Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: I'll Carry You!!!!!!
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"Eloise is my granddaughter..."
Thanks to the reservation that Royal Mayfair had secured for us, we'd come to ride the London Eye, once the world's largest Ferris wheel. Surprisingly, my rival kid model, Eloise Whitmore, was also scheduled to ride it at the same time.
Her grandfather's name was Edmund Whitmore, and her grandmother was Margaret Whitmore. In the UK, women take their husband's surname after marriage, right? Or at least, that's what I think I saw in some comics.
"What's wrong? Feeling upset?"
"N-no! It's not that!"
"Come on, Elsie. Why snap at your friend like that?"
"...I wasn't snapping, Grandma."
Eloise, who had a slight phobia of Awakened, saw my flustered expression and irritably spat out a retort, only to get scolded by her grandmother. It wasn't like I hated Eloise or anything; she just made me a little nervous somehow.
Maybe because she wasn't in model mode, or perhaps because I was seeing her everyday self, it felt strangely fascinating. No styled hair with effort put into it, no spring outfits for photoshoots. Up close like this, she just looked like a super cute elementary schooler.
"Princess. Boarding time is almost here."
"Oh, right."
"Let's go, Elsie."
"Yes, Grandma."
Ophelia scanned our online tickets for the London Eye ride, followed by Eloise and the elderly couple. After a quick security check, we stepped inside the Ferris wheel capsule.
"Whoa...!"
The capsule interior was much larger than I'd imagined. In cartoons, they always look so small that if you sat facing each other, your outstretched hands would touch. But this one was almost as big as the one-room apartment I'd lived in before.
The walls were all curved glass, with seats on both sides that could easily fit twenty people.
The ceiling was incredibly high too—no problem even for tall Ophelia to walk around standing up.
"Hehe, Doggo. Gotta take good pics, okay?"
The moment the inspection finished and the capsule doors opened, I dashed straight inside. I hurried to the spot with the best view of the Thames River area, but Eloise behind me let out a small "Ah!" when she saw.
"What? Were you gonna sit here? Want me to move?"
"Nah, it's fine."
"Hng, okay."
Once seated, I realized it was glass on all sides. I couldn't even tell if we were floating or what. The floor had some glass panels too, but not entirely.
Eloise didn't sit but stood right by the wide panoramic window, gazing at the view. About two minutes after everyone boarded, the capsule began to move—so slowly it was barely noticeable.
I was just staring at the night scenery when it felt like the view was gently sliding by bit by bit. I'd expected a clunky clang! and a humming whirrr~ when it started, but there were even normal conversation sounds.
Aside from me and Eloise, there weren't any other kids, but it was New Year's Eve, so the adults were probably excited too. Wait, thinking about it, I'm not a kid either, right? Eloise was the only little one here.
"Hooaack."
"Isn't it amazing, Doggo? You can see all of London...!"
As our capsule rose higher and higher, the panoramic view of London expanded more and more. The air wasn't super clear, but Grandpa said this was decent enough.
"Ophelia, this is so much fun!"
"Yes, it is."
"Heehee."
By the time our capsule had rotated about a quarter of the way to the rightmost position.
"Kyaa...?!"
"W-what is it...?!"
The London Eye's rotation suddenly lagged, stopping the capsule mid-air. It didn't feel like an intentional stop to let people off from other capsules—it was more like an abrupt, unintended thud to a halt.
Eloise and the elderly couple panicked at the unprecedented situation. Ophelia calmly stood from her seat to assess things, while the Doggo on my head began trembling at Saffron-level speed—their Chihuahua.
"O-Ophelia...! What's happening...?!"
"I'll look into it, Princess. First, take deep breaths and maintain a stable posture as much as possible."
"Uwuaaah...!"
Ophelia turned her gaze outside, slowly scanning up and down. Other people near the glass started crouching on the floor or sitting in seats, and Eloise clung to her grandparents with a rigidly tense expression.
"D-Doggo..."
Doggo couldn't protect me and instead wriggled into my arms, trembling nonstop. How was this Royal Hound supposed to guard me when it was such a scaredy-cat?
About three minutes passed like that when suddenly, from higher up than our capsule—the highest one—a massively amplified voice boomed out.
A terrorist manifesto from the topmost capsule.
Cedric Moro suddenly launched into a self-introduction and sob story out of nowhere.
"Ophelia, what does that mean...?"
"So that's how it is."
Cedric Moro sounded like a thick-voiced man in his fifties. His parents' generation would have been during the explosive surge of Awakened and gates.
Due to geographic proximity, Britain lured many Irish Awakened with money or semi-forced migration. As a result, Ireland lost a ton of them.
This left Ireland with far too few active Hunters relative to its land and population. They couldn't properly handle urgent situations like open-type gates or dungeon structures.
Sligo, where Cedric lived, suffered terrain erosion, but Britain forcibly relocated countless Awakened for "protection" or to leverage their status for Hunter licenses, blocking returns.
"Those damn Brits... It's you again...!"
I muttered it quietly so others wouldn't hear, but honestly, I wanted to scream. Why pull crap like that and create terrorists like Cedric Moro?
Not that Cedric was right, but Britain wasn't blameless either. You invading scum...!
"W-what do we do, Ophelia...!"
Ophelia silently gripped my trembling hand tight. Doggo had burrowed into my stomach and was shaking so much my head was ringing.
But Eloise next to me was in even worse shape.
"H-hngh...!"
"E-Eloise. You okay...?"
"D-don't talk to me...!"
"Calm down, Eloise. The government will handle everything..."
Cedric Moro's voice followed.
"Hooeeek!!!!!"
"P-Princess. Please calm down."
How was I supposed to calm down in this situation? He was an A+ rank telekinesis Awakened, no less.
Obviously, he could crush each capsule one by one, no matter how the people inside resisted, and plant them into the ground like beans.
Even with airbags on the ground, this weight would shred everything! The London Eye was just raw metal with no magic reinforcement!
And worst of all, Suri and Minium were on the opposite side of the Earth right now. Even combining Minium's hyper jet boosters and Suri's wings, it'd take over 12 hours to fly here.
If Cedric lost track of time or took a nap midway, they might arrive before our capsule dropped.
But that was unlikely...!
"H-haa..."
Eloise beside me had completely lost it. Her eyes were spinning, sweat pouring down—adults weren't much better off.
"Ophelia...! What are we gonna do...?"
"...Princess, there is one method."
"A-a method...? What is it...?!"
Ophelia hugged me tight with resolute eyes and said,
"It may be a bit selfish, but even if it fails... I can protect you, Princess. Please don't worry."
"W-what kind of method...?"
About an hour and thirty minutes after Cedric Moro's declaration. The sky had already darkened, and with no significant response from the UK government, the situation was worsening.
"Phew, not yet?"
"Thirty minutes left. Let's wait a bit more."
Cedric Moro, who had halted the London Eye's operation directly with telekinesis, one Awakened amplifying his voice across London, and another with solid barrier abilities for external intercepts or surprises—three in total.
They'd already neutralized all the civilians inside using Cedric's telekinesis. As he sat watching London's night view,
"...Something's off."
"What is it, Cedric?"
"What the hell is this...?"
Telekinesis doesn't work on mana-infused mediums. Cedric's mana clashes with the medium's, preventing direct control.
But non-mana civilians or normal firearms? Easy to block. Even if too fast to snag with telekinesis, the strong barrier covered it.
But.
The London Eye began slipping from his control in an instant. A purely metal structure with no magic reinforcement. Uniformly applying mana—even higher level than Cedric's—to the entire 2,200-ton iron behemoth in one go? Impossible.
Or so he'd thought.
"London Eye · Giant...!"