Overgeared

A top grade fire dragon—the suicide of Ifrit, whom the Tower of Wisdom rated as next in the hierarchy after an old dragon, caused an unstoppable storm of after-effects.

The world's crust fluctuated. Mountain ranges rose across the wilderness and dozens of islands emerged. There were all types of changes that made some of the maps that humanity had been using so far useless. People had no idea what caused the incident. It was simply accepted as a disaster and wasn't connected to the dragons.

It was because dragons were an existence that were completely separated from civilians.

***

"I don't think we can come back for a while."

The Skunk Adventure Corps became busy. They were preparing for a new adventure to recreate the maps. It might be a journey without promise, but their expressions were all bright. It was because the act of filling the maps was one of the biggest and most reliable reward systems for adventurers. This was a new opportunity for all adventurer players, including Skunk.

"There is news that commanders from each region have been dispatched."

The army also became busy.

The tectonic fluctuations also disturbed the ecosystem. Each area—the hunting grounds were mixed up. There were problems such as level 300 monsters inhabiting the hunting grounds favored by level 100 players. The army needed to control the situation until a new environment was established.

Lauel saw it as a golden opportunity. He had justification to move the army and planned to first identify the profitable areas and preempt them.

"Sir Piaro has asked for permission to send transport teams and farmers."

The changed world needed the help of farmers. It was a situation where agricultural fields were ruined by the changes in terrain and environment. There were some areas where the warehouses that stockpiled food were destroyed. All areas of the continent were worried about food shortages, but the Overgeared Empire had plenty of room to help them.

The Overgeared Empire with Piaro was an agricultural powerhouse. Over the past decade, the farmers that Piaro had personally trained had become teachers of other farmers. Hundreds of thousands of farmers led wagons full of food on an agricultural expedition.

This year, they had ambitions to achieve a good harvest all over the continent. Most of them were talented in cultivating the land even in rock-covered valleys, so they were qualified to be confident.

'Good. Using the pretext of this support, we can exert a stronger influence over our allies and lords.'

"Lauel. Katz, who left to ask Marie Rose for support, says he has found a clue to his class quest."

"……!"

The still smiling Lauel was pleased. The areas most affected by the disaster were the vampire cities. They were located underground and were the most heavily affected by the tectonic fluctuations. Most than half of the cities were completely buried. Fortunately, the vampires were very strong.

The number of casualties was small, but the problem occurred afterwards. Sunlight poured through the cracks in the collapsed ceiling and a considerable number of vampires were vulnerable to the sun. They were left breathless and fell into a state of waiting for the night.

Rebuilding the cities was urgent, but the situation wasn't optimistic. There was a shortage of labor. The continent was full of destroyed buildings. Many architects gave priority to restoring the fish for food facilities and defense facilities.

At this time, Noll and Katz acted. The two of them paid attention to the only intact city, Marie Rose's city. Noll was her brother, and Katz visited Marie Rose to ask for help in the name of Beriache's Knight. It was to ask her to temporarily take in the vampires who couldn't sleep and suffered every day.

Then Katz was lucky. Beriache's paintings that decorated Marie Rose's castle—they became a mechanism for conveying all types of information to Katz. The ancient class, Beriache's Knight, responded and had a radical development. This caused Marie Rose to show great interest.

"You are a necessary child."

Marie Rose was a rare absolute in the human world. If one had to choose a being comparable to her among humans, it was necessary to mention Hayate, but most people didn't know Hayate. They recognized Marie Rose as the strongest. Katz gained the attention and favor of such a being. For Katz, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and could be considered as good luck that he established a relationship with Grid.

"Katz… this is unexpected good news."

The series of events caused Lauel to recall Garion, the earth god. He had to suspect that this disaster was actually Garion's blessing There was a basis for this suspicion. Garion, who restored the world every time Kraugel cut it, was now standing idly by and doing nothing. The crust of the entire continent had changed and not intervening at all was completely in contrast with his usual attitude.

It was natural to interpret it as this disaster being caused by Garion's will.

'Is Garion determined to stand on the side of humanity, to be exact, Grid?' Lauel's expression full of expectations was bright. He didn't care at all about the documents recording the status of human casualties that were piled up like a tower. It was because the value of the change caused by this disaster was greater than the value of those who died in the disaster.

***

"Mother!"

"Thank you! Thank you very much!"

Jishuka and the Overgeared members were focused on saving lives. They searched through the rubble of buildings to save even one more life. Jishuka's transcendent vision of seeing the space from above played a big role.

"This is fine thanks to Jishuka, but it won't be easy in other areas," Toban spoke bitterly as he looked at the reunion between the barely rescued mother and her daughter.

The expressions of his other colleagues were also uncomfortable.

Jishuka comforted them, "The kids are learning special skills these days. The situation elsewhere won't be bad either."

Damian and the Overgeared God Church, Faker and the Overgeared Shadows, Ruby and the Sanctity Church, and other Overgeared members were dedicated to relief efforts. Jishuka believed in their skills and hard work.

"Everyone will be doing their best."

"However, there aren't enough workers," Toban refuted it as he walked. He had a troubled expression, like he didn't want to do this.

"Lauel, why did he send troops to the hunting grounds first?"

Toban was unhappy with Lauel's attitude, who seemed to have little interest in civilians. The reason he couldn't swear openly was because Lauel was a colleague, not because he was the prime minister of the great empire. There was an unwritten rule that when scolding colleagues, they should do it openly in front of the parties involved, like Pon and Vantner, and not behind their backs. It was to prevent the seeds of discord.

Jishuka defended Lauel, "The hunting grounds are mixed up. He needs to quickly figure out which areas high value bosses will appear in and drop high demand items."

The existing information had become worthless. Lauel wasn't turning a blind eye to the victims. He was just doing his best for the empire.

In fact, Jishuka's heart also wasn't comfortable as she explained to her colleagues. She knew how cold Lauel's personality was. Wasn't there a record of him killing tens of thousands of soldiers? Honestly, she sometimes felt that he was a bit too much, but she couldn't criticize Lauel recklessly.

Her role was a mediator. She had the greatest reputation in the Overgeared Guild after Grid and had an obligation to keep the center. If she started to evaluate Lauel using private emotions, then factions were likely to form.

'It is true that Lauel is working for the Overgeared Guild.'

Lauel's judgment and choices were mostly right. The problem was that he sacrificed people along the way… they were sacrifices for the best results. If she antagonized him every time despite knowing this clearly, the organization itself would have problems.

'I have to work hard in order to save the people who were sacrificed.'

Fatigue flashed across Jishuka's face as she vowed once again, but it was only for a moment. She shook off her fatigue by recalling Grid's face.

'I want to see him.'

After his political marriage to Basara, Grid's nature became very magnanimous. In reality, he honestly expressed his feelings to Jishuka. They already enjoyed dating twice this week. The funny thing was that once Grid became active, Jishuka started to feel ashamed.

"……?"

Her colleagues stared at her strangely as she started blushing and fiddling with her fingers.

***

The dimension warp gate connecting the surface and hell. The construction with the name of 'hell elevator' encountered great difficulties. The massive earthquake a few days ago caused the elevator that was under construction to collapse. It was an astronomical loss because it was the largest construction in history with the largest amount of national manpower and capital.

Prime Minister Lauel said it didn't matter and comforted Ke by saying they could start over… Ke's heart was very uncomfortable. It wasn't because Administrator Rabbit suddenly visited. It was due to the pressure to start the hard and complicated tasks all over again. The construction of the hell elevator was a difficult task to handle using Ke's knowledge and skills. His fatigue was too high.

"Huhuhut."

As Ke sighed, Filewolf was laughing. He was happy to be able to start the job from scratch again. He was ecstatic with the strong capital of the Overgeared Kingdom, which had become an empire. He liked the attitude of the higher ups who supported them and told them not to care about failure.

'This nation is heaven for scientists.'

It reminded him of the prime of his homeland that was destroyed. However, what he liked more was his new body. A metal body that was usually cold, but quickly heated up. Didn't it closely resemble his soul, which combined intelligence and passion? It was indeed a perfect sense of unity. Additionally, no matter how much he worked, he was able to do delicate work without being exhausted. It was incompatible with the weak bodies of the giants or humans.

"A magic machine is a god. Therefore, I am a god as well. Gasp… Gasp…"

'This guy is sick again.'

Ke stared blankly at Filewolf, who was speaking nonsense with rough gasps again. The resurrected (?) giant—the respect Ke had for the great scientist who designed the hell elevator was truly gone. Even Ke didn't understand Filewolf's behavior despite being eccentric among the dwarves.

"……"

On the spire of the Overgeared Palace…

The Fronzaltz and Radwolf brothers, who followed Grid in a stealthy state, were at a loss for words.

Grid coughed as he saw their trembling gazes fixed on Filewolf. "It is hard to believe, but that is FIlewolf."

"…There is no way not to believe it. I recognized him with one glance."

"……?"

"He devoted his last years to becoming one with the magic machines… it was a near madness-like obsession. I didn't expect him to achieve his dream after a thousand years. No, what type of madman trapped a person's soul in a magic machine?"

"Cough, Brother."

"Ah…? Oh, forget my last sentence."

"……"

After a while—

In an awkward atmosphere, the reunion between Filewolf and the brothers was completed. They unexpectedly met another survivor (?)…

Unlike the emotional brothers, Filewolf only showed interest in the God's Circle.

"It is possible."

He was indeed the greatest scientist in the history of the giants. Filewolf confirmed that the God's Circle could be repaired. The power of the Tower of Wisdom was rapidly strengthened. The result was thanks to Grid.