NOVEL NEXT Chapter 220
There is no place to live.
The system has completely collapsed, and the people of the Empire now have nowhere to call home.
I could only crawl beneath the rubble of the remaining buildings to somehow spend the night.
Hero Lucius spread the wind barrier to prevent the cold night air from piercing our skin, and people felt warmth within that barrier, overcoming the chill.
But inside a house with a gaping hole in the ceiling, no one could feel at ease.
Thankfully, it was only a place with a hole in the ceiling, but many houses near the system were utterly destroyed beyond recovery.
Should we just leave the system?
Just as I was thinking that—
Boom.
Beyond where the Empire’s absolute barrier stood, the vast plain began to solidify in an instant.
“What, what is that…?”
“It suddenly looks like the ground is bubbling!”
“It’s a disaster! The Demon King’s resurrection!!”
The people screamed in panic.
No matter how you looked at it, the sight of the ground boiling like water was anything but normal.
However.
“Th-that!!”
At the center of the boiling earth was ‘him.’
With the Holy Sword of the Earth, a symbol of the Empire’s Emperor, stabbed into the ground, he was levelling the wide area around him.
“Hero Lucius!!!”
Boom.
The ground was rapidly leveled, and soon Hero Lucius grasped the Holy Sword of the Earth with both hands.
Boom.
The earth began to rise.
No, walls began to rise.
The gray walls soared high in an instant, quickly changing into the shape of solid constructions.
“Could it be…!”
Boom.
The walls started to ascend to an indescribable height.
Like the Tower of Babel, which was said to be built by humanity to challenge the gods in ancient times, the gray structures began to rise toward the sky.
Not just one or two, but dozens of buildings.
“Is that… could it be a prison?”
It looked like a prison on the outside.
With its rectangular structure and identical rooms lined up on either side, it seemed extremely dangerous if one were to fall from a height.
“One, two, three… 15 floors?”
About 15 floors.
Each floor formed a height similar to that of a general residence, with the building being a staggering 15 stories high.
A new type of building.
A new structure.
The moment he realized that this was going to be ‘a house for people,’ was when Hero Lucius raised his sword toward the sky.
Swoosh.
The gray walls began to be covered in white.
Some lava-like substance seemed to seep into the empty spaces of the building, and then transparent glass sparkled into place.
Safety devices were installed on the precarious-looking building’s exterior to prevent falls, and stairs for people to ascend and descend were stacked neatly from underground, forming an outer wall.
Now, it looked like a pure white castle had sprung up, reminiscent of ruins from the ancient magical civilization era soaring high.
Flap.
Hero Lucius leaped atop the 15-story building in a single bound.
Riding the golden wind, he climbed onto the giant building’s wall and swiftly swung the Golden Holy Sword.
Flap.
The golden wind sparkled, leaving marks on the outer wall.
No, rather than wounds, they were engravings.
Abelfia.101.
It was an unrecognizable word, and no one knew whose name it was, nor what the numbers meant.
No one could tell.
But everyone could see that the hero was creating something incredibly magnificent.
“…Is that a house, isn’t it?”
Someone muttered in a daze, and the words quickly spread in all directions.
“Th-there’s an inn! There’s a hotel! There’s something like that over there too!”
Boom.
Beyond the 15-story building, instead of flat cuboidal structures, several four-story buildings, closer to cubical shape, began to spread out.
Those numerous buildings, while appearing angular on the outside, had shapes suitable for habitation.
If.
If what they said was really a house for people.
Setting aside what could be placed inside, if only it could block the cold draft from outside and at least contain something like marble…
If that ‘house’ newly created by the hero could become a new home for the people of the Empire.
“Whoa, Hero Lucius… Whoa…!”
“Ah.”
Hero Lucius raised the Holy Wind Sword high.
Then the golden light extending from the Holy Wind Sword poured down like countless stars, forming into something small, even smaller than a person’s fingertip.
“A key…?”
[The sword will become a key.]
Hero Lucius transformed the Holy Sword into something like a key.
[Abelfia. 101. 1004.]
On the end of the huge key visible to everyone, there was an inscription with numbers, along with another unknown number attached.
[One house per person.]
Hero Lucius pointed downward.
[First come, first served.]
Waaaaaah—!!
The people of the Empire dashed toward the key.
*
I was curious about what he would create with the Holy Sword of the Earth, but to build apartments based on the data in the Bride Ship.
It’s frightening.
Lucius.
The data in the Bride Ship was indeed sufficient, but to learn it all in just one day and create thousands of apartments and multi-family homes…
“Witch, is this… physically possible?”
“Yeah. If we can drop meteors from the sky with magic, there’s no reason this wouldn’t be possible.”
The Saintess Yan’s lips turned pale at Lucius’s actions, which seemed to perform miracles that even gods could not achieve in an instant.
“Don’t be too surprised. That’s the true power of the Holy Sword of the Earth—how to use it correctly.”
The change of the earth.
It’s one thing, but in reality, the Holy Sword of the Earth is most closely related to ‘the construction of civilization.’
Organizing the land.
Creating new terrains.
Applying that power to create buildings.
“Although it’s all stone buildings and not wooden ones, it’s free, so everyone should readily accept it. But still…”
Waaaaaaah!!
“They say if you like free things, you’ll end up bald.”
“I think I’d look for a house even if it meant going bald.”
Rosmas pointed at the multitude of buildings spreading out in a direction different from the system while scratching her cheek.
“There’s not even a place to lie down right now, but the hero is giving us houses.”
“Right. This would be impossible even if the Emperor came. …This basically means the end of the Empire.”
No matter how much the citizens of the Empire had a somewhat shady nature.
No, the Empire is doomed because of that shady nature.
“Will scraps fall out from a hopeless Emperor, or would you prefer Lucius who uses the Holy Sword of the Earth? Look at how everyone praises Lucius.”
Using the Holy Sword of the Earth, which was supposed to be given to those seeking witches?
-That’s all because Lord Lucius is creating our homes! Our roads! Our parks! Our fences!
-The Emperor was so busy creating barriers that would be easily torn by the Demon King, but Lord Lucius has created new homes for everyone who lost their houses!
-Lord Lucius, he is the Hero of the Holy Sword!!
-There are still two Holy Swords left! Is that even a problem now that we have houses!
Everyone sang praises for Lucius.
However.
Indeed, the people of the Empire were acting like true citizens of the Empire.
Humans don’t change easily.
-Damn, I unknowingly got a first-floor house…! Damn, I want to change my house…!
-Ahhh…! This house is too small! That building over there looks much bigger than this one!
-One house each…? I only get one, but how many houses do those poor bastards have if you count the kids? Seven houses…? This isn’t fair!!
-Just one house…? Well, can’t I get another, no, three of them…? Heh… He’s a hero after all….
“Throwing a fit just because it’s not perfect. Greedy human beings.”
“…They’re not going to say anything to Lucius, right? Witch?”
“They won’t say anything to his face. But they’ll be grumbling behind his back.”
How could they be so greedy after just getting one house, especially if it was built in the new style of Belselphia?
“I wonder if they know that the murmurs they’re making are all being heard by Lucius.”
Lucius hears it all.
Under the myriad praise and gratitude directed at him, he hears every complaint and grievance fueled by greed.
“But Lucius doesn’t care much. He says it doesn’t matter who lives in the buildings he made for ‘practice.'”
However, for Lucius, those houses were nothing more than practice.
“Practice? What do you mean…?”
“Practice to create buildings using the Holy Sword of the Earth.”
I approached the three women and placed my hand on their shoulders.
“For Rosmas, I’ll make a house like a shrine in the woods, harmonized with nature.”
“For Droniel, I’ll make a castle in the forest that’s taller and larger than the Empire’s royal castle.”
“For Yan, I’ll erect a shrine with a statue of the Moon Goddess that reaches 100 meters in height in the middle.”
“””I’m making a honeymoon house tailored just for you, starting with easy houses to practice on.”””
The three women swallowed hard at the mention of a honeymoon house.
Lucius smiled as he gazed at the houses he created.
What kind of house does he ultimately wish for?
Given that he uses the Holy Sword of the Earth, it must be a stone building, not a wooden one.
“……Sigh.”
Every time I looked at the many buildings towering toward the sky, I felt inexplicably cold down my spine.
That’s because.
While they looked like apartments from Belselphia,
There was something unsettlingly closed off about it.
Well.
Regardless.
“Long live Hero Lucius.”
Lucius created buildings for the people of the Empire to live in with a stroke of his hand.