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Chapter 247: Fornoir’s ability
Translator: Tseirp
After taking a nap in my own room on the Flying Ship, I stretched my body before walking to the cockpit but there was already somebody there.
“Morning Dolan, you couldn’t sleep?”
“Oh, Luciel-sama. Lately, I’ve been putting my efforts into developing the magic cannon and neglected the maintenance of the Flying Ship so I took this time to properly maintain it. Furthermore, I wanted this child to see the light of day.”
Dolan said as he held the Enemy Search Device developed by Rician.
“That’s the device Rician was working on right? So she’s completed it?”
“No, it’s only about 50% complete. Even though she is on the right track in terms of its accuracy and performance in its magical power perception, the area is still too limited. My goal is to one day attach it to this Flying Ship but it would probably take some time before it reaches that stage.”
From the way Dolan was speaking, I could see that he was more intrigued by the Enemy Search Device compared to the developer Rician herself.
I imagined that he would get some sort of a hint if he talked to Ryina so I prompted him to do so.
If she can come up with a magic cannon capable of continuous fire, I believe she would be able to swiftly realize something as simple as a monitor.
“If I’m not wrong, Ryina should be proficient in that field so maybe she’ll be able to come up with an interesting idea?”
“Umu. True, that girl might have some interesting ideas. I’ll discuss it with her.”
Dolan seemed to have accepted Ryina as his disciple. As expected, as she was the rival of his grandchild, Dolan probably saw her as a cute child.
Though as an engineer, he would praise whatever that is praiseworthy but would probably also severely criticise anything useless …
“Now then, I plan to set off now, is that okay?”
“Umu. The maintenance has been completed perfectly so you can do so anytime.”
I could confidently fly precisely because Dolan was here.
Ah, I remembered to make sure about one matter.
“By the way, it’s possible to swap pilots during mid-flight right?”
“It’s possible but I don’t remember there being a plan to swap during our journey?”
“If we clash with the Winged Dragons before we arrive at the Imperial Capital, I’ll directly confront them myself so don’t use the magic canons.”
“Are you seriously planning to fight such large monsters in the air?”
Dolan’s tone quickly turned severe.
Well, I did understand where he was coming from. If anybody told me the same thing, I would honestly doubt their sanity.
But, this time it was a viable strategy precisely because of me.
“I have a close relationship with the Dragon race so it should be fine.”
” … Understood. If that time comes, I will take responsibility and swap in.”
After hearing my reply, Dolan stared into my eyes for a couple of seconds before he folded.
“Then, let’s set off.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to wake everyone else?”
“Well, we’ll be flying in the air for a couple of hours so I believe it’s better if they sleep while they can.”
After instructing Dolan, I pressed the crystal in the cockpit to start the Flying Ship, causing the Flying Ship to gradually raise its altitude in the dark night sky.
Then, I slid my hand forward and made the Flying Ship fly forth.
Lionel and the others in the infiltration team woke up as I gradually increased our speed as we flew to the Empire.
“Morning. But I think you guys can still sleep in longer.”
But Lionel gave a wry smile.
He probably couldn’t sleep.
“I’ve been feeling too worked up so I couldn’t sleep.”
“As expected, I can’t calm myself nya.”
I could understand as Lionel and Cathy were born in the Empire but even Kefin also looked a little sleepy. He was probably woken up by Cathy.
” … I can help to be a lookout or something so please let me help out.”
He probably knew that he would feel sleepy if he didn’t do anything. I thought to myself as I turned to look at Estia and I saw that she was also there for a purpose.
“I ended up thinking about all kinds of things on my own and felt anxious so let me hang around together.”
Everyone had their own worries.
“I see. But there really isn’t anything to do so everyone can either work on their strategies or take a break.”
“”””Okay.””””
Perhaps I was able to feel a little relieved with everyone here as a smile naturally appeared on my face.
And after flying for awhile, we finally passed through the airspace above the labyrinth we just recently dove into.
From there, we would be trespassing into the territory of the Empire once we passed the mountains so tensions were mounting.
“We have entered the Empire’s territory. Our flight course will be set to follow the highway.”
Instead of proceeding at full speed, I gradually decelerated to second gear to lower our speed while further increasing our altitude.
If we didn’t do that, the sound of our Flying Ship cutting through the air might alarm the birds, beasts and monsters, which might, in turn, expose our raid using the Flying Ship.
“I am just worried about whether His Highness who went ahead of us managed to infiltrate the Empire without any issues.”
“Luciel-sama, don’t worry about His Highness, let’s just proceed ahead.”
“That’s right nya. To be honest, it was a great choice to not go with them nya.”
The two of them quite simply stated that it would be the same regardless of whether His Highness Albert was there or not.
“… Does he possess some kind of troubling element that would cause him to blunder?”
” … His Highness has an astonishingly loose tongue. That’s why Melfina accompanies His Highness.”
“He certainly is a person so becomes emotional easily … That is!? Dolan, I’ll leave the navigation to you.”
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Dolan was surprised because I suddenly addressed him but he still swapped into the driver seat for me.
“Just now at the island below, I saw a bird spread out a large set of wings.”
“You could see it in this darkness?”
“Yeah. After I released the seal on the Darkness Dragon, my night vision has become sharp.”
Dolan found it mysterious and asked but it was also my first time experiencing concrete benefit from a dragon’s blessing.
“Luciel-sama, if you only saw one, it’s highly likely that we’ve not been detected?”
Kefin asked but unfortunately, the numbers were enough to call them a Winged Dragon Squadron.
“It’s a squadron. Regardless of whether Mr. Bazak is there, I believe we should act based on the worst possible scenario?”
“Meaning we should consider that His Highness Albert and the others have already been captured?”
“Yeah. Perhaps they are in the process of pulling out from the battlefront in an unsightly manner.”
“And so Luciel-sama will be setting out on your own? That is unacceptable.”
“Don’t worry. I totally don’t feel like I will lose and I will not be alone either. Dolan, please maintain this speed and altitude. And please open the hanger door once everything is over.”
“Understood.”
“Luciel-sama, who will be going with you?”
“My partner.”
I smiled as I left the cockpit and quickly moved to the lift.
Then, I brought Fornoir out from the Hermit’s Stable and explained the current situation to her.
“Fornoir, that’s the situation so I will now set off to attack the Winged Dragons. Could you help me?”
『I take that you are aware. I have not used my power for a long time and if I run out of it, as a spirit, I will take magical power from you.』
“Yeah. After all, I can’t allow the Flying Ship to be shot down. Please help within your acceptable limits.”
『Sure. Hop on.』
“Okay.”
After hopping onto Fornoir, I reminded myself to ask Dolan to construct a dedicated exit for us after this.
Then, when the lift was lowered, we flew out into the sky that had brightened slightly.
Immediately after we jumped off the Flying Ship, we were buffeted by the wind and lost our balance for an instant but then Fornoir’s body emitted light and her horse body transformed from black to white and grew wings, forming a Pegasus which stabilized our flight.
Well, the wings were merely accessories as Fornoir was running in the sky normally.
As expected, it was slightly nerve-wracking but the cold air from the high altitude stung my skin and made me calm down.
I was aware that this act was unlike something I would do but I was determined to not be foolhardy and just concentrate on incapacitating the enemy.
“Basically I do not have any ranged attacks but I can instantaneously heal us if we receive any attacks so, Fornoir, show me your ability.”
『If that’s the case, hang on to me tightly.』
“Okay.”
The moment I cast Area Barrier to be safe, our speed suddenly increased as we dove down as if free falling while a little distance away there were more than ten Winged Dragons gathering in flight.
『I will charge into their ranks. It is up to you to decide on your move. I will be doing what I can too so let’s work hard together.』
“Sure, let’s go!”
As Fornoir ran through the air, five magic circles expanded in front of us as the spells were cast.
The magic released from the magic circles was light.
Since it was an attack, maybe I should call them laser beams? As if released from a bowstring, the rays of light that shot forward burnt through the wings of the Winged Dragons within their line of fire.
The Winged Dragon Squadron thought that they had finished gathering for a fleeting moment before the glow of the magic circle and the casting of the laser beam ray caused damage and burnt their wings, making them fall from the sky one of after the other.
I had imagined a chaotic scuffle to unfold in the sky so I couldn’t help but be stunned by that display of an overwhelming beat down.
『They won’t die from something of that level. But they will also not be able to chase us nor capture us so mission success.』
” … Hey Fornoir-san, don’t you think that was a little bit too overwhelming?”
『I just slightly forgot how to hold back. Furthermore, this time the opponents weren’t aware of us so my attacks could hit them squarely but normally it would be difficult to save this much magical power.』
Holding back huh, perhaps she didn’t do so at all but I had a feeling she probably did.
“Oh well, good job. Let’s return to the Flying Ship.”
『Yeah. Ah, but there are still a number of monster presences so we should standby above the Flying Ship.』
“All right.”
I honestly listened to Fornoir’s advice and took out a magic communication bead to inform Dolan that we would be landing on top of the Flying Ship and that he should continue on towards the Empire.
Author’s note:
Thank you for reading.
