After conducting the nuclear test in the Sanctuary, I remained constantly busy.
First, I helped my brother and the team members’ families settle in the underground city.
Fortunately, the team members’ families settled into the city well.
There were inconveniences, since it was different from Earth, but the families did not complain about such things and found things they could do.
As expected, my brother handled matters well too.
He coaxed the spirit into checking the city’s situation, and together with the spirit, he began tending to the city.
He took good care of the team members’ families and got along well with the dispatched team members who had arrived earlier.
Seeing my brother, the team members’ families, and the dispatched members living there, it seemed there would be no problem continuing to send people to the underground city.
After confirming that everyone was doing well, I went to the tower where the golems were and harvested the “Wizard’s Flower.”
The “Wizard’s Flower” raised by the golems grew incredibly fast.
It could not even be compared to the flowers planted in the underground city.
Seeing that the amount of “Wizard’s Flower” had more than doubled compared to what I had taken before, it almost felt as though the golems were growing the flowers with magic.
I brought the flowers I had harvested back to the underground city and, together with the spirit, made a new batch of awakening agents.
Since the amount of the “Wizard’s Flower,” the main ingredient, had increased, more than twice the previous amount was produced this time as well.
It was enough to turn over a hundred people into user candidates.
Of course, the success rate was still only around one in five hundred to one in a thousand, but even that was something to be grateful for.
Because of the countries that had newly begun testing, user candidates from various nations were coming over to Trappist, but without awakening agents, this kind of increase in numbers could not continue.
Of course, the sudden increase in population was the problem now.
As Catherine had said, there were so many more people that we were running short on places to sleep.
[So you’ve ended up playing porter again.]
“Honestly, if this is what being a porter is like, it’s not bad.”
Calling it luggage was generous; everything was inside the box.
I did not feel even the slightest weight from it.
Since the items placed in the box might disappear, I could not use spatial movement, but that was not a problem either.
Even over long distances, if I flew through the sky, it did not feel that far.
“And thanks to that, I can stop by somewhere else on the way like this.”
I said that to Soph as I looked down at the desert below.
A desert that was not especially vast, and an oasis in the middle of it.
And finally, the terraforming ruins beside the oasis.
Because there was no sandstorm blowing, the desert and the ruins were clearly visible below.
After confirming that the monsters west of the mountain range had disappeared, we had stopped the sandstorm altogether, which had previously ceased only twice a day.
[Because it’s better to divert all the dark energy used for defensive magic into terraforming.]
I had agreed with Soph, who had always felt regretful about the terraforming ruins.
However, even after diverting all that dark energy into terraforming, this planet had not changed much.
Of course, not much time had passed, and even during that short period, an oasis had appeared in the desert and a lake had been formed on the surface, allowing us to rebuild the base.
But compared to the grandeur of the terraforming ruins that I had heard about from Soph, it could only be lacking.
The terraforming ruins were ruins meant to transform an entire planet into a place where humans could live.
And yet, even if the time had been short, for there to be only this much change.
With my limited knowledge of magic, it was difficult to understand.
When I told Soph about that, he gave an answer I had not expected.
[I was puzzled too, but after going to the Sanctuary, I think I understand. I’m not certain, but this too is probably because of the Demon King.]
“The Demon King?”
I had never imagined the Demon King would suddenly come up in relation to terraforming.
[The mutated energy spread by the sealed Demon King likely doesn’t only raise dead corpses. The gray mountains and the poisonous swamps are also highly likely to be due to the energy created by the Demon King.]
At Soph’s words, I let out a sigh.
It sounded plausible to me too, but once again, everything led back to the Demon King.
If Soph’s words were true, then even for the sake of terraforming, we had to get rid of the Demon King.
“Since what we have to do is the same, should I call that fortunate?”
[It’s best to think positively about anything.]
After hearing Soph’s praise that did not quite sound like praise, I asked him again.
“But I don’t understand why Shamara tried to seal the Demon King. She must have known what would happen afterward.”
She had known that even if the Demon King was sealed, humanity living on the planet would be destroyed by the monsters pouring out from the moon.
That must have been why she kept apologizing to people.
But if she knew about the destruction, had there really been a need for her to seal the Demon King?
I knew that a prophet could not change the future as they pleased, but this was hard to understand.
Had it truly been for us, who would arrive later?
Soph answered me.
[I don’t remember, but she must have had her own reason. A reason that I, when I was alive, would have agreed with.]
His voice was calm, but I could feel all sorts of emotions within it.
It seemed I had said something unnecessary and made Soph’s feelings complicated.
“I’m going down.”
To change the mood, I immediately descended toward the ruins.
Whoosh.
Cutting through the wind, I landed beside the oasis, and the people who had been organizing luggage looked at me with startled eyes.
“Boss!”
“Captain!”
The Americans saw me and waved.
“Commander!”
The Koreans bowed their heads to me.
Unlike the lake base, where newly arrived people were mixed in, everyone staying here knew me well.
Thanks to that, the titles they used for me were mixed too.
Some called me Commander or Captain, titles they had used since I had been the exploration leader, and some called me Boss, which people had begun using not long ago.
Perhaps because the rumor had spread, ever since Catherine had yielded the seat of honor to me, no one called me by the official title of vice commander anymore.
I waved back to the people and looked at the tree growing beside the oasis.
Just as the star tree planted beside the lake had grown, the star tree seed planted beside the oasis had already sprouted and grown as well.
It was still closer to a sapling in size, but judging by its growth rate, it did not seem like it would take long to fully mature.
I waved to the star tree too, then entered the ruins.
As it had appeared from outside, the inside of the ruins was also in the middle of being cleaned out.
People were gathering up all the various living facilities that had been spread throughout the lobby: chairs and stalls, clotheslines, even straw mats used to dry grain.
The same was true of the corridor inside the lobby.
On both sides of the corridor, people who had been using the rooms within the ruins as lodging were taking out the belongings from their rooms.
They were all things to be taken to the lake base.
I approached the people standing in the center of the lobby, watching that scene.
They were Catherine, David, the dispatched force commander, and the former advance party leader.
Catherine was watching with her usual cold expression, but David wore a look full of regret.
Since they were moving the base again, it seemed he had a lot on his mind.
“I’m here.”
At my greeting, both of them turned their heads toward me.
“Welcome.”
Catherine answered my greeting with her usual expressionless face, but David greeted me with a complicated expression.
“Welcome, sir.”
It was such a courteous greeting that even the translation relic rendered it in formal speech.
I waved my hand at his greeting.
“You can speak to me like before.”
He was someone I had known ever since I arrived on this planet.
Someone who had been responsible for the entire dispatched force back when I was just one late-arriving team member.
Now such a man had come to bow his head to me, so it was no wonder he looked conflicted.
But he shook his head at my words.
“I cannot do that. There is your official position, and even aside from that…”
David glanced at Catherine beside him.
Catherine ignored his gaze as though it had nothing to do with her.
Instead, she reported the progress to me.
“The cleanup is almost finished. Once we move the last of the luggage, the relocation to the lake base will be complete.”
At her report, David stared fixedly at me, and I could say nothing to him.
I also pretended not to notice and looked around.
As Catherine had said, the ruins were returning to how they had once been.
To the state they had been in before people had made this place their base.
Of course, the ruins were much cleaner now than they had been then.
While building the lake base, we learned that the area around the lake was more livable than expected.
Of course, compared to the underground city on the ice planet, it lacked many things, but compared to the terraforming ruins base, which had been more of a shelter, it was an excellent place.
In truth, the terraforming ruins base was a place we had been forced to live in because the first base had been attacked.
Later, after creating an oasis around the ruins, it became better to live there than before, but that did not mean these ruins were a place suitable for people to live.
The terraforming ruins were windowless stone ruins in the middle of a desert where sandstorms blew.
They had merely been a facility and research center meant to terraform the planet ten thousand years ago.
Now that we knew the area around the lake, where the first base had been located and where the underground ruins connected to Earth existed, was suitable for living, we ended up moving the main base there, contrary to the original plan.
That did not mean we intended to leave these ruins completely empty.
The terraforming ruins were an important place.
There was the fact that they were terraforming facilities, but there was also a greenhouse beneath the ruins where grain could be grown.
Of course, a large-scale farm had been built in the underground city, but this greenhouse still needed to be maintained for the time being.
Even after moving the main base, we intended to leave behind those who farmed in the greenhouse and those who would guard the ruins.
Because the relocation had become larger than expected, the work increased, and so did the necessary supplies.
That was why I had flown here through the sky as a porter.
I put all the luggage people had piled up into the box.
The objects disappeared rapidly.
Unlike the items from Earth, they were crude things made by human hands, but on this planet, we could not throw them away carelessly.
It seemed that watching me put things into the box was fascinating no matter how many times they saw it.
Even David shook his head as he watched the objects vanish.
“To think that box could hold this much. It truly seems endless.”
Contrary to what I had thought, what surprised David and the others was the fact that I had put so many things into the box.
But they were mistaken.
The capacity of my box had become far larger than they imagined.
Even what I had just put in was only a portion of the things inside the box.
Once I had packed the luggage, Catherine spoke.
“Good work. Now, only the necessary people will remain, and everyone else should return to the lake base. David, please take charge of the personnel.”
“Understood.”
At Catherine’s words, David nodded.
David led the people through the corridor and down underground, where the spatial movement altar was located.
Watching them disappear down the corridor, Catherine said to me,
“Let’s go as well.”
At Catherine’s words, I tilted my head.
“Wouldn’t it be better for you to go with them, Catherine? I have luggage, so I can’t use spatial movement.”
Catherine asked me,
“Hannah told me you can fly while holding about one person, though?”
“That is true, but…”
“Then there shouldn’t be any problem, should there?”
That was certainly true. However, it was also unlike Catherine, who prioritized efficiency.
“Arriving at the lake base by flying through the sky is a much bigger event for the team members than going by spatial movement. Besides, if I am to command the team members, I need to go together with the current commander bringing the supplies.”
Perhaps realizing what I was thinking, Catherine told me why she was going with me.
It was certainly a reason befitting her.
Understanding after her explanation, I held Catherine the same way I had held Hannah and flew into the sky.
Out of the ruins, across the desert, swiftly.
Unlike Hannah, Catherine flinched while we were flying through the sky.
It seemed Catherine did not like high places very much.
We were able to arrive at the lake base without any particular problems.
Receiving people’s gazes, I landed beside the lake and took the items I had brought out of the box.
I took out the items brought from the terraforming ruins, then afterward took out the construction materials I had brought from the warehouse ruins I had visited earlier.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Stone blocks, iron plates, lumber, and all sorts of construction materials came out of the box.
People gaped at the construction materials piling up like a mountain.
Catherine stood beside me and watched the scene.
As she had said, it looked as though she was showing the team members her position and her relationship with me.
However, it was not only the ordinary team members watching her. Among them was someone I knew.
Margreta, who had decided to go to Earth with me, was standing with her arms crossed, staring at Catherine.
Civil War (1)