Ch.312312. Bahamut’s Temple (2)

Thus, Seoul was now firmly established as the undeniable capital of Silla.

Various flags and emblems fluttered at the Blue House where Choi Yu-na, the Dragon Priestess, resided. The National Assembly had officially settled in the Seoul National Assembly Building and was processing legislation. With the Awakened registration agency, administrative offices, Ministry of Justice, and even the Army and Hwarang command headquarters all gathering in Seoul, the city had established itself as the political, administrative, and military center governing half of the Korean peninsula.

However, the center for education and research of the Awakened was not Seoul.

That role was assigned to Gyeongju, the thousand-year-old capital that had played a decisive role in Silla’s unification of South Korea. This had been thoroughly mentioned since the days of the Gyeongju capital theory, in the name of the Dragon God.

“I will now build Gyeongju as an academy city for the Awakened.”

Gyeongju, flowing with the legacy of Silla, would now be born as an academy city for the Awakened, and accordingly, was preparing for a new future as well.

It was an effort to nurture future heroes on the legacy of a great past. It was also Bahamut’s pledge to quell Gyeongju’s discontent. Since there was actually a Bahamut temple in Gyeongju, it was an aspect that Silla couldn’t treat lightly.

Even now, citizens from distant provinces or Seoul were spending large sums of money to awaken as artificial Awakened at that temple. For the Balhut Cult, Silla’s state religion, it was the most important facility, practically a holy site.

“Daegu, Ulsan, and Pohang, located near Gyeongju, will serve as the hinterland for the academy city to be built in Gyeongju.”

And this ensured that not only Gyeongju, but also the other cities loyal to Silla would receive sufficient benefits.

“How do you plan to do this?”

“First, since Daegu was on the front lines, many healing mage Awakened were born there. We will establish a mage school related to healing magic there, and establish an Awakened treatment and recovery center based on medical and magical life engineering.”

First, in the case of Daegu, which had volunteered as Silla’s shield, there were many Awakened who had awakened healing abilities because it was on the front lines. Since there was already high demand, they decided to settle that demand as the city’s foundation.

It was essentially declaring Daegu as the center of Silla’s medical care, and to that end, they planned to establish the Silla Mage School in Daegu to enhance technology.

“Ulsan will be for magical weapon and equipment production. In other words, it will operate as Silla’s weapons factory. Although the apocalypse has officially ended…”

“Unofficially, the apocalypse continues. The demand for weapons will naturally increase.”

“Yes. Coincidentally, there is a training ground created by Lord Bahamut there. We should be able to sufficiently meet the demand for weapons to be sold to civilians. I hope that the magical engineers who will settle there will develop new technologies or surpass Lord Bahamut’s teachings.”

Ulsan’s advantage was that it could supply large quantities of magic stones at cheap prices due to the existence of the Dragon God’s training ground.

Newly awakened Awakened would use the Dragon God’s training ground to target high-level Awakened, or some would make it their profession to earn money as professional magic stone miners.

Either way, being able to produce quality magic stones without distribution costs meant it was sufficient as a foundation for producing magical weapons, and it was perfect for magical engineers to settle.

“And finally, there’s Pohang. Since Pohang naturally has the largest POSCO, I’d like it to serve as Silla’s proud city of steel, responsible for the core of the many tools needed for the academy city to be built in Gyeongju.”

It was essentially distributing the interests that would be concentrated in Gyeongju to satisfy other cities as well, but there were legitimate reasons for this.

To be honest, the interests in Yu-na’s hands were too many to be monopolized by Gyeongju alone, and there were plans that were questionable whether Gyeongju could handle them alone from the beginning.

Yu-na handed over only the parts that Gyeongju could steadily digest, and instead aimed for Gyeongju’s prosperity by inducing it to serve as Gyeongju’s hinterland.

If other cities prospered, Gyeongju, their final destination, would also prosper, and if Gyeongju prospered, the other cities would also prosper, so she structured the plan for them to help each other.

“Next is officially designating the Bahamut temple on Namsan in Gyeongju as a holy site for Silla.”

“Yes. That’s the justification. In terms of practical benefits, if someone uses the Dragon God’s temple arbitrarily without the court’s control, great confusion will arise.”

Next was officially recognizing the Bahamut temple on Namsan in Gyeongju as Silla’s holy site.

With this, Namsan, where the Bahamut temple was located, would be designated as a special zone to be specially managed by the court, and strict restrictions would be placed on purchasing land in the vicinity.

However, although the Bahamut temple was said to be under the court’s control, there was no intention at all to block aspiring Awakened or devotees of the Balhut Cult who were still coming.

“Those who officially visit are Silla’s citizens or devotees, right? Is there any reason for the court to block them?”

“What we’re concerned about is preventing villains from doing strange things with the byproducts from that land.”

“And incidentally, we can also reduce the number of Awakened not recorded in the court’s statistics.”

Frankly speaking, declaring the Bahamut temple as a holy site was something that the nation of Silla naturally had to do.

The fact that the land near the Bahamut temple could cause some kind of mutation due to the temple’s influence was already proven by numerous pieces of evidence, and if it wasn’t controlled, there was a high probability that someone would take it and cause strange experiments or accidents.

Moreover, although not explicitly mentioned, the Silla Mage Society had already caused accidents… It was a fact known to everyone in the court that some level of civilian control was necessary for the stability of the country.

As a bonus, it could also have the effect of reducing illegal artificial Awakened not captured in statistics. It would be strange not to do it.

“It seems that the pledges I declared have been completed.”

“What remains is time.”

With this policy, they could fulfill Bahamut’s pledge, and at the same time, they could pride themselves on forming the two pillars of the Silla system, where the practical implementation of Awakened education policies circulated organically while settling as a large national system.

It would take a lot of time for this system to settle, but if it succeeded in settling, it could result in greatly extending the lifespan of the nation of Silla, and at the same time, it could increase the number of Awakened entering government service.

That meant that the court could always suppress civilians, and it could have the effect of fundamentally blocking the inviolability of government affairs that civilian guilds always mentioned.

It was truly remarkable to see how they fundamentally blocked the loophole that would allow civilian guilds to suppress the state, lest they not be a Korean peninsula nation.

“In that sense, how about recommending Kim Su-ho as the first dean of the academy city?”

And with the words that followed, an unusual silence flowed through the Blue House cabinet meeting room.

Park Cheol-gon, the Prime Minister of the Silla court cabinet, brought up the name of a hero who had not been mentioned in Silla politics for a long time, and the eyes of all the court ministers widened at the name of that hero.

After all, Kim Su-ho’s name was one of the heavy names in Seoul, and even now, it was beyond what the Dragon God Association or the Constitutional Democratic Party, representing Silla, could handle.

Since the name of that giant came out of the Prime Minister’s mouth, the court ministers’ eyes couldn’t help but widen.

“In reality, we gave the hero of Seoul the result of being ranked first in merit, but haven’t we yet settled the actual compensation? Kim Su-ho himself seems to be reluctant to take high positions. He doesn’t seem interested in greatly increasing his wealth either. But wouldn’t he accept an honorary position, just as he did during the merit awards? Rather, we can show Kim Su-ho what path Silla wants to create for future generations.”

In fact, he had been strangely inconspicuous since the recapture of Seoul.

Although his name was listed as first in merit, considering his fame, he could have already belonged to the court as a minister or aimed for the position of Prime Minister, but in a state of burnout, he had quietly stayed by the side of the Dragon Priestess Yu-na, trying not to be associated with politics as much as possible, showing a tendency of having no interest in flaunting his fame or in power.

But from the court’s perspective, that was even more burdensome. Wasn’t it strange that the second-place in merit had received the position of Minister of Defense and was living lavishly, while the first-place had nothing?

Above all, it was time for the Awakened who followed Kim Su-ho to start being dissatisfied with the treatment given to him, so a position that no one could deny was needed.

“Not a bad proposal. Then, I will propose it directly.”

“Thank you.”

Choi Yu-na seemed to be concerned about that as well, saying she would persuade him directly, and the Silla court could breathe a sigh of relief.

In fact, when Yu-na, not the court, directly persuaded him…

“I’m not a person suited for such a position. But since you, Lady Yu-na, recommend it so strongly, I’ll accept.”

He readily accepted, and thus the Silla court succeeded in adding the symbolism that Kim Su-ho possessed to the academy.

As soon as Kim Su-ho accepted, they delivered a nameplate with the name “First Honorary Dean Kim Su-ho” to him faster than anyone else, and sent an official appointment letter, showing that the court’s will was firm.

“Mr. Kim Su-ho. It’s true that you need rest, but Silla needs someone to illuminate the beginning of the next generation that will appear in the future. Please, for the sake of future generations. As the hero of Seoul, I hope you will continue to work hard.”

“Haha. I’ve received an honor I don’t deserve.”

And Prime Minister Park Cheol-gon personally visited Kim Su-ho to appoint him and emphasize Kim Su-ho’s necessity, and Kim Su-ho also seemed to be somewhat purifying his karma of having survived the war carrying countless lives.

“…Then, I’ll try to teach well.”

At his words, those preparing for the establishment of the academy city bowed deeply.

At the same time, it was a meaningful appointment that could end all doubts directed at the Silla Academy.

The moment Kim Su-ho headed to the academy under the name of the first honorary dean, they could secure professionalism and honor for training future generations of Awakened, and it also functioned as a national brand strategy to enhance the prestige of the academy.

For Kim Su-ho, it was an exit that could give him quiet duties and peace instead of intense politics, and at the same time, it was a way to keep the hero of Seoul within the national system.

“As a politician. And as the human Park Cheol-gon, I think this is the best thing I can do.”

Instead of placing Kim Su-ho in a position of power he didn’t particularly want, they designed it to give value to the nation’s future.

Whether personal feelings were involved or public feelings were involved, it could be said that they definitely respected Kim Su-ho as an individual.

“The first honorary dean is Kim Su-ho?”

“That academy… is real.”

“Let’s go. If the hero himself is training people, maybe I can awaken too.”

When the fact that the hero of Seoul had been officially appointed as the academy dean was announced, there was even public opinion that citizens who still had doubts would believe and follow the hero of Seoul.

Not only that, but as soon as Kim Su-ho’s residence was determined, many high-level Awakened who had followed Kim Su-ho from the beginning immediately sent their resumes to the academy, and high-level Awakened who would teach students at the Silla Academy were flocking.

Some admired Kim Su-ho, some wanted to challenge Kim Su-ho’s strength, and some had sworn to follow Kim Su-ho for life, and all of them could unite in heading to the Silla Academy in the name of Kim Su-ho.

Thus, Gyeongju’s academy, riding on the name of the hero, completed preparations to become a legend.