**#188. Rael Row (1)**
—
The massive silhouette took the shape of a castle.
The boy froze for a moment.
His thoughts raced ahead, trying to make sense of the unknown before him, and soon touched upon a voice from the past.
*“It wasn’t until I came to my senses and retraced my memories that I realized.”*
*“The upper part of the shadow had the form of a castle. The lower part had these enormous leg-like structures that moved it forward.”*
*“It wasn’t just my mercenary group that witnessed the thing. There were quite a few others.”*
Sector 47. Lady Lenia.
The story she had once told him.
A moving castle in the midst of a sandstorm.
Judging from the vessel’s emotional response at the time, it had clearly not been a lie.
However, from the perspective of the boy, whose life was grounded in logic and realism, it wasn’t something he could wholly believe.
It must have been some kind of illusion.
And yet—
The massive shadow before his eyes now left no room for any possibility other than the castle Lady Lenia had described.
*“It’s close.”*
With that judgment, the boy immediately activated all the mana in his circles.
Multicolored mana surged through his entire body, ready to deploy into magic at a moment’s notice from any point, awakening every sensory node in his form.
The castle was near.
He couldn’t be sure yet, but if it harbored hostility or anything akin to it, this could be one of the worst situations he’d faced in recent times.
*“Laqria—”*
The boy was about to awaken the spirit, who should’ve recovered fully by now after a long rest following their encounter with the giant sandworm.
But he stopped mid-thought.
The serpent was already awake.
…Yellow mana thrashed wildly inside the jewel, as if a tiny storm had erupted within it.
Why?
He had no time to question. First, he had to regain control of the mana.
However—
───!
The yellow mana violently repelled his interference.
A trace of surprise surfaced.
Since obtaining the gem, he had spent considerable time refining his ability to control this yellow mana through continued communion.
*Wooooong—!*
He summoned the jewel to hover above his palm.
At once, Laqria burst out of it, racing up his arm like it was fleeing something.
The jewel emitted a piercing resonance and a blinding light.
Lady Lenia’s voice rang through his head again at that moment.
*“There’s constant debate among mages. About what powers that massive moving castle.”*
When he looked up, the castle silhouette passed right by the edge of the camp, seemingly unaware of his presence.
There wasn’t much time to think.
*Thunk—!*
He hurled a stone, hitting the bus dead-on, and as he drew forth the white mana in the circles, he hurled himself toward the storm.
Whipping sand and wind.
A vision clouded in dust.
*Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*
All manner of magical forces surged through the storm, crashing into the boy’s barrier, roaring as they struck.
But he didn’t yield.
He kept running, checking the rapidly draining amount of white mana, chasing the lumbering silhouette staggering through the sandstorm.
*Tap!*
Now standing directly in the path of the silhouette, the boy looked up at the giant shadow approaching him.
And then raised the still-resonating yellow jewel high.
*Wooooong—!*
Like a lighthouse beaming through the dark night of the wilderness, it blazed with radiant light.
Was this dangerous?
To stop an unknown entity?
Of course, it was.
But the boy was moved by a powerful intuition—that if he let it pass, he might never see it again.
He waved the gem-laden hand side to side.
*No response.*
Maybe it couldn’t see him?
Anxiety welled up in his chest.
His white mana was nearly depleted.
For safety’s sake, he should retreat to the camp now.
But regret held his ankles fast, and he continued waving until the very last moment.
*Crack! Craaack!*
Just as his barrier was about to shatter—
He saw a wave of white mana piercing through the storm.
*“Veronica, you realized what’s happening.”*
Using the white mana that reached him, he immediately reinforced his protection.
As expected from such high-quality elemental energy, the cracks in the barrier healed instantly.
The boy continued waving as the silhouette drew closer.
…….
At some point, he saw a human figure standing atop the silhouette.
The figure seemed to be looking down at him—and then suddenly disappeared as if fading into thin air.
And then—
─────.
Before long, the giant castle stopped moving.
*
*
*
Thanks to Veronica’s protective barrier and Grine’s support, weathering the storm at the camp wasn’t too difficult.
As the storm began to subside, the silhouette that had been obscured by the sand and wind gradually revealed itself.
“My god… I’ve heard the rumors, but that thing actually exists…?”
“I-I’m not even sure if what I’m seeing is real.”
Demper and Jang stood with their mouths agape.
“Is this a dream…?”
Veronica murmured blankly, not even realizing that strands of her hair had fallen into her mouth.
“A castle…! It’s an actual castle…!”
William muttered in a daze, as if entranced.
“What do you think that is?”
Grine, unlike the others, showed no panic—only curiosity.
Rising tall under the clear night sky, the thing could be described as a living, breathing mountain of rock, covered in intricate mechanical devices.
There were elevators and legs everywhere, functioning as means of locomotion.
Enormous barrels of some unknown metallic substance protruded outward, angled toward the exterior.
And on the sides of the mountain were what appeared to be cave entrances leading inside.
“A castle…? A mountain…? A tank…?”
As Veronica’s thoughts spiraled in confusion, one of the cube-shaped devices embedded around the mountain—specifically, one positioned near the bottom—suddenly projected a booming voice.
—Who are you? Why are you in possession of our power source?
**Our power source.**
Ray was now convinced that his hunch had been correct.
“Ray, it’s asking why we have their power source. Do you know what it’s talking about?”
“Think back. To what Lady Lenia told us.”
Prompted by Ray, Veronica sank into thought for a moment before her eyes widened in realization.
Meanwhile, Ray explained to Grine his theory about the mechanical fortress and its power source.
“There’s definitely… a possibility.”
Grine’s voice carried heavy interest and curiosity.
Taking a step forward, Ray raised the object he held in his hand.
It was a yellow gemstone, cracked in half. Though its glow had dimmed since earlier, it still gave off a strong resonant hum.
“This is the power source you’re talking about, right?”
The boy’s voice, amplified by magic, was immediately met with a response.
—Yes. That is the *electrostone* we searched for over many long years, but could never find. Where did you obtain it?
**Electrostone.**
Ray got the sense that the other party didn’t realize the gem was a fragment of the rainbow.
“I can answer your question.”
—Then tell me, where did you find the electrostone?
“But only if you answer one of mine first.”
—What question?
“Do you have electrostones too?”
—We do.
The answer came back without hesitation.
…Were they simply unguarded?
Or perhaps they were confident that, no matter what happened, they could subdue this side with ease?
There was no emotion in the voice—no clues to guess their intentions.
Ray exchanged glances with Veronica and Grine, then looked at their vessels in turn.
Tension, confusion, unease.
Interest, curiosity, wonder.
The emotions of the two contrasted on the surface, yet one feeling pulsed clearly at their core.
**Expectation.**
And Ray was no different. He, too, held that same emotion.
Turning back to the cube-shaped device, Ray spoke again.
“I’ll tell you where and how I found the electrostone. But it’s a long story—will that be alright?”
—It doesn’t matter.
“No, it *does* matter to us. We can’t stand out here the whole time.”
Ray pushed forward, unwilling to let what might be a once-in-a-lifetime chance slip away.
This time, there was no immediate reply.
Instead, after a short silence—
*Whirrr—*
A cave entrance opened, and from within, someone descended using an elevator.
They wore a thick brown cloak that covered their entire body, and their face was hidden behind an unknown device resembling a gas mask.
As the figure approached, they spoke.
“Come with me. I’ll guide you.”
They were noticeably shorter than Ray—perhaps under 160 centimeters—but their voice was unexpectedly mature.
A tone balanced between that of a boy and a young man, as though they’d just passed through puberty.
**No circles. Not a mage.**
Also, there was no particular hostility or malice in their vessel.
Nor was there any friendliness—best described as indifference.
Ray spoke.
“I doubt you were told to let all of us in.”
The figure seemed slightly surprised, then answered.
“You’re right. Three people, max.”
“Jang, Demper, William—you three stay here.”
A mana storm had just swept through the area, leaving no signs of beasts nearby. There was no need to bring along another mage.
Ray, Veronica, and Grine.
The three boarded the elevator with their guide.
*Whirrrr—*
With a smooth mechanical hum, the elevator ascended.
Veronica, looking out through the glass, whispered to Ray.
“It doesn’t rattle at all.”
Elevators in the sectors were all mana-powered, crudely designed to the point of producing loud noises and heavy shaking.
But this elevator had none of that.
Even more astonishingly, there wasn’t a single trace of mana flowing through the frame.
Which meant—this was a device built purely through engineering.
**High probability they aren’t human.**
While he was thinking this, the elevator arrived at a cave halfway up the mountain.
Following the guide, they passed through a noiseless door and entered the cave.
But the interior looked nothing like what they’d expected from outside.
**This wasn’t just a cave.**
The walls and ceiling were not rugged stone, but made of smoothly crafted, brightly colored construction materials.
Lights embedded densely in the ceiling illuminated the interior as brightly as day.
It didn’t feel like a cave at all—it felt like they had stepped inside a massive, elegantly designed structure.
*Shhhk.*
At that moment, the guide removed their gas mask.
What was revealed was the face of a boy not so different from a human.
That is—excluding the stony scales sprouting here and there like reptilian hide, and the skin cracked like drought-parched earth.
Noticing Ray’s intensely curious stare, the guide turned and asked,
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’re not human, are you?”
The guide stared blankly at Ray, then turned his head away, indifferent.
As though the question wasn’t even worth answering.
But that was fine.
The answer would soon become apparent in the sights that followed.
Throughout the maze-like halls, there were wide spaces—like archives or dining areas—clearly built for specific purposes.
There, beings sharing the same physical traits as the guide busied themselves with various tasks.
When they spotted Ray’s group, they whispered among themselves.
“Humans?”
“They’re humans.”
“Isra—what are humans doing here?”
Regardless of gender or age, none of them were taller than what humans would consider small stature.
Grine whispered softly.
“Looks like they don’t know what happened outside.”
“That’s right…! And as we walked through, I realized—this place is like a self-contained castle with everything inside.”
The guide—called Isra—responded tersely to every question flying at him, repeating that he was taking them to the Elders, and quickened his pace.
Through corridors, elevators.
Up and down who knew how many stairs.
Eventually, the group arrived before an enormous door.
“……”
Ray reached into his coat and touched the inner pocket.
The mechanical bird, which had paused for a while, began flapping its wings again, and the yellow gemstone’s glow blazed so brightly it could be seen even from outside.
Something was there.
Just beyond this door.
As the guide opened it, a voice came from within.
