The massive castle walls served as a firebreak, preventing the flames from spreading outward.
The fire would burn away and purify the contamination of the Demon Tribe trapped within the walls.
Leaving the burning castle behind, Sang-woong stepped through the gates.
The Elves and Humans were waiting for him.
“Owner of the Land, are you safe?”
Astilbe had been waiting for Sang-woong outside the castle just in case.
She had been startled when a great fire suddenly erupted inside the castle.
“I am fine. Now, this place will be purified.”
Sang-woong looked back at the burning castle.
Instead of the nauseating Magi, the smell of smoke and ash wafted over, but the oppressive energy from before had vanished.
He looked at the people.
Despite their fear and anxiety, a faint glimmer of hope began to flicker in their eyes.
“Now, let us return to our Earth.”
Sang-woong spoke.
“You will be safe there. You will be able to start a new Life.”
“Are you… taking us in…?”
An old man asked in a trembling voice.
His wrinkled face was a mixture of hope and disbelief at the overwhelming emotion.
“Of course. Did I not promise you earlier? I said I would end the suffering and give you freedom. Now, you are the residents of my Earth. In my Earth, everyone lives a free Life together.”
His voice contained an unwavering sincerity.
The people burst into a storm of tears.
Something they had never even imagined was happening.
The Elves embraced them with warm smiles.
Sang-woong led the Humans and Elves across the Demon Territory toward his own Earth.
The burning castle receded like a shadow of the past they had left behind.
His Earth was waiting for them.
When they finally stepped out of the Demon Tribe’s castle and set foot on Sang-woong’s Land, hot tears welled up in the eyes of the human Noya who had been oppressed for decades.
Their hearts swelled with joy and awe at having escaped from the terrible Magi and cruelty.
The sensation of the soil beneath their feet was completely different from the contaminated and twisted ground of the Demon Territory.
Instead of the sickeningly sticky aura of Magi, the strong and vibrant Earth Energy surged through the soles of their feet and into their entire bodies.
Unlike the desolate and lightless Demon Territory, this place overflowed with Earth Energy; the vegetation was so green it made their eyes ache, and the sky was clear without a single speck of dust.
As they followed Sang-woong’s guidance deeper into the Earth, they felt a fresh, clean air brushing against the tips of their noses along with a gentle breeze that tickled their skin.
It wasn’t the smell of sewers and blood they had encountered in the prisons and Noya camps of the Demon Tribe’s castle, but the scent of grass, soil, and an unknown sweet floral fragrance.
An old woman stumbled, stopped her pace, and sat down right there on the ground.
She clutched the soil with her wrinkled and roughened hands.
It wasn’t the hard, contaminated soil of the Demon Tribe’s Earth, but soft, warm soil that crumbled between her fingers.
She brought it to her nose and took a deep breath of the scent.
Instead of the dirty and disgusting smell of Magi, she felt the pleasant and healthy scent of Earth.
“I… I survived. Truly. I survived…”
A trembling voice leaked from the old woman’s lips.
Tears dropped onto the soil.
The fact that she was alive, treading on true Earth rather than the land of the Demon Tribe and smelling the Earth, felt like a Miracle.
Other people around her also threw themselves onto the Earth or sat down, touching the soil and weeping as they smelled it.
Voices of joy erupted from here and there.
“It’s real… it’s real Earth…”
“Look at the smell… the smell of Life…”
“It’s okay to cry… we won’t be beaten to death anymore…”
“Sunlight… it’s sunlight…”
A young man, instead of touching the ground, looked up at the flawlessly clear blue sky.
For the first time in decades, he saw a real sky that wasn’t red or murky with Magi.
He took a long, very deep breath.
He felt his mind clear as the clean air filled his lungs.
“So this is… real air. I can’t smell the Magi…”
A faint but sincere smile spread across his face.
It was the moment the facial muscles that had been hardened by oppression and pain finally moved.
Other young men and women also held each other and cried, or were lost in emotion while looking at the sky and the Earth.
Everyone’s eyes were filled with tears and awe.
Sang-woong watched them silently.
These were people who had suffered since the moment of their birth, treated as less than human while being used as Noya by the Demon Tribe.
Or those who had lived hiding from the eyes of the Demon Tribe, only to be dragged away when their Village was discovered.
Sang-woong also felt a warm sense of satisfaction deep within, knowing he had gifted them true liberation and restored the Earth, sky, and freedom they had lost.
Sang-woong prepared a district for the people to live in.
Historically, Humans and different races knew of each other’s existence but did not live together; thus, he designated a separate area for the Humans to live in, just as he had provided a separate area for the Elves.
The people set up temporary shelters for the time being.
They were hut-like accommodations that could simply provide cover from the wind and rain, but they were worlds apart from the cramped, dirty, and foul-smelling Noya camps in the Demon Tribe’s castle.
They sat huddled together inside the huts, sighing in relief as they looked at each other’s faces.
The fact that they were alive, and the fact that they no longer had to tremble at the sound of whips and screams, was like a Miracle to them.
“Is this… our space?”
“That’s right… no one can come in… now…”
“It’s warm… you’re here next to me…”
“Tomorrow… what should we do…?”
A brief silence followed someone’s last question.
To those who had lived only by doing as they were told for decades, a tomorrow where they had to decide for themselves was a strange and fearful unknown.
From the next day, Sang-woong did not spare any practical support so they could become self-sufficient and live on this new Earth.
The most urgent thing was food.
Sang-woong took out all the food he had stored in his Inventory and gave it to them for the time being.
Then, he distributed sweet potato and potato seeds to them.
Their cultivation period was short, their taste and nutritional content were excellent, and anyone could easily grow them, so there were no better crops for the current situation.
“This is a sweet potato, and this is a potato.”
Sang-woong explained in a calm voice, pointing to the rugged seedlings placed in a basket filled with soil.
“If you plant them in the Earth, water them every day, and let them take in the sunlight from the sky, they will grow. When they grow and bear fruit, you can dig them up and eat them. Eating them will fill your stomach and give you strength. They will become your food.”
Sang-woong continued speaking as he looked at the people.
“I will give you seeds and seedlings for various crops you will need in the future. If you take these seeds and seedlings and plant them, you will be able to harvest a variety of agricultural products. I will also give you livestock, so you just need to raise them well.”
The people’s adaptability was surprising.
As a few days passed, they quickly adapted to Life here.
Along with a deep respect for Sang-woong, who had saved them and provided a new foundation for their lives, a strong sense of dependence—wanting to rely on him for everything—grew within them.
To those who had forgotten how to think and decide for themselves under the rule of the Demon Tribe, Sang-woong was a being who could solve all their problems.
And their respect could only grow as he generously shared precious food ingredients like sweet potatoes and potatoes, which they had never seen before.
Naturally, the people began to regard Sang-woong as the King who would lead them.
Freedom had been given, but they did not know how to use it.
They needed a form of ‘rule’ that was familiar to them.
“Sang-woong is truly like someone who descended from the heavens.”
“He defeated the Demon Tribe and saved us.”
“I think he is a god. Look at this Earth. How could such a place exist? It’s only possible because he is a god.”
“To have met such a person, this is a blessing like a Miracle.”
As the night deepened, the conversations among them gathered toward nominating Sang-woong as their King.
The next day, the title they used to call Sang-woong had changed.
“O King…”
Everyone knelt, and some looked at Sang-woong with eyes of worship, hands pressed together.
It was an instinctive reaction from those who had lived miserably under the rule of the Demon Tribe for their entire lives, trying to welcome the savior who liberated them as their new ruler.
Sang-woong was flustered.
His eyes wavered noticeably. A King… he had never thought of such a thing.
And he had no intention of becoming something like a King.
“Please, stand up.”
Sang-woong’s voice was calm, but it contained both awkwardness and firmness.
The people were at a loss at Sang-woong’s instruction to stand up.
Standing as equals with a King was an unthinkable act of profanity.
However, they had no choice but to stand up at Sang-woong’s firm attitude.
Once the people stood, Sang-woong spoke to them.
“I am not a King. And I have no intention of becoming a King.”
The people began to stir.
Their savior, the being who provided such a miraculous Earth, was not a King?
It was a statement that exceeded their range of understanding.
Because they had lived their entire lives in a world where only rule or obedience existed, a situation where a ruler did not call himself a ruler was confusing.
The old man asked again cautiously.
“But… since you saved us from the Demon Tribe and led us to this place… are you not the one to lead us? Please become our King… and rule this Earth.”
His voice was saturated with desperation and a deep sense of dependence, as he did not dare to stand on his own.
Sang-woong looked at the people’s faces one by one.
He saw hope in faces that had been stained with fear and resignation, but that hope was still leaning entirely on his existence.
He had given them freedom, but they seemed not to know how to use that freedom.
Sang-woong shook his head.
“I am not your King. And this Earth is not a land that I rule; it will be a land that you yourselves create together and live in together.”
He pointed to the sweet potato and potato seeds to be planted in the Earth.
“I have given you these crops, but planting, tending, and harvesting them is up to you. The fruits obtained through your labor will become your food. I will respect the way of Life you create in the future and have no intention of interfering. Once a minimum level of self-reliance is confirmed, there will be nothing for me to meddle in.”
In fact, Sang-woong respected the lives of the Elves and did not interfere at all.
That was the right way, and it was the proper principle.
The Elves were eating the crops they planted and harvested, living according to their own way of Life.
And as if this were the correct direction, the crops harvested by the Elves could not be sold to the Store, unlike the crops produced by the Ahoa Tribe or the livestock raised by the Kahuka Tribe.
Sang-woong’s words were strange and difficult for the people to understand.
A land not ruled by a King?
What one cultivated and harvested became one’s own?
In the Demon Tribe’s castle, they worked as the Demon Tribe ordered, and everything produced was taken by the Demon Tribe.
They had only been rationed the minimum amount of food to sustain Life.
The very concept of obtaining food by doing something for oneself was faint.