While the exploration team was startled by the golems, Catherine was in her office holding a meeting with David, Sterling, and Kim Hee-won.
Unlike David and Sterling, who attended the meeting by virtue of their positions, Hee-won was seated there simply because she was Korean.
She was attending the meeting as a representative of the Koreans.
When Catherine had announced that Hee-won would attend the meeting, many among the Koreans had opposed it.
Some didn't like it because she was a woman, some because she was young, and some because they disliked that she was part of the same vanguard as the Americans.
Among them were those who said the Koreans should vote to choose their representative.
Catherine had ignored all such talk.
To her, such opposition was all pointless.
The reason Hee-won had been made the representative of the Koreans wasn't because she was in the vanguard and close to the Americans.
There was only one reason Hee-won had been made representative: she was close to Captain Hyun.
Since she had decided to go all-in on Captain Hyun, all her criteria were aligned with him.
As the assembled people looked at Catherine, she was the first to speak about the recent hunt.
“The Akzar black stones obtained from this hunt total fifteen. That's about the equivalent of fifteen hundred regular black stones.”
For a hunt without the exploration team and Captain Hyun, it wasn't bad.
Before the Akzar monsters had appeared, it would have been an absurd amount.
No, if it had been in the past, over half would have died during the hunt.
“And, while there were a few injured, fortunately there were no fatalities.”
The lack of fatalities was thanks to the relic Catherine had obtained, the terrain of the city's underground, and the newly established hunting method.
Without all that, such a hunt would have been impossible.
Sterling, who had been listening, opened his mouth.
“It's a good result, but it'll be hard to continue these hunts. At most, we have one or two left.”
Unlike before, everyone nodded at words spoken in a calm tone.
Apart from David, everyone else was someone who had participated in the hunt.
Everyone was feeling it—that the hunts luring monsters into the city's underground were slowly coming to an end.
Luring the monsters had grown increasingly difficult, but the number of monsters in the city itself had greatly decreased.
It was partly because the hunting teams kept catching them, but as the monsters disappeared, the remaining ones left the city one by one.
“Hunts like the current one are impossible elsewhere. We'll need to find new hunting grounds before then.”
Catherine replied to Sterling's words.
“Understood. Let's discuss the matter of new hunting grounds with the exploration team leader.”
Sterling nodded at her answer.
After finishing the talk about the hunt, Catherine looked at David.
Base Commander David opened his mouth.
“The base's defensive posture is not bad. We still haven't received reports of monsters appearing around the desert. The monsters in the ruin city are leaving the city, but monsters that haven't received orders will have difficulty making it this far. Even in the worst-case scenario, we can deploy sandstorms, so there shouldn't be any major problems.”
Having said that much, he furrowed his brow.
“However, food is a problem. Even now, we can't manage with just the grain grown in the underground greenhouses. Until now, we've filled the shortfall with meat from indigenous monsters, but that's difficult now.”
After the rampage of the Akzar monsters, indigenous monsters had become hard to find around the base.
Before, the hunting teams had traveled to distant places to hunt indigenous monsters, so it hadn't been an issue, but now the hunting teams were catching Akzar monsters that couldn't be used for food.
In the end, they couldn't fill the food shortage now.
“I think we'll need to talk to Captain Hyun about bringing more food from Earth...”
Catherine shook her head at the words Hee-won cautiously offered.
Captain Hyun's spatial movement ability couldn't be used for something like that.
Besides, the place she was going to was filled with food that would eliminate all such worries.
The bigger problem was convincing the people at the base about the food she would bring.
‘As expected, I need more people.’
It wasn't yet time to reveal the secret Captain Hyun and the exploration team held to others.
To keep the secret while making others understand, she needed more people.
People who were close to Captain Hyun and not affiliated with other factions.
She had to use such people to package what Captain Hyun had accomplished.
Right now, there weren't any such people, so she couldn't bring food immediately, but she could at least drop a hint this time.
“It seems Captain Hyun has discovered ruins similar to the underground greenhouse this time. The food problem will soon be resolved as well.”
David raised both hands at Catherine's words.
“Again, Captain Hyun the Wise? I am speechless.”
David knew better than anyone what Hyun the Wise had accomplished on this planet.
Even he could hardly keep up with Captain Hyun's current activities.
“That's the base situation... How are the personnel?”
This time, Catherine asked Hee-won.
“Ah, this month an additional twenty Koreans and four Americans crossed over. Everyone is currently adapting at the base.”
Perhaps nervous, Hee-won gave a slightly off-topic answer.
“Ah, the atmosphere among the personnel is fine as well.”
Fortunately, she immediately corrected her answer. This time, it was the proper response.
Catherine tilted her head at Hee-won's words.
“Fine, you say?”
“Yes. It's because of the news the additional arrivals brought and the newspapers Captain Hyun brought. Everyone seems extremely tense at the news that a major problem has occurred on Earth.”
She had thought the mood would worsen if Earth's situation deteriorated, but the result differed from Catherine's expectations.
“Rather, a sense of crisis has been fostered.”
“Yes. Even those who didn't believe Earth would be destroyed have all come to believe it.”
“There must be people worried about family on Earth, right?”
“That's why the number of people wanting to join the hunting teams has surged. Everyone wants to secure tickets to Paradise for their families.”
To Catherine, who knew the situation in Paradise, it felt like a pointless endeavor, but she didn't show it.
Thus, after listening to various agenda items with the others and making decisions, Catherine rose from her seat.
She pointed at her bracelet and spoke.
“As I said earlier, I will go check the place the exploration team recently discovered. It will take about half a day, so please manage this base well in my absence, David and everyone.”
Since she had established the pretext of a new greenhouse, no one suspected her.
After the meeting ended, Catherine headed underground.
The terraforming base was bustling with people.
People were using the oasis outside the base as well, but as new people arrived and no one was dying, the base was becoming crowded again.
This too needed to be resolved, but Catherine wasn't worried.
With the city Hyun had found—using that place, this matter too would soon be resolved.
It was as David said.
Her problem right now—no, this planet's problem—was something Hyun could solve.
It was laughable.
It turned out she was relying on everything on one person.
She too had grabbed the rope Hyun offered, knowing full well, but she hadn't realized it would run this deep.
Thinking such thoughts, Catherine descended underground and couldn't help but smile upon seeing Hyun standing before the greenhouse.
***
Catherine smiled when she saw me.
I couldn't help but make a puzzled expression at that uncharacteristic smile.
Catherine didn't tell me why she was smiling.
Instead, she composed her expression and spoke to me.
“I gave the hunting team a two-day break. I've entrusted the base to David, so they won't come looking for us today.”
She continued explaining as if reporting to a superior.
“For ten days, I've subtly broached the subject with people. Among those I spoke with, Kim Hee-won, Carlo, and Sergeant Kim showed the most favorable reactions. I think those three would work well as the first recruitment targets.”
She spoke of the people to recruit, and,
“According to those who came from Earth, things don't look good there. Several countries are on the brink of war, and coups and demonstrations are breaking out on a massive scale.”
she told me about Earth's situation.
It was as expected, but Earth was a mess.
This couldn't be helped.
America had stirred up that chaos; there was no way things would be fine.
I sighed at Catherine's report.
For now, we were lucky no one was around, but it wasn't something the commander should say to her deputy commander.
However, the absence of people wasn't due to luck either.
“Upon receiving the signal that Captain Hyun was coming, people were sent up in advance. It would be troublesome if Captain Hyun were misunderstood.”
At Catherine's following words, I couldn't help but shake my head.
As expected, no one could match Catherine in such matters.
At a loss for words, I guided Catherine to the ice planet.
Fwoosh!
The light vanished, and semi-transparent ice walls came into view.
“It's a cold place.”
Catherine, who had arrived with me, said as she looked around.
“With weather like that, it seems impossible for people to live on the surface.”
Watching the cold storms sweep around the ice ruins, Catherine continued.
Before her composed words could even finish, an angry voice rang out.
“No! People will be able to live on this planet someday too!”
It was the spirit.
The spirit, who had appeared before I knew it, pouted and refuted Catherine's words.
Even seeing the spirit's sulking appearance, Catherine greeted her with a calm face.
“So you're the spirit Captain Hyun spoke of. It's a pleasure. I'm Catherine.”
“Uh... I'm Shamila. No, that's not it—people can live on this planet too!”
The spirit had come to her senses and was pretending to be angry again, but Catherine paid her no mind and continued.
“I heard you built a city underground where people can live.”
At Catherine's words, the spirit nodded with a blank expression.
“Huh, that's right. I did make that city, but...”
“Then, let's see the city first. I ask for your guidance.”
“Ah, yes. Follow me.”
The spirit tilted her head and guided Catherine.
To think even the spirit was being led around like that.
I couldn't help but shake my head.
However, Catherine's composed expression didn't last long.
Inside the elevator heading underground, Catherine's eyes went wide.
“My goodness. Is all of this the city?”
The massive city visible below the elevator.
The city situated in an underground plaza so vast the horizon was visible left Catherine astonished.
“Hoho. It's all a city I made. I said it could house a hundred thousand people.”
The spirit straightened her shoulders and brought up what she had heard from the team members.
But Catherine didn't seem to hear the spirit's boasting.
“Are those all forests and farmlands spread around the city?”
She looked down and continued her questions.
“Not all of it. There's also pasture for raising livestock later.”
The spirit too seemed to realize Catherine didn't care about the answers.
She continued boasting in an excited voice.
“Truly incredible. Those flowers blooming in the city are all 'Mage's Flowers,' aren't they?”
“Hahahaha. That's right! They're the third-bloom flowers. I already made awakening agents from everything up to the second bloom.”
Lost in listening to the two women's excited voices, the elevator reached the ground.
As I tried to step off the elevator, Catherine blocked my path.
Looking at her, I saw Catherine's eyes shining with an intense light.
“I didn't know it would be a city of this scale. To think it would be a self-sufficient city of this size, with exclusive products.”
I too thought it was amazing, but Catherine's excitement far exceeded my expectations.
She grabbed my shoulder and spoke with fiery passion.
“With Earth destroyed and Paradise reduced to what it is, the city where the last civilization remains will surely be this place!”
It might very well turn out as Catherine said.
But was it something to get so worked up over?
Catherine answered my unspoken question in a loud voice.
“This city is enough. Starting with this city, we must build Captain Hyun's nation!”
Expansion (2)