time, Nax, looking down at the neatly arranged rice paddies below, spoke beside Kim Hwang-je.
“Unbelievable. What are those swamps? Why have the humans turned all the land into swamps?”
Nax stared down in confusion.
Well, she had never seen rice paddies before, so it was understandable.
The village chief answered from the side. “Perhaps they have come to appreciate the beauty of wetlands?”
“Oh… I may need to gift them some crocodiles then. Still, since we are fleeing there… they should be happy to receive a present.”
It seemed that being around other elves helped Nax remember her own situation.
Kim Hwang-je chuckled and said, “No need for crocodiles. Those are called rice paddies. We’re going to grow a crop called rice.”
“Rice?”
“Yeah, it’s a plant that gives us grains. You guys know how to use plant-growing spells, right!?”
The village chief answered promptly. “We swore to only use those spells for the sake of the forest… but teaching them should be acceptable.”
“That’s a promise.”
The village chief nodded at Kim Hwang-je’s words.
Once we build the Magic Tower, we’ll have to include a proper druid curriculum.
Gotta collect those rubies and raise the tower quickly!
Nax spoke again. “I thought these lands had been completely destroyed by monster waves. Yet the humans have somehow held back the waves.”
“They did. The world was falling apart because of the rifts, but everyone worked together to protect it.”
Soon the village chief and the elves began murmuring again.
The Adel royal castle had come into view in the distance.
“This is impossible… how could it be so…”
“It can’t be. When we last saw it, it wasn’t this big…!”
The elves stared speechless at the enormously expanded reinforced concrete castle walls.
The forest of tetrapods and barbed wire fences in front sparkled under the sunlight.
The ground was stained deep red with the blood of countless monsters that had died there. The earth had drunk so much blood that even rainwater couldn’t wash it away.
“They definitely held back the waves!”
“…I can’t believe it…!”
By now, any weak monsters in the area had long been wiped out,
and the same went for the large monsters around Sinal Port.
Gemini and the extermination teams had taken care of many, while the bigger ones had been lured to the castle and dealt with there.
Even a Gulliver-sized giant would die instantly if it got caught on those barbed wire fences.
Finally, as the planes flew over the castle, an alarm appeared.
ALARM
Your Majesty!
Congratulations.
All citizens of Adel Castle are witnessing Your Majesty’s triumphant return!
The mighty roar of engines shakes the sky.
It is truly magnificent.
The elves have finally joined the Adel Kingdom!
And the airplanes have joined as well!
Continue gathering every race, unite them, and conquer the world!
Reward
300 Gold.
[Military 43/120] → [65/120]
[Loyalty 85/100] → [92/100]
Loyalty has surpassed 90!
For the next 3 days, all espionage activities will be blocked!
Kim Hwang-je savored the status window and said, “There. Yangcheol. Land properly.”
“Understood.”
The planes spewed hot steam as they landed one by one on the empty lot beside the ironworks.
Dave and Gemini were waiting there.
They had been waiting for tribute but were left speechless at the sight of planes descending from the sky.
Inside the slowly landing aircraft, Kim Hwang-je said, “Mr. Seo Jun-seo. It’s crude, but this is our first airport.”
“…Yes, boss. I am deeply moved.”
There wasn’t even a proper runway—just an empty lot.
Still, an airport had been born.
Building a factory and immediately rushing into airport tech.
This wasn’t StarCraft…
Anyway, Kim Hwang-je was satisfied.
“Alright. Let’s spray some pesticide effective against silicon-based lifeforms and give them a taste of knight drops.”
“Understood. I had Jo Hyeon’s team prepare everything. The knights are… coming now.”
Seo Jun-seo pointed out the window.
Dave and his knight order were preparing to board the planes.