Chapter: 292
After a slight delay due to various reasons, the Hunting Party finally set off.
As the constellation created by Ari and Sylvia, carrying the Hunting Party, soared into the sky and began to pick up speed, the view of the city below quickly shrank into a tiny dot and disappeared.
For a moment, everyone gazed in the direction of where the city used to be, but as it became invisible, people started to look around curiously, one by one.
“Haha, it’s funny that I’m saying this now… We’re actually flying in the sky!”
“Right?!…”
The expressions of those looking around were mixed with a bit of fear and a much larger curiosity.
To be more precise, it was like the reaction of people riding an airplane for the first time.
I found it slightly odd that everyone was reacting like that, but I quickly realized that it was normal.
This place, apart from the city, was a world entirely colored by Miasma.
Since there wasn’t much need to travel long distances, things like airplanes likely never came to be.
So aside from Sylvia, who had flown here once to rescue me, it made perfect sense that today was everyone’s first flight experience.
Once I understood that, I couldn’t help but agree with their reactions.
I remembered how I felt the first time I boarded a plane for a business trip.
…To be honest, I was far more embarrassing than that.
I actually thought you had to take off your shoes when getting on a plane.
I mean, what could I do? When I asked the internet what to do when boarding a plane, everyone told me to take off my shoes…
I was going on my first business trip as well, so I thought I’d do my senior duties and researched it thoroughly online to get through the check-in smoothly.
But when it was time to board, I confidently stated, “Got it? You have to take off your shoes when boarding.” Only to have everyone around me, including my junior, burst out laughing.
That junior, who was laughing the loudest, even teased me at the end, saying, “Come on, Senior, I’ll take my shoes off too! That way I won’t feel embarrassed!”
I can only imagine how funny I must have looked getting laughed at that much.
How could people have thought that was fitting?
Did they think my ridiculous senior demeanor was charming?
People are so mischievous to say such harsh things to a stranger…
Anyway, someone ended up taking a picture of that and posting it online, dubbing it the “Barefoot Airplane Couple,” and for a while, it became a source of teasing among my friends.
Aaaah, just thinking about it makes me want to crawl under a blanket from embarrassment!
As I was mentally kicking myself for recalling that embarrassing past, I became a bit more accustomed to the scenery I was seeing above the sky, and I could hear some chatter from the people around.
“Wow, seeing it like this makes me realize the outside world isn’t a great place. It’s all covered in Miasma.”
“…Still, looking down from up here feels a bit different. Usually, I only focused on the demonic beasts flocking to the city, so I didn’t care much about what the outer world looked like.”
Those who had been guarding the Frontline and had seen the outside of the city before generally reacted as if the Miasma-covered view of the outside world was horrendous.
There were a few people who seemed somewhat intrigued, but they were in the minority.
However, Florene’s response was quite different from theirs.
“The outside world is… amazing…”
I heard Florene muttering to herself.
As she anxiously looked around and gazed at the world spread out beneath the sky, her eyes were filled with wonder.
“So wide, the outside is so wide…”
Wide, she exclaimed as she took in the vast world before her.
For Florene, the outside world had probably only been a tale from a book until now.
Even if she logically understood that there was a world outside the city much broader than the city itself, seeing it in person must have been a first for her.
Realizing that the world she knew wasn’t everything must have come with a sense of awe.
It’s true for adults, but even more so for children.
I could imagine that Florene was feeling quite a substantial amount of wonder right now.
She was a pure child, more so than any of us.
Just like I was amazed by the small waterfall behind my house, I would guess she was feeling the same wonder now, seeing the Niagara Falls.
Thinking about it that way, the scenery she saw now was likely not as dreary and dark as other adults perceived.
While I was going through such thoughts, Florene, who was curiously looking around, suddenly clung to Dwight and asked him a question.
“Hehe, Dwight, isn’t it amazing? Look, you can’t see the end no matter where you look!”
Dwight shrugged off Florene’s clinginess and answered in a disinterested tone.
“…Don’t cling to me. And isn’t there really nothing amazing about it? It’s all just covered in Miasma. Besides, I only find interest in magic; I’m not particularly interested in anything else.”
“Ah… Okay… I’m sorry. I was just too excited…”
Hurt by Dwight’s cold response, Florene looked noticeably downcast and murmured.
Seeing that, I sighed inwardly at Dwight.
Seriously, man. Even if you only care about magic as a magic nerd, responding like that is…
He could appreciate magic.
I can understand getting engrossed in a technique that allows you to fly this fast without feeling cold or wind, and to clearly hear conversations like they’re right next to you.
But no matter how uninterested you are, shouldn’t you pay a bit more attention to a girl getting attached to you?
Is he purposely avoiding romance just because he’s a mage?
It’s not like you need to stay a virgin until you’re thirty to be a magician.
As I was mumbling in my mind, I suddenly remembered Ms. Martina, who had seen us off earlier.
Oh wait, now that I think about it, I heard Ms. Martina is single and hasn’t dated anyone at her age despite being so beautiful…
Wait, could there really be a hidden condition that prohibits you from dating until you’re thirty to become a great magician?
While I was wondering about that, Dwight sighed as he looked at the downcast Florene and murmured.
“…Sigh, Florene. Have you ever been to a zoo?”
“A zoo…? If you mean the gigantic one, then I went there a few times when I was little…”
I guess the zoo he’s talking about is the one I went to with Yoon Si-woo and the kids from the Orphanage.
That place had amazing creatures like unicorns, so it was still vivid in my memory.
As I recalled the zoo from my memory, I listened closely to what Dwight said next.
“…That zoo was created by my ancestor, Lady Viola, who traveled around the world to bring animals back before the whole world was covered in Miasma to prevent their extinction.”
“Oh, I see…?”
“So, uh… Huh…”
As Florene somewhat tilted her head with a subtle expression of ‘So what?,’ Dwight hesitated and murmured in a small voice.
“…I don’t find anything interesting unless it’s magic, but imagining a world where my ancestor’s animals are roaming around… I guess I could find that a bit interesting, in that sense…”
Dwight answered like that and then swiftly turned away.
Though he hid his expression, his reddened ears couldn’t be concealed.
This guy Dwight, that aloof response was just a build-up for some genuine tsundere lines!
As I watched him answer with clear consideration for Florene, I couldn’t help but smile.
“DWIGHT…! You’re so kind! I love this…!”
“…I said don’t cling to me.”
Even while saying that, he didn’t push her away as forcefully as before, so it seemed like Dwight wasn’t going to become an anti-social magician after all.
…Wait, so what about Ms. Martina?
For a moment, I was confused about the existence of such an elite unmarried sorceress, who wouldn’t be out of place among mythical creatures.
Just then, it sounded like Florene, satisfied after her moment with Dwight, called out to Marin, who was beaming next to her.
“Hehe. How about you, Marin? Isn’t it amazing to see the outside world so wide for the first time?”
“Ah… Me? Yeah, it is.”
Marin, who had a gentle smile as she watched the affectionate interactions, suddenly wore a thoughtful expression before responding.
“I honestly don’t know if it’s amazing, but there’s something I wanted to see outside.”
“Something you want to see? What is it?”
“…The sea.”
“The sea?”
At Marin’s reply of “the sea,” Florene’s eyes widened in surprise as Marin broke into a faint smile and murmured.
“Yeah, since I was little, I wanted to see it once. If it’s really as blue as it is in the books, as deep and wide. So I know I shouldn’t feel this way, but I can’t help being a bit excited about seeing the sea.”
“Hehe, who cares! Wanting to see something is wanting to see something!”
“…Right? Hehe.”
Knowing that the hunt was serious business, Marin couldn’t hide her excitement even under the circumstances, and her smile had a strange charm that made one’s heart flutter.
What can I say, it felt reminiscent of the innocent child within me that I had forgotten.
“…Now that I think about it, I was really curious about what the outside world looked like when I was younger. I totally forgot.”
“Right? I mean, there was a time when I dreamt of visiting the Sky Island where the Jo In Clan lived…”
Maybe that’s why.
Her words sparked memories, and a sentimental mood emerged among the heroes, who had been indifferent to the scenery of the outside world until now.
At that moment, while I was watching those people as if they were children longing for places they wanted to see, Sylvia smiled and asked me.
“Scarlet, is there anywhere you wanted to go or see?”
“Me? Hmm… I can’t think of anything specific.”
Unlike everyone here, I had been to the sea a few times and experienced flying in the sky, so…
Well, it’s not like I didn’t have a place I wanted to see, but now I can’t go there.
Not being able to say that, I just shook my head and shrugged my shoulders, and Sylvia murmured.
“Hmm, looks like you’ve lost your childlike wonder, Scarlet.”
“What? So what about you, Sylvia? Do you have anything special?”
When Sylvia said something that oddly provoked my competitive spirit, I asked, puzzled, and she answered with a mysterious smile.
“Well, actually, I don’t have any particular place I want to see.”
“What? Then you’re not much different than me.”
“Haha, that’s the thing. I’d like any place, as long as I go there with you.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
When I tilted my head at Sylvia’s ambiguous words, she turned to me with a bright smile and murmured.
“I’d be happy anywhere as long as I’m on an adventure with my best friend. There’s nothing more thrilling than that!”
“…What? What’s that all about?”
At her words, I chuckled as if to say it was absurd.
To be honest, I felt really happy hearing her say that, but it was a bit too embarrassing to show it outright.
So I enveloped that nostalgia of friendship in my heart with the smiles of a newly made friend.
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