Chapter III: Inglis, Age 16—Far-Off Highland (3)
Several days later, Inglis and friends were on the shore of Illuminas, which had become a remote island. She was sure that Highland, which normally floated far above the surface, was less than pleased with the idea that its boundaries were now determined by shoreline. But the landing strip for flying battleships was almost like a pier, and it made for a great beach.
“All right! Go for it, Leone!”
“Do your best, Leone!”
“H-Here I go!”
Rafinha, Liselotte, and Leone were all wearing swimsuits. Of course, they hadn’t initially expected to have such a trip when they had departed for Highland. Once things turned out the way they had, Rafinha had suggested the beach trip, and she’d taken it upon herself to sew swimsuits for everyone—even a kiddie-sized one for Inglis.
Inglis was transfixed by her reflection in the water. She was like a little angel. She wondered what she would have looked like in a swimsuit in her normal sixteen-year-old body. She was sure she would have appreciated seeing how she’d blossomed into a glamorous, alluring appearance. She didn’t get to visit the beach very often; it was a shame she had to miss the opportunity to wear an attractive swimsuit. Who knew when she’d get another chance? Anyway, she planned to ask Rafinha to make her another once she was back to normal.
“C’mon, Chris! Cheer on Leone too!” Rafinha called, safely holding Rin. Ambassador Theodore had requested Rin be examined—in addition to Eris—to see whether she could be returned to her human state. Rin would have to be stuck as a small magicite beast for the time being; unlike the process for hieral menaces, which was independent of the machinator’s systems, most other equipment was disabled; Highland couldn’t conduct a proper examination of Rin under the current circumstances and thus currently couldn’t do anything for her.
If it were only a matter of Eris’s repair, which would take years, Inglis and her friends would have already been returning to the knights’ academy right about now. She was also concerned about the Rangers, who had been set to deploy to Alcard shortly after her departure for Highland. She hoped to join them if necessary.
However, since there was the matter of Rin as well, she had decided to wait until Illuminas’s current problems were resolved and she could get a second opinion from Chief Academician Wilkin.
Thus, there was nothing to do but wait on the beach. She was allowed to stay in return for a pledge to help intercept any attacking magicite beasts. Illuminas seemed to be holding up under emergency power while the machinator was silent. However, due to that, the island’s ability to predict the Prism Flow or activate defensive barriers was nonfunctional. In fact, it couldn’t even move. According to Wilma, with Illuminas’s defenses weakened and the island in danger, aid from Inglis and her friends would be welcomed.
And thus, that brought the group to where they were with Leone today. Her toned-yet-voluptuous curves—surpassing even those of Inglis in her normal state—stood out in her bold swimsuit, but that wasn’t important now.
She was wielding three Artifacts at once: the dark greatsword Artifact in her right hand, Rafinha’s Artifact bow Shiny Flow in her left, and Liselotte’s halberd Artifact strapped to her back.
“You’ll be fine. You can do this now,” Inglis said. “Give it your best shot!”
She had a special-class Rune now, inscribed by Chief Academician Wilkin, and from the back of her right hand, it shimmered all the colors of the rainbow. Those with special-class Runes could wield not only hieral menaces, but all Artifacts as well. Therefore, Leone should be able to wield all three at once. The plan today was to experiment with that as they enjoyed their day at the beach.
“All right... I’ll give it a try!” Leone’s expression was serious, in a way that didn’t match her outfit at all. “Wings!” Pale wings sprang from her back. Flapping them forcefully, she soared into the air. “Eek?!” As this was her first time using that Gift, Leone lost her balance in the air, but that wasn’t a major problem. “Like this? Like this, right?!” She quickly became used to it, and she stabilized.
Then she stopped, hovering, and gripped Shiny Flow. “Arrow of light! I don’t think I can aim it as precisely as Rafinha, but I’ll try for a barrage!” High up in the sky, she drew the bow. The arrow of light created in her hand swelled. Then, just after firing, she called out:
“Burst!”
At her command, the arrow split into countless smaller ones, all leaving trails of light. It seemed to be a fairly accurate recreation of how Rafinha wielded the Artifact, though Rafinha could then manipulate the trajectory of the smaller arrows to provide area denial or diversion.
The burst of light fired by Leone pierced the surface of the sea, raising countless splashes. The sound of roiling water then subsided, and a few seconds passed before something floated to the surface of the water—a large number of fish. Leone had spotted their silhouettes from her vantage point and rained Shiny Flow’s arrows of light down upon them. This wasn’t just training; it was also their plan for lunch.
“Wow, fantastic catch! You did a terrific job, Leone!”
“That’s quite impressive!” Liselotte agreed.
“Thanks,” Leone said. “I guess you really can use any Artifact if you have a special-class Rune. This is amazing! Oh, wait, I need to hurry and gather all the fish!” She dived, using the wings to hover just above the water’s surface, and extended the blade of her greatsword as far as she could. Using its broad blade, she scooped up the floating fish, securing them. Counting them on her return, she found that she’d caught almost twenty of them.
Rafinha’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Wow! They look delicious! Mmmm, fresh ocean fish! ♪”
“We don’t get to eat ocean fish very often. I bet you’re looking forward to this,” Inglis remarked.
“Mm-hmm! After all, Ymir’s far inland, and even Chiral is separated from the open sea by fresh water. I bet they’re nice and salty, since they live in salt water.”
“No, I don’t think they taste that much different...” Liselotte said.
“Oh, right, you’re from Charot, and that’s on the western coast, isn’t it?” Inglis asked, and Liselotte nodded in agreement.
“Yes, this kind of fish is often part of our catch. Though these are especially impressive examples, I suppose because we’re surrounded by the ocean. They seem as though they’ll be delicious.”
“Anyway, Rani, let’s start a fire and grill them,” Inglis suggested.
“Yeah! We’ll grill ’em up! Oh, Leone, could you catch a few more? I don’t think this will be enough!” Rafinha said.
“This still isn’t enough?” Leone laughed wanly.
“I’m worried that you’ll overfish them to extinction...” Liselotte said.
“It’ll be fine,” Rafinha insisted. “The sea here is so wide and vast—I’m sure it will provide!”
“I guess...” Inglis said. “The Lake Bolt fishers complained that we were catching too many, but here we can have as many as we want!”
“Well, I hope you’ll at least leave enough that they can still be caught in Charot...” Liselotte said.
Geographically speaking, they had proceeded west from the shores of Karelia into the open ocean. They had passed over the lands of Duke Arcia, Liselotte’s father, and the town of Charot as they went.
“C’mon, Rani. Let’s get the fire started.”
“Whoo! I’ll get some skewers! ♪”
Inglis, Rafinha, and Liselotte grilled the fish, while Leone brought more. Soon, the beach was filled with the delicious aroma of cooking fish. However, even with the scenery of a chalk-white city surrounded by clear blue sky and clear blue sea, the city itself was quiet. The Highlanders who lived there seemed to be mostly staying in their subterranean shelters rather than returning to the surface, in preparation for a potential falling of the Prism Flow or attack by magicite beasts; Highlanders were vulnerable to the effect of the Prism Flow. But for the friends, it was as if they had their own private beach.
“Let’s eat!”
“Rani, you’re gonna have a hard time eating if you pick up that many at once.”
“But I’m worried they’ll get away from me!”
Nom! Nom! Nom! Nom, nom, nom!
Inglis’s comments were of no concern to her. Rafinha held three skewers in each of her hands, and the fish on them were rapidly being reduced to just head and bones.
“Mm fan fell va vuffayn ha flow he vown! (I can tell you’re just trying to slow me down!)”
“Mno eh, vathnn—! (No way, that’s not—!)” Inglis, trying to keep up the pace, held two in each of her own. But as small as she was, her normal ability to match Rafinha bite-for-bite had paled. In barely a moment, there was a small mountain of fish bones around them.
“Leone! Seconds please!” the two requested, smiling.
“Sure, sure. I’ll get you some more...” Leone sighed, producing a jiggle that Rin didn’t peek out of.
“Huh? Leone, where’s Rin?”
“Huh? Err... She’s not here, where did she get off to?”
“I haven’t the foggiest...” Liselotte said.
“Oh, she’s over there.” Inglis pointed behind them. At some point, Rin had escaped Leone’s top and headed for the shade of a nearby beach house.
“Rin! Where are you going?” Rafinha called out.
But just then they heard the shocked voice of a young boy. “Whoa?! Wh-What is this thing?!”
“Huh?! Is someone there?!” They turned to see a person with a forehead stigmata.
“A Highlander boy...?” Rafinha muttered, and she was right. He seemed to be around Alina’s age, ten or so, a bit older than Inglis currently appeared. He had pale indigo hair and something about his face that gave Inglis the sense that he was a clever kid.
“H-Hello...” He was a bit guarded, even as he greeted them, but that was natural given the circumstances.
Of course, Rafinha, friendly as ever, greeted him warmly. “Hi! I’m Rafinha! Do you want some of this?” Smiling, she held forth a fish skewer.
“Rani, there’s nothing but bones left on that one.”
“Huh?! Oh no! Um, how about this one?”
“That one’s all bones too. All of them are.” That was why they had just asked Leone for seconds.
“Well, sheesh! Just hold on a minute, umm... What’s your name?”
“M-Myce... I’m Myce.” He seemed a bit overwhelmed, but he still answered Rafinha’s smile with one of his own. And before long...
“It’s tasty!” Myce beamed as he held a skewer bearing part of Leone’s new catch.
“Yeah, it’s great! Fresh fish is the best!”
“Fish are so pretty too. I’ve never met one outside pictures and books.”
“Huh? You’d never eaten fish before?” Rafinha replied, shocked.
“I have, but we only see them in Highland after they’re already cooked, so...”
“I see, so you’ve eaten fish before, but by the time you see it it’s already filleted? With the bones taken out and everything?” Inglis tried to build a picture of how Highland fed itself.
“Yeah, that’s right! So I knew what fish are supposed to look like, but I still kinda thought they might just be fish sticks swimming in the sea...but nope! The real thing is so pretty and so tasty!” Myce had a carefree smile, as if the meal had taken away his nervousness.
“Yeah, you’re right! Eat up and get big and strong, Myce!”
“Here, Myce, have another.” As Inglis spoke, she and Rafinha continued converting fish to bones at many times his speed.
“Ha ha ha... I can’t keep up with you two... I didn’t know surface people ate like that...” As he took the new skewer from Inglis, Myce’s smile was strained.
“Don’t get the wrong impression!” Leone insisted. “It’s just these two who are like that!”
“Indeed!” Liselotte agreed. “The rest of us eat at a reasonable pace.”
“I-I see... I’ve just never met people from the surface before, so I was wondering if you guys all eat like animals...”
Leone took a moment to converse with her fellow normal surface person. “I’m glad we’re here and it’s not just those two.”
“Yes, otherwise he would have had quite the mistaken idea...”
Leone and Liselotte patted their chests in relief, but Myce seemed a little disappointed.
“Oh. I thought I was learning something they didn’t teach me at school, but I guess I was wrong.”
“Viaveh, Nmayf, wa ya yu hih? (By the way, Myce, why are you here?)” Rafinha asked as she continued eating. It was a bit unbefitting of an older girl.
“Umm...?”
“Rani meant, ‘By the way, Myce, why are you here?’”
“Wow! Surface people can understand what they’re saying even when their mouths are full!”
“No, again, that’s just them!” Leone said.
“Come on, you two! Behave yourselves! You’re being a bad influence on Myce!” Liselotte scolded them.
“Ohay! Mmm...” Rafinha took a big gulp of the remaining food in her mouth. “Sorry, it’s just so tasty.”
“I didn’t even do anything wrong,” Inglis grumbled, unhappy about being included in the callout.
“It’s fine. It’s just because we’re such good friends.” Rafinha patted Inglis on the head to smooth things over.
“Yeah, Rani.” Inglis, however, saw herself as more of a grandparent to Rafinha. A doting one inclined to indulge her whims, though.
“So, anyway, what were you doing there, Myce?”
“I heard the Highlander civilians were all in the underground shelters?” Leone asked.
“Yes, Leone’s right,” Liselotte said. “The Prism Flow can’t be predicted or defended against right now, so it’s dangerous... Did you come out here on your own?”
“Y-Yeah... I always wanted to see the surface with my own eyes! I know Illuminas just fell into the sea for a little bit, so it’s not like a real surface country, but I still really wanted to see! Even though the city is the same, everything looks different, it even smells different! The world is so big!” Myce lit up with intellectual curiosity.
“Ha ha ha... It’s nice that you’re having fun, but you probably shouldn’t go out alone,” Rafinha said.
Myce frowned with his eyes a little. “Yeah, I’ll probably get in trouble for it. But that means I’m already in trouble, so please let me stay a little longer! I’ll go right home after!”
“That’s fine. But only for a little bit, okay? And stay near us.”
Myce’s eyes lit up. “Thanks, Rafinha!”
“Rafinha, we can’t just... I mean, if the other Highlanders are all sheltering, then it’s probably pretty important...” Leone pointed out.
“Exactly,” Liselotte agreed. “If anything were to happen...”
“That’s why I’m saying that,” Rafinha said. “He’s safer with us, isn’t he? The most dangerous thing would be the Prism Flow, but that doesn’t hurt us, so we can protect him. If worse comes to worst, we can cover him ourselves.”
We wouldn’t even have to do that, Inglis thought. We could have Leone extend her greatsword and use it as an umbrella or something. The problem would normally be that whoever’s holding that would be caught out in the flow, but it doesn’t hurt us, so that’s fine.
“Plus, don’t you want to talk with a Highlander kid a bit more? He says he wants to talk to us.”
“I don’t think that’s precisely what he said, Rani.”
“No, if I can stay, I will! When am I ever going to get the chance to talk to people from the surface again? And hey, are all girls from the surface pretty like you and Leone and Liselotte?” Myce’s carefree question lacked any particular undercurrent.
“Huh? Oh, Myce, you flatter us! ♪” Rafinha said. Myce could barely breathe through her pats on his back.
“Hmm, I guess. But only for a little while,” Leone conceded.
“Agreed... It certainly is a worthwhile experience to learn more about another culture.” Liselotte didn’t seem seriously concerned either. They were leaning toward Rafinha’s suggestion.
“Haven’t you ever seen people from the surface, Myce? Aren’t there any here?” Inglis asked. She had heard that Highland had taken people from the surface as slaves, yet Myce had never met any? Strange.
There hadn’t been anyone from the surface at the central laboratory with Chief Academician Wilkin either. Her assumption had been that it was because that was a specialized research facility staffed by Highlander elites, but apparently even in day-to-day life surface slaves were not present.
“I heard there used to be, but that was bad, so I’m glad I never met any...” Myce’s expression became somber.
“What do you mean, Myce?” Rafinha asked.
“Well...”
“Treating people as slaves is terrible, right?” Inglis spoke in the place of Myce, who seemed to be having a hard time finding words.
Rafinha and the others gasped in unison.
“Yeah... That’s right! It was a bad thing. That’s why in Illuminas, we have the machinator to do everything, so we don’t need to anymore. I think it’s better like this. I don’t think it’s right to do mean things to people to make your life easier, and I wouldn’t like it if my parents or friends did that...”
“I see... Illuminas sounds like a good place, then.” Rafinha gently patted Myce on the back.
He lit up again, as if that had relieved his worry. “Yeah, it is! But I wish not doing mean things to people from the surface didn’t mean I didn’t have any to make friends with. There are a lot of things I want to ask.”
“All right, go ahead and ask me then! I’ll tell you anything!” Rafinha thumped her chest.
“Thanks!” Myce said. “Then, when you walk down the street on the surface, are there really just magicite beasts hanging out everywhere?!”
“I wouldn’t really say ‘everywhere,’ but there are a lot after the Prism Flow, and Prismers can even use their power to create weaker ones.”
“Prismers! Those are the superstrong ones, right? They say those are why we can’t live on the surface... Rafinha, have you ever seen one?”
“Seen one? We just fought one!” Rafinha pumped a fist proudly.
“Wow, that’s so cool!” Myce looked at her, obviously impressed.
“And this girl is the one who beat it! ♪” Rafinha scooped up Inglis, who obliged with her own fist pump.
“Whoooa!” Myce’s cheer came out almost like a scream. “The monster that’s supposed to be able to even wipe out Highland if it gets up here? That’s so cool! Wait, does that mean that if a Prismer showed up here, I could watch you fight it?!”
“Sure, I’d love to if you could find one for me,” Inglis answered with a smile.
Without Eris, she’d have to fight any Prismer that appeared now without a hieral menace, but, well. It would give her a chance to truly test her own strength, so that could be a plus. She was always changing and improving. And she had her new dragon magic. Someday, she would have to take down a Prismer completely under her own power.
“Wow! I wonder if one will come. I know it’d cause big trouble, but I want to see!”
“Yeah, I hope one comes too!” Inglis nodded along with Myce.
“Ha ha ha... I don’t really want that to happen...” Rafinha said.
“Seriously, could you all not wish for such dangerous things! It might end up being more than a joke,” Liselotte protested with a frown.
“Huh? What do you mean, Liselotte?” Rafinha asked.
“Wait, have you heard of a Prismer around here?” Leone’s expression was nervous.
“Ooh! Great! What do they say about it? Where is it? How do I meet it?” Inglis asked.
“Don’t be so happy about it! Well...I do suppose it’s too late to be telling you that, but...” Liselotte sighed deeply, and began to recite. “Sailing west from my hometown Charot, you reach here: the Shaquell Sea. Legends of it tell of sea serpents and sunk ships. By Arcia family records...we sent many expeditions to explore the area, but only one party returned, and those members that survived described seeing the monster for themselves—a gigantic fish with rainbow-colored scales.”
“Rainbow-colored scales... That means...” Rafinha began.
“A...Prismer,” Leone concluded. They frowned.
“Yes. Now, it is a vast sea. I don’t think we’re just going to run into it, but it’s not completely unthinkable. And it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“That means Illuminas needs to get back in the sky as soon as possible,” Leone pondered.
“That’s right,” Rafinha agreed. “I wonder how much longer it will take. Does this kind of thing happen a lot, Myce?”
“No, this is the first time ever! At least that I know about...” Myce shook his head.
“Oh, something’s coming.” Inglis pointed toward the ocean. A huge waterspout made it clear that something was coming, though the spout and the distance made it hard to see exactly what.
I need to get a little closer, Inglis thought.
“Ehhhhhh?!” Meanwhile, Rafinha and the others had a bad feeling about this.
“Wow, something is! What is that?!” Rafinha asked.
“I-Is it the sea serpent?!” Leone said.
“Of all the times!” Liselotte said. “And we don’t even have Eris here with us...!”
They had just been talking about this. About a Prismer known as a “sea serpent” that lurked in these seas. Speak of the devil, perhaps. “All right! See, the Prismer knows just what we need!” Inglis, alone, was full of enthusiasm. A powerful foe that appeared right when she wanted a fight—what could be better?
“Sheesh!” Rafinha remarked. “Big or small, you’re always like this, Chris! But if it is a Prismer, I’m glad we’re here. These are friendly Highlanders, just like Cyrene and Ambassador Theodore. We’ve gotta protect them, Chris!”
“We’ll absolutely do that!”
“Neither Lady Eris nor Lady Ripple are here, but if there’s anything we can do...” Leone offered.
“If we can defeat the Prismer here, ships will be able to safely cross the Shaquell Sea! This is for Charot, and for Karelia, as well!” Liselotte said.
Each was willing to fight the Prismer if it showed itself. Then—
“Then I’m gonna go take a look!” Inglis couldn’t let herself be beaten to the prize. She wanted a one-on-one victory against a Prismer. Plus, when she had fought the rime-bound bird Prismer, it had shown the ability to transform not just Highlanders, but also surface people, into magicite beasts. That might have been a result of its evolved, part-bird part-human, form, something the sea serpent Prismer wouldn’t have. And Rafinha hadn’t been affected even up close, so she should be fine. As would Liselotte, also with an upper-class Rune, and especially Liselotte with her special-class one. But with how much she cared for her beloved ersatz granddaughter, Rafinha, Inglis didn’t want to take any chances. Such was her parental—well, grandparental—concern.
Running her fingertips over herself, Inglis activated her dragon magic.
Gwohhhh!
The dragon ice armor. An azure suit of armor with a draconic design materialized around her with a roar. And beyond that—“Haaaa!” Aether Shell!
The dragon ice armor increased her defenses and all-around capabilities, like a weaker Aether Shell. “Weaker” said more about aether than about it; it was quite effective. And most importantly, it could be layered with Aether Shell.
Inglis had combined the three kinds of abilities she could use at once—aether techniques, dragon lore, and magic—into one. The dragon ice armor was dragon magic: dragon lore and magic combined. And Aether Shell was an aether technique. She was using everything she could.
“Ah, h-hold it, Chris!” Before Rafinha could stop her, she had started running toward the ocean. No, to be precise, she was probably running toward it. She was moving too fast to be seen. Too fast indeed. In just a moment, she was far out at sea, her only visual trace a trail of frozen footsteps.
“Wh—! Ehhhh?! She disappeared! No, wait, are those footsteps in the water hers?!” Myce gasped.
“Myce, now you can watch Chris fight as much as you want—if you can see her,” Rafinha said.
“Y-Yeah. Do your best, Inglis!”
“We should get going after her!” Leone said.
“I’ll get there first! You two take the Flygear!” Liselotte said.
They began to follow her. At that point, Inglis had already seen what was actually coming from the sea.
“It’s not a Prismer?!” It wasn’t even magicite beasts. “Is that a flying battleship?!” It seemed to be significantly older than the ship Wilma commanded that had brought them to Illuminas, maybe even older than Karelia’s. It didn’t seem to have much of an armament at all. It must have been an older class.
Whatever it was, it was somehow still barely steaming forward, skipping across the surface of the water while spouting smoke fore and aft. If she left it alone, it would probably completely lose propulsion and sink. A flock of birdlike magicite beasts chased after it, and near the surface there was also a school of fishlike ones, there to devour what they could from the eventual wreck.
“Was it attacked by magicite beasts?!” A flying battleship bound for Illuminas that had met with an attack by magicite beasts and began to sink. That must be the current situation. “Then...” Inglis closed in on the ship, then changed direction to run beside it.
As she did, she deactivated Aether Shell and shot down a few of the nearby magicite beasts. But that was just an afterthought. She would have to leave the bulk of the beasts for later. Rafinha and the others would arrive and handle them—she herself had to do something about the sinking ship. She didn’t think anyone else could.
Splasssssh!
The flying battleship shuddered forward again, skipping up a bit from the surface as it had been doing. And this was Inglis’s chance.
“There!” She reactivated Aether Shell. Ducking under the ship, she jumped up from the water and thrust her hands toward it. Twisting, she put all her strength into it and flung the ship as hard as she could!
“Haaaah!” The force she supplied visibly raised the ship’s trajectory and increased its momentum. But it still wouldn’t be enough for it to reach landfall on Illuminas. It would only hasten the sinking. She needed to keep at it.
“I’m not done yet!” When Inglis landed, she sped past the ship she’d just thrown, and again set herself up directly beneath it. Again, she jumped up to the ship, twisting around in the air.
“Again!” Again, she sent it flying higher and farther. The trick was to continually apply force while it was still aloft. If she tried to do it with her feet on the ocean’s surface, there would only be ice below her, and she would sink under the weight.
What was needed was to be speedy enough to run across the surface faster than it flew, and strong enough to throw it again. Even with Aether Shell and the dragon ice armor overlapping, she could feel its weight. That was good training in its own way.
She’d keep going, bringing it all the way to the safety of Illuminas.
The next time she brought herself under the falling ship, she found herself passing by Rafinha and the others, coming from the other direction.
“Chris! Keep going!”
“Got it! Rani, can you deal with the magicite beasts that are chasing it?”
“Okay! Leave it to us!”
Afterward, Inglis continued to throw the ship toward Illuminas, then get back in its path. As she did, she also passed mechanical dragons coming from the island. She had gotten there first, but their counterattack against the magicite beasts was coming as well.
“Mechanical dragons! And they weren’t paying any attention to me!” The mechanical dragons had passed her and the ship by. They seemed to understand what she was doing.
So I can just keep going! “Again! Again! And again!” Landfall on Illuminas drew closer and closer. “And this is it! Haaaaaaaaah!” Her last throw was different from all the others—this one sent the ship definitively toward land. That meant she had to get ahead of it and catch it.
“All right!” On the shore of Illuminas, as the ship began to fall, Inglis prepared herself.
“What are you doing?! It’s going to land here! Run away!” It was a Highlander woman in black knight’s armor—Wilma—calling out to her. She was commanding the mechanical dragons, which must have been why they understood what was happening.
“Wilma? It’s fine, I’ll stop it!”
“That’s absurd! You’ll be crushed!”
“I threw it; I can catch it. Leave it to me.” Inglis grinned calmly at her. “Here it comes! Wilma, get out of here!”
“No, I don’t care how strong you are, I can’t let a child be left to bear that alone! And it’s my duty to protect Illuminas!” Wilma had no intention of falling back, so there was little more to say, and little time in which to say it.
“If you think it might be dangerous, get away, okay?”
“You don’t need to worry about me like that!”
Inglis and Wilma caught the falling battleship together.
“Haaaaah!”
“Guhhhh?! This is heavy! Keeping it away is—!”
The mass and force of it were so strong that they were pushed back on their feet, leaving furrows.
“No, not yet!”
“It’s easing up?!”
The force pressing on the two slowly eased.
“Just a little more!”
“This is incredible! Just what are you?!”
Thummmmmmmp...
In the end, the flying battleship, its momentum expended, landed with a dull thud. If they hadn’t done anything, it might have crashed and exploded.
“Phew... Well, that was pretty good training...” Inglis smiled in satisfaction, and wiped the dripping sweat from her brow.
Crshshsh!
At the same time, the dragon ice armor encasing her shattered. For it to have withstood the aether load of a full-power Aether Shell for so long was impressive. She had no complaints about its performance.
“Well done! This means there will be almost no damage to Illuminas. And we certainly didn’t need any more.”
“I threw it, so it makes sense I could catch it. Are you all right, Wil—?!” Inglis froze up midsentence as she checked on Wilma. Looking at her, she noticed that her arm was bent at an impossible angle. Her right ankle as well—the heel was twisted to the front. “W-Wilma?!”
She had pushed herself too hard. Inglis had let her choose to rather than stopping her, but should have pushed her away.
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” Wilma’s expression was calm. “These aren’t going to do me any more good...” She touched her twisted arm and foot, and as she did, they fell away. But there was no blood, no exposed flesh. The stumps were packed with machinery like that of a Flygear or Flygear Port.
“Ah! A mechanical body...” Just like that of Ian, Lahti’s friend from Alcard. Wilma’s seemed more advanced, like it was the newest model.
“Yes. It’s more convenient for Highland knights to operate abroad in such bodies. This way we’re not affected by the Prism Flow.”
“I-I see... So do all of Illuminas’s knights have them?”
“Yes. It’s the most efficient way to limit personnel requirements for command of the mechanical dragons and flying battleships.”
“Efficiency, hmm...”
That was fine enough, but what about Wilma’s original body? Inglis thought of Rahl and Fars of the Rambach Company, two surface people who had become Highlanders. Their position seemed to have been that of knights of Highland, similar to Wilma’s. Though, given that she had been given command of a flying battleship and of the overall defense of Illuminas, perhaps hers was higher. Maybe even on a level with the Archlord Evel.
In any case, they were like ambassadors in that they performed duties outside Highland, except ambassadors retained their flesh. Or at least someone’s flesh, given that Evel, like Chief Academician Wilkin, had a hi-mana coat.
But from what Wilma said, Illuminas’s knights all had mechanical bodies. It might have been that this was simply a difference of doctrine, of culture, between the Triumvirate and the Papal League. Perhaps, even among the Triumvirate, Dux Jildegrieva’s Rüstung differed. Other parts of Highland weren’t necessarily the same as here. Dux Jildegrieva seemed like the kind of man to refuse a mechanical body on the grounds that exercise would no longer strengthen him. No, she was sure he would, given how closely they were in agreement. He and Inglis had very similar preferences—they clicked well. Plus, Inglis enjoyed her blossomed appearance when she stared at herself in the mirror, or when she felt her soft hand on her skin. She knew it would be displeasing no longer really being herself.
It seemed that each Highlander leader had a very clear influence on their followers. Compared to that, the differences between surface countries seemed trivial.
“Don’t make that face. I wanted this... I had an incurable disease, and this was the only way I could survive. All of Illuminas’s knights share the same sort of story.”
“Oh, I see...” Inglis replied. That made sense to her, then. It had been necessary to survive. And it was not only lifesaving, but a way to ensure that there would be knights to protect Illuminas—Illuminas, which prized efficiency above all else.
“Now, what’s more important is to find out what’s aboard this ship.” Wilma turned her eyes to the flying battleship which lay beside them.
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