By the next day, word had already spread through the town that the suspect had been taken away by the Inquisitors.
“From what I’ve heard from the townsfolk, it seems they had their evidence meticulously prepared in advance. By the time she was brought to trial, her heresy was almost certainly a foregone conclusion.”
“And if someone is declared a heretic… what happens then?”
“At best, life imprisonment. At worst… execution.”
“That’s an awfully severe sentence.”
“Yeah, it’s harsh.”
As the name suggests, the so-called Divine Ship is essentially regarded as a god by the island’s people. Attempting to replicate it is considered the ultimate act of blasphemy—so there’s no escaping the death penalty.
No matter what, I had no intention of abandoning her. I wanted to respect the island’s religion—but that ship had originally been built by me in my previous life. There was no way I could allow Dana to lose her life because of it.
“So, that means… I’m going to go save boobies—uh, I mean Dana herself.”
『That has to be the worst slip of the tongue in history.』
The Inquisition was located fairly close to the Grand Temple.
It was a heavily fortified-looking building, and suspects brought in for heresy were kept there under guard until their trial.
“So… a frontal assault, huh?”
“No, you guys should stay here. No need to stir up trouble unnecessarily.”
Using stealth magic, I approached the building. There were a few security measures along the way, but I bypassed them effortlessly. Soon, I spotted Dana confined in a small room behind iron bars.
“Hey, Oneechan, are you okay?”
“Eh? Huh!? Wha—mm-mmph!”
She tried to scream, but I covered her mouth.
“H-how did you… get in here? The place is heavily guarded, and this room is completely sealed…”
“Ah, don’t worry about the details. More importantly, let’s get out of here.”
“Get out of here? What are you talking about? That’s impossible!”
Dana, looking slightly worn after just one night, dismissed my suggestion outright.
“It’s not impossible. It’s actually pretty easy to take Oneechan out of here. By the way… that thing when we first met—that was supposed to fly, right?”
“…Yes. I knew it was wrong of course. But I was trying to recreate the Divine Ship.”
She gave a self-deprecating smile.
“I’ve always loved making magical devices… And when an idea pops into my head, I just can’t rest until I see it take shape. When I saw the Divine Ship enshrined in the Grand Temple, suddenly—somehow—the method for building a ship that could fly came to me. …And I couldn’t stop it from coming.”
So she had broken a taboo and dared to construct a magical airship.
“I always knew the Inquisitors might find out eventually. That’s why it was a race against time. If I had finished the flying ship in time, I could have left this island… As you can see, I didn’t make it. But I was close.”
She had actually gotten the ship to the point where it could fly.
If it had succeeded, she would have moved on to the final stage -piloting it herself. Unfortunately, no matter how many times she tried, it kept crashing midway and suffering catastrophic damage.
“So that’s why you were screaming so much.”
“I… I suppose I’ve shown you a rather unbecoming side of me.”
“But I get how you feel, really, I do.”
“…“
‘And here she is giving you that look like, “What could a baby possibly understand?”’
When I first tried building a magical airship, I failed countless times too.
There were plenty of moments when I almost gave up entirely.
“Anyway, I really hope you finish your ship on your own, big sis. From what I saw, you were honestly just one step away,” I said.
“…“
『She’s giving you that “What could a baby possibly know?” look.』
I activated my teleportation magic.
“Alright, we’re getting out of here!”
“Huh?”
In an instant, our surroundings shifted, and we were outside the Inquisition building.
“Mm… we’re back.”
“Looks like you rescued her safely.”
We regrouped with Fana and the others. I had already left a marker near them as the destination for teleportation.
“C-could it really be… outside the Inquisition…? W-what kind of magic was that just now…?”
“Told you. Just like I said, it’s pretty easy.”
Teleportation magic really is unbelievably convenient.
“…I mean, I did make it outside… but… how am I supposed to live now? There’s nowhere to hide on this island. If I stay in town, the Inquisitors will find me for sure. And outside the town… it’s not an environment I could survive in.”
“Ah, when I said ‘outside’ earlier, I didn’t mean this building—or even the town.”
“Huh?”
“I meant the whole island.”
“W-wait… leave the island? Are you serious…?”
“Yeah. Look up.”
“Up…? There’s nothing there…”
“Deactivate stealth mode.”
“Wha—!?”
Dana looked up as I instructed her—and then she froze in disbelief.
Hovering above us was a massive ship.
“The D-divine Ship!? N-no… the design is a little different… W-what is this…!?”
I told the astonished Dana.
“This is the ship we used to get here—the Seno Grande Kai.”
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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