Book 4-4.5
Age was not important in the Shire. What they focused on was how much skills and incantations abilities a person had in order to protect the Shire and the sanctuary that has been passed down through the generations. That was what determined your status in the Shire.
With the young man speaking as the representative of the group, you could tell that he had the highest status amongst the group even though he was the youngest.
“Grand Elder Shulmirutz-nim who has already returned to heaven told us something in the past. When Tuma Takaka-nim left with Orisen-nim, he mentioned that Tuma Takaka-nim acted according to your name. He said that you did not leave the Shire but left to fulfill your destiny. That was why Tuma Takaka-nim was approved as an elder of the Shire ten years ago.”
Seeing the young man speak his teacher’s name, Tuma Takaka closed his eyes and thought about his teacher. His teacher was very strict with his teachings as Tuma Takaka was being groomed to become the Grand Elder of the next generation.
“He said something like that?”
Tuma Takaka’s voice was shaking.
“Please enter. The Grand Elder knew that Pareia’s Glow would come looking for us soon. However, we did not expect Tuma Takaka-nim to come as well.”
The young man moved to the side and gestured with his hand to lead Yulian and the group.
After they followed the white stone road for a while, they saw an amazing view in front of them.
There were many towers built in the style of the continent throughout the area. There was also a castle that was not the typical 5 meter tall castle, but one that was surrounded by one meter stone walls that were creating a giant circle.
Inside of the circle were buildings made of stone instead of paoes. This was definitely a sight that Yulian and the Red Storm had never seen before. Even in the continent, the buildings made of stone were reserved for small castles for nobles or temples. It was rare to find.
Furthermore, each of these houses were all elaborately constructed and looked very luxurious.
“I feel like I am in a different world.”
The young man simply smiled as Yulian spoke out in awe.
Tuma Takaka responded instead.
“This is a place that has existed together with the history of the desert. Truthfully speaking, it looks like it has existed long before the history of the desert, however, we do not have any records beyond that.”
Yulian nodded his head as he continued to admire the buildings.
“I’m sorry but you cannot take any metal items past this point. It is because of the ancient magic that is surrounding the village and hope that the Glow understands.”
Once they reached a point where the entrance to the village was visible, the young man respectfully informed Yulian. Yulian looked toward Tuma Takaka.
“Now you should know why I said this place cannot serve as a base and could be a danger for even a strong tribe like Pareia. The Shire is a place that is protected by magic and incantations that have existed from a long time ago.”
Tuma Takaka said that to Yulian as he first took out different metallic items from his chest and put it on the ground. Yulian also put his greatsword and a sosoonta that was hidden at his chest on the ground.
Even the Red Storm who were showing signs of opposing the young man’s words put their greatswords down on the ground. They did not like it, but seeing Yulian and Tuma Takaka stepping forward and dropping their weapons, they followed suit.
“Thank you, Glow.”
“I need to follow the laws of the Shire since I have come as a guest.”
As Yulian smiled and responded to the young man’s words, the young man lightly smiled before bowing his head and motioned to his group once more.
The five members of the Shire started to move and Yulian and the Red Storm noticed their surroundings starting to spin. Yulian was thinking that it was odd when Tuma Takaka started to whisper next to him.
“That entrance is a trap. Until those white stonewalls are broken down, you can only move in and out through incantations.”
“This place is hard to figure out.”
“Even the Shire do not know all of the secrets of this place. They just know they have the mission of protecting it.”
“Just what are they protecting?”
“It is exactly as it says. The Shire land. The things that are here as well as the secrets and legends that have been passed down through generations.”
Yulian smiled at the confusing words and started to speak.
“Haha, It seems like a story out of a book.”
“Everything before the truth or reality is all just a fantasy from books.”
It seemed to be kind of a serious story, but Tuma Takaka did not give Yulian any time to think as he continued to speak.
“Glow, please do not worry about the complicated things and just focus on your goal. If you show an unwavering will regardless of what happens, everything will work out well.”
“I understand.”
Their surroundings started to become blurry right around the time the two of their conversation was coming to an end. Yulian was used to this sensation. It was the same feeling he had when he touched the magic circle in the underground dungeon in the Monster’s Desert.
The moment he closed his eyes and opened them back up, Yulian and the Red Storm were already inside the Shire. Once he blinked once more, there was a woman wearing a light purple silk outfit.
“Welcome to the Shire, Yulian-nim, Tuma Takaka-nim, and the Red Storm warriors.”
The woman, who had eyes shining brighter than the fireflies in the night sky, had purple hair that flowed down like a waterfall down to her hips. The tall woman who seemed to be at least 170cm tall, spoke in a voice that made you feel relaxed as she bowed her head at Yulian and the group.
The desert suns were shining down ruthlessly hot rays. There were many workers moving large pieces of stone underneath it. The masons were busy hammering away at the rocks to make them into the right sizes.
Some of the site managers were shouting loudly as they were getting verbal about each other’s work. The construction master that Edwin worked so hard to bring over was running around endlessly with the blueprint in his hand to talk to the site managers, stop people who were fighting, and give commands to keep the construction going.
This construction was harder than any other construction in the continent. Even with Pareia’s shamans using incantations to change the weather every day, there was a limit to how much humans could do to lower the heat in the desert.
However, they promised better wages than any other job. The person to make the contract with them was also not a noble but the Serubil Merchant Guild which had a great reputation so they didn’t need to worry about not getting paid for their work. Thanks to that, the workers were able to persevere through the heat and continue their work.
“Mm. I’m looking forward to how grand it will be when it is completed.”
Grace looked around at the construction site before speaking to Runa.
“I plan on making it quite large. If it was just the Silence we were going after, we would just need a couple fortresses and storage, but our goal is not just the Silence Empire.”
“Every so often, the Glow says something like this.”
Runa asked with curiosity.
“What does he say?”
“He wishes he could dissect the inside of your head. He wants to figure out how you can come up with so many ideas and the ways to make them a reality.”
“You are praising me too much. I actually think the Glow-nim is more amazing. Even if you took away Yulian-nim’s strength, he would still have his natural abilities to lead.”
“The Glow would enjoy hearing that. Hohoho.”
Grace started to laugh as she continued to speak.
“But please pay some attention to Aileen. I heard you haven’t gone home at all lately.”
“I have a lot of work to do…but i am planning on taking a short break after we get through the initial phase of building this castle.”
“You don’t know how happy Aileen was to catch Runa-nim’s attention. Especially to be your first wife. You need to quickly have a kid and take in a second wife as well.”
Runa started to blush a bit as he responded.
“I will start to think about that once a lot of things start to settle down.”
“Omo, if the Assistant Warrior that the Glow trusts says something like that, you will be hated by the other warriors. The Glow will also be disappointed and of course I would be disappointed as well.”
“That’s not what I meant……”
Seeing Runa start to get nervous, Grace started to smile internally. He was a genius but he was just as innocent in certain ways as well.
“It will start to get dark soon. Grace-nim should start heading in now. And tomorrow, you must return to the large oasis.
Runa wanted to get away from Grace as soon as possible. Seeing Runa pretty much pushing her away, Grace lightly waved her hand and headed into the paoe.
‘I don’t know what to do with her. But I guess if it wasn’t for that personality, she wouldn’t be able to handle the responsibilities of being the mother of a tribe at that age.’
Runa thought that to himself as he decided to meet with the master one more time before heading into his paoe and headed over.
