Magicraft Meister Part 4

When Arnold's excitement over his first ride in a had subsided a little, Jin asked a question.

"Earlier you said or , which is the official name?"

"Hm?　Yeah, <> is generally used to mean a ball that uses heat to fly, but I think of it as a ball that flies with >, so I call it a <>. There were a few people on ...... who agreed with my assertion."

"I see. I call them << hot air balloons>."

"Oh, comrade."

Arnold laughed.

"Master, we'll be passing over Mount Onouni shortly.

The pilot, Hope, told us.

"Mount Onouni?　That brings back memories. ......!

"Wait a minute."

Jin stopped Arnold from flying to the window and opened the floor window of the Hurricane.

"Oh, this is nice!

"Isn't it?"

"This is a good floor window to look down.

Arnold crawled over to take in the view below.

"Ah, there's Mount Onouni. ...... Has the valley line changed a bit?　700 years have passed. ...... Ah, the topography of the campsite is still intact!

He muttered nostalgically.

Jin instructed Hope to drop altitude and circle around Mount Onouni.

"Oh?　......Thank you, Jin. I never thought I'd ...... see the day when I could look at Mount Onouni from the sky like this. ...... I feel like a bird."

I once wanted to fly in a hot-air balloon, Arnold said, but it was a dream at the time for a private individual to use it because it was for military use.

* * * * * * * * * * *

After circling Mount Onouni four times, the <> gained some altitude and headed north again.

"Ah, the plains of Bororon. ......!"

"It's called the Bororong now, though."

"I see. ...... This used to be a meadow, but it was devastated in the <>. But how could it have remained desolate after 700 years? ...... Oh, I see!"

Arnold shouted, as if something had occurred to him.

"What's wrong?"

"It's <>."

"Pollution. ......"

"Oh..." Arnold shouted. There was a battle for the survival of both races here. The result was that the humans lost, but then they sprayed this place with heavy metal ions. I don't know if the ...... enemy did it or if they did it."

"Whoever did it, they did a hell of a job," he said.

"We were all out of our minds at the time."

It was a ...... time, Arnold said, when acts that narrowed one's future were tolerated in order to get through the present.

"I see, so that's why there's hardly any vegetation,...... but how much area did they pollute,......?"

Jin's voice held a hint of anger.

"It must be quite a task to clean up such a large area."

"I agree. It would take only a short time to contaminate it, though.

Roughly speaking, the area was estimated to be about 5,000 square kilometers.

If we clean up one square kilometer per day, it would take 5000 days ...... That would take nearly 14 years.

"We'd better report this to the Kingdom of Cerroa ......."

Jin thought that it would be a national project.

* * * *

The <> continued its flight and approached the northern border of the Kingdom of Celuloa.

Yes, the <>.

"Wow ...... I never thought I would see this from the sky ......!"

Arnold was in a good mood after seeing his dream mountain range.

"Yeah, there's a glacier hanging ...... over it, and it's probably still cold ...... near the summit, closed off by a million years of snow."

< turns to the east and flies over the Kruger Mountains.

Arnold is pleased to be able to see the mountain range he has longed to see, albeit from above.

"By the way, this area is not Cerroa anymore, is it?

"Yes, the Kingdom of Franz. A little further on is the Kingdom of Klein.

"Are you sure about that?　Are you sure you're okay?

"Oh, that's okay. I have a free pass to travel between countries."

I see. <

I see.

I'm quite proud of you.

While he was saying this, the hurricane was entering the Kingdom of Klein.

"We should be able to see Mount Ticazo, the highest peak in the Kruger Mountains, in a few minutes."

"Oh, that!　I never thought I'd see it with my own eyes!　......Wow, that's it!

The second peak is on the left in the foreground and the first peak is in the background,

Both peaks are covered with silvery snow and look divine.

"I wish I could have stood on that peak. ......"

"I think you can do it now. ...... No, I don't."

Jin casually replied to Arnold's words, but then realized the discrepancy and swallowed his words mid-sentence.

Even though his body was made of , it was still not the same as a flesh-and-blood body.

Jin guessed that the sense of accomplishment from climbing the summit would be small.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Now, I have a proposal.

The stops at a spot with a close view of Mount Ticazo.

Jin asked Arnold and Chelle to make an important choice.

"What is it?"

"What is it?"

"Where we're going."

Jin broke off and looked at the expressions on Arnold and Chelle's faces.

Both of them are automata, but they have a rare structure in that their emotions are expressed in their facial expressions. Both of them were created by Jin, however.

"Destination?"

"...... back the route we came, or continue east, south, or ...... north?"

If we head east, we'll pass through the northern part of the former Leonard's Kingdom by the sea.

To the south is the Kingdom of Klein.

And to the north is .......

"The demon realm ...... or the Nordic Commonwealth?"

Yes.

I see... I understand why Jin asked so openly.

What do we do now?

What are you going to do? ...... Jin knows someone in the Nordic Federation, doesn't he?

Yes, I do.

"Yes, I do. Go to ...... and head north.

Are you sure?

Yeah.

Okay.

After such an exchange, the hurricane turned to the north.