Chapter 97 – The Snowstorm Arrives (1)

“I will begin replacing the core of the Eternal Embers.”

Having declared this to the gathered citizens, I strode toward the Eternal Embers.

Although Yan and the leadership, whose fists trembled with rage, passed by my side and glared at me fiercely.

‘They no longer have any justification to hold me back.’

No matter how much they were the leader and leadership representing the ember, they only represented the ember by receiving the citizens’ support.

Unless it was an ember where lineage and class existed, they could not dare to go against the general trend.

Step, step.

Thus, without any hindrance, I broke through the crowd that parted to the left and right like Moses’ miracle and reached the front of the Eternal Embers.

At the end, there was someone welcoming me.

It was my father, Demian Vale.

“You have finally arrived, Aylen.”

A rare smile bloomed on his face as he stood accompanied by the members of the magic engineering department.

Since I, his son, returned alive and well, and even brought back the core, there was no way he would not be pleased as a father, a magic engineer, and a citizen.

Furthermore, just a moment ago, I had clashed with Yan for the sake of the value of the citizens that he held so dear.

He seemed deeply moved to see his son following his own beliefs.

Of course, I had not acted out of the same pure goodwill as him, though.

“Director, I have retrieved the core.”

I bowed my head while addressing him by his title.

This was because I could not call him father in a public place, and our relationship had not progressed enough to call him that anyway.

For now, it was still a time when I had to exploit the guilt he felt toward me.

“You have done a great deed for the ember. Truly… you did wonderfully.”

His eyes were filled with pride and admiration.

And the same was true for the members of the magic engineering department who had been hostile toward me.

“You did well, Aylen. I am so glad you returned alive.”

“Are you injured anywhere? You still have twenty fingers and toes in total, right?”

“What kind of unlucky thing are you saying? Still… since you brought it up, take off your gloves and boots for a second.”

They were so happy that they did not speak to me in honorifics but used informal language.

The moment I addressed Demian as Director, they should have treated me as a superior, but in their deep emotion, they were treating me as just Aylen.

“Cut it out and let us put out the urgent fire first. At this rate, I feel like I will really end up with nine fingers.”

Brushing off their worried fuss, I stood before the Eternal Embers, which could no longer be called the eternal flame.

Perhaps because the magic engineering department had disassembled it in advance, the Eternal Embers was revealing its interior filled with complex mechanical devices.

Yet even among the numerous devices, the core was not visible.

If the heart of the city was the Eternal Embers, the heart of the Eternal Embers was the core, so it was hidden in a deeper and more secret place.

Click.

Just like when I retrieved the core from Randolph’s ember, I pressed the red buttons that looked like they should not be pressed in a certain order.

Clank, clank—!

Soon, the mechanical devices began to rearrange and align themselves, quickly creating a door about the size of an adult male.

In the space revealed that way, the heart of the Eternal Embers, the core looking like a setting sun in the twilight, was enveloped on a device that rose like a tower.

“Ooh.”

“That is the core…!”

“It feels like I can sense mana somehow…”

“There is no way we can sense mana when we are not mages, but… it does feel like it?”

The members of the magic engineering department uttered a word each with enchanted eyes.

This was because, historically in the ice age, there had been no cases of problems arising with the core, and since repair was also impossible, even magic engineers rarely had a chance to see it in person.

However, Demian looked calm, as if this were not his first time.

Rather, it was I who reacted.

‘The condition was more serious than I thought. If we had operated it for even one more day, the Eternal Embers might have exploded.’

Of course, I already knew that a serious defect had arisen in the core by sensing the unstable mana fluctuations with my mana sense.

However, the state of the core seen in reality was more disastrous than expected.

Fine cracks like spiderwebs were drawn all over the core, leaking red mana in streams.

In that sense, the words of Caleb, the second-in-command of the magic engineering department, who said it felt like he could sense mana, were not wrong.

Because even to my eyes, it was serious enough that it would not be strange for even an ordinary person who was not a mage to sense the mana.

“Director, please release the security device first. I will replace it immediately.”

But there was no need to worry further.

Since the core was the most important component, it was designed to be easily repaired, so all we had to do was replace it, and didn’t we already have a new core in perfect condition in our hands?

Demian, who understood my intent, immediately approached the security release lever and spoke.

“I will lower the lever on three. One, two, three…!”

Clank!

It was a structure that absolutely required two people to release the security device.

According to his signal, we lowered the levers simultaneously.

Clack-clack-clack…!

With the sound of the gears engaging, the tower supporting the core began to split into geometric shapes.

It was finally the moment the core exposed its bare body.

“I will extract it.”

On behalf of me, who was holding the replacement core, Demian carefully lifted the existing core with magic engineering equipment.

Caleb, who had been waiting, opened a steel case resembling a suitcase, and the cracked core was safely placed inside.

No matter how defective the core might be, since it was an object that operated the Eternal Embers, there would be a use for it somewhere.

“I will mount the new core.”

Using the same equipment as him, I placed the core of Randolph’s ember onto the tower.

At that moment, whether the Eternal Embers and the core automatically made a connection, the security lever rose on its own, and the tower began to envelop the core.

“Is it done…?”

“Is this the end? It is more anticlimactic than I thought.”

The members of the magic engineering department spoke in disappointment.

However, that was the end of the core replacement.

Although it felt anticlimactic compared to its importance, this simplification of the process was proof that the device had reached the pinnacle of magic engineering power.

“Let us go out now. We need to start it up even a second faster. The citizens are waiting for the ember to come alive.”

“Yes, Director.”

“Yes.”

At Demian’s urging, the magic engineering department members headed outside with lingering reluctance.

Outside, fifteen hundred citizens, including the leadership, were still waiting for us.

No, to be precise, they were probably waiting only for the ember to flare up.

Because the Eternal Embers was the only hope of this world.

“I will restart the Eternal Embers!”

As if Demian fully understood the hearts of those citizens, he immediately activated the Eternal Embers.

Anxiously, there was not even a movement at first.

This was because a process of the magic stones being sucked into the fuel tank, crushed, and melted was required before it could run.

…

…

The time it took for the core and engine to become active using magic stones as fuel: one minute.

As all the time that felt like thousands of years passed amidst such escalating tension, finally.

Whump… whump… whump—! Whump!

The Eternal Embers began to pour its hot breath across the entire area.

It was the moment the ember of hope we had yearned for so much was reignited.

* * *

“Wow! The ember is flaring up!”

“It’s melting, the snow is melting!”

“Oh my god… Sun God!”

It was the moment the snow melted due to the heat emitted by the Eternal Embers, opening up the view and revealing the world.

The people fell into a crucible of enthusiasm, and without distinguishing between the existing members and the newly joined members, hugged each other and shared their joy and sorrow.

It was only natural, since the existing members reclaimed their lives and the newly joined members reclaimed a home.

However, even at that monumental moment, there was someone who could not rejoice.

‘Such a son of a bitch…!’

Gritting his teeth, Yan glared at someone in rage.

Aylen, who had successfully completed the expedition, was that very protagonist.

From the perspective of the ember, Aylen was a hero.

Because he had saved the ember, where defeat, let alone annihilation, had become a matter of time.

On that part, Yan also agreed with that fact since it was no different from having his life saved by him.

However, the problem was that what he had brought back was not just the core, but citizens who had left in search of a home.

For Yan, at a time when he had to solidify his support base, it was indeed an unfortunate coincidence.

To the extent that he even suspected Aylen might be coveting the leadership position.

“Aylen! Aylen! Aylen!”

Even now, as many as fifteen hundred people were chanting a single person’s name, which was enough to further amplify his suspicion and anxiety.

“Everyone, return to the leadership!”

Feeling disillusioned, Yan left the place.

Stepping into his office, he felt an unprecedented sense of crisis and impatience.

“Damn it, both the father and that son are arrogant without exception!”

Slam!

Blood flowed from the fist that struck the desk.

Without feeling any pain, Yan was chanting the names of the two.

“Demian, Aylen, Demian, Aylen, Demian, Aylen…!”

For him, whose only assets were conversational skills that won hearts and political power, the next Grand Magic Engineer, Demian Vale, was a very burdensome opponent.

He had spent twenty years of effort to barely make such an opponent bow his head, but this time, that son of his was holding his head high and challenging his authority.

Now, with only one step left to achieve his goal of dictatorship, it was understandable that his patience had reached its limit.

“Nikolai, assemble all the executive-level figures.”

“…Yes.”

Yan decided he could no longer postpone his plan.

He was one who believed that only he could make the ember strong and great.

If he was swayed by the Vale father and son, who only knew magic engineering, he would lose everything, including the ember.

Just like the precious things Yan had lost in the previous ember that perished due to an incompetent leader…

“I will never let it go that way. I will never lose anything again…”

Just as Yan was swallowing his past resentment, the leadership figures, led by Nikolai, gathered in the office.

Their faces were dark and heavy.

From Yan’s expression fraught with anger, they knew by instinct that the day of the decisive battle had finally arrived.

To them, Yan spoke.

“I heard they secretly developed a mana gun. And that a copy of the blueprint has been secured.”

Everyone in the leadership knew that Will Ford, the young magic engineer who reportedly placed second, had developed the mana gun.

This was because Mitch Bender, a hunter who participated in the expedition and a spy for the leadership, had already handed over all the information.

“Yes, but why is that…?”

However, the leadership figures were bewildered by the sudden mention of the mana gun.

They had expected Yan to make a declaration of war.

Amidst the blooming questions, Yan asked back.

“We have obtained the military force that we needed most and was most desperate for in this changed world. Do you not know what that means?”

While everyone rolled their eyes and watched his mood, Yan answered as if it were pathetic.

“It means the usefulness of the magic engineering department has vanished.”

“…!”

“…!”

The leadership figures, engulfed in shock, opened their eyes wide.

Because those words meant they would annihilate the entire magic engineering department.

Furthermore, such a radical method was also behavior unlike him.

Even if Demian and the magic engineering department were troublesome existences, they were that helpful to the development of the ember.

That was exactly why he had spent a long time putting effort into bringing them under his feet.

If he wanted to kill them, he would have destroyed them long ago.

But that was also something for when he had seized control of the ember.

Now that his position had become unstable, trying to control them was greed.

“Once the snowstorm begins, we will eliminate Demian Vale, Aylen Vale… and the magic engineering department.”

Thus, Yan’s ultimatum was delivered.

It was a day with one day left before the snowstorm struck.