Chapter 127: Travelers of the Blue Sky (2)

After saluting them, the officer that escorted Desir and Romantica left the room. Kei then encouraged Desir’s party to sit. By the looks of it, all of his members were mercenaries.

“The reason I called all of you here is because there have been some changes made that aren’t written in the contract.”

He pointed at a city on the map that was spread out on his desk.

“Currently, Hebrion Empire has requested that in order to fly via the Empire, the interrogation should happen at this place. As there is an unnecessary stopover added to our route, arriving may take longer than we expected. Of course, we will be paying you extra according to the increase in time.”

He was saying that the contents of the contract could change.

‘It seems like he’s a polite, well-mannered fellow.’

Desir nodded.

“If you could do that for us, then we don’t mind too much.”

He didn’t know exactly what was going on, but in a situation like this, it was important to continue the conversation without making it too awkward.

“Then I’ll give you the new contract.”

Kei pulled out the contract and handed it to Desir and his party members.

Written carefully on the contract were the details of the assignment, the precautions, the rewards, and more.

It was lengthy, but to put it simply, the assignment was to protect an individual so they could arrive at their destination safely. In other words, it was an escort mission.

‘It must be someone important.’

Reading through the contents of the contract, Desir could tell that whoever he was escorting was an important person.

The man standing in front of him was registered as a unique hero according to the system. Considering that he held the title of Grand Master, his skills were guaranteed.

The fact that they had to hire separate mercenaries despite him being here meant that the individual they were escorting wasn’t anyone ordinary.

Desir turned his attention to the part of the contract where the precautions were listed out.

The precautions stated that due to the individual’s inability to communicate or move easily, they had to be escorted with extra caution.

Having read all of the information up to that point, Desir suspected that their escort target was the old man sitting on the hammock.

The old man could hardly be considered sane. He stared off into space as he muttered unintelligible words.

He seemed extremely out of place, but if he was truly who they were supposed to escort, it wouldn’t be strange to keep him here. Desir decided to calmly gather what he could about him.

Desir and the other party members finished signing the papers. This was apparently the condition to enter the main scenario. An alarm rang.

[You have entered the main scenario]

[Kei Hazumaryun has a very desperate goal. He will stop at nothing to achieve it.]

[- As mercenaries hired by Kei Hazumaryun, you must escort Aldin Sepius]

[Aldin Sepius holds a big clue in achieving Kei Hazymaryun’s goal. Aldin’s life will have a grave impact on your progress in the quest.]

* * *

Due to some unexpected turbulence, the airship started to shake considerably. As the situation became serious, Kei headed towards the steering wheel himself. After Kei dashed out of the room, only the Starling Party and the old man were left in the room.

Having never been on an airship before, Romantica and Pram seemed to be enjoying the novel experience of being caught in unexpected turbulence. They showed no signs of being nervous. In fact, they couldn’t even hold in their excitement as they bounded over to peer out the window in the room.

The sun, halfway across the horizon painted the desert a scarlet red.

“Oh my gosh, it’s endless.”

“The southern desert really is massive. They say not even the Empire can manage all of it.”

The Hebrion Empire’s Padun Desert in the Ethena Region was probably the single largest region of land found anywhere on the continent.

“But it’s not a suitable environment to live in, so there aren’t any cities connected to the capital, excluding the Desert Flower City. There are probably more wandering nomads than citizens.”

As they were engaged in conversation, Adjest amused herself by skimming through several books from the bookshelf in the room.

The use of airships had decreased significantly in modern times, so it was hard to find books related to it. However, there appeared to be many of those here.

Watching the other members of the party enjoy their respective activities amidst the turbulence, Desir smiled bitterly before shifting his gaze to the map laid across the table.

‘Things are going according to my expectation.’

That was the conclusion Desir had come to about the Shadow World. He was already well versed in details relating to such Shadow Worlds.

There were many potential threats while in air, but they could easily be solved by everyone they had present aboard the airship. If they could only reach Alteia, their destination, the Shadow World would be cleared.

‘We just need to assist Kei appropriately.’

The threats were likely to fall short of a Level 3 Shadow World. However, the Starling Party had a great helper. A person whose caliber was truly incomparable to anyone else they could find in the Hebrion Academy.

Kei Hazymaryun, Grand Master.

The title of Grand Master during this period was only given to the best swordsmen.

Desir fully understood what the skill level of someone holding the title of a Grand Master would be like. After all, one of the final six people from the Shadow Labyrinth, Raphaello Cheriger, had also held that title.

While he couldn’t be exactly sure of the limit of Kei Hazumaryun’s strength, he made a rough estimate using another Grand Master as reference.

‘If Kei’s skills are at that level, then a Level 3 Shadow World won’t be a problem.’

Confident in their likelihood of success in clearing the Shadow World, Desir started to consider what would happen afterward.

Right then, he heard a low, gloomy voice from behind his back.

“Sagan.”

Desir took his eyes off the map and looked at the old man sitting on the hammock.

Unlike the dazed look he had before, he was now smirking unpleasantly at Desir.

“Ah, so it was Sagan.”

“Sagan?”

Desir questioned, but the old man disregarded him as he continued speaking.

“I met him. I only watched. I did nothing. It smells very familiar. Sagan. Ah, was that why… Was that it?”

As the old man continued rambling on, all eyes turned to him.

Suddenly, he burst out into a fit of giggles.

“Tee hee hee. It’s no use. It’s pointless. Nothing matters.”

His hysterical laughter sent chills down the spine of everyone in the room.

As nobody said a word, seemingly having lost interest in them, the old man went back to muttering to himself.

“Lottier, Anas, Kiriebren.”

Just then, footsteps could be heard as the door burst open.

It was Kei. In an urgent voice, he spoke to the Starling party.

“There’s something that you must take care of.”

“What happened?”

Kei responded in a very serious tone.

“A Wyvern flock has appeared.”

[Sub quest, the Wyverns have launched an attack]

[The Wyverns have attacked the airship.]

[ – You must stop the Wyverns in order to protect Aldin Sepius.]

A moment later, another alarm sounded in their heads.

[Kei Hazumaryun is still unaware of your ability. He wants to use this opportunity to confirm your power.]

[ – Prove that you are skilled. The results of this quest will affect Kei Hazumaryun’s affinity for you.]

* * *

The airship shook violently at irregular intervals. Through the screen shining from the steering room, a Gargoyle flapping its big wings could be seen approaching.

“The Wyvern flock is still approaching from the rear!”

A monster that glides through the blue sky, the Wyvern.

Once a Wyvern chose its prey, it was known to chase it to its bitter end, and due to its tendency to travel in flocks, it was a difficult monster to hunt.

A number of Wyverns filled the screen. There seemed to be at least thirty of them.

“Load the mana cannon!”

With Kei’s command, the soldiers moved in perfect unison. Even at a glance, it was obvious that they were well-trained.

The cannon emitted a tremendous amount of noise as it concentrated all of the power put in by dozens of wizards.

“Ready to fire!”

“Fire!”

The mana cannon that finally launched created a ripple in air as the mana projectile struck the Wyverns.

*Bang*

*Bang*

The launch was accompanied by the sound of several deafening explosions.

Not a single trace of the Wyverns that were hit remained. But there were still at least twenty that remained.

“Get into a defensive formation to stop them from reaching the ship!”

The mana cannon was powerful, but it required too much time to reload. Now there was no choice but to fight them head-on.

“Let’s head to the deck too.”

At Des1r’s words, the Starling Party members nodded and hurried out.

The wind that emanated from the desert at night time was ice-cold.

When they reached the deck, the Gargoyles’ crying was noticeably louder.

“Romantica, reduce the number of approaching Wyverns as much as possible.”

It was time for Romantica to make a move. Aiming her rifle, she invoked a spell.

[Abarossa’s Storm]

A violent storm hit the Wyverns. Magic that had almost reached the strength of a Fourth-Circle ripped numerous Wyverns into shreds.

Romantica’s shot was extremely powerful, but what was scary about her magic was not the power, but the fact that there was no delay between her shots.

*Bang*

The second shot, third shot. All of her shots were fired instantaneously.

Unable to even react to the ranged attacks, the number of remaining Wyverns continued to decrease as their brethren continued to be torn to pieces.

But even that had its limits.

As the Wyverns continued to approach, it soon became impossible to invoke powerful magic. If the airship was to get damaged and crash as a result, nobody would be able to avoid death.

As the Wyverns continued to close the gap, the tables had turned and they now had the upper hand. A Wyvern’s claws were extremely sharp, and their movements were nimble. Even well-trained soldiers would struggle to deal with them.

“AAAGHH!”

One Wyvern snatched up a soldier that was slightly out of formation. Dragged into the sky, the soldier was ripped into shreds and rain of giblets and gore poured down on the deck.

A single moment of vulnerability could result in brutal annihilation.

—-

Chapter brought to you by Kevin H.

ED2: Purplemen101

TLC: N/A