Prologue: The Last Flight of the Healing Mage
Those who boarded the airship were Freya, Kureha, Setsuna, Guren, myself and the important baggage. Eve wasn’t here. She had work to do as the Demon King, so she returned to the Demon King’s territory earlier together with the Dragon Knights. After she finishes doing what I have to do in the Dioral Realm, I plan to catch up with Eve in the Demon King’s territory. I am going to finish the remaining work as soon as possible because my dear wife is waiting for me.
“This is pretty bad, worse than I thought.”
The fuselage rattled quite a bit. For that reason I am piloting the airship instead of asking Freya. It took a lot of damage during the recent battle, the materials I had to use for its repair are force-pasted patches since I couldn’t get the dragon materials, so I can’t fully repair it. Since unlike iron, it does not melt or deform. Even after the repair I was using all sorts of tricks to make it work, but reinforcing the broken parts put weight on other parts and when Freya was piloting it other parts got damaged.
This is the limit of what I can do.
The speed is low, it has no resistance and if I force it even a little it will fall apart, those are the circumstances in which we fly.
“As expected of Kearuga-sama. I am scared and I don’t feel that she could fly it in this condition. When she squeaked last time I thought she would no longer be of use to us.”
“I was the one who built it and repaired it, so no matter how bad it is, I know how much I can do with it. Even so, it is very dangerous and exhausting.”
“I’d like to relieve you, but… I’m sorry.”
In this state you have to fly it as if you were on a tightrope all the time, letting Freya do it makes me much more nervous than doing it myself. So there is no other, I have to suck it up and do it myself.
“You said it before you left. This will be her last flight, right? It’s a shame because I really liked the aircraft.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make an airship that doesn’t use dragon materials.”
“Oh, that would be great. I can no longer think of taking a trip without an aircraft.”
“I also agree. From now on you will be going back and forth from the Demon King’s territory to the Dioral Kingdom and it seems crazy to me that you have to make the journey on foot. It would take at least two weeks one way…”
“Eve told me she would give me a dragon carcass, but I can’t always depend on her. There are airships that can be made only with the hand of man.”
Having a stable supply of materials and achieving mass production was a problem. But it could be said that this was a good opportunity.
“But you can do it? An airship that doesn’t use dragon materials.”
“In short, I just need a material that is as similar as possible, both in hardness and lightness, to the materials extracted from a dragon. With that, I will somehow be able to do it.”
There was something similar within the sage’s memories. (NOVA: I repeat…where did this sage come from?) Yield drops slightly and material supply is a problem, but it’s possible.
When I finish what I have to do in the Dioral Kingdom I will make a new airship. I want to immediately go to the Demon King’s territory, but it’s safer and faster for me to make a new airship than use a broken one or travel by land.
“Of course! I am also looking forward to the new aircraft. By the way, it’s already dark enough. Like how long to get there?”
Our destination is the new royal capital of the Dioral Kingdom, since the old royal capital was devastated by Bullet’s troops. Because the elite corps was sent to subdue Bullet, there was no way for the royal capital, which was abandoned as part of the deception, to withstand his main forces’ attack on him. Therefore, what they did was buy time with the battle held in the royal capital,
while Ellen and the key people of the kingdom evacuated to a reserve facility where they could maintain the chain of command. That was our goal. By leaving in the morning and flying all day until late at night, I plan to do a trip that would normally take two days in one.
“In the end it got dark.”
“Um, is it okay to do a night flight?”
“Forget my eyes?”
My jade-colored eye sparkles. “【Jade Eye】…I’m sure if I use it we won’t have any trouble during the night. But it will be quite exhausting to use it for a long time.”
“Okay. Then you’ll be a mess when we get to our destination. Refrain from fighting and rest once we land, don’t do anything absurd. Anyway, this time there is no other option. If we land the aircraft right now, I doubt it will be able to fly again. There is no other option than to arrive in a single day.”
Freya and Kureha were staggering gasping for breath.
“Hey, I heard it was in bad condition, but was it really that bad?”
“Yeah, it’s that bad. That’s why I said it beforehand. This will be his last flight.”
I did not say that it would be his last flight out of attachment, or out of vainglory or caprice.
“Then wouldn’t it be better to wait for them to come pick us up?”
“If we did that, the representatives of the other countries would arrive before us. And it would be a nuisance if those shits asked me to take them.”
Reports of Bullet’s defeat have already reached every corner of the world. Also, the proportion of this battle was too big, there are many countries that want to get their hands on Bullet to take the lead in the post-war process. Thinking logically, the Dioral Kingdom should take the lead since it got results overwhelming in defeating Bullet, and everyone knows it. And it will be precisely those countries that will distort the reasons for the benefit of their own nation. Even if they need to use a slightly aggressive play, they will try to 『secure』 this war criminal.
“Fufufu, it seems that Kearuga-sama is hiding the embarrassment from him.”
“Wow, do you know something?”
“Yesterday I went ahead to see the report that came from Ellen. As always, it was a document that had the main points well organized, but at the end there were traces that she had written and erased that she missed him. Seeing that, Kearuga-sama’s face changed color.”
“…I won’t say that it wasn’t like that.”
It was necessary to return to my strategist as soon as possible.
However, at the same time I want to reward the person who distinguished herself the most this time. This conversation was a bit embarrassing, so I changed the subject.
“Setsuna, Guren, are you watching him properly?”
“Nn, perfectly. If he tries to do something suspicious we will punish him.”
“Master, I have said it many times. There is no longer a hint of that dirt on this guy. There is no need for Guren to watch over him.”
In the back seats were Setsuna, Bullet, and Guren in her fox cub form.
I made Bullet drink a very high quality paralytic poison, I broke both his arms and legs, I cut his tendons and tied him up, I made him bite into a gag, I blindfolded him and I put on a straitjacket. In addition, he has a magical technique made by Freya carved into his entire body. It is a torture and restraint technique passed down in the Dioral Kingdom. No matter how much magical energy he accumulates, it will spread due to the magic engraving on his skin and turn into magic that will illuminate the area, it is called 【Mage Killer】. And if there was even the slightest chance that there were any remnants of the dark power left, the divine beast Guren would erase them. For Guren, removing the remnants of that power is no problem.
“Um, I think if you go that far he won’t be able to do anything.”
“If it wasn’t Bullet he wouldn’t have taken so many steps. Furthermore, he could do something even in this situation.”
He is restricted by immobilization medicine, even if he gets rid of that restriction his bones are broken so he can’t move, his tendons have been severed and his magic has been sealed. Theoretically, there is nothing he can do. Still, I think he could do something.
“You seem too cautious, but I think it is as you say Kearuga. He is the person who has been tormenting us until now and also almost destroyed the world.”
“The scariest thing about him is his willpower. Whatever the situation, he does not give up and continues to choose the right option. For example, despite all that I tortured him until today,
he was laughing when I took security measures to transport him.”
Among the elite people there were those who had their families, friends and lovers taken from them at the hands of the dark beasts, in addition to the fact that many hate Bullet, and saw the need to torture him to get all kinds of information out of him. That’s why before executing my revenge I let the elite people do what they want with him. The ones he brought this time were not members of the army, but rather they were from the high-ranking national war force. Therefore, there were among them professionals of torture. In addition, within the Dioral Kingdom there are many people with the ability to perform torture, professionals in the practice and art of torture, the cruelest in the world.
The hate filled torture executed by these professionals is hell in this world. In a way, that’s worse than what I would do to him. The advice I managed to get from them was admirable. He was convinced that any noble knight would throw away his pride and beg for his life even if he was only tortured for an hour. But even though Bullet continued to receive that kind of torture every day, he hadn’t broken. He so far he has not moved. That’s precisely why I think he’s suspicious. When he arrives, I will finish my revenge with the plan I have prepared and kill him. The corpse will be desecrated and paraded before the public as the enemy of the world.
…Speaking of what I wish for, I would like to desecrate it while it is still alive, but that would be too dangerous.
***
The aircraft continues to fly through the sky. The sun has fallen. The night is cloudy, there is no trace of moonlight in the sky, flying would be a suicidal act if I didn’t have the 【Jade Eyes】.
I continued to fly carefully and could finally see our destination on the horizon.
“Okay, I’m going to lower the height. Everybody start praying.”
“Hey, why are you going down?”
“It’s obvious. So that the plane does not break apart due to the impact of the landing.”
“Nn, even if it gets smashed somehow we should make it through.”
“Master, open your jacket quickly! Here we go!”
I could hear Freya’s screams, since she has the lowest physical ability of hers, and with a face of imminent death the fox cub quickly slipped inside my jacket, sticking only her face out. Surely she thinks that’s the safest place. I smile and lower the nose of the aircraft. We slowly lower our altitude. If I do it as usual the wings will break. So I nullify the impact with a wind cushion, and land like we’re sliding on our belly. I stop the movement of the aircraft by expanding the air cushion forward.
The impact could not be completely nullified, it shook the fuselage, broke the left wing and fractured the body of the plane. I felt it at that moment.
Yes, you will not be able to fly again.
In the end, our speed stopped completely.
“Somehow I managed to keep it under control.”
“That was at the last moment, right?”
“I was a bit scared.”
“That’s why I hate airships!”
Each lowered expressing her emotions. Kureha holds Bullet and leads him towards the castle.
Only I stayed, and I stroked the nose of the aircraft. “Good job, without you I would not have arrived on time. Thank you.”
Thanks to the fact that we had the aircraft in this war we were able to carry out an absurd strategy. You were a splendid companion until the end. I appreciate that he kept flying until the last moment, and I will use the experience gained from this flight to bring a new model to life. That way, it will stay alive in every aircraft you make from now on.
“Karuga-sama, what were you doing?”
“No, it’s nothing. Let’s go.”
I will finally be able to see Ellen’s face after so long. I hope she’s okay, but she’s sure to be extremely busy thanks to her work. Since our job was to fight, it ended as soon as we defeated Bullet, but to tell the truth, Ellen’s job is much bigger when the battle is over.
I hope she’ll at least let me heal her so we can feel good, even if it’s just a little bit.