A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

Chapter 276

276 – The Golden Disaster, the Great Depression (6)

Hwiiing.

A cool wind blows.

Thanks to the cool autumn breeze of September, the golden wire coming down from the airship flutters behind.

“That, Gray!!”

Astasia, who was hugged by me, cries out while hugging me tightly.

“Now, do you want to keep doing this?!”

“Isn’t it better than flying on Nidhogg?”

“I’m glad it came suddenly, but I don’t want this thrill forever!”

Astasia pointed her eyes downward and closed them tightly.

“What are you going to do if you fall?”

“It never falls off.”

“Where is the rope tied now?”

“I tied it tightly to the pole.”

I pointed to the top of the rope.

“Ship pillars made of gold.”

“The weight of two people could crush the gold!”

“With Astasia, it weighs 1.5 people.”

“Well, that’s not what I’m saying!!”

Astasia was so angry that she was about to dig her nails into my back, but I held on to her even tighter.

“By the way, Astasia. She seems to have gained 0.1 weight compared to when she flew around on Nidhogg.”

“What?!”

“The waist, which can be called the handle, has gotten smaller, but the part that touches the body seems to have gotten bigger?”

“W-what are you talking about!!”

From noble mtl dot come

Astasia’s face turned red in an instant.

“So, the handle is…”

After biting her lower lip.

“…Well, wouldn’t it be a little higher than that?”

“When you say a regular handle, you probably don’t mean something big enough to fit in one hand, right?”

“…Hmph. I’m weak, really.”

“I know. There’s no way I can pretend not to know.”

Of course I know that there is a handle that is easier to hold than the waist.

“Not now. Not now.”

But I also know that I can’t stand it if I do that-

“It’s too dangerous for us to fly in this kind of air holding on to a rope.”

Not here.

“…That’s actually something I wanted to say from the beginning.”

“I will go up, Astasia.”

When I slightly pulled the rope and twisted the scaffolding below, our bodies slowly rose upward with a sound like a magical device spinning.

“This is…”

“There are no people. The rope tied to the pole is wound and is designed to go up automatically.”

“Wow. That’s kind of interesting.”

“Yes. It’s not like there’s someone pulling this separately or something like that. And…”

“And?”

I pointed to the top of the climbing rope and whispered into Astasia’s ear her ear.

“There is no one on that ship.”

“…Yes?”

“Like the ship that the Habsburg emperor came on, she is basically equipped with devices to enable it to be an unmanned ship.”

“There’s no one… It’s a lie. There’s no way there’s no one, right?”

Astasia puffed out her cheeks.

“They just pretend not to know what we do.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Of course.”

“There really is no one. That ship is a very special ship.”

Rattling.

Holding her Astasia, I led her toward the hole extending from the side of her stomach and entered her.

“…It’s all gold?”

“Coincidentally, this is the tomb originally made for Saint Geo Nostrum.”

“…”

“It’s okay. It’s our ship until it falls to him.”

I retrieved the rope and pulled the golden lever.

Rattling.

The hole in the airship closed.

I snapped my fingers and operated the airship’s magic device, and soon the fluorescent lights installed on the airship’s ceiling began to emit a soft light.

“Golden…?”

“The part that shines is a magic stone. It’s not a melted golden slave, it’s just a magic stone shining golden light.”

I let go of Astasia and opened her arms.

“Welcome, Astasia. I participated in the second test run representing the continent.”

“…Is there really no one?”

“Of course.”

“No one? …Father and mother, didn’t you want to try this out?”

“So, this is a trial run.”

I pointed up and down.

“It might fall, so you can’t just let anyone ride it.”

“What about me?”

“It’s okay because I’ll save Astasia.”

“…”

Astasia narrowed her eyes for a moment.

“Hold my hand. It’s so high up that I keep shaking and feeling nervous.”

He extended a hand to me.

“Do you mean to hold the handle?”

“…”

At my words, Astasia smiled.

“You can do that.”

* * *

Approximately two months from the day the airship was opened to the public.

Everyone was obsessed with gold, but everyone in the Gibraltar Gorge kept talking about the airship that flew in the sky.

A large number of wind stones made at the Imperial Magic Research Institute are mounted on the lower part of the airship, and some of the wind stones are placed at the rear of the airship to release magical wind.

Just by controlling the output of the magic wind, ships that had roamed the seas could now fly in the sky, and people were all excited about the advent of airships.

And people thought about the countless amounts of gold.

-Now, using this much gold as capital, we can create airships!

…It wasn’t a wrong idea.

Gold kept coming out, and everyone was happy because if they sold the gold and built an airship with that budget, it would definitely have a big effect.

In fact, so much gold was released into the market, and two months later, the price of silver was starting to rise, and it was on the verge of being reversed, so everyone started to buzz.

Still, humans can fly!

Humans can now fly in the sky without the help of the drakes that only live in Nostrum and without the help of magic!

The magic automatic ship was actually created from the beginning to run in the sky, not on the ground!

Long live His Majesty, Emperor Habsburg von Tersian!

Please lead us to heaven!

Although everyone shouted, it still takes a long time for people to travel around the world on airships.

In fact, it was postponed.

Imperial citizens had some opportunity to board an airship before the 99th year of the imperial calendar, but that opportunity was postponed until the 100th year of the imperial calendar.

Why?

The entire empire has seen photos and videos going over Nostrum Canyon, so why can’t we get on an airship?

Is it a money issue?

Or safety?

Or is it a symbol of authority that only the royal family can ride?

How expensive and rare is an airship?

-[Airship, will it become the new wings of humanity?]

-[Within 10 years, trains will disappear and airships will take their place.]

-[Director Bathory “If you just attach a wind stone, everything can come to mind. Everything.”]

The first page of the Imperial Newspaper covered the gold crisis that occurred in Nostrum, while the second page contained the official answers from the Imperial Magic Research Institute and the Emperor regarding airships, updated daily.

-[Hapsburg Emperor: “I regret the delay in airship operations.”]

The Habsburg emperor leaked detailed plans for airship operation to the press so that all citizens of the empire could learn about the airship.

He said that with the advent of airships, an ‘airship’, a dedicated port for airships, will be created and airships will be deployed in each major city through demonstration flights for half a year.

In some cases, it was said that an airship departing from the Empire would be able to arrive at the land of Nostrum by ‘flying through the canyon’, and in fact, the specific plan was spread through the media.

Just looking at the newspaper content, I got the feeling that something like that would happen at any moment.

To mark the 100th year of the imperial calendar, it was thought that humanity would be able to fly in the sky on an airship.

However, all those plans were ‘postponed’.

[Emperor Habsburg: “Economy comes first.”]

The golden crisis.

The amount of gold pouring in from Nostrum was at a level that could only be suppressed if the Empire made all its efforts.

Even though the Empire’s Magic Research Institute classified it as ‘this gold is not real gold,’ to the eyes of the general public, it was no different from gold.

Rather, the fact that fakes cannot be distinguished from real ones has reached a point where the value of gold is being undermined.

Even though the empire’s spies tried to control the gold coming in through smuggling, it was not uncommon for even the spies to have their judgment momentarily clouded by the gold in front of them.

A situation where the emperor himself is suppressing the gold.

The situation was such that the Emperor had made all plans regarding flight issues, but had to postpone their implementation.

Someone says.

No, wouldn’t it be enough to proceed at least slowly with regard to airship operation?

What was the Habsburg Emperor’s answer to that?

The Habsburgs will speak through the press.

-The pilot operation of the flight and ensuring safety were left to Gray Gibraltar.

Why is it suddenly gray Gibraltar?

The answer to that was clearly visible to those in the Barcelona Governor-General.

A golden battleship created through collaboration between the Governor-General of Gibraltar and Barcelona and the Tersian Empire Magic Research Institute.

The citizens of the empire thought after seeing photos and videos of an airship shining entirely in gold flying through the sky toward the royal capital.

Ah.

I see.

The Habsburg emperor even discusses matters facing the sky with Gray Gibraltar, who is not a member of the empire, and is actually producing results.

The Habsburg Emperor cares a lot about Gibraltar – Gray Gibraltar – more than we think, to the extent of discussing the sky with Gibraltar, not the Empire.

-If this isn’t the crown prince, what else is it?

Even those who didn’t want to admit it eventually had no choice but to gradually admit it.

The next emperor of the Tersian Empire will be Astasia von Tersian, or Gray Gibraltar, the ruler of the country, will become emperor.

Either way, the citizens of the Empire have one wish.

Us too.

I want to ride on an airship made of gold.

* * *

“Wow.”

Astasia comes up on the deck and looks around the golden airship and smiles brightly.

“Really, there’s no one here?”

“Are you saying there is no one in the sky, or is there no one on this ship?”

“It’s both.”

Astasia pointed to the empty sky with one hand.

“There are no Drake Knights following the airship, and there are no shadows lurking on the airship. It’s amazing that you and Gray are together like this… In a pure sense.”

“Me too.”

There is no one here.

There is no one looking at us, and there is no one looking at us anywhere.

“Gray, then… “

“Are you asking for more than a kiss?”

“…How about gray?”

“That’s me, it’s always like that.”

“…Then, let’s go somewhere where no one can see-“

The moment Astasia swallows her saliva and raises her hand to her own chest.

“…Ah.”

She stiffened her expression and turned her gaze to the side.

“Nostrum, you crazy.”