Chapter 219: In Search of Land
Iron opened his eyes. For a while, he just lay on his back, staring at the wooden ceiling. Then he rubbed his eyelids with his fingers, stretched, working out the stiffness in his shoulders, and sat on the edge of the bed. He had no belongings—nothing to pack. He stood up and headed for the stairs.
The first floor was quiet. There was no one in the living room, and the kitchen was empty too. Iron pushed the front door open and stepped out into the yard.
Martha and Alfred were standing by the wagon. They were quietly arguing about something, but fell silent upon seeing Iron. The engineer walked closer.
"We're leaving today," he said right away. "We'll eat quickly and go. Make something for us to eat."
Caught off guard, Martha choked on her breath and stared at him:
"What do you mean, you're leaving? Already? Iron, you haven't even fully recovered! Stay for at least another couple of days."
Alfred nodded grimly, backing her up:
"What's the rush? Stay a bit longer, get your strength back properly."
"We have things to do," Iron answered calmly. "We can't stay."
Martha sighed, realizing it was useless to argue, and trudged to the kitchen.
Iron turned around and walked to the far edge of the yard. There, in a small clearing, Noah was practicing his sword strikes. Iron walked over to the rack, grabbed a second blade, and stood across from him. Noah nodded silently, adjusted his stance, and they began their usual sparring session.
About fifteen minutes passed. The boys finished sparring, returned the wooden swords to the rack, and went inside the house. Hot food, prepared by Martha, was already on the table.
Iron and Noah silently took their seats and picked up their spoons. Elyria never came downstairs, so there was no one at the table to distract them with questions or arguments. Noah ate quickly and with focus, showing with his whole demeanor that he was ready to head out.
Iron finished his portion first. He stood up, took his plate, carried it to the sink, and rinsed it with water. Wiping his hands on a towel, he left the kitchen and headed up the stairs to the second floor.
Approaching Elyria's room, Iron gave the door a short knock and immediately pushed it open.
The spirit was hovering in the air in the middle of the room, barely off the floor. Hearing the noise, she slowly opened her eyes and stared at the engineer.
"Elyria, it's time to go," Iron said from the doorway.
"Go where?" she asked in bewilderment, dropping a little lower.
"Don't know yet. We'll figure it out on the way."
Elyria frowned in disbelief:
"Are you serious?"
"Yes," Iron answered calmly, his expression unchanging.
She stared at his face for a few more seconds, trying to find even a hint of a joke. Realizing that changing his mind was pointless and that he would do things his own way regardless, Elyria sighed:
"Fine... Give me a little time."
"You have until Noah finishes eating," Iron tossed back, turning around and stepping out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.
He went downstairs, drank some water, and went out into the yard. He stood by the porch, his arms crossed over his chest. Soon, Noah came out of the house, adjusting his clothes as he walked.
"Where the hell is Elyria?" Iron muttered, looking around.
"And where are we actually going?" Noah asked, walking up to him.
"I don't know for sure yet," Iron answered. "Most likely, we'll be building our own kingdom."
Noah stared at him in surprise:
"Are you serious? Aren't you afraid history will repeat itself?"
"I don't care," Iron cut him off calmly. "Anyone who goes against us will simply die."
At that moment, Elyria materialized in the air next to them.
"Alright, I'm ready," she announced.
"We could've waited an eternity for you," Iron scoffed.
"Look who's talking!" Elyria snapped right back. "When you're messing around with your pieces of metal, it's impossible to drag you away. You even forget to eat!"
"Whatever, let's go," Iron dropped the argument and headed for the gate.
Martha and Alfred were waiting for them at the fence.
"Boys, at least let Alfred give you a ride in the wagon to wherever you need to go," the old woman offered. "We had another one here, Rauan—he resisted at first too, but then agreed."
"Thank you, but there's no need," Noah answered politely. "We don't need a wagon, we'll get there ourselves. We aren't exactly weak, after all."
Martha wanted to argue some more, but Alfred gently took her by the shoulder:
"Let it go, let them go on their own."
By this time, Iron had already walked about twenty meters down the road and shouted back over his shoulder:
"Are you going to stand there all day?"
Noah and Elyria quickly said their goodbyes to the old couple and picked up their pace, catching up with the engineer.
They had been walking down the well-worn road for a couple of hours. Elyria kept dropping down to the ground, then flying up higher, looking at the dirt road and the monotonous trees on either side with annoyance.
"So where are we going?" she finally snapped, unable to hold it in. "We're just going to get lost like this!"
Noah turned his head toward her:
"Don't you know this area? Some kind of map, kingdom borders?"
"Of course not!" Elyria exclaimed indignantly. “Why would I memorize all that? I don't bother with that kind of nonsense!”
Iron didn't even turn his head, continuing his steady pace down the dusty road:
"Fine. Then all we have left is luck."
"What?! Luck?!" Elyria froze in mid-air from sheer outrage, but the engineer didn't react at all and just kept walking. Defeated, she had no choice but to catch up with the boys.
About six hours passed. The road led into a small, dense forest.
Every now and then, forest beasts leapt out from the thicket, snarling and throwing themselves at the strangers. The moment a creature sprang from the bushes, Iron would calmly draw his sword, deliver a single precise strike, and keep walking, wiping the blade as he went.
As they pushed through the trees, the engineer silently evaluated his surroundings. He paid attention to every hill, ravine, or stream, trying to figure out if this territory would be suitable for building their future state. But the place was lousy: nothing but impassable wilderness, dampness, and terrible visibility.
Gradually, the conversation died down. Noah and Elyria trudged behind in silence, while Iron continued to lead them forward.
Another two hours passed. It had grown completely dark in the forest. Noah and Elyria clashed over nothing again and bickered the whole way about some petty detail.
Just to distract himself from her grumbling, Noah raised his voice and asked Iron:
"Listen, why don't we just run? Or why doesn't Elyria just teleport us straight to the right place?"
"We have to find the right place first," Iron replied without turning his head. "Elyria, from here, could you find a decent spot for a new state?"
"In my current form? Definitely not," the spirit grumbled. "Wait, hold on, state?"
"There's your answer," the engineer continued. "And we can't run, because we need to study the terrain. If you carry us at maximum speed, I simply won't have time to map out the topography."
At that moment, Lumon projected a clear grid directly onto Iron's retinas. From a bird's-eye view, the engineer could see every meter of the ground around them, reading the elevation changes, riverbeds, and soil structure.
"We'll need speed, but later," Iron added.
Soon, they came across some overgrown ruins—the remains of an ancient stone house with no windows or roof. The engineer stopped near the bushes by the wall:
"We'll make camp here."
"What, are you tired?" Elyria immediately asked.
"No," Iron answered. "I need to meditate a little so I can properly use mana."
They had no camping gear with them. Iron simply sat on the grass and closed his eyes, slipping into meditation. Noah let out a heavy sigh, sat down nearby, and leaned his back against a ruined stone wall.
At that moment, Elyria flew up a bit higher and plopped right down on top of Noah's head.
Noah winced and swatted her away with his hand:
"What are you doing?"
"Just hold me!" Elyria declared petulantly. "I don't want to sit on dirty rocks, and I'm already tired of levitating!"
"Why on earth should I do that?" Noah grumbled.
"Oh, please!" Elyria whined. "You were so sweet and kind in the village, and now you're being mean again. Is it really that hard for you?"
Noah mumbled something under his breath for a couple of seconds, then sighed and leaned the back of his head against the stone again:
"Fine... Just sit there."
Elyria settled onto the top of his head with a satisfied look, and silence fell over the ruins.