Chapter 380

Chapter 380

Josephine looked at Briel with an expression as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

“Can’t you just not go?”

“Sorry!”

“Why are you leaving such a wonderful forest behind? Briel’s tree is here too.”

“You’ll raise my tree well for me, won’t you? Right?”

“Of course I’ll take good care of it, but it still won’t be the same as having you here.”

“I’ll try to come back as quickly as I can, so please take good care of it until then. You can do that, right?”

“Mm!”

Josephine answered while wiping away her tears.

Briel carefully patted Josephine on the back.

Today was the day Briel left the Primordial Forest. Because of that, Josephine had been crying sadly since morning.

They had grown deeply attached in a short time.

A week had passed since the great barrier was unfolded.

During that time, Zeon’s group had stayed here and examined whether there were any problems with the great barrier.

Fortunately, the great barrier functioned perfectly without any issues.

From the outside, it concealed the place so thoroughly that no one could ever realize there was a huge forest here.

Thanks to that, the village residents were able to enjoy peace for the first time in a long while.

Briel and Levin also spent peaceful time mingling with the residents.

In their hearts, they wanted to stay here forever. But they also knew they had to leave someday.

This was a wonderful place, but it was not their home.

They might visit occasionally to rest, but they could not stay forever.

Now it was time to leave.

Josephine held out a flowerpot to Briel.

“Right, take this. These are children I dug up from the forest.”

Several unknown grasses were growing in the flowerpot.

They were children Josephine had specially prepared for Briel, who was leaving.

“Thank you!”

Briel placed the flowerpot where the grasses were growing into her subspace.

Since time did not flow inside subspace, the grasses would never wither no matter how much time passed.

At that moment, Levin called Briel.

“Let’s go! Briel.”

“Mm!”

Briel smiled at Josephine, then went to where Zeon and Levin were.

Zeon and Levin had already said goodbye to the residents.

―Beeep!

Gaia, floating beside Zeon, greeted Briel.

“Sorry, I’m late, right?”

―Beep!

“But are you going to be okay?”

―Beeep?

Gaia blinked its large eyes and looked at Briel.

“Yuri is here. Are you going to be okay leaving Yuri behind?”

―Beeep! Beep!

“Yeah! You can see her whenever you miss her? How?”

―Beep! Beeeep!

Gaia wagged its tail and explained diligently, and Briel kept nodding.

“I see! Spirits are connected by heart, unlike humans. So you don’t have to see each other’s faces to talk. You can speak through your hearts anytime.”

Briel nodded.

At that moment, Liri appeared on her shoulder.

Liri sat on Gaia’s head and laughed brightly.

At the sight of the innocent spirit, Briel smiled too.

Then Zeon said,

“Let’s go now.”

“Yes, hyung.”

“Mm!”

When they had come here, there had been four of them. When they left, there were five.

“Take care!”

“Come back anytime!”

Behind them, the Dark Elves shouted loudly.

Briel turned around and waved goodbye.

When they passed through the great barrier, the scenery changed.

The greenery vanished, and the dry desert appeared.

When they came out into the desert, Liri stuck out her tongue and pretended to fan herself with her hand.

Briel gently held Liri and asked,

“Are you hot? Ah, it’s hard for you to stay outside the forest for long? Then go in and rest. I’ll call you when I want to see you.”

At Briel’s words, Liri smiled brightly, rubbed her cheek against Briel’s, and disappeared.

Levin asked Briel,

“When her summoning is released, where does Liri go? Does Liri go into subspace too?”

“No, the Spirit Realm.”

“The Spirit Realm? Then there’s a separate world where spirits live?”

“According to Liri, yes. But she says it’s boring right now because there aren’t any other spirits.”

“Wow! To think a place called the Spirit Realm exists separately. I didn’t know.”

“It would be stranger if you did know. Even elves born on Earth don’t know about the Spirit Realm. I didn’t know until I met Liri either.”

“Then are Liri and Yuri the only ones in the Spirit Realm so far?”

“For now, yes. But if spirits continue to be born from now on, the Spirit Realm will become lively too. Yuri opened the door, and Liri widened the path. If the wishes of the elves are added to that, it’s only a matter of time before another spirit is born.”

“I see!”

Levin smiled at the new fact he had learned.

Acquiring knowledge was always pleasant.

His gaze turned to Zeon, who was walking ahead.

Gaia stuck close beside Zeon.

The sight of Gaia flying while gently wagging its tail looked cheerful.

Gaia nudged his arm with its nose like a puppy.

Zeon stroked Gaia’s head and said,

“Let me ask just one thing, Gaia.”

―Beep?

“Why didn’t you take out the Seed of the World Tree? Isn’t this place suitable enough for the World Tree to grow?”

Gaia had the Seed of the World Tree that had been kept in Zeon’s subspace.

The Primordial Forest had all the conditions needed for the World Tree to take root, but strangely, Gaia had not taken out the seed.

―Beeep! Beep! Beeeep!

“So if the World Tree took root, it would absorb all the nutrients and the young trees would all die?”

―Beep! Beep!

“The World Tree only grows in a special place, but in any case, the Primordial Forest isn’t that place.”

―Beeep!

Gaia nodded as if that was correct.

Only then did Zeon understand why Gaia had not taken out the Seed of the World Tree.

Zeon stroked Gaia’s head once more and said,

“You did well. You’re better than I am. To think you thought that far.”

―Beeep!

Perhaps pleased by Zeon’s praise, Gaia flew high into the sky.

Watching Gaia swim through the sky as if it were the sea, Zeon smiled too.

Its body had grown several times larger, but Gaia was still as pure as a child.

Now, most flying monsters were no match for Gaia. They fled far away just by seeing Gaia’s form.

Thanks to that, Gaia could fly freely through the sky without watching its surroundings as it had before.

Gaia swam freely through the sky and followed Zeon’s group.

---

A group of people had gathered in the desert outside the slums.

They were Elder Kleksi, Yu Se-hee, and the elites of the Goblin Market under her command.

Before them stood a middle-aged man with a haggard appearance.

He was Bryce, the alchemist.

In front of Bryce was a large barrel.

Inside the barrel was sand hardener made from the bodily fluid of Ironclad Ants.

After those who had gone into the desert to obtain Ironclad Ant corpses returned safely, Bryce shut himself in his room and manufactured sand hardener.

Today was the day they would test the performance of the sand hardener he had made.

Elder Kleksi pushed up the glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose with a finger and said,

“So you’re saying there’s sand hardener inside that barrel?”

“That’s right, Elder!”

“Then let’s test the hardener’s performance right away.”

“Yes!”

Bryce answered politely, then called the workers who had been waiting in advance.

The workers had already been thoroughly trained by Bryce, so they moved in perfect order.

First, they leveled the ground flat, then gathered sand in one place.

After using a sieve to select only fine sand, they mixed it with water and hardener.

Elder Kleksi watched their work closely and said,

“So with the hardener in that barrel, you can build hundreds of houses?”

“That’s right.”

“If proper houses can truly be built, this will be nothing short of a revolution.”

“That’s why I have high hopes. At minimum, houses where tens of thousands of people can live will be created.”

The workers diligently kneaded the sand and shaped it into bricks.

Hundreds of bricks were made in an instant.

Elder Kleksi asked Bryce,

“How long does it take for the bricks to dry?”

“About thirty minutes.”

“That fast?”

“It’s because of the Ironclad Ants’ bodily fluid. It has the property of drying and hardening quickly. Once it dries, no matter how much rain pours down, water won’t seep inside.”

“That is promising.”

A smile appeared on Elder Kleksi’s wrinkled face.

At the sight of Elder Kleksi’s smile, which she had not seen in a long time, Yu Se-hee’s expression softened as well.

The reason Elder Kleksi had created the Goblin Market and Argos’s Eye was all to protect the people of the slums. But despite his efforts, the lives of the people in the slums had not improved in the slightest.

The biggest reason was, as expected, that there were no livable houses.

The slums were already at saturation.

Buildings clung together so densely that they resembled an ant nest, and there was not enough space left to build more.

Obtaining materials to build houses was also impossible.

That was because Neo Seoul had swept up all usable building materials.

That was also why people had left the surface and gone down into the stinking underground. Since there was no space to live above ground, they had no choice but to prepare places to live in the underground sewers.

That was why this matter was important.

If truly usable houses could be made with only sand and sand hardener, people would not need to go down into the underground sewers.

The one problem was monster attacks, but thanks to Neo Seoul’s anti-monster force, most monsters did not even dare approach.

Elder Kleksi and Yu Se-hee quietly watched the workers.

After about thirty minutes passed, the bricks were finally complete.

Tap, tap!

After tapping one brick, a smile appeared on Bryce’s lips.

“They were made properly. Now let’s build the house. As I told you beforehand, stack the bricks while spraying the hardener in the spray bottles onto their surfaces.”

“Yes!”

The workers answered energetically, holding spray bottles filled with diluted hardener in their hands.

Hiss! Hiss!

The workers stacked the bricks while spraying hardener onto their surfaces.

After about three hours, a fairly convincing shape was quickly formed.

All that remained was raising the roof.

In the same way, they made roof tiles using sand and hardener.

They placed the roof tiles one by one, and finally completed the roof.

The people gathered in front of the house burst into exclamations.

“Ohhh!”

“A whole house really was completed just like that.”

Elder Kleksi and Yu Se-hee entered the house first.

The air inside the house was cool.

It was proof that the bricks made of sand were perfectly blocking the heat from outside.

Elder Kleksi and Yu Se-hee stroked the walls as they spoke.

“This is truly good.”

“It really is. If we put furniture inside, people won’t have any problem living here.”

“The hardship was worth it. You said it won’t budge even if it rains?”

“Yes! They said not a single drop leaked even when heavy rain fell in the desert.”

“Good. Very good!”

Elder Kleksi kept exclaiming in admiration.

It had been a very long time since he had shown this much emotion.

The others also looked around the inside of the completed house and could not stop marveling.

“At this level, it might be better than the house I’m living in now.”

“I can’t believe it. This is a house made in no time using sand.”

“This really is a revolution.”

It was simply astonishing that a single house could be built in such a short time, and with nothing but sand, without any special materials.

Elder Kleksi said to Yu Se-hee,

“For now, let’s build just one thousand houses as a test.”

“That many? City Hall will pay attention. If we move carelessly, the hardener itself might be taken from us.”

“I will handle that problem myself. There are many people in urgent need of housing, so for now, do as I say.”

“All right.”

Yu Se-hee nodded.

Elder Kleksi had already stepped back from the front lines, but if he made up his mind and moved, even City Hall could not treat him lightly.

At that moment, one Awakened from the Goblin Market hurriedly ran over.

“Guildmaster, Elder!”

“What is it?”

“Lord Zeon’s group has returned.”

“Is that true?”

“People say they saw them entering the fortress.”

Yu Se-hee’s eyes shone.

“I need to meet him right now.”