Yu IlHan let the Dragon's army children into the Flying Fortress. The fact that they were extremely wary of Yu IlHan and Liera was unsuited to their age, but on the other hand, they looked quite well trained.
And in fact, they had been trained better than any army in any world.
"...So I made them my underlings."
"So that was it."
Yumir talked about everything that had happened since he was trapped in that dungeon. From how he first discovered the children, to the children's levelling up by eating the demons' meat, to how he raised them after the Rule skill came into effect.
They were absurd stories from beginning to end, but not only would Mir not lie about something like that, but there were also very few chances of it being a lie, as the proof, the children, were here. Yu IlHan turned around to Liera, who was a little unreliable but the most knowledgeable person present.
"What do you think about this?"
"Although it does not happen often, there are mutations everywhere. The environment of Earth changed too rapidly, did it not? It wouldn't be too strange even if the children were largely influenced. There is also the possibility of their physical body structures getting changed while they were warped to that hell."
"Really?"
"Yeah, but at least they are not monsters. They are still pure and naive human children." Liera declared as if she had read his thoughts. He let out a bitter smile and nodded.
"I thought that for merely a moment. Moreover, I also have a means of checking that."
A single strand of hair was enough to check the army members' identities. After activating the Record skill and taking a close look at it, he confirmed that they were humans born of two earthlings.
Although that was as he had expected, the problem was the cause of the children's change.
"…No way."
"Why? You can't understand because the skill level is too low?"
"No, rather, I understood it too well. Though I'd rather believe that the skill made an error because it's still low-level….."
Liera's eyes narrowed. Yu IlHan didn't drag it out any longer and decided to tell the truth.
"Chaos Will. It's that guy."
"Huh?"
Liera asked back. Not because she didn't hear it properly, but because she could not believe his words. Yu IlHan knew that but still repeated his words.
"It was Chaos Will, that 6th class. The guy that almost killed both of us. He changed the children's genetics to make them stronger just by breathing, absorbing mana. Mir only raised their growth speeds."
"There's no way that's true. That guy resented humans."
There would be no psychopaths who would give a knife to the one he resented to death. Liera's words sounded very reasonable, but Yu IlHan shook his head.
"I also don't know what that guy was thinking, but it was indeed that guy. To be exact, it had enhanced the children by using the power of Earth, just as it had made 5th-class beings. It also shared minute bits of its record….. and although the implementation of power is different, the method is the same, so there are no doubts here either."
"No way."
At that point, Yu IlHan's expression turned strange. He thought back to the words it had spat out against himself and Liera, and realized one thing.
"It actually did not deny the competition for survival between humanity and monsters. The only person it truly resented was me."
"That doesn't make sense though. IlHan, you only wanted to survive too!"
The Yu IlHan from a thousand years ago was also the same as the other humans, monsters and Chaos Will. He only struggled for survival. So, if Chaos Will wanted to accept humans, then it had to accept Yu IlHan as well. Otherwise, it was self-contradictory, no?
"No, it's not that. It's a different sort of problem."
Liera's words this time were very reasonable as well, but Yu IlHan, who was sure of his thoughts, retorted with a simple explanation.
"In the kingdom of animals, it doesn't matter if a lion eats a deer, but you would still be enraged if a friend was killed by a lion, no? It should be something along those lines. It had been alive for a thousand years and was perhaps one of the animals I had almost damaged! In the end, it turns out to be so simple, no?"
"...Yup, very simple. I don't want to understand, but I still do."
Yes. The target of its resentment was not all of humanity but Yu IlHan alone. That resentment was neither grand nor idealistic. It was a very private thing!
"Then what is it?"
Liera summed up the story with a strange expression.
"So, in the end, only you, IlHan, was its target of elimination, and the rest didn't matter at all? And to think back, the one that expelled humans from Earth was the Earth itself and not that guy..."
"It's not just that. Perhaps it wanted to become the lord of Earth. Like, developing Earth to its tastes, and raising an army inside it?"
Without Yumir, the ratio of survivors would be even more pitiful. However, the child who grows alone in that hell would become a strong being suited to Earth. Moreover, the child would share its record, so there would be a possibility of becoming a higher existence as well...
"So that's it."
At that moment, the vague and unacceptable story became clear.
"It was preparing for the moment Earth becomes a higher world, in its own way."
"...That's true, there's also the creation of 5th-class monsters that became less and less flawed. And there's the fact that it did something to the children sent to the hell dungeon….."
However, there were two unknown variables in that perfect plan: Yu IlHan and Yumir. Yu IlHan had created the Flying Fortress to wipe out all the monsters on Earth by himself, and Yumir had wiped out the hell dungeon by developing the children who would otherwise have grown up naturally.
Although the two's methods of going about ruining this plan were very drastic, one very loner-like and one very popular, it did not change the fact that they struck a huge axe in the plan.
"The expression of 'lord of the Earth' really sounds suitable. If there's a lord of Earth right now, wouldn't it be you and Mir? You've taken the throne in a splendid manner."
"What good is that? I don't need it. Take it back."
Yu IlHan shook his hand and looked at the children again. The children who might have become the forces of monsters had become Yumir's army and were here. This was a good thing at least for his son Yumir.
However, Yu IlHan couldn't stay smiling all the time.
"And so? How many children are here in total again...?"
"Yeah, it's 9,300 in total."
That was because the number of children Yumir had taken in was overwhelmingly small. There should have been many, many more children born after the Great Cataclysm, but the survivors numbered only 9,300!
This was also thanks to Yumir proactively rescuing the children while going around the dungeon, and if things had gone as Chaos Will had predicted, then the survival ratio would have decreased to a tenth of this.
The sheer scale of the casualties was far beyond Yu IlHan's imagination, so Yu IlHan gave up thinking about it. Humans could not reverse time, so he could only proceed with what he had in his hands.
"...Well done, Mir. Very well done."
"Yeah."
Yumir liked it when Yu IlHan praised him and stroked his head. Despite being a monstrosity over level 230 and the commander of a 9,300-strong army, Yumir was merely 6 years old; an age when he would do anything to be praised by his parents. It's just that the results turned out this way because of his abilities!
"Is it really the hero's parents?"
"But what are 'parents'?"
"Hiing, I also want to see mommy."
The 9,300 children who were wary of Yu IlHan at the beginning saw that Yu IlHan and Liera had no hostility at all, and that Yumir was acting pampered in Yu IlHan's arms; they dispelled their wariness a little. Although they were still talking from far away.
"IlHan, are you going to leave them like that?"
"No, ... I think I have to do something."
Yu IlHan made a bitter smile while looking at the children who were high-level but were still no better than babies.
They couldn't stay on guard against each other forever. He thought about what would be best in this situation when...
"Good."
Yu IlHan spoke so that everyone could hear it.
"Let's eat up first."
Yu IlHan used everything he could use to make food for all 9,300 children. He wiped out a field without an owner to make a salad, cast a giant net from the Flying Fortress to catch fish to make soft-boiled fish, boiled soup using the Giant Bucket, and grilled meat.
All of the above happened within 2 hours. The children only drooled as they watched one miracle after another unfold in Yu IlHan's two hands. It was no wonder, since all of these children only had demon flesh for food for nearly 3 years!
[The skill Cooking has reached level 98.] Roughly made food tastes better now.]
Perhaps because he did large-scale cooking for a while, his skill level increased as well. Yu IlHan installed numerous tables in the garden of his mansion and was satisfied.
"Good, I'll be able to master the Cooking skill as well one day."
"Nom nom... this is what's unfair about the Akashic Record. Although, I don't care since the meat is tasty." Liera muttered as she stuffed her cheeks with meat. Perhaps she had become hungrier more easily after she became a lower existence. Yu IlHan gave her a smack on the forehead.
"I didn't even set the table, so don't eat it first."
"But it would be a pity for the meat to turn cold! It's cooking made with my dear IlHan."
"Then don't eat it and help with the setting up."
"Yes, sir."
Even though they were quarrelling as usual, it felt as if flowers were being scattered around them. The stable mood around the two left no room for Mystic to tease them. Yumir, who had been looking only at his father until then, also noticed Liera at that moment and shouted in shock.
"Liera noona became weaker!"
"No, I became stronger, Mir. With love, that is….. Oh, and call me mother."
"But in fact noona's strength is….."
"I became stronger! And call me mother!"
Biting off a large chunk of the vegetable salad like a rabbit, Liera said again, in a stronger tone. Yumir really wanted to retort since he knew the strength of Liera's 6th-class days, but gave up after seeing Liera's eyes full of stars and hearts. At that time, Yu IlHan gave her a punishment in Yumir's stead.
"I said work."
"Ouch."
The grounds of the mansion were wide enough for all of the over 9,000 children to fit on them. Tables were placed between them, and cooking was set out on all of those tables. The children, who hesitated to eat at first, began eating after seeing Yumir eat without holding back.
"Wow."
"It's not tough."
"What do you call this?"
"Tasty!"
"Good, eat to your heart's content."
It didn't take long for the delicate, quiet mealtime to turn into a chaotic party. Yu IlHan, who had already predicted this would happen, scooped out food for them while cooking meat stew in a giant pot.
It was like a battle. The children who were eating everything they saw clashed with Yu IlHan's will, causing them to collapse from overeating.
[They looked like they starved for at least 3 days.]
[You shouldn't be able to say that if you know the environment inside that hell dungeon.]
"Orochi's words are right. No matter how it had tinkered with something, no matter how Yumir was there, it is still amazing that they were able to survive until now..."
The dinner ended only three hours after Liera finished her meal and went into spectator mode. The children, who had only been eating and drinking, all collapsed to the ground when half of the food in the mansion had been emptied.
"So happy."
"I feel like I've wasted half my life thinking about how I couldn't eat such a tasty thing."
"What's life?"
"It's living."
"How long can we live?"
"Hero's dad is a good person."
"What's a dad?"
A very four-dimensional conversation, which made him wonder if they were clever or idiots, played out. Perhaps they were spouting whatever words came to their minds since they were full and relaxed.
Yu IlHan left the children to rest like that and checked with Yumir.
"And so, Mir. What do you want to do with those children?"
"I'm going to let them do what they want."
But the problem was that they all wanted to follow him, he added. Yu IlHan heard that and made a bitter smile while facing him. Then, he thought for a bit before speaking.
"Then what about we let them act with us for a while? In fact, Dad is thinking about one way to return Earth to the normal state….."
Yu IlHan explained the plan, and Yumir nodded. The children who heard his words, of course, followed him without any complaints. The fact that Yu IlHan had gained their trust with food also played a role.
With that, the Flying Fortress and the Dragon's army combined.
This was the creation of the strongest and the worst organization on Earth.