Chapter 36 - Earth Emperor

The demons became more numerous and more threatening. There were quite a few groups of one-horned demons and a few two-horned demons. Thankfully, they were unable to find me.

My eyes ended up landing on a three-horned demon that appeared. It was towering, possibly double my height.

The moment my eyes landed on it, the demon turned to face my direction. My head immediately snapped behind the tree I was standing behind.

My mind casted the tunnel spell, and my hands hurriedly covered my head with snow.

There were tremors coming in my direction. There was a rhythmic thump, footsteps, and there was also another tremor, it was constant and grating. Perhaps it was the mace?

I did not feel prepared to take on a three-horned demon, as easy as the two-horned demon was to kill.

The tremors stopped once it got near me.

My heart was calm and my body was still.

The demon did not seem to give up. There were occasional tremors coming from the same spot.

Why was this thing so persistent? There clearly wasn't anything to see!

My lungs began aching, while my body was starting to feel numb.

Damn...

Finally, there were tremors that told me the demon was walking back.

My head burst out of the snow, desperately my lungs wanted air, but I was trying to suppress the sound of the breaths. Though it was painful, my breaths were not loud and did not attract the attention of the demon.

...Alright, so no looking, no matter how curious I am.

With that, my trek continued and the amount of demons I encountered started to drop drastically.

My head peeked out from behind a tree and saw a clearing. The village was there and its walls.

Before heading there, my stake was stuck in the ground. Hopefully, there would be no reason for me to be kicked out this time.

It did not take long to get to the gate, after which a guard yelled at me.

"Stop, identify yourself!"

My eyes squinted. Above the wall were some guards, a smile appeared on my face."

"Hey, my name's Jay, I got lost and wanted to take shelter in this village."

The guard that spoke looked towards the other guards, then back at me.

"Alright, hold on one second."

After a few moments, the gates were lifted, and with that, my foot was set into the village.

The sight was very similar to how it was before, a bustling village filled with people that were free from worry.

Lucas had rushed down and jogged over to me.

"Hey, were you lost in that forest?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, but thankfully I was able to get to this village. By the way, do you know why this village is so peaceful?"

Lucas looked at me and tilted his head.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

...Is this guy serious?

My finger pointed towards the villagers.

"Well, nobody seems concerned about food, they are just... going about as if it doesn't matter."

Did I say too much? He wouldn't think I was a spy or something right?

...I haven't even been in the village for more than a few seconds.

Lucas looked to where I was pointing then turned back to me.

"Why would we be concerned about food?"

This seemed to be more frustrating than I thought it would be.

"Did you not notice the snow? Winter has come a year early, which means one year you would have used for food preparation is now gone."

Lucas reached to scratch his head but made clanking sounds as it hit his helmet.

"Oh, did winter come a year early? I wouldn't know, but what do you mean a year for food preparation? Can't you just grow the plants?"

...Huh?

"You can grow plants in the winter?"

"Yeah, why not?"

My head shook.

Whatever, I guess.

"...Where do you grow the plants?"

Lucas eagerly nodded.

"Ah, yes I can show you."

"Thanks."

Lucas started to bring me through the village. Part of me thought that there might be some secret behind this village, that some evil lurked beneath.

...Yet everything seemed fine.

Lucas looked over his shoulder.

"Oh right Jay, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Lucas."

I nodded absentmindedly.

"Ah, hi Lucas."

The conversation trailed off and we continued to walk down the streets.

There were some kids playing around, they were making small snowmen and just jumping around in the snow.

Lucas had taken me to some giant glass building. As for overall size, it spanned much further than Ela's palace and

Within the building was a large patch of dirt with various crops growing on it. Currently, there were people harvesting, planting, and taking care of the crops inside.

As Lucas was leading the way into the greenhouse there was a man who was pushing a wheelbarrow full of crops outside.

The man took a look at us, then continued on his way.

There were no guards, nor did anybody care that someone randomly just entered the place where food was grown.

Was this not an important place to the villagers?

My steps paused beside a cabbage. I crouched down and looked at it closely. Compared to the cabbages that were provided in the palace this one looked really large and brighter in color.

Was it the cooking process?

...Even if cooking the cabbage would shrink it, the difference in size was nearly five times. It seems this village has some sort of way to grow things... better?

My head turned to Lucas.

"Hey, how are these crops so big?"

Lucas tilted his head. He came over to me and crouched down next to me.

"Hm... is it big? That seems to be a pretty normal size to me."

...Why did I even ask?

Who was responsible for doing all of this?

Did the village just so happen to turn out this way?

A woman came over with a big smile.

"Hey Lucas, your friend over there seems a bit sad, give him this potato. It was the biggest of the bunch."

The woman tore off a potato from a clump and handed it to Lucas. Lucas started to laugh as well.

"Haha, of course Paula, thanks."

Wait... how was she able to recognize Lucas? Lucas was covered entirely with iron armor, the only reason I could tell was that he had come down to help me before.

Were the people in this village that close to one another?

My eyes regained their luster to see Lucas holding a really big potato in front of me. My trembling hand held onto it.

"Thanks."

Lucas laughed.

"No problem."

After taking one last scan, my foot stepped back out of the farm.

"How did you guys make this..."

Lucas followed me out.

"Greenhouse."

"Ah, yes greenhouse."

Lucas let out a sigh of awe.

"Haha, well the Earth Emperor was the one that made it."

Earth Emperor?

"Who is the Earth Emperor?"

Lucas put his hand to his chin.

"Hmm... To put it simply he achieved... enlightenment? I think it was enlightenment with earth magic. If I remember correctly he simply decided to create this village. It was said that within a few days he had already created the walls surrounding the village and every individual house."

What?

My eyes scanned the houses a little closer. Instead of brick, they seemed to be one solid stone. The windows seemed to meld with the house itself and the door was actually some brown rock, not wood.

"The Earth Emperor really did all this?"

Lucas smiled.

"It is pretty amazing."

My palm rubbed against my temple.

"Is the Earth Emperor here?"

Lucas nodded.

"Yeah, why?"

A long sigh escaped from my mouth.

"Could you... take me to him?"

Lucas shrugged his shoulders.

"Ok."

Lucas once again led the way while my steps were right behind him. My fingers were fiddling with my coat.

"Lucas?"

Lucas turned his head back.

"Yeah?"

My eyes were staring off into a tavern we passed by.

"If the Earth Emperor didn't exist, how do you think this village would function?"

Lucas put a fist to his chin.

"Hmm... I presume there wouldn't be a village in the first place. He did make the entire village after all."

My head shook.

"Ah right, that is a good point."

Lucas led me to the middle of the village. There was a massive pillar with a sphere-like top. The height was nothing to throw a fit about, but it was very wide.

"Is this where the Earth Emperor is?"

Lucas nodded.

"You can talk to the person you see inside there."

A small smile appeared on my face.

"Alright, thanks for everything Lucas. I'm sure you have other things to do, you can go on ahead."

Lucas threw his head back as he laughed.

"Well, there really isn't much for a guard to do, so don't worry about it. I'll see you later Jay."

My hand waved.

"Goodbye Lucas."

Lucas waved and then made his way back from where we came.

The doors to the massive pillar towered above me, and my hand pushed it aside.