There Is No World For ■■ - Chapter 814



Only Krnovel

EP.814 People of the Forest. (5)

***

The steel gate, which was over 30 feet tall by American standards and over 9 meters tall by world standards, was not just a simple lump of steel.

It was a symbol. A symbol that no elf, including Demerond, had ever challenged, and one that no one had ever dared to look down on since the announcement of Malta.

It was filled with materials plundered from Asha, including the trunk of the World Tree and Mana Metal, and an anti-magic circle was even prepared on the outside to block magic and martial arts.

The assurances from experts that it would never collapse, and the closing of the Johnson & Johnson combat unit facing the red star, were all rational choices.

But the Red Star was far from rational. He approached the barrier without a care.

Finally, he arrived at the door, placed his hand on the firmly closed door, and gathered mana.

As if he didn’t care about the onlookers’ mutterings that he had already climbed over the barrier next to him and that he would never be able to get through the door, or the Internationale Street resonating through the road – he did so quietly.

And then the next moment, the door exploded.

The onlookers did not see the sparks rising from the Red Star’s hand. They did not know the Knight Commander’s intention to punish the Earth.

All they saw was an explosion starting from under the iron gate, followed by a flash of light, smoke, and a shock wave exploding out from it.

!!!!!!!!!!

Soaring explosions, warping steel, and tilting doors.

Everyone who saw the sight was as shocked as the East German leaders who watched the Berlin Wall fall.

And then- BOOM!!!!

The exploded door crashed to the floor. Not everyone, but some, saw it and thought of the end of an era. The end of an era that had been marked by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dominance of the United States.

No one knew what era it was, but at least no one denied that there would be a red star at the center of that era.

Even the hundreds of mercenaries who had gathered just beyond the door were not even aiming their guns, but were just blankly staring at the red star.

Of course, the Red Star, the person in question, gestured towards the trucks behind him as if nothing had happened.

“All move forward.”

Immediately afterwards, the trucks carrying the Red Star Children blasted their engine sounds all at once. The long line of trucks behind the container truck began to advance confidently, like a military unit.

Fragments of the broken door blocked the road, but even those disappeared as soon as Red Star waved his hand.

A technique that could erase a door as big as that without a trace? Magic? Martial arts? They couldn’t tell. The only thing the mercenaries gathered beyond the barrier knew was that they couldn’t stop the Red Star.

-What do we do now?

-What about the battery for Demerond? What are the batteries doing?!

-That’s a weapon aimed at the forest! It wasn’t set up with enemies coming from outside!

-The red star is moving! Give orders now!

Amidst the growing roar of the mercenaries, the red star passed over the barrier.

But for some reason, he stopped walking right away. Did he sense something? Red Star scanned the forest beyond the barrier. With an unpleasant expression like that of a trainee entering a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear facility.

The mercenaries took that expression as a signal to start fighting. The brave mercenary in the lead raised his gun, and the slightly less brave mercenary magician prepared his spell.

“Power off!”

Someone shouted from behind the mercenaries.

-heartbreak?

“Everyone, get off the road. No one is allowed to pull the trigger until I give the signal. Understood?”

The man called the captain said so and then walked straight towards the red star.

“It’s been a while, Red Star.”

“…?”

Red Star, who had not expected to be greeted, furrowed his brows, then furrowed his eyebrows as if remembering something.

“Long time no see, Ricardo.”

“…I didn’t know you even remembered my name.”

“Because it’s an impressive name.”

The leader of the mercenary group called Ricardo smiled awkwardly. As the saying goes, he and Red Star were old friends. And it was a favor to them.

When the ‘Dreamers’ attacked the Chicago portal, Red Star saved him from death while fighting the poisonous flower.

I never thought Red Star would remember that…

‘… Okay, I managed to get the conversation started.’

Ricardo asked in the most polite voice possible.

“Welcome to the Elf Forest. What brings you here?”

“I have come at the invitation of Demerond Ip Marx, the leader of the World Tree Revolutionary Group.”

Demerond is currently out of the forest, but- Ricardo swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue. The truth of the invitation didn’t matter. His mercenary group was on guard duty, not investigation.

“If you had an invitation… you wouldn’t have had to break down the door.”

“10 minutes.”

“…?”

“I made it clear that if they didn’t open the door within 10 minutes, I would force my way through.”

“… I don’t know the story. If I had heard it in advance, I would have gladly opened the door, but I think there was some misunderstanding at the higher-ups.”

It’s not my fault. Ricardo said as he looked behind the red star, saying words that conveyed that meaning.

“But I have to ask. Hey, were all those guys invited too?”

Ricardo’s voice was directed at the Red Star Children driving the truck. Red Star answered lightly.

“No, the invitation was only sent to me.”

“Then I’m sorry, but I can’t let those guys pass.”

“… .”

Dawn stared down at the face of the mercenary captain, who was trying hard to suppress his fear.

“Just because you saved my life once, I have no obligation to save you a second time. Do you want to see this place destroyed?”

That was the reason I brought the Red Star Children. To destroy the main gate of the barrier and use the mercenaries to turn the main gate garrison into a wasteland.

Whether he knew it or not, Ricardo sighed heavily as he answered, “Hoo-.”

“… To be honest, I think it’s right to defend the remaining garrison.”

“Then get out of the way.”

“But that… It’s easy to fight and die, but it’s hard to just walk away. After all, I’m a mercenary, so I have to pay for what I’ve been paid.”

Dawn didn’t say that he should have fired the first shot, because he had read the hidden meaning in Ricardo’s words.

‘Give me an excuse to get out of the way.’

Dawn paused for a moment. Ricardo and all, it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to destroy the entire main gate garrison as originally planned… but did it really have to be that way?

The show of force was enough to break down the door. And in some ways, it might have been better not to see any blood.

The battle scenes between mercenaries can be censored by the broadcasting station, but the scene where they break down a door will not be censored.

Strictly speaking, it was just an excuse, but Yeomyeong didn’t feel the need to kill people. There were plenty of people he had killed so far and plenty of people he would kill in the future.

So, he decided to give Ricardo an excuse.

“There is only one invitation, but the invitation is valid for all of us.”

“What the…?”

“The party’s property is the property of all the people. So….”

“… .”

“… The invitation that came to me can also be seen as an invitation to all party members.”

It’s not some old-fashioned communist humor, what the… Ricardo raised his finger as if to refute something, then clenched his fist.

“… If the Secretary General of the Communist Party says so, then so be it.”

“That’s a wise answer.”

“Thank you for the compliment. Oh… and if you go west along this road, you’ll come across an elven sanctuary. Have a nice trip..”

If it had been dawn, I would have at least said thank you, but what was here now was Red Star. He asked a little more redly.

“If you want, I can break an arm for you.”

“I think my subordinates might be mistaken. A simple pat on the shoulder would be enough.”

Yeomyeong patted his shoulder without asking why. On the outside, it seemed like things had gone well, and the mercenaries behind him breathed a sigh of relief.

Anyway, the Red Star Children passed through the main gate and crossed the garrison carrying the Red Star without any obstruction.

The mercenaries, watching the passing trucks, waited for Ricardo’s orders, but Ricardo himself did not move an inch until numerous trucks had left the garrison.

And by the time even the dullest mercenary realizes something is amiss.

-Whew!

Ricardo got down on one knee and began vomiting a mixture of blood and stomach acid.

It was evidence of a mana backflow, and those who had any knowledge of martial arts thought that Red Star had attacked Ricardo while pretending to tap him on the shoulder.

In particular, the public who were filming from beyond the collapsed main gate sighed at the sight.

This was the reaction Ricardo was hoping for.

***

Outside the main gate, a road lined with trees as tall as buildings.

The place called the Western Forest was a place that seemed to be five times larger than the forests on Earth. If it weren’t for the roads made by forcibly cutting down the trees, I would have thought it was a paradise made of trees.

In any case, the sight of the forest was enough to steal the attention of the group, including the Red Star Children. The only ones who were not impressed by this sight were Dilla, who was preoccupied with his sandwich, and Miri, who was born and raised in this forest.

“The mercenary you spoke to earlier, was he someone you knew?”

Thump! Miri said as she jumped into the back of the truck that Yeomyeong was riding in.

“Yeah. He’s the leader of the mercenary group I saved in Chicago a while ago.”

“Are you a mercenary called by Dungan Heavy Industries? How did someone like that end up here?”

The mercenaries stationed here would be worth a lot of money – Miri muttered as Yeomyeong added.

“Well, I think… it’s thanks to the poison and my hand that it survived.”

“Aha, so you were a liar?”

A powerful man who fought with poison and a horn and escaped from the hands of the Red Star! He must have told such lies.

Dawn did not deny it.

“It is a mercenary virtue to inflate one’s record.”

“Are you good at acting?”

“That gentleman’s ability.”

These swindlers. Miri burst into laughter and sat right next to Yeomyeong.

“So what are we going to do with those robbers? If everything had gone according to plan, they should have raided the main gate garrison.”

Miri asked the children of the so-called Red Star, who were absorbed in exploring the forest. Yeomyeong answered, placing a hand on Miri’s shoulder.

“I don’t plan on taking you all the way. If we come across a village or garrison on the way, I’ll tell you everything.”

Was that an unexpected answer? Miri’s eyebrows furrowed.

“…Money? Are you going to give me money too?”

“Yeah, I plan on giving you more than I promised.”

“Uh… So, you’re going to leave those bad guys who were robbing us in the middle of the forest? And even give them money?”

Yeomyeong nodded. Instead of asking if that made sense, Miri put her hand on Yeomyeong’s chest and asked.

“Chief Secretary, if we leave these rascals who are neither superhuman nor anything else alone… what will happen? And more importantly, won’t those who want to find out about the Red Star capture them and extract information from them?”

“That’s what I’m telling you to do.”

“… .”

“The more they cause trouble, the more some of the surveillance directed at us will be directed at them, and if other guys like the CIA or big pharmaceutical companies catch those robbers and torture them… Will I come out or will France come out?”

Immediately afterwards, Miri looked slightly moved.

“Let the robbers get purged, and then fuck the pursuers? Wow… You’ve really become a real secretary.”

“… .”

Is that the touching point? Yeomyeong pushed Miri’s hand away and changed the subject.

“In advance, was the Elf Forest originally like this?”

“Why? Were you surprised by the beautiful scenery?”

Immediately afterwards, gunshots were heard from the forest on the other side of the road. Doo doo doo doo! It was the sound of at least two people firing machine guns.

Mi-ran made an excuse with a slightly awkward smile.

“… It looks like the pharmaceutical company’s combat team and the herbalist are fighting each other. They don’t usually do that.”

“… .”

“Oh! That’s right. Is it because it’s different from the documentary?”

I turned my attention to a topic that Yeomyeong usually liked, but she shook her head.

“Documentaries are irrelevant. The Elf Forest is a classified area like the Magic Tower, so there are hardly any documentaries related to it.”

“… Really? So documentaries aren’t omnipotent either?”

This time, it worked. The slightly angry Yeomyeong tried to preach the benefits of documentaries right away. The perceptive Miri quickly moved on to the next question.

“Or did you feel something in the forest? You stopped just as you crossed the barrier earlier.”

This time it was the right answer. Yeomyeong said with her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“That’s right. I felt something strange after I crossed the barrier… Didn’t you feel anything beforehand?”

“Something strange?”

Miri glanced around once more with a puzzled look. The western forest was exactly as she had known it.

A place where the roads forcibly laid by humans remain like scars between forests where trees grow taller than any on Earth.

The Death Forest, Southern Swamp, World Tree Graveyard, and Elf Sanctuary had a different atmosphere from here… but it didn’t seem like that was what Dawn was talking about.

Just like that, I blinked my eyes for a moment. Yeomyeong said, pointing to the sky with her finger.

“I don’t know how to express this… It’s shallow.”

“The dimension is thin?”

“Um… Unfold the subspace.”

Only after she opened the subspace containing the wand and staff was she able to understand the meaning of Dawn’s words.

Something is strange.

I couldn’t explain it exactly, but it felt like the subspace was opening up much more easily than usual.

“what’s this?”

At that moment, Miri’s eyebrows furrowed as she failed to understand the situation. Neti’s voice was heard from the direction of the container truck that was at the front.

– Found the sign! It says there’s a village just 2km from here. Should we just pass by?

Village? Before answering, Yeomyeong looked at Miri. Miri had an obviously unpleasant expression on her face.

“If there’s a village in a place like this… it’s probably a village of forest people.”

“… Weren’t all forest people banished from the forest?”

“Under international law, the area around the wall is a neutral zone.”

“Perimeter? How big is the surrounding area?”

Yeomyeong asked, remembering that the truck had come quite a distance. Miri shrugged.

“About 50km?”

“… .”

“That’s the outskirts of the outskirts. The forest must be very large.”

Is that the extent of the outskirts? Isn’t the distance between Incheon and Gaeseong exactly that extent? It was a feeling that was difficult for Yeomyeong, who grew up on the Korean Peninsula, to understand.

Well, whatever. Dawn shouted at Netty.

“Third comrade, stop! I’m going to stop by the village like this!”

The first village we met in the Elf Forest… Dawn held Miri’s hand tightly and got up from the truck bed.