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The next morning, we restarted our air travel on the aircraft.
Yesterday was a disaster. I didn"t think everyone would join in with Guren and overdo it.
Well, having group s.e.x outside without a tent was a nice, fresh experience though.
… Oops, I shouldn"t be thinking about that right now. If I leave her alone, we won"t be able to go to the Dioral Kingdom.
"Freya, you changed directions again. Go west." (Kearuga)
"We, west? Um, so is that right, or is that left!?" (Freya)
"Left." (Kearuga)
The aircraft was stabilised because of my adjustments and reinforcements, so even Freya can fly it now.
However, there"s a big difference between flying it and handling it.
Even if it looked like we were flying forward, either the side wind would be pus.h.i.+ng against us, or the wind that Freya generated would be distorted, making us unable to move forward.
I handed her a compa.s.s, and yet I still don"t feel like I can rely on her sense of direction, considering how she just asked me whether that was right or left.
She should just follow the compa.s.s and head towards the direction I told her to go, but she"s been confused since a while ago, changing the route multiple times.
The aircraft itself was shaking furiously, creaking and making unpleasant sounds.
"… Freya, like I said, it"s fine to take it slow when you"re changing direction. Doing it in a rush like that puts too much burden on the frame." (Kearuga)
"O, okay! Um, I"m sorry." (Freya)
Freya had changed direction in a hurry with all her power, so we turned too much this time, damaging the frame even more.
I was about to point out the fact that we turned too much, but I decided against it.
Telling her that when she"s in a panic will just make her do something excessive.
I should wait for her to calm down.
"Kearugsama, you should swap with Freya." (Setsuna)
"Guren agrees! It"s very scary! Guren doesn"t care if we"re going right or left, but at this rate, we might even go straight down!" (Guren)
Guren learnt that the aircraft is safe because of her experience yesterday, and she was even swinging her tail while gazing outside at the start.
However, now she"s more frightened than yesterday because of Freya"s rough operating, causing her proud, fluffy tail to shrink, her nails to cling onto my clothes and her body to tremble violently.
This fox cub is a coward.
"Don"t be like that, I"m sure she"ll get used to it soon. She"s gotten a lot better from when she first flew it, after all." (Kearuga)
"I, I"ll do my best!" (Freya)
Kureha made the sign of the cross on her chest after hearing Freya"s reply.
I feel like she was the rudest out of everyone.
… There were plenty of problems, but the aircraft was still flying faster than if I were to control it.
Our mana quant.i.ty and mana recovery speed are just on completely different levels.
All my mana would be exhausted in half a day if I was flying it.
However, Freya"s automatic mana recovery is so terrifying that it catches up to the amount she"s using right now, so she can keep on flying forever at this speed.
I want Freya to learn how to properly fly an aircraft for the future, which is why I"m patiently teaching her right now.
Guren hid in my coat with teary eyes and curled herself up with her eyes closed and her fox ears flat down, not wanting to see or hear anything.
I look at the compa.s.s.
Fumu, I figured it would be about time to warn her that we"re turning too far, but it seems she tried to fix the course on her own.
Regardless of what everyone else is saying, it looks like she is getting better, little by little.
By the time we reach the Dioral Kingdom, I"m sure she"ll be a professional at this.
… One of the wings broke off. It snapped perfectly, right from the root.
The aircraft became single-winged, disturbing the balance and making us spin, causing a loss of direction and then an intense floating sensation. We"re clearly falling.
Right when you think you"ve gotten used to it, you"re in the most dangerous situation.
I forgot such an obvious fact.
"Kyaaaaaaaaa, Kearugsama, right, left, which, which way should I go!?" (Freya)
Freya started panicking, which made it spin all the more, amplified the damage to the aircraft, made us lose our sense of direction and damaged my three semicircular ca.n.a.ls which made me lose my balance too.
Ah, the ailerons finally came off too.
Thankfully, though, the Dioral castle is imminent so we could walk there.
Before this happened, Freya"s handling was steadily getting better.
Both the speed and stability increased, and it was comfortable enough for the fox cub in my coat to timidly put its face out.
Although the direction was wrong sometimes, she was making the appropriate corrections without hards.h.i.+p.
And yet, as soon as the Dioral castle came into sight, Freya started happily flying towards it at full power.
I"m sure I taught her the max speed it can handle multiple times, but it seems she forgot out of excitement.
Since the aircraft isn"t strong enough to handle Freya"s full power, one wing snapped off, making us spin round and round while falling. At least we"re spinning horizontally though since we would"ve been thrown off if we were spinning vertically.
"Kyaaaaa, this is why Guren said Freya"s no good!" (Guren)
"… Nn. We probably won"t die. But Setsuna might vomit from the spinning." (Setsuna)
"You two are surprisingly composed, aren"t you." (Kureha)
I"m relieved that everyone other than Freya isn"t panicking. With their statuses, these three won"t die from cras.h.i.+ng, as long as nothing extreme happens. As long as they"re not dead, I can do something about it with【Recovery Heal】.
"Freya, don"t do anything!" (Kearuga)
"O, okay!" (Freya)
The wind stopped as I shouted at her to not do anything.
If she had continued panicking while controlling the wind, something irreversible might"ve happened.
Since one of the wings broke and flew off to somewhere far away, we kept spinning, regardless of the wind stopping.
I made a soft, wind cus.h.i.+on to wrap the whole aircraft up.
And then, I linked my mind to the wind cus.h.i.+on.
As it lost its lift, the aircraft is steadily accelerating down by gravity.
Impact.
The wind cus.h.i.+on collided with the ground. The aircraft was accelerating faster than I thought it would, so I won"t be able to kill the impact completely with this.
With ultrprecise actions, I kept raising the strength of the wind cus.h.i.+on multiple times a second.
Strengthening it in one go wouldn"t kill the impact.
And once I had weakened the impact enough, I slid the aircraft with the wind, converting the downwards force to go to the side and made another wind cus.h.i.+on in front.
The speed is gradually falling… it seems we miraculously crashed towards the Dioral castle, as the aircraft stopped right in front of the rampart.
Setsuna and everyone sluggishly began to crawl out.
Setsuna crouched and vomited on the spot.
Since the ice wolf tribe has extremely great balance and reflexes, they take even greater damage than humans when their three semicircular ca.n.a.ls are rattled.
Freya and Kureha both have ghastly pale faces and blank eyes.
It"s quite tough for me too.
All I can say is that I was lucky to have succeeded in controlling my magic.
Guren crawled out of my coat and changed into her girl form.
"Freya"s banned from flying! Guren thought she was going to die!" (Guren)
Setsuna nodded and Kureha smiled wryly as they heard those words.
"I"m sorry. I"m reflecting on it." (Freya)
"… No worries, I can help you practice if we have time, and everyone else can get on once I judge it to be safe enough. You guys are fine with that, right?" (Kearuga)
"Nn. Setsuna is fine if Kearugsama says it is." (Setsuna)
"Guren will allow that much!" (Guren)
I"m glad the two that took the most damage are fine with it.
I just hope that Freya herself hasn"t gotten a trauma from that incident… I looked at Freya"s face while thinking that, but for some reason, she was smiling happily.
"Please let me do so. Although it ended like that, flying the aircraft was very fun and exciting, and I definitely don"t want to make this the last time." (Freya)
I was astonished at how bold Freya was.
Soldiers run out of the Dioral castle and surround us.
… I mean, at least I didn"t have to call for them.
Once I explained our circ.u.mstances, they lead us to the castle.
Since I"m considered a hero, they remembered my face, which advanced the conversation without any trouble.
According to the soldiers, they thought the aircraft was a new species of dragon or something and were fairly frightened by it.
I requested them to collect the broken wing.
After all, only dragons materials are strong and light enough to make an aircraft. I"m not expecting to obtain anymore, so I have to make use of what I"ve got.
The soldiers lead me to the army headquarters where Ellen was giving out instructions. The enemy army"s location, route and size have been drawn on the map.
… Seems like my expectations were correct.
They stranded us in the desert so they could oppress the Dioral Kingdom"s capital with blitzkrieg tactics.
Since the Dioral Kingdom national power declined from the Dioral king"s insanity, the enemy would"ve been able to overpower them.
"Kearugniisama, I am so glad you have returned!" (Ellen)
Ellen rushed up to me once she noticed I had come back.
I ask her a question after looking at the map.
"There are around five thousand enemies, and if they were forced to keep marching, they might reach by tomorrow evening." (Kearuga)
"Yes, it seems so. However, they possess multiple heroes too so they might make the heroes go ahead of them, which would be possible today too." (Ellen)
I nod.
Special forces like heroes can break obvious rules like『war is a matter of number』.
Heroes are capable of carrying out impossible strategies like attacking the enemy capital alone, forcing their way through the castle and killing the king, ending the war.
It sounds like a joke, but it has actually happened in a war in the past.
That"s exactly why every country"s king has their strongest individuals always by their side.
In reality, Ellen has someone from the distinguished family that produces【Sword Saints】every generation. Kureha"s older brother.
As far as I can see with my【Jade Eye】, he"s two or three grades lower than Kureha in skill. However, you could also say that he is only a little inferior compared to Kureha.
Since the Dioral Kingdom lost its three champions, he"s probably the strongest person in it.
"What reasons are they using to start the war anyway?" (Kearuga)
Reasons are important.
The Dioral Kingdom purged the insane king and declared that they will continue protecting humanity from the demons, so if they don"t have a just cause, they will be criticised by other countries for causing a serious crime of damaging the s.h.i.+eld that protects humanity.
"There was a declaration of war that came from the hero of the【Gun】"s testimony. He stated that the Dioral king went mad because of the power he got from the demon king, which caused a calamity. The Dioral Kingdom was no longer a s.h.i.+eld that protected humanity, but the demon king"s vanguard. And the hero of【Healing】, Kearu, that killed the demon king and the Dioral king, is no champion but just a person who was enthralled by the next demon king, who is making him sell people"s country to her… that declaration of war was sent to us from an alliance of three countries. The five thousand we can see now are probably just the advance party." (Ellen)
"That"s true. If we"re up against three countries, there"s no way they would try to end it with just five thousand. Their troop headquarters are probably in the middle of organising themselves right now… he chose to point me out, huh." (Kearuga)
"The current Dioral Kingdom belongs to Freya… princess Flare, and her lover, who will become the next king is you, Kearugniisama, so it is only natural for them to aim at you." (Ellen)
"I get most of it. It"s basically going as I thought it would." (Kearuga)
"Yes, it is. However, the strange thing is that they were too quick. I knew they would use this sort of method to gain sympathy from other countries, so I had made my countermeasures, but I was not fast enough… I just don"t understand how three countries were able to make this decision and execute it so quickly, that it makes me feel unpleasant." (Ellen)
The hero of the【Gun】, Bullet, was probably the one who spread the information that I"m Eve"s lover, but I don"t understand why the others trust him.
How was Bullet able to get three countries to start a war with him so easily at such an incredible speed?
"… We don"t understand that, but we need to take measures. First, we should stop the leading five thousand troops. Then, let"s persuade them. I want to have a conference between the Dioral Kingdom and the three countries. Ellen, can you prepare a location and make representatives from the three countries sit there?" (Kearuga)
"It is possible. If I make use of the plan I prepared to win the war, I should be able to make them sit at a conference with us. That is only if we can stop this five thousand, though. We will also need spectators. I will gather as many as I can." (Ellen)
"Alright, I"m counting on you." (Kearuga)
"Kearugniisama, how many soldiers should I send to intercept the advance party?" (Ellen)
"Freya and I can do it alone. I"ll be leaving Setsuna, Guren and Kureha here. With these three, you should be able to cope with Bullet even if he personally comes here." (Kearuga)
"Just two people against five thousand. If it wasn"t you who said that, Kearugsama, I would have laughed it off… well then, I will leave that to you, and use all my power to make a place where we can have a conference." (Ellen)
We"ve each decided on what we have to do.
As for me, I have to first annihilate the advance party.
To do that, I"ll have to repair the aircraft.
We"re taking on five thousand troops as a duo, and killing those small fries one by one is too bothersome. So, we"re going to need it.
I made Freya practice handling the aircraft so it would be easier for me and we would travel more distance, but that"s not all.
It"s because magicians have a profoundly great compatibility with the aircraft.
That fact will most likely be shown today.