Chapter 148.2: Need for Chance (2)

148 Part 2

“Leader!”

Douglas approached Ian as he was passing by them and gave him a bottle of medicine.

“Try this out. It’s a restorative drink I developed, and I named it Buzz Drink. I drank it yesterday, and the effects were instantaneous in waking me up and making me feel energized!”

Ian held Douglas’s restorative drink in his hand, which was a brown liquid in a bottle. The color was unappetizing.

“Douglas! I forbade you from testing new medicines on yourself! Why don’t you listen to me?”

“I should test them first, so the people who will drink them are reassured! Father, you don’t have the basic mindset of an alchemist!”

“What! You’re too cocky because the country’s praising you as a genius nowadays!”

“You know, it’s good to have a genius as your son! You’re nagging about nothing!”

“You’re going too far!”

Ledio chased after Douglas as his son ran as fast as he could. Ian thought they looked more like friends than father and son. It was a strange sight, something Ian could not imagine even in his dreams.

‘The man I have as a father…’

Ian did not want to think about him. Ian’s smile was bitter as he drank Douglas’s special restorative drink. While the taste was nasty, Ian found himself invigorated. The effects suited the name.

“Wow…!”

Ian drank up Douglas’s drink with the happiness felt from liquor or a standard refreshment. He moved on with a refreshed mind, and his head was clearing just by walking around his house.

‘This is nice.’

Ian walked with light footsteps and wondered who else he would meet. The encounter came soon, just not with an individual. Ian met a number of them, or perhaps ‘a herd of them’ would be a more accurate term.

Ian heard many thudding noises. Their footsteps were heavy and concise, and definitely not human. The individuals making those noises had to be at least ten times heavier than a human to be that loud.

“Are they golems?”

Golems or ‘massive statues made of a human shape’ moving in a row had been making those sounds. They were even carrying heavy and various materials with them.

“Hey! Descendant! Over here!”

The golem who was walking in the front row was not carrying any luggage, but a boy on its shoulder. He was Cleven, the sculptor whose memories and mentality were still unstable.

“What’s all this for?”

Ian knew what these golems were. They were Cleven’s carrier statues, the ‘Surging’ unit that had shown a fantastic performance in restoring the city and extending the villa. The golem Cleven was riding was No. 1 of the unit.

“They are for Siram’s bombarding aircraft! We have been evolving it for the last few days!”

“Evolve!”

“Hmm, did he say reinforcing instead of evolving!”

“Reinforcing would be the right word.”

“Yes! Reinforcing!”

It seemed that maintenance and reinforcement work on the ‘Dragon’s Heart,’ the massive aircraft built by Siram, which had rescued Ian and his comrades from the center of the gargoyle.

“Would you like to watch?”

“I’ll follow you slowly.”

“You have to follow me closely!”

Ian followed the row of golems and arrived at the widest clearing in the villa. However, the space was not large enough to do maintenance and reinforcement work on the aircraft.

“So, now we should do…”

Cleven opened a book and activated its artifact effect. It was the Book of Portals, and the portal it made was much larger than those Ian had seen before. The portal was made to fit the size of the golems.

“All units! Gather in a single file!”

(Grr…?)

“Ah! You guys are already in a row!”

Clodan tapped his head and changed his command.

“All units! Enter!”

(Grrr…?)

“Go into the portal!”

(Grr!)

The golems entered the portal, and Ian followed them.

“Where is this place…?”

The underground space was astonishingly wide but not dark, thanks to the magical technology used to light it up.

‘I did not know this was underneath us.’

The technician Siram had used this ‘secret workshop’ for hundreds of years. It was wide enough to house the Dragon’s Heart and still have some extra room.

“Hey, I’m here!”

“Cleven! You’ve come at the right moment.”

Siram was standing on the deck of the aircraft with Dennis, the jeweler, and Zerbio, the carpenter. A total of four artisans, including the sculptor Cleven, had joined forces to reinforce the aircraft.

“We should change the gun barrel length to strengthen the artillery fire…”

“What are you talking about! Just set the amplifying jewel I brought along on the detonator! It’s perfect, and you don’t need to change anything.”

“Hey, this is my work. Remember that I’m the one who makes the decisions!”

They were all artisans in their own fields, and this aircraft was the culmination of various studies. Everyone wanted a hand in this.

‘The results will be staggering.’

The power of the aircraft that Ian had seen in the mountainside was magical technology beyond human history, and if all those artisans went forward to develop it further, who knew what would happen? If they succeeded in applying the technology, culture as humankind knew it would change rapidly. Ian felt faint, just thinking about it.

‘Everyone’s living their lives intensely.”

The walk around the manor gave Ian more food for thought than he had expected. Intense moments unique to human history filled it. The world was not trivial nor only peaceful, and that power drove humankind to survive hundreds, thousands, and more years.

‘My thoughts were centered too much around me.’

Ian was burdened with managing ‘great evil’ and felt duress that he had to solve everything. Ian’s mind had been filled with these two emotions recently, and perhaps because of this, he had unconsciously underestimated human history.

Ian promised to himself that he would protect these potent lives. The motivation was important, and Ian’s motivation was enough to propel him forward.

‘However, we have to share our burdens if possible. Solving problems together leads to cooperation, and I’m only an assistant.’

Ian drew a line because he had to, as he was not the fixer nor the protector of humankind. Overusing the name of the protector was following in Fran Page’s footsteps towards losing one’s mind.

‘All right.’

Ian’s wish had been to rest for a day. His weary spirit and body miraculously woke up, and this boost uplifted his thoughts.

‘Let’s go back.’

Ian had been quietly observing the artisan’s discussion, which could be called a childish fight. Ian activated a teleport spell to return to the library and make a plan.

The light swallowed Ian and transported him to the library with a whirring noise. Ian found this room most comfortable in its silence before Fran Page appeared. However, now he had a guest.

The guest was not an unwelcome guest because she was not Fran Page.

“Princess?”

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