Chapter 437
Chapter 437
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 437
Chapter Title: Off-Road (11)
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“Hello? Hello? Hey, Captain! You listening?”
Static—crackle—
“We found it! I think we found Airship No. 1! I can see the nose, the nose!”
Ssssshhh—
Man, I was itching to do a little dance right then and there, but being underwater kind of killed the vibe.
I’d radioed the salvage ship to share the good news as fast as possible, but no dice on a response.
“...Something going on up there?”
“Gruk. Normally, magic comms cut out at this depth. That’s standard. Unrefined mana’s flowing thick right over our heads.”
“That so?”
“Trust me. I’m an aspiring mage, after all.”
Oh right. This troll dove in here just to study magic. He’s spent years underwater spotting stuff like this, so he’d know way better than me.
Click.
No point trying to contact them anyway, so I just shut off the long-range communicator entirely. With the breathing gear and other dive equipment all running off the embedded mana stone, killing the power on anything unnecessary would stretch our dive time.
Gurgle—
Pushed thoughts of the surface aside for now. Time to focus on what was right in front of us.
A massive pile of rocks, crumbled from some huge impact, with a sharp, unmistakably artificial protrusion jutting out from the natural stone.
“Gruu. Can’t say for sure, but structurally, it looks like a mast.”
“Mast for sure. A ton of wrecked airships turned up in imperial ruins near Tel Drat. The hull’s engraved with water-affinity spells to symbolize navigation, and the sails—for soaring through the skies—were packed with wind magic. That’s why airship sails aren’t like regular sailing ship sails. They’ve got all these little pillars lining the main mast. Easier to engrave magic on pillars than fabric, I guess.”
“Grurk. Quite the know-it-all. True relic expert.”
“Hey, you pick this stuff up chasing profitable finds. Plenty of nobles still pour money into airship restoration research even now. Airships were the crowning jewel of the Magic Empire’s tech. Even a trashed hulk like this? Instant jackpot if you snag it.”
“No kidding. So what happens if that legendary airship the captain was singing about like a madman is buried down here?”
“Super massive jackpot, obviously!”
Most of it was buried under rocks, hard to judge properly, but seeing the tip of the main mast—one of the weaker spots—intact like this sparked some real hope for good preservation.
“...Remember that story the captain told about this thing?”
“Gruk. Blocked a 6th-circle mass spell from the Western Empire’s magic legion head-on with its prow. Only got a nick from a master knight’s sword aura, shrugged off a lightning strike, and get this—even crossed blades with Emperor Saint’s sword ‘Lionel,’ or so the tale goes.”
“Insane. Half that rumor true, and this thing’s priceless.”
The legend of magitech. Roman Gacia Manson poured his heart into it, constantly refurbishing it. Records say he even consecrated it personally with a saint’s body.
Religiously, any of the three Luminary churches would kill for it. Magically, as the first airship, it might hold clues to lost manufacturing tech. Forget value—it’s got legendary durability that’d have nobles lining up. Stick the whole thing on a wall as a fortress, and you’re golden.
Clunk. Clunk.
Just in case it collapsed, Eggwil and I picked our way over the rocks like we were walking on thin ice. We’d need to radio up and prep for hauling something this size anyway, so we just aimed to clear enough space for us to squeeze in and check it out.
And then, finally, as the airship revealed itself through the gap in the rocks.
“Gr, gruu... uwooo...”
“Uh, uhhh...”
Eggwil and I were both too overwhelmed by the sheer sight to utter a word.
“Hey, th-this...”
“E-Eggwil can’t breathe. Sh-shock’s making weird noises come out.”
Deep in the ocean’s abyss, the ship gleamed faintly under our dive lights’ mana glow.
Seaweed and bizarre deep-sea coral grew everywhere, tiny critters fleeing the light—proof this thing had spent ages down here.
Swoosh—
Brush off the thick silt, and blue mana runes shone on the wood, echoing past glory. Gold, silver, and empty mana stones traced complex circuits weaving through the spell-engraved timber.
“This... is the legend.”
The first airship.
Dawn of the magitech age.
Roman Gacia Manson’s sole masterpiece, dubbed a sky fortress.
“Found it.”
My heart pounded like mad, and the words slipped out unbidden.
Found it.
Found it.
Finally found it.
One of the things I’d been searching for—without even knowing until this moment.
The second I laid eyes on it, I knew.
*Thump!*
Someone, just like all the relics that had come into my hands so far.
Had prepared this meeting between me and this ship.
****
“Like a work of art.”
“Nowadays with all these alloys, we don’t bother with pricey gold anymore, but back when magitech was first taking off, gold was the best mana conductor around. So early gear was all...”
...Flash!
“...slathered in ridiculous amounts of the stuff, giving everything this golden sheen. That’s how we know this isn’t some fake airship relic with a flashy exterior. This could really be the original Airship No. 1.”
“Grooo.”
Incredibly, Airship No. 1 was preserved well enough to recognize its original shape. The first airship, the legendary relic that opened the magitech era.
I tried to stay calm, but the excitement wouldn’t settle.
‘Am I finally going to learn?’
‘The truth behind this damn impulse that’s driven me my whole life?’
Exact same feeling as when I first entered those surface ruins.
A pristine airship I’d never seen before, yet felt so familiar.
Gurgle—
‘Wide deck. Built during the Mutate Wars, designed to hold lots of crew on the outside.’
‘Center of the deck. Probably right around...’
Clunk—
‘...the hatch door leading to the cargo hold.’
*Thump-thump—*
The inexplicable pull was now crystal clear, visible to the eye.
Stairs down from the deck. Cabins. A golden airship crossing skies above crashing moons, wells, and sand seas.
Why do I remember this...?
“Grurk. Hide, look here.”
The troll’s voice over the comm snapped me out of the dreamlike memory.
We’d clearly entered the airship’s interior, but there was Eggwil, peering in from outside.
“Oh dear.”
“Not good. Bottom’s wrecked. Real bad. Very.”
“Outside visible from inside. How trashed is it?”
“Gruuu. Don’t know airships, but as a ship... keel’s gone. Like a human with a snapped spine, missing a couple vertebrae. Total write-off.”
“Hmm.”
I’d hoped, seeing the deck and runes so pristine, that it might even still fly.
But yeah, compared to the neat upper deck, the underside was a disaster.
One side of the keel shattered to bits. Triple-layered mystery metal plating twisted like taffy. Spell-engraved wooden and metal frames crumpled inward, exposing the airship’s guts. Wreckage spilled out, punching holes from inner passages straight to the outside.
“No wonder even a legendary sky bastion couldn’t take it.”
From Grim Locke’s records, speculation went like this: Roman’s disciple flew the airship to the Blue Line Mountains just before the leyline mega-explosion. Sinking here meant caught in the blast at least. Damage spreading from bottom up backed that.
“Leyline twist. Roman’s disciple made it to the explosion site with this airship.”
...Crackle!
The hazy vision blurred my sight again.
Over the gutted-bottom airship overlapped an image of it pristine as new.
Not the sea—a vast hangar.
Shouts of nearby guards.
A desperate scrawny man, and me, sprinting toward him, gasping,
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“Berhan! Berhaaan! Roman’s disciple Berhan! That you!!”
“W-who are you...?”
“Explanations on the way! Get Airship No. 1 firing up NOW! Master key’s with you, right? Roman gave it to you! We gotta stop that asshole Kyle or whatever from smashing the whole world!”
“H-how do you...!”
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Kyle and Berhan. Roman Gacia Manson’s two disciples from the captain’s records.
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“Nothing but No. 1 can reach Blue Line in time! No time to hesitate!”
“I-I want to go too! Kyle’s reckless plan’ll bring irreversible ruin! But...”
“But what! Scared of the Magic Empire?”
“No ignition key! There are two! One with me, the other hidden by Master!”
“N-no way? Roman said [Hahaha! It’s all set up to fix everything if you go!] or some crap! Where’d he hide it!”
“Surely, surely...”
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Amid the approaching guards’ shouts, Berhan and the man moved.
Memory. Not mine, but one I once had.
Berhan said it. Surely, the key was...
“Hidden in the prototype airship...”
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“Hidden in the prototype airship...”
“Then it’s here! Obvious spot for that manic engineer to stash something important!”
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Before I knew it, I walked with the man from the memory.
The part Roman Gacia Manson treasured most on his Airship No. 1.
On the hull reflecting mana light, one small metal plate with a dull glow.
[Airship No. 1]
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Click!
“Heh heh heh! Knew it! There was this toy prototype thing originally, changed the name after it succeeded. To Airship No. 1. Stuck its nameplate here when building this one later.”
“How’d you...?”
“...Saw it. Long ago. With someone.”
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...Drip.
Fingering the nameplate’s edge dislodged dead seaweed and dirt, revealing a small compartment inside.
The spot where the other ignition key for Airship No. 1—Berhan’s half of the pair—had been.
Proof the vision unfolding before me wasn’t fiction.
The memory overlaying reality ended with No. 1 carrying the two men out of the hangar, then faded back to the wrecked airship.
Swoosh—
[So reckless, just like someone I know. Brilliant, half-mad, no regard for your own body—stuck in there good.]
“?!!”
While lost in the vision, someone—no, something—stood beside me.
[You and Berhan flew for Blue Line that way. Brutal dogfight in the skies, arrived a bit late... but made it. Managed to block half the explosion that nearly wiped the world.]
[With the blast, your remains scattered. I gathered them personally from the seas. Just a handful, but I wanted to remember the unsung hero somehow. You extended the world once more that way. Until that damn guy arrived here...]
An old man. Or rather, water shaped like one.
Muttering wistfully to himself, he spotted my tense self, flailed his hands in apology, and backed off.
[Oh dear, sorry if I startled you! Didn’t mean to intrude, got lost in sentiment myself... Happens every time we meet.]
“...”
[Just so you know, your troll pal’s napping for now. Still dragging trolls along... same as ever.]
Pointing a translucent finger at Eggwil floating limp in the deck corner. Chest rising and falling—he was asleep, sure, but no reason to drop guard.
...Gulp.
Warily eyeing the being, hands raised nonthreateningly.
Encountered in Deep Blue Line’s abyss.
Subdued troll Eggwil without a sound, slipped past an Aura Knight’s senses to my side.
Unknown entity I stood no chance against. Standing my hackles up was natural, but...
“Who... are you?”
Why, then? Why did just facing him melt my tension away?
Why that mischievous smile at my question?
[Who... well? My identity—you should know better than me.]
“...Me?”
[Yes, you. You laid out this whole board, didn’t you? Begged the World Tree, reclaimed memories through that plea, prepared your next life with those memories, searched and readied, reborn... 200 years like that.]
[Life after life, reaching this moment. For what you called the ‘very last last,’ right?]
The old man’s form stroked his watery beard with a gentle smile.
=========
“World Tree. Guess I’ll leave the other side to you.”
“Which?”
=========
How much I’d laughed hearing Hyde’s explanation at our reunion then. How much I’d cried, learning the truth.
=========
“I want a chance encounter.”
“One moment of chance—that’s all I ask. C’mon, you’re the admin, that’s nothing for you.”
“The right chance at the right moment.”
“Yes. I’ll soon lose all memories, live my next life as a data soul. So just once then. Let me meet someone. That’s all I want.”
“...Just that?”
“Just that much is enough.”
=========
Before leaping into a new life, Hyde had asked the World Tree.
=========
“If it’s Notum—if it’s the Notum I know—she’ll recognize me even if I’ve lost my memories, even in another form.”
.
.
.
“A fitting ploy from you two indeed.”
.
.
.
.
=========
And so, she hadn’t forgotten.
Under the World Tree’s blessing, Notum—meeting Hyde by chance—recognized the familiar soul within.
Notum, who’d strong-armed the clueless Hyde into joining her journey, traveled long with him. Grew close, just as she had with someone like him in the past. In the end, Hyde recalled his forgotten life.
He became a world denizen with the ‘original memories’ Gedroits’s Game forbade.
[That was your first life. The start of a 200-year ‘memory relay.’ Couldn’t hold memories yourself, so you passed them through timeless beings. Believed in it. If someone told you—just opened the floodgates—you could remember. Somehow.]
How could one not admire it?
Anyone knowing his toil would tip their hat.
To him, who with iron will shared time with that bastard, reaching this moment.
[It’s been ages, Hyde.]
Hyde, finally reaching the last runner after long prep.
[I’ve been waiting.]
[Here, now. Just as we promised.]
With sapphire tears, the old man’s form bowed deeply to Hyde in utmost respect.
Ottoman Bodler.
He had flowed here, to the moment Hyde needed him most, as his final wish.
****