Chapter 336

(336)

The Nibelungen had been extensively modified: its large, flat-bottomed hull was now completely leveled and equipped with eight steel legs to facilitate landing on land. Furthermore, it had four ‘propellers’ and a ‘mana engine,’ making it an unconventional vessel.

Though lacking a mast, an anchor, or oars, it had retained many ship-like features. Standing on the first deck, the refreshing sea breeze still blew in our faces, and the long bowspirit at the prow gave us the sensation that we could sail to the ends of the earth. At night, the sky remained dotted with a brilliant cascade of stars, just as it would on a regular ship.

I spent a few weeks sharing quarters with Cariosa aboard the Tempesta, enjoying the life at sea.

Of course, the flying ship Nibelungen was not suitable for events like fishing tournaments; however, it was still a pleasure to stand with Jeilliris at the bow and enjoy the wind brushing against our faces.

“Hahaha!”

Jeilliris was a mage who could fly freely through the skies without relying on a flying ship or a wyvern, but apparently, this was the first time she’d flown without expending a single ounce of mana.

“Valencius, isn’t this enjoyable?”

Standing at the prow, her smile never wavered.

“Look at this. My lord.”

She nimbly climbed atop the rail at the bow of the ship.

Ssshh!

As her silver-white hair flew in the wind, her eyes gleamed with excitement.

I immediately panicked and tried to stop her.

“Your Majesty! We’re in the sky!”

“What is there to fear when I am the one in the sky?”

She crossed over the railing and took steady steps toward the bowspirit, which stretched over 150 meters, thick enough that it would take eight men holding hands to encircle it.

Thus, Jeilliris walking along it didn’t evoke the precariousness of tightrope walking. Moreover, she was a mage capable of flying; if her footing slipped, she could instantly take to the air once more.

Even knowing this, I couldn’t help but try to stop her.

“Your Majesty!”

I cried out frantically, and Marcus, who was in the helm, rushed over, leaning on his prosthetic leg.

“If you want to die, kindly do so quietly without causing trouble—what? Your Majesty?!”

I asked Jeilliris as I stared at her back.

“Lord Duke, are there many soldiers or apprentices who dare to perform such reckless stunts?”

Marcus let out a sigh.

“Bold men always seek to test their courage. If someone is caught doing this while flying, they are usually tied with ropes and hung under the ship as a punitive measure… though…”

He froze mid-sentence because Jeilliris had stepped all the way to the end of the bowspirit, leaped into the air, plummeted freely to some distance below, and then soared back up beside the ship once again.

“Indeed, the sky is the best. Hmm? Lord Duke, did you come out here to feel the wind too?”

With a cheerful laugh, she glanced back.

Marcus chose his words carefully.

“Yes, Your Majesty. The weather today is excellent!”

He judged that maintaining silence and preserving his career path would be more beneficial.

I thought it was a reasonable conclusion.

***

Silentalouon was a city relatively close to the north, and even with the flying ship, it took quite a while to reach the southernmost port of the Grand Admiral.

The Nibelungen, unlike Wyverns, required no rest and could fly overnight, yet it still took this long.

I stood with Lady Trentia and Jeilliris at the prow, observing the landscape below.

The tall coniferous trees and jagged mountains that were once prevalent had been replaced with endless plains dotted with relatively small deciduous forests. In the distance, new villages appeared only to disappear again behind us, and clouds floated within arm’s reach. Occasionally, large rocks or trees rose up randomly from sprawling wheat fields.

“Truly magnificent.”

“Indeed.”

The sunrises and sunsets viewed from the flying vessel were splendid beyond words. As the sun bathed the sky with its light, then sank to kiss the meadows below, Jeilliris’s white hair was painted red by the setting sun.

She stood watching, her piercing golden eyes gradually changing from red to yellow, and finally a pale, ghostly blue. The transformation was enchanting.

I stood silently by her side, keeping watch without saying a word.

Would Jeilliris remain? She turned her curious gaze to me, nodded with apparent satisfaction, returned to the cabin, and handed me a cup of fine wine.

“Please come.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

This routine occurred for several days until Marcus made a sudden announcement that startled us all.

“We need to land temporarily for a check-up.”

“What kind of absurd statement is that?”

“I’ve never flown continuously for so long, so I’m unsure how the hull has held up. Let’s conduct an inspection before continuing.”

“How long will the inspection take?”

“No less than a day, possibly up to four. I’ll handle the repairs while you and His Highness pass the time in a nearby village.”

Four days was ample time to rest.

I nodded, and Marcus landed the Nibelungen in a nearby open field amidst an endless stretch of wheat fields, though it took a while to find a suitable open space.

“Lord Trentia. Can we just stomp it down and ask for forgiveness?”

“Lord Duke. This is in front of His Majesty. Watch your words.”

“Wouldn’t doubling the apology suffice? I’ve been hearing strange noises from the propellers since earlier.”

“Your Majesty!”

Fortunately, we managed to land safely.

I disembarked from Nibelungen with Lady Trentia and Jeilliris.

As soon as their feet touched the ground, Lady Trentia swayed.

“Whoa!”

I also experienced quite a bit of dizziness.

“Lady. Please be careful. It appears to be land seasickness.”

This was a common symptom among seasoned sailors. After sailing too long, their bodies adapt to the swaying, so they experience dizziness on solid ground.

Cariosa explained this to us.

“This is ridiculous.”

Jeilliris raised an eyebrow at the absurdity of it all.

After a short while, Lady Trentia and I finally regained our composure enough to walk with the dignity expected of a noble and Platinum Knight respectively.

“To show such unbecoming behavior before His Highness, I apologize deeply.”

“I too have embarrassed myself before His Majesty. Who am I to lecture anyone?”

I pointed toward a village we had seen from above.

“His Majesty. If we walk about 4 kilometers in that direction, there will be a village. Judging by its size, it has around 2,000 residents. How does spending some time there sound?”

Jeilliris gave a simple nod.

“I hadn’t expected to visit such a village for inspection.”

After about 20 minutes of walking, Lady Trentia frowned and called for me.

“Highness. There’s smoke.”

Thick black smoke billowed up from the direction of the village.

“Ah! Help us!”

Screams could be heard carried by the wind.

Moments later, Lady Trentia donned her helmet, Jeilliris ascended into the sky, and I leapt forward, my heels striking the ground sharply.

***

The village had turned into a slaughterhouse.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

“Burn them all and cleanse the place!”

“These monstrous beings tried to kill us all!”

The open space where festivals were usually held now held pyres. Four of them already burned fiercely.

The once peaceful villagers now had bloodshot eyes, wielding axes and clubs.

“Search further!”

“Drag them out!”

The elder, who should have been the most level-headed, was the first to lose his composure, flailing his staff wildly.

The fifth pyre held a boy who looked no older than ten.

“Mom!”

A woman who appeared to be the boy’s mother knelt pleading at the elder’s feet while the man who seemed to be the boy’s father rolled on the ground after being beaten.

Jeilliris watched the entire scene unfold from above, and I pushed through the villagers to reach the center.

“What’s the commotion here?”

I shouted loudly, and all heads turned toward me.

“Who are you?”

“Haven’t you figured it out? He’s a noble.”

“But not our lord, is he?”

A strange murmur spread through the crowd, and gradually they began to bow.

In the presence of superior individuals like Seberik and Matheos, I might be ordinary, but compared to commoners, I stood towering over most by more than a head. Absorbing a variety of artifacts had only made me stronger, so it was natural that these villagers felt a mysterious awe radiating from me without me even activating my mana.

The village elder finally composed himself to ask, “Who are you, my lord?”

I gestured to Lady Trentia for a formal introduction.

BOOM!

With a heavy stomp, she drew everyone’s attention and proclaimed, “This is His Highness, the Duke of the Empire, counselor to His Majesty the Emperor, a legitimate and righteous constable, the head of the guild of various workshops, who once hunted the calamity during the capital’s fall… Duke Valencius!”

At the mention of Valencius, the villagers’ faces drained of respect, replaced instead by shock and fear.

“Lord Valencius?”

“Isn’t he the bandit?”

“The one who kidnapped saints, defiled high nobles, and slaughtered 400,000 eastern continent immigrants…”

There were even those who collapsed, foaming at the mouth. The rumors had reached even this remote village.

I gave a bitter smile and turned to the elder.

“Yes, elder, I’m Duke Valencius. What is happening here?”

The elder quivered as he began speaking.

“We were following Lord Baron’s directive to hunt out infiltrators.”

“Is this boy an infiltrator?”

At my question, the woman who appeared to be the boy’s mother threw herself at my feet.

Her face was stained with tears, snot, and blood, but her eyes shone brightly with maternal love.

“No, my lord! This child is innocent!”

Both the elder and villagers began to point accusing fingers and hurl inflammatory insults.

“That, that, that!”

“Lord, don’t listen to her! The old ones are luring our children.”

“Witch, giving birth to such a monstrous child…”

I shouted above the clamor.

“Silence!”

The villagers reluctantly fell quiet.

I motioned to Lady Trentia, who pulled a device resembling a pocket watch from her belt—a discrimination magic tool made by Sererassie. It used Az’s crystals to maximize range and precision while reducing size. It detected if there were infiltrators within a 300m radius and indicated how many and their locations with streaks.

Approaching the boy, Lady Trentia infused the device with mana.

“The Mages of the Ivory Tower have crafted this magic tool; it discriminates infiltrators. I’ll verify it personally.”

Ding, ding, ding, ding…

The room was filled with tense tones as the device glowed faintly blue.

Glup.

The crowd swallowed their fear, the boy’s parents gritted their teeth.

Ping!

Suddenly, the device lit up with a red glow. The fiery needle unerringly pointed at the boy.

Lady Trentia looked back at me, and through her masked expression, her disbelief was clear.

The boy truly was an infiltrator?

“Sure enough, as the child was an infiltrator-.”

The elder stepped forward with rage-filled shouts.

At that moment, the tool issued an additional identification sound.

Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!

Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!

Dozens of red needles now spun inside the glass dome of the device.

“…”

A heavy silence descended.

Two possibilities existed.

Either the tool Sererassie dedicatedly crafted had malfunctioned or the entire village had become a nest of infiltrators.

“Haha, we weren’t aware such a device existed.”

The elder’s tone faltered.

Crack! Pop!

His eyes transformed into insect-like compound eyes, and dozens of grotesque insect legs sprouted from his back.

Crack! Pop!

Looking around, I realized the villagers were all undergoing a similar mutation. The bound boy, his screaming parents, and even some who had earlier mocked them now giggled maliciously, revealing spider-like tongues.

“Hih hihi!”

“We’ve been caught!”

“Kya hahaha!”

It seemed this farce had happened more than once.

They must have preyed on visiting travelers, mercenaries, and wandering monks from other regions.

Whoosh!

I ignited flames and smiled back at them.

“So, I had no idea there were monsters like you here.”

Sensing the resonance, the elder’s smile faded.