The day, after breakfast and all of that, we headed out of town. This time, with ora carriage in the lineup, as I used my new carriage to carry some of us. We still borrowed one of the folem carriages Mariina had, but one was now free for them to use. Our carriage was currently in the golem figuration, and Alice was learning to drive it. I was a bit afraid of her getting reckless with it, but she seemed to be doing fine.

  “Alright. We will be going now.” I said as I lifted Cailie into Gradius’ cockpit, a her to the gunner’s seat. I had a bit of difficulty helping her get the seat harness on her, as a five-point harness and mermaids doly mix.

  “Bye. Thank you for your help.” Cailie wished everyone, not that anyone would uand her. Well, Mariina’s attendant does, as she does have Language prehension (humanoid).

  “She thanked you for your help.” I told everyone. “I’ll be back this evening, so see you then.” I said, as I took my seat aook off in Gradius.

  After flying a bit slower at first, just so Cailie could get used to Gradius, I bsted off at mach 20 so we would get where we were going in a reasoime. Cailie actually did very well with Gradius. She said that she rode the guardian dragon of her wheurned 15, so she has flown before, and Gradius is fully sealed, so no wind or anything like that. Maybe this Nixie is the one Agunan knew about then. Well, I’ll go visit them with Agunan, before I’ll even sider taking Cailie to them.

  Our first stop will be HomeBase, just to get some of the stuff I think Cailie could use. Sure it might end up being useless, but I probably just sell it all if Cailie doesn’t . And only ohing costs any ‘other’ stuff, and the mana and miasma cost doesn’t really matter, so why not? … maybe I should rehat ‘other’ energy into something else. Maybe creation energy? If you have mana, miasma and ‘creation’, I think that makes more sense. And for me, the important part about the ‘creation’ energy is just that. It is necessary for creating high level items and materials.

  Anyway, I stopped Gradius above HomeBase a out. Luckily, I was able to include the surface above HomeBase to be part of the dungeon, so I could send a few dungeon moo keep it clear from any other monsters, and sihey are under my trol, they won’t attack us.

  The monsters I picked were some k treants. Just because having trees in a forest checks out in my opinion. And they don’t o be above k to beat whatever mohis forest has. Thank god for low level areas.

  It actually makes sense when you think about it. That this area only has weak monsters, I mean. The Chaos God Energy, or mana, miasma and ‘creation’ energy flow through the dimensional barrier to this world and break apart into those pos, right? So naturally, areas with more people living in them, and thus more mana being used, would need more Chaos God Energy. More Chaos God Energy means more mana, but also more miasma. And more miasma means more monsters. So areas away from poputioers would have less need for mana, thus less Chaos God Energy ing into that area, thus less miasma to breed monsters.

  “... is… is it safe… to go out?” Cailie asked.

  “Don’t worry. This entire area is under my trol, so the treants are safe. Give us a salute, please.” I requested from the monsters, through Dungeon Founder cause I ’t actually speak the treant nguage. Yes, they do have one, and it fall under Language prehensio). I don’t know why tree monsters are (beast) and not (monster), but hey, I don’t make the rules.

  The walking trees did as I asked, and quickly formed into two lines, so we would have a clear path to the dungeora is quite impressive, seeing the moving trees line-up like that and salute to you. I should use my pnt monsters more. I don’t give them enough love.

  “... they really… do as you say? … are you a tamer?”

  “A summoner, actually. This is just a part of my dungeon, and I use my duo trol the mohat are a part of it.” I told her.

  “... I didn’t know you could do that… I never heard… that the leader could do so…”

  “Maybe she ’t. I’ve heard it is only with the highest rank dungeons, and mine is an SS-rank. Actually, I also founded an S-rank dungeon, but I’ve left it to my dungeon master to manage.” I told her a mix of both lies and truths. “Let’s just get what we came for, so we keep going.”

  As I said that, I executed the order I set in my ‘shopping cart’ and got all of the items made.

  Clothes, a few magic items, as well as a wheelchair appeared before us. I even added a roof maginy pack to the list, just so Cailie could carry her new clothes. That maginy pack is the only thing that costs ‘creation’ energy by the way.

  “Here. You try them on.” I told Cailie.

  Her current clothing was something she borrowed from Alice, as they were close in size, but that clothing could not take water very well, so it was time for her to ge. Her inal rags, which just covered the most critical area, were sohat even Tahlia could no longer repair them. They were just clothing scraps.

  “... I really… have all of this?”

  “I made it for you, so yes. I’d actually have more trouble if you didn’t take it, because then I’d have to figure out how to sell it. And if you feel bad about it, you pay me back ter, when you establish yourself.” I told Cailie.

  “... does that mean… that I’ll get to see you again..?”

  “Yeah. Why not? I’m going to be traveling around the world anyway, so it won’t be a big deal to e visit.” I told the girl. “I’ll let you ge in peace. Just call if you need anything else.”

  “That dress looks good on you.” I plimented Cailie. She was in a simple dress, made from roof cloth. It was red in color, and it had a nice trast with her bd dark green hair, as well as her dark green tail.

  “t-thank… you…”

  “So, are you ready to go?”

  “... I picked up… everything you gave me… but the chair…” Cailie muttered her answer. “... are you sure… I have … this magic bag?”

  “Yes, of course. I’ll take the wheelchair into my Ste. You won’t , if you find a good pce, so I’ll keep it for myself, if that happens.” I kind of khat ossibility, but holy, you never know when you need a wheelchair, so it is good to have one. I should also make a bed with wheels, like the ohere are in ambunces and hospitals. Well, ter.

  I summoned another copy of Gradius and helped Cailie into it. Then I strapped us both in aook off. destination, the Hero’s try.

  … my first visit there. Kind of exg. Though this is not how I thought my first visit there would be. But hey, you ’t predict the future.

  “...wow… I didn’t expect that.” I admitted aloud when I saw the pce from the sky.

  The Hero’s try was just one massive city, on a rge isnd in the middle of either a huge ke, or maybe an inhe city was full of different waterways and stuff like that, so even someone like Cailie could easily swim though the city.

  It had three bridges ing from the isnd, each going into the dire of the kingdoms around the Hero’s try. And of course, the bridges were guarded, so for me to get in with Cailie, who has no identifying papers, might be difficult. But we are flying, so who really cares? I just have to find a quiet pce, then I get out and jump from Gradius, while I carry Cailie. And I always summon a spellcaster moo make us invisible.

  The city itself was quite something. The entire yout of the ey had been built in a way where the streets drew a city sized magic circle on the ground. It had four sub-circles inside of it, each with a major building of the city. The middle sub-circle was a bit smaller thaher three around it, but I still really liked the geometric shape, so well doo whoever desighe city in this way. And bonus points if the magic circle actually does something.

  Spoilerspan>

  A basic drawing to hopefully give you an idea of my vision.

  [colpse]

  One was a tall tower made from some sort of stohink. It was mainly dark brown in color. It had two magic circles floating in the air around it, so I assume it has to be the Sage’s tower.

  The sed eye-catg building was the huge building made from white stone. With a huge statue, around 50 meters tall, in front of it, it wasn’t too difficult for me to guess what that building was. After all, I’d met the dy the statue depicted. That has to be the main church, and the huge statue is depig the Goddess.

  The third was what I think is the adventurer’s guild’s head office. At least judging by the people ing and going. Out of the three big buildings, it was the only one made mostly from wood.

  Then there was the st building with a sub-magic circle around it. A castle, as in a full on fortified castle. It was at the very ter of the isnd, making it look even more like a castle. Maybe it was a castle once upon a time, but now… well, I’m not sure what it is. Judging by the armed people ing and going, I think it might be some sort of pce where adventurer’s go, so maybe it is a dungeorance or something?

  Also, based on my quick observation, this city has a much higher pertage of non-human humanoids. Ich, it was basically just humans. Sawyer city is also mostly humans, though I did spot some beastfolk there, and of course the dwarf couple lived there. But still, they were defihe minority. But here, it seems like around 60% of people are races that aren’t human, maybe more.

  “... are they… ing towards us?” I questioned myself, as I saw a small squad of winged beastfolk flying tradius. They weren’t on a crash course or anything, but they were clearly ing towards us. Did they spot us? Unlike my B.E.S. monsters, I don’t have invisibility upgrades on my Gradius, so it isn’t impossible to spot or anything. I just assumed no one ever would, outside of take-offs and ndings. And we are still about 2 kilometers in the air, so there should be no way someone could have spotted us, right? … well, I might be able to, so I guess some others might be able to as well. And I guess in theory it is possible that they have some sort of radar. Just because it isn’t on, doesn’t mean it does.

  … should I fly away? Or just stay here and make tact? I definitely shouldn’t summon anything and fight them. Even I know that much.

  … Let’s just make tad hope for the best. If something bad happens, I’ll just close the opy and bst off towards Ruiso kingdom. Good luck chasing us at mach 20 speeds.

  “Sorry Cailie. arently ran into some trouble.”

  “.. I’m … sorry… I didn’t … want to cause you any.” She quickly stammered out an apology, probably not even knowing what our problem actually was.

  “No. This trouble was caused by me, so you don’t have to apologize.” I told her, to hopefully keep her calm. “ you let me take care of this?”

  “y-yes…”

  I made sure Gradius was floating still, before I unbuckled my harness, opehe opy and stood up. … maybe I shouldn’t have stayed seated, but let’s see how this goes.

  “Hello?” I called out to the winged beastfolk, as they approached.

  They seemed to flinch a bit because I called out to them first, but one of them approached my ship and spoke up.

  “Who are you and what are you doing here? We didn’t get as about airships ing in today.” The guard asked me.

  “I apologize for the unannounced visit.” I began. “My name is Brian Wood, an honorary baron of Ruiso Kingdom. I am here as I have business with the adventurer’s guild’s main office.” I told them.

  After taking a sed to process what I just said, the guard respoo me.

  “And you think I’d believe that an honorary baron has a personal airship?”

  “Well I do, so yes. I do have both my adventurer’s guild card, as well as my noble’s papers, if you’d like to see them.” I told them.

  “I shall take a look at them.” Anuard stepped… floated forward and told me, so I gave him both.

  After taking a good close look at each, he hahem back.

  “They are real.” He told the squad. “Also, I think he is the one who saved a city frons.” He added in a slightly more quiet voice, but I still heard him. He then floated back to Gradius and handed my papers bae.

  “Thank you. And yes, I did in fact py with a dragon near Sawyer city a few weeks ago.”

  “I see that you are who you say you are. May I ask what is the exact reason for your visit, and what is the identity of your passenger?” The first winged guard asked.

  “She is actually why I’m here. This is Cailie from the Nixie merfolk .” I introduced her to the guards. “For private reasons, she was separated from her d I was hoping to get some identifying papers for her. I was reeo e here by Lady Mariina, a sage didate, as this area is better equipped to handle merfolk.” I quickly expined, dropping the name and title of Mariina for a bit of extra iation power.

  “... alright. We are taking you down to the city. your airship nd in a small space?” The first guard asked.

  “Sir, are you sure?” I heard one of the others ask the person in charge, but I just ighat part.

  “As long as it is rge enough for the ship, it d there. And I also jump if necessary.” I told the … let’s just call him the captain.

  “That won’t be necessary. Just follow us, please. And make sure you stay close to me.” The captain said, as he turo guide us down to the ground.

  I followed him at slow speed with the opy open. He showed me to what I only assume is some sort of airship parking bay, but it is clear it was made fer ships than my Gradius. But that isn’t a problem, as parking a smaller ship in a rge spot is quite simple. There were a total of ten spots in the parking area, out of which four had a big airship ihey looked a lot like boats with wings and something akin to propeller engines you see on some pnes. Maybe they never figured out how to make turbofan engines, or maybe they just aren't that effit, so the propeller style engines are the ones in use.

  On the ground, I helped Cailie out of Gradius and took the wheelchair out of my Ste for her. After that, I unsummoned Gradius and got some looks from both the winged beastfolk as well as some of the ground staff at the nding grounds. At least a few of them look disappoihat the ship disappeared, almost like they were just waiting to sink their teeth into it. Sorry, but you are not going to reverse engineer my Gradius that easily. I'll at least do that myself first. ... okay, I probably won't, but I could.

  “Do you wish us to get you a carriage?” The winged beastfolk captain asked.

  “No. We walk. It isn’t that far to the guild, right? An escort would be hough.” I answered.

  “Yes. I shall arrange one for you. Please wait here for a bit.” After the captain said that, he sent one of his subordinates off.

  “So, Cailie. How you feeling?”

  “... a big city… is a bit scary. But I think… I deal with it.”

  “Well, I guess ing from the ‘tryside’ to a city is always a bit of a shock. Just tell me if you get overwhelmed. I’ll try to help if that happens.”

  “... thanks…”

  nro_8