Chi-Woo wasn’t alone in the house and was accompanied by several guests. Allen Leonard squinted one eye at Zelit. Ru Amuh bowed politely, and Ru Hiana’s mind seemed occupied by something else.
“It’s been a while,” Allen Leonard said with a smile while leaning on a pillar as soon as Zelit came in.
“I am ashamed of how I had acted,” Zelit replied.
“Haha. It’s fine since you came back. Please sit.”
Like Allen told him to, Zelt sat on the floor and blinked hard at Ru Hiana, as she crouched over the yard and observed something on the ground.
“What is…that?” Zelit saw a fist-sized, translucent slime crawling across the floor.
“Ah, he’s a new friend I made,” Chi-Woo replied. The slime was moving away from Ru Hiana now as if she was bothering it, and Chi-Woo called out to it, “Hey! Bag!”
“Bag?” Zelit asked. The bun’s name had changed from “Ppyu-ppyu” to “Bag” somewhere along the way.
“I call it that because it’s able to hold a lot of goods. Thanks to it, I was able to bring all the food supplies here at once.” While the two conversed, the bun slid between them.
“Let me introduce you. This is my companion,” Chi-Woo told Zelit. The bun swished around, and although it didn’t have eyes, Zelit felt like the bun was meeting his gaze. Zelit didn’t know what this creature was, but since Chi-Woo introduced it as his friend, Zelit coughed and bowed; then he said, “Nice to meet you. I’m Zelit.”
The bun didn’t say anything but simply looked up at him.
“I heard that you have the ability to carry great volumes. I also want to thank you deeply for bringing us the food supplies. Likewise, I think we will be indebted to you in the future too, so I am very pleased to have you here.” Zelit greeted the bun seriously. After staring at Zelit intently for a moment, the bun said, “Ppyu.”
Then the bun formed a small hand from his body and lifted it slightly toward Zelit. Zelit stared at the small hand blankly and extended his own hand, carefully reaching his index finger out to touch the bun’s translucent hand. The bun shook his hand like they were shaking hands, and Ru Hiana squealed, “What!? Why did it ignore me but respond to Zelit!?”
“You tried to touch it as soon as you saw it, saying it was adorable and all that,” Ru Amuh told her the reason.
“Still…”
“Would you like it if a stranger tried to squeeze you while making a fuss? Furthermore, it’s someone our teacher introduced to us as a friend,” Ru Amuh further explained. And while Ru Hiana expressed her distress, the bun pulled back. As if he was pleased to be greeted with such courtesy, the slime jumped on top of Zelit’s head and stayed there.
“Hey! What the hell!” Chi-Woo yelled as the slime wiggled, amused by the length of Zelit’s head.
Yet Zelit calmly responded, “No, it’s fine. Besides that, I want to hear more.”
Taking his eyes away from the bun that was sliding down Zelit’s head now, Chi-Woo sighed and collected his thoughts. He wasn’t sure where to begin since they had such a huge matter to decide on, yet he couldn’t give up out of fear before anything began. After all, he had learned from his time in the cave that no matter how difficult something was, if he kept trying, he would eventually see a path out—just like he had been able to escape the cave when he couldn’t think of leaving in the beginning.
‘We must have faith.’ The future only opened for those who did. Chi-Woo believed this was something he needed and could do.
“I realized when I came back to the fortress that we can’t go on like this. It seems like the time has come for us to go to the next level,” Chi-Woo finally spoke. The time had ‘come’ to them, and whether they were prepared or not, they had to move on to the next stage now. If they didn’t do anything in this state, even the future they were heading to would be ruined. As soon as Chi-Woo finished speaking, all attention shot toward him. They all instinctively felt the weight of what Chi-Woo was going to say next.
“Are you…” In surprise, Zelit gasped, “Are you saying that we should expand our forces and build a faction?”
“It’s still too early to say,” Chi-Woo replied. Even while aiming for the stars, he needed to differentiate between things he could and couldn’t do just like how a newly born infant couldn’t simply declare to be the president the next day.
“But I think we need to create the conditions and environment for us to develop into a faction.”
“Conditions and environment…” Zelit quietly murmured.
Chi-Woo took one step backwards. He wasn’t saying that they should expand their forces now, but that they should prepare the stage before that. However, even that was difficult in their current situation. Zelit didn’t think Chi-Woo was oblivious to Liber’s and the recruits’ current situation, yet Chi-Woo was saying they needed to reach a higher stage and make the impossible possible.
“It’s impossible.” Zelit shook his head. “In our current situation, there’s no hope for us to create a faction whatever we do. I’m sorry if that’s what you expected, but this is our reality.”
There were things only a god could do; but this—what they were trying to do now was something that even a god couldn’t do. That was how impossibly difficult the situation surrounding Liber was.
“I know how the current situation is,” Chi-Woo nodded and said while looking at Zelit. “Let me ask you something: what do we lack now that prevents us from expanding our forces?”
Zelit licked his lips. Many thoughts rushed to his mind because of how poor their situation was. Remembering how Chi-Woo had told him to just give his opinions and leave the decision to him, Zelit decided to share his thoughts after some period of silence.
“First, we need to increase our population dramatically,” Zelit said.
Chi-Woo agreed. Currently, the recruits amounted to a two-digit number: 6-70 people at most, which was small compared to the 200 strong they used to be back when they were in the forest—not even enough to fill up a village. If they took the natives into consideration, they had a little more than 200 people, but it would be unreasonable to expect much help from them.
“It’s difficult for me to say for sure since I don’t know the other factions’ situations, but I think it would be difficult for us to make deals with our current numbers.”
“Population, population…” Chi-Woo tapped the mat with his index floor. “Would we only need to increase the population?”
“No. If our population increases, we have to prepare an environment to support the increase.” For example, they would need a more stable system of food and water supply, and furthermore a system for heroes to progress.
“Increasing the population is by far the most important,” Zelit said. The power of population was truly formidable, as the world-renown scholar of demography, Paul Morland said. Since people acted as labor in industries, consumers who buy products, and resources that exercise military might, an increase in population served as a driving force for growth in national power. As history showed, the rise and fall of a nation were highly correlated with their population, and all large empires boasted an astounding population count.
Chi-Woo asked, “How should we increase our population?”
“Hmm…” Zelit felt a little awkward. “The simplest and most traditional method is to form a family.”
“?”
“Well, for people who like each other to get married and have kids and—”
Ru Amuh wondered if he heard correctly, and Allen Leonard, who had been listening seriously so far, laughed. Ru Hiana’s ears also slightly reddened.
“I know it’s impossible in our current situation. I’m just saying anything that comes to mind right now.” Zelit quickly amended as everyone’s gaze landed on him. “Hmm. Another possible method is to take control of an important area. If we make it known that this area is safe, people who used to live there might come back.” Zelit coughed to clear his throat and continued, “We could also form a relationship or solidarity with a small faction we can communicate with, but…” Zelit trailed off; what they needed right now was not empty hope, but a realistic solution. “I think that realistically, we have to hope for new recruits to arrive.”
If another group of recruits arrived at Liber, they would be the eighth recruits. However, it was unrealistic to hope that they’d bring much change. And even if they arrived at Liber, there would be around a hundred people at most. Zelit continued, “Or we can go around finding and rescuing those who went missing, or are currently being held captive.”
Ru Hiana asked, “Missing? Held captive?”
“The human race here once dominated all of Liber. There might be survivors who had been turned into slaves,” Zelit explained. “It’s the same for us. Just think about it. Only 70% of those who arrived at Liber with us ended up gathering at the main camp in the forest.” As Zelit said, some were still missing from the seventh recruits. No one knew what happened to the 30 percent of heroes who couldn’t be found.
Chi-Woo smacked his lips. Even though this method was more realistic than Zelit’s first suggestion, the problem was time. He didn’t know how long it'd take to gather all those people, and how many more people would die.
“…Actually.” At that moment, Zelit looked around and slowly said, “There’s a slightly better solution.” He looked at Chi-Woo and continued, “If we can bring it to reality…we won’t have to worry about half the problems we’ll have to face after accepting our new population.”
Everyone, including Chi-Woo, widened their eyes.
Ru Hiana asked, “What is it?”
“Unite.”
Several people took in a deep breath. Unite—Zelit meant to unite with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th recruits.
Allen Leonard said, “That’s not a bad idea.” The number of heroes from each recruitment decreased over time. In other words, the earlier recruits were greater in number than the later recruits.
[As expected, there are a lot fewer applicants.]
[There were a crazy amount of people for even the second round of recruitment. If we made them stand in one line, they would have reached all the way to the Stranger’s Space.]
Chi-Woo roughly recalled what Giant Fist had told him. Of course, if they excluded the first recruitment, where only one person was deployed, they needed to consider how many of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th recruits had survived.
“But what do you mean that we won’t have to worry about half the problems we’ll have to face after uniting the earlier recruits?”
“I’ve heard that the situation of the early recruits is better than us in some aspects.”
“In what aspects?”
“They were able to secure a large number of natives, and they have a basic, functioning economy.”
“What?” Allen Leonard was so surprised that his voice came out raspy.
“They do have problems with obtaining food and other necessities, but they’re at least faring better than us.”
“If they have a basic, functioning economy… How much…”
“Although bartering is rampant, I’ve heard that existing currency hasn’t lost its power yet. Do I have to say more?”
“Hah, currency…” Allen Leonard shook his head as if it was difficult for him to even imagine; it seemed so far-fetched that his eyes gleamed with suspicion. “Is that really true?”
“This is information that I directly heard from a member of the fifth recruits. Since this hero is still alive, you should ask them yourself.”
“How did they…when they don’t even have a god…”
“Even though they don’t have a god, they have him.”
“Ah, from the Choi family. If it’s that man…” Then, Allen Leonard expelled his doubts and immediately accepted Zelit’s explanation. Ru Amuh and Ru Hiana also nodded. Chi-Woo got that Allen Leonard was referring to his older brother, Choi Chi-Hyun. He became curious—how great and amazing his brother must be that they all reacted like this? Chi-Woo could only remember his brother wearing underwear at home and eating chicken while scratching his thigh.
“We have a god, while that side has many more people and a proper system.” As Zelit said, a union of the two sides would be beneficial to both; definitely a win-win situation—but that was only if they could unite. “The main problem lies in how we’re going to join them.” Even if they managed to send information about their situation to the other group and asked them to come, there would be many problems. It was unrealistic to expect a large group of people to be able to safely come all the way here, especially on Liber, where certain factions had even captured gods and used them as their forces.
“Won’t it be better for us to go to them instead?” Ru Hiana voiced her opinion.
“No. We can’t do that.” Ru Amuh immediately refuted her suggestion. “They don’t have a god.”
“Well, we can bring our god.”
“That’s not what I mean. Did you forget what that hero told us?” Ru Amuh was referring to the hero that led the fifth recruits, Siegres Reinhardt.
[Of course, the situation there is better than here. It’s less dangerous there.]
[But the fundamental problems haven’t been solved in the central base, either.]
[They don't have a god.]
[Whether they searched all over the East, West, or South…]
[That’s why with our last hope on the line, we came to the north, and when we thought we finally found a solution…]
Ru Hiana recalled what Siegres Reinhardt had said and became silent. It was nowhere enough with just Shahnaz. For the heroes that arrived at Liber and the heroes that might come in the future, it was necessary and vital to find as many and as diverse a selection of gods as possible; only then were there hope for a wide range of different classes and divine effects. If the recruits couldn’t find gods around the central base, they needed to come here, since there was still hope for finding more gods in this area, as proven by Shahnaz’s existence.
“That’s about it for me.” Zelit let out a deep sigh and looked at Chi-Woo. Chi-Woo had told him to just voice his thoughts, so he had tried his best to explain himself. When Zelit finished talking, silence fell upon the entire group; the only thing left was Chi-Woo’s final decision. Everyone stared intently at Chi-Woo’s mouth. What would he say?
“Unite…” Surprisingly, Chi-Woo didn’t contemplate for long. He summarized Zelit’s key points inside his head. First, to expand their forces, they needed to increase their population, and to reach this goal in a short timeframe, they needed to unite with the previous recruits. And to unite with the previous recruits, they needed to guarantee the safety of the recruits while they made their way here. Chi-Woo finished organizing his thoughts and identified one possible solution to meet all the conditions Zelit mapped out.
“Perhaps.” Chi-Woo beamed. “There might be a way.”
Everyone’s eyes widened.