Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
The sights of the forest whooshed by me. There wasn’t as much shaking as there had been before.
I had numerous small gears fixed to my feet now, and their teeth didn’t protrude out as far.
Last evening, when I climbed up to the roof, I set up my gears like a staircase. I had felt a springy elasticity to the footholds just by stepping on them a bit.
When I fixed my gears, it wasn’t like they were frozen in space. It was more like the air around it was solidified like rubber, I guess.
And I was pretty sure that right now, that hypothesis was being proven.
Currently, the “wheels” on my feet were set up to absorb the shock.
[--Analysis complete.
--Shock absorption rate: 82 percent.
--Improvement of suspension system advised.]
“Huh?! What’s a ‘suspension’?! Whatever, I’ll let you handle it!”
[--Ready.
--Causing shock absorb effect.
--Extending coil system.]
Clink!
Small gears were added to the ones on my feet. Five gears about as wide as my wrist were lined up in a cylindrical shape. In front of them was a gear the size of my palm. I couldn’t feel the shaking at all anymore.
Wherever it contacted the ground, it would either pull back or extend, respectively.
...Amazing.
I never would’ve imagined I could move through the forest this fast...
I don’t think you could do this with any other magic. Not with Fire magic, or Water magic, or Earth magic. Wind magic seems a bit like it could work?
There was a large rock in front of me, acting like a big slope. Could I make it up that?
I leapt into the air with both legs, using the “springs” attached to my feet.
“...! Hup!”
I landed on the rock, almost sliding across its surface before taking off into the air.
It was a long way to the ground... Oof, that’s kinda scary.
I saw a tree to one side of me, and reached out with my left hand and the gears on my left foot.
Vrrrrrrrrrrrr!
I took a counterclockwise spiral around the trunk towards the ground.
“Hup!”
Just before reaching the ground, I twisted my body and kicked off with my right leg. I was thrown off to the side, having lost none of my momentum.
I saw a small rock face up ahead, and hit it with a gear on my right hand to get my body back up.
The spinning gears on both of my feet made gentle contact with the ground running by beneath me.
“Ha, haha, ha...”
What the heck was that? This is insane!
I don’t know how things turned out like this, but it’s completely and utterly amazing!
The ground in the forest was bumpy, and there were fallen leaves all over. The surface was root-covered and corroded, and the elevation past the rocks was all over the place.
This sure wasn’t the sort of place your average person could move through easily — hence why we have roads.
Hey, but wait a minit... what does that make me, then? I was magicless up until just recently, so why is it that I’m able to cut through the forest like this, as if I was flying?
I felt like my common sense was crumbling away.
Trees were apparatuses to accelerate. Rocks were launch pads. Huge drop-offs were nothing but shortcuts.
The teeth of my gears dug solidly into the ground.
I had completely forgotten the meaning of the word “stop”!!
There was a fissure in front of me. Actually, I guess maybe it’d be better to call it a cliff. To the side was a rock wall coated in moss.
I plunged towards the wall shoulder-first without hesitation. Normally I would have crashed into it, fallen into the abyss, and that would’ve been the end of me. But now, I wasn’t worried in the least.
The spinning gears on my upper arm and thigh grabbed hold of the wall and pushed me forwards.
It looked at a glance to be about 10 mels to the bottom of the cliff (or whatever you’d call it).
I took a leap, my golden gears kicking up fragments of rock into the air.
The running gears on both my hands and feet roared.
Right now, I had “armor” made of golden gears lined up around my arms and thighs.
Everything that touched them was thrown backwards.
[--Analysis complete.
--Confirming that standard required for order has been achieved.
--Possible to register as standard device.
--Proceed with proper name entry?]
There you go with your tricky words again...
“Whatever, Crown! Why don’t you just come up with something that fits?!”
[--Acceptance confirmed. Converting, calculating...
--Movement device: “Scale Skater” has been configured.]
“Scale Skater?! Hahaha! That sure is something! You kind of suck at naming things, don’t you, Crown?!”
Scale Skater, is it? I’m willing to work with some lame names, but there’s a limit!
[--Crown Gear reports dissatisfaction.]
“Hehe, well, it’s fine. Don’t sulk, okay?!”
Now that I had this thing set up, I’d be there in no time.
Ah, that’s not good. The fire sure has spread...
“How much farther?”
[--Analysis complete. Distance until center of conflagration: 340 meltorte.
326, 312, 298...]
I’d be there soon. It would be dangerous, but I’d already come this far.
Sure, the bergbear might be near the flames, but the same would be true of Yuuta and Ana. If I could just find them first, then I’d likely be fast enough to manage to give it the slip and get them out of here.
I strengthened my resolve and issued orders to my partner.
“Crown, curb our speed. Bring my armor’s spinning to a stop and keep things quiet. And start searching for the two of them.”
[--Ready.
--Deploying search field.]
Crackle, crackle, crackle...
That fire was getting pretty massive. A house or two could probably fit in there...
It took me until I was actually in the area to realize that calling for Yuuta and Ana would probably be a bad idea... There could be a bergbear nearby, after all.
I slowly and quietly moved along, hiding in the shadows of the trees. Right now, I wasn’t using my gear wheels.
Ah, it’s hot! Gah, looking right at the flames hurts my eyes!
I don’t want to even imagine those two kids wrapped up in all this... Though seeing the way this fire is spreading, they may have already run as far as they could.
I didn’t know if he really threw it at the bergbear, though. It may have just been wishful thinking, but he could have just dropped the magic stone, and it ignited on its own.
...Tap!
I just kicked something. A minit ago I was zipping through the forest, but look what happens the second I’m walking on my own two feet. How pathetic...
What’s this, some chunk that broke off a tree?
“This is...!”
A wooden... sword. Yuuta’s hero’s blade.
I turned and looked around. I couldn’t hear anything around me but the sound of the flames.
Then, I looked down at the ground.
“Crown... this couldn’t be...”
[--Comparison complete.
--Conclusion: bear-type monster footprint.]
So... they ran into it.
“Crown! Scale Skater!”
[--Deploying.]
I didn’t have time to worry about being noisy. With a Vrrrrr, I kicked up the ground.
Those massive footprints gave me an easy trail to follow. If I didn’t hurry, then their fates would be sealed.
From behind, I heard the sound of a burnt tree collapsing.