Enduring The Inconvenience (2)

The Sea Sun Brigade’s subjugation began, and the operation proceeded in a sequence where they quickly cleared out many Red Gates in France and Britain.

On top of that, many Awakeners who had come to support them from all over Europe guarded the borders of the two countries like an iron wall, creating a barrier that the Cultists of Ruin could not escape through. Was it thanks to that?

They were recording the remarkable achievement of expelling large numbers of Church of Ruin followers who had gathered from all across Europe, and the Sea Sun Brigade’s movements as they pursued Beral, who had hidden in Britain due to serious injuries and loss of power, went unhindered. They ended up recapturing France and revealing the true face of the world’s strongest group.

“They’re quite impressive in such a short time. Did they take France back in half a month?”

Its territory was not that small, but seeing them cleanly deal with the Red Gates, along with the monsters that had poured out after Breaks occurred, left me with nothing to say except that they were amazing.

Even when they first advanced into France, their request for support from neighboring countries around the French border to prevent the Church of Ruin from escaping was also acting as a divine move.

It was to the point that people were even saying they had been able to eliminate the Church of Ruin, which had been widely spread throughout Europe, thanks to that.

“They say they’re moving while taking care of most of the Gates too. They must really be impressive.”

At Han Sang-gil’s admiration, I looked back on the domestic situation and spoke.

“We still haven’t taken care of all the places where problems occurred during the war. That’s impressive, isn’t it?”

“It seems there is a strong tendency to just leave some areas alone. In the first place, if they are not monsters that cause great harm to humans, some of them are simply left alone.”

In addition, there were cases where new Awakeners went around such places and hunted monsters to build experience.

There were even guilds that could easily obtain authority to deal with Gates, while some could not be assigned Gates depending on their reputation or the number of guild members. So some built experience by roaming outer regions where Breaks had occurred.

Because of such cases, the government also sometimes watched without raiding monsters whose range of activity was not wide, using the standard of whether humans lived there or not.

That was because it was no longer a world where people could travel all over the country and enjoy leisure as they had before.

They were often left alone like that, mainly in places where few people went, such as deep valleys or mountain ranges.

The reason Japan had not yet collapsed could also be said to fall under this situation.

That was because they had given up subjugating most mountainous regions where humans did not live.

At least the warlords were active in a form that focused on protecting the land where humans could survive.

The trend around the entire world was like that, but in any case, as of now, we also have not deviated greatly from that framework.

But the Sea Sun Brigade was resolving almost all the Gates, and they were also clearing out monsters quickly.

It was a part that immediately showed just how powerful each of them was as a fighting force.

“What do you think will happen now?”

“What do you mean?”

“The Sea Sun Brigade and Beral. The Church of Ruin in that region ended up cornered instead, so their religious influence will certainly decrease. But if Beral recovers his power and clashes with the Sea Sun Brigade, they might not be able to endure it, right?”

“That is something we cannot know. Whether they can endure or not.”

It was an ambiguous answer, but since it was something that could only be known after a clash happened, Han Sang-gil’s answer had no choice but to be the correct answer for now.

Afterward, ordinary days continued as we watched the raid situation.

There were many problems piled up, including war recovery and many issues that had occurred during the war, but in this regard, we were relatively free, so it was somewhat quiet.

And when the Sea Sun Brigade’s raid to recapture Britain, France, and other regions entered its first month, Beral vanished somewhere as if he had been washed away.

Everyone who had not expected that a fellow who called himself an apostle of the Calamity God would flee was flustered, and in fact, the majority of the Cultists of Ruin who had taken root in Britain and France surrendered and knelt before the Sea Sun Brigade.

Because of this, people fell into even greater confusion.

The reason was simple.

That was because they could not gauge where Beral, who had disappeared somewhere, might have moved through the sea.

At that, public opinion boiled over, saying that the Sea Sun Brigade had to take responsibility for a large-scale search operation. But the argument that they deserved praise just for saving Britain and France continued like the orthodox view, and the incident ended up drifting vaguely.

“It feels kind of anticlimactic.”

Just as Go Yu-jin said, there was definitely something hollow about it.

In reality, something should have clearly progressed, but it had not.

On top of that, Go Yu-jin thought it was also a problem that a potential risk factor was active in Korea.

“The saintess of the Calamity God had the appearance of a Korean person, didn’t she? Shouldn’t we be tracking her?”

It would be possible to specify the appearance of the saintess of the Calamity God through “Illusion” magic, but for a being of that level, changing her appearance would not be difficult at all. So even if she was placed on a wanted list, there was no way she could be easily identified.

So for now, we were on the side of observing the situation. And because of the possibility that Beral might drift into our country, I had returned to the company for the time being to avoid the worst-case scenario.

Since I did not actually have anything else to do, I was simply passing time by taking and handling requests that came into the company together with the others. Just then, An So-mi asked.

“Isn’t the house almost finished by now?”

Just as An So-mi said, after completely cleaning up the house site, a new house was being built.

Recently, thanks to the power of psychic Awakeners, actions such as compacting the ground or making sturdy walls had become extremely easy, so putting up the building itself was not a major difficulty.

So it was currently in the interior-design stage.

“I think about a month should be enough.”

“Hehe, you’re finally going back home!”

Seeing An So-mi be so happy, I asked.

“Was not being able to go home such a grudge for you?”

“No way. The biggest issue is, of course… the auction house, hehe.”

Was an auction also a kind of gambling?

I suddenly had that thought, and An So-mi narrowed her eyes like a bird and asked.

“You thought something bad, didn’t you?”

“No way. How could that be?”

“You did. You totally did. Ha, I really didn’t see you as that kind of person….”

I looked at An So-mi with a bewildered expression, and Go Yu-jin intervened and asked.

“What kind of form does the new house have?”

“Mm, to put it simply, I am making it in the form of a ‘tower.’”

“Is it a Magic Tower?”

“I’m trying to make it capable of serving that function.”

The two of them were surprised.

“It is not that grand. I am roughly raising a tower about thirty meters tall. In any case, if it is made in the form of a round tower, I should be able to design various magic circles, and it will not burn down because of some strange nonsense like before.”

“A Magic Tower is not some children’s toy. Is that really possible?”

Since An So-mi was surprised, I nodded, lightly raised mana through resonance, and used it to roughly create and show the shape while explaining.

A tower shape floated in the air like a hologram. They were surprised as they checked, one by one, the markings indicating that countless magic circles would be engraved inside it.

“…How many times are you doing spatial expansion?”

“Mm, wouldn’t up to seven times be possible?”

In the case of magic circles, there was a theory that even sevenfold overlap was possible if the margin of error could be reduced to one hundred-thousandth, and there had also been a person who had literally created a sample and proven it.

However, what had been proven there was up to sixfold overlap. The sevenfold overlapping magic circle had not activated, but because the sixfold overlap had succeeded, there had been a mage who said that sevenfold overlap would also be fully possible if more precise magic circle operation became possible.

“That is John Pellivio’s theory, right?”

“Isn’t it called a proof?”

“The sevenfold overlap failed, so it’s a ‘theory.’”

After hearing that it was called a theory because the final step had failed, just as An So-mi said, I answered.

“You will soon be able to confirm that his theory is proof.”

“Ugh, that confidence is annoying.”

“So-mi, that is too much.”

“Why? I mean it. People should know how to be humble. Hmph!”

Then, instead of An So-mi, who looked at something else, Go Yu-jin apologized.

“I’m sorry. You know So-mi doesn’t mean any harm, right?”

“I know well. I am used to it now.”

“Heh, you’re making me out to be a villainess?”

“Were you not?”

An So-mi made an absurd expression, but seeming to want to stop the wordplay, she asked another question.

“There is also a magic circle that gathers mana?”

“It is a magic circle that must be used if I want to make it function as a Magic Tower.”

“What grade of Magic Stone are you planning to use?”

Magic Stones existed from Grade 1 to Grade 13, and the higher the number, the greater the amount of mana they could store. So I told her what I had.

“I have a few Grade 9 Magic Stones.”

“…Mr. Geum Seong-chan, you were incredibly rich, weren’t you?”

“They are things I happened to obtain.”

They were also among the items with many stories behind them. In any case, there was no reason to tell her more, so when I said I would use them to make the tower function as a Magic Tower and try operating it as a facility for various purposes, An So-mi looked envious.

Then Go Yu-jin spoke with a light smile.

“When I look at you sometimes, Seong-chan, it feels like you live while doing everything you want to do.”

“Isn’t that living normally?”

“Ordinary people cannot do everything they want.”

An So-mi questioned my words.

“I think it is a matter of will. There is a clear difference between wanting to do something but not doing it for various reasons and being unable to do it.”

“Most people live lives where they are unable to do things.”

“Then shouldn’t they work hard until they can?”

“What about cases where it still doesn’t work no matter how hard they try?”

“They must find a way to make it possible. In the end, if one is desperate, they can accomplish it someday.”

An So-mi, wearing a sullen expression, asked seriously.

“What if it is an irresistible force? Will you pursue the ordinary even then?”

“In that case, perhaps I would have to compromise. But there are foolish people who live their whole lives without knowing how to compromise. Stubborn people, and sometimes foolish people. Those people often end up changing the world according to their will.”

They might act that way because they were truly foolish, but conversely, a truly foolish person could not focus on one thing until the end. In the end, I thought it was selective foolishness and desperation.

“That does not mean I am the answer. In a world where countless answers are scattered around, insisting that only one thing is the answer would be obstinacy. So I lived while compromising, and I will continue to live that way.”

“You really are a difficult person to understand, Mr. Geum Seong-chan….”

Go Yu-jin also wore a rather complicated expression after hearing my words.

It was probably because the definition of life each person thought of was different.