"Uwaaaaaaaah!"
A violent impact rocks the entire ship. The furniture is bolted down, but dishes and wooden crates go floating through the air.
Everyone clings desperately to desks and chairs. Franz shields the imperial princess on the emperor's orders. The look of death is plain on every face.
Cluce grips the leg of a desk. Kilnight, lashed to a chair with ropes, trembles and convulses.
Then, one final, tremendous impact shakes the hull.
The Barrier Ring absorbs the shock. It felt like being tossed around by colossal waves. The sound of shattering glass. Tremors and impacts came in waves — and then, silence.
The ground was flat. Technically, what had been a wall was now the floor, but there were no more tremors coming. I staggered to my feet.
I took a deep breath. The temperature should have been high, but my shirt kept me comfortable.
I'm alive... I'm alive!
The interior of the hall was a wreck. It seemed this was their first experience with a crash, because over in the corner, the escort knights who couldn't withstand the violent impact had been slammed into the physical world like dumplings, piled in a heap. Still, they probably weren't dead.
The emperor pressed his hands to the floor and slowly pushed himself upright. Franz let out a groan. Before the crash, Cluce and the other mages had cast magic to cushion the impact.
The carpet — which, despite being able to fly, had inexplicably clung to the table — stood up.
It seemed the only ones uninjured were... me and the carpet. But if we'd fallen from that height and gotten away with only this much damage, that was more than good enough.
"Ngh... damn... what happened..."
Cluce opened his eyes while clutching his arm, apparently having slammed into something. His vision still seemed hazy, his eyes unable to focus. There was none of his usual force in his tone.
But it looked like no bones were broken. No blood either. Probably just bruises.
I was the only one who could stand.
Good grief, crash amateurs? When that happens — keep your eyes open and they'll spin, so it's better to close them. Cover your ears and curl up for good measure. You could call it escapism, really.
But now wasn't the time for that.
Beyond the shattered glass, gravel stretched out.
I reached out carefully. The hull was lying on its side in shadow now, but it must have been baked by the searing sun until recently, because intense heat transferred through my fingertips like a burn.
Steeled, I stepped down onto the ground.
Neither heat nor light could have any ill effect on me. Nearly tripping over the sand, I stepped out of the ship's shadow.
And I caught my breath at the sight before me.
A desert sprawled in every direction. Though it wasn't entirely barren all the way to the horizon.
Beyond the shimmering air — a few hundred meters away, I could make out a large city. Lush trees, and beyond low outer walls, white buildings. To my eyes they looked like tiny beans, but perhaps startled by our sudden arrival, several small shadows emerged from the gates.
Near the gates, a flag fluttered. A yellow field with five spears — the national flag of Toizant, the Sand Kingdom, shown to us before we'd set out on our escort journey.
...Hmm, hmm... We crashed in a good spot. Looks like we won't have to camp outdoors.
The Barrier Ring couldn't do anything about sleeping outside, after all.
I'd been worried, but it seemed we'd arrived safely.
I gave myself a hard-boiled nod, then decided to head back to the ship to deliver the good news.
"We've arrived at the city safely!"
"Mm... ugh... I have nothing more to say to you..."
Franz replied in a muffled voice, pressing his fingertips to his brow, his vision apparently still unsteady.
§ And so, we ultimately arrived without incident at our destination — the Sand Kingdom of Toizant.
Zero dead (multiple injuries). There was even plenty of time to spare before the summit. A flawless job.
The developed city visible from the landing site turned out to be Toizant's capital — the very place where the summit would be held.
Originally, the airship was supposed to land at an airfield built some distance from the capital, so in terms of proximity, this was actually a stroke of luck.
Happily ever after.
"Once I get better, I'm going to beat you up for sure, you hear..."
Lucia's words came weakly from the bed at the lodging prepared for us in Toizant. Cluce, who apparently had strained his magic reserves to cast defensive spells on everyone at the moment of landing, lay listlessly in his own bed.
While my reputation was on a one-way slide downward, Cluce's stock was skyrocketing.
At first the other companions had kept their distance from him because he was a Spiritfolk, but by now people spoke to him freely. Some even declared him their lifesaver. Cluce was fundamentally a good kid, so you could say this was simply how he was meant to be, but still, I was glad I'd asked Lapis for help. I'd have to thank Lapis properly next time... though I wasn't giving up Lucia.
The airship crash was an international incident. Even though there were no casualties, the fact that we'd fallen in an unplanned location in another country meant all sorts of trouble I didn't understand would crop up. But there was no room for me to interfere.
By now, the Zebuldian civil servants who'd either been brought along or had arrived via a different route were surely running around dealing with the fallout.
An unexpected betrayal, an encounter with a Treasure Hall — too much had happened.
But let's think about this calmly. Before departure, I'd told Eva, "There might be Thieves. There might be magical beasts. On top of that, a Treasure Hall might be built, or we might get caught up in a disaster." And I had indeed encountered none of those.
I'd been betrayed, but I hadn't been attacked by Thieves. A dragon had appeared, but no magical beasts.
I'd encountered a Treasure Hall, but it wasn't something newly spawned — it was an encounter with something that already existed. We'd been swallowed by a storm, but that hardly counted as a disaster.
In other words, none of the things I'd verbalized had actually happened. Which meant that — "...Could it be that this time, I'm... lucky?"
"!?"
"No, no, wait, wait. You're most in danger when you let your guard down... something could still happen from here on..."
"!?" "Give it a rest... weakling..."
Cluce weakly extended his arm. His smooth, pale skin was exposed.
I blinked for a moment, then caught on to what he meant, bowed my head, and obediently let him punch me.
Come to think of it, what happened to Termu and the others who'd vanished from the ship?
§ Franz had apparently arranged a large escort unit separately in Toizant. The summit security would be handled mainly by them.
After getting the curt instruction to "stay out of the way," I left the lodgings I'd been assigned.
The Sand Kingdom of Toizant was supposed to be less developed compared to Zebuldia, I'd heard.
But the capital exceeded all expectations. There was nothing rural about it.
The climate was different, so people's clothing and building styles varied somewhat, but this exotic scenery was a rare sight for someone who rarely left home, and I couldn't help but smile.
Toizant was hot and dry year-round. Perhaps because of the intense sunlight, everyone was tanned, and many wore light outer cloaks to shield their skin from ultraviolet rays.
The ones in short sleeves were surely those reinforced by Mana Material. There were few of them, but their rough appearances might have surpassed even the hunters back in the imperial capital.
I chose a broad avenue and headed toward the sheet ghosts.
The hidden contributors — my precious sheet ghosts — had chosen lodgings that were worlds apart from the inn where I'd been billeted. A run-down place, clearly mid-tier at first glance. But for Hunters willing to camp in the wilderness, ride airships in flight, or venture to the deepest corners of unexplored territory, it was more than adequate. (Incidentally, I'd found out the location because Citry had contacted me.)
True to being a desert nation, the rooms had excellent ventilation. Riizu and Luke were nowhere to be seen.
When I entered the spacious bedroom, I found Lucia lying flat on a crude bed, and she turned a resentful look toward me.
Her usual thick outer cloak had been removed, leaving her in comfortable clothes. But her face was drained of color.
Lucia murmured softly.
"...You... idiot... brother..."
It seemed to be Mana Depletion. Felt oddly nostalgic.
Citry, having shed her sheet ghost disguise, brought over an iced drink. When Citry saw Lucia, she gave a wry smile.
"It looks like flying a ship that large nearly three hundred kilometers was pretty brutal for her. She'd drifted quite far off course from the destination... and they couldn't exactly let it crash in the middle of the desert."
"Yeah, yeah, that's right... That's our Lucia! I believed in you the whole time!"
She'd flown it nearly three hundred kilometers... I hadn't even noticed. I'd been too busy just trying to hold on during the turbulence.
"You... idiot... of a brother..."
But if Lucia hadn't pushed herself, there would have been deaths. Franz and the others should be thanking Lucia, not me.
I sat on the bed and casually reached out to touch the white ears sprouting from the top of Lucia's head. She punched my hand away.
"Stop... that..."
Lucia protested in fragmented bursts. At this rate, if I tried to touch her tail, a punch wouldn't be the end of it. Citry explained for her.
"No matter how much Mana Recovery Potion she drinks, the tail keeps draining her faster than she can recover. She can't remove it until the magic she spent is fully restored... It can work as a temporary boost, but the downside is pretty severe."
"Broth... er... is a... leader... idiot..."
"If she could just keep wearing it long-term, the downside wouldn't matter — — — I'm kidding, I'm kidding, Lucia!"
The ears and tail growing from Lucia were a side effect of the power of the "Divine Fox's Terminal Tail" that she'd been entrusted with.
The "Divine Fox's Terminal Tail" was a massive reservoir of power. The tail that had been brought back from the Lost Inn during a previous encounter had been handed over to Lucia after going through Citry's research.
Through training, Lucia had succeeded in drawing out a portion of the tail's power. Normally she attached it to a stick and used it as a broom substitute, but if Lucia ever ran out of magic, the tail would grant her tremendous power. (Incidentally, I had no idea how she attached it, since asking earned me a punch. Apparently it could be put on over clothes, though...)
The attached tail could, naturally, be removed as well, but from the looks of things this time, there were various restrictions.
Noticing my gaze on her twitching ears, Lucia pulled the thin towel blanket up over herself to hide them.
"It might take about three days to recover.
We've also run out of Mana Recovery Potion..."
"It's been a while since you've been bedridden like this."
Lucia's magic reserves, which had been continuously charging my Treasure Weapons, were enormous. For her to suffer Mana Depletion was truly rare.
And as for the depletion itself, she usually recovered right away with a recovery potion, so being laid up in bed was even rarer.
"A little while ago, Lucia said the same thing."
"...Well, I'll count on you to take care of Lucia until she recovers. The others seem to have calmed down, at least for now."
I wanted to believe the worst was behind us.
If anything else came up, I'd try to avoid relying on Lucia's power as much as possible.
It's fine. Even without Lucia, I still had my energetic sword spirits. They'd gone off somewhere for fun at the moment, but they'd come running as soon as I called.
We're a Party. The sword spirits are always there whenever you need them.
The alchemy ghost spoke with a cheerful smile.
"Leave it to us. This trip has been productive for us as well. The Kirukilu we left with Krai has gotten a sleeker upgrade too."
So it was... Kirukilu, but smart.
"Oh, right... I have a present for Lucia..."
I had plenty to say, but I set it all aside and looked at the magic ghost, who had hidden under the towel blanket.
The blanket squirmed. Two pointed ears twitched on top.
Good, good... That makes two tails now.
I grinned and gave a big nod, then pulled a new tail from the bag I'd brought.