Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 573: Are you using Mao’s equipment again?
"Did you come to Rothdana City on this ship?" Lorena asked with a smile as she looked at the small wooden boat stranded on the reef.

"That's right!" Alice said proudly, "Don't underestimate the Snow Wind. It's the most powerful sea vehicle of our Gran Sefa Air Cavalry. It's a wind boat blessed by the angels of the Salia Plain. Can other ships do this?"

Of course you can't do that. After all, your Gransefa Air Cavalry only has this one sea vehicle.

Lingge complained in his heart, then patted the side of the boat and said coldly: "Don't dawdle, Alice, come and push it down with me."

"Hey, why is this happening?" Alice said with reluctance, "I am a beautiful girl, how can you let a delicate girl do such rough work? Do you have any sympathy?"

"No." Ling Ge had no expression on his face.

"Pfft."

Lorena, who was sitting in a wheelchair, couldn't help laughing out loud. She didn't know whether she was amused by Alice calling herself a "beautiful girl" or she found Ling'er's cold reply very funny.

"Then," Alice was still unwilling to give in, and pointed at the innocent Saint Xia Liya: "Why don't you let Xiao Xia come to help?"

"..." After a moment of silence, Lingge gave an answer that made Alice unable to hold back: "Because she is a delicate and beautiful girl?"

“Pfft!” This time even Saint Shallia was amused, with the corners of her mouth raised and her eyebrows curved.

"But I'm not a mermaid now. I drank the potion of the evil witch and became a human. My leg is sprained, so it must be very inconvenient for me to swim in the water." Lorena looked at Alice with pitiful eyes. "Besides, can you really bear to let me swim in such dirty water? I'm a delicate and beautiful girl, beautiful girl. You should understand, right, my dear Alice?"

A cold sea breeze blew, the dark clouds in the sky rolled like a whirlpool, and the dirty sea water in the ocean rolled up layers of waves. The surging tide pushed the Yukikaze, whose load-bearing capacity was obviously beyond the upper limit, toward the sea, uh, about a dozen centimeters away. Then the wind stopped, and the Yukikaze stopped moving again, floating in the shallow water area, swaying and floating, as if it could run aground at any time.

Alice, who had brought shame upon herself, walked over angrily, and together with Lingge, one pulled in front and the other pushed in the back, and it took a lot of effort to finally push the Snow Wind down and anchor it in the dirty, dark sea water in the shallow area. But when they got on the boat, they encountered a new problem. Because the space on the boat was limited, and Lorena had her own wheelchair, Alice and Saint Charia had to squeeze in the bow, and Lingge sat alone at the stern, barely leaving the middle seat vacant for Lorena to enjoy alone.

After laughing, in a relaxed and happy atmosphere, the Yukikaze officially set sail, about to leave the city where it had stayed for only three days (strictly speaking, two and a half days), and return to the Sky Island base of the Gransefa Sky Cavalry Regiment... probably.

After several passengers got on board, the Yukikaze, which already had a low carrying capacity, suddenly sank, with nearly half of its side submerged in the dirty sea water. It swayed unsteadily with the surge of the water, causing people to worry about its future.

Seeing this, Alice curled her lips and said to Rorona, "Aren't you a mirror fairy? Can't you swim in the water? Just like a mermaid."

"Oh, sorry, I don't understand." Alice replied stiffly: "After all, I'm not a pretty girl."

So Rorona and Saint Shalia couldn't help but start laughing again.

After a strange silence.

Still feeling awkward about what happened before.

"Very good." Alice pinched her chin and said in a deep tone: "At this rate, it will only take us 30 years to return safely to Yunjingkong Island... I don't think so!"

She slapped the side of the Yukikaze hard: "Move, Yukikaze! Why aren't you moving? Have you really betrayed me?"

But it was not the Snow Wind's fault that it was motionless, but because the wind blessing that Yieta had bestowed on it had lost its effect. It would be a bit unreasonable to force it to set sail without power. In fact, Yieta had warned them of this before they set out, and said that they had to figure out how to get back by themselves, and she would not be responsible for it. Based on the unpleasant after-sales experience despite the advance notice, Alice decided to occupy Yieta's windmill tower room to play games after returning to Sky Island, and also asked her to warm her bed at night and use her big wings as a quilt... The following plot is not suitable for children, so I won't say more. This is all after I go back, what should I do now? I was busy looking for a store that can customize swimwear a few days ago, and then I was busy secretly investigating Rorona's background. For a moment, I actually forgot about this matter, but it can't be said to be my fault, after all, even Ling Ge forgot about it.

Alice first shook off her responsibilities, and then began to rack her brains, trying to come up with a perfect countermeasure. With her amazing wisdom, wouldn't this be a piece of cake?
"Let's go find a paddle and row back." Lingge proposed a realistic solution.

"No!" Alice rejected it immediately: "Do you know how long it will take to row back to Sky Island from here? And it's too tiring. I'm a delicate and beautiful girl, I don't want to do such physical work!"

Are you trying to humiliate yourself again? Ling'er's eyes undoubtedly expressed something similar, but Alice pretended not to see it and ignored it.

"Then, how about asking nearby aliens for help and asking them to take us for a ride?" Saint Shallia proposed a fairy-tale solution.

"No!" Alice rejected it immediately: "Not to mention that this place is so close to human cities, it's hard to say whether we can find aliens. Even if we do find them, why do you think they will help us in a friendly way? They might even ask for compensation from us. This is absolutely not allowed!"

Why didn't you feel so sorry for the money when I bought you a swimsuit? Also, isn't it natural to pay someone for your help? Saint Charity looked at Alice with suspicion, but Alice pretended not to notice and ignored it.

"I have a plan!"

An idea suddenly occurred to her, and she looked at Lorena and proposed a capitalist solution: "How about Lorena, you put up with it for a bit and push the Yukikaze underwater?"

After these words were spoken, everyone, including Rorona, fell silent.

After a long while, the mirror elf girl forced out a stiff smile: "I'm sorry to refuse."

Fearing that Alice would pester her, she sighed softly, probably to express her feelings of "Are these humans really reliable?" At the same time, she reached into her wide sleeves and fumbled for a while. When she took her hands out again, she had a small white windmill in her hand, which looked like the kind of paper toys that children like: "Use this."

"What's this?" Alice stared at the windmill like a curious baby.

"It's a small toy I made when I was free. I originally wanted to give it to the children in the nearby streets, but after I finished making it, I found that it was too powerful and not suitable for children, so I kept it for myself. I didn't expect it would come in handy in an occasion like this."

There was a hint of impermanence in Rolena's sigh. She lifted the windmill and blew gently on it. It was just a soothing breath, but when it passed over the small white windmill, it was like a strong wind disturbing it, causing the pointed shuttle-shaped blades to spin rapidly, spinning faster and faster, until the windmill could no longer be seen spinning, and only a paper-white ring solidified in the girl's hand.

Lorena pointed the windmill in her hand behind her, and an invisible airflow suddenly blew through the rapidly rotating blades, sweeping across the sea to form a violent storm, pushing the Snow Wind to gradually accelerate, break through the tide at the bow, ride the wind, and soon leave the shallow water area and officially enter the Blue Sky Sea.

Sitting at the stern, Alice could clearly feel the disturbance of her hair as the storm passed over her head, and could also see the silver-white waves of the sea water on both sides of the stern, which were stirred up by the storm. The waves and foam jumped into the air, then swept back at an astonishing speed and disappeared from sight. Although this speed was not as fast as Ijetta's Blessing of the Wind, it was much faster than an ordinary three-masted sailing ship.

The source of this storm was the white paper windmill in Rorona's hand, which looked like a child's toy and almost became a child's toy.

Lorena controls the windmill, which is equivalent to controlling the direction of the storm. She can even change the direction of the windmill at will, and use the changes in wind direction to control the Yukikaze to turn left or right to avoid the reefs and rocks hidden under the sea.

Looks like it's fun?
The eyes of the golden-haired maid gradually lit up. She stretched out her claws towards her target without hesitation, and said the classic line when the hairy man was equipped:

"Lend it to me for fun!"

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)