"Uweeeegh"
A few hours had passed since we left the capital of Jatumheim aboard an airship. It was estimated to take a week to reach the border of the Trade Union.
"Uweeeegh"
I was impressed when I first saw the ship that carried us. Its form resembled a sea vessel, except it had a pair of wings. Its size was quite large, able to accommodate hundreds of passengers. I could feel the magic energy surrounding the airship—it seemed this vessel used magic in order to move. That must also be the reason why the air pressure inside the ship was so stable.
"Uweeeegh"
As I observed, thanks to magic, this world had its own form of technological advancement. If I recalled correctly, the sanitation management in the capital was also quite good—unlike in my world's history, where in the past, cleanliness was often neglected.
"Uweeeegh"
"You should get some rest."
I saw Renaldi, looking worried, suggesting that to Prilm, who kept vomiting.
"Ugh... alright."
As it turned out, Prilm was suffering from motion sickness. When she first boarded this ship, since it was her first time riding an airship, she was incredibly excited. With sparkling eyes, she had gone exploring all over the vessel, but that didn't last long. As soon as the ship lifted off, she began throwing up her lunch.
After Prilm left, Renaldi and I wandered around the ship, looking at various things until the sky grew dark and we returned to our respective rooms.
I remembered how, when we booked private rooms, Prilm was very surprised and eyed us with even more suspicion. It was true that renting a private cabin was quite expensive for a small-time merchant, but Prilm set aside her doubts and simply rejoiced over the facilities she got.
**********
That night, while lying on his bed, Flitz suddenly felt mana radiating from his ring.
"This must be Haru."
He was certain that Haru was the one contacting him. Getting out of bed, he left his room and walked to the ship's deck before answering Haru's call.
On the other side, Haru, who was calling Flitz, was pacing back and forth in her own room.
"Uuuh, why isn't he answering my call?"
Just as she said that, she realized her call had finally gone through.
"Hello Haru! What's going on? Calling me out of nowhere in the middle of the night like this."
Flitz said that as if he had forgotten that earlier he had been spammed with calls from Haru.
"Flitz-san, don't play dumb. I've been trying to reach you earlier but you ignored me."
Hearing Haru's sulking tone, Flitz chuckled.
"Hehe... So, what is it?"
"....."
Earlier, Haru had been so eager to call Flitz, wanting to talk about many things. But once the call finally connected, all those thoughts vanished from her head, and she was left speechless.
"Haru?"
"...Flitz-san... I miss you."
"Oh come on, we just met a few hours ago!"
As she listened to Flitz's words, Haru walked to the window and gazed at the night sky adorned by the moon and stars. The sky in this world was so beautiful, unlike in her world, where it was shrouded in pollution.
She wondered if Flitz was also looking at this beautiful sky.
And she was right—in fact, Flitz was staring at the night sky from the deck, though not with any particular thoughts. For him, it was a usual sight, yet for some reason, it made him smile.
"Flitz-san..."
With a soft voice, Haru called his name.
"Hm? What is it, Haru?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to say your name!"
"What's with that?"
At his question, Flitz only heard the sound of Haru's gentle laughter through his ring.
**********
Two days had passed. In the morning, I noticed a commotion on the ship. Seeing the excited faces of some passengers, it didn't seem like anything bad. I asked the man next to me.
"What's happening? Why do they all look so excited?"
"Ah, is this your first time outside the zone? The ship just passed the Zone Boundary. Well, you'd better see for yourself."
After saying that, he suggested I head to the back of the ship. A few moments later, after following his advice, I finally understood why the passengers were so thrilled.
Below us was a breathtaking view of cliffs surrounded by clouds.
"Jatumheim, the kingdom of giants."
Jatumheim was a kingdom with vast highlands encircled by sheer cliffs—towering several kilometers high and stretching tens of thousands of square kilometers wide. Some cities were built atop that vast plateau, which was truly astounding. You could even see mountains rising on top of it.
So the highlands were like a giant table with mountains and cities on top.
"They say seventy percent of Jatumheim's territory is made up of highlands."
As I was pondering over the cliffs, I heard Renaldi's voice.
"Uwah, what the heck, that's insane."
Renaldi had just arrived and was awestruck by the sight before him. Behind him was Prilm, who followed along, her eyes sparkling with excitement as well. It seemed her motion sickness had finally eased.
I noticed a small city built along the cliff's edge. Looking closer, there was something strange about the cliff wall. People seemed to be gathered around it too.
"Hmm? What's that thing?"
As I muttered that, the ship began descending, piercing through the clouds.
The sudden drop caused a brief uproar.
After breaking through the cloud cover, the base of the cliffs finally became visible, revealing what lay below.
At the bottom was a fairly large city, and from there, something extended upward, piercing all the way to the cliff's summit I had seen earlier.
Upon closer inspection, it was a lift carrying dozens of people and goods up and down the cliffs.
So that's how they cross the "zone," huh.
After searching my databank through my brain chip, I learned that it was a terminal. In addition to the lift, the terminal also had a small warp gate, used for teleportation between the cliff base and the summit. But that cost more than simply using the lift.
In Jatumheim, aside from what we had just seen, there were several other terminals positioned around the zone.
Once the ship descended to a certain altitude, it continued moving forward, leaving behind the city at the base of the cliffs. I could see some children waving their hands at us.
This ship was programmed to land in the Trade Union country. Unless in an emergency, it would not stop anywhere else along the way.
**********
On the fifth day of our journey, we heard a commotion again. But unlike the previous excitement, this time the uproar was filled with fear.
As we went to find out, the cause of the panic was a flock of wyverns targeting the ship.
Wyverns were a subspecies of dragon-type monsters. Though called dragons, wyverns weren't truly dragons. They were merely lizard monsters that had evolved to resemble one.
"Flitz, look! It's a flock of wyverns."
Saying that, Renaldi pulled out a spear glowing with a red aura from his storage bag. Seeing him do that, I facepalmed and sighed helplessly. Why on earth would you suddenly pull out a spear? What kind of merchant uses a weapon like that?
I glanced at Prilm, and as expected, she was dumbfounded at Renaldi's display.
By the way, we outsiders from another world had each been given a small storage bag as a gift from King Cyrus. Inside were some coins, supplies, and a weapon.
The blue spear Renaldi brought out was one of the artifact weapons from Jatumheim's royal vault. Though not a national-class artifact, it was still a high-tier one. Just by its appearance alone, you could tell it wasn't an ordinary spear.
"Hooo... That's quite a weapon you've got there, young man."
At that moment, we heard someone praising Renaldi's spear. Turning around, we saw the one who said it.
It was an elderly man in unusual attire, with long, graying hair tied into a ponytail. A slender, long sword hung at his waist.
Renaldi, upon seeing him, muttered something about a samurai.
I searched for information and learned that samurai were soldiers from the easternmost nation of the continent of Urtem—the Kingdom of Hoshigami.
Meanwhile, the wyverns were drawing closer. The samurai unsheathed his sword, and I could feel an immense surge of energy from it.
"Hey, young man, you'd better sit this one out. Let this old man take care of those lizards."
"Sorry, old man, but this is my time to shine!"
While the two of them bantered, the wyverns came ever closer. Realizing this, both Renaldi and the samurai assumed their stances, preparing to attack.
At the same time, I heard the sound of machinery from both wings of the ship.
Looking that way, I saw several cannons emerge from the wings. Their muzzles locked onto the wyverns.
As soon as all the cannons fixed their aim, I noticed blue energy spheres gathering at their tips. Moments later, the ship opened fire.
Bang!
The spheres shot out at high speed and struck the wyverns.
Boom!
A massive explosion followed, accompanied by the roars of the wyverns. But because of the smoke, I couldn't be sure what had happened. Were the cannons really effective against them?
Soon enough, the answer revealed itself. I saw the corpses of the wyverns falling out of the smoke. Their mangled bodies were proof of just how brutal the ship's weapons were.
Seeing that, all of us passengers turned our eyes toward the two figures who were still frozen mid-stance.
Uwah, how embarrassing. Just looking at them made me feel secondhand shame.