Ch.73The Road to Fernheim (2)

Splash!

I poured water over the campfire that was still burning, extinguishing it.

Hisssss…

Black smoke and steam rose together, and soon what had been a campfire was nothing more than a collection of wet logs.

“I’ve packed up all the tents.”

“Good. Let’s move out now.”

After waking up, eating breakfast, washing the dishes and our faces, and putting the tents and other equipment back into the spatial storage, it was already nine o’clock.

We all mounted our horses and began riding again along the straight path leading to Fernheim.

*

“The weather seems to be getting cooler.”

“Well, autumn is gradually approaching…”

Dividing the four seasons within an 18-month year was a rather complicated matter.

Since the calendar handed down from the Ancient Empire was still in use, most of humanity defined months 5 through 8 as spring, months 9 through 14 as summer, months 14 through 18 as autumn, and months 1 through 4 as winter.

Since I started my adventure in early month 5, just after winter ended, now in the last week of month 13, I’ve been adventuring for a full 8 months.

8 months… Counting by days, with each month consisting of 40 days, that’s 40×8, making it 320 days.

The final month of the year, month 18, is exceptionally 60 days long, and it’s also the coldest season of the year.

People, having some conscience, believed that Saburo, who burns tirelessly for their sake, deserved at least 60 days of rest per year. During month 18, the sun’s power weakens, and the moon’s light shines brighter.

The priests seemed to interpret this as evidence of Saburo and Maria sharing their love.

“By the time we reach the Crucis Mountains, we’ll be entering winter.”

In truth, if we traveled in a straight line, we could reach the Crucis Mountains by early autumn, but that would be mere ‘travel,’ not ‘adventure.’

Adventure meant conquering nearby labyrinths and dungeons along the way, and this was something I would never compromise on.

“It would be nice if we could awaken our aura at the Colosseum…”

“Indeed.”

“Well, if Karil looks favorably upon you, you might awaken it. Don’t be too hasty. You’re both still young.”

Aura isn’t just a simple realization.

If magic is about a mage engraving vast knowledge and wisdom into their soul, dissolving it into their body as magical power, and activating it as spells to ultimately ‘change’ the world…

Then aura is the power of a warrior who has reached enlightenment, dissolving their martial prowess—honed to the extreme—into their soul, converting it into physical form, and making the world ‘submit’ to them.

The instinctive intimidation felt in the presence of knights, what people commonly call ‘killing intent’—these are all manifestations of aura.

To be honest, as I’ve explained this far, you can see that magic and aura are similar in nature, differing only in their origin and method of operation.

Either way, meeting someone with either as an enemy meant I was screwed, as both required reaching a certain level of enlightenment and mastery.

The Apostle of Karil—the Crusader—I saw before could pull out aura like noodle strands and turn people into c-o-r-p-s-e-s, but that’s an exception. Most aura users operate with two types of aura.

One is what we can see—the Blow, which coats weapons in vibrant colors and unleashes tremendous shockwaves. The other is Maintain, which dwells within the body, enhancing physical functions and generating stamina.

People often say things like “that knight has a powerful Blow” or “that knight excels at Maintain,” but to me, it still sounded like a foreign language.

Aura or whatever—what the hell was aura when I was being dragged around by the sword I was swinging?

Seeing that Raisha, who could be called a veteran battler despite being less experienced than me, hadn’t even touched the concept of aura yet, it was clear our level was still far too low.

*

“So, how much further to Fernheim?”

“If my estimation is correct, we still have about a week to go.”

“Damn, that’s far.”

“Well, it’s the birthplace of a god—it was never going to be easy to reach.”

Clop! Clop!

When lunchtime came, we sat by the roadside, using passing travelers as our “side dish” while we ate.

Other travelers and adventurers were either eating simple boxed lunches inside their carriages or chewing on hardtack and jerky while still mounted on their horses.

Though I haven’t described it in detail, the roads connecting cities to cities, or cities to villages, were always crowded with people.

This was natural, of course—if people didn’t move in groups transporting goods, cities would quickly become massive graveyards.

“Why didn’t the Ancient Empire build extensive railways or airports… Did they forget everything during the Era of Eclipse?”

“The Nariakiran Empire used an easier method.”

“An easier method?”

Simon nodded, took a sip of water, and pointed his staff at the sun high in the sky.

“The sun and moon.”

“What… why?”

“The imperial family of the Nariakiran Empire were the sole heirs of Saburo and Maria, and the empire’s subjects were those under the heirs’ protection, so naturally, they were spiritually connected to the sun and moon, directly or indirectly. Therefore, the empire could teleport anywhere sunlight touched during the day, and anywhere moonlight touched during the night.”

“Wow.”

I was dumbfounded by the insane scale of the Ancient Empire.

I had lived accepting the common sense that older things were generally better, but I never imagined they resolved their massive logistics through such an outrageous yet simple method.

“The Four Deities who brought down such an empire must have been truly formidable…”

Raisha munched on an egg while launching a surprise worship session.

The direct cause of the Nariakiran Empire’s downfall wasn’t so much imperial tyranny as the ascension of the Four Deities, which shook the empire’s foundations.

“Huh? Weren’t Saburo and Maria the only gods?” → “You kept insisting mortals couldn’t become gods, but that was all lies?” → “Death to the false emperor!”

That was roughly how it went.

Of course, this didn’t mean people truly lost their faith in the sun and moon, but that faith was naturally replaced by a sense of ‘normalcy.’

Even now, if you ride a rocket or use an enormously powerful telescope, you can see Saburo glowing red-hot during the day and Maria emitting frozen light at night.

“By the way, do you two know how mythril or orichalcum is made?”

“…Mithril?”

“Orichalcum?”

We’d heard of them but never seen them in person.

Seeing our wide-eyed expressions, he stroked his beard and explained the two metals.

“Mithril was called ‘true silver’ during the imperial era, and orichalcum was called ‘true gold.’ Mithril is a silver-shining metal imbued with the moon’s power, while orichalcum glows golden with the sun’s power.”

“…Don’t tell me?”

“That’s right. Mithril is made by going to the moon, and orichalcum by going to the sun.”

Simon chuckled and explained in more detail.

“First, you prepare well-crafted steel as the base for each metal…”

“And then…?”

“For mythril, you take a rocket to the moon’s surface. After gathering rare elements and compounds from the moon, you pray to the stars near the moon for help, and one or two usually respond. You then use a massive mirror to focus the starlight, heating the metal to create an alloy with the elements and compounds. That creates mythril, and then you return by rocket.”

“Then… what about orichalcum?”

“Orichalcum is simpler but more challenging. You still take a rocket, but you need one with enormous heat shields to withstand the sun’s heat. The spacesuit alone costs a fortune.”

“And then…?”

“Well, you bring well-crafted steel there too, but the process differs. You get as close as possible to the burning Saburo, then pray earnestly: ‘I’ve come all this way, please help me make this into orichalcum.’ But sometimes it doesn’t work. Even getting close, the surface temperature is so high that you appear smaller than a grain of millet to Saburo.”

“Then how do you make it?”

“You just keep praying until it works. That’s why rockets always carry descendants of the imperial family. You know there are still imperial descendants on Saburos, right? I bet there isn’t a single living descendant who hasn’t ridden a rocket at least once. Saburo tends to listen to his children’s prayers.”

“Wow…”

Raisha and I couldn’t hide our amazement.

They say many things in the world work in rough ways, but this… this was far rougher than I had imagined.