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93. Head for the Holy Land

Ko Byeong-gap’s new car crossed the wasteland. Halfway between the grasslands and the desert, the fields were desolate with no significant sign of life. However, dust clouds followed behind them. Dorma sat in the passenger seat while Marilyn sat in the back seat. The trunk and trailer were loaded with a month’s worth of food, extra clothes, weapons, and oil.

“You finally left Doran behind.”

Dorma watched the scenery passing by outside the window and suddenly spoke. Ko Byeong-gap answered calmly with his eyes fixed in front of him.

“Who’s going to protect the castle if we brought her?”

“She seemed to have a lot of complaints.”

“She’s naturally pouty.”

Ko Byeong-gap was reminded of what happened a while ago. As if she had been stung by a bee, Doran, with inflated cheeks, asked if he could take her too. She was determined.

“If I had to take either Doran or Dorma, Dorma would be my choice.”

Marilyn had to be there because she was the guide. It would be empty if only the two of them went, so it would be easier if they had one more subordinate. Of course, if they had Doran with them, they wouldn’t be bored much. However, there was no one more comfortable to go around with than Dorma.

“Let’s get this over with and go back.”

Ko Byeong-gap said so and glanced sideways at the rearview mirror. Marilyn was looking out the window with a dark cloud on her face. She had that look on her face ever since they left the castle.

‘What’s wrong with her? Not long ago, she was singing about going to the capital.’

He thought she would jump up and down like an elementary school student before a picnic. She was hard to grasp.

“Marilyn, why is your face so dark? Does your stomach hurt?”

Marilyn flinched and turned away.

“What? What did you say?”

“Why don’t you look happy? Isn’t this a good thing?”

“No, I’m just a little nauseous….”

“Oh, you’re getting motion sickness.”

It was no wonder since she was like a country girl who had never been in a car before. Ko Byeong-gap nodded at the glovebox on the passenger side.

“Dorma, open that.”

“Uh… are you talking about this?”

“Right, press the handle and pull. Then it’ll open.”

“Oh.”

“Is there a glass bottle in there?”

“Yes.”

“Give it to Marilyn.”

Dorma did as he was told. Marilyn tilted her head as she accepted the medicine for motion sickness.

“What is this?”

“It’s a medicine that makes you feel better. Open it and drink it.”

“Oh… it’s okay, it’s fine. It’s too precious for me….”

“What do you mean, precious? It’s okay. Drink it.”

“Thank you.”

Marilyn swallowed the medicine. However, it didn’t seem to suit her taste. The car ran for a while. It had been two hours and fifteen minutes since they left the Valtadren when Ko Byeong-gap stopped the car for a while and checked the compass built into the dashboard.

“I think it’s the right direction.”

He scoured the landscape out of the window and went down while Dorma and Marilyn followed. All he could see around them were rising dunes, and on the northern side were mountain ranges and rocky canyons that stretched onward. However, their direction was southeast.

“Marilyn.”

“Yes, Lord.”

“I’m sorry, but let me check it out just once.”

“I see.”

She took off the fluffy coat she was wearing. Soon, her upper body was revealed without a thread covering it. Her torso was covered by tattoos.

‘Is the scale larger than I thought?’

What he had in mind as a milestone was the four castles along the path. Passing through those four castles – Limedry, Vicosus, Chitosan, and Hermonia – should lead them to Vervonia. According to the information, they should have passed Limedry by now.

“How far is it from Valtadren to Vervonia?”

“A first-class rider would take about a month and five days.”

“Hmm.”

Ko Byeong-gap was genuinely curious as to how many kilometers they could ride in a month on horseback. He had so far expected it to be around 800 kilometers, but it might be even more than he had predicted. That was why they went there with a full month’s worth of food.

“Okay, get dressed.”

“Yes.”

Marilyn put on her coat again. They got back into the car and diligently moved forward.

***

He burned through five cigarettes as he drove. Ko Byeong-gap was of a mixed-heart, but not because Limedry, the first milestone, didn’t show up.

‘What is this…? It’s like looking at Mars.’

He had seen Mars in a science magazine as a child. There was no civilized city where Martians lived. Since the planet’s growth had completely stopped, the land died, and the rivers dried up. Ashvilam was no different. He thought it would be better to drive with a car, but the barren land between the desert and the grassland continued.

‘Can we make this place fertile again in a few decades?’

It had taken them only three weeks to turn Valtadren’s limited area into fertile soil, but it seemed that a lifetime wouldn’t be enough to transform all that vast land. However, it wasn’t impossible at all. There was a mysterious thing in front of him that would make the impossible possible.

“Yeah!”

He turned the steering wheel in a hurry. A Gruggle popped out like a thunderbolt at night, which he didn’t see at first because it was covered with mushroom-shaped rocks.

“What’s going on?”

Dorma and Marilyn, who had dozed off, were surprised.

“That’s what’s going on…”

Ko Byeong-gap replied and looked at the side mirror. Fortunately, he didn’t think it hit them.

“Damn it.”

Another Gruggle was hanging onto the trailer. The power of its grip was so good that he didn’t expect it to fall even though he was driving at 80 kilometers per hour. Rather, it was climbing closer. The trailer contained oil and vehicle maintenance tools, so it shouldn’t be left as it was. He pressed the brakes in a hurry.

“I’ll take care of it!”

Marilyn jumped out of the car, leaving him no chance to answer back. She rushed at the Gruggle like a beast. The Gruggle looked like a frog, opening its mouth wide as it shot off dozens of tentacles from within. Marilyn cut off all its tentacles by swinging her arms, all without pulling out her sword. After that, she closed the distance in seconds and pierced its forehead.

Swoosh!

The Gruggle’s head burst when she pulled her arm back. Everything was over in a blink of an eye.

“Well… she fights well.”

“Right. I’ve never seen her fight before.”

Marilyn looked around for a moment before returning to the car.

“Wipe it with this.”

“Thank you.”

She got into the car after wiping her arm off with the cloth she was handed. Suddenly, other Gruggles slowly appeared behind the mushroom-shaped rocks. The ghostly bastards were persistent. Marilyn acted like she was going back out again, but Ko Byeong-gap quickly restrained her.

“Never mind, don’t go out.”

“What? But…”

“They can’t catch up with us anyway.”

He started the car quickly. They chased the car, but they moved too fast for them to catch up.

“Is that alright?”

Dorma asked as he looked back at the Gruggles, growing smaller and smaller in the distance. Ko Byeong-gap answered in a trivial tone.

“What’s the point of worrying? There’s nothing to worry about.”

“I see.”

“By the way, Marilyn, are you hurt?”

“No, there’s no problem.”

“That’s a relief.”

“But the smell is a little…”

She sniffed at her arm. Even though she only touched it for a short time, the rotten smell seemed to have infected her. After receiving a cleansing wet tissue from Dorma, she wiped her arm down.

Ko Byeong-gap quickly moved out of the mushroom rock zone. He looked at the clock, noting it was getting close to noon. It had already been four hours since they started.

‘I’ll have to stop the car at the right place and eat.’

They were in the right place, so he searched for a place where the Gruggles wouldn’t suddenly pop out. By that time, they had moved for about fifteen minutes; thinking about going a little further, he had crossed a tall hill. He then found a castle stretching down the hill.

“Oh!”

“What about there?”

It was Limedry, the first milestone.

***

“Ah…”

“You must be shocked.”

“I guess. It’s different from Valtadren.”

After arriving at Limedry, Ko Byeong-gap and his group had a simple lunch there. However, Marilyn seemed to be having a hard time forcing the food down her throat. She had been like that ever since she saw the panoramic view of Limedry, which had been smashed to pieces. Compared to Valtadren, Limedry’s appearance was disastrous. In human terms, it looked as if the top had been cut off.

“Limedry was my parents’ hometown.”

If there were any remains of them, she would’ve searched for them, but that would be meaningless now. They decided to head to their next destination without delay. Before that, he checked the map one more time. Ko Byeong-gap converted the approximate distance using his fingers as a grid.

‘It took us four hours from Valtadren to Limedry. We’ve been driving at 80 kilometers an hour…is this about 300 kilometers?’

His fingers passed over Marilyn’s chest and toward her chin. She flinched a little as he touched her body, but she took care not to show it. He moved to her side and made his way to their destination, Vervonia.

‘It’s so far away. 1,700 kilometers from Valtadren to Vervonia.’

They had about 1,400 kilometers left. He thought maybe they could reach it within the day, but he was wrong. If there were no big troubles, they would reach it by tomorrow evening.

“Ashvilam in its heyday was very spacious.”

Ko Byeong-gap muttered to himself while driving. Then Marilyn, who was leaning her head against the window, reacted.

“…Above it reaches the snowy mountains and below it reaches the sea. The landscape was so long that the sun never set. When the king put the continent under his arms, the name of the continent became Ashvilam. Ashvilam was the only one under the sky…”

It didn’t sound like she was bragging or anything. She was talking to herself rather than speaking to Ko Byeong-gap. The car kept moving. A few times, they had to lift the car and move it over the rough terrain. They had three or four close encounters with the Gruggles. In the process, the car was scratched, and Ko Byeong-gap was deeply saddened.

By the time his pack of cigarettes had run out, the sun had already set, and they had reached the second milestone, Vicosus.

“Hmm.”

“…”

Vicosus was more broken than Limedry. If they hadn’t been paying close attention, they would have overlooked it.

“Vicosus is where a million allies and a million enemies fought. This is where they defeated the sixth Holy Warrior, Jashas.”

Marilyn explained briefly. She had nothing more to say about the place as there was nothing left.

“Lord, what are we going to do? It’s getting late. Would you like to camp here?”

“No, it’s not even six o’clock yet. Let’s go to the next place, and I’m going to sleep in my house.”

“At Lord’s house? What about us?”

“Of course, you can sleep with me.”

“Would that be alright with you, Lord?”

“There’s nothing I can’t do. There are many rooms left at home. Anyway, get in.”

“Yes.”

He usually drove a lot, but he felt sore from driving all day. He held it in and continued.

“This mount is great. What would have taken ten days on horseback was covered in less than a day.”

Marilyn, who had been depressed thus far, asked, seeming livelier. Ko Byeong-gap just shrugged.

“Where I live, there are so many things like this everywhere. Hmm… do you want me to show you where I live later?”

“Really?”

“Is that okay? Even if we go out…”

“Dorma, you might have a hard time. But it won’t be a problem if Marilyn covers her ears with a hoodie.”

“Well, then I can’t.”

“Come to think of it, Marilyn, you might be offended. If you go there, there are humans everywhere.”

“Oh… no. I can see the difference.”

They enjoyed plenty of small talk. It was the perfect time to tell a story about the physiology of the world called Earth. It was already past 10 pm.

‘I can’t do this. I was going to go all the way to Chitosan, but it’s too late. I should pull over in a suitable place…’

He leaned his head out of the window. It was hard seeing even an inch ahead unless it was in the area lit by the headlights. Suddenly, the two lights shone on some big wall, and then a fireball fell from the sky to block the car.

Boom!

“Ah!”

“What? What is it?”

“All of a sudden?”

The fireball fell five steps ahead of the car. The fire spread quickly and created a barrier.

“Damn it! Did Gruggles ever shoot fire?”

“What should we do? Get out and fight? Well?!”

“Ugh! The light?”

The three in the car covered their eyes simultaneously, shielding them from the bright light. The light didn’t come from the flame barrier. It was an artificial light, like the high-powered lantern he carried around…

Ko Byeong-gap looked forward, soothing his eyes. His jaw went slack, surprised at the unexpected. That front wall was a castle wall, and there was someone on top of it.