Hard Work Will Never Betray Me

With a roaring sound, the "M-1" carrying Mei and  me   through the summer night sky. It's quite exhilarating to see the forests, plains, and scattered villages  from  the such high .

"It's a good thing  that today is full moon 

If it  was cloudy, we would have lost altitude and hit the ground before we knew it. It was fortunate that even though it was nighttime, the moonlight made it possible to see clearly like  it was a daytime .

"We're almost to the town  Canard.

Mei , who was sitting behind me, told me in a loud voice over my back. The problem  was with the "M-1" is that it is difficult to hear even if  to shout loudly due to the noise of the engine and wind.

After flying for a while, I saw a few artificial lights in the distance.

"............ We arrived 

If  to look closely, It can  be seen  many buildings crowded together and surrounded by a walls . It was still hard to tell for sure, but every few houses had some kind of lamp or light leaking out of  window.

"That's the town Canard, , and in  basin  of direction,  we arrived ."

Apparently, that was the town  Canard.

"We're ready to land. Hold on tight!"

"Yes, sir!

I slowed down the M-1 and gradually lowered its altitude. . I pulled the wooden wheels out of the fuselage and prepared for landing.

I'm not worried about it because it's a magical tool that Mei made, but even if the plane can't  handle the impact of landing, I'll put up a barrier and release a reverse-phase shockwave to mitigate the impact, so  it won't get hurt.

"......3, two, one, landing!"

--Zzzzzzzzz!

"........................ landing successful.

"It's worked out !

This is Mei

As expected, it was a magic tool made by Mei. The steering wheel was a little shaky, but we succeeded in landing without any problems.

"I'm not too worried about it because I had a successful unmanned flight test with a small plane.'

"But it's not like we're going to be doing the real thing right away. ......'

"I knew Hal would be able to handle it even if it failed. ......'

Well, I'm the one who asked her to do it. I can't blame Mei  for that .And it's working.

"I'll leave the plane here. It's hard to  find it here  because of the grass, so we'll   use that again it when we're done."

"Well, it can't be helped. And Hal, how much magic power do you need to be able to fly well?

This is a grassland a few hundred meters away from the town Canard. There are no buildings nearby, only small forests and wheat fields. Naturally, there was no one around.

"...... Shall we go then?"

"Yes."

We stealthily approached the town, blending in with the tall grass. If the guards or patrolmen were involved in Lily's kidnapping, they would know that we had come to rescue her.

As I carefully approached the town, trying not to make a sound, I tried to contact Lily via "communication".

"Lily, can you hear me? If you can hear me, please respond."

"...... Hal?　I can hear you. What's wrong?"

Her voice  was sleepy, as if she had been sleep until now.

"I' came t the e town where you being held  can you see what's going on outside from there?"

I tried to check with my sonar, but I couldn't cover the whole town. First of all, it's still impossible for me to extract specific responses from the 10,000 or so people. It might be possible if it were my mother or some hermit whose  location 7was unknown  but it would be difficult with my current abilities. So, I asked Lily if she could see any  remarkable  things .

This is a kind of cheating that can only be done by using the magic of communication. In the past, "communication" was a type of magic that could only be used one-way if both parties were unable to use it. The reason why  I can have a two-way conversation like this is because I  have a magic tool . It's not the best way to go, but it's a good thing that I had prepared a handy tool   like a cell phone to use.

"I can see a white wall and a tower in the distance."

"A tower?"

It was not a great wall like the one in Heitburg, about three meters high, so I could easily climb it by shooting shock waves from my feet.

"Tower .... That's it!"

In the center of the town, there was a building that looked like a shrine  but a rather magnificent bell tower. As far as I could see, there was no building taller than a five-story tall bell tower in Canard, so I was pretty sure that was the tower. However, I could see the tower from most of the town, so I wasn't quite able to narrow down the area.

"The tower is visible from most of the town. , but that wasn't enough  information to find  you  ....... How close is the white wall?"

"'It's pretty close. Also, it's pretty big.

A large white wall. In modern Japan, this would be a very important piece of information, but most of the walls of the buildings in this town were white. To be honest, it was not a condition to narrow down the search.

"Hmmm... ....... I don't know what to do. ......

"Then why don't you have Hal climb up the tower and report to Lily  so she can see you?

"I see, that's a good idea!"

When I was troubled, Mei suggested a good idea, and I immediately started to follow her advice.

"Lilly, I'm going to climb the tower now, and when  you will be able too see me , let me know."

"Okay."

With this  idea , I  can narrow down the search area considerably. Mei  might be a genius after all.

As we entered the town, we took care not to be spotted by the residents or patrolmen using the sonar, and headed towards the  building where the bell tower is located at a short run. Occasionally, drunks, government officials on  our  way were  , and patrolmen would be caught in the sonar's search range, but we hided  in the shadows each time we got a response, and somehow we managed to reach the bell tower without being spotted.

"There are no soldiers in sight, right ?"

"Well, it's the middle of the night. Let's go.

"Yes."

We snuck into the grounds of the temple and ran to the foot of the bell tower.

"Mei, you stay downstairs and keep an  security "

"Okay, "

I put on my Strengthen  magic and take out a throwing knife from my pouch.

"Hmm."

Just as my throwing knife was about to reach the top of the 15-meter bell tower, I activated the magic I had cast on the knife.

"Binding Rope!"

Several magic wires about five millimeters thin flew out from the knife and entangled in the bell tower. One of them wrapped around my arm.

It took me about 30 seconds to reach the top of the bell tower, where the bell was.

"Lily, can you see me ?"

I activated my newly learned "telescopic vision" to look around the town, while I connected my "communication" to Lily. After a few seconds, Lily replied.

"I can see you  ......!　Hal, you came !

"Of course, I'd go anywhere to save Lily.""

It was a cringe-worthy line, but it was also meant to reassure Lily. Embarrassed, I moved around the bell. 

"'How' about this ?"

"'There's still some distance ."

"'How about this?"

"Almost there."

"Are you in the front?""

"There it is!　That's the front. you pretty far away from there. Can you see  me ?"

I activated my "telescopic vision" as fast as I could and checked each building that was some distance away. This way, I should be able to see Lily at some point.

"I will save you .　Lily!"

"Hal!"

I found Lily. I could see her looking at me from a window with iron bars in a small warehouse-like building on the grounds of a larger house about 300 meters  away from here.

"Iron bars ......, won't stop me  ......."

There are no guards on the premises at a glance, but there is a glimmer of light leaking from inside what appears to be the main building. I'm not sure if they're having a party to calculate the ransom they'll get from kidnapping the duke's daughter. Either way, it would be their last  party.

I jumped down from the top of the bell tower and landed softly with a shockwave   on my feets  , then ran over to Mei  who was standing on  guard  to tell her that I had found Lily.

"Mei , I found Lily. Let's hurry up and  save her ".

"Okay. I'll  help you."

Saying this, Mei took out from her bag a magic gun that she had just developed. It is a revolver type shock gun. It's a weapon with 36 bullets.

"Now  we can take out those bastards!　

"...... is very reliable."　To be honest, I wasn't planning on letting Mei participate in the mission to save Lily ....... If  I can handle this kind of armament,  i should have no problem taking on a big man. It's  better to keep Mei away from the fight and let her  shoot from a distance.

"Let's go."

"Yes."

Now that I knew the location, there was no need to hide. I ran at full speed through the city at night with Mei.