༺ City of Adventurers ༻
The huge eyes that were roaming the battlefield had disappeared before I knew it.
I considered pursuing it, but there was no great significance in chasing after a warlock that could teleport away at any mont. Besides, I had a strong intuition that the fleeing undead mob wouldn’t lead to my real goal.
What was important now was the situation in the city and the condition of the students.
Having been hit by artillery several tis already, I was naturally anxious. When I looked up at the sky, just as I had feared, the airship was belching black smoke and gradually falling from the sky.
“Damn it….”
I furrowed my brows deeply.
Why does that stupid machine always crash when I’m aboard? It feels like it’s under so sort of curse.
After letting out a deep sigh, I ran toward the falling airship.
Fortunately, the airship was not completely uncontrollable. Despite spewing black smoke, it was stably and slowly reducing its speed, which seed to be an attempt at an ergency landing.
I guess I don’t have to worry about it exploding upon impact.
The landing site of the airship was right in front of the city gate. There didn’t seem to be any wide spaces inside the city for it to land, so this seed like the only logical choice.
As I approached the city, the first to greet were the students.
Titania spotted and ran straight toward .
“Instructor Eon!”
Behind her, the other students were following in a line.
With a flushed expression, Titania spread her arms wide and began to recount what she had seen.
“It was truly amazing! Just… wow! When you jumped down, the ground split apart! With one punch, all the undead were swept away! I thought I was watching a hero from a legend!”
At Titania’s words, the students of Opal Black nodded in agreent.
Schultz spoke with a face unable to contain his admiration.
“I knew you were strong, instructor, but I never thought you would be this powerful. Have you reached the legendary Master Class that I’ve only heard about?”
The awkwardness of the past few weeks had disappeared; the students’ faces were filled with excitent.
Looking at their eyes, I imdiately realized the reason.
It was their awe of .
I could understand the students who didn’t know who I was showing such a look, but Elizabeth, who already knew my identity, and Marian, who likely knew as well, had similar expressions.
Perhaps they felt the difference between hearing about sothing and seeing it in person.
Not particularly fond of the atmosphere, I lightly shook my head and spoke.
“That’s not what’s important right now. Are there any other injured?”
“Everyone’s okay! Thanks to your great defense, fortunately, no one was hurt. The airship seems to be a bit damaged though…”
While I was talking with the students, soone jumped out of the airship and ran toward us.
It was Instructor Lirya.
“Instructor Graham!”
“…Instructor Lirya?”
Instructor Lirya approached with a pale complexion. Then she imdiately started checking all over my body.
“Are you okay? Any injuries… any wounds!? I, I should get so… no, the city is right next door, we should call a doctor-“
“Instructor Lirya, calm down. I’m okay.”
I rolled up my sleeve to show her my perfectly fine arm.
There were so old scars, but they were all old injuries, and even if I had been hurt, they would have healed by now. My healing speed was already beyond human.
After checking my condition, Instructor Lirya’s eyes began to fill with tears, previously filled with worry. Then, she shouted as if she was angry.
“I, I was so worried! How can you just leave a ssage like that and jump from such a height! I thought sothing really happened to you… I was so anxious watching from above!”
“……”
I could barely rember the last ti soone worried about in battle. It was almost the first ti since Charlotte left. So, Instructor Lirya’s reaction felt very strange and sowhat perplexing.
Recalling the tis with Charlotte, it seed like my words, arguing that there was no danger or questioning why she was worried, only provoked her anger. It was best to just apologize in these situations.
After a mont of thought, I opened my mouth with a soft voice.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to worry you, Instructor Lirya.”
“…Sob!”
She finally burst into tears at my response.
Well, that’s not the reaction I was expecting.
Unsure of how to respond, I just stood still. Instructor Lirya, wiping her tears and her eyes turning red, spoke to .
“You won’t engage in such dangerous actions again, will you?”
“……”
I closed my mouth, unable to say anything.
At that ti, there was no other way but for to step in, and even if ti could be turned back, I would make the sa choice. So, I didn’t want to lie and chose to remain silent instead.
Reading my response from that silence, Instructor Lirya showed a sad expression.
“I am truly grateful for your help, Instructor Graham, but I don’t want to see you getting hurt. If the sa thing happens again, please rember that there are people who worry about you.”
“…I understand.”
I could promise her that much.
The atmosphere around us, including the students, grew solemn at Instructor Lirya’s words.
When the awkward silence filled the surroundings, another person descended from the airship at a good timing.
It was Doctor Brown, covered in oil and soot.
He appeared, dusting off the dust from his clothes, which were so dirty that they could no longer be called white.
“Oh my! Our hero has returned. Are you alright?”
“I am fine, but how is the airship? Did the engine break down again?”
“No way! It’s designed with a much greater emphasis on durability than before. It won’t break down that easily!”
I frowned slightly.
“But it did fall, didn’t it?”
“…Ahem! It would be stranger if it were fine after taking such a bombardnt multiple tis! The engine is safe, but the propulsion system took a direct hit. It can probably ascend and descend, but for a while, it will be at the rcy of an expensive hot-air balloon.”
I understood that to an it could start but couldn’t move forward.
“Does it need to be repaired?”
“Indeed. Fortunately, the necessary materials are in the airship, but the problem is ti. Even I can’t fix it in a day. Especially if it is left outside the walls like this and gets attacked again, it could be a big problem.”
“Then we need to get into the city.”
In the uncertain situation where we didn’t know when the undead might attack again, we couldn’t leave nearly 200 students outside the city walls.
Fortunately, it seed there wouldn’t be a big problem getting into the city. The city’s inhabitants would have seen fighting, and while waiting in front of the main gate, they were already preparing to open the city gates and welco us.
In the city, they were busy opening the city gates and lowering the drawbridge.
If we waited a little, soone would soon co to et us.
“Ahem, ahem.”
At that mont, Doctor Brown gave a subtle hint. It seed he wanted to co closer.
As I approached Doctor Brown, he firmly grabbed my shoulder and cautiously led away from the students. There, he began to speak softly.
“Take good care of that young lady. The other instructors wanted to turn the ship around right away, but she resisted because she said they couldn’t abandon you if you’re with your students.”
“You an Instructor Lirya when you say ‘young lady’?”
“Yes. Well, she certainly doesn’t look like a ‘young lady’… But that’s not the point. You two are sowhat close, aren’t you? Don’t get too upset and treat her well.”
Doctor Brown seed to be seriously misunderstanding.
I shook my head to correct his misunderstanding.
“You seem to be mistaken, Instructor Lirya and I don’t have any particular relationship.”
“Eh? You’re not?”
“Yes. We have a simple professional relationship.”
At my answer, Doctor Brown scratched his chin and said grumpily,
“It didn’t seem that way… Well, if you say so, it must be so. Anyway, the way that young lady thinks about you is unusual, as far as I can see. She insisted we have to land this ship anyway, and even said she would forcibly turn the ship around to pick you up if necessary.”
“Did that happen?”
“Yes, that’s what happened.”
Doctor Brown set his face in a serious expression.
“That young lady, contrary to her appearance, definitely seems to be an adult. The kids, well, they’re still young, so you must just seem impressive to them. But that young lady, she didn’t just care about your well-being, did she? That’s probably because she knows the weight of war.”
“Hmm….”
“It’s an old man’s unnecessary ddling, but think deeply about it. A woman like her, who is so patient, is rare. When I was young, I t Sonia, who had exactly that kind of character. There weren’t many people who would put up with my eccentricity, but I regret not treating her better before she left. I still regret it…”
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
“Hehe, I’m telling you not to have regrets like , aren’t I?”
Despite what he was saying, his face was full of the playful mischief characteristic of eccentric old n.
I sighed and shook my head reluctantly as I moved away from Doctor Brown.
In the anti, the city gates had opened, and a guide had co out from inside to et us.
The situation in Shubaltsheim, as we entered, was…
Much, much more serious than I had thought.
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