Time passed again.
Two years had passed since the connection to Paradise had been severed.
In that time, much had happened on Earth.
Famine and war, countless deaths.
Unthinkable events continued to unfold, but Earth kept advancing toward its doom.
Although carbon dioxide had not increased any further, Earth’s destruction was already irreversible.
Over the course of more than two cycles of the four seasons, many people died and many nations fell.
Earth’s population, which had exceeded eight billion before the end, had now fallen below one billion.
The survivors hid inside buildings or underground, living extreme lives in which they killed one another to seize what food and resources remained.
On top of that, a few months after the connection to Paradise was severed, the ruins connected to Taepyeong also came to a halt.
The reason they stopped was the same as Paradise’s.
They said it had become difficult to accept any more people.
With the connections to both refuges cut off, it seemed Earth would be filled with nothing but despair, but fortunately, hope still remained on Earth.
When the connection to Paradise was severed, a new refuge had reached out its hand to Earth.
Trappist, where only special individuals had been selected and dispatched to obtain black stone.
Information had spread across the entire Earth that ordinary people could go there as well.
Many were actually rescued and left for that star, and the stories spread among the people.
Some said there was a vast underground city there where civilization still lived on, and others said they did not starve because food was continuously produced on broad grasslands and ranches.
There were even rumors that ability users and mages stepped forward to hunt monsters and maintain public order.
They even heard there was an incredible archmage who controlled all those mages and ability users and made them obey his commands.
Naturally, people did not even half believe those words.
There were many who did not believe such rumors, but even those people believed one thing.
That there was a mage—no, a saintess—who saved people.
Many people had seen that sight and heard of it through communications.
They had seen and heard firsthand of a young Eastern girl casting magic to save people and bring them to Korea, where the ruins were.
While Hanna was taking in the surviving people of Earth and bringing them to Trappist, Catherine was in Trappist with a deep frown on her face.
The place she was in now was her room at the lake base on Trappist 4.
It was the prime minister’s office, prepared inside the Trappist government building completed a year ago.
Outside the office window stretched a large lake, and beyond it, an enormous city.
It had no high-rise buildings, but it was a vast planned city filled with five-story structures spread over a wide area.
This city was the great city, and capital, built by the Earthlings who had taken refuge in this star system.
Of course, aside from this lake city, several other cities had been built, such as the terraforming ruin city and the other ruins, and there was also an underground city beneath the ice planet preserving Earth’s civilization, but in terms of size, this lake city was the largest.
The ruins connected to Earth were in this lake city, and it was where Earth’s refugees first arrived, so the city had no choice but to be the largest.
Of course, in terms of the citizens’ standard of living and the environment, it could not compare to the underground city beneath the ice planet, which was said to be better than the cities of developed nations on Earth before its destruction.
Even so, the fact that the citizens of this great city could still manage to eat and live while continuously accepting refugees from Earth meant that she and the Trappist administration deserved praise.
Of course, for things to reach that point, the administration managing the city and all of Trappist had no choice but to suffer tremendously.
As the representative of the administration, Catherine’s hardships were beyond description.
“You’re saying the number of Earthlings Guardian Hanna brought this week exceeded one thousand?”
And her hardships were still ongoing.
“Yes. It is a number similar to other times.”
The subordinate giving the report made an excuse while watching her mood.
A few months ago, the person transporting ordinary Earthlings had changed from Captain Hyeon to Hanna.
She did not know how Captain Hyeon had done it, but Hanna, who had learned magic from him, had become able to move through space while bringing other people with her.
Hanna could not transport as many people at once as Captain Hyeon, but that did not make Catherine happy.
Too many refugees had flowed in for her to be pleased about that.
In truth, she wanted Trappist to block the influx of Earthlings just like the other refuges.
Over two years, more than four million people had come over from Earth.
It was an influx on a completely different level from Paradise and Taepyeong, which had blocked their inflow at the level of several hundred thousand. Honestly, at this point, there was no need to accept any more.
There were still hundreds of millions or more left on Earth, but Catherine had no intention of considering those people as well.
Even so, the reason they continued to accept people was because of the orders of the person above her, the second-in-command: Captain Hyeon.
“This is not the time to feel relieved because the numbers are similar. We may have to accept the people of Paradise and Taepyeong sooner than expected.”
“Even though they cut off the inflow, have the two refuges become dangerous?”
In truth, the two refuges had been dangerous from the beginning.
Paradise had only a small area where humans could live, and Taepyeong had lacked water.
The two refuges had quickly blocked the inflow, and Captain Hyeon had helped them in the middle, but all they had managed to do was barely endure without dying.
“Captain Hyeon stopped paying attention to the two refuges some time ago. Naturally, both places must have gotten worse.”
The only person who could go to the two refuges whose connections to Earth had been cut was Captain Hyeon.
He was also the only person who could supply them with goods.
Now that Captain Hyeon’s attention had turned elsewhere, it would not be strange for the two refuges to collapse at any time.
Of course, she could very well ignore the two refuges even if they collapsed.
But her superior, Captain Hyeon, would not simply stand by and watch that happen.
He would certainly bring the people over before the situation reached its worst.
“When things get bad enough that those stiff-necked fools lower their heads, he will bring the people here.”
At her words, the subordinates listening nodded.
“Come to think of it, I heard the existing power holders are in control in both places.”
“Hmph. Power holders, my foot. What meaning would that kind of power have in Trappist?”
At her subordinate’s words, Catherine snorted and looked out the window.
Outside the window, many people were out on the lake in the center of the city.
There were people walking along the riverside, and even people catching fish from boats.
Amid a scene where modernity and the past were mixed together, mages could be seen.
Mages froze the water, ran across it, and shot fire toward the water.
Among the mages, ability users could also be seen swimming through the sky.
Over the past two years, the number of ability users and mages had increased further. Some among them were people who had awakened after coming here.
In a situation like this, there was no way ordinary people could do anything while calling themselves power holders.
“Come to think of it, with the captain here, no one would dare try to seek power.”
It was just as her subordinates said.
Even if there were no ability users or mages, Trappist’s power structure could not be shaken.
That was because of one single person. Captain Hyeon.
He had refused various positions such as chancellor, supreme leader, and president, and still maintained the title of captain, but he was the undisputed master of this star system.
He was the one who had raised this city with magic, and he was the mage who had brought millions of people to this star.
In truth, he did not need anything like a position.
He was the savior who had saved everyone, and a superhuman who could defeat all ability users and mages by himself.
“The problem is that such a person has his mind elsewhere……”
At Catherine’s words, her subordinates turned their heads with troubled expressions.
They could not say it aloud as Catherine did, but they thought the same.
There was still so much work to do, but Trappist’s master had left this star system.
He had not gone to Earth, nor had he gone to another refuge.
After handing the work over to Hanna, Captain Hyeon had left for another star, saying he would take care of personal matters.
A journey he had gone on alone with the spirit of the ice planet.
Of course, it was not as if he did not return at all, but he only showed his face occasionally.
Catherine had seized the power she wanted, but with Hyeon gone, she was not very happy.
“When he comes back next time, I’ll have to keep him here even if I have to break his legs.”
For that, she felt she might even be able to cooperate with the women who were her rivals.
At her words, the subordinates, who had been watching her mood, quickly left their places under the pretext that they had work to do.
Catherine was famous as a perfect prime minister, but when it came to Captain Hyeon, she lost her composure.
At times like that, running away was best.
***
At the same time.
I was sitting on the remains of a ruined site, scratching my ear.
My ear itched, as if someone were cursing me.
“I can’t complain even if they curse me. I’m doing something worthy of being cursed for right now.”
A few months ago, I had taught Hanna magic and entrusted her with transporting people, then thrown all the work to the other members as well before slipping out of Trappist with the spirit as if running away.
The people buried under work were surely all cursing me.
I knew I would be cursed, but there was nothing I could do.
Because I could no longer put off my promise to Soph.
The promise to find the people who had escaped Trappist.
Of course, Soph had not forced that promise on me, but I had promised myself.
And until now, I had done my best to handle urgent matters.
I built Trappist’s city, created farms, and grew grain.
I brought people and supplies from Earth and preserved civilization.
I taught people magic so they could fight monsters.
Over nearly two years, I had created a new world like that.
Of course, there were still many things left to do, but I could not postpone the promise any longer.
That was why I had come to another star like this with the spirit Shamilah.
[This place is empty too. It looks like it was abandoned at least several thousand years ago.]
Shamilah, who had been looking around the ruins, came over and said that to me.
Thanks to my senses, I already knew these ruins had been abandoned.
And that the fifth investigation had also failed.
After destroying the moon, I had made time to analyze the ruins.
From the ruins on Venus to the ruins of Trappist.
With my improved magic ability, I found new coordinates in the ruins.
I had found coordinates not only for the Solar System and Trappist, but also for other star systems that the Venusians had explored.
The reason I began traveling with the spirit Shamilah was because of a small whim of mine.
The spirit had complained that she had been trapped on the ice planet for over ten thousand years, and her words reminded me of Soph’s final words.
His words that ten thousand years had been far too long.
When I remembered those words, I could not simply leave the spirit as she was.
I used magic to allow her to leave the ice planet.
And that was how we came to travel together like this.
Perhaps because I traveled with her, I did not feel lonely even when visiting unfamiliar stars.
Even when we crossed hundreds of light-years only to see empty ruins, I was not greatly disappointed, and that too was thanks to her being regretful in my stead.
[Where on earth did they go? Every time, all we find are empty ruins like this.]
There were several newly obtained coordinates, but among them, only a few were planets where people could live.
And on those planets, only empty ruins like these remained.
What remained were small ruins and large ruins.
There was no flourishing civilization like Trappist to be seen.
The repeated failures could have been discouraging, but neither the spirit nor I said that the line of the escaped mages had been cut off.
Of course, the chances of that were far higher, but we could not give up after only a few months.
[These ruins were fairly large this time too…… What a shame.]
At the spirit’s words, I frowned and rose from my seat.
Because if the ruins were large, something else remained in place of mages.
Rrrrrrr.
The ground trembled.
Life-forms began to register in my senses.
Life-forms were bursting out from underground while surrounding the ruins.
They were Akzar monsters that had been lying in ambush.
There were more Akzar monsters in this universe than I had thought.
It was to the point that one could say there were Akzar on every planet with dark energy.
If there were no traces of humans, Akzar monsters were hardly seen, but if traces of humans remained as they did now, there were always Akzar monsters lying in ambush as if dead.
Puhak!
Black tentacles surged up to the surface.
One, two, ten, a hundred.
The field around the ruins was filled with black tentacles.
[T-This is too many.]
The spirit looked around with a horrified expression.
My expression hardened as well.
There were far too many monsters caught within my senses.
Thousands of control objects and scouts.
It was enough to make the ruins feel like a trap made by monsters.
‘It probably is a trap, isn’t it?’
Otherwise, there was no way so many monsters would have gathered here.
Escaping would not be easy, either.
The spatial transfer facility was beneath the ruins.
“Let’s run.”
There were far too many enemies to simply fight them.
We couldn’t fight here, where the spatial transfer facility was located.
After saying that to the spirit, I tried to fly up into the sky.
But I couldn’t fly.
“Good God.”
Because I sensed an enormous energy in the sky.
A powerful dark energy, felt from beyond the atmosphere.
That energy was surging toward us.
This was magic.
And a powerful wide-area spell at that.
“Come beside me! Shields at maximum!”
I called the spirit over and spread the strongest shield I could.
A powerful shield covered me, the spirit, and part of the ruins.
The next moment, the magic reached the ground.
Flash.
White rays of light poured down.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!
Light magic like laser beams overturned the earth.
It was as if Soph’s powerful magic was raining down like a bombardment.
Tentacles flew into the air, and monsters screamed.
The shield cracked and shattered away.
“Shield! Shield!”
Clutching the black stone in my hand, I kept creating shields.
And so, the magical bombardment that felt both brief and long passed.
The surroundings had been turned into a complete mess.
The magical bombardment had overturned not only the surface, but the ruins and even the ground beneath.
Aside from the spirit and me, I could sense nothing alive.
The parts of the ruins I hadn’t enclosed in the shield had all been reduced to powder.
If I hadn’t blocked it with the shield, even the spatial transfer device underground might have been destroyed.
As I looked around with a dumbfounded expression, I heard the spirit’s startled voice.
[W-what is that?]
She was looking up at the sky where the magic had poured down from.
I couldn’t sense anything, but I followed her gaze and looked up at the sky as well.
“Good heavens……”
I couldn’t help but be shocked by the scene she was seeing.
Because above the sky, between the clouds split apart by the magical bombardment, a massive object was visible.
It looked like a city floating in the sky, but that couldn’t be.
The place where the object was floating was outer space, beyond the atmosphere.
“Don’t tell me it’s something like a space city?”
As I was thinking such an absurd thought, another energy caught my senses.
This time, it was right in front of me.
And this time, it was magic I knew well.
Spatial transfer—Blink magic.
Whoosh.
When the magic was cast, people appeared before me.
Four men and one woman, wearing mage robes that were subtly different.
In any case, their attire was similar to that of the ancient mages.
“Who are you?”
The female mage standing in the center spoke.
Her words were hard to understand, but the translation relic translated them for me.
On top of that, her language was oddly similar to that of the ancient magic kingdom.
No, even without her words, I could tell.
“By any chance, do you know the mage Esh?”
She resembled Esh, the young mage who had traveled with Soph.
At my words, the female mage furrowed her brow.
“Are you speaking of His Majesty the First Emperor? I know I resemble the First Majesty, but I did not expect to hear that even in a place like this.”
As I watched her with a blank expression, she asked again.
“I am Ashimira, Sixth Princess of the Galactic Empire that protects the Ancestors’ Star. I will ask again. Who are you, trespasser who has intruded upon the Ancestors’ Star?”
Before I could answer, the spirit, who had been hiding behind my back, poked her head out and spoke first.
[I’m the spirit Shamila. I’m a spirit created by Mage Esh!]
At the words of the spirit who had suddenly appeared, the mages who had been standing solemnly were greatly startled.
They stared at the spirit, their mouths open.
The female mage who had called herself a princess was no exception.
She pointed at the spirit and said,
“She looks exactly like the portrait His Majesty the First Emperor drew…… That was a spirit?”
Most likely, that portrait had not been of the spirit, but of the guardian Samara.
There was no need to confirm any further.
At last, I had found traces of the mages who had escaped Trappist.
They and Mage Esh had done more than simply survive.
It was different from what I had expected, but I was truly happy.
I smiled and introduced myself to Esh’s descendant.
“I am Soph—no, I am Hyeon Myeong-han, disciple of the Archmage Shamek.”