The Pillar Of Light Appeared Again?!

February 17.

Nearly a month had gone by. In all that time, the two agents Ian had sent, along with Camyu, still had not returned. What in the world had happened? Wanting to know the truth, he quietly inquired at the Magnia Empire’s embassy, but they only answered that they themselves did not know anything yet.

From how their attitude was completely different now from when they had come begging with favors on the line, Ian could tell that if he had tried to demand something in return afterward, he would not have gotten it properly. In any case, while they still had not come back, the Polia side continued verification work on the technologies they had received from the Magnia Empire.

They had already confirmed that everything was theoretically feasible, but they still had to verify it in reality, so they manufactured the devices directly from the blueprints. Only after they used all but a few items still under production and checked the results did they finally realize that there were no fakes among them.

Of course, no matter what, handing over fakes would have caused serious problems with credibility. That would have meant leaving behind a precedent that no deal with the Magnia Empire could be trusted. If such a fact were made known to the entire world, every country would approach deals with the Magnia Empire with constant suspicion.

Anyway, that alone was enough to make Ian feel extremely encouraged. Among the nearly seventy-three types of technology, there were wireless radio technology and battery technology as well, and both were on a level far higher than anything Polia had managed to develop so far.

From that, Ian could tell just how enormous a budget the Magnia Empire had been pouring into developing many different technologies over the years. At the same time, those technologies gave the Polia Kingdom the foundation it needed to further advance its wireless radio technology.

In practice, if they only made good use of radio technology, it would open the way to employ a completely different kind of organic tactics than those they had used so far with wired communication networks. Time passed again like that, and only when they were about to cross into March did one piece of news finally reach Ian.

At that moment, inside the king’s office, Viscount Rubingston and Chancellor Marquis Norwen were present. Ian had been in the middle of a conversation with the chancellor when Viscount Rubingston came straight in, saying he had urgent news to deliver, and so Ian listened together with him.

“There is a report that someone witnessed a pillar of light.”

“A pillar of light? Is that not what we previously saw on that island in the Marin Archipelago?”

“That is correct. Its current location is said to be an island a little to the northeast of the continent, called Jaide.”

“Jaide Island?”

“It is a not-so-large island near the Arctic, you could say. Snow often lies heavily over it, and it is an island whose ecosystem is not particularly active, but it seems an ancient ruin lies beneath that place.”

“They did well to discover a pillar of light in a place like that. Surely the Magnia Empire Navy has been controlling the area, so how did anyone even see it?”

“They say the pillar of light was so large that it could be seen even from a great distance. Most likely, people who were out working at sea witnessed it. There is even a high chance it could be seen from land.”

Ian thought that might be why they had failed to control the witnesses. Since the land there belonged to the Noma Empire, they would not have been able to block eyewitnesses on shore. Thinking that far, he considered the possibility that there might be some degree of friction with the Noma Empire afterward.

“The chances are high that the Noma Empire has learned of this as well.”

“Indeed. Of course, even so, there will not be any sort of direct clash. For the moment, they are joining hands to wage war together against the Doicheun Empire.”

Even while the plague was still lingering in some regions, war had already started again. Once more, artillery shells were said to be flying over battlefields, and machine-gun rounds were pouring down without end. As Ian recalled those facts, another possibility came to his mind.

“Monsters could have appeared on that island, could they not?”

“Yes, we are considering that possibility, but since no such report has reached us yet, it seems the Magnia Empire Navy is keeping things well under control. What kind of monsters they might be is something we will only learn later.”

“I see. Considering that there has been no change for over a month, the path descending underground must have been quite rough.”

“Most likely so. From the fact that they required seven mana users, there must have been something uniquely special about that place.”

“Indeed. Do you think they will return safely?”

What Ian meant was whether the people he had sent would be able to return alive. At those words, Viscount Rubingston wore an expression that said he could not be certain. If it had been them in that situation, what would they have done? If only a small number of the Empire’s mana users—who could become a threat in the future—were gathered there, would they really have just left them alone?

The odds were much higher that they would not. They would have found some pretext or another and moved to eliminate them. Thinking along those lines, Ian could not help but feel a sense of regret. At that, the chancellor shook his head and spoke.

“It is truly regrettable. If they are eliminated, it would mean the loss of a truly great fighting force, would it not?”

“That is correct. I find myself thinking we should have sent a large-scale force from the start, including troops dedicated to their protection.”

“I understand what both of you are saying. But do you really think the Empire would have sat quietly in that case? The fewer the sacrifices, the better.”

Ian believed that even if he had sent a large number of people, there was a high chance something would have happened. Precisely because of that, he decided it would be better to send only a small group and minimize potential losses, which was why he had sent only three people.

‘It is a waste, but that does not mean I want greater sacrifices to follow.’

From the beginning, Camyu had been someone Ian had essentially picked up by chance and bound to himself, and they had not been together for all that long. Because of that, Ian’s personal attachment was not that deep, and while it was regrettable, if Camyu was dead, Ian was prepared to let him go. Of course, he felt deep regret for the two agents who had gone along with him.

‘I deliberately chose people without families to send, but even so, to keep things under control, I needed at least two of them.’

Looking at the choices he had made in matters like this, Ian felt that he truly had become a king of the heavens—a sovereign. As the one leading a nation, it was his basic duty to overlook a longer future and decide what would bring the greatest benefit to the state.

“More than that, the fact that we can act openly like this and they still cannot take proper action is not such a bad thing.”

He was talking about the secret organization. In the past, they had been forced to act covertly, and the forces they could deploy had been limited, but now they could commit a considerable number of people. Since it was a restricted space—an island—and the sea routes around it were being blocked, those enemies would not be able to move freely either.

“Nothing has been confirmed yet, but considering they are no pushovers, they might even possess a submarine. If they go under the sea, even an imperial fleet would find it difficult to stop them, would it not?”

“That is right. That is certainly possible.”

Previously, they had confirmed that the organization’s technological level was quite high. Among the things they possessed were submachine guns, and using those as a reference, the Polia Kingdom had now developed its own indigenous submachine gun. It was a weapon called the Gar.

It weighed only four kilograms and primarily used pistol rounds, yet it could fire up to four hundred rounds per minute. Compared to a heavy machine gun, its rate of fire was slower, but that had been deliberately reduced. They had confirmed that ammunition consumption was otherwise far too fast and accuracy too poor, so they created this weapon by cutting the rate of fire as much as they could.

In any case, its effective range was only about one hundred and fifty meters, making it essentially a short-range weapon. Ian had already ordered production so it could be issued to the Royal Guard and the police, and around ten thousand units were currently being manufactured.

Of course, the Royal Guard units that had been equipped early were already armed with these submachine guns. The barrels were certainly short, and they could put out a high number of rounds in an instant, so in terms of stopping power, their effectiveness had increased far beyond what it had been before.

“If they are even capable of deploying submarines, then we still cannot know who has claimed the final treasure of the ruins, can we?”

“Unless the Magnia Empire answers us, that is how it will remain.”

“If the Empire has been robbed of it, things will become quite a spectacle.”

“Is there not almost no chance of that happening?”

“You yourself said there was a possibility they possess submarines. If they secretly entered the island in the dark hours before dawn, then no matter how many sentries they posted, there is a high chance they could not stop them. And if even a few of those attackers were mana users, that chance would be even higher.”

Hearing Ian’s words, Viscount Rubingston nodded as if in agreement.

“If it is like that, then Emperor Jedic’s anger will be tremendous. We will have to instruct our people to focus surveillance more closely on the imperial palace.”

Viscount Rubingston intended to further tighten surveillance on the Magnia Empire’s imperial palace, believing that if they learned only the palace’s situation, they could roughly infer the outcome. Watching him, the chancellor, who had been listening, spoke up with a slightly more serious expression.

“But if they truly have a submarine, how would they have acquired it? To have one, they would need some sort of infrastructure, would they not?”

“In times like these, when submarines are being mass-produced, it would not be strange for at least one to go missing. Even so, we do need to verify it. If there is a place where a ‘lost’ submarine exists, there is a high chance that their base is hidden within that country.”

“We will investigate that as well.”

At Viscount Rubingston’s words, Ian nodded. At the same time, he thought that because of the newly revealed pillar of light, many people would now be drawn to that place. Not only Polia, but the empires as well had already hired large numbers of expedition teams to search for the ruins and promised huge rewards.

Naturally, those expedition ships were now roaming the seas, and it was obvious that once they heard of where the pillar of light had appeared, they would converge on that spot. Of course, the Magnia Empire fleet would block them, so they would not be able to approach the island itself.

Even so, Ian felt there was a high chance that the presence of all those people would create some major, unforeseen variable.

March 8, on the seas thirteen kilometers off Jaide Island, located in the northeastern part of the Old Continent.

Boom! Boom-boom! B-boom-boom-boom!

With thunderous reports from the naval guns, shells traced parabolic arcs through the air and crashed down into the sea, throwing up towering columns of water. It looked as if the shots were simply being wasted into empty ocean, but in truth, this gunfire was little more than a warning.

At present, roughly a dozen ships had gathered in the surrounding waters. In reality, they were all expedition teams formed to search for the ruins. The moment they heard rumors about the pillar of light, they set sail, and it had taken them several days to finally arrive here.

Naturally, they were terrified by this show of force from the Magnia Empire’s fleet. Even so, their obsession with money was stronger than their fear. With the attitude of “poke it even if you probably cannot eat it,” they backed off to a slightly more distant position and held their ground there.

“Damn it! At this rate we cannot even get close to the island!”

Someone on deck burst out in frustration, and at that sight, a colleague nearby shook his head and replied.

“With imperial warships forming a line like that, we cannot approach the island at all. How about we just go back? If we are unlucky, we are going to get blasted by those guns.”

“How can we just turn back like this?”

“We do not have a choice. From the start, it was impossible for the likes of us to go there and claim the treasure anyway.”

“…Tch!”

His companion’s words were so painfully correct that the man could not even argue; instead, he just vented his anger by kicking one of the objects lying on the deck.

In truth, they were people of the Noma Empire. The state had recently allowed the formation of officially recognized expedition teams.

The moment someone joined one of those teams, he was removed from the draft rolls. Some people deliberately volunteered for expeditions just to escape conscription, but there were also those who had truly joined with the intention of going after treasure.

The Noma imperial family knew this, but they turned a blind eye. In fact, they even fanned the flames a bit more. Once they learned of the existence of the ruins and guessed that they might possess extraordinary value, their desire to locate them grew that much stronger.

In any case, the people gathered here also sincerely aimed for the treasure. The Noma imperial family had promised massive rewards simply for finding the ruins at all. Naturally, if someone actually delivered the treasure to them, the amount would only grow larger.

They were sailing with their eyes wide open, thinking there could be no better chance to turn their lives around. The reason they had been able to reach this place so quickly was that they had already been scouting this region, which was considered a remote backwater.

“Phew, I am going to have a smoke.”

In the end, to cool his temper, the man took out a short pipe, stuffed it with finely shredded tobacco, and lit it with a match. He walked over to the edge of the deck, leaned against the rail, and exhaled smoke, forcing himself to calm his anger.

While he held the pipe in his mouth and smoked for quite some time, he failed to notice a dark shadow moving in the sea just below. And then, with a splash, something burst up from the water, kicking off the surface and shooting straight onto the ship’s deck.

Before they knew it, that figure stood on deck and gently set down what it had been carrying in its hands. They were two men. However, since they were not moving at all, they looked dead. Startled by the sight, the onlookers hurriedly drew the pistols at their hips and shouted.

“D-don’t move!”

“Do not move!”

At their threatening cries, the figure on the deck slowly turned its gaze toward them. The men aiming their guns flinched. The man’s face was twisted, as if it had been badly burned in the past. A moment later, there came a sharp slicing sound.

Clang.

Something fell onto the deck—it was the muzzles of their pistols. There had been a sudden flash, and the gun barrels had been cleanly cut sideways. The men on deck saw that the newcomer held a sword in his hand. Then, in the next instant, they watched as he drove his foot hard into the bellies of the two men lying on the deck.

“Guh!”

“Khak!”

The two men coughed violently, spewing out large amounts of water. As time passed, they began to seem more lucid. They stood up awkwardly, looking around, their faces filled with disbelief.

“D-did we really survive?”

“Are we… alive? Did we actually make it through that endless tunnel?”

They were almost crazed with joy. Only then did they truly come to their senses. As they noticed the group of men on deck staring at them in frightened silence, their expressions quickly stiffened.

“Excuse me. Where are we?”

“Eh?”

“Where exactly are we right now?”

“Well, that is…”

Just as the man with the pipe was about to answer, a colleague who had been scanning the surroundings fixed his gaze on a point in the distance and spoke urgently.

“Look over there. That is Jaide Island.”

“So we have not gotten away from here yet.”

Saying that, the two men quickly looked at each other and nodded, then briefly glanced at the men on deck before speaking.

“We would like you to take us to the Polia Kingdom. If you carry us there, we will compensate you.”

The three of them—the burned swordsman, along with the two others—were, in fact, Camyu and the two agents of the secret police, the Mauter. Judging by their state, they had gone through something extraordinary, and now they were desperate to return home as quickly as possible.