Volume 10, Chapter 15 – An Ominous Premonition

“I didn’t expect the emperor’s convoy to be this luxurious.”

Having parked the carriage nearby, Yisi’s group stood on the side of the street, watching the convoy pass through the streets of Wilfred City. Around them were a large number of Norta Empire residents, kneeling on the ground and bowing toward the center of the road.

According to imperial law, all people living in the Norta Empire must kneel and bow when they see the king. This “all people living in the Norta Empire” included travelers, merchants, and adventurers from foreign countries. If anyone violated this, they would be killed on the spot by the guards as someone attempting to harm the emperor. However, Yisi, as a Cardinal of the Ymir Church, was the type who didn’t need to kneel to the emperor. Only when meeting the emperor up close would she need to bow her head. Not being allowed to raise one’s head to look at the king was a rule in almost every human kingdom, for the purpose of preventing assassins.

As for why Yisi managed to arrive in Wilfred City before Adonis, it was because she had cheated.

With no more worries about being blocked by Horned Eagle Knights, Yisi changed her original plan of stopping and waiting for Adonis’s convoy to arrive in Wilfred first. Instead, she decided to reach Wilfred City before Adonis. But even though the carriage was pulled by a six-legged horse with excellent stamina and burst power, it was hard to compare with the emperor’s carriage. Thus, to overtake Adonis, Yisi simply cast magic like [Acceleration] and [Stamina Bestowal] on the six-legged horse, making it go so fast it seemed like it was about to fly, pulling the carriage with it. Fortunately, before they departed, Atwood had deemed Yisi’s carriage not safe enough and had it reinforced, otherwise, it was really doubtful whether the carriage would have fallen apart from that level of rattling.

With a look of disagreement, Edith rubbed her shoulder and said in a low voice.

“Only you and Laxy can still stand there and talk as if nothing happened.”

“Guu, this one too… Re-Refina, was it? I’m sorry.”

Awkwardly letting go of Refina’s skirt, which she had crumpled, Tina lowered her head, letting her white bonnet hide her blushing face.

“It’s alright, Miss Demon Lord. I also felt like my soul was about to fly out of my body…”

Refina said, troubled, as she supported herself on Edith’s shoulder, her knees also slightly weak. It was clear she hadn’t recovered from the roller-coaster-like experience.

“That was more thrilling than riding on Mr. Wyvern,” Mary patted her chest, still shaken. After calming down, she habitually looked around. “There are so many people here, and the air smells salty. Master, don’t we need to kneel down with them?”

“As a Cardinal of the Ymir Church, of course I don’t need to kneel to the monarch of another country. At least on the surface, the Ymir Church and the Norta Empire have no conflicts. Mary is my dependent, so naturally, you don’t need to kneel either.”

“But I am Master’s slave…”

“Not a slave, but a daughter.”

“Eh? Ehhhh? D-d-d-daughter!?”

“Just kidding.”

Mary’s panicked look made Yisi correct herself—she had let it slip by accident. The former quickly patted her chest in small motions.

“You scared me… Master, you’re so mean. I’m actually a year older than you, Master.”

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“Then I’ll have to call you ‘Big Sister Mary’ from now on.”

As if comparing their heights, Mary raised her gaze, looked at the top of Yisi’s head, and then her expression gradually became troubled.

“But Master doesn’t feel like a little sister at all… Ah, that’s right, Tiffany!”

Finally realizing what was missing from her side, Mary turned around in panic to search, but she couldn’t see Tiffany’s shadow. Subconsciously, Mary jumped onto the carriage’s driver’s seat and lifted the curtain, only to see a puddle of light green liquid in the corner of the carriage.

As if responding to Mary, the green liquid bubbled while making a gurgling sound.

“…Gurgle gurgle gurgle.”

“Ti-Tiffany? What’s wrong with you!”

“Car-sick.”

Despite having no mouth, Tiffany could still make a sound.

Hmm… It seems I should use less enhancement magic on the horse next time. Feeling a weight on her shoulder, Yisi secretly stuck out her tongue. Just like Tiffany, Camilla was also suffering from motion sickness, with more than half of her body hanging on Yisi. Although Yisi felt that this was just Camilla pretending—Camilla’s status bar didn’t show the [Dizziness] status like Tiffany’s—since Camilla said she felt unwell, Yisi, as her big sister, let Camilla act spoiled. Saying this might sound perverted and **-ish, but the truth was, she could never get tired of the fragrance from Camilla.

“Sniff sniff… Onee-sama’s scent… it has the sweet smell of lilac.”

Although it was very quiet, since it was right by her ear, Yisi still heard Camilla’s low murmur.

Hmm… it seems I’m the one being sniffed.

As a lady, even if the one doing it was Camilla, being sniffed like this was embarrassing. Even at level 427, she would still sweat, and sweating was inevitably accompanied by a subtle odor. Although pure-blooded vampires could control the flow of all liquids in their bodies, she had not yet learned this skill that Pepe had taught her several times. As Mary’s panicked voice asked Laxy to heal Tiffany, Yisi coughed lightly.

“Ahem, Camilla, the king’s carriage is about to pass. If you don’t bow properly, those soldiers will find out you’re the Eldest Princess and send you to the palace.”

“Mmm… okay… Onee-sama, I feel much better.”

With a very weak movement, Camilla supported herself on Yisi to stand up straight. However, during this process, Yisi caught the sound of Camilla taking a deep breath while buried in her shoulder, as well as a curse like, “Damn it, why didn’t he just die on the road.”

Camilla, oh Camilla. While I understand you want to act spoiled a little longer, the one you’re cursing is your royal brother.

Pretending she knew nothing, Yisi didn’t point out Camilla’s dark thoughts.

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“Waah, Miss Laxy, what is that thing flying in the sky?”

Leading Tiffany, who had returned to her human shape but had a pale face after Laxy’s treatment, Mary’s mouth hung open in anticipation, pointing at a vehicle in the sky that looked like a flying pufferfish. Ever since the king’s convoy had entered the city, several of these ‘flying pufferfish’ had appeared in the sky. Surrounded by Horned Eagle Knights, they slowly followed the convoy.

Laxy, who also saw this, had a nostalgic look on her face.

“That’s called a Magic Airship. In our Kingdom of the Gods, there were many such Magic Airships. They are a-tool for carrying people, created by the Goddess. Even an ordinary person with no magic can pilot the Magic Airship, as long as a magic caster injects it with magic power beforehand. The airships remaining on the continent now are all gifts from the Kingdom of the Gods to humanity in the past.”

“Eh.”

The person who made the sound of surprise was Yisi.

According to Laxy’s description, this Magic Airship was very close to the ‘Magitech’ she had described to the master smith Evis. The difference between a magic weapon and a magitech weapon was whether an ordinary person without magic could use it. Take the dragon-bone staff that Camilla often used as an example. The staff permanently held a spell called [Collapse]. As long as Camilla infused it with magic power, she could activate [Collapse] at any time to make the ground sink. This was a magic weapon. If it were a magitech weapon, it should instead be a button on the staff. Anyone who pressed this button could trigger [Collapse]. The ‘Magic Airship’ and the Tower of Alexia were just like that.

“Mmm, mmm, indeed. The Magic Airship is something the Goddess brought to this world. But not only is its flight speed slow and not agile, it’s also easily affected by wind, and its own defenses are insufficient. It’s very easily shot down by flying demons. It’s really not a safe vehicle. In this respect, this one’s ‘Leviathan’ is far more reliable than the vehicle the Goddess invented.”

Provoked by Tina’s words, Laxy puffed out her ample chest, raised her chin slightly, and looked down on Tina from between her cleavage.

“The Leviathan is just a flying whale. Compared to the clean and easily manufacturable Magic Airship, its interior is not only crude and filthy, but its numbers are completely dependent on the whale’s reproductive ability. To actually like such a foul-smelling vehicle, it’s just as expected of a demon’s aesthetic. I, a noble angel, cannot agree with it.”

“A Leviathan is level 50 from birth, and every adult has the strength of level 60. A Leviathan qualified to be this one’s mount is even close to level 80. Even the ‘forbidden magic’ that humans speak of cannot shoot down a Leviathan. A mere Magic Airship, riding on one just makes you a target for the enemy.”

A giant flying whale?

I’m starting to look forward to it… Not from the perspective of feed or whether it’s tasty, I just purely want to see one.

As Yisi was observing the Magic Airship, which looked similar to a Zeppelin, only with a gondola-like structure for passengers underneath, Camilla, who was also watching it, frowned.

“But for this kind of Magic Airship flying over the king’s head, if the people inside were to rebel, the emperor in the carriage below would be in extreme danger. Whether they use fireball magic for carpet bombing, or simply throw magic crystals with sealed magic, they could kill the king very quickly. It would even be reasonable for the entire city to be turned into a sea of fire.”

Don’t say such terrifying things…

Yisi quickly opened the [Omniscient Map] to check. The results showed that the people on the Magic Airship were not carrying magic crystals or anything similar, and their skill bars had few attack spells, mostly consisting of detection and communication skills. Evidently, the people responsible for the emperor’s safety had also thought of the same problem as Camilla, and only allowed people who didn’t know attack magic to board the Magic Airships.

Of course, this didn’t mean these people were not dangerous at all. At that altitude, even throwing something like a rock would become a deadly weapon, not to mention that the [Omniscient Map] couldn’t detect items hidden in storage magic.

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Camilla’s words made Edith wave her hand as if shooing away a fly. Her breezy expression showed that Edith hadn’t taken Camilla’s possibility to heart at all.

“If the people responsible for the king’s safety hadn’t thought of this, they would be too incompetent. I remember Yisi said that the one responsible for guarding the king is that ‘Carl’ person, who is beyond the hero realm, right? If I were him, I would definitely check the belongings of all soldiers before setting out, not even sparing storage magic or storage items. But in the end, the people who can appear on such an occasion must have already had their loyalty to the king vetted. People disloyal to the king couldn’t possibly be here. Camilla, you’re just being paranoid.”

“Exactly, exactly! After His Majesty the Emperor ascended the throne, our lives have been much better than before. All people of the Empire admire His Majesty. No one would be disloyal to His Majesty.”

A passerby who had heard Camilla and Edith’s conversation said proudly. Although the other passersby around could only maintain their posture of kneeling toward the middle of the road, they all nodded to show their agreement.

No, no, no, this kind of talk is definitely raising a flag, right?

It was like a wife saying to an outsider, “My husband is absolutely loyal to me and won’t get involved with other women.” Whether in a novel, manga, or movie, when the female lead says this to others, it’s already obvious what kind of plot will follow.

An uncomfortable feeling rose in her heart. Yisi switched the [Omniscient Map]’s scan target from the people on the Magic Airship to Adonis’s entire convoy, even including all the people kneeling on both sides of the road and the residents in the surrounding buildings as targets for investigation.

“Mmph.”

Feeling Tiffany’s hand suddenly tighten, Mary asked curiously.

“Tiffany, what’s wrong?”

“Bad.”

“Bad?”

Could it be that she sensed the smell of a demon?

Yisi, who was listening in, continued her investigation while looking at Tina, who was arguing with Laxy.

“Tina, are there demons nearby?”

As the Demon Lord, Tina had the innate ability to sense the aura of demons nearby. Even if they were from a hostile camp, as long as they were still demons, Tina would be able to detect them.

“Wait until this one makes this angel understand the superiority of demons.”

“Demons can never be superior to us, whom the Goddess created. Alexia, you should just give up on that.”

Because the original title ‘Tartaros’ was too conspicuous, Yisi had Laxy switch to calling her ‘Tina’ like everyone else, but Laxy was unwilling to use a nickname for Tina. Thus, she switched to using the middle part of Tina’s full name, Alexia, as her form of address.

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“Back to the carriage.”

Very forcefully, Tiffany pulled on the corner of Yisi’s clothes. There was a hint of urgency and anxiety in her expression. After Tiffany, Mary, the half-elf, also suddenly straightened up and wiggled her pointed ears.

“Master, I have a very uncomfortable feeling…”

“Uncomfortable?”

“It’s like something is sticking to my body. There’s a strange stench in the air.”

Stench?

Yisi twitched her nose, but she didn’t smell anything—it was probably a smell only species with a keen sense of smell could detect. Coupled with what Camilla said just now, Yisi had a bad feeling.

“Camilla, Pepe, quick, back to the carriage.”

“Okay, Onee-sama.”

“Yisi, did you find something?”

“Alright, don’t ask so many questions. Just get back in the carriage for now.”

“But there are so many people here, even if we get back in the carriage, we have nowhere to go—ah, hey, you!”

As Pepe frowned with displeasure, Yisi simply swept her up in a princess carry and, amidst Pepe’s cry of surprise, stuffed her into the carriage.

After that, Yisi used the same method to send the arguing Tina and Laxy into the carriage. The rest, under Yisi’s command, got into the carriage on their own.

Five seconds later.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The sound of something breaking rang out in succession from the sky. Yisi, the only one still standing outside the carriage, raised her head.

The several Magic Airships that had been flying slowly just a moment ago, were now like out-of-control airplanes, smoke coming from their hulls as they plunged head-first toward the ground. Immediately after, the Horned Eagle Knight Order also let out cries of alarm. As if being pulled by invisible strings, they fell straight to the ground.

This isn’t good.