Chapter 755
The next morning.
Simon was still hesitating about whether or not to accept Hongpeng’s invitation, when he received a new set of letters from the student council members.
These letters had arrived barely a day after Hongpeng’s.
It was clear that Hongpeng, who was out on the Grasslands, must have sent letters to all four of them at once, but since Simon was in rugged Leshill, his letter had simply arrived late.
Simon quickly opened the letters from his friends, the content was simple enough.
—Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! We’re going no matter what! If you say you’re not going, I’ll seriously kill you! I’m so excited! Let’s go! Let’s go, let’s go!
A letter from Maelyn, brimming with excitement.
—I want to go so badly too! After all, it’s none other than Professor Hongpeng’s homeland! If we go to the Grasslands, there will be crocodiles and bison, right? Of course, the bugs scare me a little, but I think I’ll be fine as long as we’re all together!
A hopeful letter from Kamibarez.
And finally, Dick’s letter at the bottom went one step further.
—Now, now. Mark the things you want to buy. I’ll give them to you for half the cost price.
<Emergency tent, lantern, shoes, multipurpose knife, jungle clothes.......>
This guy was already speaking as if it was a done deal.
‘Looks like everyone’s dead set on going.’
Simon let out a hollow laugh and flopped onto the bed.
‘The Grasslands, huh.’
Among the Dark Alliance people, when they said “the Grasslands”, they were referring to the Mekria Grassland located in the far south of the Shahed Kingdom.
He had wanted to see it for himself, but first, he needed his parents’ permission.
Simon immediately came up with a plan. When the time came, he went out for his usual volunteer work that day, and while helping with the restoration work, he met Richard and Anna separately.
—The Mekria Grasslands, you say? That’s wonderful. It’s something you should see at least once in your life.
Richard rambled on with tales and anecdotes of his own youth adventures on the Grasslands. Simon listened with enthusiasm, and before long, he easily received Richard’s approval.
The problem was Anna. She looked at him with worried eyes.
—Isn’t the Grasslands region dangerous?
—It’ll be fine!
Simon emphasized that he was going under the invitation of Professor Hongpeng, a Keyzen faculty member, and explained that since he would be going with Maelyn, Dick, and Kamibarez, it would be safe.
Hearing that it was under no one else’s invitation but Professor Hongpeng’s, Anna seemed reassured.
After saying she would think about it, she finally gave her consent around lunchtime.
‘Things are going too smoothly.’
From experience, the times when things felt this smooth were when danger tended to lurk. But this Grasslands trip couldn’t possibly be dangerous.
Not when ‘Hongpeng’ was with them. That was how much Simon trusted her, and her strength.
Caw—caw—caw—
As Simon was finishing his work for the day and lying down on the grass lost in thought, a familiar bird cry echoed from the sky.
Undead crows were flying overhead.
“Ah.”
A legion-type undead bird, which meant this letter had come from the North.
When Simon raised his arm, the crow quickly perched on it and dropped a letter. There were two in total, one from Grand Duke Jin of the North, and the other from Feer.
“Time to work.”
For a moment, Simon set aside his identity as a student, and with the mindset of a legion commander, carefully read the contents.
‘So the negotiations went through.’
The negotiations, of course, were about the magic stone mine.
Although the mine itself was located in the Frost Field, to transport the excavated stones into the continent, they had to pass through the northern lands of Carlos. And since developing the mine couldn’t be done with undead alone, but required human technology, cooperation with the North was essential.
According to the agreement reached between Feer and the Grand Duke, the profit split would be 6:4.
The North would take 4, but in return, they would bear all the capital, technology, operational costs, and logistics needed to transport the stones into the continent.
‘That’s not bad at all.’
Even if Simon only held the ownership rights of the mine, the money would flow in. And if necessary, he could provide undead labor through the North Star’s forces.
Simon decided to proceed with this arrangement.
It wasn’t just about his personal profit increasing, but also about the alliance between the 7th Legion and the 2nd Legion, and above all, about helping the war-ravaged North with its reconstruction.
‘Good, good.’
Truly, taking the Frost Field had been worth it. It would take some time, but before long, a system of passive income would be established.
After the contractual matters, the Grand Duke had added a more personal note.
She wrote about how the northern people were living after the war, and what she herself had been doing.
Freed from the duties of her fiefdom, she had been wandering aimlessly, but now seemed to be regaining her motivation.
<I’m preparing something personal. Since you’re a Keyzen student, you’ll find it worth looking forward to.>
‘What could she be preparing?’
To leave him hanging like this without saying more, Simon couldn’t help but smile in frustration.
At the end, the Grand Duke asked him to send her regards to Richard, her senior as a legion commander and her lifesaver during childhood.
Simon carefully set the letter down with a proud heart.
“All right, next….”
It was Feer’s letter. Simon unfolded it with a rustle.
The writing style was old-fashioned, as befit an undead who had existed for so long.
—If you’ve read the Grand Duke’s letter, you already know things with the North went smoothly. Xairos seems fine as well, aside from the occasional flare-up of the North Star’s personality within him.
Simon smirked, recalling the time Xairos had punched himself in the face.
—My business in the North is finished. I’ll soon be crossing the continent to return to Roke Island. I may not make it in time for the start of your term, but I’ll move as quickly as I can.
“Wait.”
From the Frost Field, the northernmost point of the continent, all the way to Roke Island, traveling on foot was far too long.
Even Feer admitted he probably wouldn’t make it in time for the new term.
But then—
“If I meet Feer halfway, on the Grasslands, that could work.”
If Feer was there, Simon would feel much more secure on the Grasslands.
He immediately wrote a reply and sent the undead crow off.
* * *
And so, time passed.
‘……This is bad.’
Simon found himself facing a major problem during the vacation.
A type of problem he had never faced before, which made it even more troublesome.
It was—
‘Not even a week has passed yet?’
The problem was, time just wasn’t moving.
Until now, whenever Simon immersed himself in training or territory work, the days would pass quickly without him realizing, but ever since he made plans to visit the Grasslands with his friends, everything had changed. Suddenly he became aware of every single day, and time seemed to crawl.
After finishing his daily duties and returning to his room, Simon slumped his arm down while putting a check mark on his calendar.
‘How am I supposed to endure another week of this!’
He collapsed over his desk with a groan. The only consolation in his daily life were the letters arriving from his friends. Maelyn, Dick, and Kamibarez all said the same thing, that they were so excited that time felt unbearably slow.
Maelyn said she was already going shopping for clothes to wear on the Grasslands, and asked Simon to help her choose what color would look best.
Kamibarez seemed worried about how she was going to sneak away from her overprotective father, a Vampire Lord, and make it to the meeting place on her own.
Dick, meanwhile, was entirely focused on how to make money once they got to the Grasslands.
—Cooling potions! Don’t you think these will sell like crazy?
—Saddles with cushions!
—I made a potion that repels mosquitoes, though it might repel people too, but that’s fine, right?
Simon advised his best friend to scrap the last item, tucked his reply into an envelope, and leaned back against the wall like a limp slime.
‘It’d be nice if I could just close my eyes, open them again, and find that a week had already passed.’
Tok, tok, tok—
Just then, he heard a tapping sound at the window. Turning his head, he saw an undead crow pecking at the glass while cawing noisily.
‘It’s Feer’s reply!’
Simon hurriedly opened the window, then unrolled the letter the crow had brought.
—Perfect, I was planning to visit the Grasslands eventually anyway.
‘Why would Feer go to the Grasslands?’
The answer came in the very next line.
—I’ve heard that fifteen years ago, traces of Myurr, one of our legion’s Ancient Undead, were discovered there.
Simon flinched.
—Myurr is the most dangerous among the Ancient Undead of the 7th Legion. That’s why I intended to save him for last. But, there’s a high possibility that he already left the Grasslands long ago. It should be fine to go simply to verify the traces.
Simon scratched the side of his head.
“......If it was ten years ago, then that’s one thing, but surely he isn’t still there, right?”
A faint unease passed over him.
But Hongpeng wasn’t the kind of person to put her students in danger. If she thought it was dangerous, she would never have invited them in the first place.
And besides all that, if this truly concerned the legion, Simon couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.
‘Either way, I have to go.’
* * *
And so, a week later.
The day they had been waiting for finally arrived.
—I’ll be back!
With his parents’ permission secured, Simon had nothing holding him back. He came down from Leshill, caught a carriage at Hove, and set off toward the Dresden Kingdom.
It was going to be a long journey by carriage.
As always, Simon spent his time inside reading up on the geography and history of the Grasslands. Even if the trip was meant for fun, gathering information about their destination was essential.
<Geography and History of the Continent>
The Mekria Grasslands.
This land was once home to countless nomadic tribes. Though there are regions thick with trees, its vast grasslands made it ideal for raising livestock such as horses and goats.
‘Professor Hongpeng, and Professor Belya, both came from minority tribes here, didn’t they.’
Stretching out his legs, Simon returned to his book.
In ancient times, nomads were the first on the continent to succeed in crossbreeding monsters with horses, and mounted on those special breeds, they swept across the continent, toppling countless kingdoms.
At their peak, they established the “Nomadic Empire”, expanding their rule even to the opposite end of the continent, into the lands of the Holy Federation.
Of those nomadic tribes, the strongest eventually founded and settled into what is now the Shahed Kingdom.
Of course, with the rise of knights and magicians, their power dwindled. And in the present era of necromancers and priests, they survived only as small minority groups. Only those who knew history remembered that the Grasslands tribes of Shahed had once commanded the continent.
‘Fascinating.’
Simon studied diligently throughout the entire ride.
But their first destination wasn’t the Grasslands itself. In the Dresden Kingdom, there was a famous resort city called “Berino”, known for its beautiful beaches.
That was where Simon planned to meet the other student council members.
They would spend two days there, enjoying the sea and relaxing, then board a ship Dick had prepared, cross the waters, and sail into the river that flowed through the Mekria Grasslands.
According to Dick, traveling by sea saved far more time than by land, and besides, before heading into the untamed Grasslands, they could indulge in the comforts of civilization in Berino, a perfect two-for-one plan.
The others had all agreed.
‘I wonder how everyone’s been doing.’
As Simon read his history book, he dozed off, only to be woken by the driver’s shout.
“Sir! We’re almost there!”
Simon jerked awake, wiped the drool from his lips, and opened the window.
His eyes widened. Beyond the sparse greenery, he could see a breathtaking city of white stone buildings.
“Behold! The city of pleasure and revelry, Berino!”
* * *
A beach with sparkling, beautiful seas.
The streets of Berino bustled with life. Couples strolled in swimsuits, bards strummed lively music, and families laughed together in the sun.
And.
“What’s wrong, Sasha?”
“Ah.”
A girl with short, brown hair fluttering in the breeze suddenly stopped and glanced back.
For a moment, she stood staring blankly behind her, before turning her head back.
“No, it’s nothing. The breeze just feels nice.”
“What’s with you all of a sudden? Hurry up, we’ll be late for the mission briefing.”
Sasha nodded, adjusting the bag slung over her shoulder.
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