Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 14: A Great Nation Seen in the Sky
“To think you’d try to break my spirit as soon as we got here…”
“Yeah. I’m just glad you’re feeling better.”
That was enough. If Lizred was feeling better, Vayne saw no reason to say anything more.
Even then, there were only six of them. One member of a Hero House who had just enrolled this year was still missing.
“Liz? What happened to her?”
“She was praying before I came out, so I think she’ll be here soon. Oh, Charlotte! I appreciate the help, but why are you still holding her hand?”
“Huh? Because it would be a problem if she got lost.”
“Ah! Are you treating me like your little sister again?”
“Before you complain about being treated like a little sister, remember that I’ve done this since you were tiny. You were still calling me ‘Big Sis Charlotte’ until a few years ago.”
“I’ve grown up, too!”
The two girls, two years apart in age, had been as close as real sisters since childhood. Lizred tried to act tough, but the fact that she did not truly resist made it obvious to everyone how attached she was to Charlotte.
Their lively exchange echoed across Windea.
“So, what do we do now?”
Kaito looked at Vayne.
“Windea has many paths with mechanisms no one built. They’re what people call natural fortresses created by nature. If we want to reach the temple, we’ll just have to deal with them as we go.”
“I understand. Let’s make sure we don’t do anything reckless.”
“Well, that’s how it is. There’ll be things we won’t know until we try. Sometimes you just have to charge in and see what happens.”
Kaito, speaking boldly, now held Airia in his hand.
Airia had chosen Kaito Leonaal as her wielder. Kaito had hoped she would from the moment she was found, though he had also believed that his father, the head of House Leonaal, ought to wield her.
His father, however, had insisted that Kaito should be the one. While Airia was being transported to House Leonaal’s territory, and even afterward, she had shone and reacted only when Kaito held her. No one could ignore that fact.
The door of the airship opened, and the last person appeared just after that.
With that, the seven descendants of the Seven Heroes were together for the first time, and their journey began.
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Lemuria was anchored about a hundred mel lower in elevation than where Vayne and the others were. It was also moored against the rock face on the exact opposite side from them, so they were nowhere near close enough to meet by chance.
Still, if both groups kept climbing, they would eventually be walking near one another. The terrain made that clear.
“I’m gonna take it easy here.”
This was part of their conversation before going outside.
Lemuria’s interior combined the warmth of a log cabin, with its rich brown wooden walls, and the atmosphere of a high-class inn. Aside from the areas around the furnace and other machinery, it was a comfortable place to stay.
The three of them were talking as they walked down the corridor toward the exit.
“By the way, Werlich… can you fight?”
“Yeah. I’m not as good as you, Ragna, but I’d say I’m better than your average adventurer.”
Dwarves were already known for their strength, and Werlich was particularly powerful even among them. Monsters were unlikely to attack while he was inside Lemuria, and even if one did, he should be able to escape easily, so there was little reason to worry.
They extended the gangway from an entrance large enough for even Ragna in his Bag Traveler guise to pass through, and he stepped outside first.
“You’re not planning on coming back every day, are you?”
“No. At first we’ll work fairly close to here, so I’ll come back. After that, we’ll be camping completely outdoors.”
“Then you’ll head home after that?”
“That’s only the plan. I need to finish during the long weekend because the academy starts again afterward. Even if it runs long, I want to keep it to another day or two.”
“How likely is that?”
“I’ll definitely manage it during the long weekend.”
Werlich did not understand why Ren sounded so certain, but he had a high opinion of Ren’s strength and resourcefulness.
“Then, I’m off.”
“Yeah! Be careful!”
Ren crossed the gangway as well and set foot on Windea. It was probably the first time he had visited a place this remote since the Baldor Mountains.
After taking several deep, refreshing breaths, he spoke.
“Shall we get going?”
“Yes. First, we need to decide where to start exploring.”
“If it’s okay, may I make a suggestion?”
“Hmm.”
Ragna was slightly surprised by Ren’s initiative, then immediately smiled.
Taking Ragna’s smile as an invitation to continue, Ren pulled a folded sheet of paper from inside his clothes and handed it over.
When Ragna opened it, he found several handwritten notes by Ren.
“It looks like a map of Windea. What are the red circles and numbers next to them?”
“It’s not a walkthrough ord– I mean, it’s the order I want to visit them.”
“Why are you able to plan the route in such detail?”
“I gathered information from the Adventurer’s Guild and researched the distribution of plants that grow naturally in Windea in books.”
It was a lie from beginning to end, but the order really did correspond to places likely to hold the most mana. Many special plant species around Windea grew large by absorbing mana from the air. Put simply, dense mana tended to linger around those plants.
“I see. So you think an item belonging to the Goddess of Water might be hidden in places like those?”
“That’s right.”
“In any case, this path is pretty much the same as what I had in mind.”
“So you had a route in mind too, Ragna-san?”
“Of course. When I said, ‘Where to start?’ earlier, I was actually a little undecided about where to start. But with this, let’s proceed based on your ideas.”
The two started walking. At times they used Windea’s updrafts and other movement methods unique to the region as they explored one location after another.
Several hours later, they found a small spring hidden amid dense vegetation between two rocks. It was barely large enough for small animals to bathe in and far too narrow for a person to enter.
“There’s something interesting here.”
At the bottom of the spring lay a crystal sphere the color of fresh midsummer greenery.
Ragna reached out and pulled it from the water without hesitation. Green wind moved like waves inside the crystal sphere, and holding it made him feel as though a breeze had sprung up around him.
“It’s a wind crystal. The fact that it was deliberately submerged in Windea’s water suggests a strong affinity between the two. It seems like there’s some connection between them.”
Ren’s goal was to collect these Wind Crystals, one of the troublesome steps on the way to the Ring of the Goddess of Water. There was no guarantee one would be at every place Ren had marked; only that they could be found somewhere among them. Several stops could easily end up being wasted trips.
“While we search for the Goddess of Water’s item, shall we collect Wind Crystals too?”
“Let’s do that. They’re like fossils formed when the mana drifting in the area crystallizes over many years. They have value as assets, but they aren’t sacred relics, so there’s no problem taking them with us. They may prove useful for something.”
Suddenly, the nearby trees swayed irregularly, and several pairs of shining eyes appeared in the shadows. The two of them realized that monsters had appeared.
“Ren?”
Without saying anything, Ren stepped forward in front of Ragna.
“It’s my job. Ragna-san, please look for something else.”
“Alright, I’ll do that.”
With the Mithril Magic Sword in hand, Ren took aim at the monsters that looked ready to attack.
By evening, they returned to Lemuria with the Wind Crystals they had collected. After bathing in the ship’s bathroom, they ate a late dinner in a small living space connected to the bridge.
“Hey.”
Werlich, who had stayed behind to watch Lemuria, spoke up.
“How was it today? The monsters around here are about D-rank, right? Anything happen?”
“Surprisingly, absolutely nothing happened.”
“Nothing at all worth mentioning.”
As they ate, the two of them said without hesitation.
“Well, you two are pretty amazing.”
That said, neither of them had ever let down his guard, and that was precisely why they could respond immediately whenever needed. After filling his stomach and recovering some energy, Ren rested for a while before speaking.
“I’ll rest in preparation for tomorrow.”
“I’ll do the same. I want to sleep as soon as I’ve written down today’s results. What about you, Werlich?”
“I’ll check Lemuria’s condition first.”
Werlich, who had remained on watch, was also busy managing Lemuria.
Ten-odd minutes later, Ren returned to his room, lay on his back on the bed, and looked out the nearby window.
There were no lights of civilization, yet the stars seemed closer than they did during nights in Erendil.
As Ren gazed at the fantastical view, he murmured, “I wonder how everyone’s doing.”
He thought about what Licia and Fiona were up to before going to sleep.
The first night passed like this.
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The second day passed in much the same way, and then came the evening of the third.
They had collected a sufficient number of Wind Crystals, so Ren was able to relax as well.
“We’re running out of places we’ve marked.”
As they talked, they chose a place to camp, pitched their tent, and lit a fire. Sitting on convenient rocks around the fire, they began preparing dinner.
When Ren looked to the side, he saw the crimson sky being swallowed by the darkness of night. They were already high on Windea; the clouds were not merely close, but sometimes drifted past at eye level.
The wind was strong, and streams springing from various places made a beautiful sight.
“The meat’s done. By the way, Ren, why have you been staring at the sky this whole time?”
“Sorry. I got lost in the scenery.”
“I understand your feelings. I often do the same.”
While savoring the grilled meat, Ragna showed a gentle expression.
“Travel is wonderful. It lets us see the unknown, but it also lets us forget everything and become one with nature.”
“Is that part of why you became a Bag Traveler?”
“Yes.”
Ragna pointed toward the sky. “Look over there.”
Far, far above them–so distant that Ren could not even imagine how far away it was–he strained his eyes until he finally made out a faint shadow.
It was very hard to discern, blending into the color of the sky.
“Did you see it?”
“I see something floating, but…”
It was hard to make out, so Ren narrowed his eyes. Only after he understood what the shadow was did he ask:
“What is that?”
Ragna rested his chin on his hand and gave a short answer:
“–It’s the Sky Continent.”
A faint shadow floated in the distant sky: a nation in the heavens. The Glacier Crossing involved in last year’s incident occurred in years when the flying Sky Continent reached the skies over the northern part of the Elfen Continent.
The Sky Continent had continued drifting since then and was now visible from Windea.