Chapter 66: Journey – Part 2

Chapter 66: Journey – Part 2

Our excitement fades, and the cheering stops, but then we start to chuckle, and allow ourselves to relax.

I spread a few birds around the ship as scouts. Then I set the boat to continue moving slowly forward and upwards while we meet up inside the tent.

"Excellent piloting, Wolf," Yunia says sarcastically.

"As gentle as when you raped my ass," Hana says and grins.

"No bullying," Alissa says and gives a dangerous look to Roxanne before she can pile on.

I smile awkwardly and say, "Considering the situation we were in, I just didn't want to be slow."

"I'd have done worse if I was at the bridge," Lina defends me.

"We get it, it was just a joke," Hana says and pulls me into a hug. If only she wasn't wearing armor I'd be motorboating her right now.

Then Ciel asks the question that everyone's thinking, "Okay, but now what?"

We are quite literally lost in a sea of mist. The only direction that has any meaning for us is down. There's no reason to go in any other direction.

"This is a Chimeric airship, so why don't we keep going up? That's where their sky lands would be," Lina suggests.

"The scouting bird that I sent upwards hasn't found anything," I say.

"But we only found the lighthouse when we got near it."

"Well, at least we knew that there was something interesting in that area."

She shrugs. "We don't really have any other hints, so we might as well try."

I rub my chin in thought. "True... In any case, we can still try to recharge the crystal with our mana to increase how long we can keep flying."

"Well, this could take a while, so I'll go rest and recharge my MP," Roxanne says.

"Same," Ciel says and sighs, then lays down on the bed, armor and all.

The girls spread around the boat, and I return to the bridge with Alissa.

Hana opens a crate and finds salted meat inside. She nibbles on it, and the meat doesn't shift into sludge or dust, no matter how long she waits.

"Oh, shit, this is real meat!" She exclaims and eats the whole slice.

Aoi suddenly appears beside her and stares at the crates as if they were my seed.

"Don't eat everything, we have to share," I tell her through [Bind].

"O-ka~y!"

"I'll sort and store all these crates and pots. That should make the ship lighter," I say, and Alissa nods, then I hop off the bridge and get to work.

This is the dream of many adventurers: finding loot. Dried and salted meats that none of us recognize; lots of alcoholic drinks that make Hana salivate; tapestries with all kinds of patterns, just like how the elves like them; a variety of strong and aromatic spices; incenses, oils, and possibly medicinal herbs, though their smell reminds me of our elven scented candles for sexy times; dozens of rolls of textiles; super fluffy feather pillows; assorted colorful feathers; and assorted dried fruits.

Among the fruits, I find four full crates of dried cocoa fruit.

Cocoa.

Actual cocoa.

"Oh... oh, Gods... oh, yes. Hm-hmm, hm-hmm! Yes, yes, yes!" I mumble as I hug the crate and rub it tenderly.

"Are you going to fuck that fruit?" Hana asks.

"I wish I could," I answer, and she laughs.

The rolls of textiles aren't anything special, but Lina showed a bit of interest in them since they'll probably be useful for the cosplay costumes that I wanted her to create.

"Hm... how odd that there aren't any valuables," Hana says.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Most caravans always carry a small amount of gold or other highly valuable goods. It might be risky because they're a prime target for theft, but the payoff from trading these goods makes it worth it."

"I think that the gold would probably be at the end of the dungeon, no?" Yunia asks.

"I guess." Hana shrugs.

Then I go to the bridge and get Alissa to identify the herbs. She quickly learned that she has to keep her hands on the flight stick or the ship will quickly drift off course. Good thing that we have the gyroscope to know the ship's attitude, otherwise it would be much more awkward to control it.

"Oh, those are Tonique leaves," she says and points to the crate with the most pungent smell. "I don't recognize the others."

"What do you do with Tonique?" I ask.

"A very strong tea. It helps you wake up in the morning," she answers with a warm smile.

The smell reminds me of mint and lemon, then I remember Ciel's feet.

Oh... this smells like Ciel's foot lotion...

"Smells delicious, actually," I say and grin.

Alissa raises an eyebrow, and a small prod into my thoughts is enough for her to catch my meaning.

"We'll all need a good [Massage] after today," she says and grins while her feet fidget anxiously.

I kiss her lips and climb down the ladder.

Ciel was convinced to brush Roxanne's hair during their break. Her slightly annoyed pout quickly melts away and turns into a smile as I walk towards them.

"I heard from Hana that the cargo was a good haul," Ciel comments, a little excited.

"Indeed, it was. I'll give you girls the full list later, but for right now, I'd like you to identify these goods," I respond and pull out the crates with the possible medicinal herbs.

"Well, this crate is useless," Ciel immediately says and grabs a bag full of dried leaves. "This plant is an aphrodisiac. We really don't need any of this."

"Maybe I don't, but what about you girls?" I ask with a shit-eating grin.

Ciel raises an eyebrow and pouts. "Isn't it your job to get us aroused?" She asks.

I scoff. "How sexist. Why do I have to do all the work?"

"Because you have every sexual skill known to civilization. Also, you'll always have your spirit touch."

"Don't stop brushing, please," Roxanne asks, and Ciel obeys.

I chuckle and raise my hands in defeat. "Alright, I'll make it my reason for existence to satisfy all of you."

"Ohohoh, you better," Roxanne says as she smiles.

"Right, next crate," I say and open it.

"Penis hardener," Ciel answers and looks away.

I raise an eyebrow and say, "Like... something you give to old men who can't... get it up?"

"Exactly."

"O-kay... next."

"Fertility enhancer."

"Next."

"Contraceptive."

"How does that work?"

"The 'life' inside of the semen dies, and it becomes clear."

"Right, next."

"I don't recognize that one."

"Smells really good, though," Roxanne says, and she starts to breathe heavily.

I stare at Roxanne's perfect, unnaturally pale skin, then I focus on her thin, red lips. She licks them with that cheeky tongue of hers, and I swallow heavily.

The mast tries to stand at the ready on its own, and I get a pretty good idea about what this herb does.

"Another aphrodisiac, the kind that you make into incense," Ciel says.

"We have a crate full of a variety of incenses with different names, I bet one of them uses this herb," I say.

"HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS!" I yell and grin. "Now, do a barrel roll!" Then we pull the levers. I use a bit of [Telekinesis] to keep Alissa and myself at the controls, while the girls hold onto the boat for dear life.

One after the other, the three dust worms miss us and loop around repeatedly, trying to catch us.

With the boat upside-down, I pull the flight stick down and we nosedive. The ship creaks, but we manage to make the turn, then I start a corkscrew descent.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Aoi and Hana laugh out loud together.

Yunia is frozen, stuck to one of the ship's beams while hugging Roxanne with all her strength. Lina is like a statue in Hana's arms, so immobile that it doesn't look like she's even breathing.

O~~H FUCK! WE'RE GONNA DI~E!

I laugh out loud with the girls, and Alissa chuckles, too.

When we're close to the bottom of the tornado, I pull the wings back and aim the airship forward, then I push the "forward" lever to full power.

We gain lots of forward momentum, but we're still falling, so I slowly pull the wings open again, and the drag reduces our falling speed.

"CIEL! NOW!" I yell.

Aoi carries her to the prow, and the wind elementals follow. Then Ciel starts to chant.

"What happens if she fails?" Alissa asks.

"The ship gets wrecked, but we'll survive," I respond.

"Unless we get dragged into the spinning domes."

"I'll [Gate] us out the moment it all goes to shit."

"Alright."

I show a fearless grin. We've made it through worse; we aren't even in real danger of dying here. I also won't let a stupid dungeon best us so easily.

As we get closer, the tornado in front of us becomes frighteningly enormous. Our boat is a mere ant in comparison to it. It's a huge, angry storm of dust that wants to wreck us.

I'm on a boat, motherfucker, outta my way!

"[WINDSTORM]!" Ciel casts. A hole as tight as Lina's opens up in the tornado, one that the boat should just barely fit through.

Oh, boy.

Big, long objects ramming into small holes: boat edition.

I pull up a little, giving us some altitude, then I pull the lever to tie up the sail. We lose a quarter of our speed, and the worms start to catch up.

Fuuuck...

I unsummon all birds, then I summon another wind elemental.

My mana...

"STOP THE WORMS! USE ALL YOUR MANA!" I order, and the wind-Alissa obeys.

The worms slow down, giving us enough time to get to the hole, then I fold the wings.

All of my focus is on that tight, virgin hole. Mine and Alissa's hands are as stiff as rocks; any wrong movement would ruin it all. I'm gonna pound that entrance right in the center.

I hold my breath in, and we cross into the hole. The top of the wings clip against the tornado and break with a loud crack. The sudden force of it makes us spin. I immediately turn off all translatory motion and focus on counteracting the spin.

This is fine, we are fine, I can deal with this.

I chuckle nervously as I look at the gyroscope and see that it's going fucking crazy, but the spin is stable. It's mostly pitch, plus a little bit of roll, with some faint yaw mixed in.

I stop the roll first, then the yaw, then when we're pointing upwards, I activate the "forward" lever again.

There, done!

The left wing is snapped a third of the way from the ship, with the rest hanging loose, while the right is just a little bent and cracked. We can still fly perfectly fine, though.

The girls are also fine; it would take a much stronger spin to make them lose their grip.

"AHAHAHAHAHA! WE DID IT!" I scream. Aoi, Hana, and Gify are the only ones who laugh. Everyone else is sweating cold, but Alissa does chuckle nervously.

The domes are above us, and I can see that none of the dust worms are following us anymore. We awkwardly make our way to the dock, and I slow down. The wings are only necessary to improve the mana efficiency of flying, so we can approach the landing zone without any rush.

With some help from the girls, I maneuver the airship sideways onto a metal platform to avoid snapping off the broken wing. Then we land successfully.

With a sigh, I turn off the power completely, and we assess the damage.

The wing is large but it's also light, so we can lift it back into place and fix the broken beams with [Grow]. There's some internal enchantment inside the wood, but Lina is confident that she can repair it. The enchantment lines are simple to repair; there would only be a problem if the crystal was cracked.

Repairs will have to wait, though. My watch says that it's 9 PM, so now we'll rest.

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