I, Ars Louvent, walked through the streets of Canarre at a rapid pace. Barely a month beforehand I was on what I thought was my deathbed, suffering from the effects of a lethal poison, but my recovery had been downright miraculous and I was now once again as healthy as could be. And, almost as if to chase away the memory of that terrible ordeal, I’d just received a piece of very good news: Shin Seimallo, the engineer I’d discovered in the Imperial Capital, had finally wrapped up the construction of his very first airship. This wasn’t like his previous prototype airship, which had been a very small vessel intended for testing purposes. No, this was a full-sized aircraft meant to transport people aboard it.
Thus, I hurried on my way to Shin’s workshop, stepping in the moment I arrived.
“Is it true?! Did you finish the airship?!” I exclaimed.
Rietz and Rosell had accompanied me, as well as Licia and Charlotte, who’d said that they wanted to have a look at the completed craft as well.
“Oh, you all made it! Nice timing,” Shin cheerfully replied.
The airship sat within the workshop. The first test model he’d built had been the size of a small sailing ship, but this one dwarfed it. It looked about as big as a mid-sized boat. Two large orbs sat upon its deck, which I imagined served some purpose when it came to keeping the ship in the air─though really, it was so big that a part of me doubted that it could fly at all.
I’d lived my previous life in a world with airplanes, so the existence of flying vessels wasn’t hard for me to accept in and of itself. The problem was that this one would fly through a completely different set of principles than the ones I was familiar with. I knew that it was powered by magic, but the details of the process eluded me. I recalled having asked about it, at some point, but Shin’s explanation had sailed right over my head and I’d forgotten the bulk of it almost the moment after I heard it.
“Ayup─as you can see, she’s good and done!” said Shin. “She can carry a crew of fifteen, and she’ll take you up real high. I’d say she should clear a small mountain range, easy. Crank her up to full speed and she’ll go as fast as a horse can gallop. Her fuel efficiency’s pretty good too! Just takes a little aqua magia to get her running. Wanted to make her bigger, honestly, but this is about my limit as far as size goes for now. She’s a hell of a beauty, though, so I figured I’d better shoot you a report ’bout her!”
From the way Shin put it, it sounded like his new airship was so high-spec, it put his test model to shame.
“Have you already assessed its capabilities?” Rietz asked.
“Yup!” said Shin. “A few times. Worked perfectly. Wasn’t that in the report?”
“Hm…? Oh. Things have been, err, rather hectic for House Louvent of late, so it’s possible I overlooked that detail,” Rietz bashfully admitted.
“Oh, right! I heard about that! You were supposed to be sick or something, right? How’s that all shapin’ up? You okay?”
“Y-Yes, I’m perfectly fine now,” I replied.