Chapter 618

Zeon sat on the sofa in his house and looked toward City Hall.

The sight of City Hall rising above the wall was still as imposing as ever.

“As expected of Seo Taeran.”

Zeon muttered with an expression of genuine admiration.

In just a single day, she had identified Illusion, which had deeply rooted itself inside Neo Seoul, and completely wiped it out.

He couldn’t help but admire the way she handled it, leaving not even a single root behind.

Thanks to that, Zeon didn’t even get a chance to step in.

“Hoo!”

Zeon let out a deep breath and sprawled across the sofa.

Today, he just wanted to rest without thinking about anything.

Zeon relaxed while drinking the tea placed on the table.

It was tea the High Elves had prepared for him.

Whenever he drank this tea, his mind became clear, and all worries and concerns disappeared, which made it wonderful.

“Nice!”

He found himself wishing every day could be like today. But Zeon knew better than anyone how difficult that dream was to achieve.

Rather than expecting tomorrow to be the same as today, he had to fully enjoy today’s leisure.

After finishing his tea, Zeon’s gaze suddenly landed on the messy interior of the house.

He realized that ever since Brielle returned, he hadn’t cleaned even once.

Ordinary dust disappeared quickly thanks to the various items inside the house, but organizing the clothes scattered everywhere was still a human’s responsibility.

Zeon got up from the sofa and began cleaning.

He gathered the clothes strewn across the floor and stuffed them into a large container.

After filling it with water, Zeon stepped into the container and stomped on them with his feet.

A smile appeared on Zeon’s lips.

He didn’t dislike doing laundry this way.

He changed the dirty water several times while rinsing the clothes.

After hanging the laundry by the window, he picked up a broom.

He carefully swept the house and even mopped the floors.

By the time he finished all the cleaning, the sun was already setting.

Zeon brewed himself another cup of tea from the High Elves.

“Nice!”

His heart felt incredibly at ease.

As Zeon sprawled on the sofa resting once more, the door suddenly burst open.

“Zeon!”

The one calling out to him energetically was Brielle.

“You’re going to break the door.”

“So you were home. Were you resting?”

“Yeah! I cleaned too while I was at it.”

“You really did. The house is clean now.”

“I put effort into it.”

“Good job. I was thinking it needed cleaning anyway, so I’m glad you did it first.”

Brielle beamed brightly.

Above Brielle’s head, a translucent spirit appeared.

—Good job, Zeon.

The spirit praising Zeon was none other than Lili.

“Did you enjoy sightseeing?”

—Yeah! Brielle showed me lots of places.

“How was it?”

—Humans are really amazing. To create such an incredible city.

“Really?”

—But it can’t compare to the World Tree Village. I like the World Tree much more than buildings made by humans.

“Then you must miss World Tree Village.”

—I do, but Brielle is here, so I like it here too. Hehe!

Lili tightly hugged Brielle’s head.

Brielle smiled as she gently patted Lili.

“I’m happy because Lili is here too.”

—Hehe!

At that moment, the door opened once more, and Levin entered.

“So everyone was home? I didn’t even know and went all the way to the Underground City.”

“Dummy Levin!”

—Heehee! Dummy Levin.

Despite Brielle and Lili teasing him, Levin responded unfazed.

“Well, I was checking on the kids’ condition while I was there, so I’m not a dummy.”

“How are the kids?”

“Thanks to Lemura, they’re all fine.”

“Any aftereffects?”

“None. Lemura completely cured them without leaving even a trace of withdrawal symptoms.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Yes! I can’t tell you how fortunate it is that she’s on our side. So I’m thinking of giving her a gift later.”

“Good.”

Zeon nodded.

If not for Lemura, there was no telling how severe the aftereffects the three of them would have suffered.

The stronger the hallucinogenic effects of a drug, the worse the addiction symptoms usually were.

Recovering like this without any aftereffects was extremely unusual.

In a way, it was close to a miracle.

“Oh, right. Try this.”

Levin suddenly pulled out fruit from his subspace.

It was a bright red apple.

“An apple?”

“Yes! Serian said it was harvested from the Primal Forest and gave some to us.”

“They’re already harvesting from the Primal Forest?”

“That’s what I heard.”

“It feels like I just gave them the apple tree seeds, and they’re already bearing fruit?”

“They were surprised too. Even without the World Tree, it’s growing way too fast.”

At that moment, Lili interrupted Zeon and Levin’s conversation.

—That’s because of Yuri.

“Yuri? Harp’s spirit?”

—Yeah! Yuri is a water spirit.

“So the water Yuri spreads has special power?”

—As expected, Zeon is smart.

Lili smiled brightly, looking genuinely delighted.

Brielle nodded along and said,

“I thought so.”

“You knew?”

“Yeah! Sister Harp is special, so I figured the spirit contracted with her would naturally be special too.”

“Haha!”

Levin laughed awkwardly as if dumbfounded, but he couldn’t find anything to refute.

Zeon cut the apple with a fruit knife as he spoke.

“We can chat later. First, let’s eat the apple.”

“Okay!”

“Yes!”

Zeon cut the apple into pieces easy for the three of them to eat.

Crunch!

Brielle’s eyes widened the moment she bit into it.

“It’s delicious!”

“Wow! This is insanely sweet.”

“It really is good.”

All three exclaimed in admiration at once.

Even though all three prided themselves on having eaten more delicious food than most others, this apple was on another level.

They had only taken one bite, yet it felt as though their mouths were filled entirely with honey.

“If this apple hits the market, it’ll cause chaos.”

“Seriously.”

Zeon agreed with Levin.

Even after swallowing the flesh, the apple’s rich taste and fragrance still lingered strongly in his mouth.

If this apple were sold publicly, it would undoubtedly fetch an unbelievably high price.

“In the end, people without money might go their whole lives without ever tasting one.”

“Dummy! Then just grow a lot of them.”

“Would that really be possible?”

Levin looked skeptical at Brielle’s words.

Thwack!

Brielle kicked Levin in the shin.

“Ow! Why’d you do that?”

“To make you come to your senses.”

“What senses?”

“How long do you think the Primal Forest will stay this size? The forest is still expanding, and countless forms of life are being born inside it. As the forest grows, the amount of crops and fruit harvested will increase too. It’ll still be expensive, but it won’t be something people can never eat in their lifetime.”

“Really?”

“Of course. As the World Tree grows, its influence will expand too. Right now only World Tree Village and the Primal Forest are green, but more greenery will definitely spread. Then not just elves, but ordinary humans will be able to farm too.”

“Just hearing that makes me feel good.”

“You really are simple.”

Brielle clicked her tongue as she watched Levin grin foolishly.

But Levin paid no mind and kept smiling happily.

Suddenly, Brielle looked at Zeon.

“Oh, right, Zeon!”

“What?”

“Is it okay for us to just sit around like this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Sh… shouldn’t we also be preparing for war?”

Brielle’s eyes trembled slightly as she mentioned war.

It was a word that frightened her that much.

“You mean war with El Harun?”

“Yeah!”

“Their primary target will probably be Steel Fortress.”

“Not Neo Seoul?”

“The gap in military power is too large for them to directly clash with Neo Seoul.”

Even if El Harun’s remnants numbered in the hundreds of thousands, Neo Seoul’s population exceeded twenty million.

No matter how powerful El Harun’s awakened were, they couldn’t handle forces dozens of times larger than themselves.

And it wasn’t as if Neo Seoul’s awakened were weaker than them.

Neo Seoul’s awakened had fought countless battles.

They conquered dungeons to expand humanity’s territory and regularly hunted magical beasts to sharpen their abilities.

Neo Seoul was a ruthless land where failure to advance meant elimination.

The moment war broke out with El Harun, every awakened in Neo Seoul would mobilize.

El Harun’s survivors had no chance of victory.

Brielle looked puzzled.

“Wouldn’t the same apply to Steel Fortress? They can send forces endlessly through the portal.”

“But they don’t know there’s a portal here.”

“Ah!”

“Even if they did know, they wouldn’t think large numbers could be transported all at once. And in reality, they’d be right…”

“True!”

Brielle nodded.

Though portals shortened time and space for travel, there was a limit to how many people they could transport at once.

A few dozen at a time was the maximum.

Trying to send more would overload it.

Also, once used, it required a short cooldown period.

Normally, this wasn’t a problem, but in urgent wartime conditions, it could become a major issue.

“Levin!”

“Yes! Hyung.”

“If war breaks out, guard the portal.”

“You’re worried the enemy might infiltrate?”

“No, I’m worried they might destroy the portal.”

“So they could destroy it completely and cut off all support. Understood. I’ll station the kids around the portal and make sure it’s thoroughly guarded. I’ll stay nearby too.”

“Good. I’m counting on you.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect the portal.”

Levin pounded his chest confidently.

For once, Brielle didn’t mock him.

Because she knew he truly had that capability.

‘S-rank…’

When she first heard those words about Levin, she was so shocked she nearly fainted.

It was absolutely impossible for an ordinary awakened to become S-rank.

Even if someone awakened special abilities, reaching S-rank was a challenge on an entirely different level.

Most of Neo Seoul’s current S-rank awakened had grown under overwhelming support from City Hall or their respective districts.

Someone like Levin becoming S-rank entirely on his own without the backing of a major power was unprecedented.

‘Ah, no. That’s not true. There’s Zeon.’

Zeon, who had become S-rank before Levin, was right in front of her.

Levin had at least received Zeon’s help, but Zeon had reached his current level without even that minimal support.

Though he had undergone Daio’s harsh early training, that period was extremely short.

Everything beyond that was purely the result of Zeon’s own efforts.

Even Brielle didn’t know the true extent of Zeon’s abilities.

But one thing was certain: this entire desert was Zeon’s weapon.

In other words, the planet Earth itself was Zeon’s weapon.

She couldn’t imagine there being any existence capable of defeating him.

“Zeon!”

“What?”

“I just wanted to call your name.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Hehe!”

Brielle smiled.

Just hearing Zeon’s voice made her feel secure.

“Zeon!”

“What now?”

“If you need anything, tell me anytime. I’ll make whatever you need.”

“Okay.”

“Zeon!”

“Yeah?”

“If war breaks out, I’ll do my absolute best to help too.”

“Good.”