Chapter 139: Go and Explain Yourself
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 139: Go and Explain Yourself
Backtracking a bit.
To the afternoon, before Theodora used her authority to crush that poor man.
"You're back?"
"Yes, we're back."
Ravi greeted Theodora and me with a radiant smile. For some reason, the spaghetti-strap dress Tresha had bought her was gone, replaced by a white frilled blouse that suited her quite well and a pleated skirt color-coordinated with her hair.
Wearing her new clothes, she walked all the way to the door and hurriedly grabbed our arms, pulling us inside the lodging.
"You seem to be in a good mood. Did something happen?"
"Yes! Do you know where I've been?!"
"Hmm, where was it again?"
Ravi had just returned from the Arcana Magic Expo held in Roanmarie, which could be considered the spiritual home of mages. She had bought new clothes, but she apparently brought back another souvenir as well.
Ravi beamed as she introduced her new toy. Standing beside her, Ms. Alfi smiled warmly, and even Theodora had a small smile playing on her lips, seemingly finding Ravi’s excitement quite cute.
"Ta-da~!"
She made an exaggerated sound and gesture as if revealing something magnificent. She stretched out her relatively short arms and fluttered her small palms, pointing toward the "magnificent" object sitting on the dining table.
"What is this?"
On the table lay a white cloth that looked like a handkerchief... and a single short wooden stick resting on top of it.
It was a simple wooden rod that looked like it could serve as a slightly long chopstick if there were two of them. It was a common dark wood color with a subtle reddish-brown tint.
"Is it a wand?"
"That's right! It's a Cadence B-21!"
"A Caden... what?"
"It's the name of the wand! The B-type, model 21 wand from the Cadence company! It's much better than the budget C-type, and it offers superior performance for its price compared to the high-end A-type!"
"Aha, I see."
Ravi had finally bought a new wand to replace the one she lost the other day when she entered the Labyrinth and turned into a Magic Cat. Since she had no money, she hadn't even dreamed of buying a new one, but it seemed she had acquired new equipment at the Magic Expo.
I could easily imagine Ravi drooling in front of the rows of advanced magical tools from Roanmarie on display.
"How much was it?"
"E-Eighty-five silver coins..."
"Where did you get the money?"
"I paid fifteen of them..."
Ms. Alfi, standing next to her, held up two fingers in a V-sign. This tiny brat. She clearly doesn't know how terrifying debt can be.
"Oh, Ms. Alfi. I'm sorry. Our resident beggar has forced another donation out of you."
"I-It wasn't like that!?"
"That's right. Miss Ravi appraised my skills, so I bought it for her as payment."
"That skill appraisal that costs ten copper coins a pop?"
Ravi made a living seeing an average of 0.7 customers a day (according to her; the actual number seemed lower). She charged ten copper coins per appraisal, so even by her own claim, wasn't she earning a little less than 0.5 silver coins a week?
However, Ravi didn't just act as an appraiser; she was surprisingly knowledgeable in alchemy as well. There was the suppression potion for Tresha's Wolf Attraction Skill—which Tresha had since earned enough money to delete—and she had also brewed and sold antidotes to the Antonio Brotherhood.
The mysterious weeds piled up in the back of the Sateria Appraisal Office, which looked more like a hamster cage, were the ingredients. Her ability to pick a location for a shop was abysmal, but her eye as a skill appraiser was excellent, and she occasionally made a profit selling potions.
Somehow, Ravi earned enough to keep her fuel-efficient body fed. She could get full on just two goat skewers. For reference, the goat skewers in southwest Calax never exceeded five copper coins, thanks to an agreement among the merchants.
Of course, even then, she shouldn't have had enough money for new clothes and a wand. But since she had been greeting customers in her cat form lately, her slightly dingy white spaghetti-strap top hadn't been much of an issue.
"I really needed a wand!"
"I see. You seemed to see skills just fine without one, though?"
"That's just roughly infusing mana, so it's not that hard. But for skill deletion, a wand is absolutely necessary!"
To use an analogy, it was the difference between spreading lotion on your body and performing surgery. You can do the former with just your hands, but surgery is difficult without a scalpel—or in this case, a wand.
To delete a skill, one has to make a person's Mana Circuit float slightly away from the body, which makes the circuit unstable. For the first deletion, the Mana Circuit is still strong, so the relatively more unstable skill circuit can be removed somehow.
However, if the process of floating the Mana Circuit is repeated three or four times, the original circuits embedded in the body also become unstable. This means a wand capable of more complex mana manipulation is required.
"With a wand, I can even perform a fourth deletion!"
"That's impressive. Can you use any other magic?"
"Ah! I was going to tell you about that too. At the Magic Expo, I was able to listen to some of the curriculum recently incorporated into the Academy!"
Ravi lifted her wand and waved it in the air about two and a half times. She glanced around and spotted a cup sitting on the table. It contained tea, presumably left by Ms. Alfi, about half-full. Judging by how cold it was, quite a bit of time had passed.
"Yah!"
Ravi fired an unidentified spell at the cup. A faint blue light flickered at the tip of the wand before darting straight toward the cup.
—Ping!
"There! It's done! Yoo Eon, would you like to try holding the cup?"
"Sure."
I picked up the cup as Ravi asked, and to my surprise, it felt quite warm to the touch.
"Ohoho, it's magic that makes objects hot!"
"Oh, that's impressive."
I handed the warm cup to Ms. Alfi. She took it, nodding as if proud, and took a sip of the tea. But before long, a peculiar expression crossed her face.
Ms. Alfi handed the cup back to Ravi. Ravi took the warm cup and tilted her head this way and that. She straightened her neck and took a sip of the tea.
"It's cold..."
"Only the cup got warm."
Typical half-baked mage. Regardless, I gave her a round of applause for the achievement. As I clapped half-heartedly, Ravi asked me with a look of indignation.
"Then what about you, Yoo Eon! What did you do? And why didn't you come back last night!"
"Ah, well."
There wasn't much to say about last night. But I could show her this.
"Don't be surprised, Ravi. If you faint again, I'm not waking you up."
"Hmph, I won't be surprised!"
Full of bravado, Ravi puffed out her non-existent chest, squared her shoulders, and put her hands on her hips. I took off my top and hung it over the back of the chair next to the table, and Ms. Alfi hurriedly covered Ravi's eyes.
"A-Alfi...?"
"Hmm. Come to think of it, Miss Ravi must have seen the Young Master's upper body quite often."
Ms. Alfi then dropped her hands, restoring Ravi's vision. Anyway, it was time to show what I had done yesterday. Deciding not to turn around and show the somewhat gruesome opening of my latissimus dorsi, I followed the practice I'd done at the lab. I shifted my back muscles and part of my spine to manifest the Gargoyle wings.
—Flap!
"Oh my."
"Gasp!!"
Ms. Alfi covered her open mouth with both hands in genuine admiration, while Ravi's eyes grew wide with shock. Her jaw dropped so far it could have been a penthouse for a dung fly.
"W-Wings...! They're Gargoyle wings...!!"
"How about that? Incredible, isn't it?"
For some reason, Theodora standing next to me looked triumphant. She puffed out her ample chest—a stark contrast to Ravi—and proudly put her hands on her hips. At that sight, Ravi's shoulders slumped dejectedly. She had gone to a Magic Expo only to learn a spell that warmed a cup while leaving the tea cold.
"C-Can you fly with those...?"
"I'm not proficient yet, but I've confirmed I can hover."
"Heeing..."
Ravi's final ultimatum after her self-esteem was crushed. She held out her hand with a look of resentment.
‘Why don't we call it a draw?’
I felt like I could hear the auditory hallucination in my head.
"You worked hard too, Ravi."
"N-No, I didn't..."
My hand overlapped with the tiny hand of Ravi, who had achieved the "great" feat of heating a cup while leaving the tea cold. Soon, having accepted the draw, Ravi's curiosity returned.
"C-Could I try flying too...?"
"You, Ravi? Hmm."
Ravi was a petite woman whose height wouldn't even reach three meters if you doubled it. I didn't know her exact measurements, but seeing her thin frame and limbs that seemed to consist only of survival muscles, her weight didn't seem like it would be much of a burden.
In the first place, there was a massive weight difference between a Gargoyle and me. Once I became proficient, I could probably carry all three people here and fly.
"I think it's possible."
"Really?! Then shall we go outside and try flying?!"
"That would be difficult."
"Eh?"
Ms. Alfi, who had been listening, intervened. When asked why:
"To fly within the Labyrinth City, you need an Airship Operator License."
The Labyrinth was a place where all sorts of bizarre skills sprouted like weeds. Surprisingly, some of those skills were equipped with functions that allowed the spirit of the Wright brothers to inhabit humans who were meant to spend their lives with their feet on the ground.
If unidentified explorers were to fly around the sky at will using such flight skills, it would naturally cause anxiety among the citizens of the Labyrinth City. Thus, the "Airship Operator License" was created.
One had to maintain a minimum speed of 30 km/h, have a turning radius of over 45 degrees within 10 meters, and be able to control takeoff and landing at will. There were other requirements as well. One could only use the skill after performing a test flight in front of examiners and answering a few legal questions.
In short, it was like a driver's license. It was required not only within the Labyrinth City but also inside the Labyrinth itself. It was said that the Guild would even help support the deletion of flight skills that lacked turning or braking power or couldn't be controlled at will.
"I see. That's a shame."
"However, if someone with an Airship Operator License is nearby, you are allowed to fly up to an altitude of 10 meters under the guise of flight practice."
"Is that so?"
But unfortunately, no one here had a license. In the end, Ravi's desire to fly would remain unfulfilled.
"Alfi, don't you have one?"
"Yes, I have one."
"Wait, really?"
"I do."
Surprisingly, Ms. Alfi said she had an Airship Operator License. Why on earth?
"I also possess a flight skill, though it's nothing special."
"R-Really?! Why didn't you tell us?!"
"Because it truly is a trivial skill..."
As Ravi threw a tantrum, insisting she wanted to see it, Alfi had no choice but to demonstrate. She suddenly brought over a chair from beside the table and stepped onto it. Then, her body slowly began to move forward.
—Paddle, paddle, paddle.
Ms. Alfi reached her hands forward and leisurely paddled through the air as if swimming.
"What... is that...?"
"...It's a skill that prevents my altitude from dropping. It has no propulsion, so I can't move unless the wind blows."
"Ah."
I shouldn't say, "It really is trivial!" But could this even be classified as a flight skill? Well, takeoff and landing were certainly controlled.
"If I float high into the air and then use the skill to fix my altitude, it becomes a meaningful movement skill when combined with wind magic."
"So there's a way."
Indeed, even a strange skill depended on how the user utilized it. Though, choosing to paddle her arms in the air after stepping off a chair was a very poor choice.
"Then shall we head out? I want to see Aven fly too."
"Since Ms. Alfi has a license, let's go out for a short walk."
* * *
"Waaaaah!!!"
The Gargoyle wings, scaled down to fit my body, created a strong gust of wind and lifted my heavy frame into the air. The massive wings, which originally had a wingspan of nearly 12 meters, had been reduced to about 2.5 meters each, for a total wingspan of 5 meters.
At a glance, the proportions looked about right. Honestly, it looked quite cool.
"I've mostly got the hang of it. But if you get too excited and start thrashing around, we'll fall."
"I-I understand!"
The sky was growing dark. After picking up Ravi, who was incredibly light for an adult woman, I spread my wings and beat the air forcefully.
—Whoosh! Whoosh!
The hair of Theodora and Ms. Alfi standing nearby fluttered wildly, showing just how powerful the wind was. Ravi, held in my arms, was relatively shielded.
"W-We're floating! This is amazing!!"
"Right? Ten meters is the altitude limit, so we can't go any higher than this."
We were in a stone-tiled plaza, the kind usually found in front of luxury hotels. We were drawing the attention of people sitting on nearby benches or walking down the street.
"Can we move back and forth?! Like, zoom-zoom!"
"I'm not used to it yet... but I'll give it a try."
Moving back and forth was on a completely different level of difficulty compared to just going up. But since I had a feel for hovering, I should be able to move as well.
As I adjusted the angle of my wings while hovering, I began to move forward bit by bit with each flap. Ravi, held in my arms, also seemed excited and started waving her arms around.
"W-Wait, Ravi. If you wave your arms like that—"
"Whoa! Waaaaah?!"
We were falling. And we were falling forward, with me still holding Ravi. At this rate, Ravi might be crushed into a pulp by my weight...!
—CRACK!
"W-We stopped...?"
Ravi, who had squeezed her eyes shut, opened them to find that the fall had ceased. Fortunately, I had stopped in time.
—AAAAAH!! There's a monster over there!!
—MOMMY!! A human spider...!! A human spider appeared!!!
—KYAAAAAAAK!
Four spider legs were firmly embedded in the shattered stone floor. They belonged to the 5th Stratum boss, Queen Arachne. Instinctively, I had manifested them from my back just before hitting the ground to stop the fall...
—A spider monster is kidnapping a child!!!
—Run! This is insane...!
"Sigh. Ravi. Go and explain yourself, quickly."
"I'm sorry..."
In times like these, the victim has to be the one to explain.