Chapter 204.1

Chapter 204.1 \n<h1>Chapter 204 Strange Grief Wants to Retire ⑤</h1>\n

“Wuoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

　A strong shock hit the entire ship. The furniture was fixed in place, but the dishes and wooden boxes floated in the air.　Everyone was desperately clinging to a desk or a chair. Franz-san was protecting Her Imperial Princess by order of the Emperor. Everyone’s expression showed a hint of imminent death on their face.　Kruz was clinging to the legs of a desk. Kilknight was strapped to a chair with some ropes and was *bikubiku* twitching.

　Then, a particularly strong shock shook the hull of the ship.　My Barrier Rings prevented the impact. It was as if I was being tossed around by a giant wave. There were sounds of glass breaking. The shakings and impacts came intermittently――And then, silence.

　The ground was flat. To be precise, the part that used to be a wall was now the ground, but there was no sign of further shaking. While staggering, I stood up to my feet.

　I take a deep breath. The temperature should have been high, but I am comfortable thanks to my shirt.

　I’m alive…… I’m alive, maaaaaan!

　The hall was in a terrible state. Apparently, it was the first time they experienced a crash, and in the corner, the knights in the escort had been knocked down by the laws of physics because they could not withstand the violent impact and were lying together like dumplings. But I guess they are not dead.　The Emperor puts his hands on the floor and slowly raises himself up. Franz-san moans. Before the crash, Kruz and the group of Magi had cast a shock mitigation spell.　The carpet, which had been clinging to the table for some reason despite its ability to fly, stood up.\n

　It seemed that the only one unharmed were…… The carpet and me. However, if the damage is only this much after crashing from that height, then we did quite well.

“Uuuh…… Tsuh…… W-What happened……” (Kruz)

　She must have bumped her body because she opened her eyes while holding her arm. She was still in a daze, and her eyes were unfocused. Her speech was not as strong as it had been before.　But apparently, no bones were broken. There was no blood. It was probably just a bruise.

　I was the only one who could stand up.

　*Yareyare* Good grief, are you newbies on crashing? When you are in a situation like this――If you keep your eyes open, you will get dizzy, so you should close them. And while you’re at it, it is even better to cover your ears and curl yourself up. This could even be called escaping from reality.

　But now is not the time to be talking about that.

　Outside the broken glasses, sand and gravel were spreading out.　I gently reach out my hand to the sand. It was now in the shadow of the lying hull, but it had been exposed to the scorching sun a while ago, so I could feel the strong heat that almost burned my fingertips.　I made up my mind and landed on the sand.

　Neither the heat nor the light can adversely affect my comfort. I step out of the shadow of the boat, almost getting my feet caught in the sand.

　Then I gasped at the sight that unfolded before me.

　What lay there was a desert. However, this did not mean that there was nothing up until the end of the horizon.\n　Beyond the shimmering air――I could see a large city a few hundred meters away. Overgrown with trees, I could see white buildings beyond the low exterior walls. With my eyesight, I could only see it as a grain of beans, but a number of small shadows appeared from the gate, perhaps they were startled by our sudden fall.　There was a flag fluttering near the gate. Five spears on a yellow background――Before we started our escort journey, they had shown this to us――It was the Country of Sand’s flag, Toizant’s flag.

　…… *Fumufumu*…… We fell in a good spot. Apparently, there is no need to camp outside.　Even with my Barrier Rings, the only thing I can’t do is to stay in the wild, you know.

　I wondered what would happen, but apparently, we made it safely.

　I nodded to myself badassingly, and decided to return to the ship to share the good news.

 

“It looks like we have arrived safely in town!” (Cry)

“Muh…… Urgh…… I am not going to talk with you anymore…………” (Franz)

　Franz-san answered in a muffled voice, holding his eyebrows as if he still couldn’t get his vision straight.

 

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　And then, we ended up arriving safely at our destination, the Country of Sand, Toizant.　Zero deaths (many injured). Just in time for the Conference, a perfect job I must say.

　The developed city we saw from the crashing site was apparently the capital city of Toizant. It was the place where the Conference would be held.　Initially, the airship was supposed to land at an airfield built far away from the capital, so this might have been better in terms of distance.

　And they all lived happily ever after.

“When I get better, I am definitely going to punch you in the face, desu……” (Kruz)

　In an inn prepared for us in Toizant. The moment we landed, Kruz, who seemed to have squeezed out her Magic power to cast a protective spell on everyone, said as she slumped in bed.

　While my stock continued to free fall, Kruz’s stock continued to rise.　At first, she shunned the members of the group because she was a Spirit People, but now she was able to talk with them without hesitation. Some of them even proclaimed that she saved their lives. I can say that this is the way it should be since Kruz is a good kid by nature, but I am glad I asked Lapis to help me. I will have to formally thank Lapis next time…… Though I won’t give her Lucia.

　The crash of an airship is an international problem. Even if there was no damage, the fact that an airship crashed in another country and in an unscheduled location means that there will be a lot of trouble that I don’t understand. But there was no room for me to interfere. \n　By now, Zebrudia civil servants, who had been brought in or arrived by another route, should be running around dealing with them.

　Unexpected betrayal and an encounter with a Treasure Shrine. Too many things happened.

　But let’s think about it calmly. Before I left, I told Eva, 『Bandits might appear, Monsters might appear, a Treasure Shrine might pop up, we might be caught up in a natural disaster.』 And we certainly didn’t encounter any of those things.

　Although we have been betrayed, there were no bandits, Dragons1 appeared but no monsters appeared.　We encountered a Treasure Shrine, but that was an encounter, not a new one popping up, and a storm swallowed us up, but I wouldn’t call it a natural disaster.

　In other words, nothing that I said out loud happened. So it meant that――.

“………… Maybe this time I have been…… Quite lucky?” (Cry)

“!?” (Kruz)

“No, no, wait, wait. The most dangerous is when you let your guard down…… Something might happen from now on.” (Cry)

“!? You seriously, have to stop, desu…… Yowaningen……” (Kruz)

　Kruz stretched out her arms weakly. Her white, smooth skin was laid bare.　I blinked my eyes for a while, but then realized what it meant, I offered my head and got punched meekly.

　Speaking of which, what happened to Term and Kechakchakka that disappeared from the ship?