CH.281 Surprise visit to the Hero’s Country

CH.281 Surprise visit to the Hero’s Country

The next day, after breakfast and all of that, we headed out of town. This time, with one extra carriage in the lineup, as I used my new carriage to carry some of us. We still borrowed one of the four golem carriages Mariina had, but one was now free for them to use. Our carriage was currently in the golem configuration, and Alice was learning to drive it. I was a bit afraid of her getting reckless with it, but she seemed to be doing fine.

“Alright. We will be going now.” I said as I lifted Cailie into Gradius’ cockpit, and set her to the gunner’s seat. I had a bit of difficulty helping her get the seat harness on her, as a five-point harness and mermaids don’t exactly mix.

“Bye. Thank you for your help.” Cailie wished everyone, not that anyone would understand her. Well, Mariina’s attendant does, as she does have Language Comprehension (humanoid).

“She thanked you for your help.” I told everyone. “I’ll be back this evening, so see you then.” I said, as I took my seat and we took off in Gradius.

After flying a bit slower at first, just so Cailie could get used to Gradius, I blasted off at mach 20 so we would get where we were going in a reasonable time. Cailie actually did very well with Gradius. She said that she rode the guardian dragon of her clan when she turned 15, so she has flown before, and Gradius is fully sealed, so no wind or anything like that. Maybe this Nixie Clan is the one Agunan knew about then. Well, I’ll go visit them with Agunan, before I’ll even consider taking Cailie to them.

Our first stop will be HomeBase, just to get some of the stuff I think Cailie could use. Sure it might end up being useless, but I can probably just sell it all if Cailie doesn’t need it. And only one thing costs any ‘other’ stuff, and the mana and miasma cost doesn’t really matter, so why not? ... maybe I should rename that ‘other’ energy into something else. Maybe creation energy? If you have mana, miasma and ‘creation’, I think that makes more sense. And for me, the important part about the ‘creation’ energy is just that. It is necessary for creating high level items and materials.

Anyway, I stopped Gradius above HomeBase and we got out. Luckily, I was able to include the surface above HomeBase to be part of the dungeon, so I could send a few dungeon monsters to keep it clear from any other monsters, and since they are under my control, they won’t attack us.

The monsters I picked were some C-rank treants. Just because having trees in a forest checks out in my opinion. And they don’t need to be above C-rank to beat whatever monsters this forest has. Thank god for low level areas.

It actually makes sense when you think about it. That this area only has weak monsters, I mean. The Chaos God Energy, or mana, miasma and ‘creation’ energy flow through the dimensional barrier to this world and break apart into those components, right? So naturally, areas with more people living in them, and thus more mana being used, would need more Chaos God Energy. More Chaos God Energy means more mana, but also more miasma. And more miasma means more monsters. So areas away from population centers would have less need for mana, thus less Chaos God Energy coming into that area, thus less miasma to breed monsters.

“... is... is it safe... to go out?” Cailie asked.

“Don’t worry. This entire area is under my control, so the treants are safe. Give us a salute, please.” I requested from the monsters, through Dungeon Founder cause I can’t actually speak the treant language. Yes, they do have one, and it fall under Language Comprehension (beast). I don’t know why tree monsters are (beast) and not (monster), but hey, I don’t make the rules.

The walking trees did as I asked, and quickly formed into two lines, so we would have a clear path to the dungeon entrance. It is quite impressive, seeing the moving trees line-up like that and salute to you. I should use my plant monsters more. I don’t give them enough love.

“... they really... do as you say? ... are you a tamer?”

“A summoner, actually. This is just a part of my dungeon, and I can use my dungeon to control the monsters that are a part of it.” I told her.

“... I didn’t know you could do that... I never heard... that the leader could do so...”

“Maybe she can’t. I’ve heard it is only with the highest rank dungeons, and mine is an SS-rank. Actually, I also founded an S-rank dungeon, but I’ve left it to my dungeon master to manage.” I told her a mix of both lies and truths. “Let’s just get what we came for, so we can keep going.”

As I said that, I executed the order I set in my ‘shopping cart’ and got all of the items made.

Clothes, a few magic items, as well as a wheelchair appeared before us. I even added a waterproof magic fanny pack to the list, just so Cailie could carry her new clothes. That magic fanny pack is the only thing that costs ‘creation’ energy by the way.

“Here. You can try them on.” I told Cailie.

Her current clothing was something she borrowed from Alice, as they were close in size, but that clothing could not take water very well, so it was time for her to change. Her original rags, which just covered the most critical area, were so far gone that even Tahlia could no longer repair them. They were just clothing scraps.

“... can I really... have all of this?”

“I made it for you, so yes. I’d actually have more trouble if you didn’t take it, because then I’d have to figure out how to sell it. And if you feel bad about it, you can pay me back later, when you establish yourself.” I told Cailie.

“... does that mean... that I’ll get to see you again..?”

“Yeah. Why not? I’m going to be traveling around the world anyway, so it won’t be a big deal to come visit.” I told the girl. “I’ll let you change in peace. Just call if you need anything else.”

“That dress looks good on you.” I complimented Cailie. She was in a simple dress, made from waterproof cloth. It was red in color, and it had a nice contrast with her black and dark green hair, as well as her dark green tail.

“t-thank... you...”

Spoiler[collapse]

“Hello?” I called out to the winged beastfolk, as they approached.

They seemed to flinch a bit because I called out to them first, but one of them approached my ship and spoke up.

“Who are you and what are you doing here? We didn’t get any reports about airships coming in today.” The guard asked me.

“I apologize for the unannounced visit.” I began. “My name is Brian Wood, an honorary baron of Ruiso Kingdom. I am here as I have business with the adventurer’s guild’s main office.” I told them.

After taking a second to process what I just said, the guard responded to me.

“And you think I’d believe that an honorary baron has a personal airship?”

“Well I do, so yes. I do have both my adventurer’s guild card, as well as my noble’s papers, if you’d like to see them.” I told them.

“I shall take a look at them.” Another guard stepped... floated forward and told me, so I gave him both.

After taking a good close look at each, he handed them back.

“They are real.” He told the squad. “Also, I think he is the one who saved a city from dragons.” He added in a slightly more quiet voice, but I still heard him. He then floated back to Gradius and handed my papers back to me.

“Thank you. And yes, I did in fact play with a dragon near Sawyer city a few weeks ago.”

“I see that you are who you say you are. May I ask what is the exact reason for your visit, and what is the identity of your passenger?” The first winged guard asked.

“She is actually why I’m here. This is Cailie from the Nixie merfolk clan.” I introduced her to the guards. “For private reasons, she was separated from her clan and I was hoping to get some identifying papers for her. I was recommended to come here by Lady Mariina, a sage candidate, as this area is better equipped to handle merfolk.” I quickly explained, dropping the name and title of Mariina for a bit of extra negotiation power.

“... alright. We are taking you down to the city. Can your airship land in a small space?” The first guard asked.

“Sir, are you sure?” I heard one of the others ask the person in charge, but I just ignored that part.

“As long as it is large enough for the ship, it can land there. And I can also jump if necessary.” I told the ... let’s just call him the captain.

“That won’t be necessary. Just follow us, please. And make sure you stay close to me.” The captain said, as he turned to guide us down to the ground.

I followed him at slow speed with the canopy open. He showed me to what I can only assume is some sort of airship parking bay, but it is clear it was made for larger ships than my Gradius. But that isn’t a problem, as parking a smaller ship in a large spot is quite simple. There were a total of ten spots in the parking area, out of which four had a big airship in them. They looked a lot like boats with wings and something akin to propeller engines you see on some planes. Maybe they never figured out how to make turbofan engines, or maybe they just aren't that efficient, so the propeller style engines are the ones in use.

On the ground, I helped Cailie out of Gradius and took the wheelchair out of my Storage for her. After that, I unsummoned Gradius and got some looks from both the winged beastfolk as well as some of the ground staff at the landing grounds. At least a few of them look disappointed that the ship disappeared, almost like they were just waiting to sink their teeth into it. Sorry, but you are not going to reverse engineer my Gradius that easily. I'll at least do that myself first. ... okay, I probably won't, but I could.

“Do you wish us to get you a carriage?” The winged beastfolk captain asked.

“No. We can walk. It isn’t that far to the guild, right? An escort would be nice though.” I answered.

“Yes. I shall arrange one for you. Please wait here for a bit.” After the captain said that, he sent one of his subordinates off.

“So, Cailie. How you feeling?”

“... a big city... is a bit scary. But I think... I can deal with it.”

“Well, I guess coming from the ‘countryside’ to a city is always a bit of a shock. Just tell me if you get overwhelmed. I’ll try to help if that happens.”

“... thanks...”