A passing wanderer brought peace to the snow mountain. After the long winter ended, spring would come even to the snow mountain in the far-flung frontier.
Many women who had been captured by the giants shed tears of gratitude. The humans of the snow mountain, liberated from the giant tribe, lit great fires for the first time and danced and sang.
Though she cleared away the sins layered upon this land and promised a future, 'Nuna' did not pay it much mind. Rather, the King's warriors were rejoicing more than 'Nuna' herself.
Receiving everyone's cheers, 'Nuna' departed from the snow mountain. Leaving behind the great achievement of annihilating the evil giant tribe.
The next destination was the jungle. The jungle, a treasure trove of countless lives, held tremendous potential sleeping within, but it did not belong to humans alone. In the land of the World Tree, all kinds of beasts lived in fierce competition.
Competition means eating and being eaten. The jungle, abundant with fruits, tree roots, insects, and small beasts, also had so many humans that they frequently encountered one another. Even if they were the same species—no, precisely because they were the same species—they were all the more dangerous competitors. In the jungle, humans killing and eating each other was all too natural.
The victor determined after countless people ate and were eaten—Ankra, who ate a thousand of the Angka tribe.
Ankra eliminated competitors by eating humans. After eating for a while, a knack developed, and came to comprehend how to make the consumed life force their own. Thanks to Ankra's cooking method, the Angka tribe flourished day by day.
However, even though their numbers grew, the Angka tribe tried to maintain the number of humans they ate out of inertia. Eating a thousand meant more than that were being born, but even that number was insufficient to meet the Angka tribe's demand.
A powerful and beautiful, wise and merciful King of Humans visited the jungle. Humans fleeing from Ankra rushed to the one from beyond the grassland and appealed. Please kill Ankra, please defeat that evil cannibal. 'Nuna' went straight to meet Ankra.
Having heard the rumors about the King of Humans, Ankra decided to strike first. Daring to deceive and lure the King of Humans, planning to surround and then devour.
But that level of gluttony fell far short. Ankra was defeated unsightlyly by 'Nuna'. Though 'Nuna' clearly showed mercy and let Ankra live, Ankra disappeared from the jungle due to circumstances unknown to 'Nuna'.
In the jungle, the legend of the one from beyond the grassland spread widely. Now, blessing would dwell in this land watched over by the great ginkgo tree.
In the desert where the demonic beast Baphomet resided, black water containing primordial life force springs forth.
Primordial behemoths. Beasts of antiquity that dominated this land in a distant past that humans could not even dare to imagine.
The essence of life created when the primordial behemoths sleeping in the Earth Mother's embrace crumbled and melted away over time—that was the 'black water'.
Drinking the black water grants tremendous life force, but in exchange, the rampaging power consumes the body and causes transformation. The black water, both poison and medicine, both curse and blessing, was a resource to be feared whether used by oneself or by others.
Yet the ones who could use such a resource best were also humans.
The mother of demonic beasts, Baphomet. A human who fortunately discovered the hidden black pond inside a cave and monopolized it. Having cured her chronic illness with the black water, she agonized over how to prevent this resource from being taken by other beasts or humans. With weak strength and no one to rely on, she used her wisdom to create traps.
Beasts that came as if bewitched by the scent of the black water were caught in her traps, dismembered, and used as materials. Flesh as food, sinews as string, bones ground fine.
Thus, processing beasts one by one, Baphomet stepped into black and dark magic. It was a primitive sorcery that targeted life itself, later to be called black magic.
Having mastered black magic using the black water as a medium, Baphomet grafted beasts together to create demonic beasts. The black pond became a spawning pool that birthed monsters. Demonic beasts hunted and dragged other beasts, tore off their limbs, and threw them into the black spawning pool to transform them into demonic beasts.
Regrettably, the material humans handled best was humans. Demonic beasts aggressively targeted humans, and humans had to hide and suppress their presence as if dead in order to survive.
Though they were such powerful and fearsome demonic beasts, even they could not reach the King of Humans.
The King of Humans and the King's warriors who arrived in the desert easily hunted the demonic beasts. Demonic beasts were not human, and 'Nuna' showed no mercy to the demonic beasts that attacked first without knowing their place. The demonic beasts, designed with a stronger instinct for combat than survival, shattered like eggs striking a boulder.
The humans of the desert, liberated from the demonic beasts, left praises for 'Nuna' on stone and sand. They treated the noble one from the east with utmost hospitality, singing heroic tales and carving stories into constellations.
Baphomet, having lost the majority of her demonic beasts, knelt before 'Nuna'. Unlike Yotun or Ankra, she sincerely submitted and offered the black water to 'Nuna'. As a sign of obedience and as a tribute to the King.
Instead of drinking the unidentified black water, 'Nuna' comprehended how to refine and handle it. 'Nuna' left the desert, leaving Baphomet as she was.
…Of course, the mother of demonic beasts who had lost her demonic beasts. She disappeared before long.
It was a journey of nearly ten years. On the arduous journey, some of the King's warriors died or left, and new warriors joined, experiencing changes.
The great mountain, Bulaksan, soaring high as if to support the heavens.
The World Tree, a ginkgo tree blessed by earth and heaven.
The black water, the legacy left by the primordial behemoths and embraced by the Earth Mother.
Seeing and experiencing many things, the King's warriors grew greatly. The lore keepers who handled knowledge wrote hundreds of new scrolls, and the warriors gained the power to handle life force through repeated battles. The technique later called Qigong spread among the warriors.
It was around that time that the Archdruid Nevida attained some kind of enlightenment.
When 'Nuna', having accomplished such great feats, returned, what greeted 'Nuna' and the warriors was a 'nation' in a form never seen before.
During the ten years, the 'nation' had flourished too much.
The King's warriors who could not follow 'Nuna' each returned to their hometowns and built their foundations. The strong and wise King's warriors became monarchs and ruled the people.
The monarchs who seized power first strove for the revival of their villages. They settled wanderers, reclaimed land, enacted laws, and established order. Villages became cities, and to grow larger, they swallowed surrounding villages and expanded endlessly until… they collided with other territories.
The opponent was also a King's warrior like themselves. Since warriors could not fight each other, the cities halted their expansion and turned their eyes in other directions. However, by that time, there was no more land left to take. Wherever they looked, there were only cities claiming the land as their own nearby.
The pressure to expand outward, failing to achieve its goal, began to cause friction with other cities. The warriors who had once been loyal to the same King now treated each other like enemies,
Thus, the 'nation' became a massive empire ruled by hundreds of monarchs.
The King's warriors, who had expected a warm welcome, were bewildered by the all-too-unfamiliar response. It was different from the past when they were welcomed everywhere. When they tried to pass through the large fences, humans armed with weapons rushed out in droves and aimed their spears.
How dare they aim spears at the King of Humans? The dumbfounded warriors grabbed the lore keeper and asked.
"What has happened while Your Majesty was away?"
"…It has become a sea beast that came onto land."
As always, the lore keeper gave the corresponding answer. Whether the other party understood or not.
A sea beast can only live in the sea. If a sea beast were to come onto land, it would not be able to support its excessively heavy body and would die of exhaustion.
The new 'nation' was a sea beast that had come onto land. It was an order far too great for humans of that time to handle, but thanks to excessive knowledge and power, it barely managed to maintain its bulk.
"The reason they have not yet been crushed to death under their own weight is because Your Majesty exists. Your grace, vast as the ocean, still remains, supporting them so that they need not kill each other."
There was only one reason why war did not break out between the opposing cities.
The King of Humans.
Though they called themselves monarchs, loyalty to the King of Humans remained in their hearts. Because they were conscious of 'Nuna's' existence, who was clearly superior to them and wiser, they refrained from acting.
Even while opposing each other and disputing over territory. They believed that if 'Nuna' returned, all these conflicts would be resolved. They believed there would be proper judgment and waited for the King's return.
In a situation that was utterly incomprehensible. The lore keeper El knelt before 'Nuna'.
"Your Majesty. Please hear my last plea."
The lore keeper grabbed 'Nuna's' trouser legs. Kissed the instep, clutched the ankles. Casting aside even the attitude of being indifferent to all things. The lore keeper pleaded with the King of Humans.
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"Your Majesty. This is the last chance. You must establish order again. Now, at the end of this first year where civilization has reached a singularity. The enemy of humans is now only humans. Just as the giants were, just as the cannibals were, just as the demonic beasts were. Now humans will use their power and wisdom to kill other humans."
What the lore keeper feared was neither the giants, nor the cannibals, nor the demonic beasts. The lore keeper feared the way they treated humans.
'Nuna' as well, through the successive journeys, was vaguely realizing what she wanted.
"Your Majesty. I, El, plead with you as Your warrior. Please give me a command. In the King's name, let me end all this conflict and establish order again. If there is Your command, I can accomplish it."
A King's warrior cannot dare to manipulate the King. Because the King of Humans is perfect. An imperfect being cannot dictate to a perfect being.
However, the King can command the warrior.
The right to demand that the King command them to do something. The lore keeper exercised the precious right that the King's warriors had obtained through arduous effort.
To let them eliminate the conflict that would soon arise. To establish order in the King's name and rule the empire.
To El's sorrowful plea, 'Nuna' answered, fully understanding her heart.
"Do it yourself."