In the blink of an eye, the day of our expedition to the empire was upon us. After waking up in my cabin, I did some light stretching to loosen up my muscles before heading to the cockpit as soon as the first light shone outside. To my surprise, someone was already there.
“Good morning, Dhoran. Couldn’t sleep?”
“Oh, hey, Luciel. I’ve been so caught up in making the magic artillery that I didn’t really keep up with the ship’s maintenance these past few days, so I came to fix ’er up. Plus, I wanted to take this li’l guy for a walk,” he said, holding up the enemy detection device that Lycian had developed at my request.
“That’s the artifact Lycian made, right? Is it finished?”
“Nah, it’s only about fifty percent done. It’s becomin’ pretty decent at detectin’ mana, but its scope is still way too small. I’d love to add it to the ship one day, but I just don’t think it’s ready yet.” It seemed to me that he was more invested in Lycian’s creation than she was.
I figured I’d give him a little nudge and suggest he ask Rina. If she could come up with a cannon that fired continuously, she should have no problem creating an item that could detect enemies. “Rina’s pretty good at that sort of stuff, if I remember correctly. She might have an idea for how to improve it.”
“Aye, she might have an interesting point of view on the topic.” He nodded thoughtfully. It looked like he’d fully accepted her as his new student. I noticed that Dhoran tended to like anyone who could provide some competition for his granddaughter. Then again, being a craftsman, he probably wouldn’t hesitate to lecture Rina if she made a mistake, even if he had taken her under his wing.
“Well then, we haven’t had breakfast yet, but should we take off before the others wake up?”
“Aye. I just got done with the maintenance, so we can leave whenever yer ready.”
I felt much more confident about starting up the airship with Dhoran by my side. But before I did, there was one last thing I wanted to ask him. “Hey, we can switch pilots mid-flight, right?”
“Sure can, but why are ye askin’? That wasn’t the plan, was it?”
“I was thinking of going to fight the wyverns myself if we encountered any before reaching the capital. That way, we won’t have to use the cannons.”
“Hold on. Ye plan on fightin’ big flyin’ monsters midair by yerself?” he asked, his tone suddenly a lot harsher.
I understood his concern. In fact, if someone had told me the same thing, I would have questioned their sanity. But my strategy was viable specifically because I would be the one doing it.
“They’re draconic monsters, so my blessings should protect me against them.”
Dhoran stared at me in silence for a few seconds before eventually relenting. “Fine. If we ’ave to fight the wyverns, I’ll take the wheel in yer stead.”
“Thanks. Should we set off, then?”
“Shouldn’t ye wake the others up?”
“Nah. We’re just going to be flying for the next few hours. Plus, I’d like them to get as much sleep as possible. Especially master, since he’s so nervous on the airship.”
Dhoran guffawed. “Good point.”
I pushed the crystal that acted as the ship’s start switch in and let some mana into it to turn on the machine, and we began rising into the dim sky. Then, I slid my hand forward and we were off.
As I gradually cranked up the speed, Brod and the others eventually came to join us in the cockpit.
“Good morning, everyone. You can go back to sleep, if you’d like,” I said.
Brod frowned at my words, while the others forced themselves to smile. They probably hadn’t slept well either.
“Luciel, open the hatch,” Brod barked at me.
I did as he asked, and he immediately headed to the deck.
“Always the free spirit, huh?” I commented.
“We were all feeling too anxious to sleep properly. I’m sure the Whirlwind must have been especially nervous,” Lionel said.
I shot him a quizzical look, unsure of what he was implying.
“Yup, we can’t just lounge around the whole day, after all,” Ketty added.
I understood why the two of them were up already, since we were going to fight their homeland, but why was Kefin awake when he still looked tired? I assumed Ketty must have woken him.
“I’m awake enough to keep watch, so please let me help out,” he said. He’d likely fall back asleep without anything to do to keep himself occupied.
I turned to Estia and remembered that she had an objective in the empire as well.
“I’m going to overthink things if I’m alone, so can I please stay here?” she asked.
“Sure. But there’s not much to do, so you guys can just try to work on our battle strategy or eat or something.”
“All right.”
“Yes, sir!”
I felt my lips curl into a smile. Perhaps having my friends with me had helped me to relax a little.
We flew for a while longer and eventually passed over the labyrinth we’d cleared before. Now all we had to do was cross the mountain ahead of us and we’d be in Illumasia. I began feeling nervous.
“We’re in the empire,” I announced once we’d passed the mountain. “We’re going to follow the highway from above.”
The plan from now on was to gradually reduce speed while gaining more altitude. If we were too fast, the sound of us cutting through the air would agitate the nearby birds, animals, and monsters and might give our plan away to the enemy. This was also why we were avoiding the mountains—so that no one would spot us.
“I’m worried about Albert and the others. I hope they managed to get into the empire without causing any problems...”
“No need to worry about His Highness, sir. Consider that we’re on our own,” Lionel told me.
“Sir Lionel’s right,” Ketty chimed in. “You made the right choice by not agreeing to let them come with us.”
I was a bit surprised by how dismissive they were of the prince. They were basically saying it didn’t matter if he was here or not.
“Did he tend to screw things up back when you were in the empire too?”
“His Highness is unable to keep a secret, to the point where it’s almost shocking. That is why Lady Melphina became his fiancée, to cover up his messes.”
I nodded. “He does seem like the type to let his feelings get the better of him and— Wait. What’s that?! Dhoran, I’m leaving the controls to you!”
“What’s wrong, Luciel? Somethin’ the matter?” he asked, surprised, as he took my place at the controls.
“I saw large wings flying right underneath us.”
“You can see that even though it’s so dark outside?”
“I think so. Ever since I released the Umbra Dragon, I’ve been able to see somewhat better at night.”
Dhoran seemed surprised, but I definitely could feel the effects of the Umbra Dragon’s blessing on my body.
“If you only saw one, doesn’t it mean that they haven’t noticed us?” Kefin asked.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t seen just one but an entire squad of wyverns. There were over ten of them flying around us.
“No, I saw a group of them. They were attacking someone, and I believe it must be the resistance. But I didn’t see anyone using magic, so it’s probably not Bazack’s group.”
“Helping them might interfere with our plan. Shouldn’t we just leave them to their own devices?”
“Maybe... But I figure it’ll make things pointlessly complicated if Albert is part of that group and they get killed.”
“That would certainly be a disaster. But do you plan on going out there alone? I cannot allow it,” Kefin stated.
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of losing, and I won’t be alone. Dhoran, please maintain this speed and altitude, and open the hatch for me when I’m done.”
“Aye, aye.”
“Who will you be taking with you, sir?” Kefin asked me.
“My partner, of course,” I replied with a smile before leaving the cockpit and immediately taking the elevator to the deck, where I ran into Brod.
“You’re going to help those guys down there?” he asked me.
“Yes.”
“Can I come with you?”
“Please leave this one to me. I’d like you to take the lead when we reach the capital.”
He hesitated for a short moment before saying, “Fine. Go.”
“I’m on it.”
I summoned Forêt Noire from her stable and quickly explained the situation to her. “Anyway, that’s the gist of it. I’m going to fight these wyverns. Can you help me?”
“You know I can’t say no, right?” she replied telepathically. “I haven’t used my powers in a long time, so if I run out of mana, I’ll take some of yours.”
“Sure thing. We can’t let the wyverns shoot the ship down. But don’t overdo it, all right?”
“Yes, yes. C’mon, get on.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I climbed on her back and made a mental note to ask Dhoran to create a dedicated gate for us later. We jumped off the ship and almost fell over because of the wind, but Forêt quickly transformed into her spirit form. Light began emanating from her body, and the next instant, her coat turned from black to white and wings sprouted from her back, making our flight much more stable...or not? It seemed that the wings were just there for show, as Forêt began galloping through the sky. I was a bit surprised, but the cold wind biting at my skin immediately pulled me back to reality. I knew that going to fight the wyverns on my own was a little out of character, so I reminded myself not to be too reckless and to simply focus on neutralizing the threat.
“Wyverns don’t really have any long-range attacks, but if you get hit, I’ll instantly heal you, all right? Show me what you’ve got,” I told Forêt.
“Okay. You’d better hold on tight.”
“Will do.”
I cast a quick Area Barrier just to be safe, and Forêt immediately began picking up speed, heading for the group of wyverns a little farther away.
“I’m going to charge straight at them,” she said. “You tell me what to do, and I’ll do everything I can to help. Let’s do it!”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
As Forêt dashed through the sky, five magic circles appeared in front of my eyes, shooting rays of light ahead of them. They seemed pretty aggressive, so maybe I should call them laser beams? Whatever they were, they pierced the wings of the wyverns in their path, setting them on fire. Countless laser beams shot out of the magic circles one after the other, and soon, the wyverns began falling to the earth, their wings burned to a crisp. I had been expecting an epic sky battle, so needless to say, I was completely dumbfounded by this turn of events.