Chapter 282 – On the Blue Sea

I gripped the helm and checked the compass. Confirming the ship’s heading against the needle’s direction, I gazed out over the blue ocean ahead.

The translucent azure under the sunlight, the light reflecting off the sea surface… The blue of the ocean seen from above was beautiful.

“How is it? What are your thoughts on piloting the ship?”

King Eberhart, who had come up to the deck, asked me. Old Sigmund was with him.

“I’m getting quite used to it.”

Piloting the airship was indeed simple. Though it was a sailing ship, the horizontal sails received a steady tailwind, so it required little handling. The crew’s burden was light.

The natural wind was a southerly. Our destination, Verdgar, was also to the south—a headwind. If this were a normal ship, we would need to use fore-and-aft sails to advance against the wind.

Since fore-and-aft sails don’t allow you to sail directly into the wind, you would need to zigzag while carefully checking your direction… but the Magic Tool attached to the bow mitigated the headwind, and the Magic Tool at the stern sent wind from back to front, making that maneuver unnecessary. Thus, piloting was easy, and the crew’s burden was light—that’s how it worked.

On the other hand, there were probably issues unique to airships. First, the bottleneck in operation was how to secure the ship’s power.

The fuel was, of course, Magical Power. A Magician needed to replenish the Magical Power in the airship’s core and Magic Tools.

It might be possible to sail in an energy-saving mode by not using the wind-controlling Magic Tools. In that case, the sailing techniques of a normal sailing ship would be required.

In this instance, since multiple Magicians were aboard the airship, there was no worry on that front, but to operate an airship… considering relief personnel and such, multiple Magicians needed to be aboard.

“However, piloting this completed airship, I can’t help but think… there are many blind spots.”

“That’s true. We must be vigilant on the ground side as well… but as it is now, there are too many unseen areas.”

Because of its ship-like shape, there were many blind spots. The area below the hull was completely invisible to the crew. It wasn’t as if there were no methods, like utilizing Familiars or using Light Magic.

Right now, we had the Lindwurm flying alongside to guard the blind spots. Saphir the Hippogriff was flying around the airship with Elliot. It seemed she would sulk if Elliot didn’t pay attention to her.

“Zadias seemed to intend to use this for combat, but aside from transport capacity, there is room for reconsideration,” King Eberhart said.

Indeed. I should compile the things I learned on this journey as points for improvement. Well, that aside.

“Changing the subject a bit, may I ask for details about the current situation and future treatment of Zadias and Volheim?”

Since we were on the topic of Zadias, I wanted to confirm the present circumstances and what was to come.

“Those two have been placed under Subjugation Magic, forbidden from using Magic, and imprisoned. We plan to extract information from them periodically, but we believe there is virtually no risk of escape.”

“…What do you mean?”

“It means they paid a high price for meddling with Miasma using those red crystals.”

According to King Eberhart… it seemed the Miasma hadn’t completely dissipated, and they could no longer control it, so their limbs and such had been eroded. Due to the Miasma Erosion, Healing Magic that should affect the body hardly worked, and they couldn’t recover from fractures; they were writhing in agony from the double intense pain of Erosion and fractures.

Not only Zadias, but Volheim was the same. That guy lost consciousness early on, but his bones were cracked all over from the Solid Hammer, and the Miasma Erosion was doubling the pain. It was said that escape was practically impossible for both of them.

“Speaking from experience with Miasma Erosion… even natural healing of injuries slows down. They will likely suffer in excruciating pain for a considerable period.”

“That is… rather extreme, one might say.”

“It’s the retribution for meddling with Miasma. You need not trouble yourself over it. If it were a concern, I would have discussed it with you, but there was no need.”

…Indeed. With Circulating Ki, I probably could have drawn out the Miasma… but King Eberhart didn’t bring that up to me.

“Then the issue would be external assistance, I suppose.”

“To prevent that, we’ve been quite careful in selecting the jailers and guards and setting up the system,” King Eberhart said with a wry smile at Old Sigmund’s words.

“In that case… all that’s left is to extract information, I suppose.”

“Indeed. We are also investigating what they were up to through other means. As part of your reward from the other day, we opened the Treasure Room and are having the catalog and items cross-checked. They might have taken something out, and their purpose might become clear from that.”

I see. Various pieces of information would likely come out eventually. I could just fly to Vinesdora periodically to ask for updates.

“It’s about time to switch. You should relax in the cabin as well. We should reach Princess Stephania’s territory by the next shift.”

“Thank you.”

After having Old Sigmund take over the helm, Elliot and Saphir came down to the deck.

“Shift change?”

“Yes. Elliot-san, you’ve been on guard duty for quite a long time too; aren’t you tired? How about going to the cabin for some tea?”

“That sounds good. But, there’s something I’d like to talk about a little.”

What could it be? It didn’t seem like the kind of thing to discuss over tea in the cabin.

“That’s fine. If you’d prefer not in the cabin, how about over there on the deck?”

I pointed to the edge of the deck, and Elliot nodded. The two of us moved there and talked while looking out at the sea.

“Is this about Ashley, by any chance?”

“Yes,” Elliot said with a wry smile, but then his expression turned serious as he asked, “That child was trying very hard to become a proper lord, wasn’t she? Talking with her, I got that impression.”

“…Yes, that’s right. Not just Magic study and training, but also studying to be a lord, giving instructions for the Barony of Silun—she’s working hard on various things.”

“I see.”

Saying that, Elliot closed his eyes.

“Is something the matter?”

When I asked, Elliot seemed a little hesitant about what to say, but eventually spoke.

“Actually, I’m worried that my return to the Barony of Silun might cause some disturbance. Since Ashley has succeeded as the head of the Silun Baron family, she should continue as the lord. It wouldn’t be right for the family headship to be handed over to me just because I’ve returned now.”

…That’s certainly true.

For example, if a second son inherited the headship due to a temporary health issue, and then later the elder brother recovered and the headship returned to him—without very special circumstances, that normally wouldn’t happen.

There was a time when the Silun Barony’s retainers caused some problematic behavior… but it’s stable now, and even that didn’t become a major issue. Ashley has no faults as a lord.

So, what Elliot is worried about is whether the surrounding people might try to push him forward. If Ashley herself offered to hand over the headship, citing her young age… that might very well go through.

In short, if many retainers wanted Elliot to become lord, they might pressure Ashley to relinquish the headship.

While it’s about Ashley, this is also a matter of Elliot’s own position.

“In other words, Elliot-san, you want to support Ashley as the lord.”

“Yes. After our parents passed away… while I was gone, Ashley worked very hard. I don’t want to waste her efforts. If the headship came to me just because I returned, wouldn’t that be pitiful for Ashley? But… if being the lord is a burden for Ashley… that was originally a responsibility I should have borne. Even if that were the case, it feels presumptuous to say so. It would be insulting.”

…Yeah, that’s right. Telling her, “If you don’t want to be lord, I’ll do it, so you can step down”—that could be taken as an insult to Ashley’s resolve.

“Have you talked to Ashley about this?”

“…No, not yet.”

It must indeed be difficult for Elliot to bring up. The reason he started talking to me about it was probably because he first wanted to know how Ashley was doing. He also seemed unsure whether he should consult her or not.

But… Elliot’s desire to support Ashley must undoubtedly be genuine. If he himself wanted to be lord, he would have approached Ashley directly about handing over the headship, not talked to me.

“In that case, let’s talk with Ashley present too. We should confirm her intentions.”

But surely… Ashley’s answer is already decided, I think. Ashley didn’t stand up with half-hearted resolve either. I’ve seen and know that. She probably wouldn’t misunderstand Elliot’s words either.

Elliot, who had been hesitating whether to bring it up or not—seemed to make up his mind after looking at my expression and nodded quietly.