Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 560
Chapter 560
“This is the Steel Fortress.”
Urtian proudly pointed at the towering sandstone mountain.
“Did you bore straight through the middle of the sandstone mountain?”
“We didn’t bore it. It was naturally formed.”
“So it’s a natural fortress?”
“You’ll be even more surprised once you go inside.”
Urtian grinned and led the way.
Arriving beneath the Steel Fortress, Urtian shouted,
“Debora! We’re back, so send the elevator down!”
At the word elevator, Zeon and Levin showed interested expressions.
It was something that hadn’t existed before.
Then a huge box came down from the Steel Fortress.
The large box, big enough to carry over twenty people at once, looked exactly like an elevator.
Levin exclaimed in admiration.
“It’s a real elevator.”
“Heh heh! When a lot of people gather, there’s always someone with many talents. That guy made a power unit using mana stones and whipped up this elevator in no time. Thanks to that, we don’t have to have people turning pulleys by hand anymore like before.”
“Wow!”
Levin was genuinely impressed.
It wasn’t Neo Seoul, and he had never expected to ride an elevator in the middle of the desert.
Creating an elevator in a desert with no scientific foundation to speak of could truly be called a revolution.
As Urtian got onto the elevator, he said,
“Let’s go up first.”
Zeon, Levin, and the subordinates of Liala and Uslan followed Urtian onto the elevator.
As soon as they got on, the elevator moved smoothly without a sound.
In an instant, they arrived at the entrance to the Steel Fortress, where Debora and the residents welcomed them.
“Welcome back.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Chief!”
“Everyone, you did great.”
The residents sincerely welcomed Urtian.
Even with their greeting, Urtian couldn’t smile easily.
There had been many casualties.
At least the families of the injured might be all right, but thinking of the grief of the families of the dead made his expression stiffen on its own.
A moment later, when his subordinates came up carrying the bodies of the fallen, cries burst out from everywhere.
“Sniff!”
“Waaah!”
Hearing their cries, Urtian’s face, already heavy, hardened even more.
“Hu….”
The one who comforted Urtian at that moment was Debora.
“You worked hard. Go and get some rest.”
“And them….”
“I’ll comfort them in your place.”
If fighting the enemies outside was Urtian’s role, then comforting and soothing their families was Debora’s role.
Debora bowed her head to Zeon in greeting.
“Thank you so much for coming all this way to help us.”
“It’s nothing.”
“I’ll give you proper hospitality later, so please rest for now, Lord Zeon!”
After greeting Zeon, she immediately went to the families of the deceased.
They clung to her and shed endless tears.
Meanwhile, Liala, Uslan, and the others were looking around the inside of the Steel Fortress in shock.
“To think there’s a place like this inside a mountain?”
“With some effort, it looks like you could house tens of thousands here.”
“When I heard ‘Steel Fortress,’ I imagined a slightly large underground cavern, but this is beyond expectations. If only there’s enough water and food, tens of thousands really could live here.”
“But there’s no way there’d be that much water in a place like this….”
At that moment—
“There is water!”
A young voice was heard right beside them.
Turning their heads, they saw a young boy looking up at them.
He was the owner of the voice.
Liala asked,
“Who are you?”
“My name is Reior.”
“Reior?”
“Yes! I’m Lord Urtian’s eldest son.”
“Is that so! You really look just like Urtian when he was young.”
“You know my father?”
“Of course!”
“Hehe!”
At the words that she knew Urtian, Reior broke into a wide smile.
Liala asked Reior,
“What did you say earlier?”
“That there’s a lot of water.”
“Really?”
“Yes! There’s a really big lake underground here. Want me to show you?”
“Would that be all right?”
Liala’s gaze went to Urtian.
She was asking permission from the owner of the Steel Fortress.
When Urtian nodded without a word, Reior said excitedly,
“I’ll guide you. Follow me.”
“Thank you!”
Liala, Uslan, and the others followed Reior down underground.
“My goodness!”
“There really is a lake?”
The faces of Liala and Uslan and the others were filled with shock.
Before them truly lay a vast lake.
With a lake like this, it looked like tens of thousands—no, even hundreds of thousands—could use it and still have plenty left.
Reior said with a smug expression,
“Well? Amazing, right?”
“…….”
Liala couldn’t answer at all.
She could only stare blankly at the lake.
---
Looking around the inside of the Steel Fortress, Zeon said,
“It’s gotten even bigger in the meantime.”
“A lot of people came after hearing the rumors about the Steel Fortress.”
“They must have risked their lives.”
“Probably. Getting here couldn’t have been easy. But the people who survived and made it here all said the same thing—that the risk was worth it. Hearing that suddenly made me want to cry.”
“You’ve really made it. The chief of scavengers became a leader respected by everyone.”
“Heh heh! If it weren’t for you, I’d still be scavenging and would’ve died somewhere along the way.”
“You really never know where life will take you.”
“Exactly.”
Urtian gave a small chuckle.
If someone other than Zeon had said something like that, he would have felt uncomfortable or angry. But because it was Zeon—the one who had subdued him and led him here—it didn’t bother him at all.
Zeon was his benefactor.
While leading the Steel Fortress, he was once again realizing the preciousness of life and the shelter of family.
After watching Zeon for a moment, Urtian cautiously asked,
“El Harun… is it really that serious?”
“Yes.”
“How bad is it?”
“Very bad.”
“Tsk! After putting up a barrier and saying they’d live on their own, they must’ve run into big trouble, huh?”
“The World Tree there is dying.”
“So?”
“They’re looking for a new World Tree.”
“And if they find one?”
“They’re planning to kill everyone living under that World Tree’s shade and take the place—or even transplant the World Tree to El Harun.”
“Those crazy bastards!”
A curse burst out of Urtian’s mouth at once.
Even at his outburst, Zeon didn’t feel offended. His own mood was just as foul.
“Then the guys who lured Behemoth?”
“They’re the advance party sent to find the World Tree. I heard there are a few more teams like that.”
“Haah! Damn bastards. Then they should just look for the World Tree—why lure a monster over here?”
“Thanks to them letting us know early, we were able to block the monster for now. The problem is we don’t know where it is now. Once it recovers its wounds and stamina, it’ll head for Neo Seoul again.”
“No, what kind of grudge does that bastard have against Neo Seoul to be that persistent?”
If Neo Seoul fell, it would greatly affect the Steel Fortress as well.
With the recent increase in population, the food supply had become unstable. They had been planning to start trading with Neo Seoul soon because of that.
They intended to resolve the food shortage and the technology gap through exchange with Neo Seoul. Naturally, if Neo Seoul were destroyed, the Steel Fortress would face a huge problem too.
“As soon as the Steel Fortress is in order, I’ll send out a search party to look for it.”
“Thank you.”
“I should be the one thanking you. Thanks to you, I lived. Haa….”
“You look tired. Please rest.”
“Yeah. Let’s talk in detail tomorrow.”
Seeing Urtian lean back in his chair with a tired expression and close his eyes, Zeon stepped outside.
As he came out, Tesserina approached.
“When did you find a place like this?”
“It’s a place I once had a connection with.”
“It’s really amazing. If you just solve the food problem, it’ll become the greatest fortress in the desert.”
“Hah… the food problem….”
“Can’t you just trade with the World Tree village?”
“When the time comes, I’ll try to push for it. But for now… I’m thinking of keeping it secret.”
“True, with the other races searching with their eyes blazing like that, exposing it carelessly would be a disaster. But you can’t keep it secret forever.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
Tesserina smiled faintly.
She ran off again, saying she’d look around the inside of the Steel Fortress some more.
Left alone, Zeon let out a sigh.
“What a hectic day.”
Just as he shook his head and started walking—
This time Liala approached him.
Her face was flushed with excitement.
“I just came back from seeing the underground lake.”
“It’s big, right?”
“It’s not just big. The amount of water is enormous.”
“Yes. It’s connected to an underground aquifer, so it won’t ever dry up.”
“So….”
“Are you thinking of relocating the humans of El Harun here?”
“If you allow it.”
“I’m not the one who decides things here. Lord Urtian and many others put their heads together to lead this place.”
“I know. Still, I wanted to know your opinion first.”
Liala stared straight at Zeon.
“I’m fine with it.”
“Then that’s enough.”
“But absolutely no forcing.”
“I’d never think of that. Even I know that if you want to put your spoon on someone else’s table, you have to pay a price worthy of it.”
“Then that’s fine. Talk to Lord Urtian about the rest.” 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
“Got it.”
Liala immediately headed for Urtian’s quarters.
Finally alone, Zeon headed toward the house in the center of the village.
It was the house Urtian had given him.
For now, he planned to go back, rest, and reorganize his strength. But as always, the world didn’t go the way one wished.
“Big brother Zeon!”
“Big brother!”
Little kids ran toward Zeon.
The pointy-eared kids were Urtian’s sons.
The second, Dian, and the third, Samuel.
They clung to Zeon’s stomach and legs and shouted,
“Why did you come back so late?”
“We were waiting.”
“You were waiting for me?”
At Zeon’s question, they nodded without the slightest hesitation.
Seeing their faces so genuinely happy to see him, he couldn’t just go straight into the house.
Zeon asked carefully,
“Want to play?”
“Yes!”
“Of course!”
Their faces were already full of excitement.
Zeon let out a quiet sigh so they wouldn’t notice.
“Huu….”
A fight tougher than the battle with Behemoth was waiting for him.
Zeon was led by the little kids by the hand toward the playground.
