Chapter 130
I got really confused because the author wrote Grantsreed instead of Grantsbach this chapter, and I had to read through a bunch of chapters until I realised it was just a mistake lol. Thanks for reading~
As expected of Bullet, he got me.
He killed my means of transport, the dragons and the dragon knights, and left me behind in a town surrounded by a desert.
Now that I think about it, I should've expected this to happen from the moment I heard the informant was in Camlaba, but I didn't even consider because I had become too strong.
… I became negligent because of my power.
I probably wouldn't be having any problems if my opponent wasn't Bullet.
However, he saw through my arrogance and struck that weak spot. He truly is a formidable enemy.
"Kearugsama, what should we do now?" (Setsuna)
"We'll head straight to the Dioral Kingdom… considering how he stranded us here, I'm sure he already made the preparations to make the Dioral Kingdom fall." (Kearuga)
I sort things out in my mind as I reply to Setsuna.
If we can't fly, we need something else to cross the desert as fast as possible.
Even with our leg strength, we will still be remarkably slower than usual.
Kicking off of the ground will just fruitlessly bury our legs in the sand.
It's times like this that make me wish Ellen, our strategist, was here.
She would've thought up a solution immediately.
"I have a suggestion. Crossing the desert is suicidal… so, shouldn't we take a different route, even if it is riskier?" (Kureha)
"I was just thinking the same thing. We'll have to go through an enemy nation and make an awful detour, but it'll be faster than going through the desert." (Kearuga)
If we go further north of the base that I was taken away to, we can go towards the Dioral Kingdom without crossing the desert.
The Grantsbach Empire will probably take that route when they start the war.
The problem is that we have to cross the national border to enter the Grantsbach Empire.
We're on the wanted list, so they'll probably chase after us if we cross the border.
… Moreover, Bullet knows about that route, so he must've set up a trap there.
I think that's why the a.s.sa.s.sins retreated quickly.
"I've decided. We're going to cross the desert." (Kearuga)
Everyone was surprised by my words.
After all, it definitely won't make it in time for the Dioral Kingdom's crisis, and it's dangerous to cross the desert.
Even if there's a trap in the Grantsbach Empire's route, that would still be safer.
"Kearugsama, are you planning to walk across the desert?" (Freya)
"Of course not. We can still fly, even without the dragons. Well, there's only a fifty-fifty chance of it working though. I'm not going to dance on that rotten a.s.shole's palm anymore. If we're able to cross the desert at the same speed as a dragon would, I'll be able to mess with his calculations. This time, I'll be the one to set him up.
I chose that because of my obstinacy and my instincts.
My heart is shouting, telling me that Bullet's trap is dangerous.
That's why I'm going to push myself to the limit.
We purposely started working there, instead of returning to the town.
I had Freya search the surroundings with【Heat Detection】.
Creatures that can camouflage into the sand or tamper with their odour by using blood, can't hide their body temperature.
… I should've told her to do that from
I procured the materials from the dragons' corpses.
Dragon bones and skin are unbelievably light, as they weigh less than one-fifth of how much iron does, and they're still incredibly strong.
This is the most suitable material to make something that will fly.
Having the materials from two corpses will definitely be plenty.
I disa.s.sembled, cleaned and sorted them into the different sizes.
"Goshujinsama, what are you making?" (Guren)
"An artificial dragon." (Kearuga)
"That's amazing! You're like a G.o.d!" (Guren)
"Well, it's only a dragon in shape. There was this one sage that tried to make a magical tool that would fly through the sky, and I found something interesting in his ideas." (Kearuga)
I stopped working, folded a piece of paper and made a streamlined object with wings.
I threw it, and it flew for around ten metres and then fell.
"Wow. Guren didn't think a piece of paper would fly that far." (Guren)
"Nn. Setsuna is surprised too. It was picked up by the wind." (Setsuna)
"I don't really get it, but apparently when objects with a specific shape take wind resistance, a force called lift is generated. It's several times more efficient than just forcefully sending everyone flying with wind magic. If that sage's knowledge is correct, we should be able to fly if I use wind magic… although that sage couldn't test it because he couldn't find any materials that were both light and strong, I have those materials right here." (Kearuga)
If I make an airframe from the materials in the dragons, I should be able to just barely let all five of us fly.
I'm not completely certain though, so I'll have Guren return to her fox cub form.
After I finished making the plan, I processed the materials from the dragon with alchemy magic, making them into suitable shapes.
Although I already planned things out, I'm actually unsure of whether we can fly.
Obviously, this is the first time I've made something like this, and I don't really understand the lift force in the sage's knowledge.
The sage was only able to determine the existence of that force, but he didn't know the theory behind it.
However, I'm still going to do it.
Even that a.s.shole wouldn't have thought that I would use this method.
He's not someone that I can outwit without making any gambles.
I'm truly glad that I have alchemy magic since, without it, this would take at least a month to make, and it would be a lot worse.
Using magic, I turned the dragon bones and skin into a machine that can fly, in just three hours.
As a finis.h.i.+ng touch, I polished the entire airframe, and it was completed.
It has the optimum, streamline shape that the sage thought up, and two wings opposite each other with ailerons on the back. I prepared enough seats for four people in the body.
It ended up being quite big since I needed large wings to generate lift.
We all looked up at it.
"Are you sure this can fly?" (Freya)
"It should be able to. I mean, even if it fails, we'll only be falling on the sand, and with our statuses, we won't die from that." (Kearuga)
It should be fine if it goes as I had planned. However, I am worried as I don't know the theory behind the lift.
"Kearugsama made it, so it's fine." (Setsuna)
"We can run if it falls!" (Guren)
"It's a waste of time to worry about it. We should try it." (Kureha)
Everyone other than Freya was unexpectedly eager to ride it.
"Come to think of it, what is this called?" (Kureha)
"Let's see, well, it's a machine that was made to fly, so can't we just call it an aircraft?" (Kearuga)
I think that was a cheap name too, but it strangely felt natural to say.
We all boarded the aircraft.
Guren transformed into her fox cub form and curled up on my lap.
It's quite dangerous, so I made belts on the seats to fasten our bodies into place.
Now, let's begin.
I created a headwind to blow against the wings so that it would generate lift and fly.
First off, I made the aircraft rise a few dozen meters with magic.
"Wow! It actually flew." (Guren)
"No, all I did was just make it float, the real thing is only just about to begin!" (Kearuga)
We wouldn't need an aircraft if all we were going to do was float.
The aircraft naturally started descending, so I propelled it from the back with wind.
Since it was powerfully pushed forwards, the wings got wind.
With this, it should generate lift and float by itself.
"Amazing, we're actually flying!" (Freya)
"I'm surprised too. This is an astonis.h.i.+ng invention!" (Kureha)
Freya and Kureha shouted that.
Those two are relatively calm.
Setsuna is sitting expressionlessly as always.
However, Guren's fluffy tail flinched, and she's clinging onto me with all her strength. Even though she was in such high spirits before we took off, it looks like she became scared when we started flying.
I'm getting cold sweat too.
The aircraft shook, causing the airframe to slant. It seems like there was a difference in lift since the right and left wings were unbalanced.
Once I adjusted the power of the wind on each side, the aircraft somehow stabilised.
Still, this is amazing.
Horses and raptors are no match for this in speed.
Although I want to make it faster than the flying dragons, I'll be exhausted if I make the wind any stronger.
I was planning on making Freya occasionally switch with me in using wind magic, but adjusting the balance is difficult, so it'll be hard to switch.
For today, I'll just go as far as we can and then make camp.
I also want to adjust the balance of the wings.
Until then, I'll just endure it as best as I can.
And so, we flew through the sky with the aircraft.
I was able to outwit Bullet's expectations.
So, now it's my turn to set him up.
I'll definitely make use of your miscalculation.