And, as time flew by, the fateful day arrived.
Lately, the weather had been nice, but thick clouds blanketed the sky today. Not exactly ideal flying conditions.
Most of the preparations were complete. The other companions—Term, Kechatchaka, and Klyus—all seemed ready to go.
Franz stood rigid as a statue in front of me, veins bulging on his forehead, his eyebrows twitching.
"...Did I hear you correctly?"
"...I'm truly sorry."
The only problem was that the thief ghost I'd sent on an errand still hadn't returned.
I'd asked her to go back to the imperial capital and retrieve something for me. With her speed, I'd thought she'd have plenty of time—but I'd miscalculated. And speaking of miscalculations, scheduling an early morning departure was another one of mine. But thinking calmly about it, since we'd already delayed by three days, it was perhaps only natural that Franz would want to leave town as soon as humanly possible.
The Emperor was busy preparing for departure and wasn't around. There was no one to come to my aid.
Even Klyus, whom I'd troubled endlessly these past few days, was pretty fed up—when I looked his way, he turned his face away with a snort. Kill Night Version Alpha stood motionless as always.
"You want to delay departure even further? Thousand Transformations—I've already complied with your demands plenty! I delayed the departure by three days! I had the ship's maintenance redone from scratch to check for faults! I loaded every last supply you gathered! I've made these concessions, and now you want even more? Just because the Emperor favors you doesn't give you the right to push it this far!"
"But..."
He looked ready to slash me right then and there. I didn't want to say this either. I knew it would make him angry.
But if I left now, poor Ritz—who'd worked so hard on my errand—would come back to find me gone.
However, this was the first I'd heard about the Emperor favoring me... I hadn't done anything to deserve that. It was a complete mystery.
"I'm... not prepared either. Hmm, how about this—what if you departed first and I caught up later..."
My strategy worked. Rowdy Carpet was in high spirits. It seemed the blue carpet I'd bought her was exactly to her liking.
I'd always assumed it was male, but maybe Rowdy Carpet was actually female. Carpets don't have genders, you say? Yeah, yeah, I know...
The practice sessions had been producing good results, too. I was confident that, the way she was now, she could chase down an airship carrying me through the sky.
"No! As much as it pains me, you are the escort the Emperor personally selected! I won't allow you to act on your own! Departure is in one hour! You had three days and couldn't get ready—that's your own fault!"
He had me there... His reasoning was airtight, and I had nothing to say. Franz let out a rough breath as he finished speaking, then moved toward the door as if the discussion were over.
At that moment, the very door Franz was about to open creaked open from the other side.
"?!"
"...Oh."
It was the thief ghost, draped in tattered sheets. How could I tell it was the thief ghost? Because she was carrying what I'd asked for.
"!? ?????"
"????"
"Huh?"
The thief ghost breezed past the completely frozen Franz, ignored the stunned Klyus and the others, and came straight to me.
I accepted what she'd brought.
What the thief ghost had delivered was a massive staff as tall as a person.
Unlike Klyus's wooden staff, this one was made of metal. At the center of the spiraling staff head, a large spherical gemstone floated. The metal looked like gold from its luster, but it wasn't gold. This staff was a Treasure Weapon.
It seemed even the thief ghost had found the imperial capital a long trip. But the timing couldn't have been better.
I hugged the wobbling thief ghost and patted her back in thanks. The thief ghost leaned against me for just a moment, but maintaining her dignity as a ghost, she left without a word. She knew when to do things right, that one.
The door closed. Now everything I needed was in place. The carpet was clapping. I said in my best hard-boiled voice: "Well then—all preparations are complete. Shall we depart?"
"W-wait a minute! You're just going to gloss over that?! What was that just now?!"
"...It's the sheet spirit I have in my service."
"...Do you seriously think I'll accept that?!"
Franz's face was twitching. Klyus was looking at me with an expression that screamed "I knew it."
But I'd push through. I would push through. That was a sheet spirit, nothing more, nothing less. It wasn't going to interfere with the escort, so what did it matter?
I gripped the heavy translation staff I'd specifically had retrieved—the 'Round World'—and flashed a smile to show I meant no defiance.
Finally... now I could finally understand Kechatchaka's words!
§ "The weather's bad."
"At this level, it shouldn't be a problem. We have a track record of operating through severe storms without incident. The ship will never fall. Never."
"...That's not what I'm worried about."
Franz spoke stubbornly as the Emperor frowned.
The Zebuldia Empire's most advanced airship, the 'Black Star,' was a massive black vessel, true to its name.
The most striking feature was the enormous balloon-like upper hull, but the gondola was also quite large. For a ship meant to display the Empire's might, the size was fitting.
I'd ridden Lucia's broom and flown through the sky on the back of a rampaging dragon, but this was my first time aboard something this massive. In sheer size, it dwarfed ordinary dragons.
The flight mechanism seemed to be built on a fusion of magic and science, but I couldn't begin to imagine how something this large could fly.
After seeing the Emperor aboard, Franz approached me and said, baring his teeth: "There are weight limits. I reduced the number of passengers to make room for your luggage. If you prove useless, there will be consequences."
"It's... just a precaution. But it does look rather fragile... It looks like a balloon."
"...Even if it tears, specialist mages will repair it with magic. No problem there. The design is based on a discovered Treasure Weapon. The original can apparently fly without magical assistance, but that's just a rumor."
This matched the information I'd heard beforehand. It was common practice to use Treasure Weapons as a basis for trial-and-error development. I'd accept that.
But maybe I should've cut more luggage... The instructions I'd given Citry had been too vague.
"...If a dragon attacked, it wouldn't hold up well at all."
"Hey! Don't say reckless things like that! Dealing with external threats is your job. For mages, it should be easy."
"Yeah, yeah, totally."
My decision to recruit mages had apparently been the right one. Well, "recruited" wasn't quite right—"ended up with" was more accurate. Term could probably kill dragons from inside the ship.
Franz was looking at me as if I were the most suspicious thing he'd ever laid eyes on.
§ § § Indeed... What a magnificent ship. Term Apocris let out an impressed sound at the sight of the 'Black Star,' which he was seeing for the first time.
This cutting-edge airship, owned by the Empire, was reserved for nobles. Commoners and Hunters were generally not permitted aboard.
Among the techniques mages commanded, flight was one of them. Term himself had flown through the air before, but even taking that into account, this airship was nothing short of revolutionary.
How it flew—the principles behind it were outside Term's expertise. But the magical mechanisms etched into the hull were undeniably first-class. A master practitioner had poured their calculations and time into inscribing these spells.
The defensive magic protecting the hull ranged from strength-boosting barriers to weight reduction and on-the-fly hull repair, all intricately layered. Countermeasures were in place for fire, lightning, cold, and other natural disasters as well.
This ship was the polar opposite of a Treasure Weapon—those ancient embodiments of power. Instead, it represented the pinnacle of modern technology.
The sky was not humanity's domain. Humans had no wings, but flying magical beasts were not uncommon. However, with defenses this thorough, it was understandable why the ship had never once crashed despite numerous voyages.
Even Term, who held the title of Still Water, would find it extremely difficult to bring this ship down from the outside. A perfectly coordinated dragon swarm might manage a fifty-fifty chance. But Kechatchaka couldn't specify the type of dragons she summoned. He'd have to call it difficult.
But that was from the outside. Barriers were strong against external attacks, but from the inside, anything was possible.
Term understood the intent behind Thousand Transformations' seemingly inexplicable actions and instructions.
The Empire wasn't considering the possibility of this ship going down. And indeed, this ship wasn't built to fall to a mere raid.
In that sense, the 'Black Star' could be called a symbol of the Empire—an impregnable fortress in the sky. Its fragile appearance was only skin-deep.
That was precisely why it was worth bringing down. If this airship met with a catastrophe so severe that it crashed, even if the escort failed and the Emperor perished, it could all be dismissed as an "accident." Borrowing the Fox's power, they could certainly steer public opinion that way.
Thousand Transformations' reputation would take a bit of a hit, but there was no better demonstration of the Fox's power than this.
This was... the Thirteenth's plan, was it?
Term's strategy had been flawless. He still believed that, and if the goal were simply to assassinate the Emperor, Term's plan would have been far more straightforward.
But this 'Thirteenth's' strategy yielded incomparably greater gains. Their vision extended far beyond Term's own objectives. When shown a difference this overwhelming, even jealousy became impossible.
There were still many things about the Thirteenth's actions that Term couldn't understand, but those likely held meaning too.
However, he couldn't simply keep watching.
The Thirteenth had left all preparations for the attack in his hands—to give him the spotlight, as it were.
The Zeroth Knights, the Imperial Guard led by Commander Franz, possessed considerable strength. Term could overpower them, but their numbers were greater.
Failure was not an option. Term steeled himself and boarded the 'Black Star.'