Ch.340Chapter 340 – Finding the Cause of the Great Fire

‘Muspelheim’.

That was the word that came to mind when I saw the fierce flames burning beyond the barrier.

They say it’s a land filled with endlessly burning flames.

And now, as I climbed atop the barrier to assess the situation in detail, the sight of the new continent spread before my eyes looked exactly like Muspelheim from Norse mythology.

“No matter where I look, all I can see are flames…”

Unlike the harbor protected from the flames by the shield, the land beyond the barrier was truly a scene from hell itself.

Everything was burning, and even rocks were melting into lava and flowing—a horrifying sight beyond words.

What could have possibly happened to turn what should have been a land of hope into a hellscape?

The new continent had transformed into a land with no living creatures, no sturdy buildings that should have stood there, only filled with flames and lava.

I needed to find out why this place had turned into such a devastating wasteland.

But before that…

“Let’s put out the urgent fire first, then think about it.”

“Don’t worry. I can easily maintain a barrier of this level by myself.”

Sister Regina used fly magic to rise into the air and deployed a protective barrier around the entire city.

Judging by the multicolored glow of the barrier she deployed, she must have layered it at least several dozen times.

“Cheonhyeryeong. Could you create a path for me to advance toward the land?”

“If it’s my husband’s request, anything is possible.”

“Etherna. Could you place a blessing on me for protection against the flames?”

“Just a blessing? I’ll give you all kinds of blessings.”

While Sister Regina secured the city’s safety by deploying the barrier, I ventured outside the city with Etherna and Cheonhyeryeong’s help.

No matter how high the wall or how strong the barrier, to a Celestial Horse, it was merely a small fence, an entrance that could be passed through at will.

As we moved outside, Sister Regina simultaneously expanded dozens of layers of the barrier, creating a space where I could operate.

“The heat is incredible.”

Although the barrier pushed back the flames, it seems it couldn’t completely drive away the heat retained in the ground.

If I could feel slightly muggy despite Etherna’s blessings and protection, how hot must it actually be?

Well, if rocks are melting into lava, it must be at least a thousand degrees of extreme heat.

“As my husband said, the heat of this land is tremendous. What happened here is beyond this one’s limited knowledge to determine.”

Even Cheonhyeryeong seemed to be seeing this for the first time as she picked up a rock that had turned to lava with her bare hands…?

“Isn’t that hot?”

Watching her fiddle with molten rock with her bare hands, I couldn’t tell if it was actually lava or just flour dough shaped like lava.

“The skin of this one who has mastered the Celestial Horse Divine Art cannot be harmed by mere melted stones. The heat is quite intense, but… that’s all. Rather, this one wonders why the burnt land continues to burn.”

Ah, so she was just curious about why the land was burning and wanted to touch it.

Every time I see her remaining calm in situations where ordinary people would have suffered severe burns and turned black, I’m reminded that she truly is a Celestial Horse.

“Now we need to find out the reason.”

I took out my hammer from my chest, gripped it firmly, and struck the burnt land three times.

A wave of light began to spread outward in a circle from where I had hammered.

The areas where the light wave passed transformed into living land that couldn’t have been described as burning just moments before.

The areas shielded from flames by the barrier returned to being land full of vitality as before.

However, the land beyond the barrier briefly returned to being full of life but was soon engulfed in flames again.

“In this situation, trying to fix the land would just be a waste of effort, wouldn’t it?”

Even if I hammered the ground all day, the fire would continue to spread endlessly unless the source of the flames was addressed.

“It seems we really need to solve the root cause.”

But the problem is, even with blessings and protection, jumping into the flames is quite frightening.

“Let’s go back for now.”

“Understood. Sister! We must return to the harbor!”

At my request to withdraw, Cheonhyeryeong told Sister Regina we needed to return, and we came back inside the barrier less than an hour after we had ventured out.

As I returned inside the harbor city’s barrier, the mayor of the city came running out in his socks.

“Grand Duke Aurelion, how is the situation outside?”

The reason he rushed out to greet me in his socks was because I was the only person who had ventured beyond the barrier since the great fire broke out.

The mayor, elected as the representative of the exploration team living in the harbor city, was the person most desperate for this situation to be resolved quickly.

“Mayor, I have a question.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“What caused the great fire?”

I asked in case the mayor might know something about the cause of the great fire.

“Well, about that…”

The mayor hesitated slightly before beginning to explain to me why the great fire had occurred.

“So, you’re saying that while installing facilities to provide heat for the entire region and flames for the forge, something went wrong?”

“Yes, that’s correct. The only facility capable of causing such a large flame is the flame supply facility.”

The mayor explained the cause to me with confident eyes.

“Is there anything else?”

“No. As you can see, most buildings in this city are made of wood. That means it’s an environment where fire can spread to other buildings instantly if a fire breaks out. That’s why we prohibit the use of fire inside the harbor as much as possible.”

“Then, the flame supply facility is installed outside?”

“That’s right, Your Grace.”

According to the mayor’s additional explanation, hot water heated through the flame supply device flows through hot water pipes for heating to provide warmth to this region, and the flames used to heat the water are for blacksmiths working in the forge.

Therefore, they built the flame supply facility some distance away from the harbor city rather than inside where there are many wooden buildings, and the day the great fire started was the day that had been planned in advance for the trial operation of the flame supply facility.

“So the fire broke out on the day of the test operation, which naturally means something went wrong with the flame supply facility.”

“That’s right. According to the watchman who was on the wall preparing for possible attacks, there was a flash of light from the flame supply facility, and soon after, a tremendous wave of flames began to surge.”

“A wave of flames…”

Then, as the mayor says, the cause of the great fire can be attributed to a problem that occurred at the flame supply facility.

“But can a fire burn for days on end like this?”

“That’s probably because this fire was caused by flame stones.”

“Sister?”

The one who answered my question was Sister Regina, who had been maintaining silence.

“When I rose into the air to deploy the barrier, I felt the unique mana wave that can be sensed from flames generated by flame stones in the fire that was about to engulf the barrier.”

“What’s the chance you’re wrong?”

I’m not doubting Sister Regina, but there’s a possibility she might have misperceived.

“There’s no chance I’m wrong. All flames created by flame stones have the same type of mana wave.”

Sister Regina continued, saying, “The reason this fire doesn’t go out is also due to the characteristics of flame stones.”

“Characteristics of flame stones?”

“Flame stones are literally stones that catch fire easily. The reason this is possible is that the stone itself burns as fuel for the flame. And the flames from flame stones burn longer the more concentrated they are in one space and the better their quality.”

So, the reason the fire lasts so long is… because of flame stones.

“A common mistake blacksmiths often make is thinking, ‘I can control flame stones!’ Flame stones should only be used in exact amounts based on research by alchemists, and this accident probably occurred because the amount of flame stones was miscalculated.”

“How do you know so much about this?”

“Even at the Academy, there are always two or three students each year who experiment without controlling variables and end up burning all their hair off due to flame stone runaway.”

My mouth fell open at Sister Regina’s words.

It must be hard enough studying and experimenting diligently, but to lose all your hair on top of that…

I think when we return, I should help those friends recover their hair.

“The conclusion is simple.”

Everyone gathered in the room turned to look at Sister Regina.

“We need to enter the area where the cause of the great fire is and eliminate the cause itself.”

We all just gulped at Sister Regina’s words, implying that if we don’t, this fire will burn endlessly.

If what she said was true, it meant that this fire would burn forever if we did nothing.