Chapter 383

Chapter 383

Seo Tae-ran stood at the main entrance of City Hall with a stiff expression.

The staff of the secretariat stood lined up behind her.

It had been morning when someone came from the Mana Stone Mine to deliver news.

The moment she heard the news from him, she dispatched Supervisor Mandy and an Awakened unit toward the Mana Stone Mine at once.

That was how shocking the news from the Mana Stone Mine had been.

It was enough to make even Seo Tae-ran, who rarely revealed her emotions, grow tense.

After waiting for a while, vehicles carrying Mandy and the Awakened unit appeared in the distance, escorting an Armored Bus.

Mandy got out of the lead buggy and said to Seo Tae-ran,

“Supervisor Mandy Sistine. I have returned safely after completing the mission.”

“What about him?”

“He’s on the Armored Bus.”

“I’d like to see him in person.”

“I’ll guide you.”

Mandy accompanied Seo Tae-ran and walked toward the Armored Bus.

The Awakened guarding the Armored Bus opened a path for them.

Creeeeak!

When Mandy pulled the handle, the heavy door of the Armored Bus opened with difficulty.

As the door opened, someone’s voice came from inside the bus.

“So this is Neo Seoul? It’s several times more splendid than I expected. Amazing. To restore civilization to this extent, Neo Seoul truly is humanity’s blessing.”

A man wrapped in a robe slowly stepped down from the bus.

A bow and quiver hung on his back, and at his waist hung a saber that drew a smooth curve.

Seo Tae-ran furrowed her brow slightly.

There was a place in Neo Seoul that used sabers of that form.

‘Was it called a Willow-Leaf Saber?’

In the southern district ruled by Xiao Lun, there were Awakened who used such Willow-Leaf Sabers.

She had heard that Awakened of Chinese descent mainly used Willow-Leaf Sabers.

They said it was the weapon best suited to China’s traditional martial arts.

At that moment, the man took off the cumbersome robe. Then his true appearance was revealed.

Roughly disheveled gray-white hair, a face covered in deep wrinkles and thick scars, and eyes that shone fiercely like a monster’s.

He was wearing lamellar armor made from the hide of an unknown monster, and it looked so old-fashioned that he seemed like a warrior from hundreds of years ago who had leapt out of a tomb.

It was armor of a kind that could not be found in Neo Seoul.

‘It’s like looking at an ancient warrior.’

He looked to be in his early to mid-forties.

Perhaps because he had suffered many hardships on the way here, his armor bore countless marks.

This man was the very reason Seo Tae-ran had dispatched Mandy and the Awakened unit in such haste.

The man wrapped his right fist with his left palm and bowed at the waist.

“This humble one is Zhang Wuhang, from Sichuan. It is an honor to meet all of you here in Neo Seoul.”

“I’m Seo Tae-ran of Neo Seoul. Did you say you came from Sichuan?”

“It must be an unfamiliar place name to all of you. It is an old name from Zhonghua.”

“Zhonghua?”

“Perhaps you know it as China?”

“I know China.”

There was no way she could not.

It had been a country right beside old Korea.

During the Great Cataclysm, the two countries had perished side by side, and now not many people even remembered their names.

Seo Tae-ran asked with a puzzled expression,

“Was there a large colony left in China too? If there was, there’s no way we wouldn’t know.”

“Sichuan is located in a very remote corner of China. You can think of it as being on the opposite side of China from Neo Seoul. So it isn’t strange that you don’t know of it. It took me more than a year to reach this place after leaving Sichuan.”

“You endured alone in the desert for an entire year?”

“I was not alone when we departed. All my other companions died on the way here.”

“Was Neo Seoul your destination?”

“No. Our group, ah! Here, you call them colonies, don’t you? The circumstances of our colony are poor, so as a desperate measure, we crossed the desert blindly in hopes of finding other colonies and requesting aid. I am a scout...... Ah! In your words, a Pathfinder.”

“A Pathfinder......”

Zhang Wuhang, who introduced himself as a Pathfinder, had encountered the Mana Stone Mine scouting party last night.

The scouting party discovered Zhang Wuhang on the verge of death, surrounded by a monster horde, and rescued him. The moment they learned that Zhang Wuhang had come from another colony, they sent someone to report it.

That was why Seo Tae-ran had come out to greet him in person.

Seo Tae-ran said,

“It seems this will be a long conversation. Let us escort you inside.”

“Thank you for your hospitality, honored one.”

Zhang Wuhang expressed his thanks with his distinctive greeting, wrapping his fist with his palm.

Before taking Zhang Wuhang into City Hall, Seo Tae-ran said to Mandy and the Awakened,

“Do not speak to anyone about what happened today. This is an absolute secret.”

“Understood.”

“Yes!”

Mandy and the Awakened answered in unison.

Zhang Wuhang smiled as he looked at them.

“Oh! Their military discipline is sharp. It is good to see.”

“Please go in.”

“Yes!”

After Seo Tae-ran entered City Hall with Zhang Wuhang, Mandy muttered,

“Phew! A Pathfinder from another colony out of nowhere. Neo Seoul is going to be noisy for a while.”

Seo Tae-ran had ordered them to keep the secret without fail, but Mandy could guarantee that before tomorrow came, most people of some standing would know that a Pathfinder from another colony had visited.

Because in Neo Seoul, a perfect secret almost never existed.

After ordering the Awakened unit to disperse, Mandy headed toward the slums.

“I should meet Lord Zeon tomorrow.”

---

Zeon was slightly surprised when he entered the underground sewer.

Astonishingly, the stench strong enough to paralyze the nose had thinned.

It had not disappeared completely, but it was no longer so terrible that it gave him a headache like before.

“What happened here?”

Something had clearly changed in this place while he was away, but he still could not tell what it was.

Zeon headed toward Jetoya’s village.

When he reached about the middle of the path, a group suddenly appeared and blocked his way.

“Who are you?”

“State your identity.”

They glared at Zeon while emitting killing intent.

They looked ready to attack Zeon if anything seemed wrong.

At that moment, a middle-aged man ran out from among the group.

“Are you crazy? What are you doing? That’s Lord Zeon.”

He smacked the back of the head of the man at the front, who had been emitting killing intent.

Smack!

“Kuh!”

“Have you lost your mind because you want to die? No matter how much of a greenhorn you are, how could you fail to recognize Lord Zeon?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

The man who had been glaring at Zeon hurriedly bowed his head.

He was an Awakened who had recently joined Jetoya’s Crocodile Den. Because of that, he did not know Zeon’s face.

Zeon smiled and said,

“It’s all right. You might not know.”

“Now that he knows Lord Zeon’s face, he will never make such a mistake again. Welcome, Lord Zeon!”

The man bowing politely to Zeon was Bakum.

He was the man who had declared himself Remura’s trusted aide after being treated by her.

Now, he had become the guard captain of Jetoya’s village and was guarding the passage.

“Are Jetoya and Remura inside?”

“Yes! They are with Lord Levin.”

“Is everyone healthy?”

“We have Lady Remura, don’t we? There isn’t a single sick person in the village. People from other Crocodile Dens even come here after hearing the rumors.”

“Then you’ll have to protect Remura well. There will be people who approach her with impure intentions.”

“A few bastards already approached like that and were folded in half by my hands. Please don’t worry. This Bakum is protecting Lady Remura with his life.”

“That’s reassuring. I’ll go inside.”

“Shall I guide you?”

“I know the way.”

“Then please be careful going down. We must guard this place.”

“Keep up the good work.”

Zeon bowed his head slightly to Bakum, then descended underground.

After walking for quite a while, a wide underground space appeared.

It was Jetoya’s village.

While Zeon had been away, Jetoya’s village had changed astonishingly.

In the past, it had been full of huts made from things like straw mats and planks, but now houses made of sand bricks could be seen.

“What happened? Why are there sand houses......?”

“Ah, hyung!”

At that moment, Levin discovered Zeon and ran over.

“Levin!”

“What are you muttering about? Are you surprised to see houses made from sand bricks?”

“Yeah! What happened?”

“Se-hee nuna sent us sand hardener. We built a few houses as a test. What do you think?”

“They look fairly convincing.”

“Right? The hardener’s performance is amazing. Thanks to that, we were able to make houses out of sand without much difficulty.”

Levin answered with a smile.

Even in the underground world where not a single ray of light entered, sand existed.

That was because it flowed in through ventilation shafts and sewers connected to the outside.

The sand that flowed in like that piled up in heaps at dead ends.

The villagers brought that sand here and built houses with it.

At first, they were a little clumsy, but as their hands gradually grew used to the work, they were able to make proper-looking houses.

The people who gained proper homes for the first time wept with joy, and the villagers burned with enthusiasm.

“Hyung!”

“Zeon oppa!”

Jetoya and Remura belatedly discovered Zeon and ran over.

“Have you both been well?”

“Yes!”

“I heard you went outside?”

Jetoya had become fairly mature, while Remura’s face was full of curiosity.

Remura had never gone outside even once since she was born.

Before Awakening, it had been because she was afraid, and after Awakening, it was because she had become too busy.

Underground, there were too many patients who needed her touch.

Every day, several people roamed the underground sewer and came to her for treatment, and she could not pretend not to see them.

Jetoya also grew so busy managing the people who came like that that he could barely go outside.

Because of that, the scale of the village was growing larger and larger.

“You’re both working hard.”

“Hard? I’m doing it because I like it.”

“Me too. I’m happy when I see people fully recover and smile.”

Jetoya and Remura felt great reward from helping people.

Leading so many people was difficult, but they drew strength from the sight of the village improving little by little.

Zeon looked around the village and said,

“But it feels like the air has gotten cleaner?”

“The stench is weaker, right?”

“Yeah!”

“That’s because we installed an air-purification device.”

“A purification device?”

“Yes! We installed a really big one. Thanks to that, the air around here is being purified.”

“Air-purification devices must be rare. How did you get one?”

Zeon’s expression naturally grew puzzled.

An air-purification device was as rare as a magic power generator.

A device capable of purifying Jetoya’s village would not be an ordinary size. Such an item was worth whatever price the seller named.

No, even if one wanted to buy it with money, there were no items to buy.

Hearing that Jetoya had obtained such a rare item, Zeon could not help feeling puzzled.

Jetoya smiled shyly and said,

“Actually, Elder Kleksi came here while you were away, hyung.”

“That old man did?”

“Yes! He looked around this place and grumbled that he couldn’t stay long because of the smell. Then, a little while later, he came down with a large air purifier. Once we installed the air purifier, the stench noticeably decreased.”

“I see.”

Zeon smiled faintly.

Though Elder Kleksi was somewhat eccentric, he was a deeply warm-hearted person.

Obtaining an air purifier with enough performance to purify this entire place could not have been easy.

Elder Kleksi must have pushed himself to obtain it, but he did not show it.

It was not only the air purifier.

Here and there, objects that could normally only be seen on the surface were visible.

These too had been obtained through Elder Kleksi.

Right now, this place was only the size of a village, but with time, it would grow large enough to rival a decent district.

Zeon asked Jetoya,

“Do you have no intention of taking the people here up to the surface? Thanks to sand hardener, you can build houses easily.”

“You know, hyung. Unless they’re Awakened, they can’t endure very long up there. For these people to go up to the surface and adapt, they’d need a long time. At least more than one generation.”

“That’s true.”

“And I can’t just leave them behind and go up alone. I’d rather stay here and develop this place. If we keep doing that, someday this place will develop like Neo Seoul too.”

Jetoya was firm.

The young boy’s firm will reached Zeon clearly.

Zeon supported the boy’s dream.

“It definitely will.”