BXBX NOVEL Vol. 6 - Chapter 319 - Towards the light
"Don't worry. Rescuing the Holy Land is an important matter for Rosenheim as well. We're also in your debt since we only recovered our country thanks to you."
"I appreciate your understanding, I'll be in contact again if we need anything."
Allen was in Fortenia talking with the Queen in the temple there.
The elven soldiers then guided Allen out.
Leaving the temple, they took Allen to an enormous warehouse a distance away.
It was rather large, as well as deep.
The gates were tall and stood open, the interior filled with heaps of sacks with food in them.
"There's enough food here to maintain Fortenia through winter. Feel free to take it."
An elven soldier stood proud as he proclaimed that.
They had taken Allen there so he could gather some resources to send as support to the survivors in Niel.
Allen had returned to Rosenheim asking if they could share some of their resources, and the Queen instantly said yes and gave him access to Fortenia's reserves.
Apparently they had no issues with handing out all the food stored in Fortenia, even though hundreds of thousands of elves had just returned.
In the Academy, he had learned that Giamut Empire was the country that exported the largest amount of food.
They possessed large areas of land, which could all be used to cultivate grains.
Wars always demanded a large amount of resources, and they would even sell their produce to Baukis, in exchange for magic devices.
Rosenheim's population was a mere percentage of Giamut's, and they did not export almost any food, but that was because they grew only what they needed themselves.
There was a difference between not cultivating it and not being able to cultivate.
Rosenheim also had many Spirit Mages, who could use wood, earth, and water spirit magic.
Sophie could also manifestate wood spirits.
All in all, they had an affinity for spirits.
If they utilized spirit magic to grow crops, it was possible for them to rival Giamut's production.
Considering they needed that to recover from the war as well, they had increased their production since last year.
It was already April, winter was over and they could grow crops again, so they handed over all their reserves.
The Queen had mentioned that even if Fortenia's reserves were empty, they could always make do with rationing those of nearby cities.
"Thank you very much. Let's fly back then."
"Alright."
Allen's party, and the elven soldier that was with them were all transported away from there.
"""Ohhh!!!"""
A welcoming cheer was heard when they arrived.
"Th-this is..."
The priest Nicolai approached them hesitantly.
They were close to Niel, in the Holy Land.
Allen had told the priests he would bring food there, so they had been waiting for him.
And then he appeared with a huge pile of reserves.
"Thank you so much."
"I brought the elf in charge of the warehouse as well, so he can explain what kind of food this all is. Please listen to him later."
Most of the food in the pile Allen brought were grains, but there was still some variety, so an elven soldier had come along to explain exactly what everything was.
(They seem pretty happy, though I can already tell they'll still have a rough time with food this year.)
After the Pagan Worshippers attacked, most small villages and cities had suffered major damage.
Only the bigger cities like Niel that were surrounded by sturdy walls had been able to fend off the Pagan Worshippers.
Only a few villages protected with wooden fences had managed to remain standing though.
It was those smaller villages and cities that did most of the farming in the Holy Land, and people were currently limited as to where they could go.
Other countries had restricted Magic Ship travel with the Holy Land as well, making it even harder to trade for food.
Those bitten by Pagan Worshippers turned into them after one day.
They could easily explode in numbers, and exterminating them took time.
Until then, Rosenheim's aid had to suffice.
People were restricted from leaving too far from the cities, while Allen's summons carefully cleared the country from Pagan Worshippers.
The priests bowed profusely, thanking Allen.
He had done all that out of necessity, not out of a desire to be treated with such reverence.
"This should take care of most things for now. You may see my summons decrease in number, but I promise I'll check every corner of the country so try to rest easy."
His Insect A summons were giving birth to Queen Bees and Beelings every day.
They all could easily fly around the country.
The Troll King and Ogre King minions numbered more than a thousand as well.
Some of them were currently working as guards protecting food shipments from one city to another.
But managing the shipments and their destination was up to the Holy Land.
"You've done so much for us I don't know how to thank you enough."
Nicolai tried thanking him once again, but Merle was already bringing Tam-Tam over.
They were already about to move to their next destination.
Allen had told them they had defeated the Demon General in Theomenia the day before.
They had also killed all the monsters and Pagan Worshippers running wild there.
The barrier was also in place, so the city was safe once again.
Now they were planning on going back, and then moving from there.
The priests waved at them and kept bowing, while Allen's party climbed into Tam-Tam Mode Eagle.
"Did you get the heading correctly?"
"Yes, it was straight towards the south."
Merle controlled Tam-Tam from the cockpit.
They were talking about following the light that had been shooting out of the altar in Theomenia's temple.
That light went into a straight line upwards, and at a certain height it went on an angle and headed south.
That meant they would probably find something important if they also went south.
For now, they assumed it was the Evil Cult leader, Gushara's location.
Since Tam-Tam's Vulcan Cannon had blown the altar to pieces, the streak of light had vanished.
They knew what location the light went, so they decided to depart Niel and go to Theomenia, and then travel south from there.
Inside Tam-Tam Mode Eagle, a map of the continent with the Confederation was projected in front of Merle's seat.
There were windows as well, letting them see the scenery of the continent spread in front of them.
"Sorry, can I go back to my room for a bit?"
The moment they took off, Dogora asked to be alone.
"Sure, go ahead. We'll call you if we need you for anything."
Allen told him he could do so.
He went to his room and started working out and doing practice swings.
Recently he had found out his Extra Skill was rather special, but that meant nothing if he could not use it.
He did not know exactly how to use it, but he figured he would know something if he put in enough effort, so he trained even while traveling in Tam-Tam.
Being told he was special had also flared up his desire to get stronger like nothing else had before.
They arrived at the center of the continent half a day of traveling later.
"Huh, what's that? An island?"
"It's an island Allen, a floating island!"
Cecile and Kurena were so taken aback by what they saw that they could not hold back from exclaiming that.
They could see plenty of the surface from the cockpit's front windows, but Tam-Tam was flying at a considerable height.
If they flew too low, they would draw the attention of monsters.
That height also made it easier to travel unobstructed, as there was less need to keep watch outside. But now they saw an island floating even higher up than them.
The island was quite big and the mechanism that kept it in the air was unknown, nothing but bare earth on its underside.
Something like a bubble of light seemed to surround the island as well.
It was too large to really see the full extent of it, but that bubble looked perfectly spherical, the light the same pale blue hue as the streak of light from the altar.
"Should I get closer?"
Tam-Tam stopped moving once the white bubble was in front of them, and Merle asked Allen what to do.
"I want to see how the island looks first. Go around without touching that light."
"Got it!"
Tam-Tam retreated from the light a bit and began to rise higher.
The island was above them, so they needed to go higher to see its surface.
(I guess it's around ten kilometers wide. That's pretty big, but I don't really see anyone on it...)
There were rocks strewn around randomly, but there did not appear to be any living beings on the island.
The party split into groups looking through the windows on each side of Tam-Tam Mode Eagle, seeing if they could spot anything.
"Wait... I see something. It looks like a castle."
Kurena was the first to notice something.
Everyone gathered around her to see as well.
"You're right, there's a castle on that hill in the center. Or maybe it's a temple?"
Allen did not know exactly what that building was, but to him it looked more like a temple than a castle.
Everyone began finding small details about the structure one after another.
The mysterious building was pretty big, and it seemed to be placed atop the hill deliberately.
And there was something burning brightly in the center of the building.
Allen made a sketch of the island's surface on his Grimoire.
He had the ability of drawing images there exactly the way he saw them.
"I guess this is the other end, I don't really see anything... Wait, what's that?"
They went across the island from one end to the other, but Merle had not seen anything other than the building in the middle.
She thought that was everything they would find on the island, but she noticed something familiar in the end.
"Isn't that the same streak of light?"
Kiel voiced the suspicion all his friends had.
They had arrived from the north heading south when they found that island.
And Allen's party could see the familiar streak of light going south from the island.
"Then..."
"I fear this means we haven't solved the issue yet. There are other countries under attack by Pagan Worshippers, just like the Holy Land."
Allen's party had managed to neutralize the attack on the Holy Land, but seeing there was still a streak of light further south, they knew the battle was not over yet.