Emperor of Steel

Erwin took Luke outside the village to a field.

Luke was bewildered why he was asked to move and was much more surprised to see that the crops and grass were blooming under his feet slowly.

“This is…!”

“It is only happening around you. I think that it is because of the thing that is there near your heart.”

At those words, Luke had pulled out the guardian pendant Reina had given him.

It wasn’t the huge amount that Erwin had felt in the fight. However, there was some unknown energy coming from the guardian pendant.

“Where did you get that?”

“… Someone gave this to me as I was going to do my military service.”

There was a reason why Luke wasn’t giving out the full details.

The dark elves, who had come to kidnap Reina, crossed his mind.

He wasn’t sure if they were involved with Erwin, but he had no intention of letting her know that Reina had some kind of power in her.

“Can’t you let me know who has given this to you?”

“Just a resident of the estate. An inheritance from someone in my close circle of friends.”

‘He is lying.’ Erwin thought.

Erwin noticed Luke’s off behavior at once. She wasn’t as great as her teacher, but she could read minds a little bit.

However, she fully understood Luke’s position.

It would be completely natural for Luke to be wary of someone asking him about the source of a power that he himself didn’t know.

“Can I see what is in it?” Asked Erwin.

“…”

“Please. I have no other intention. I just want to help the fairies of the village.”

At those words, Luke opened the metal box and showed Reina’s hair which was in it.

Erwin, who looked carefully at the hair, pulled out one of the strands.

Wheeeing?!

Erwin focused all the magic into the hair that was between her fingers.

When stimulated by the mana wave, mysterious energy began to arise from the hair.

It was like witnessing the world tree which had been mentioned in the myths. It was grand.

The World Tree, firmly rooted in the earth and reaching up to the heavens, which had conceived numerous kinds of lives.

Starting with an unnamed flower to small worms and bugs, there were unicorn-like beasts and spirits which were told to be legends, even the vicious dragons, and the ugly demons. And then came the fairies and humans.

“Look here, are you okay?” Asked Luke.

“Ah…!”

Erwin came back to reality at Luke’s call.

“Some weird energy came out,” said Luke.

“You must have felt it too. Perhaps it has the power of the World when everything was one. And that too isn’t just a portion of it.”

“When the world was one?” Asked Luke.

“Pangea. When the Celestial World, Spirit world, the Devildom and the Middle World (Earth) weren’t divided or disconnected,” Answered Erwin.

Luke was unable to close his mouth as he heard of it. What Erwin just told him was the old myths and stories he had been told.

‘Then the power that Reina has is from that old times?’ Luke thought.

Not knowing that Luke was in his own line of thoughts, Erwin explained a little more.

“It is very little, but I think that it can save some of the lands around this village.”

“Do you know how to do that?” Asked Luke.

Erwin nodded and pulled out the necessary materials from her subspace ring.

In a small mortar, she put in a metal, a crystal, coal from the ancient tree which had hardened like a stone, and some reagents were added to it, followed by the hair strand of Reina.

“There used to be a special treasure in the past. The people wanted it but couldn’t find it… It was called The Earth’s Tears.”

‘The Earth’s Tears, huh…’ Thought Luke.

It seemed like a word that he had heard once before.

Erenes, who had met Saymon, in the past had mentioned it.

However, Saymon wasn’t interested in it at that time, so Luke couldn’t remember what it did or what it was.

“Since I couldn’t find it, I believed that I could make it. It wasn’t successful, but there was a surprising by-product,” said Erwin.

“Are you talking about the artificial Magic Stones?” Asked Luke

“Yes, it was an unexpected result, but I thought that it could change the world. It was the greatest mistake.”

Erwin had a bitter smile when talking about it.

Before the artificial magic stone came out, each country was devoted to mining to find the stones.

The mining didn’t just change the country and its territories but the lands of the fairies too, not to mention the serious destruction of nature that happened in the process.

Which was why Erwin was determined to avoid the destruction of her world by making the artificial magic stone. She wanted to spread the technique to make them several Magic towers.

And just as she hoped, humans weren’t so hung up on mining after that.

However, the destruction of nature was much severe than before. Instead of a natural magic stone, the artificial ones needed a number of materials.

Knowing that there was something that could replace the Magic Stone which was hard to get, it resulted in a significant rise of material needed.

The world had definitely changed.

However, it wasn’t in the way Erwin had wanted.

Which was why she stayed with her teacher for a while.

It wasn’t like she performed the experiment behind her teacher’s back.

She continued to study the materials that could contain or manipulate the mana or the mana waves.

And because of that, she gained the knowledge on how to save Zenith village.

Hwarkk!

Magic flames soared in the mortar.

Erwin began to mobilize her magic.

In the beginning, it was said that God has ignited a flame to solidify the wobbly structure of the world.

However…

‘I don’t have enough magic!’ Realized Erwin.

Over the past few days, she had been using her magic and spirit to save the fairies.

And her magic hadn’t been completely restored, so she wasn’t able to cast the amount of magic that she had calculated.

‘If this goes wrong, every material will just burn down.’

The moment Erwin was discouraged, a white flame rose from the motor.

She was shocked at what she saw. She looked over at Luke instead of checking the power of the flame.

“Will this much be alright?” Asked Luke.

“… Don’t interrupt me.”

Though she shot a chilly glance, she did smile a little. It was her way of showing her gratitude.

After a little while, a green jewel had appeared in the place where the flame sank down.

“Is this it?” Asked Luke.

“Yes, this is it.”

Luke looked at it and felt like something had been made.

It was much weaker than what he felt from Reina, but the green gem had a rich energy—a fresh energy from the world.

Erwin buried it into the ground.

From the place where the gem had been buried, a green light spread all the way over to the Zenith village and the land surrounding it.

With that, the withered crops and trees had come back to life. The moist and shiny grass bloomed on the barren land.

“What, what is this?”

“The crops, the crops are still alive?!”

The villagers were rejoicing knowing that Erwin had done something to help them all out, which was why they asked her,

“How are we supposed to repay this grace?”

“I am the same as you. I need to live with you. But if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have been able to do all of this,” answered Erwin.

When Erwin pointed to Luke, the fairies hesitated and then thanked him.

Although they were disgusted with humans, the person who was standing in front of them was different. And it was only natural to thank the man who had helped them out.

Philip saw all this from the side. He didn’t know what had happened, but he knew that his Lord did something great.

After completing his work in the Zenith village, Luke returned to his wagon.

In the beginning, he was a bit worried as he had to go through the same dangerous path once again.

“Okay, let’s go our own different paths from here on. If we are destined to meet again, then I’ll see you.”

Luke tried to say his goodbyes, but Erwin blocked him from going.

“What are you doing?” Asked Luke while frowning.

With a face full of confidence Erwin responded.

“I am indebted to you in numerous ways. Let me pay you back.”

Looking at Erwin who had stopped him, Luke spoke with a troubled feeling.

“You don’t need to pay it back, so just go your own way.”

“Are you trying to make me look ungrateful?”

“I just told you that you don’t have to feel the need to pay me back! And I am on my way to my military service. You will be caught in the war if you follow me there!”

“It doesn’t matter. If you want to, I can be your shield.”

Luke had refused her offer, but Erwin had no intention of sending him alone.

Reviving the land of Zenith village…

The power transmitted from one world brought about spirit power, which was why the barren land turned fertile, and crops, which were withering, turned into crops with life.

If she followed this man, she could find the treasure, the Earth’s Tears, that would completely open the door to the Spirit World.

Erwin wasn’t the kind to take radical decisions, but she wasn’t stupid enough to cling on to her pride when the fate of the fading fairies could be reversed.

Luke too knew what her intentions were.

‘It seems like she is trying to find the secret behind the pendant by sticking close to me saying she needs to pay back for my grace.’

If she was just another ordinary wizard, Luke would probably reject her right away.

Erwin, a senior class wizard with 7 circle and had goodwill for her race to flourish.

‘To be honest, she could be of use.’

In order to fight the Baroque Empire, or the main enemy, the Veritas Magic Tower, it was necessary to have more than one kind of talent.

And a wizard with a 7 circle and a genius showing up and offering help didn’t always happen.

Luke thought for a moment and decided to accept Erwin’s request.

“Okay, but you need to obey at all times, is that okay with you?”

“If it isn’t an improper request, then I’ll do it.”

“Till the end.”

“You didn’t say unconditional obedience.”

Luke nodded his head and with Erwin in the wagon, they left for Krom city.

Erwin was feeling relieved that she hadn’t missed the clue to finding the Earth’s Tears.

But on the other hand, she had another work to do.

‘In the North, I need to meet the cut off wind…’

That was what her teacher had said.

However, instead of heading over to the north as her teacher said, she was heading over to the south.

As a result, she went against her teacher’s instructions.

Erwin never even imagined that.

The fact that the one who was going to bring a storm into the continent, as her master had said, was right in front of her eyes.