The Ruined World Was Mistaken for a Game

Chapter 219: Growth (2)

Translator: Dreamscribe

Episode 5 concluded with the Regeneration Ending of Arsilan!

Of course, there was so much to sort out that it wasn't truly over. Now that the Demon Race of Levannas had become part of Arsilan, various systems needed to be introduced, and the regenerated land had to be managed as well.

Jinwoo constructed an environment that blended Levannas and Arsilan in a fitting balance, and allowed Levannas to settle there. All of the Levannas facilities that had previously been copied and transferred were relocated to that area.

[The Kingdom of Levannas has been established.]

*The Demon Race has been added as a selectable race in Customizing. It can be unlocked after reaching your Second Class.

The Demon Race possessed a beauty distinct from that of Arsilanians, making them quite popular. Many Heroes who had reached their Second Class changed their race to Demon.

"Dude! I became a Demon."

"You can even do that?"

"Yep, I'm a Hero after all."

"But why would you bother switching to our race...."

"The horns are sick. If I engrave magic on them, it'd look crazy cool. Glow-in-the-dark horns! Laser horns!"

"Ah..., sure."

The demons awkwardly welcomed the Heroes who had turned into demons.

The Kingdom of Levannas was born in Arsilan.

Succeeding Belzerad, Serazade ascended to the throne.

Jinwoo attended the coronation and congratulated her on becoming Queen. While it was technically a kingdom, much like the Sillion Empire, no real concentrated power existed. It was merely a national system designed to enrich Arsilan Saga. Serazade understood this perfectly well.

The moment she became Queen, paperwork came pouring down on Serazade.

The settlement had been successful, but the problems to solve were far from few. Fortunately, with support from the Sillion Empire, things were being resolved smoothly.

"Grandfather's statue is coming along nicely."

A statue capturing Demon King Belzerad in his prime was being constructed at the heart of Levannas. Belzerad remained a source of pride for the Demon Race. He was a great hero who had made an enormous contribution to saving Arsilan.

"Your Majesty, we've received an inquiry regarding the installation of a Monster Gate inside Levannas. It's a level 180 gate...."

"For Levannas's specialty goods, items related to Magitech Engineering would probably be best. The Magic Tower says they'll restore various crops from the Demon World for us."

Several demons had formed an advisory council to assist Serazade.

"Your Majesty, in order to keep the Heroes from losing interest in Levannas, we really should...."

When the advisors gingerly broached the topic, Serazade immediately shook her head.

She knew exactly what they were about to say. Just as the advisors' faces fell in disappointment, Karin and Mira, who were part of the council, stole a glance at Serazade.

That was when it happened.

Her crown emitted a burst of light.

[Master, your Mana has been fully charged. You can now carry out Magical Girl activities without any issues.]

"I have no intention of doing that."

The crown was Magical Device A1.

It had transformed from a staff into the shape of a crown.

A1 had expended all its power and entered sleep mode, and had only just now awakened.

When Serazade declared there would be no Magical Girl activities, Karin and Mira looked crestfallen.

[Playing recording.]

["That's a shame. I wanted to live happily in Arsilan..., ah! I won't be able to do the magical girl thing anymore either. It was so, so much fun, I wanted to do it forever."]

Serazade's body froze on the spot.

Those were the words she had spoken atop the barrier when death was right before her eyes.

[Master, this beautiful wish of yours has been recorded in the Magic Tower of Arsilan.]

[Congratulations! The Magic Tower has expressed its full support. Lady Ella has also bestowed her blessing.]

She couldn't brush it off as something she'd just said on a whim.

The Queen of Levannas was bound to keep every word she spoke. That was the pride of the Demon Race and the teaching of Belzerad. On top of that, it had already been relayed to the Magic Tower and couldn't be taken back.

[A gift has arrived from the Sillion Empire.]

The moment A1's voice finished, a Magic Circle appeared on her desk and a gift was teleported in. Serazade blinked and stared at the gift.

The gift's details rose up in the Information Window.

[A] Magical Girl New Costume

"The Light of Levannas, that is the Magical Girl."

A specially crafted new costume.

It can be stored in the Magical Device and taken out to wear at any time. An enormous amount of resources were poured in and it was meticulously manufactured to enable the use of an even wider variety of magic.

A letter appeared as well.

It was a letter from Jinwoo.

-Let's work hard for Arsilan Saga. That is the duty of a monarch.-

The letter radiated amusement. It felt like a senior welcoming a junior into shared suffering.

[A queen by day, a Magical Girl who spreads light by night! What a wonderful concept. Doesn't it make your heart race?]

At A1's words, Serazade squeezed her eyes shut. Her heart was indeed racing, just as A1 said. Not from excitement, but from stress.

The mascot of Levannas was Magical Girl Sera. That would not change going forward.

Serazade could not retire from being a Magical Girl.

***

The Heroes were busy exploring the newly created land.

The area where Levannas had settled was only a small portion of the new territory. Venturing beyond Levannas revealed rich natural landscapes that had never before appeared in Arsilan.

Jinwoo recalled the Arsilan of old as he constructed various environments. Deserts, glaciers, tropical rainforests, wetlands, and more; he rapidly built diverse themes to make Arsilan richer than ever. He also brought over the unique environments of Levannas and the Demon World, and quickly added themes that FS Games had prepared in advance.

"The Lord God Engine is incredibly convenient."

"Whoa! The Super-intelligent AI got a version upgrade too!"

"The work speed feels like it's ten times faster!"

"Long live the boss!"

Jinwoo had applied the power of the Lord God to create a tool for the developers at FS Games to use.

Its name was the Lord God Engine.

Using the Lord God Engine, they could rapidly work on various environments, themes, monsters, items, and more with no limits on expression, then deploy them into Arsilan.

FS Games could now do real developer work to their hearts' content!

'It's nice having more land.'

He hadn't opened up all the new land for access. A considerable portion was still unreachable. That space was reserved for future content.

Jinwoo was already brainstorming a variety of new content.

New teams had been assembled at FS Games for that purpose. Several plans were already in the production stage. Since Episode 5 had only just reached its ending, it was still too early to reveal anything to the Heroes.

"Well then, keep up the good work."

Jinwoo stopped by FS Games briefly to give work instructions, then headed straight home. He had defeated the Lord of Despair and protected Arsilan. Levannas could now carry on its history. And in the real world, good news had arrived as well.

Jinwoo's niece had been born!

His sister-in-law had been connected to Arsilan Saga throughout, and Jinwoo had given her special care. The Soul Link also had a medical support app, which many hospitals were actively utilizing.

Wearing the Soul Link during childbirth meant almost no pain was felt. After major surgery, there was no need for separate pain medication during recovery.

When his brother and sister-in-law entered the house, his older sister and grandfather set off the party poppers they had prepared. His father even teared up.

"Ha ha ha!"

Grandfather was grinning from ear to ear.

He held his great-granddaughter in his arms, completely beside himself.

Jinwoo gazed at the baby's soul and marveled.

It was incredibly healthy, a soul that possessed a remarkably strong light. Her aptitude for magic was as exceptional as Tiris's.

She was a child who would become a great Hero.

She held infinite potential, capable of becoming anything.

"Hello there."

When Jinwoo reached out toward the niece cradled in his grandfather's arms, the baby grasped his finger.

'May all the light of Arsilan and Earth be with her.'

Jinwoo bestowed a blessing upon his niece.

'In the future....'

Jinwoo resolved to make the Earth and Arsilan where his niece would run and play into an even happier place. Someday, couldn't the people of Arsilan also come to Earth, just like Ella and Helby?

That would be a very distant future, though.

Was she tired?

His sister-in-law blinked a couple of times as if she had seen something.

In that moment, a gentle light settled into the baby's embrace. The light that flowed from Jinwoo descended soft as thread and wrapped around the baby.

Only she, connected to the baby, could see that sight. His sister-in-law blinked again and looked at Jinwoo.

Jinwoo was simply smiling quietly.

***

Jinwoo returned to Arsilan.

The scenery of Arsilan had changed somewhat from before. The Magitech Engineering knowledge gained from Levannas and Arsilan Defense had been directly applied, and new inventions were coming out endlessly.

'I've set up the Erosion Insect nests too....'

The Erosion Insect nests had been installed not in Arsilan itself, but in the Dimension Gate fields. They could be reached directly through the Dimension Gates.

Since the Lord of Despair was gone, the appearance of the Erosion Insects had been changed as well. Much of the grotesqueness was gone, and now they actually looked rather appetizing at first glance. They looked like a fitting cross between king crab and shrimp.

Arsilan and Levannas were blending together well.

Many demons had settled in Alusion too. There were no restrictions on travel whatsoever. Empire and kingdom alike were nothing more than content designed to make everyone happy, after all.

Jinwoo swiftly handled his duties in Alusion, then moved to the old Magic Tower.

The old Magic Tower remained unchanged as ever. Various equipment had been added to the underground facilities, but the exterior was just as it had always been.

Although multiple Magic Towers had been added across Arsilan, the one in Jinwoo's former domain remained exactly the same as before.

Tiris and the other disciples were waiting inside the Magic Tower.

"So...."

Jinwoo looked at Tiris and the disciples of the Magic Tower.

He had ordered them to write letters of reflection for trying to throw away their lives. The thought of what would have happened had he lost his disciples was nothing short of horrifying.

He didn't even want to imagine it.

Tiris stared at Jinwoo with eyes full of defiance, then held out everyone's reflection letters to him. When Jinwoo checked them, his gaze wavered.

They were blank.

"Tiris...."

"I..., we did nothing wrong."

Her words left Jinwoo's mind reeling.

"Even if we were sent back to that moment, we would do the same thing."

It wasn't just Tiris; everyone shared the same opinion. When Jinwoo staggered and sank into his chair, Tiris and the disciples' expressions clouded and they flinched. But they did not back down.

Tiris bowed her head and dashed out of the Magic Tower. The other disciples followed suit.

Jinwoo stared at the blank pages.

"......"

Nothing was written on them, yet he could feel the weight of countless deliberations behind them. Jinwoo stepped outside the Magic Tower and sat down in front of it.

He couldn't help but be lost in thought.

"So this is where you were!"

Tia approached.

She seemed to have come on business, but seeing Jinwoo's state, she kept it to herself. She sat down beside him.

"Everyone's celebrating, so what could possibly be troubling you? Come on, unload it on me! Please, grant me the achievement of hearing the Lord God's worries!"

Jinwoo let out a faint laugh and told Tia about what had just happened. Tia nodded.

"It's not like they're going through puberty or anything...."

At Jinwoo's remark, Tia chuckled.

"Look."

Tia pointed at the scenery in front of the Magic Tower.

A completely transformed landscape entered Jinwoo's eyes.

His former domain was gone, and cities could be seen in the distance. Airships and trains moved without rest, carrying loads of goods.

The laughter of children playing in front of the city drifted over.

Demon children had joined in too, playing ball together.

It was a shame that the old scenery was gone, but compared to before, the place overflowed with incomparably more vitality and happiness.

Growth.

Yes, Arsilan had grown.

It was no longer a fragile sprout swaying in the Erosion, but had become a towering, mighty tree.

"Our Lord God is still looking at his disciples as little children. If you were in the same situation, you would have done the same thing."

"I would have."

Jinwoo nodded.

Just as Arsilan had grown, so had Tiris and the disciples. They had grown from those he needed to protect into beings who walked alongside him.

"I always wanted to protect them, but...."

That would be a great insult to accomplished mages.

Jinwoo burned the blank pages in his hand and rose from his seat.

"I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay! I'll be waiting!"

Tia smiled brightly and nodded.

Jinwoo walked around to the back of the Magic Tower. Behind the tower was a small forest. When the disciples were young, Jinwoo had planted trees there named after each of them and built a playground.

The trees had flourished greatly and become a forest.

The years Jinwoo had spent with his disciples had been that long. Even the trees that had once been small enough to look like sprouts had grown this tall, so the disciples went without saying.

He felt he had been trapped in memories too old.

When he reached the playground, he saw Tiris sitting on a swing.

Whenever she felt down, Tiris would come here. Jinwoo walked over slowly and sat on the swing next to hers.

Jinwoo looked at Tiris.

Her head hung low. It seemed that defying Jinwoo had been weighing on her the whole time.

"Want some ice cream?"

"...Yes."

Jinwoo conjured ice cream on the spot and handed it to Tiris.

Among the disciples, Tiris had been the slowest learner. She was the last to cast her first spell. It was because she wanted to thoroughly understand everything and was cautious by nature.

Jinwoo had actually seen that as a strength, but Tiris had felt glum about it. Whenever that happened, Jinwoo would make her ice cream with magic.

"Tastes like the old days."

Since it was hastily conjured with magic, the flavor was nothing special, but Tiris ate the ice cream and let a small smile show.

It was the taste of memories.

"Master, I'm sorry. But..., I couldn't just let you be the only one in pain..., the only one to sacrifice yourself. I'm a mage of Arsilan too...."

"I know."

Jinwoo reached out and stroked Tiris's hair.

"You've really grown up."

Jinwoo stood up from the swing and reached into his Subspace.

There were things he had made to give to his disciples once they became accomplished mages. They were staffs he had crafted slowly over many long years. Jinwoo held one out to Tiris.

Her name was inscribed on the staff.

"This is...."

"I should have given it to you sooner. I'm late."

Tiris accepted the staff with great care.

Receiving a staff from one's master meant that the master recognized the disciple as a true mage. Tiris could now build her own Magic Tower and take on disciples.

It was an old Arsilan tradition.

"I'll respect whatever you do. However...."

Jinwoo met Tiris's eyes.

"At least give me a heads-up before you pull something like that. I need time to prepare, you know."

"...Snff."

"My heart nearly dropped."

Fat teardrops rolled down from Tiris's eyes. When Jinwoo pulled her into a hug, she burst into full-on sobs. She hadn't cried like this since the day she first succeeded at magic. Grown as she was, she still looked like a young disciple to Jinwoo.

Tiris cried in Jinwoo's arms for a long time. Her ears had turned red with embarrassment, but she didn't pull away from his embrace.

"...I'm rebuilding your Leon body. I'm going to upgrade it further."

"Alright."

"I'm going to make a body that can absolutely never be destroyed."

"Ha ha, I look forward to it."

Tiris said that, seemingly flustered and trying to change the subject.

Jinwoo smiled, gently pulled her away, and then moved to where the other disciples were. He presented a staff to each of them. The area around the Magic Tower promptly became a sea of tears.

Jinwoo returned to Tia, who was still sitting in front of the Magic Tower.

Tia saw Jinwoo's damp, tear-soaked robe and grinned.

"Looks like there's still more coddling to be done?"

"Haha, you might be right."

Jinwoo felt relieved, yet bittersweet at the same time.

Jinwoo sat down beside Tia.

"So, what was your business?"

"Ah!"

Tia brought up an Information Window. Displayed there was a list of Heroes showing explosive growth. Their latent potential had exploded, and some had even awakened new abilities.

"The Heroes grew massively after going through Arsilan Defense, right?"

"They did."

"Among them, there were Heroes whose growth curve was especially steep."

This was something Jinwoo was already aware of.

Wasn't that growth gap simply due to individual differences? That was what Jinwoo had assumed, and he hadn't done a detailed analysis.

"My next work is going to be a romance, and while I was writing about Heroes as subject matter, I ended up finding a common thread!"

"Oh? What is it?"

"Love! Heroes who fell in love grew significantly. Every single one of them had a significant other. Especially the Heroes who shared a sweet romance with an Arsilan native, their growth was even more dramatic."

Belzerad's face suddenly came to Jinwoo's mind.

Love didn't suit Tia. She had come far too far to engage in ordinary love.

"And, he he he! The Heroes who went through a heartbreakingly sad breakup grew even further beyond that! That pain forged the Heroes' souls into something stronger."

"So that's the part that grabbed you."

Love and loss, then growth.

Diverse experiences make Heroes stronger.

"In that case, if we let the Heroes experience love and heartbreak, they should grow tremendously."

Tiris appeared beside them and spoke.

Her eyes were puffy and swollen, but her expression was composed. Jinwoo shook his head.

"Things like that don't happen on command. You can't just orchestrate it."

"Isn't the experience what matters? Just as even something fabricated becomes real if the feelings are genuine."

Tiris's words had a point.

Tia grinned and clenched her fist with determination.

"Games! If we borrow the format of a game, we can create a world where no one gets hurt."

"...I feel like the Heroes' hearts would get hurt, though."

"We just put up a disclaimer that says 'This is fiction!' and get their consent beforehand."

Tiris.

Had she become a Transcendent Being of ruthlessness?

The way she thought was on another level.

'Hmm.'

Did they really need to go that far to make the Heroes grow?

Jinwoo filed the plan away in his mind for the time being.

He couldn't bring himself to stop Tiris and Tia, who had launched into a heated discussion.

*****

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