"That's true."
"This person?"
"Still, something. Hmm..."
'When you're involved, things somehow work out well. There are some suspicious parts, but things become easy enough that it doesn't matter. Ugh. If possible, I'd feel more comfortable having you around.'
Huh? You knew? That's slightly touching. Since you normally don't show any awareness, I thought you didn't care. You do acknowledge it.
"You relied on me that much? Hmm, it can't be helped. If Shei wants it that much, I'll lend a hand by your side."
I made a concession, but the regressor bristled and said,
"Hah? It's not to that extent? In the first place, you're no help in a fight. You're in charge of negotiation, not combat!"
"Negotiation? Was that my role?!"
"Then what did you think it was? You just have a smooth tongue to seduce women or move people, but you weren't much help in direct combat, were you?"
That's too harsh! How many lines of life and death have I crossed!
I only left it to others like the regressor or Tir because they were around, I can use the strength of a normal human too!
"Tch. Then do well hunting the Thunder God by yourself. I'll just lie here comfortably and watch out the window."
"Hmph. That was my plan from the start."
Good. I roughly made an alibi, so I can move at that time.
Stomping my way to the room, the watching regressor muttered something in a voice almost inaudible.
"...Still, I do rely on you in my own way."
"Huh? What did you say?"
"Ah, I didn't say anything!"
'That guy, he has sharp ears! How the hell did he hear that? It was a mutter to myself!'
A mutter to oneself is done alone.
Claudia's morning comes with water mist. The Cloud Waterfall falls and condenses into Claudia's upper water source, but some do not settle and spread out in all directions. The scattered water vapor condenses into dew during the cold night, lying fast asleep on the ground until the morning sunlight wakes them.
And when morning comes, they become clouds again, thickly covering the ground. Fussy humans would correct that they are not clouds but water mist, but from the perspective of water droplets, what meaning is there in what they are called? The fact that they float together is more important.
Rumble, rumble, rumble. Thunder rang out three times in a row. Claudia's timekeeping used gathered thunder, announcing that two hours had passed since sunrise. Instinctively shrinking my body, I looked out the window and grumbled.
"Damn. As expected of the city of clouds, they even announce the time with thunder. There's no way I can't wake up from sleep."
"Woof, woof. Surprised! Woof!"
Aji and I, who had already woken up from the thunder timekeeping, both grumbled.
Because of the thick water mist, the sun is barely visible. They say the mist clears and it gets a bit brighter after noon, but now it's no different from dawn. The lightning lamp contained in the glass sphere is brighter than the sunlight. Because of this, ordinary people in Claudia stay indoors during the foggy morning, and proper daily routines start in the afternoon.
"Maybe it's because of the similar climate, the way of life is similar to the Fog Duchy."
Tir fell into reverie looking at the thick mist outside.
"The Fog Duchy is always full of water mist. It's to the point where forms are invisible even in broad daylight, so the loathsome sunlight cannot reach us."
"That makes sense. Even though Claudia is adjacent to the Cloud Waterfall, it's on the outside, but the Fog Duchy is a land that only appears when you part the Cloud Waterfall and go inside."
It would be more, not less, than here. The Fog Duchy isn't called the Fog Duchy for nothing. With this Cloud Waterfall as a roof, it's a land always in shade, so vampires can roam around perfectly fine even in broad daylight.
"Seeing this sight, I'm once again realizing that we've gotten close enough to the Fog Duchy... Since we've come this far, would you not visit it once?"
"If things in Claudia end properly, I think I will."
The land of vampires. I'm slightly interested too.
Once a seed of the Demon God, but dying under the blade of the Seonghwangcheong, unable to bear fruit and twisted, Tirkanka became a demon instead of a god and wandered the nine heavens. Her power could not be applied to all humans, and instead was corrupted into a method of creating a single race called vampires by sharing her blood.
A new race that clearly had a very different ecology from humans or ordinary beasts.
At this point, I am curious. Does the Seonghwangcheong regret causing the race of vampires, or do they consider it fortunate that the Demon God did not appear?
Probably the latter, but...
"Hu."
"Yes?"
Tir, with a faint smile, looked at me quietly, then put her hand on her chest and asked gently.
"Is there what you seek in my country?"
'The thing that the King of Humans would search for even if he had to turn the world upside down?'
She didn't express it in words, but she was convinced in her heart.
Ugh. These days, everyone and their dog knows my identity. Aji, being a dog, probably knew from the beginning so she's an exception, but Hilde too, and Tir too. It's come to the point where explaining it away as a lie doesn't work.
It can't be helped. If I'm associated with the Seonghwangcheong, my identity is bound to be revealed. Should I consider it fortunate that the regressor still hasn't guessed my identity? If it's revealed, the next loop...
Whatever, I don't know. Let's not care about things I can't care about.
Whether I'm the King of Humans or not isn't that important. I'm 'ordinary' anyway. I don't boast about being the King of Humans because there's no need to.
"I'm not sure if there is or not. I don't really like vampires, you see."
"...Is that so?"
'Ordinary humans fear vampires. If you are Hu, the King of Humans, you would represent all of them...'
It's not a bad guess, but it's not necessarily like that. Vampires are still humans, after all. However.
"From my standpoint, you are much more comfortable and familiar to me than other vampires, Tir."
"M-me?"
Tir asked back as if she was truly surprised.
Reigning as the progenitor and archenemy of the Seonghwangcheong, and becoming the fear of all humans, she lived a life that was the exact opposite of the words comfortable and familiar. Even if she didn't particularly enjoy it, death and slaughter were everyday occurrences that frequently happened around her.
Still, even that is human.
Compared to other vampires.
"Other vampires have their masters, you see. Should I say a king, as long as there are higher vampires who are their will and rulers, there's nothing I can do."
The dominance a higher vampire exerts over a lower vampire is absolute. Like humans bound by gravity rely on the earth, the sensation of all the blood in one's body being pulled is on a different track from simple respect or loyalty. It's close to domination and subordination, but not even a puppet, making it more vicious. Should I say it's a dependence close to subordination?
That's why a vampire's thoughts change easily. No matter how well I've prepared them and built relationships, if a higher vampire says one word, that thought can change entirely. Even their own will, which they've firmly believed in for hundreds of years, can be bent in an instant.
Since I can give vampires nothing except for one thing,
"But Tir, even though you are the progenitor, you are a complete human and have your own will. You are several times more comfortable for me."
In that sense, the vampire progenitor is ordinary. Even if she has lived for over a thousand years, it's her own will.
'...I am, human. If it were someone else, I'd dismiss it as lip service... but hearing such words from the King of Humans, the feeling is different. Is that why those who call themselves the lords of all creation search for the King of Humans...'
Tir wandered her gaze a bit and needlessly cleared her throat.
"Ahem, comfortable. Was that why you were rude from our first meeting?"
"Rude? You make me sound like a barbarian who doesn't know etiquette. Could you describe it as familiar?"
"Yes. From the first meeting, you were familiar without even etiquette. Thanks to that, we talked faster, so I should say I benefited from your rudeness."
"Strictly speaking, Shei's contribution is bigger. If you had kept sleeping soundly with the underground armory door sealed, we wouldn't have even had a chance to talk."
"That's also true. Strictly speaking, it's all thanks to Shei causing trouble. I'm not sure if I should be thankful, though."
Tir smiled slightly and cast her gaze out the window. The Thunder Wheel seen through the glass window was so huge that it showed its massive outline even in the mist. Artificial lightning flashed from the slowly turning Thunder Wheel.
It seems the preparations to kill the Thunder God are slowly finished.
"By the way, Hu. It's a rare sight of the Thunder God, a kind of Celestial God, submitting to humans. Will you truly not go see it?"
'If it's the Hu I know, they wouldn't miss such a spectacle.'
If that were true, I'd go watch even if I had to pop popcorn. Even if it wasn't Tir, who has a grudge against the Celestial Gods, it would be well worth watching. But something is holding me back.
I waved my hand and said.
"I'll rest this time."
"I understand. Rest well."
'He's probably going to do something without us again. It's a shame he doesn't reveal his intentions even though I'd help him whatever he does, but if that's what he wants, I won't pry.'
Already caught? Was it too much of a one-pattern lately? It's not strange for Tir, who was always on her toes around me, to notice.
'...And, I too. Have things I haven't said.'
Tir glanced at the Cloud Waterfall and wore a tranquil smile.
-Citizens of Claudia, stop what you are doing and listen. There is something you need to know.
Before the mist even cleared, the voice of the Thunder Lord resounded loudly in Claudia. At the speech of the great Thunder Lord, the citizens of Claudia stopped what they were doing and listened. The Thunder Lord waited until they were focused enough and spoke.
-The Golden Mirror has stopped its gallop.
A murmur spread. The citizens, belatedly realizing the meaning of those words, were horrified.
What is the reason Claudia is the number one city in the Hot Nations? Of course, it's also thanks to prospering with the power of thunder, but the biggest reason above all is that it's the only settlement city in the Hot Nations. It's the only land the Golden Mirror doesn't step foot on in the Hot Nations where the Golden Mirror roams the earth, so they could pile up the essence of alchemy on the ground.
But if the Golden Mirror has stopped, Claudia is no longer the only settlement city in the Hot Nations.
-A few brave Lords and an esteemed guest from another country stopped it. Thanks to that, the Hot Nations are now free from it.
The reason she didn't express it as the Golden Mirror disappearing was probably to prevent the public sentiment from shaking too much. The Hot Nations made their living off the power of the Golden Mirror anyway.
-Now a great change will come to the Hot Nations. Claudia, which had been unable to expand its influence, oppressed by the Golden Mirror below and the Thunder God above, is also time to break its shackles and advance.
It was hard to believe, but the Thunder Lord doesn't lie. The most powerful and great Thunder Lord in the Hot Nations is a perfect being, and such a being doesn't need petty tricks like lying.
-Borrowing the power of those who stopped the Golden Mirror, I will sever the ill-fated relationship with the Thunder God. For the future of Claudia.
Only then did the residents of Claudia realize the Thunder Lord's grand intention and cheered.
The Thunder Lord, having finished her speech, turned and walked. Following her, the Thunder Guardians moved in unison. Not as much as the Thunder Lord, but they were all those who handled the power of lightning. Most of them were deployed to reduce damage when fighting the Thunder God.
'Things have gotten bigger than I thought. When killing the Thunder God in the previous loop, I did it secretly and quietly. What is this?'
The regressor expressed doubt at the situation that deviated from expectations.
"...Isn't that too grandiose? We could just quietly catch the Thunder God."
The Thunder Lord shook her head firmly and answered.
"Normally, I would have. The situation is different now. The shock of the Golden Mirror's disappearance is bound to come someday. Ordinary humans cannot accept sudden changes, so we must inform some of it now to minimize the confusion that will come later."
"Ah, I see. Because of the Golden Mirror."
'I wondered why the reaction was different from the previous loop, it was because the Golden Mirror disappeared. This loop is really different in many ways. Well... I did get rid of the Demon God.'
The regressor newly recalled what she had done and felt a small sense of pride. There was still a lot of work left, but she felt a sense of satisfaction at the steady progress.
"You must also prepare, Golden Lord. With your abilities, you must lead everyone along with me. This matter will be the first step."
"...Yes."
Peru, who was a bit behind, gritted her teeth and stood side by side. Looking at her weak gait, the Thunder Lord spoke with slight dissatisfaction.
"Your complexion is not good. It's problematic if the one who must lead everyone is weak."
"Don't worry. That's a problem that occurred while defeating the Golden Mirror, so it can be treated. I'll look for a solution."
"Then I'm relieved. For now, let's focus on what will happen right before our eyes."
The two Lords and one regressor headed for the Lightning Rod to kill the Thunder God. An idol symbolizing the fear of the Thunder God, and a structure that can overcome the Thunder God. To sever the ill-fated relationship with the Thunder God at the Lightning Rod.
The empty space after they left.
I trudged toward the Lightning Rod.
The Lightning Rod. A super-giant structure reaching 50m in height alone. It doesn't simply exist to receive lightning strikes; inside it, there are facilities that utilize lightning.
The Thunder Lord guided me to the farm, but there are many other things. A mill to process harvested crops. A refinery to imbue steel with lightning. Facilities to make various tools using that, and so on. The resources produced in the Lightning Rod spread out beneath it. Thanks to the abundant resources, as long as there are people to work, Claudia runs fine. Because they can enjoy a much more stable life than roaming the wasteland of the Hot Nations, the powerless jackals wish to live in Claudia.
However, because the Thunder Lord only accepts jackals with children, Claudia is full of newlywed couples with nowhere to rely on or women with children. Even they have to leave when the child grows up.
The city prospers, but most are those who will leave this place someday.
Among them, those who do not leave are....