The Scorched Desert's Sand Mage (Novel) - Chapter 157
Chapter 157
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Translated by Pratt
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The mayor’s office where Jin Geum-ho conducted public affairs was on the fiftieth floor, the highest floor of City Hall. The elevator carrying Zeon and Seo Tae-ran reached the fiftieth floor without a sound. It felt like they had been on it for less than ten seconds, and yet they had already arrived.
“Please, step out.”
Seo Tae-ran stepped out first, and Zeon followed behind her. The moment he stepped out of the elevator, the interior of the vast office came into view. The wide full-length windows, unobstructed by anything, made the eyes feel clear. In front of the huge window stood a middle-aged man. His hair was combed back perfectly without a single strand out of place, and beneath his nose and along his jaw was a neat beard. Even the fitted suit on his body looked effortlessly elegant. He was Jin Geum-ho, the mayor of Neo Seoul.
With a faint smile, Jin Geum-ho said, “A pleasure to meet you. I am Jin Geum-ho, mayor of Neo Seoul.”
“I’m Zeon. It’s a pleasure to meet you as well.”
“Welcome. Let me welcome you into Neo Seoul.”
“Thank you.”
Zeon bowed his head in greeting to Jin Geum-ho.
The man before him was a legendary figure who had built a giant city upon ruined land.
If not for him, the people of this land would likely never have risen beyond medieval civilization, just like the people of other colonies.
He and Dayeoden had led the rebuilding of Neo Seoul, and thanks to that, humanity had been able to regain its former civilization.
That achievement alone made Jin Geum-ho a man worthy of respect.
Jin Geum-ho’s face as he welcomed Zeon was full of composure.
“There is much I wish to speak of, so please sit first.”
“Yes.”
Without declining, Zeon sat down in the seat opposite Jin Geum-ho.
“Would you like something to drink?”
“Water will do.”
“I’ll prepare it.”
Seo Tae-ran immediately went to fetch water.
“I hear you live in the slums. How is it there?”
“It’s livable.”
“Is that so?”
“It was where I originally lived, so it feels comfortable.”
“I suppose that could be true.”
Jin Geum-ho nodded slowly at Zeon’s answer.
He treated Zeon in a relaxed manner.
It was a casual attitude that did not suit the absolute ruler of Neo Seoul.
But Zeon was not deceived by that outward appearance.
“I’ve heard that you are a sand mage.”
“I was fortunate enough to awaken as one.”
“Luck only follows when the person themselves possesses will and ability.”
“Thank you for thinking so highly of me.”
Zeon answered with an easy expression.
At that, Jin Geum-ho showed a look of interest.
Everyone became tense when they faced him.
Even if he treated them gently, the pressure they felt was never small.
Even without deliberately pressing someone down or displaying his presence, anyone meeting Jin Geum-ho would naturally shrink on their own.
That had been true even of Aleksandro, the master of the White Bear Caravan, the most recent person he had spoken to face-to-face.
And yet Zeon, who was relatively young, showed not the slightest sign of shrinking even while looking directly at Jin Geum-ho.
The faint smile on his lips and the confidence in his eyes reminded Jin Geum-ho of someone.
“Looking at you brings an old friend of mine to mind.”
“A friend?”
“I have an old friend. In appearance and atmosphere, you are quite different from him, and yet in some strange way the two of you resemble each other.”
“Is that so? May I ask who this friend is?”
“Dayeoden. His name is Dayeoden.
He was my only true friend, and my rival. If not for him, Neo Seoul could never have been rebuilt.”
“Where is your… friend now?”
“He left.”
“Where to?”
“I don’t know. One day he left this place, and he never showed himself again.”
“Your friend’s name was Dayeoden?”
“It was. A name you could never forget once you heard it.”
A faint smile rested at Jin Geum-ho’s lips as he spoke of Dayeoden.
Whether that smile came from truly missing him or from an effort to deceive, there was no way to tell.
Dayeoden had once said this about Jin Geum-ho:
“He’s a sly bastard, but when he’s on your side, he’s still the sort you can trust and lean on.”
When Dayeoden faced demonic beasts head-on, Jin Geum-ho supported him from the rear.
That was how they had fought the demonic beasts for decades and built the walls of Neo Seoul.
Though their relationship had eventually soured, Dayeoden had never hated Jin Geum-ho for it.
Jin Geum-ho said, “Why is that, I wonder? Your appearance and temperament are so opposite, and yet you still remind me of him somehow…”
“Who knows.”
“My apologies. I’ve invited a rare guest, and yet I’ve only been prattling on about something unrelated.”
“Not at all.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“You were the one who stopped Balrog, were you not? Thanks to you, the damage was contained.”
“I only stepped in because my own home would have been destroyed as well if Balrog went wild.”
“Regardless, because of that, the whole slum was able to remain safe.
If the slums had collapsed, Neo Seoul too would have suffered great damage.”
Jin Geum-ho’s words were filled with affection for Neo Seoul.
He did mention the slums, but it was impossible to shake the sense that it was merely perfunctory.
What mattered to Jin Geum-ho was not the slums, but Neo Seoul.
The slums were only a breakwater protecting Neo Seoul.
Jin Geum-ho asked, “What do you plan to do from here on out?”
“What do you mean?”
“Quite a few places must be approaching you. Have you decided which one you will join?”
“Not yet.”
“That is what I expected.”
“Why did you think that?”
“Did I not say that you resemble my old friend?
A man with eyes and temperament like that never goes under someone else’s command.
That was why I guessed as much.”
“You seem to be overestimating me.”
“Are you perhaps underestimating what it means to be a sand mage?”
Jin Geum-ho rose from his seat and walked toward the window.
Beyond the great full-length glass, the splendid view of Neo Seoul spread out.
But Jin Geum-ho’s gaze was not directed at Neo Seoul. It looked instead toward the endless desert beyond the walls.
“This much is all there is.”
“Pardon?”
“This is all the land of humanity that I managed to obtain through a lifetime of effort. No matter how hard I tried, I could not secure any more land fit for human habitation than this.”
Though dazzling, Neo Seoul itself was not all that large.
And yet within that narrow land lived ten million people. Including the slums, more than twenty million people were crammed together inside this small city.
They had tried again and again to expand the city, but every attempt had ended in failure.
“Outside this city is the domain of demonic beasts. And the farther one goes, the stronger those demonic beasts become. It is impossible to expand humanity’s territory that far. At least for ordinary Awakened. But you are different. With your ability, humanity’s territory could be expanded beyond this.”
Jin Geum-ho turned back to look at Zeon.
His eyes were shining with a sharp light.
Zeon felt that this was Jin Geum-ho’s true face.
“I want to widen humanity’s territory. I do not wish to remain satisfied with merely Neo Seoul. I want to secure more land. Neo Seoul has already reached its limit. Even if more people are born, there is nowhere left to house them. It is, quite literally, on the verge of bursting.”
What Jin Geum-ho said was true.
There was no more land left to build on, and even vertical expansion had become impossible. The population continued to grow, but there were no more homes to contain them.
“That is why I need your help.”
“If you mean you want me to clear away all the sand around Neo Seoul, then even I cannot do that. I do not possess the control needed to move that much sand.”
“I know. If a human could possess that level of power, then this land would never have fallen so far to begin with.”
“Then why?”
“Expanding the land is something I will handle. There is only one thing I need you to obtain for me. If you do that, I will make your life easier in return.”
“By easier, you mean?”
“I will deal with all the troublesome entities trying to approach you.”
“You mean even places like the East District and the West District?”
“I say this with certainty. If you grant my request, they will never trouble you again.”
“Then do I have to join City Hall?”
“That would be ideal, but you need not necessarily work for City Hall.”
“Now that is interesting.”
A spark of interest appeared in Zeon’s eyes.
He had never expected Jin Geum-ho to make such a proposal.
Given Jin Geum-ho’s hunger for power and talent, he had naturally thought the offer would be for Zeon to enter under his direct command.
“I can also give you a house in Neo Seoul and citizenship. If you wish, I can even provide citizenship for the children living with you.”
“What kind of thing is it that you would ask of me while offering that much?”
“Kill one demonic beast for me.”
“Pardon?”
“There is a project I have been pursuing for a long time in order to expand humanity’s territory. For that, I need the heart of a certain demonic beast.”
“Aren’t there many Awakened in Neo Seoul already?”
“There are many Awakened. But there is no one except you who can find and kill this particular creature.”
“What do you mean?”
“Its name is Moby Dick.”
“Moby Dick?”
“A giant whale that lives beneath the sand.”
“There is such a demonic beast?”
“It was recently discovered by Pathfinder Team 1.”
Neo Seoul operated Pathfinder teams in order to search for land fit for human habitation.
And Team 1 had brought back a report no one could believe.
“They say it is a colossal demonic beast, one hundred and twenty meters long, with a torso circumference of over thirty meters.”
“That’s hard to believe. A demonic beast that huge…”
“I felt the same. It was difficult for me to believe as well. But when they sent me a piece of evidence like this, I had no choice.”
Bzzzz.
At that moment, a wall to one side of the mayor’s office opened, revealing a massive white pillar.
“This is?”
“A tooth from Moby Dick.”
That object, which had looked like a white pillar, was in fact one of the land whale Moby Dick’s teeth.
An enormous amount of mana could be felt from the tooth.
“Mm.”
“Impressive, isn’t it? I too was astonished when I first received it. The purity of the mana contained in that tooth was simply too high.”
“It’s enough to make one’s mind reel.”
Zeon spoke honestly.
He had never seen a detached demonic beast part that contained mana of such purity.
When a part fell away from a demonic beast’s body, its mana usually thinned.
“If something as trivial as a tooth contains such tremendous mana, then what do you think the heart must be like?”
“What do you intend to do with Moby Dick’s heart?”
“That much I cannot tell you. But I can say with certainty that what I intend to do will benefit humanity, not harm it.”
“…”
“This creature swims through the sand like a sandworm. Because of that, ordinary Awakened can neither find it nor kill it. The only reason Pathfinder Team 1 even discovered Moby Dick was because fortune happened to favor them.”
Moby Dick was a whale that lived beneath the sand.
It possessed all the qualities of a whale.
Because it could breathe inside the sand, it had no need to rise above it.
That was why even Pathfinder Team 1 lost track of Moby Dick while pursuing it. They searched the surrounding area thoroughly for ten days, but all they found was one of its teeth.
“In this world, the only person who can find and kill Moby Dick is you, a sand mage.”
“So that’s why you called me.”
“Precisely.”
“No matter that I’m a sand mage, finding Moby Dick in this vast desert would be impossible.”
“But if it were nearby, you would be able to sense it, yes?”
“If it were within ten kilometers, I think it might be possible.”
“Then that is enough. If someday you happen to sense Moby Dick, then kill it for me. Bring me its heart, and I will be satisfied.”
Zeon closed his eyes.
He had no idea what Jin Geum-ho meant to do with Moby Dick’s heart.
But it was not a proposal that harmed Zeon directly.
If Moby Dick truly had the nature of a whale, then it would swim across distances of thousands or tens of thousands of kilometers.
Even if one spent an entire lifetime searching for it, the odds of encountering it were low.
Jin Geum-ho’s request was not that Zeon find it no matter what and kill it.
He was only saying that if Zeon happened to encounter it by chance, he should hunt it then.
Jin Geum-ho looked directly at Zeon.
“Well? Will you accept my proposal?”
His eyes were shining with an eerie sharpness.
As though he had no intention of accepting Zeon’s refusal.