“The ruins are located underneath the Sky Island.”
Pastel tapped the bottom part of a Sky Island-shaped toy.
The discovered ruins existed all the way at the bottom, beneath the Sky Island’s underground. Instead of digging down from the surface, they had to ride the airship and fly below the Sky Island to find the entrance on the ground and then enter.
Given the massive size of the Sky Island, it was an agonizingly hard-to-accept position that it hadn’t been discovered until now.
“Well, we’ve finally verified the possibility we only heard about.”
Melissa, the top scholar, smiled.
“The exploration of the underside of the Sky Island was never done due to the lack of expected results versus the costs involved. Thanks to the budget surplus from last year’s lack of new students at the academy, we’re finally able to conduct this exploration. Though technically, the actual exploration is happening this year.”
“Hey, Melissa!”
Pastel’s eyes lit up.
“Are you really interested in these ruins?”
Could it be that I can just leave the ruin exploration to Melissa and frolic around?
“What? Not really. It’s just the area I studied to become the top scholar during the entrance exams. I just thought it might show up as a problem since it’s the latest update on the Sky Island.”
“Aha! So you’ve been working hard! Though I was the one who became the top scholar!”
Ahem.
Melissa paused and stared blankly.
Then she looked a bit downcast.
“I just didn’t put in enough effort….”
Elshire entered through the control room door.
“I’ve checked the supplies. Can we depart now?”
“Yep! Everyone, to your positions!”
“Positions?”
Melissa flustered and cautiously sat in an appropriate co-pilot seat. Elshire followed suit.
“That’s it!”
Pastel dashed to the steering wheel, grabbing the wooden wheel and raising one arm triumphantly.
“Captain Pastel! I declare we set sail!”
She turned the steering wheel with all her strength.
“Set sail! Set sail! Set sail!”
The steering wheel spun wildly.
“Set sail! Set sail!”
Pastel was busy turning it when a question popped into her mind.
Why isn’t the airship moving?
Could it be one of those situations?
Hehe.
Only the worthy can make me move.
You’re not the captain yet!
Gasp, is it possible?
Could it be that I’m not actually the captain yet?!
Pastel’s mouth fell open in shock.
『…The steering wheel is for emergencies. It’s usually just for decoration. You need to operate the device in front of it to move.』
Gasp, that’s right.
That’s how it goes.
She felt the strange gazes of the two girls.
“Hehe.”
Pastel curled up bashfully. She turned the steering wheel once more for no reason and walked over to the device to take her place.
『First, pull the lever on the right.』
Alright.
Pastel hesitated before pulling. She looked back at the high-tech device composed of gears and magic circles.
Huh?
This feels too high-tech.
This isn’t the super awesome navigation I wanted.
After some contemplation, an insight struck her.
“Melissa! Wait! This doesn’t suit calm Melissa at all!”
“What?”
Melissa turned her head.
“Elshire! Go to the steering wheel! This is extremely important! Extremely, extremely important!”
Quickly, quickly!
As Pastel waved her hands, their positions quickly swapped. Elshire looked at the steering wheel in confusion.
“What’s the deal?”
Pastel pointed to the steering wheel.
“Turn it for me.”
Sure, sure.
Elshire looked at the wheel and gave it a spin. The wooden steering wheel spun and then stopped.
“Keep going! Keep going!”
“Keep going…?”
Elshire continued to turn the steering wheel.
Round and round, round and round.
This is it!
Pastel was immensely satisfied.
“Why are we turning it?”
“It just feels good!”
Woohoo!
Elshire continued to turn it while tilting her head in confusion.
“Doesn’t really seem like it.”
Gasp.
No way.
She stared nervously at the steering wheel.
“I’m sorry, steering wheel friend! Even if I spin you hard, it doesn’t make me feel good! Elshire didn’t mean that you’re a useless decorative piece and a waste of resources that I feel bad towards, right?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Elshire looked flustered.
“Poor steering wheel! Apologize as a friend!”
Apologize! Apologize!
Elshire looked at a loss.
The steering wheel stopped spinning.
The silver-haired girl hesitated, then patted the steering wheel friend and muttered.
“I’m sorry.”
Melissa looked taken aback.
“What are you two doing…?”
#
Pastel pulled the lever. The device’s gears began to turn, preparing for navigation.
The noise of the navigation device mixed with the sound of the steering wheel being turned from behind.
Round and round, round and round.
The atmosphere of navigation thickened.
Melissa stealthily rose from her co-pilot seat and approached.
“Do you really know how to operate an airship? They say it’s easy to look at, but it requires immense knowledge to avoid accidents. Wouldn’t it be better to recruit a navigator right now?”
“Trust the captain!”
Pastel wore a clever expression.
And with one hand, she patted the Demon Sword on her hip.
Demon Lord! Demon Lord!
『If you follow my instructions properly, you’ll be able to navigate without issues. First, take a look at the magic circles in front.』
Hehe.
I just have to listen to the Demon Lord!
For someone like Pastel, who usually follows instructions well, that’s an easy task.
『Since they’re not aligned in a straight line, it might be hard to see, but I’ll call the magic circle on the left the first one. This airship has a total of 11 magic circles.』
Oh ho ho.
Eleven magic circles? Piece of cake.
I just need to use both hands and a toe!
『Pull the left lever down one notch. Well done. The distribution of the gem powder has changed, altering the configuration of the 11 magic circles. However, a closer look reveals that the types of magic circles are the same; only their positions have changed.』
Sure thing.
Super easy.
『The total number of configurations for this setup is 39,916,800. That’s also the number of consecutive magic circles you need to consider.』
Huh?
Suddenly, that sounds way too complicated.
Pastel examined the magic circle layout with trembling eyes.
Eleven magic circles, huh!
Why are there so many of you?!
She glanced sideways.
The next archmage, who had previously earnestly warned her that it was hard, now looked at her with a hint of expectation in her eyes.
As Pastel’s pouty expression gradually grew anxious, the excitement quickly turned into worry.
“Do you…perhaps lack experience?”
Pastel regained her clever expression.
“Trust the captain!”
Melissa grew more anxious.
“Have you actually done this before?”
『The airship technology is somewhat unstable, and if you mishandle the magic circles, navigation could be interrupted midway. In the air.』
Pastel doubled her clever look.
“Trust the captain…!”
Melissa’s lips trembled.
“You studied theory only, right? I enjoy studying theory as well, but I know better than to overestimate knowledge without real-world experience. You know that too, right…?”
“Of course!”
She thumped her chest.
“What kind of person do you think I am!”
I didn’t even study theory!
Unaware of what Melissa was thinking, she felt relieved.
“That’s true. You’re not someone who can’t even manage themselves. My bad here.”
“It’s okay! It’s okay! The big-hearted me understands!”
Ahem.
An awkward silence fell.
Melissa watched with anticipation again.
Pastel tried to puff up again but regained her focus and wore an expression even a hundred times cleverer.
Indeed, a hundred times.
Then she hurried to pat the Demon Sword.
Demon Lord! Demon Lord!
Time passed in a flurry.
Voom voom beep beep~!
The airship smoothly began to rise.
Melissa gasped in admiration.
“That’s just like you.”
Flaunt flaunt, pfft pfft.
A joyful atmosphere.
The silver-haired girl kept turning the steering wheel blankly.
Double the joy!
Round and round, round and round.
#
The airship arrived at the underside of the Sky Island. The deck was shrouded in shadow, growing dark.
“Wow!”
Pastel’s jaw dropped open.
The underside of the Sky Island wasn’t excessively enormous like a glacier. It looked like a glacier stretched out wide and horizontally.
However, instead of ice, heaps of soil and rocky ground were mixed together to precariously hold shape. Amidst some of the soil heaps, gigantic, nameless vines slithered downwards.
“Wow!”
I almost saw this in the academy’s front yard, but I missed it!
Melissa looked up at the Sky Island.
“We’ll need to continue navigating to the center where the ruins are, but there’ll be plenty of patrols from the Knight Order around this perimeter. Is it really okay to just barge in like this?”
She pointed to a dock carved from the bottom rocks.
“That dock is probably owned by the Knight Order. It looks like it was built for military use during the demon realm conquest.”
“The patrols of the Knight Order won’t be on our course! I have all their patrol routines figured out!”
This phrase about stabbing before the Knight Order’s hostility is fully realized is precisely this.
If they had been entirely hostile towards the academy, they wouldn’t have shown their patrol routes.
“Is that enough?”
Melissa asked skeptically.
“Patrol records need to be hidden because enemies may exploit the weak links. By assassinating the weak links, you know? You’re not planning to assassinate the Knight Order personnel, are you?”
A justified question from the southern warlord.
Pastel grew confident.
“And that’s precisely why the Knight Order seems incompetent and suspicious! Their patrol route has glaring gaps! They take too much of the budget, so there are gaps in the patrol that shouldn’t exist, leading straight to the ruins!”
This must be a deliberate gap created by a spy to ease the cult’s intrusion into the ruins.
Rather than the Knight Order cooperating, a spy is probably leaving the back door open and maintaining the incompetence.
Perhaps the silence about internal problems during the terrorism incident was due to a conflict between the existing normal faction and the spy faction.
Just because the academy asks questions justly doesn’t mean they can reveal extremely awkward internal issues.
Got it.
The airship truly sailed without hindrance. They could arrive at the temporary dock established for the ruins, and it was a dock devoid of any people.
“We’ve arrived!”
Now I should tell Elshire she can stop turning the steering wheel!
I didn’t tell her to stop, so I was curious how long she’d keep turning, but I didn’t realize she’d keep it up indefinitely.
She didn’t think of it as a command, right?
Yup!
There’s no way a friend would think like that~!
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