episode_0211

Rustle… Rustle…

The sound of something approaching can be heard from afar.

It’s probably the sound of an animal approaching.

I erased my presence as much as possible and waited for a wild animal to come within range.

The sound gradually became closer, and before long, the identity of the sound came into my sight.

‘Got it.’

The identity of the sound was a deer.

It probably came to drink water from the lake. Fortunately, the deer didn’t seem to have noticed me, as it lowered its head to drink water from the lake without any suspicion.

After confirming this, I carefully picked up a stone.

‘Please hit!….’

I took a stance and threw the stone I was holding in my right hand with all my might.

The stone, flying from my fingertips, quickly crossed the distance and accurately hit the deer’s head.

Swish Pow!

With a dull sound, the deer staggered.

The deer soon collapsed. It was an instant death.

“Yes!”

I cheered at the success of the deer hunt, which I thought was impeccably clean, and ran to where the deer had fallen.

* * *

“You’re early?”

“Yeah. I got lucky.”

When I returned with the hunted deer on my shoulders, Rebiya put down the book she was reading and greeted me.

I put the deer down in a familiar manner and took out a knife for dismantling animals and began to dismantle the deer meat.

As Rebiya watched me dismantle the meat with quick movements, she said one thing.

“You’re completely used to it now.”

“I definitely got better as I did it. I don’t think we’ll have to starve because we don’t have food anymore.”

It’s already been about 3 months since we left the royal palace and set out on our journey to the Holy Kingdom.

At first, there was nothing I could do properly, so I often had to rely on Rebiya’s help.

But now, after 3 months, the things I can do on my own have increased somehow. Of course, there are still many things I need Rebiya’s help with….

“Is there any of the spice we got from the previous village left?”

“Yeah. There should still be some left.”

“Then let’s marinate it in the spice as we learned last time and grill it for dinner.”

“I don’t mind.”

Rebiya took out the spices she had been storing with magic.

I received the spices Rebiya took out and divided the harvested meat into appropriate sizes.

I put the meat on a clean, large leaf and sprinkled plenty of spice on it. Then, after wrapping it well and sealing it, I hand it over to Rebiya, who stores it again with magic.

“That’s the end of dinner preparations.”

“Yeah.”

“By the way, Rebiya. How much longer until we reach the Holy Kingdom?”

To my question, Rebiya paused for a moment before answering.

“If we go at this pace…. I think it’ll take about half a year?….”

“Half a year?…. It takes longer than I thought?….”

“Leon’s kingdom and the Holy Kingdom are far apart.”

“Hmm….”

Half a year….

It takes longer than I thought.

“…You don’t have to worry. Like I said before, nothing will happen right away.”

“Well, yeah….”

Rebiya explained that there was no problem with the sealing ceremony itself, which was composed of the entire royal capital, and that the reason why ‘Shadow Puppets’ occur is because of the seven silver pillars embedded in the basement of the royal palace.

She explained that if one of them is damaged, it will change to an unstable state and cause the problem.

And I also heard that the ‘that’ in the basement won’t wake up with that level of damage right now.

‘But it’s strange.’

If I think about it slowly, there’s one thing that bothers me.

Why did the kingdom, why did my father bother to mine the silver and create the Knights of the Dawn while taking into account that the seal of ‘that’ would be weakened?

‘The Knights of the Dawn were created when I was about 8 years old. The story of their power, armed with silver armor and weapons, spread throughout the kingdom in an instant.’

The story didn’t just circulate within the kingdom. The power of the Knights of the Dawn spread to neighboring countries, so the people of the kingdom looked at the Knights of the Dawn with praise and cheers, while the surrounding countries received fear and awe.

‘…Could it be?’

For a moment, a hypothesis flashed through my mind.

If that’s really true….

‘…No. Still, would that be the case?’

“Leon?”

“Huh?…. What’s wrong?”

It was Rebiya’s voice that pulled my consciousness out of my thoughts.

Before I knew it, Rebiya was staring at me with her face close to mine.

“Do you want to go to the Holy Kingdom quickly?”

“Well…. Yeah. If I get the Holy Sword quickly, I can put more effort into my training sooner.”

“…If you want to go to the Holy Kingdom quickly, there is a way.”

“There’s a way? What way?”

Rebiya closed her mouth again to my question.

She always pauses like this when I ask her a question because she takes some time to think in her head, so this happens often.

I used to think it was a little frustrating at first, but now I just take it as it is.

It’s not that much of a problem once you get used to it.

Above all, I know that Rebiya is trying to give me information that is as accurate as possible, so I don’t really want to make an issue of it.

“Do you know Laftia?”

“Laftia?…. Are you talking about that aerial city?”

Laftia.

The legendary city that appears in fairy tales.

It is said that this aerial city, which floated around in the sky, occasionally came down to the ground and interacted with the ground.

The technological prowess of the aerial city was so outstanding that in some regions, this aerial city was called the ‘City of God’ and exerted tremendous influence, but at some point, the aerial city completely disappeared….

“Is it the aerial city I know?”

“Yeah. If it’s there, you can get to the Holy Kingdom quickly.”

“But…, isn’t Laftia a legendary city that only appears in fairy tales? Is it actually a real city?”

Rebiya nodded to my question.

“Yeah. But there are a few things you’re mistaken about.”

“Things I’m mistaken about?”

“Yeah. Laftia is not an aerial city, but a country. Of course…, it can float the entire country in the air, though.”

…That’s even scarier, isn’t it?

Rebiya’s words momentarily cut off my thoughts.

What on earth do they do to float an entire country in the air?….

“Is that really true? Floating a country in the air?….”

“Laftia is an ‘island country’. But with highly developed technology, it became possible to float the island itself. Laftia was an island in a somewhat special environment…. It was a situation where they couldn’t survive unless they floated the island itself.”

“What kind of situation was it…”

What kind of situation was it that they couldn’t survive unless they floated the island?

No, before that, the image of an island floating high in the sky is just not conceivable.

“But how do you know that…. No, is it that book?”

Rebiya nodded to my question.

That book that Rebiya says tells her about the path she has to take in the future.

It only looks like a blank sheet of paper to me, but Rebiya says that it contains the information she needs or wants to know.

Rebiya remembers saying that she has received a lot of help thanks to that information.

Rebiya herself doesn’t know what principle it works on, and she also says that not all the information is written down, but it’s definitely useful.

“So…. You’re going to go to Laftia and fly straight to the Holy Kingdom? The speed at which the island moves must be quite fast?”

“No. Laftia was invaded by another country and sank into the deep sea, so it’s impossible.”

“…Invaded? No, what did you just say? It sank into the deep sea after being invaded?”

“Yeah.”

The, the deep sea…. That means it sank deep into the sea, right?….

“Ho, how are you going to find a country that has sunk under the sea?…. Even if you find it, what are you going to do in the sea?”

Nothing Rebiya has suggested so far has been wrong, but this time it’s hard to think normally.

But Rebiya shrugged her shoulders and said.

“It’s okay. I know where it is.”

“You know where it is?”

“Yeah. And, even though it sank, Laftia didn’t disappear.”

“…?”

It sank…, but it didn’t disappear?….

“In the past, Laftia, once called the country of the sky, is now living in the deep sea after sinking into the sea. If I had to put it that way…. I should call it the country of the deep sea.”

“The country of the deep sea…”

“And we’re going to use the essence of Laftia’s technology there…. The ‘transfer gate’.”

* * *

Clang! Clang!! Clang!!!

The basement of the royal palace is covered with a thick curtain of darkness.

The light of the silver, emitting a faint glow in the black curtain where you can’t see an inch ahead.

The sound of metal colliding continuously can be heard within it.

Crack

And at some point, the sound of something breaking can be heard, and at the same time, with a loud roar, one of the pillars that had been illuminating the darkness lost its light.

At the same time, the people gathered there began to recover the fragments of the silver pillar.

“We have secured the silver as instructed.”

“Good. How is ‘it’ doing?”

“It’s asleep.”

Alva, who received the subordinate’s report, nodded and said to the Knights of the Dawn.

“Hurry up and recover the pieces of silver that have been mined.”

“Yes! Understood!”