The Floating Fortress, also known as the Floating Archipelago was originally a cluster of floating rocks existing in the vast region called the end of the world, in the far-off seas of the western parts of the continent.
Much is not known about the Floating Archipelago.
The boldest explorers ventured into the archipelago in search of opportunities, but their findings were meager to downright useless.
It was much too vast and wide to even estimate its boundaries, and the strong wind currents and frightful sea monsters blocked human intrusion fundamentally.
Yet, throughout the continent, mysterious stories are passed down about the Floating Archipelago.
That somewhere deep within the Floating Isles where the roars of the primordial dragon still echoes, there exists a secret paradise outside the influence of the Calamities where the wings of the long-gone Avian people still soar the skies.
Over time, the term “Floating Archipelago” came to refer not to the useless untraversable floating reefs of the western seas, but to the whispers of a hidden paradise within.
However, all of this was naught but made up fairy tales and myths, born of weary hearts and mind of those who were tired and disappointed with life.
That was, until the figure known as Aquiroa appeared like a comet in the midst of world history.
“…”
Pure white airship, Procrustes.
Upon that ship stood a woman of once-great renown, now reduced to nothing. She stood alone on the deck of the ship looking over the edge.
The view outside the window was filled with a dense cluster of Floating Reefs that seemed all but impossible to navigate through safely.
The ship was facing impending peril.
Yet even so, the helmsman expertly adjusted the course with a relaxed expression, smoothly slipping out between the giant floating reefs.
More than a few times, the ship came dangerously close to running into reefs that could drop the ship out of the sky.
As they passed through the last reef, a green paradise that seemed completely misplaced in this world was revealed in front of the battleship Procrustes.
A place with blue rivers and lakes, where trees with straight trunks covered in green leaves stood. A place where animals that didn’t harm or fear humans roamed freely.
It indeed resembled the utopia portrayed in countless fairytales and folklores, an affluent island in the sky.
The pure white airship was anchored above the solemn palace nestled in the heart of graceful nature.
As ropes and net-like ladders were thrown towards the ground one after another, Aquiroa cast a spell and lightly landed on the stone pavement of the floating island.
The many people gathered below ran past Aquiroa to welcome the other crew members enthusiastically.
Among them were beings that were hard to believe belonged to this world.
“Dad!”
It was children.
Countless boys and girls passed Aquiroa, running hither and thither toward their parents.
In all of this, Aquiroa was thoroughly alone.
She walked desolately through the crowd, crossing the square to the other side.
Who knows for how long she walked alone.
All around, the sounds of different race echoed and struck her ears.
“Nahak!”
“It’s a Nahak raid!”
Soldiers from the watchtowers scattered throughout the square shouted desperately until their throats were raw.
The square had instantly turned into a scene of chaos, but the crowd soon regained their composure, and under the guidance of the guards, orderly evacuated through the designated shelters throughout the square.
“Over there!”
A guard at the watchtower pointed at the northern sky.
Feathered creatures of white, blue, and various other colors were flocking towards them.
“Deploy the Soldiers of Salvation!”
Magic circles appeared all around the square, revealing the bizarre life forms known as Soldiers of Salvation, their skins a strange bluish hue, as they stared up at the sky.
Like hawks, the feathered creatures swiftly swooped through the ranks of the Soldiers of Salvation, unleashing a terrifying barrage of magical attacks on the ground.
Boom! Bang!
As explosions erupted all around the square, Aquiroa, left utterly alone, was crouching and hiding behind a crumbled stone wall.
Boom! Boom!
With the explosive sound, the ground shook and a rough roar could be heard.
This was just another day on this island.
The paradise that everyone coveted was not a romantic, utopic place like those in fairy tales or folk tales.
There were guests who had arrived before them.
They were the ancient races who had escaped the irrational world.
Humans who arrived in paradise had to wage an eternal war with another race of winged humanoids.
Boom!
A magical bombardment exploded nearby.
The stone wall where Aquiroa was hiding collapsed, covering her, and a rough dust cloud engulfed the surroundings.
“Cough! Cough!”
Aquiroa emerged from the rubble, hacking violently.
Her high-quality clothing and mask were entirely covered in a white, chalky powder.
Eventually, Aquiroa took off the mask, which was inscribed with indecipherable characters.
As the mask was removed, something akin to human skin came off with it.
It was a mask made of human skin, bearing the wrinkled visage of an elderly woman.
The young face hidden behind the mask was watching the battle unfolding in the square.
“Huuuuu…”
A sigh slipped from her lips.
The young woman’s sigh was laden with complex and subtle emotions – regret and lamentation, or perhaps joy and longing, too intricate to define with a single word.
“Sungchul Kim.”
*
The battle that unfolded at the northern border of the Elvan Confederation of Kingdoms, now christened as the Northern War, ended in victory for the Elvan-World Parliament Alliance led by Sungchul.
The Barbarians threatening the northern border of the Elvan Confederation of Kingdoms had retreated, leaving countless dead in their wake, while the seasoned Elvan soldiers pursued them relentlessly, inflicting severe damage.
It was a perfect victory.
There were no casualties to speak of. He revived the morale of the disheartened soldiers and gave them hope and confidence that victory was in fact possible.
The force of the Barbarians that had been threatening the Elvan border was exterminated for now, and the front was stabilized.
The victory was perfect for both the present and the future to come.
And yet despite all this, Sungchul, who had accomplished this monumental task, was now preparing to go to Ixion after refusing the invitation to join the feast by the Elvan lord, not looking happy in the slightest.
He very much wished to attend the feast of the Elvan people.
Though he had no particular fondness of noisy feasts, the Elves’ food, especially the liquor from the Elven royal palace, was an incredible delicacy.
However, Sungchul could not attend the banquet.
This was because there was a strict overseer behind him.
“Hmph…”
For Sungchul, Bertelgia was a more terrible being than any tyrannical warden.
She followed Sungchul everywhere he went. Sticking close by his side and observed his every move, all the while exerting a strong pressure.
She was simply fulfilling her original duty as the guide to the Creationist Class, and urging Sungchul to move onto the next Creationist quest.
“…”
There was no real excuse for Sungchul to give.
Had he done as he was supposed to do, he should have already passed the test of the two Colossi in Ixion a month ago.
However, the situation with the Elves was so urgent that it had to be postponed.
From this, Sungchul became unwittingly aware of the true extent of his indifference.
‘Human emotions are truly deceptive.’
Every time he had seen the large hole ripped through Bertelgia, he had used to feel pain as if a hole had been drilled in his own heart. But seeing Bertelgia herself bustling about as usual as if nothing was wrong for a while, he had eventually grown indifferent and began to feel that delaying trying to fix her by a day or two was probably fine.
Sungchul reminisced about the heavenly taste of the elvish palace wine he had sipped nine years ago as he licked his lips.
Gulp.
“Huh? What’s that sound? What was that just now?”
Supervisor Bertelgia even caught Sungchul’s small psychological change and cornered him.
“···It’s nothing.”
“Surely you’re not thinking about that drink again?”
She had hit the nail on the head regarding what was going on in his head.
For a moment, Sungchul questioned the efficacy of his new Soul Contract, the Spirit of Steel.
‘Wasn’t it supposed to be immune to psychological attacks?’
With that thought, Sungchul shook his head and answered in a low voice.
“No way.”
“The pubescent chicken is supposed to bring that Elvish wine you won’t stop talking about anyway.”
As Bertelgia pointed out, Marakia, who ranked third in the unofficial hierarchy of Sungchul’s gang, was currently elsewhere.
He was sent to attend the Elven Lord’s banquet on behalf of Sungchul. Although his true purpose was to obtain the Elven wine, he also had secondary objectives that were still important.
Marakia was a popular figure wherever he went.
Although his cuteness had worn off, he still managed to captivate people with his acquired humor, wit, and mystique.
It was a talent that Sungchul, who was devoid of Charisma, could not even dream of.
Moreover, he was quite intelligent, so he was more than capable of delivering Sungchul’s messages to the Elvan court and reading their motivates on Sungchul’s behalf.
In other words, he was like the face of Sungchul’s will.
But as always, Marakia was somehow undependable.
He had a habit of slipping up here and there no matter how well things were going.
Perhaps it was even on purpose.
Sungchul was consumed by a dreadful premonition that Marakia might not end up bring the Elvan wine he so desperately desired.
“Hmm…”
There was nothing he could do right now to address this at the moment, he would have to deal with it when the moment comes.
Not to mention, he ran out of time to dwell on this issue, for Sungchul and Bertelgia had arrived in front of the teleportation network of the elves, the envy of the world.
The elves referred to their web-like teleportation network as the “Door of Travel”.
At any rate, the elvan soldiers clad in splendid armor that were guarding the entrance of one such door greeted him once he came into view.
“Oh, it’s the hero of the Batan Plains!”
“The Imperial Commander in Chief who pulverized the Barbarian necromancer with a single blow has come here!”
The difference in how he was treated could be felt bone deep.
“…”
It was a bit overwhelming.
Even Bertelgia, who had been following Sungchul closely to usher him towards Ixion, felt uncomfortable by the intense gazes and dipped slightly lower and hid behind Sungchul.
“Commander in Chief of the World!”
An elf called Sungchul by an ambiguous title riding between a joke and a serious remark.
Sungchul grinned at the unfamiliar title.
“Why are you smiling? It’s pretty much correct.”
“You’re right.”
It was a valid point, considering Sungchul was no longer a soldier of the empire.
But somehow, it also seemed more absurd.
‘Am I going to become the Commander in Chief of the universe at this rate?’
Hesserdein, who had been contacted in advance, was waiting at the Door of Travels.
“All the procedures for your journey have been completed. Please feel free to travel through the doors of our Elvan Confederation of Kingdoms at any time from now on.”
Hesserdein was expressing sincere gratitude to Sungchul.
Sungchul looked at the young prince for a while, then turned his head and spoke in a calm tone.
“It’s not over yet. It’s fine to celebrate our victory, but I hope the soldiers won’t get too complacent.”
Everyone knew that their dramatic victory had not completely eliminated the threat of the Barbarians.
According to intelligence and reconnaissance, ten thousand Barbarians were reportedly gathering on the northern border, whereas the actual number that Sungchul and the allied forces had dealt with was only around two thousand.
Yes, the reported number of enemy casualties did include non-combatants such as women and children. But that detail did not diminish the significance of having overcome two thousand Barbarians, each with abilities comparable to the individual members of the Thirteen Champions of the Continent.
Most of the Barbarians were said to have dispersed in complete disarray. But according to some unconfirmed reports from a small number of scouts, one group of Barbarians maintained their order and retreated in formation under the concealment of the dark forest.
This meant that the Barbarians were not yet broken and could very well reconsolidate and regroup at some point in the future and come attacking once more.
The most important problem was that the exact number of the Barbarians in the north remains completely unverifiable.
While there are some claim there are tens of thousands of them, there were a few who even claimed that their true numbers were in the hundreds of thousands.
But as always, he would have to deal with it when the time came.
‘If the Barbarians attack again, I’ll simply crush them once more,’ was Sungchul’s feelings as he stepped onto the magic circle leading to Ixion, and requested a teleportation.
“Finally! We finally get to do the Creationist quest!”
Bertelgia, having achieved her goal, cheerfully dived into Sungchul’s pocket.
From this point onwards, there would be no need for further intervention on her part.
“…”
Sungchul slowly walked into the teleportation magic circle after seeing the iron bars that blocked the way open.
Upon standing on the magic circle, Bertelgia began to squirm and speak.
“By the way, I think it’s been a few months since you’ve even used the Alchemic Cauldron. You haven’t made anything except the Stardust Sugar that one time, right?”
“Come to think of it, you’re right.”
“Hmm. And you think you can complete the creator’s quest? Your muscle memory must be completely dead by now.”
“We’ll just have to see.”
The magic circle began to shine brightly.
The transfer had begun.
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