Chapter 477 – The White Port Town

Well then… We’ve been continuing our journey southwest while conducting training on deck – specifically, evasion training against the water barrages fired by the Golems… Sion and the others are impressive as expected.

Crossfire and deviation shooting. It seems they can evade these through reflexes and their innate athletic abilities. They break through barrages of considerable difficulty and close in on the Golems.

The three of them trace separate trajectories, approaching like pinballs. I suppose you could call it brute force evasion that leverages their high basic specs. Furthermore, they change their movements after observing each other’s actions. Their movements are animalistic or intuitive, but their speed creates a high nuisance effect, making it quite difficult for the opposing side to maintain effective barrages. Since they’ve been hunting together as a trio regularly, their coordination is perfect. But—

“Whoa!”

Sion shows surprise at the water bullets that spread out mid-course but cuts through the ones coming straight at her with her magic-infused sword, breaking through. She simultaneously cuts down bullets aimed at the following Sigritta too – quite an impressive improvisation.

What Sion and the others need is—dealing with unexpected attacks and reading slight changes in the enemy’s offense.

On my side, I’m increasing the training difficulty by mixing in blind bullets hidden behind preceding shots, and spreads—shotgun patterns—that burst right before their eyes, all while predicting their trajectories.

The spread bullets are designed with the characteristic of being slightly different in size from regular water bullets. In reality, whether it’s miasma bullets or magic bullets, if they lack mass, their power diminishes even when spread out.

By learning to handle unexpected attacks and being able to detect slight irregularities in enemy assaults to maintain vigilance, they can avoid having their reaction speed turned against them or becoming complacent due to their high specs. These are aspects they probably couldn’t learn from fighting the monsters in the Forest of Doubt.

On the other hand—when it comes to Princess Stephania and Princess Adriana, while they can handle the barrages, their approach differs from Sion’s group.

In other words, they either create openings by using magic to counter-shoot and knock down the barrage, or deploy multiple shields at a distance to reduce momentum and delay impact, then evade.

As royalty who can use magic from the beginning, they seem to have learned evasion methods like large jumps using levitation, and have also acquired self-defense skills as part of their martial arts training.

While Princess Stephania and Princess Adriana appear to have different technical systems, their movements not being uniform makes it difficult for opponents to respond, or might create openings through discrepancies. If we can fill those gaps through training, that would be ideal.

“Adriana!”

“Eek!”

Against the barrage approaching from the front, she deploys multiple shields from her Magic Slaves for defense. Following Princess Stephania’s signal, Princess Adriana, who had been expanding a magic circle, releases a line of fire toward the Golems.

Naturally, since it’s ranged combat with distance, the Golems can evade—but the moment they dodge the straight fire line, it explodes under Princess Adriana’s control.

A momentary time lag. Numerous stone bullets are simultaneously fired from Princess Stephania’s deployed Magic Slaves, piercing through the Golems hit by the blast.

Quite good coordination. Moreover, Princess Adriana used a different spell from the magic circle she had deployed. The deployed magic circle was just for show. What she actually cast was chantless fire magic. Even the disguise of the spell being cast is quite elaborate.

By dividing roles with Princess Stephania as defense and Princess Adriana as offense, they can take actions requiring concentration.

In actual combat, knights would serve as the vanguard and familiars would join as support, making breakthroughs more difficult… but this training assumes situations where that’s not available.

Among the opposing Aqua Golems, some appear equipped with water swords and shields. The two, having noticed the division into charging units and support units, make serious expressions and deploy magic circles.

Large magic circles. By conspicuously preparing high-power spells, they aim to suppress the charging units’ movements. Even if actually charged, they could break through the situation.

But probably, one of the two will take on a different role. Princess Stephania and Princess Adriana give the impression of moving strategically.

Well then. On my side, I’ll continue increasing the difficulty while determining the line where Sion’s group and Princess Stephania’s group can barely handle it.

“…My, my. Just watching this training scene with advanced martial arts and magic flying about is stimulating, or rather, educational.”

“Aerial combat gear will likely become standard in the future. The time will come when traditional tactics no longer work.”

While we’re training, the Grand Duke and the Duke’s family have also come to the deck and are watching with serious expressions.

For both of them, this probably isn’t someone else’s problem when considering the future. If aerial combat gear becomes widespread, military usage will change accordingly, and they’ll need to think of ways to counter it.

Among the spectators, besides our party, are also Corulis and Flamia. Since there’s not enough deck space for everyone at once, I’ll have them take breaks and rotate after continuing a bit longer.

As I continue training like this, Princess Elham comes up to the deck. The Golems for blacksmith work are with her, but in their hands they’re carrying two sets of metal armor.

“Ah, are those for Princess Stephania and Princess Adriana?”

“Yes. The armor for the two of them that I’ve been working on is finished.”

When I call out, Princess Elham smiles as she says this. Metal armor is Princess Elham’s specialty. Meanwhile, at the Termwills workshop, they’re creating lightweight protective clothing to wear under the armor using Amphisbaena materials.

The armor in the Golems’ hands seems designed to enhance defense power at key points like the neck, chest, and waist areas while not hindering movement. By using it together with the protective clothing, they probably achieve both sturdiness and mobility.

The material is based on lightweight Mithril Silver, but complex ripple patterns appear on the metal surface. Princess Elham’s Baharzard technology has been properly incorporated.

Magic stones are embedded in the chest, gauntlets, and greaves… this is Alfred’s work. It’s integrated with magic tools.

Hmm. Good timing for a break.

Princess Stephania and the others immediately decide to try on the armor. It seems designed to be worn over dresses. While Princess Stephania and Princess Adriana’s equipment differs in fine details, you can tell they form a pair overall.

Practical and eye-catching while symbolizing the bond between Verdgar and Silvatoria. Since it was made by Princess Elham of Baharzard, it probably also carries meaning for the friendship between three nations.

Seeing Princess Stephania and Princess Adriana equipped with full sets of armor, Marlene makes a happy expression and claps with her small hands. The two break into smiles seeing Marlene like that.

“Are there any parts that hinder movement?”

Asked by Princess Elham, they check the armor’s range of motion by rotating their shoulders and twisting their waists before answering.

“The size fits perfectly. It’s light and easy to move in.”

“Wasn’t it said to protect against surprise attacks?”

“Yes. That’s thanks to the power of Marlene-sama and Claudia-sama.”

“It’s good-looking armor too. Amazing.”

“Thank you.”

It incorporates the Moon Goddess’s protection, automatically deploying magic shields against attacks coming from outside their awareness… So. Its defensive capability is higher than just the material and structure. Probably quite ideal as rearguard armor. Princess Stephania and the others seem pleased with it too.

“With this, the soldiers’ morale should rise.”

“Thank you, Marie. I hope so.”

Rosemary says while hiding her mouth with a feather fan, and Princess Stephania nods happily.

“Well then… After a break, next will be Sion-san’s group’s armor, I suppose?”

Princess Elham, perhaps satisfied with the reaction, seems in high spirits.

“No, I’m looking forward to it.”

“…Princess Elham’s armor… I like it.”

“Yeah! Cool!”

“Fufu. I’ll do my best.”

Sion and the others seem excited too.

“By the way, how’s the usability of the workshop inside the ship?”

“It’s good. Even when the ship tilts, the tools don’t roll around, and I can deploy magic shields around my regular position, so I can concentrate on work with peace of mind.”

“Well… I consider working while moving to be a second-best solution.”

Basically, we assume stopping the ship and repairing locally. Normal flight is one thing, but working while performing combat maneuvers would be unreasonable.

For now, there don’t seem to be any issues with the ship’s facilities, so we can have Alfred and Viola use them too and identify improvement points.

“Ah. I can see the port town.”

Grace says this.

Following the direction Grace points, looking into the distance from the deck—a town built with pure white construction materials was visible along the coastline.

“A beautiful town…”

“Thank you, Ashley-sama.”

When Ashley murmurs this, Vanessa makes a happy expression.

It’s a port town built in a location that takes advantage of the terrain and receives plenty of sunlight.

Since we’ve traveled considerably south from Termwills too, the vegetation seems to be changing to something closer to tropical. A warm region’s port town, perhaps. Combined with the blue of the sea, it gives a very refreshing and open impression.

The Sirius gradually reduced its speed and altitude as it advanced toward the white port town.