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Chapter 367 – Completion of the Prototype Airship
“Ascent tube activated. Maximum power.”
“Take off confirmed. Levitation system activated. Operation is stable.”
“Ascent tube power at 20 percent. When we reach 100 meters, we’ll counterbalance.”
“Roger that.”
The ground, which was visible through the magic glass windows installed diagonally downward from the front, gradually moved away from the aircraft.
The take-off process was as follows. First, the airship floats, if only a little, with the help of the large-diameter wind-magic propulsion units, one at the front and back of the airship and two on each side for the ascent. The moment the airship floats, it activates the magic tool that uses the improved magic formula for controlling the fall. At this point, the mass of the airship is reduced to less than one-tenth, so the power of the wind magic propulsion device for ascending is reduced. Even with the improved fall control technique, the airship cannot float completely, so the ascending wind magic propulsion is used to compensate for the gradual fall.
“Altitude one hundred, set ascent tube output to offset output.”
“Wind magic barrier activated. Magic sparkling stone furnace output is stabilizing.”
“Hull stability within expectations.”
“Hmm, then set the output to the propulsion tube. For now, 10% of the output is enough. Slowly circle in the sky over Merinesburg.”
“Understood.”
The prototype airship begins to move under Isla’s direction. Stabilized in the sky above, the airship is completely covered by a wind magic barrier, making it impervious to the effects of wind from all directions. The magic power required to maintain the powerful wind magic barrier covering this huge hull is enormous, but to achieve this enormous magic power, an entire magic sparkling stone furnace is used. Since there is still some room left in the output, it is possible to increase the strength of the wind magic barrier when fighting flying dragons and other flying monsters.
“It’s working well for now, isn’t it?”
“Hmm, let’s get out of Merinesburg for now.”
“If it falls into the city center, it will be a big problem.”
By the way, the prototype airboat crashed into the city twice. Fortunately, no one was injured, but of course, there were repairs to be made to the broken houses and other things that had to be done, and Melty, who had to take on extra work in the process, was upset with me, and it was a mess.
“How stable is the improved fall control technology?”
“So far, so good. It seems that the strain on the conduit is not a problem either.”
The alchemist from the R&D department said this while looking into a crystal ball in response to Isla’s question.
Well, I made the magic conduit with a mithril-silver alloy that has a fairly high mithril content. It should be fine as long as we don’t run the two magic sparkling stone furnaces at full power for too long.
“Starboard 0-2-0, circle the perimeter of the Merinesburg.”
“Roger that. Starboard 0-2-0.”
With that, the night demon mage acting as helmsman turned the rudder wheel and began to turn the airship to the right. Hmm, our voyage―aviation? The technology is an amateur skill that’s been installed. The ship’s carpenter, who is no longer on board, was not that knowledgeable about navigation techniques, and we may have to invite someone to teach us navigation techniques and have them trained.
By the way, airships turn by means of a wind-magic propulsion system for changing direction, which is installed horizontally at the rear of the hull. Air resistance is much less than water resistance. The rudder used on a normal ship could not turn properly, so this is another desperate measure.
“Increase speed. Thrusters at 30%.”
“Roger that.”
On Isla’s command, the thrust is increased, and the speed of the airship increases. So far, no strange noises have been heard, and there seems to be no problem.
“Is everything okay?”
“For now. The information from the messengers we released throughout the ship has not detected any suspicious sounds or phenomena so far.”
The ship now has many small animals―messengers―used by the mages. With only the minimum number of personnel on board to move the ship, it is difficult to detect anything more than what is happening in different parts of the ship. Therefore, they are releasing small birds and rats, controlled by the mages’ magic, into the ship to look for anything out of the ordinary.
“For now, we will try to run the ship at 80% power.”
“Please do that. I hope it will be safe.”
We plan to operate the ship at 60% thrust for normal navigation and 80% even if we have to hurry, so we take a safety margin of 20% each. Eventually, we will have to test the operation at 100%, but for now, 80% is fine. We just need to fly to the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom under normal navigation without any excesses or deficiencies.
The prototype airship circled Merinesburg in the right and left turns for a while, then landed safely at a temporary landing site behind the royal castle, which was originally a test site for the R&D department.
☆★☆
After a successful test flight, the equipment and interior work must be completed before we can rejoice. At the moment, the prototype airship can only fly for a short time. In any case, it cannot travel long distances. It is unarmed and has no living quarters for the crew.
Fortunately, this prototype airship does not need to carry fuel, so it can take up a surprisingly large amount of space. Most of the cargo will be in my inventory, but the bare minimum of supplies will have to be carried in the hold. If I am unable to use my inventory for any reason, we will all have no choice but to starve. Even if the mages can manage water with magic, food is the only thing they cannot control.
There is also the problem of water, toilets, and garbage disposal. If the ship were sailing on the sea, it would be enough to just dump the waste into the ocean, but that is not an option for a ship sailing in the sky. Well, if it was a jungle or a wilderness where no one lives, that might be okay, but if it was flying along a highway, that would not be the case. An airship that flies while dripping with filth is too disgusting, and there is no dream or hope for it.
“If so, won’t it have a very long range?”
Sylphy tilted her head as she looked at the prototype airship as it was loaded with cargo after cargo, outfitted and furnished.
“No, if you can get a mage to carry food and produce water, you should be able to fly without refueling until you run out of food. But you won’t be able to dump the waste of your daily life out of the sky.”
“On the battlefield, this could also be a weapon.”
“Airships that can’t be attacked, that can spray bombs and filth from the sky… That’s terrible.”
One ship would only be able to threaten a small city, but if ten or twenty of these ships were in operation, even a city like Merinesburg would be easily destroyed. If you want to attack a city, you can use incendiary bombs instead of grenades―or even simpler, a pot of flammable oil.
“If you fly as high as you did today, some attacks might still reach you, but you could get higher, couldn’t you?”
“Hmm, yes. If you put up a wind magic barrier, there doesn’t seem to be much of a problem with air and air pressure, and if you want to, I think you can fly 30 to 50 times higher than the height we flew today. I mean, if we couldn’t go that high, we wouldn’t be able to go over mountains or anything, would we?”
It should be possible to fly from 3,000 to 5,000 meters above the ground. I don’t know what would happen at 10,000 meters or more.
“It would be difficult to detect it if it flew that high.”
“Even if it were that big, it would be like a pea. It seems to make almost no sound, so if you’re not paying attention, you won’t notice it, right?”
“If it flew that high, there would be nothing anyone could do if they noticed it.”
“Can’t you get away from the military point of view?”
“What are you talking about? A big ship is a military weapon, isn’t it?”
“That’s true, but…”
The use of large ships that can carry large amounts of supplies and personnel is primarily for military purposes, at least in this world.
Of course, there is trade and other activities, but there are monsters in this world. And, of course, there are monsters on the seas. Only a nation can provide enough weapons and fighters to fight them, so it seems that most of the large ships in this world naturally fall under the jurisdiction of the military.
“But you really have built a flying ship, haven’t you? I’m sure the small nations of the west will be stunned when they see it.”
“Even the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom will be astonished. At least they won’t underestimate us as inferior.”
“I hope so.”
The prototype airship is equipped with a thunder cannon, and since I’m on board, I can also use a heavy machine gun for anti-aircraft fire. The history of aerial warfare is much longer in my former world. I don’t think you can underestimate them.
“Anyway, I’m glad we made it in time.”
I want to sleep now. After the successful test flight, I felt tired.