"Hello, it's been a while since I turned on the stream, this is Mr. Park, a farmer from Jeolla Province."
-What are you doing at this time?
-When are you going to post traditional content?
Farmer Park was a farmer who was also a part-time YouTuber.
He is a typical local YouTuber who combines his job with farming, showing rural life such as farming content, frog eating, and wild boar hunting.
He was here to see his neighbor Kim's rice field, which he said was recently disrupted by the appearance of the gate.
"Didn't I mention in the community that Mr. Kim's field is affected by the gate?"
-You did.
-The Firebird Guild won the bid.
-Mr. Kim set up a table for the Firebird Guild Hunters to eat and drink to make things right.
"Oh, but I heard that the dungeon break happened."
-Mr. Park's son-in-law.
-The Firebird Guild with an S-rank Yong-wan and multiple A-ranks couldn't clear a scarlet gate?
-Bullshit ㄴㄴ
The viewers' reactions made Mr. Park feel resentful, as he had seen Mr. Kim, the owner of the field, cry unwillingly when he saw the field contaminated by the miasma.
Park didn't know much about the Hunters, but he knew that Firebird was a famous guild and that they were very good.
Still, the Dungeon Break happened, and Kim's fields were still being contaminated by miasma. It was the farmer's worst fear since the Cataclysm 30 years ago.
"I swear to God," he says, "even the people from the association are here, and they're freaking out. All my rice is rotten because it was contaminated by miasma."
Mr. Park zoomed in on the camera footage, showing the contaminated land and the Association staff confronting the Firebird Guild.
It wasn't just the rice that was rotting, but the skeletal remains strewn about, suggesting the remains of skeletons.
-...Really? If it's spreading like wildfire in Hunan, it must be an early harvest this year, but no news?
-Isn't it fucked up? At least they've increased farming subsidies because food self-sufficiency is down.
-What's the point of more subsidies? I don't have any land to farm.
-The answer is smart farms. Buy Doojung Future Food now.
-Worms OUT!
After that, Mr. Park continued to take videos around the gate.
Although the gate was cordoned off, Park was lucky enough to be spotted wandering among the crops, and the viewers' reactions became more serious.
"Oh… there's a foreigner."
Then, a blond man walked into his camera and the viewers raised questions.
-Who is this foreigner? Is he from the Firebird Guild?
-He's poorly equipped for such a thing. He's not even wearing any gear.
-Then he's an Association employee?
-There are no Europeans in the Association. But he's very handsome.
-Aren't there many women over there? They're all carrying something? Zoom in on them Mr. Park.
Park saw the altar and the straw puppets.
'Are they doing a ritual?'
It's not uncommon to see people doing rituals on the land contaminated by miasma.
They hope it will cleanse the land, but in the end, the only way to cleanse it is to inject the reagent in time.
'Is that blond guy some kind of mage? No, he doesn't look like a mage at all.'
Mr. Park was strangely uneasy about the man.
It's not just his appearance and even though he was being filmed from a distance, the living saint's radiance exuded an air of nobility.
He instinctively felt a sense of "authenticity" that he doesn't get from the upper class and actors he often sees on TV or the internet.
The modern aristocracy may be high achievers and entrepreneurs, but their elegance and pedigree can't replicate the real thing.
Then, in the next moment Mr. Park, a farmer, witnesses a moment that will change his life.
* * * *
Leon is the first knight of Arianna, the goddess of light and justice.
All the previous Lionheart Kings of the Divine Knightly Kingdom of Lionheart were Arianna's first champions in her service.
But in the Kingdom of Lionheart, where harmony with and service to the gods is a virtue, some gods are essential to the faith, so naturally the Lionheart Kings are also their champions.
[Lionheart. My child.]
"Greetings to you, Demera, Goddess of Life and Fertility."
Leon did the courtesy of dropping to one knee, offering his respect and reverence to the crested figure.
Demera's stature in the pantheon is high. She is the embodiment of all life and the goddess of abundance.
As everyone struggled to understand the voice that echoed from the straw doll, Demera, the god within the straw doll, spoke.
[This new land is also being invaded by evil. The land is polluted.]
"Yes, evil species exist in this land. But I fear that the absence of divinity and the lowly, lowly pigs will stain the eyes of the Goddess."
Leon's first emotion upon returning to Earth was disappointment.
Being an awakened or a survivor is secondary. He had only a faint memory of the 20 years he had been alive.
However, when he returned, he found himself faced with the domination of a guild and an incompetent government, which was both pathetic and sad.
[Ignorance and greed are not necessarily sins. Such is the nature of mortal life. What do you intend to do about it?]
"I don't like it, but that doesn't mean I'm going to drive out the legitimate rule. This land elects its leaders through the pathetic means of voting, but that's the way it's supposed to be, and that's the way it is."
It was the only reason he recognized the president's authority.
The incompetence of a man who can't handle a bunch of knife-wielders is appalling, but the right to rule is sacred, and he intends to follow due process.
"I will establish parallels between rights and duties on this earth then I will teach the ignorant and guide them on the right path."
Earth, his home, where power and money have become justice was a land devoid of divinity above all else.
Leon will build a new pantheon on this land. He would restore the gods of the now defunct pantheon and create a new order of Holy Knights.
To do this, he would need faith, countless followers, priests, and true believers to worship in the Great Hall.
"Oh, don't you have a favor to ask of this mother?"
Demera read Leon's intentions and smiled.
He was no longer a champion of light and justice alone.
When the gods of the pantheon chose the Grail Keeper, Leon, as their vessel and decided to put all of their divinity into the pantheon within his heart.
The gods staked everything on Leon. They trusted him to slay the hordes of evil and survive to the end.
He did so admirably for two hundred years, and then saw his chance in a new land so the gods of the Great Hall will grant him whatever he wishes. They will trust the greatest knight of all time to uphold their honor and sanctity.
"Yes, Demera. The free peoples of this land are suffering from a foul influence called miasma. Please heal and cleanse this land, though it is not your will."
Demera, the straw doll, had divinity at her fingertips.
It was a small blessing, nothing compared to the faith of so many but in a land where faith is absent, it would be a great miracle.
"You are my priest and our champion. The earth of this world might not be this mother's flesh but if you spread my divinity and replace this barren land with my flesh, everything on this earth will be your ally."
The land is infused with divinity.
A living saint, a demigod, the Lionheart king…and the Mother of Life blesses the land.
The earth is life. It is the source of life and the beginning of a world of abundance.
The divinity of the earth, with its infinite energy, created a marvelous sight.
The earth, contaminated with miasma, rotted and the rice that had come in was destroyed but the unforgiving divinity sprouted new life.
At the same time neither the contaminated soil nor the rotten rice could stop their growth, for the saint's hand had fulfilled the rightful duty of all life rooted in the earth.
Leon said to all those who watched from afar.
"See and realize, you uneducated and ignorant humans, this is the world with the divine!"
The procession of rice rose like gold while trembling hands and mouths clasped together at the miracle of life that had come forth from the polluted earth.
"Be fruitful and multiply. It is the rightful duty of the living, and this bountiful land is a testament to the covenant to all eternity."
* * * *
Han Ha-ri, Kim Jin-soo and the rest of the staff of the Hunter Association were dumbfounded by the miracle that was unfolding before their eyes.
How could a miasma pollute the land?
How can life not grow in a polluted land?
All of their questions led to one conclusion.
A malevolent force beyond the comprehension of human common sense or technology was at work to ravage the world.
Crops cannot grow on contaminated land. Cleanup efforts are possible, but they are offset by a significant investment of precious Hunter mana.
You can't grow crops on land contaminated with miasma. That's modern common knowledge, and why modern humans cling desperately to printed cultures and palm farms.
As more and more land becomes contaminated because of the Dungeon Breaks, humanity's food self-sufficiency rate will plummet.
"What the...."
Ha-ri and Kim Jin-woo couldn't believe their eyes at what they were seeing as the golden crops on the ground swayed gently in the wind.
The golden fields on the ground shone brilliantly, as if the fact that they had just been contaminated was a lie.
"Chief… This, this is real rice."
"I see it too."
The rice grew in an instant but it's not just the hunters' association that is horrified. So was the leader of the Firebird Guild, Lee Yong-wan, who was trying to intimidate the Hunter Association by polluting the land.
"Hah! You don't realize that crops grown by magic are poisonous!"
Yong Wan had a point.
Ever since the Cataclysm, mankind had been researching ways to grow crops with magic. However, the enchanted crops were inedible to ordinary humans and acted as toxins.
"What an ignorant thing to say. This is a crop blessed by the gods themselves. How can you judge it as poison?"
"It's just a straw doll──"
"I forgive ignorance only once. Do not defile the goddess with your light tongue."
There was something powerful and submissive about Leon's words. Above all, the implicit wariness he felt toward the survivors kept him from acting in vain.
'Shit, I shouldn't be doing this.'
The Hunan Plain was a hostage and just as the Association had suspected, the Firebird Guild had deliberately induced a dungeon break.
The top 10 Korean guilds still receive countless benefits, but they wanted more, and the centerpiece was the exemption for dungeon byproducts.
Right now, they want an exemption worth 1 trillion won a year, but they're only going to get bigger and bigger, eventually demanding a complete exemption.
In the end, if you scare the government with the excuse of Dungeon Break, the government will have no choice but to accept it, even if it means protecting the country and its people.
But it was all ruined by one survivor and Yong-wan wanted to say something.
"Let's check it out," he said, "I think it needs to be verified for the safety of the people who will be eating that rice."
His intentions aside, the argument was true.
Crops grown with magic are inedible to normal humans. So, of course, it needed to be tested.
"I'll lend you my guild's appraiser. I'm curious to see what you've grown in one second."
Yong-wan smiled his trademark mean smile and waited for the results. Looking forward to the moment when he could unmask that shameless stranger.
If the crops showed even a trace of magical energy, he would call him a fraud.
"Go and check it!"
"Quick, quick."
"Our guild's appraisers are excellent."
Just as Yong Wan was expecting the appraiser's mouth to say that people couldn't eat this rice, the appraiser's mouth, which was covered in cold sweat, finally dropped.
"The appraisal result is Rare!"
"Huh?"
"Every single rice grade is Rare!"