‘Perfect. He’s only going to get bigger from here on out.’
In truth, Suho had been worrying quite a bit over where on earth he could confine and hide Winky, who seemed to grow without end.
That was why he had been building a nest nearly as huge as an indoor theme park like Lotte World, but keeping the poor creature shut up inside it alone would have been too pitiful... so this really was good news.
For now, he had received permission to let Winky fly all over Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, but he had been asked to make sure Winky did not set foot in the areas around major government buildings and military bases.
Outside of that, there were no restrictions on flying or activity in regions beyond the capital area.
‘Once SimCity is over, should we mostly live out there or something...?’
But then again, Elysium Heights and Winky’s main nest were in Seoul...
It seemed he would have to look into a wide plot of land where Winky could live freely.
Just as Suho had once dreamed, “the Admiti who tamed and rode a monster” became a topic all over the world.
Countless domestic reporters and even foreign correspondents flocked in like clouds to cover Winky, and after thinking it over for a bit, Suho simply agreed to an interview.
He figured that if he was going to take Winky out for walks in the future, he needed to imprint the creature’s existence on the entire nation.
“How did you tame a monster? Do you need a related skill?”
“No skill is necessary. You can think of it as similar to taming a wild animal. The person next to him.”
“What does a griffon eat? Does it eat meat? Vegetables? Or does it consume something else special?”
“It doesn’t eat things like meat or vegetables. Yes, it eats something else special. It only eats Aetherium.”
At that point, a sound burst out from the reporters that was hard to tell whether it was admiration or lamentation.
A mysterious energy source with an astronomical price, something always in short supply even if one had money—and it ate only Aetherium.
Wasn’t this a creature that even the world’s conglomerates would find burdensome to raise?
But since Jeong Suho was the person who could supply Aetherium more smoothly than anyone else in the world, the fact that he was its owner was also something of a relief.
“How much does the griffon’s combat power differ outside the Tower compared to inside it?”
“Well... I’ve never fought a griffon inside the Tower yet.”
Laughter burst out from the reporters attending the conference.
It was only natural that Suho, who belonged to a production-type field, had never fought a griffon.
Still, Suho had heard a thing or two.
“However... according to the Admiti who have fought one, they say there is hardly any difference in combat power compared to inside the Tower.”
“Wow... That’s incredible...”
There were no reporters who did not know that a griffon was a boss monster from the sixtieth-floor range, so they let out pure exclamations of awe.
Another person raised a hand, and Suho pointed to him.
“What are your plans going forward? Will the griffon perhaps participate in Tower raids as well?”
“Mm... That’s something I don’t know either, so I can’t give you a definite answer. First of all, it hasn’t been confirmed whether this guy can enter the Tower.”
“What if it can?”
“Then wouldn’t it be fine to take him in? If I go in with him and order him to hunt, the raid team would probably feel like they’d come camping in the Tower.”
The reporters burst into laughter again.
With so many people gathered, Suho thought he should address the matter of Winky’s custody, so he brought up one more topic.
“Ah, and there is one more thing I should say. I am only a co-guardian of this griffon.”
At those words, countless reporters raised their hands.
“Does that mean the griffon has a primary guardian elsewhere?”
“Yes, that’s right. You can think of me as something like an assistant guardian. This guy listens to me well too, but he listens even better to his primary guardian.”
“Oh... It’s already extremely fascinating that he listens so well to Admiti Jeong Suho. Then who is that primary guardian? Is it someone known to the public?”
“Of course. Korea’s greatest tanker, Admiti Han Taeung, is that person.”
Exclamations burst out from the audience.
At this unexpected fact, the fervor of the coverage seemed about to explode.
Many questions continued to be exchanged afterward, and flashes kept going off, but throughout the press conference, Winky sat motionless beside Suho and dozed off in nods.
Even as the hundreds of gathered reporters took thousands, tens of thousands of photos, he seemed to have no interest in any of it.
That day, Winky became the mascot of the entire world.
* * *
“Truly fascinating. To think cohabitation between a monster and humans would be recognized.”
“Right? I still find it so strange too.”
“The laws of Earth seem to have a distinctly convenience-oriented aspect.”
“Well, laws are kind of like that by nature.”
“Then will you be riding that creature around now?”
“I can, or since I have my Wing too, I can fly separately. Anyway, just taking him out for walks is fun in itself.”
“Hooh...”
“By the way, boss monsters really are incredible. Winky isn’t even an adult yet, but he’s already enormous.”
“Hmm... Is that considered big?”
“Huh, you’ve seen Winky too?”
“Of course. I saw him through the gate that became a portal window.”
“Really? Then you know. Isn’t he seriously huge?”
“Well...... I suppose, since humans are such small animals.”
“Oh, what are you talking about? You Azure Dragons are a long-lived race, not a giant race.”
“Compared to humans, we are a giant race as well.”
“How much so?”
What Rabi gave in answer to Suho’s question was something entirely unexpected.
Suho’s eyes went round at the casual remark Rabi let slip while thinking about something.
“Last time, Lord Suho, you asked me two things. Whether I could physically interfere with Earth, and whether I could go to Earth.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“I had occasion to meet the Administrator, so I consulted them about that matter.”
“Oh, and? What did they say?”
“For now, I received permission for both. The methods required for each are complicated and different, and there is also a large variance in the costs involved.”
“Ooooooh! Really?”
The facts that the methods were complicated and that they would cost a great deal did not even register in Suho’s ears.
Just the thought that Rabi could intervene on Earth was exciting.
“However, I think it would be better to erase the idea of me going directly to Earth from your mind as much as possible. There are many disadvantages, first of all.”
“Disadvantages? Like what?”
“The biggest problem is the cost, but the second is my appearance. Here in Cheonyangwon’s subspace warehouse, I maintain this form so that I can communicate and interact comfortably with you, Lord Suho, and maintaining this form has no separate consumption cost. But it is different on Earth.”
“Hmm... What happens if you come to Earth?”
“Simply crossing the overlapping dimensions to Earth consumes an enormous amount of rune energy, so I do not have the leeway to maintain this appearance. Therefore, I would have no choice but to go in my true form.”
“Eeeek? Y-you weren’t a baby dragon?”
“By the standards of my race, I am an infant who has lived only one percent of my lifespan, but even so, I am over a thousand years old. To be exact, I am now 1,051 years old.”
“Ahaha... Right. That’s how it was. A thousand-year-old baby dragon. Hahaha...”
“And Lord Suho is a thirty-year-old old human.”
“Hey! Old? I’m not old. Anyway... What exactly is the age ratio if we compare it to humans...?”
Suho thought of a comparison chart for cat and human ages, then shook his head when he realized he could not gauge it at all.
“For now, we grow until ten thousand years old, and around then, we become adults.”
“Then ten thousand years old for you would be around sixteen or seventeen for humans...? Anyway, so what is your original form?”
Rabi shrugged his adorable shoulders.
“What else would it be? Just an Azure Dragon. But in the eyes of humans, I would be large. Very much so.”
“Very much? How much is ‘much’?”
“Let’s see... In the Earth-style system of measurement I studied... I think the distance between my wings would be about five hundred meters.”
“......”
Suho rolled his eyes this way and that as he tried to imagine it, then quickly gave up.
* * *
Suho rode Winky to the construction site of the creature’s new nest and requested that the design itself be changed.
At the news that the griffon had arrived, every worker on site came running out and began taking pictures on their phones of the real Winky, whom they had only seen on the news.
“Hmm... The entire roof, you say?”
“Yes. If that’s difficult, then please make at least half of it retractable. So that it opens and closes semi-automatically.”
Originally, Winky’s nest had been structured so that one had to enter through a narrow entrance on the first floor; by default, it had been difficult to go in and out.
That was because they had thought that once he went in, he would essentially have almost no reason to come out.
But things were different now. He could go in and out as much as he wanted and fly. For that, a completely sealed ceiling was a problem.
“Understood. For now, making the entire thing retractable is possible. There are many large stadiums with retractable roofs, after all. However, in order to open and close the roof, we’ll need to install motors, gears, rails, and rollers, and we’ll have to install movable double panels in the pressure-support system. Compared to the existing roof, which we were simply going to cover over, there will be a significant difference in cost.”
“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that. It doesn’t matter how much more it costs, so please do it that way. Oh, right, and while you’re at it, please install large levers on the inside and outside respectively. So that the griffon can pull them with his feet and open and close it on his own.”
“Hooh... Will it have that level of intelligence?”
“Oh, Director, what do you take griffons for? They’re incredibly smart.”
Kirrreuk—
Winky responded as if to say that was right.
* * *
More time passed quickly, and people gradually grew used to Suho being accompanied by Winky.
Winky’s new nest was completed,
and the construction of Elysium Heights was also visibly approaching completion.
As for the new city planned for construction around Yeongyang County and Bonghwa County in North Gyeongsang Province, approval for the development plan was granted through legal and administrative procedures, and as the government held consultations with the residents, ownership of the relevant area was quickly transferred.
Ahead of the large-scale development project, the process of paying compensation to the residents of the area and providing support for relocation was underway over several months.
It had already been three months since the eighty-third-floor Tower rose and the sixteen-person raid team entered.
An S-rank raid team that had neither contacted anyone nor come out even once, leaving everyone unsure whether they were dead or alive.
During those three months, the large-scale command headquarters, base camp, and support base installed around the Tower remained in place without missing a single day.
As the special dedicated support and supply team, numerous personnel guarded the camp twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, but even after quite a long time had passed, the S-rank raid team did not come out.
Some worried that perhaps something had gone wrong inside, but in truth, that possibility was extremely low.
In reality, they were continuing their raid without much difficulty.
“Captain Joshua, we’re almost out of supplies.”
The raid team had set up a base camp on the sixty-fifth floor, and while they were working, Park Seoyeon, who was in charge of overall supply management, reported the situation she had checked.
“Hmm. What looks like it will run out first?”
“Nutri Ampoules.”
Nutri Ampoules were a futuristic meal replacement product developed for survival in extreme environments, military operations, space exploration, and the like.
They were a special food that used molecular compression technology to cram 2,000 kcal worth of calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients into a small tube of about one hundred milliliters.
They were rapidly absorbed by the body, could be preserved long-term for over five years, and maintained stability even under extreme temperatures and environments, so they were expensive as well.
Fortunately, everyone was S-rank and therefore wealthy, and they had received full support from the government, so each of them had filled their carriers generously with these Nutri Ampoules before setting out.
But after three months of continuous fighting, the entire stock was beginning to hit bottom.
“After checking, everyone still has plenty of potions left, and the equipment is still in good enough condition to use, but we’re running out of food.”
“Wow... This is a first.”
Thomas let out an exclamation.
In truth, among the many items one needed to prepare for a Tower raid, Nutri Ampoules were among the easiest to acquire.
Compared to specialized equipment, Aetherium, or potions, their acquisition difficulty was extremely low. They were expensive, but one could simply buy them on the market.
As a result, even during Tower raids, these meal-replacement ampoules were what one usually had plenty of until the very end, and withdrawing from the Tower because Nutri Ampoules had run out was that rare.
“It’s my first time too. Since we put S-rank Aetherium into the equipment, it’s still holding up great.”
“That’s right. Same for me. We have so many potions that I haven’t even used a quarter of mine yet.”
“And our raid speed is solid.”
“It’s not just solid. This speed is seriously insane.”
“Haha, true.”
Having shared hardships for three months, they had become quite close, and now treated one another without hesitation.
Typically, more than half of the total raid period was actually spent on the top twenty percent of floors.
That was because the lower floors were easy, and the higher one went, the harder the raid became.
By that ratio, out of eighty-three floors, the 125 days corresponding to half of the raid period would be spent on the sixty-sixth floor and below, yet this team had reached that point in only ninety days.
“It seems it is about time to head out.”
Even Joshua, the raid leader who had driven the attack force hard and brought them this far without rest, had no choice but to acknowledge that.
“Though the way back is long.”
“Seriously, when are we ever going to get down there? Ha...”
“Should we pick people to go down and come back?”
“Let’s just all go together. Everyone’s been washing with nothing but cleansing gel and cleansing sheets for three months, and it’s quite a sight.”
“Haha!”
“That sounds good. Captain, we have some room time-wise too, so how about we all go and come back together?”
At everyone’s suggestion, Joshua, who was in charge of the raid team, readily nodded.
“Let’s do that. We will all go out and return together.”
Their exit after three months was decided.