Chapter 120

“Look, the airship is flying away!”

“Look at these bastards, running away to save their own skins!”

So, this was when the Artabus Ship had sortied earlier. A person pointed at the Artabus, struggling to rise through the thick ash.

If only the sky had been clear, they might have seen the ship heading toward the volcano. But the ash was so dense that as soon as it gained a bit of altitude, it completely vanished from sight.

“What? The council is empty? Is that true?”

“It’s true! If you don’t believe me, come see for yourself! They all fled. They all fled!!”

The people completely lost control upon hearing that the Chancellor, who had vowed to protect this place till the end, had abandoned them.

Even those who had stayed behind out of a sense of duty, maintaining order, had now boarded airships and left. Valles City quickly descended into chaos.

“No, it’s not what you think! The Chancellor has gone to the volcano!”

Holding torches, pickaxes, axes, and clubs, the people demanded an explanation. The priests of the Aldehir Church, who had stayed behind to care for the wounded, and some officials who knew the truth tried to argue.

“Did you all hear that? These people think we’re complete fools!”

“Volcano? He probably fled to the Empire!”

“They abandoned us, abandoned this country. Let’s see where their bread goes!”

In any case, even if they did nothing, they would all die in a few days. The volcanic activity was intensifying, and now even the most foolish among them couldn’t be optimistic about their future.

Even a worm squirms when stepped on. How much more so for humans, who are now facing certain death? The pent-up frustrations exploded, and now no one could stop it.

After days of anxiety, they finally erupted. Fires broke out all over Valles City, and flames roared into the sky.

“You bastards. Let’s all die together.”

“Burn it all! Burn it to ashes!”

These people had no money, no backing, not even a shred of power.

They couldn’t escape by ship or through the gates; they were left behind by those with priority.

Always at the bottom of the Republic’s hierarchy, they now had nothing to lose.

Men and women, old and young—anyone who could walk on two legs became a rioter. Tears streamed down the face of Luke, a knight of the Valles Knights.

It was pitiful and tragic. But he couldn’t bring himself to draw his sword and suppress the people. Not because there were too many of them, nor because he feared their momentum.

The venom burning in the citizens’ eyes was hotter than the flames rising all around.

Whoosh!

The tax office, which collected taxes first, went up in flames. Next, the administration building housing slave documents burned. The more luxurious and beautiful the house, the faster it burned, and the flames grew fiercer. Children threw torches, and the elderly gathered fire starters to set fires.

Perhaps, knowing they would die anyway, they wanted to play with fire one last time. Valles City’s once magnificent buildings were engulfed one by one, and no one tried to extinguish the flames. They couldn’t, and they had no reason to. The city was destined to be buried in ash.

Famous paintings by renowned artists, jeweled artifacts—all burned equally in the flames.

Now, not even gold could sway people’s hearts. The fierce flames consumed even the historical relics.

Even the two-hundred-year-old artifacts that even the Chancellor hadn’t burned were no exception. The Citadel Palace, made of wood five times older than the Chancellor himself, also went up in flames once people decided to burn it.

With a creak, the pillars collapsed, and with a crash, the roof fell. Each time, the flames roared and leaped higher.

The knight just stood there, dumbfounded, watching the scene like a statue. When he became a knight, he never dreamed the city would face such a fate.

This city, once the bustling hub of continental shipping, boasting a grand history, was now crumbling into ash.

It wasn’t the demon army, nor the Demon Kings led by Harmail, who burned the city.

It wasn’t the monster legion led by the King of Monsters, nor the natural disaster of the Caldera Volcano. Not even the Primal Demon King Grimudo was responsible. The fire was set by the people of the same country, the same city. It was the work of their own kin.

‘So deep.’

Tears streamed down the knight’s cheeks.

‘So deep was the resentment.’

Even among the citizens of the Citadel, there were divisions. To vote, one needed the corresponding wealth.

There were no nobles, but there were still the lowly. Those without suffrage. Those who could barely afford salt. Those who toiled in hard labor. Those who served the wealthy for meager wages. Those who fell into slavery due to debt. Those sold from other parts of the continent…

They, who had been oppressed for so long, finally erupted. The accumulated, suppressed, and trampled grievances exploded all at once as the end approached. It wasn’t the volcano that turned the city to ash; it was their anger. The resentment borne by the sons of man was hotter than the volcano.

“I’m sorry. Truly…”

Facing this irrational frenzy, the knight realized the Republic had been teetering on the brink of severe conflict.

Seeing people destroying and setting fires as if nothing mattered, he involuntarily closed his eyes. The anger had always been there. The Phoenix merely awakened it; it didn’t create anger that wasn’t there.

Whoosh!

But as if the heavens were restraining them, the ash suddenly cleared. The black sky of ash disappeared, and the clear sky returned.

The blue sky and white clouds illuminated the world, and the sun shone down again. Stunned by this turn of events, people stopped what they were doing and looked at the sun.

“What… what’s happening?!”

Those setting fires flinched. Those smashing the houses of the wealthy with clubs also found themselves looking at the sun beyond the sky.

It felt like being caught by their parents as children, hiding in the dark doing mischief. As the world brightened, it felt like the sun had caught them in the act.

Feeling ashamed, they dropped their torches and went home to hide. As the world brightened, the rationality they had momentarily lost returned.

With the world so bright, everyone could see what they were doing, and most importantly, they realized the Chancellor hadn’t actually fled.

“Look over there! It’s the King of Monsters!”

“Isn’t that an airship?!”

As the sky cleared, the Artabus Ship became faintly visible in the distance. Seeing it engaged in a desperate battle with a fiery mass, everyone fell silent, staring in awe.

Looking back and forth between the fires they had started and the distant flames, the resentment toward the government and the Republic began to slowly unravel.

“Sob.”

An old man holding a torch pouted. Then, like a newborn baby, he burst into tears. This triggered others to start crying. They wept bitterly, as if their hearts were aching.

Bang!

The intense heat from the Phoenix in the distance scorched them. Sweat beaded on their foreheads like the midday summer sun, yet they clenched their fists and watched the events unfold. They watched through tears.

“But the Chancellor did think of us a lot.”

“Yeah. He had his faults, but his merits were twice as great.”

It wasn’t just water that flowed with their tears. Resentment melted away, and anger subsided. Like fog lifting, it slowly disappeared.

One by one, they calmed their hearts and put down what they were holding. Then, as if by agreement, they dispersed.

For some, victory or defeat no longer mattered. They were grateful the Chancellor hadn’t abandoned them and had done his best to face the crisis.

Others wiped the sweat from their hands and continued to watch the fight, over and over.

“Ah, ah! The axe is coming down!”

“That’s it! Die, you bastard!”

When the starry axe finally struck the flaming bird, everyone cheered.

Knight Luke, Mabel the bookstore owner, Hans the beggar, and Lavender, whose husband had abandoned her to flee through the gates, all cheered as one.

They rubbed their eyes, wondering if they had seen wrong, and opened their eyes as wide as possible.

But no matter how many times they looked, the Phoenix was truly finished. At the same time, the volcanic threat was over. The ash no longer spewed, and the aftershocks had completely stopped.

“We won, we really won!”

“Long live the Chancellor! Long live the Citadel Republic!”

“Haha, but… what do we do about the city being in this state?”

An old man groaned, and the people in the ashes stopped cheering and looked around. Thinking the world would end today, they had set fires, but who could have expected such salvation?

Glancing around.

Quickly.

The gathered people exchanged glances and quickly fled. They had survived, but now the aftermath was important.

Having burned down the government building, they couldn’t help but be afraid. Everyone showcased incredible speed as they scattered.

In any case, even nature quiets down after an explosion. Having vented their anger, only fear remained.

“What is this?!”

The Chancellor, clutching his head, screamed belatedly, but the Citadel was still lucky. What humans destroyed, humans could rebuild with effort.

But what was destroyed by something other than humans…

Might not be so easily restored.

“Chancellor, urgent news from overseas.”

There is a dragon-hawk. Similar in size to a falcon, this beast can wield a bit of magical power. It’s swift and has excellent stamina.

So, the Citadel, the dragon-hawk’s native land, has long trained them to fly across the continent to deliver messages. One such hawk, carrying information gathered by spies, arrived. Even in such times, there are those who fulfill their duties.

A Citadel Intelligence agent, disguised as a hawk hunter, found the Chancellor wandering the burned city.