After returning to the underground ruins with Magreta, I packed the supplies I had piled beside the altar back into the box.
After that, we headed for the passage connected to the surface.
Before entering the passage, I saw a man lying neatly on his back.
It was the dispatched team member I had put to sleep earlier.
“Is it all right not to wake him?”
At Magreta’s words, I shook my head.
“It’s fine. He’ll wake up soon.”
Energy users could resist magic to a certain degree.
Unlike ordinary people, who would not wake easily once put to sleep by magic, he would soon wake on his own.
We passed by the sleeping man and entered the passage leading to the surface.
The long uphill path I had taken every time since coming to this planet.
Now the middle of it was blocked and I had made a new path, but until the blocked section, we still had to walk the old passage.
After entering the passage, we immediately stopped.
“This is the place, right? Just looking at it, I can’t really tell.”
Magreta tilted her head as she looked at the wall of the passage.
Of course she couldn’t tell.
The earthen wall before us was one I had delicately rebuilt with magic.
If anyone discovered that this earthen wall was different, especially because of what lay behind it, it would be troublesome.
I placed my hand on the earthen wall and cast a spell.
When I formed an image in my mind of the wall collapsing, a magic circle and formula were automatically created.
A magic circle spread over the earthen wall beneath my hand, and finally, I recited the incantation.
“Collapse.”
Rumble.
Just as I had imagined, the earthen wall collapsed.
Seeing the wall crumble down by exactly the amount needed, Soph clicked his tongue.
[No matter how I think about it, this is cheating. Do you know how complex the magic circle and formulas would have to be to operate magic this delicately?]
I knew that well enough myself.
I also knew how different the formulas drawn in my mind were from ordinary earth magic.
A beautiful formula that removed what needed to be removed from earth magic and added what needed to be added.
That formula was still showing off its elegant form inside my head.
[This is not something that can be done simply by memorizing it and becoming accustomed to it. One must be proficient in magic itself, to the point of being able to toy with magic circles and formulas...]
The great mage Soph seemed dissatisfied that I could so easily create such magic.
I understood Soph’s dissatisfaction, but there was nothing I could do about it either.
I could not understand the formulas and magic circles I created. Nor did I know how they were made.
It simply worked because I did it.
Beyond the collapsed wall, I could see the two nuclear missiles I had brought here last time.
I put the seemingly intact nuclear missiles back into the box.
“You really have to be careful when using nuclear weapons.”
Seeing me put the nuclear missiles into the box, Magreta spoke with a worried expression.
Magreta had never said anything like this until now, but it seemed even she was worried about nuclear bombs.
“Yes. I’ll be careful.”
I would be careful, but I was not as worried as she was.
I had already experienced a nuclear bomb once before.
Rather than worrying that I might be hurt by a nuclear bomb, I was more worried about whether the nuclear bomb would have the proper effect.
After taking the two nuclear bombs, I restored the wall.
Then we headed for the surface.
We proceeded about halfway along the original passage, then entered the newly made passage beside the collapsed one.
It was the passage I had made to avoid the underground waterway connected to the lake.
It was smaller and more winding than the original passage, which stretched out wide and long, but this passage was far away from the underground waterway, so there was no worry of it being submerged.
[The original passage was a path that endured for over ten thousand years. If you had not destroyed it, it would still be perfectly fine now.]
Soph grumbled again, but as always, I pretended not to hear him.
With the help of magic, we quickly arrived at the surface, and it had changed from the last time I saw it.
“It doesn’t look like a temporary base anymore.”
When I had seen it before, it had been a typical temporary settlement with several tents spread around the lake.
But now, in addition to many tents, buildings made of stone and other materials were being erected.
Just as Magreta said, it now looked more like a proper village than a temporary base.
As soon as we came outside, I felt several gazes gather on us.
I felt the gaze of a team member standing watch on a nearby watchtower, and the gazes of team members patrolling the surroundings.
Monsters did not appear east of the mountain range, so they had not built a separate defensive wall, but it seemed they were still keeping proper watch.
As time passed, I felt gazes other than those of the sentries.
People who had known us from before, people who had newly arrived and had only seen our faces, and even people seeing us for the first time.
Many gazes gathered on us.
Under those gazes, Magreta and I set out to find Catherine.
Seeing the base develop this quickly, I thought Catherine would be here.
As expected, Catherine was at the lakeside base.
Finding her was not difficult.
She was seated in front of a large tent by the lakeshore, at a place that looked like a field headquarters.
She sat beneath a tent that blocked the sun, talking with people.
When I listened closely, Catherine and the others were discussing this base.
“People will continue to come over in the future. We need to keep building tent quarters and houses.”
“But we are short on supplies. Even if food can be procured, daily necessities and other materials are already close to running out.”
“Don’t worry about that. It will be resolved soon.”
It seemed materials had run short because the number of people kept increasing and the base had expanded rapidly.
Perhaps because they were in the middle of a serious discussion, the people did not notice our arrival.
A team member on watch tried to inform them, but before he could, I asked Catherine.
“What items are urgently needed right now?”
At my words, Catherine abruptly raised her head.
When I waved my hand, Catherine, who had been frowning, relaxed her expression.
“You’ve returned.”
Catherine said it, but now even I no longer found those words—saying I had returned—strange.
As she greeted me, Catherine rose from her seat.
Some people were startled by her suddenly standing, but those who had been with her from before followed her and rose as well.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
At the words the people spoke as they stood, I also bowed my head, and those who had been bewildered by the sight of the others standing began to rise one by one to welcome us.
Catherine, having risen from her seat, yielded the place she had been sitting to me and sat down beside it.
The newcomers were surprised to see it, but those who knew me were not.
It seemed they had discussed things while I was away.
After hesitating for a moment, I sat in the seat she had yielded.
Looking at the situation on Earth, it was no longer time to hide.
After I sat, Magreta sat on the opposite side from Catherine.
And so, on my left sat Catherine, the commander of Trappist, and on my right sat Magreta, the American intelligence official of the dispatched force.
The people who had been bewildered had no choice but to understand what kind of situation this was after seeing that.
However, even so, what I had to do would not change.
I spoke to the people.
“I brought daily necessities and various items needed from Earth. Food can be brought from the underground city, and meat will soon be resolved as well, so what remains is construction material.”
Even if the position others knew me by changed, what I had to do was the same as before: procure the necessary items and defeat enemies.
[That is precisely what a king does.]
Letting Soph’s useless words pass by, I continued speaking.
“There is no need to worry about construction materials for building houses either. I will bring them when I go out and return this time.”
I knew of ruins where construction materials were piled up in abundance.
I had removed the spatial movement device there, so now I had to go there personally, but if I flew through the sky, I could get there quickly.
The construction materials were heavy and bulky, but if I used the box, that was not much of a problem either.
At my words, the others looked bewildered, but Catherine nodded as if it were only natural.
For the sake of the others’ understanding, I took out the supplies I had brought from Earth.
Supplies piled up in heaps beside the barracks.
Seeing supplies pour out of a small box, the people’s eyes widened.
At the sight of the growing pile of supplies, people gathered from all over the base.
Seeing the people gather, Catherine let out a sigh.
It was because continuing the meeting would be difficult now.
“You took them out on purpose, didn’t you?”
Looking at Catherine, who was sighing, Magreta whispered quietly.
That was not it.
Catherine had proceeded with matters without consulting me, but I was not angry because of that.
Nor was it because I did not want to suddenly be placed in charge of leading the meeting.
It was only because I felt there was no longer any need to hide.
[If that is true, how about checking with magic?]
I ignored Soph’s words. There was no reason to use magic.
First, I apologized to the people who had been in the middle of the meeting.
“I apologize. Because of me, it seems it will be difficult to continue the meeting.”
At my apology, the people waved their hands.
“We were almost finished.”
“We were discussing the last remaining problem. Since you said you would resolve all of it, there is nothing more to discuss.”
I did not know whether that was true, but since they said so, there seemed to be no need to apologize further.
Before ending the meeting like that, I spoke to Catherine one last time.
“Please hear from Ambassador Plenipotentiary Magreta about what happened on Earth, and the two of you can discuss and handle the rest. I will go procure the necessary items.”
Testing the nuclear bombs came first, but since I planned to bring construction materials on the way back, it was not exactly wrong.
Catherine glared at me as if she did not like my words, but Magreta, who knew my destination, smiled and waved her hand.
“Then I’ll be back quickly.”
With those words, I cast a spell.
[Gravity Reversal.]
With the incantation, the gravity acting on my body inverted, and I shot up into the sky.
I could feel the gathered people looking up at me in astonishment.
They had no choice but to.
There were not many people who had personally seen my abilities.
Only the team members had seen me directly bring down a controlled object.
The magic I had shown other people until now had looked ordinary(?) on the surface.
It had been magic stronger than others’, but to the people watching, it might not have seemed greatly different from other people’s abilities.
However, this magic of flying through the sky was true magic, completely different from what others could do.
From now on, I intended to show people all of my abilities and magic.
Even on Earth, people had begun to notice my magic, so there was no reason to hide it here.
After soaring high into the sky, I waved toward the base, then burst the air behind me.
Boom!
A loud explosion rang out, and I headed east.
The gray mountain range rapidly drew near.
Nuclear Test (2)