91 – Old Enemy
The central road where the parade was held was filled with chaos from the moment the airship exploded.
“Rain, airship… exploded… !”
“Is it an accident? But Her Highness, the princess, is on board!”
“Isn’t it falling here!?”
As the airship exploded, flames and smoke scattered in all directions, the citizens of the system panicked. The atmosphere that had been excited by the colorful parade quickly became a mess.
An explosion occurred, and fragments of the airship fell down. Most of them were small pieces of iron or glass that were invisible to the naked eye, but anyone could be seriously injured if they fell on this crowded central street.
Charlotte put her hands together and closed her eyes.
At that moment, the world was filled with light.
If the holy barriers of ordinary high-ranking bishops could barely protect an ordinary building, Charlotte’s barriers covered the whole sky of the archipelago. The fragments were blocked by a barrier, and no one was hurt.
As expected, she had tremendous divine power and excellent magical skills that would not be lacking in the name of a saint.
In the meantime, Prince Wilhelm looked up at the burning airship and said in an absurd voice.
“No, why is that all of a sudden… ?”
Wilhelm’s voice conveyed bewilderment and confusion, as if he did not understand the situation at all.
Charlotte opened her closed eyes and glared at him. In her eyes, there was a doubt mixed with ‘Isn’t this all done by you?’
Wilhelm felt her suspicious stare and grimaced at her.
“Why would you do that to me? Why are you trying to ruin this parade?”
Charlotte couldn’t stop staring at the prince. If so, it contained a request to explain why the airship exploded.
Wilhelm vehemently denied it and shouted loudly.
“I just tweaked the airship’s magic transmitter a little bit! Elisabeth’s face won’t show up at the parade! I never said to blow airships!”
“… ….”
In the end, that didn’t change the fact that he had a nefarious plan. Charlotte wasn’t too surprised by that. The Wilhelm that Charlotte had seen so far was a person who could cross the line many times that he shouldn’t have crossed as a human being.
Nevertheless, she eventually stopped blaming Wilhelm. It was because I already knew that he was not a person to reflect on or change over this.
Rather than that, I had to focus on keeping the citizens of the system as harmless as possible.
She poured her all into opening a barrier that covered the entire system. It wasn’t easy for Charlotte to perform this kind of magic alone, and she was using all her divine power to maintain the barrier, but she couldn’t help it.
For if the airship itself, not the fragments, fell on the people, it would be one of the most terrible catastrophes in institutional history.
Meanwhile, while Charlotte maintained her barrier, Wilhelm gave orders to the knights and soldiers.
“Calm the citizens. It’s safe because there’s a saint’s barrier!”
“I understand, Your Highness the Prince. Shall we disperse the citizens then?”
“What? Then the parade will end like this! hehehe, tell them not to move for now. If so many citizens escape at the same time, there could be even more chaos!”
From the outside it seemed as if she was concerned about the safety of the citizens, but Charlotte could guess his true intentions. She’s just trying to save her own face by preventing her parade from being ruined any more.
Is this kind of person really a hero chosen by the light?
I once thought he was the only one who could defeat the demon king….
I wasn’t disappointed anymore. However, he only regretted looking back on those foolish days when he had chosen the hero.
Charlotte looked up at the sky quietly.
Her heart was beating wildly.
‘Ion….’
She was confused and not many noticed, but Charlotte Mann didn’t miss it. A man running into an airship.
No matter how far away it was, I could never recognize it. Ever since she met him, ever since she left him… There wasn’t a single day that I didn’t think of him.
Her eyes were on the airship as it slowly fell. It was as if doing so would allow her to see at least a little bit of the person she loved.
As always, he was running into danger this time. He looked at it and his heart broke at the fact that he couldn’t do anything.
‘Goddess. Please… Please hear this prayer.’
I only wished for Ion’s safety.
***
The airship was slowly descending towards the ground.
Only then did the smiles return to the crew members’ faces. At one time, I really thought of death, but it seemed that there would be no great difficulty in landing safely at this rate.
Looking at the ground that was getting closer, Heimlich let out a self-deprecating laugh.
“You’re arrogant, you’re arrogant… But you deserve to be arrogant. I have enough skills… I have done many things that even the half-dragon holding the holy sword couldn’t do, so what am I afraid of the army or the Royal Guard?”
Heimlich’s voice was obscured by the sounds of explosions, flying flames, and wind.
But it wasn’t Katarina.
‘Who? Chest voice? Is this guy? Very?’
She kept her jaw from dropping in her astonishment. She had to endure the fact that her gaze kept returning to Ion.
But Elizabeth wasn’t like that. Ever since she said her words that she was only protecting students, her red eyes were constantly looking at Ion.
Her eyes were full of questions, confusion, and doubts such as “Why?”
Goodwill between people is usually reciprocal. A one-sided favor may stay for a while, but it cannot last long. It is only when there is mutual exchange that a relationship can be established.
Elisabeth tried to use her Ion to achieve her own ambitions, but she has yet to offer anything to Ion. She did not offer any deals, nor did she guarantee her interests.
In such a situation, she is one-sided, and for virtually no reason-of course she gave a reason, but the reason was something Elizabeth could not quite understand.- Favors received from others.
It was a very unfamiliar experience for Elizabeth.
Ion spoke quietly.
“I will die if left alone.”
No matter how much she tried to stop the bleeding, the bleeding was insignificant since one of her arms had been cut off. Heimlich’s lips were already blue, and his complexion was as bad as that of a man who was about to die.
Someone needs to bring medicine and give first aid, but one was the princess and the other was the 7 hero of the continent. In the end, Katarina had no choice but to act.
“I’ll be back!”
“… Huh? Okay. Please.”
Elisabeth nodded and asked for her own escort, with her shoulder strained more than usual.
Shortly after Katarina headed to her infirmary to get her medicine, Heimlich chuckled at her pale complexion.
“Sorry. If the plan worked… The day he will occupy the throne… It wouldn’t be long….”
“Sure. Thanks to you, I think I will have quite a lot to do when I go back.”
It would be possible to hold the first prince responsible for neglecting the management of the parade, and it was also necessary to check the ‘him’ of Heimrich who had been silent under the surface.
As a result, it was a good thing. If only I could come back alive.
“Huh… Is that so? As a subject, I cannot commit such disloyalty… At least we have to show the minimum performance… Even if you fall into hell, you will have no regrets.”
“What?”
Heimrich’s eyes were filled with madness.
Ion’s expression hardened slightly.
“… I can’t. I’d rather kill you too.”
Ion, realizing that he still wasn’t giving up and trying something, tried to react, but before that, something shook violently as if something exploded beneath the airship.
Kwaaang-!!
“Kyaaah!”
The hull shakes violently from the impact as if an explosion had occurred. Ion hugged Elisabeth by the waist as she was about to fall and held onto her handrail. Elisabeth also held onto Ion’s shoulders and threw her into his arms.
Boom!! Bang!!
The shaking didn’t end once. With each impact, the airship tilted precariously, and the crew slammed against walls and floors. Ion said, figuring out where the vibrations would occur.
“What was in the bottom of the boat?”
“Ah… ! The cargo compartment… But there must have been nothing in it… !”
That was meaningless. Because the captain who had to check the cargo compartment was a spy for the intelligence department.
Suddenly, the bow of the airship soared upward, and the airship soared toward the sky.
Called Dr. Brown from the direction of the captain’s quarters.
“The directional control system is broken! The boat is about to rise!”
From noble mtl dot com
Ion shouted as he quickly checked the ground.
“Jump down!”
“What!? Are you crazy! If you jump from here, everyone will die!”
“There is a sacred barrier right below! Just jump off!”
“Damn it… ! Abandon ship everyone!”
Crews screamed and jumped down on top of the reeling airship, as if it would capsize at any moment.
It was a dizzying sight reminiscent of a crash, but instead of falling to the ground, they landed without any shock, blocked by a barrier of pure white light that stretched between the sky and the ground.
Even Dr. Brown jumped toward the barrier, and Katarina, who had just jumped out of the infirmary, ran towards Elizabeth, centering herself on her deck.
“Your Highness the Princess! I am now-!”
It was a furious roar that made the air tremble.
Katarina lost her balance for a moment, feeling the illusion of her body stiffening, and in return she immediately fell off her deck and plummeted downward.
“Your Highness-!!”
Katarina fell with her hand outstretched to Elisabeth until the end.
Heimlich, who had no chance of falling because he was stuck in the spear, burst into a mad laugh.
“Ha ha ha ha! Just like Her Highness the Princess had a trump card called the malevolence… I have at least one trump card!”
Crash! Bang!!
A moment later, a beast broke through the deck, letting out a gurgling breath with its claws planted on the floor.
Ion recognized the identity of the beast at once.
“The Demon Beast Commander… ?”
The Beast Corps Commander, who must have lost his life in the last war, still showed his teeth aggressively and smiled at Ion with wild eyes.
“See you again! My old adversary-!!”