CH 368

Chapter 368 – People from the North

While the interior and outfitting of the airship were underway, a hundred members of the magic rifle squadron, called up from the north, arrived in Merinesburg. I thought they were just soldiers, but apparently not, and a small welcoming ceremony of sorts was to be held.

“Welcome to the Kingdom of Merinard. I am Melty, serving as the prime minister.”

Melty greets the guests with a smiling, friendly smile. I am standing next to her, but for some reason, the boys and girls who are facing us are incredibly scared of us.

They are the children of royalty and nobility from the Kingdom of Tigris and the Duchy of Dihart, the two northern countries that I had beaten to a pulp when they invaded the Kingdom of Merinard a long time ago.

“I-I am the first prince of the Kingdom of Tigris, Zarinas Delas Tigris.”

“I-I am the first princess of the Duchy of Dihart, Bjord Mass Dihart.”

The two royalty with the highest status among them barely kept their composure, but they managed to reply in a strained voice. Yeah, this is scary, even for royalty. Melty was smiling and in intimidation mode with her magic at full force, four heavily armed golems behind us and magic riflemen surrounding us.

By all accounts, it’s more than welcome; it’s completely intimidating. Thank you very much, though.

“This is His Highness the Prince Consort, Kosuke-sama. Surely you know him, don’t you?”

“O-of course.”

“…..”

Prince Zarinas nodded as he said this, and Princess Bjord also nodded repeatedly while trembling. Huh? Am I that scary? No, well, it might be scary if I had four heavily armed golems behind me.

“Ah, I’m Kosuke. Well, just think of me as someone like that. I’m going to be away from Merinesburg for a while soon.”

“Away from Merinesburg?”

Princess Bjord asked with trepidation, and I nodded.

“I’ve been invited to the founding anniversary of the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom. I’ll be staying over there for a while. Don’t get carried away just because I’m not here, or you might get a merciless slap from Melty-san here. I’m not joking; she could tear down even a steel door with her bare hands.”

The prince and princess shuddered and looked at Melty. Melty’s smile is as endearing as ever, but I sense a strong will to crush you if push comes to shove.

“I will be taking care of you at the royal castle. There are many things I am not good at, but please don’t hesitate to ask me when you need help.”

“U-umu.”

“Y-yes.”

They seem to be completely intimidated, but will they be all right? I’m worried, but I don’t have much time to worry about it either. I’m a little worried about what will happen to them when I return from the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom… Well, if they are in the castle, Lime and the others will be there, and it won’t happen very often. In every sense of the word, they shouldn’t be in trouble. Maybe.

☆★☆

“And this is the airship you are going to board.”

The hundred magic riflemen shouted in surprise. It is a large ship with an overall length of more than 50 meters. The design of the ship is such that if you look closely, it may not even look like a ship. Considering the fact that the bottom of the ship had to be flat when it was landing, it looks like an absurdly large flat-bottomed ship, doesn’t it?

“Your Excellency, does this thing fly?”

Ted, the captain of the accompanying 1st magic rifle platoon, asked me that. He is a rather large human male and is a subordinate of Peter, the large rabbit beastman, and Noir, the black cat beastman, who are the company commanders under the wolf beastman Worg, who is the northern magic rifle battalion commander. So he is the head of the magic rifle platoon, which consists of 50 men.

“Yeah, we’re going to fly. You see the Sorel Mountains over there? We can fly more than twice as high as that. It is also faster than an air board. We can fly to the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom in the far west in less than half a day.”

We haven’t flown there once yet, but that’s the specs. There is still time before departure, so once the outfitting and interior are completed, we will fly around the Kingdom of Merinard for three or four days to conduct test operations. Of course, we will have them ride on the ship during the test operation. Of course, I’ll be on board, too.

“Um… won’t it fall off?”

The one who is sweating on her forehead as she says this is another platoon captain, Darko. She is a multi-armed woman with three pairs of arms, and it seems that she can handle two magic rifles by herself. The rest of the men carry only one magic rifle, but she has two rifles on her back.

“Don’t worry; this ship hasn’t fallen down once. It’s only flown once, though.”

“Is it okay…?”

“We’re going to repeat the test flights to make sure it’s all right. When the outfitting and interior are done, we’ll go on an expedition to the Sorel Mountains, so be prepared for that.”

“Ro-roger that…”

She saluted, but her complexion was pale. But unfortunately, you can’t just say that you are afraid of heights and can’t go aboard a ship. You’ll have to do your best to overcome it or else endure.

“Let me show you where you will be staying for now. Once the test flight starts, that ship will be your quarters for a while, so I’m sure you’ll get to know each other briefly. Oh, and take the day off tomorrow. I’ll give you a little bit of money, just an allowance, so you can go to Merinesburg and stretch your wings. But if you get into too much trouble, I’ll rope you in mid-flight and hang you from that ship.”

When I said I’d give out a little allowance, there was a cheer――because there were a lot of women――but after that, hearing my words, the whole magic rifle squad of a total of 100 people went quiet. Well, that’s scary. Don’t worry, just go and play normally, as long as you don’t cause any problems.

“Yes, therefore, you are dismissed. Show them to their quarters.”

“Yes, sir!”

The soldier in charge of guarding the castle took over the rest, and I walked straight to the prototype airship. Eh? What for, you ask? I have to work again today to get the outfitting and interior ready.

It’s not hard work, but I’m sad that I haven’t been able to spend much time with Elise, Conrad, and Harpies’ kids these past few days. Elise and Conrad are sometimes awake or crying in the middle of the night, so I can go see them, but the harpies are sleeping at night. I have to go during the day.

Well, at night, I have to check on Sylphy and Melty, who will be staying over, and Seraphita-san and Bertha-san, who will also be staying over. I also want to check on Shumel and the others.

“Now, let’s get on with it…”

First of all, I need to check the progress and determine where I can make the most progress. Ah, busy, busy, busy.