Shaking his head, Godzilla dismissed the thought. As long as they didn't attack him or show hostility, he wouldn't bother with them.
Unless he was bored—then he wouldn't mind teaching them a lesson.
"That direction… is the mining district?" The blue-haired girl at the front stared at Godzilla's retreating back with a puzzled expression.
But whatever the case, they were alive.
"Phew, we're safe…" Pela's legs gave out, and her small body collapsed onto Seele's lap, her cheeks flushed.
-------------------------------
"Bang!" The stone wall trembled, and the vibrations spread out. Many people were already weak in the legs, and this made them collapse directly to their knees.
"Is that... a Geomarrow vein?!" After steadying herself, Seele looked toward the direction where Godzilla had attacked and was stunned to discover that a large portion of the original stone wall had peeled away, revealing vast patches of orange-yellow Geomarrow inside.
By rough visual estimation, this Geomarrow vein could supply the upper and lower districts for about ten years!
Before she could even feel happy about it, she saw Godzilla swipe twice, carve out a space for itself, lazily lie down, close its eyes, and drift off to sleep.
Only the frightened people were left looking at each other in confusion.
"So... it came here just to find a place to stay?" Natasha breathed a sigh of relief, gently patting her chest as she relaxed.
Cocolia and the others rushed over in a panic. When they saw the chaotic scene underground, their hearts tightened—but upon seeing no traces of blood, they finally relaxed.
"Is everyone okay?"
Natasha stepped forward to speak with Cocolia.
"No reports of injuries for now. That big guy over there was probably drawn by the Geomarrow and decided to make this place its nest."
Not far away, the scars left on the stone walls of the mining area were faintly visible. A massive figure could be seen rising and falling with each breath.
Faced with an incident beyond her ability to handle, Cocolia sighed helplessly and looked up at Natasha.
"Let's evacuate everyone from underground for now. Until we're certain it's safe, everyone should leave the mining area."
At this point, there was nothing else to do but take things one step at a time.
...
Godzilla's thoughts were simple. He needed a large amount of energy, and Geomarrow, in both quantity and energy content, met those requirements perfectly.
It could provide Belobog with hundreds of years of energy. Even if a large portion were consumed, the remaining amount would still be enormous.
As for whether occupying the mining area would disrupt the lives of the people of Belobog… that was none of his concern.
After all, he had eliminated the Stellaron, the source of their disaster, for them. Taking some compensation was only fair.
His consciousness gradually sank, and Godzilla once again drifted into sleep.
...
On the other side, after an orderly evacuation, all the people from underground had moved to the upper district.
Although housing problems couldn't be solved in the short term and many people had to pitch tents in the square, the overall mood remained relaxed.
In today's Belobog, while snow still covered the outside, the cold wave no longer swept through.
People wore short sleeves for the first time in years, enjoying the cool breeze under the warmth provided by the heating system.
...
Spring passed and autumn came; the years never stopped moving forward.
With the threat of the cold wave gone, Belobog had come back to life.
Heaters were no longer scattered everywhere, and large tracts of farmland flourished on the outskirts. Vibrant green shoots spread their vitality freely.
On the farmland, large groups of people were working hard.
"Ah~ ahhh!" One young man straightened his back and pounded his fist into his lower back, a refreshing soreness shooting up to his head.
"Leo, you're getting weak!" A young man working alongside Leo saw his movements and teased him.
"Shut up! What do you know? I'm looking at the hope of Belobog!" Leo glared at his companion, his gaze following the endless stretch of green shoots as he sighed with emotion.
"I always thought I'd die heroically in battle against the Fragmentum monsters. I never imagined I'd live to see such beautiful things one day."
He, Leo, was a former Silvermane Guard!
Now he was a proud farmer of Belobog. This entire plot of land was a gift from the Great Guardian in recognition of his service. The guy next to him was someone he'd dragged along as free labor.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Leo looked toward Belobog standing proudly in the sunlight. His expression was full of emotion.
"A few years ago, I wouldn't have even dared to dream that I could own such a large piece of farmland."
"Who would've thought? All these years of perseverance have finally paid off."
Only those who had lived through the sunless era could truly understand the beauty of today. So...
"Glory to the gods!"
...
Qlipoth Fort
People coming and going were all wearing short sleeves, as if they were making up for all the times they hadn't worn them before.
"And so, the Beast Lord saved Jarilo, blowing away the cold wave, melting the ice and snow, and people returned to their home filled with birdsong, blooming flowers, and lush green trees."
The blue-haired girl with gentle eyes softly told the children about the events that had truly happened.
"Miss Pela!"
"Does Little Derrick have a question?"
"Uh-huh! Does Miss Pela know where the Beast Lord is?"
"And, and, what does the Beast Lord eat since they're sooo big?"
"… The Beast Lord is a god. Even I don't know the affairs of the gods."
"Eh~."
The children ran off, disappointed.
"Tch, those little brats." Hearing the voice from behind her, Pela smiled helplessly.
"Children are always full of curiosity about the world; it's only natural."
"Only you would indulge these little brats." Seele chuckled softly as she slowly walked forward.
"Bronya asked me to call you. Let's go, Pela."
Watching Seele's figure leading the way, Pela chuckled lightly.
"Seele obviously cares about everyone too."
…
Qlipoth Fort
A grand and towering statue of Godzilla stood majestically on the ground. Compared to the original's hundred-meter-tall massive body, this four-meter statue seemed almost small and cute.
Along the way, passersby could be seen paying their respects to the statue.
Under the statue's gaze, Pela and Seele stepped into Qlipoth Fort
"Whoa!" — Dumpling attack!
Pela lost her footing, stumbling two steps. Seele reacted quickly, grabbing Pela with one hand while catching the fleeing culprit with the other.
"Hook, what's got you in such a rush? I don't think there are any Rift monsters chasing you in Belobog right now, are there?"
"Let me go! Lord Hook has important business to attend to!"
"Oh? Now you have important business?"
Hook wriggled her short little legs desperately, but Seele wasn't about to let her go.
She pulled out some bandages she got from Natasha and wrapped Hook up tightly, layer after layer, turning the pitch-black Lord Hook into a spotless white one.
Just as she finished, the sound of footsteps approached from the distance.
"Hook! I finally caught you!" It was Clara — and she looked angry, clutching a "stick" in her hand.
When Clara reached Hook, she unfolded the "stick." It turned out to be several workbooks that were dizzying to look at.
"If it weren't for today's spot check, I wouldn't have known! You only wrote two lines of the homework that Lady Cocolia assigned — and you even tore out the middle pages! Come with me, the homework is due in three days."
After saying that, Clara waved goodbye to the two of them and walked away, carrying the wriggling, mummy-like Hook.
"Poor Hook." Seele prayed for Hook's fate.
Pela smiled helplessly.
"It couldn't be helped before. But now that there's no more cold wave or Rift creatures to worry about, it's only natural to focus on educating the children — especially gifted ones like Hook."
Now that Belobog was no longer divided into an upper and lower layer and the Stellaron crisis had been resolved, Cocolia immediately turned her attention to education. Those walking the path of destiny were her top priority.
And so, Hook's escape attempts became a regular occurrence.
"Eh?" Pela suddenly remembered something and looked suspiciously at Seele. "If I remember correctly, Bronya also assigned you homework. Did you already finish it?"
"…Haha, let's just hurry up and find Bronya."