Got a Gallery in the Wild

I tried to convince Lackey to try a little ambergris, but unfortunately the plan failed.

Until now, he had always eaten whatever I gave him without suspicion, but for some reason he specifically refused the ambergris.

He seemed to have sensed something.

Perhaps some kind of animal instinct?

‘Though, of course. No matter how good it smells, the texture leaves a lot to be desired.’

Besides being soft, it was sticky.

I considered insisting a little more, but even Sloth seemed to be telling me to stop, so I decided not to force it.

‘For now, I’ll keep the ambergris inside the backpack.’

I was storing it inside the spatial backpack.

If I left it lying around, it could attract ants and all kinds of insects.

I had insect repellent, but I couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that the ants might somehow get through it.

Fortunately, it wasn’t very heavy, so it was easy to carry around.

However, it also had a drawback.

Float.

At some point, the spatial backpack had begun rising on its own.

At first, I was surprised, but the cause was fairly easy to imagine.

After all, the fish that had consumed ambergris had also started flying around like a bug.

So it wasn’t strange for a spatial backpack containing ambergris to start levitating.

‘At least, thanks to it being a spatial backpack, it’s still easy to store.’

I tied the floating backpack down with a rope and secured it firmly.

Losing the ambergris would already be bad.

But losing the spatial backpack would be an enormous loss.

Sometimes Wonmo got curious and smacked it with his paws.

Fortunately, I had anticipated something like that and secured it tightly.

‘Though that Flying Magic Tower…’

After playing around with the ambergris for a while, I checked the topic currently causing an uproar in the Gallery.

According to what people were saying, only one or two hours earlier, the Magic Tower, symbol of the Kingdom of Iris, had begun rising into the sky.

It was the first time in history that an entire structure had floated, so the Gallery was full of posts about it.

Title) Not bait. It’s real

(Photo of the Magic Tower floating in the sky)

(Video of the tower rising even higher while citizens watch and murmur below)

(Video of knights pushing people back)

(Video of mages and scholars evacuating)

I live in the capital of the Kingdom of Iris.

At first there was an earthquake, so I went outside to see what was happening.

Then I saw that the Magic Tower was slowly rising.

At first I thought it was incredible.

But when it started going up, debris began falling everywhere and it became extremely dangerous.

Fortunately, there were no other buildings near the tower.

If there had been, a lot of people would have been killed or injured.

The knights have the situation under control now, but people are still pretty uneasy.

ㄴWow… what the hell is that? Isn’t that the Forest of Four Seasons?

ㄴNope. That’s the capital of the Kingdom of Iris. And that’s the Magic Tower.

ㄴWhy is something that looks like it belongs in the Forest of Four Seasons happening?

ㄴThe world is going to hell lol. First the protests in Eldorado and now the Magic Tower is flying lmao.

ㄴWhat if an invisible giant pulled it out of the ground like a radish?

ㄴI applaud your imagination.

ㄴExcuse me, how old are you?

ㄴAnd why does that matter?

ㄴBecause that sounds exactly like something my son would say. He’s five years old.

ㄴI’m five years old too.

ㄴ…Thirty-five lol.

ㄴLMAO, the first number is different!

ㄴI can’t believe this hahaha.

ㄴGoo goo ga ga.

Even looking at such a popular post, it was impossible to imagine what was happening.

After all, there were no floating buildings in the sky on Earth either.

It was such an unbelievable situation that it was difficult to believe even while seeing it with your own eyes.

‘Though there are no edits or image manipulation here.’

Whereas on Earth AI could create things so bizarre they seemed miraculous, not here.

What you saw and heard was exactly what existed.

If image or video editing were possible, the Gallery’s credibility would be in ruins.

Even so, I found it difficult to accept the existence of that floating Magic Tower.

‘Besides, it’s not really a problem that has anything to do with me.’

It was like hearing news from another country.

To give an example, it was similar to hearing that an earthquake had occurred in Japan.

Most countries, aside from the Kingdom of Iris, probably saw it that way.

Even so, I hoped everything would be resolved without anyone getting hurt.

‘Though would it be possible to lift a building like that using ambergris?’

That thought suddenly crossed my mind.

The same ambergris that had made a spatial backpack float.

Comparing sizes, the difference was absurd.

But the important thing was that it really could make things float.

‘Nah. If that were the case, AllFather would have already sent me a message.’

If the ambergris had caused it, AllFather would have contacted me immediately.

But so far, there had been no sign of him.

He was probably too busy researching it.

Let the Magic Tower deal with its own problems.

I had my own.

‘It’s already getting dark. I’d better put everything away.’

I planned to head out again the next day, so I finished organizing my things.

In the morning, I would train.

And in the afternoon, I would go exploring again.

Explore where?

The areas near the places I had already visited.

Until now, I had been moving in straight lines.

Now I wanted to search every corner of those regions.

Maybe I had overlooked something important.

In other words, I wanted to reveal more of the map.

Dad Raccoon kept bringing medicinal herbs frequently.

That meant there had to be an area where they grew abundantly.

I could search for that place myself.

Or perhaps discover other mysterious substances like ambergris.

My control over the cold had improved, and the weather had become milder.

I had to take advantage of the opportunity while I could still move around freely.

That said.

I had absolutely no intention of approaching the area where the gorillas lived.

At most, I would observe what the kangaroos were doing.

‘Maybe I should do some reconnaissance?’

Come to think of it, the kangaroos’ territory wasn’t that far from here.

And that meant they could invade my territory at any time.

Any animal that crossed the fence without my permission was an enemy.

If they were people, I could settle it through conversation.

But they were beasts.

I decided to prepare thoroughly before going tomorrow.

‘I’ve already done everything I needed to do, so now…’

It’s time to browse the Gallery.

There is no better way to kill time.

When I logged back in, posts about the Flying Magic Tower were still appearing nonstop.

Every now and then, someone would post news about the protests in Eldorado.

But the Magic Tower continued to dominate the conversation.

And honestly, I would much rather read about curious things like the Flying Magic Tower than endless political debates.

[Come to think of it, isn’t the imperial succession ceremony coming up?]

[Who is Arnold, the next Emperor of the Messiah Empire?]

Besides the Flying Magic Tower, there were other trending topics as well.

This one was about the crown prince of the Messiah Empire.

In fact, it had been one of the Gallery’s recurring topics for several days.

It had simply been buried beneath all the chaos in Eldorado.

I remembered seeing the Gallery talk about it nonstop.

At the time, I had been too busy dealing with Lackey’s problems and other issues to pay attention.

‘If I compare it to Earth, would it be like when the leader of a superpower changes?’

The Messiah Empire was a great power.

It wasn’t called an “Empire” for nothing.

Though it didn’t really have much to do with me.

Still, since people kept bringing it up, I clicked out of curiosity.

Title) Who Is Arnold, the Next Emperor of the Messiah Empire?

(A brief explanation of how Emperor Robert carefully strengthened the Empire’s internal affairs)

…And because of that, Crown Prince Arnold will probably focus on diplomacy from now on.

The recent movements of the elves are concerning.

And on top of that, protests have broken out in Eldorado.

From Robert’s perspective, he chose a pretty good time to transfer power.

But Arnold will have to prove himself if he wants to determine the Empire’s future direction.

ㄴWhat kind of person is Arnold? A spoiled useless brat?

ㄴNot at all. I’d say he’s pretty normal.

ㄴAbsolutelyTheBestArnoldEver) The only thing that’s certain is that he’s handsome and competent.

ㄴArnold? Is that you?

ㄴLMAO. That’s definitely him. Nobody would write something like that unless they were Arnold himself.

ㄴBut technically he’s telling the truth. He is very handsome.

ㄴI’m a noble, and every time the Crown Prince appears, I watch young noblewomen swarm around him. It gives me a serious existential crisis lol.

ㄴOkay, he’s handsome. But is he actually competent? Robert at least proved he knew how to govern.

ㄴThat’s exactly why he’ll have to prove himself. Even if people call him an internal-affairs emperor, Robert was incredibly capable.

ㄴDo you know what Robert’s greatest achievement was? Sponsoring Swordmaster Ash lol.

ㄴThat’s actually a fact hahaha. He gave Ash a countess title when she had absolutely nothing and built a political foundation for her.

ㄴBy the way, what’s Ash doing these days? She disappeared all of a sudden and nobody knows anything.

ㄴI heard a rumor she found a man and got married.

ㄴThat’s obvious bait. I saw her shopping at the market with her mother yesterday.

ㄴAnd how do you know that?

ㄴIt wasn’t just me. Lots of people saw her. Her mother keeps dragging her out of the house.

ㄴAh hahaha, yeah, I saw that too.

ㄴDo you think she’ll attend the succession ceremony?

ㄴDefinitely. It’s a ceremony where the Emperor changes, after all.

ㄴWildGrills) Will people from other countries attend as well?

ㄴ??? What’s this guy talking about now?

ㄴWhy would foreigners attend?

ㄴGrills, unless they’re vassal states, people from other countries don’t attend.

ㄴGoing would practically be the same as declaring yourself a subject of the Empire lol.

ㄴExcept for individual cases, it’s extremely rare for foreign nobles to attend.

Now that I thought about it, when a president was elected, people usually just sent congratulations.

They didn’t go in person.

‘Did Ming and Joseon do that…? No idea.’

Either way, it wasn’t my concern.

Unless my name started circulating among the nobility.

The problems of the outside world could be handled by the people living there.

‘They said nobles avoid mentioning the Gallery because it affects their private lives, right?’

Due to the nature of the community, even ordinary people avoided talking about it.

Nobody wanted to suddenly hear something like.

‘You look at that kind of stuff?’

Personal embarrassments were meant to stay buried inside the Gallery.

“Kyuu. Kyuu.”

While I was browsing posts, Wonmo tapped me with his front paw.

It looked like a cat kneading.

I couldn’t help but smile.

“Wonmo, what’s wrong? Want to play again?”

“Kyuu!”

It seemed he had become addicted to the experience of flying.

But I had already used up all the incense.

If I wanted more, I’d have to ask SunForEver to send me another piece.

And I didn’t want to bother him again.

So I chose another method.

“Hop. This should work.”

“Kyuuuu!”

I decided to use the floating spatial backpack.

I tied it to Wonmo like a helium balloon.

And sure enough, he started floating.

He looked so happy to be able to fly freely that he began circling the entire cave.

Thud!

“Kyuuuuuu!”

“Gah?!”

There was a small accident along the way.

But he was so adorable that I decided to ignore it.

***

While Grills was enjoying a peaceful life.

The Messiah Empire was in a frenzy due to the approaching succession ceremony.

The transfer of the throne signaled the beginning of a new era.

Every citizen of the Empire was preparing to witness the face of the next Emperor.

Commoners repaired roads and prepared flowers to welcome the crowds.

Nobles gathered every kind of clothing and accessory for the banquets following the ceremony.

Especially the nobles.

After all, a new ruling elite was about to emerge.

Making a good first impression was essential for securing their future.

“Mom! Do you know where my uniform is?”

“Why are you asking me? You probably hung it somewhere yourself.”

“But you took it to wash it!”

And that also applied to Swordmaster Ash.

Although she had been born a commoner, the current Emperor Robert had recognized her talent and supported her.

She now lived in retirement.

But appearing at the succession ceremony would be extremely beneficial.

It would demonstrate that she still supported Robert.

And that she would also be a steadfast ally of the future Emperor Arnold.

The political instincts she had developed during her days as a commoner existed precisely for moments like this.

“Mom, I can’t find it.”

“And what will you give me if I find it?”

“How about an ‘I love you’?”

“What a child… Here. It’s right here.”

Ash’s eyes widened.

The uniform she had been searching for all this time was resting calmly in her mother’s hands.

For a moment, she made an odd expression.

Then she looked at the immaculate uniform and fell into thought.

‘It’s been a long time since I wore this.’

She still remembered the first day she received it.

It was the same day she was granted the title of Countess and joined the Imperial Guard.

Back then, countless people had tried to stand in her way.

But Robert had resolved every one of those problems.

Then came the existential crisis of realizing she had passed thirty without getting married.

And eventually she retired from public life.

Ash examined the uniform before slowly putting it on.

Although she hadn’t worn it in a long time, it still fit perfectly.

Her special constitution made her stronger just by breathing.

She didn’t need training to maintain a flawless physique.

‘Yes. Perfect.’

Ash looked at her reflection in the mirror.

The unemployed shut-in had vanished.

In her place stood only a dignified and elegant knight.

The white trousers emphasized her powerful legs.

The white upper uniform projected a clean and refined image.

For a moment, she even considered taking a picture and uploading it to the Gallery.

It was a perfect combination of beauty and elegance.

‘Well, most people who wear this uniform have good physiques.’

There was originally a cloak symbolizing the rank of commander as well.

But she was retired now.

Ash carefully inspected every detail for flaws.

And after a long while, she arrived at a conclusion.

‘Ah. I don’t want to go.’

The heartfelt wish of a true homebody.

She didn’t want to go.

But she had to.

An absurdly contradictory situation.

Who knew how much suffering awaited her there?

There would surely be people talking about her return.

‘I’ll do the bare minimum and come straight home.’

“If you walked around in that uniform, you’d have men lining up to date you—no, actually, just bringing home one would be enough…”

“……”

“Since you’re going, find yourself a proper husband. Otherwise, don’t even think about coming back.”

“Ah, Mom…”

No matter what.

To her mother, Ash was still unemployed.

***

While Ash argued with her mother.

“Selena, do you really have to go? Your health still hasn’t fully…”

“I’m fine, Father. Besides, it’s a good opportunity to show that I’ve recovered.”

“Your father can explain everything perfectly well. Your mother agrees too.”

“No. Besides, I also need to introduce Mary. I’m definitely going.”

StarlightPrincess Selena was also busy preparing for the succession ceremony.

Unlike the Forest of Four Seasons, the true eye of the storm, the situation across the world was changing at a dizzying pace.