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Chapter 46. Ascent Trajectory (3)
“Oh my! All of this 1500 Gold?”
The girl twitched her big ears above her head, which was as pink as a light rose petal.
Her long eyebrows, noticeably big incisors, and dark purple wooden frames of glasses stood out.
She seemed like she didn’t know what to do with the gold placed in front of her.
Not to mention the three other people who brought the same-sized bags of gold standing in front of her.
She unpacked the gold bag and poured it into a turquoise box, and the box started shaking and began to count the coins inside.
After a while, when the girl opened the box that had stopped shaking, there were no coins left in the box.
“Mr. Swordsman! All of your gold has been registered on the auction house!”
The girl said as she restlessly took Guile’s bag of gold also.
“I didn’t think we’d get such tremendous visitors to come to De Munt all of a sudden.”
She blushed with shame at herself, who had just been dumbfounded in the situation, brushing her puppy ears and letting the coins flow back into the wooden box with her pure white fingers.
“Where do all the golds in that box go?”
Guile, who had been watching closely, couldn’t resist his curiosity and asked the girl a question, and the girl who had been working hard looked back at Guile and answered him.
“Ah! There is a spacial crystal placed right under this box. Then it’s delivered to the Arantis basement branch, which is connected underground!
After Guile and Sharan were finished with their business, I handed over my bag of gold to the girl.
This was a familiar sight for me since I’ve done this multiple times back in the days while I was stubbornly killing the slimes.
We’ve decided to follow Swordsman’s suggestion, which was to finish all the miscellaneous works in De Munt before we leave to receive the next quests, therefore our party’s first destination was this place, the exchange office.
Everyone in the party looked like a bunch of children who were excited to go on a field trip.
The smiles on their faces never faded the entire time they were registering the gold on the auction house. And of course, that’s not to say I wasn’t excited at all either.
This was the first time I’ve ever registered this much amount of gold on the auction house, and I was the type to realize how big the amount is when I actually see them in cash in real life. That was why I was able to stay calmer than them.
After we finished our business with the De Munt Castle exchange office, we met up with Khea who was waiting outside.
“I am amazed every time I see it.”
As the excited party members were heading to De Munt’s Square ahead of them, Khea, who was next to me, whispered softly.
“What is?”
When I asked her back, she flicked her hair back with her hand and smiled at me while showing off her sharp nose.
“The process of bringing things from this world to yours. That’s the business you had to do in the exchange office, right?”
I couldn’t do anything but just stare at her as I lost my words after hearing her question.
“I’m kinda jealous, y’know? I wish I could go to a different world like that.”
I was starting to feel even dizzy after hearing her words mixed with small laughter.
As funny as it may sound, the question she asked, which could not be seen as from an object, an NPC, created and subordinated in the concept of virtual reality,
It really was just out of my expectation completely.
However, from a common-sense point of view, it was reasonable for people living in this very realistic virtual reality game to ask such a question.
I felt it every time I played this game, but the more I played this virtual reality game, the more I felt a strange sense of disparity in the detailed realism that poked my insides.
Although, the sharp blade of that sense of disparity had been dulled multiple times by the surprises that this virtual reality world continued to show me.
“Really? Sometimes, I feel as if the me of this world is more like myself than myself in the other world.”
“That’s pretty surprising to hear. How is it? Whenever you feel like that?”
In response to Khea’s clear and bright question, I kept my gaze forward and followed Sharan and others who were getting further from me.
Then I turned back to Khea who stood a little behind me now.
“Or perhaps, I just want things to be like that. I’m not trying to boast or anything, but in real life, I am not as strong or as capable as I am here. I feel much bitter and heavier in the other world.”
Khea smiled once again.
“Well, have you already forgotten who created you, Mose, who you are now?”
I stopped walking for a second. Khea walked past me with a soft smile on her face.
“You are an incredible person, in many ways.”
She whispered as she turned to look back a little.
“What did you say?”
I asked her so I could hear what she said one more time, but she quickly brought her index finger over her shiny lips.
“Truth be asked only to the blade.”
Then she hurried to the party members with a triumphant expression on her face.
I fell into thoughts that were so heavy and frustrating that even I didn’t know what I was thinking as I looked at that scene.
Of course, I wasn’t able to reach a conclusion.
The only option I had was to just,
Move forward with the 13th party members, whom I expected to continue this relationship with, and Khea who had just naturally joined our group.
Crossing a large square with alternating grayish-white tiles and brown tiles, we arrived at a small pier to see if there were any boats or wagons going to Asparagan.
This was because Sharan and the others didn’t have their own portal stones yet, so they had to rely on transit. So I decided to enjoy the feeling of traveling together.
***
Reaper Scans
[Translator – Dawn]
[Proofreader – Karane]
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***
However, the problem started from here.
“Excuse me?”
Guile’s groan came out.
In front of them, a guard stood tall, blocking the way to the pier like a deeply rooted tree.
Guile, who had been arguing with the guards, was mercilessly rejected and walked towards us with his shoulders down.
“I guess it’s only natural. The De Munt Castle has been turned upside down in many ways, and a curfew has been applied across the city. The pier is also unavailable.”
It was also because we cleared the quest with such a huge hassle.
The castle’s lord died and that position became vacant.
No matter how bad of a human being he was, the De Munt Castle had lost its leader. So they had to lock the gates until things were settled down.
Just as things are in reality, in virtual reality games, everything has a cause.
“The airships and wagons registered at the pier are also banned from operating on the same day. If that’s the case, we have no choice but to walk.”
Guile grunted.
“Well, Khea and Mose can be there before us, since things have come down to this. We’ll get there on our own, see you later.”
Swordsman took turns looking at me and Khea, and tried to send us ahead first.
This was his consideration to help us get out of the situation where we had to participate in this needless inconvenience.
I spoke up, not even convinced myself.
“I think there’s a way for us to all go together… maybe?”
Everyone was silent as they looked at me. When I came to my senses, I had already arrived at a huge open vacant lot behind De Munt Castle.
“Brother, do you perhaps have some sort of a vehicle?”
Guile’s eyes were shining as he shook his shoulders in excitement.
Even Khea, who knew me the best, looked at me with eyes full of curiosity with her head slightly tilted.
“Yeah, I wanted to confirm first though.”
Right. The other day, I used the Lucky Ruin skill to itemize the ruin that was embedded in the bottom of the mine. And the item was without a doubt…
An airship.
I carefully removed the golden core from my inventory. Strictly speaking, it was not taken out by hand.
When I focused my attention on the core that was inactive in the rectangular inventory space, the inventory expanded greatly and began to reveal its gigantic majesty.
The 13th party members who saw the gigantic core had astonished expressions on their faces. On the other hand, Khea, who could not see the core, seemed only puzzled.
I approached the golden core cautiously and touched it.
After a while, the floor began to tremble.
It would be more accurate to call it a very detailed and fast-paced vibration, rather than an echo with a large drop.
A single black line of crack grew on the golden core, and the cracks branched out in all directions and began to grow further.
The one side of the core shattered completely like a glass with a sharp scream. And at that moment, magnificent music with drums and strings began to flow into my ears.
However, I was watching the scene in a cold sweat so much that I couldn’t even notice the music.
It gleamed in the sunlight. What appeared was a golden statue of a woman dangling from a cross and offering prayers.
But that huge statue of a woman,
Was nothing more than just the tip of the gigantic hull that was about to appear.
“What in the world… is that?”
Swordsman, who had his eyes widened, muttered to himself. In silent astonishment, everyone just looked up at the ship that appeared from the core.
The ship had countless glass windows, with all of its edges finished with gold. The overwhelming charisma of the ship was indescribable.
Leaves and flowers embroidered the bottom of the ship in golden color, and numerous gun ports were firmly closed on both sides of the ship.
In the stern that finally appeared, two huge stones that looked like propellants swallowed lights and spit out a rainbow.
The majestic airship slowly descended to the ground and soon landed, raising heavy dust around.
After a moment, a thick wooden plank in the shape of a leaf on the bow side burst open, and a transparent curtain fell down like a carpet and reached the floor in the shape of a slide.
“W-we’re gonna ride this?”
“Where in the world did you get this…”
“Well… It is pretty cool…”
Sharan and the others were speechless as they just took turns looking at me and the ship.
Honestly, I felt no different than how they were feeling at that moment.
All I could do was just watch the appearance of the magnificent hull and the others standing next to me.
The old ruin appeared as an item while retaining its appearance at the time it was created thanks to my skills.
It was like tearing a particular part of the mystery out of history and bringing it to life.
This time, Khea too was just speechless while busily scanning the ship with her eyes.
I slowly stepped onto the carpet that had come down from the ship. The part of the carpet that my feet touched danced in a shimmering light within the glass like waves spreading.
I carefully entered the inside of the ship.
The inside of the ship was so fancy that it made ‘The Place Where Flames Rest’ of Bing Caravan look like a doghouse.
The party members also followed inside behind me as they were being extremely cautious to make sure that their dirty clothes weren’t touching the fancy and precious wall of the ship.
A pillar of smoke suddenly began to rise in front of me from under the wooden floor that shined like a gem.
Before I was even finished being surprised, the pillar of smoke had changed into a shape that was barely recognizable as a human.
It turned into the form of a tall elf woman.
“Pleasure to meet you, the new Master of the Skies, Mose.”
The smoke bowed its head to me.
The voice rang throughout the entire ship. Out of reaction, I also bowed to the smoke.
“I am Elsha, the fairy of the ‘Radiard Tree’, the core of this ship which is the foundation of this ship. I am the ‘guardian of the ship’ contracted with this ship, and the contract period is ‘indefinite’. I hereby declare that I will only listen to the orders of my new master ‘Mose’.”
The elf said in front of me with her voice that echoed everywhere.
“This ship was built with the Radiard Tree which had known the history of the land for 2,500 years, and it was completed because I, the fairy of Radiard, requested to be able to fly. Mose, I am ready to fly anywhere you would like to.”
“Could you fly us to Asparagan, please?”
Elsha scattered into smoke again and disappeared into the ground as if she was absorbed into the floor.
And soon, an announcement echoed through the entire ship like an onboard broadcast.
“We shall now depart for Asparagan.”
My eardrums started to ring. The ship started to vibrate softly and shortly.
“Rak, Eldo, Padra, to maximum speed.”
As soon as Elsha finished her spell, a pop-up window appeared in front of my eyes.
[ Sky Lord ]
Lv: 255
HP: 125,400 / 125,400
MP: 0 / 1000
It shall now carry out commands from ‘Mose’.
However, I didn’t have enough time to check what it said on the pop-up window.
It was because the gravity that weighed on my body in the violent movement of the boat that rose in an instant was beyond my imagination.
When I looked out the window of the ship, feeling the stuffy ears, numb legs, and still heavy shoulders,
It was already after we’ve reached the skies rising through the clouds.