"You've already built a flying ship, the results are better than I expected."
“You will take the first flight except for the few test drives that I had done with Valeria. Know it with all glory, I have created something that no one else can't even imagine! I will come after inspecting the flying ship, so please wait while talking about back stories.”
"All right."
Originally, the fastest way to get to ghost castle is to use the transfer gateway.
The ghost castle is located in the Vermont Empire, and the Vermont Empire has the most transfer gateways in the world.
Besides, since the current ruler of Vermont is Regent Dante, there were no procedural problems.
However, in the three years since Jin left, a lot has changed in the world.
“By the way, wouldn’t it be faster to use the transfer gate?”
At Jin's words, Valkas shook his head. First of all, all transfer gateways in the world have been disabled.
“It is because of the chaos that has spread all over the world, young master. Originally, the transfer gates became extremely dangerous only during heavy snow and rain, but now the omnipresent Chaos Particles play that role.”
“In addition, all forces entered a cold war called a truce and closed all connections. They can't use it anyway because of the chaos particles.”
Also, flying ships, which were considered exclusive to Zipfel until Grenil appeared, are now quite common.
Not to mention Zipfel and Kinzelo, even the imperial family (they were incorporated into Zipfel along with the eastern part of the Empire, as Jin predicted) received blueprints from them and operated a number of flying ships.
“If Dr. Qwaul hadn’t completed the flying ship, we would have had to use land and sea routes to ghost castle.”
“He has completed more than ten flying ships so far, my lord. He just smashed all of them, saying that this kind of thing is trash. If it hadn't been for the Gold snow tribe’s Merchant, Tikan would have gone bankrupt already.”
“Anyway, he is eccentric and a genius who proves his conventional wisdom.”
In addition, there has been a rapid development in Zipfel’s living golem, the imperial family’s Majins, and Kinzelo's Plutonian-type golems.
The subjects that Jin saw in the Great Desert were engulfed in chaos, and there were certain codes.
At that time, as Jin predicted, each force was strengthening the test subjects through their own 'chaos control'.
Kinzelo had the highest Chaos Control, followed by Zipfel and the Imperial Family.
However, each faction did not exactly know each other's technological prowess.
Valkas and Gilly took turns explaining these things.
“By the way, the things that I was worried about when I saw the Zipfel fleet in the Sota Desert happened exactly the same. I think it's fortunate that the enemies haven't added a few Kozec or Grenil-class ships yet.”
Unlike other factions, Runcandel only captured a few flying ships.
Although seven colored peacock confirmed that Runcandel had kidnapped the ship builders, but they could not able to secure key personnel. Even if they secured key personnel and all blueprints, finding an engineer to produce them would be another matter.
Runcandel made no progress at all on chaos control either. It was, of course, praiseworthy to train only pure knights in the midst of horrific living golems and modified humans, but it was undeniable that Runcandel was falling behind the times.
‘But there must be some things that Prophet has arranged. If my clan is already under the control of the Prophet, they must be just hiding...….’
The blueprints and parts of the spatial-time device obtained from the Sota Desert are still in Tikan's possession, as they were three years ago.
And while Jin was away, Runcandel never aimed for Tikan.
‘If the gap due to technology was really serious, mother would have pursued my comrades even if she has to broke her promise with me.’
Jin said that he would complete both the blueprints and the machine through the brethren of the Plutonian tribe, but it was not difficult for Rosa to notice as long as Qwaul's research materials were continuously being supplied to Tikan.
‘But the reason mother never pressured Tikan is because she judged it is okay. Or…… it’s the prophet, not mother.'
After the rapid development of each faction's technology, Runcandel's external status has been pushed back to third after Zipfel and Kinzelo.
The perception of the people was definitely like that. Some even commented that Runcandel is a time-limited clan with only few days left until it perish.
“If that assessment is true, it seems that Zipfel would have put more pressure on Runcandel whether it was a truce or not.”
“Yes, young master. The great forces still avoid serious friction with our clan.”
“Because they are conscious of the existence of my father and the Prophet.”
There was still no news of Chiron's expedition.
At least that's what Tikan understood.
“Didn’t you say it was half a year ago that the Garden of Swords started controlling news about me?”
“Yes, young master. Until then, articles were periodically published on the achievements of the young master and the progress of your close door training. It felt like imprinting the status of the next patriarch on both the clan members and the public. Now even newsletters that don't belong to the clan don’t publish an article about the young master.”
It was the reason why Jin’s comrades were worried in case Runcandel threatened Jin right before he came to Tikan.
It wasn't just media control. Since half a year ago, Runcandel has been hiding all the activities of the clan’s leadership, blocking the entire city of "Kalon," where the garden of the sword is located.
So, rumors are circulating that the fallen Joshua Runcandel has been reinstated. Or, rumors that Rosa usurped the throne while Chiron is away.
“As far as we know, a total of 7 explosions and earthquakes have been detected in the vicinity of Kalon since you left, my lord. We couldn't able to confirm whether it was a civil war or something else.”
“It is highly likely that it was a rampage caused by my mother's demonization. If Tikan figured out seven explosions, then it must have been a lot more than that.”
It was difficult to guess the current state of the Garden of Swords just by hearing the story.
If Rosa was out of control and the command of clan was in danger or civil war had spread, other forces would not have let it slide, if the gap in technology was serious, they would have attacked Tikan, and if Joshua had been reinstated, it should have already been revealed to the front.
None of that was happening. That rather made Jin nervous.
Worst case is.
The Prophet has already taken control of the clan, and its power is feared by other factions, and the reason Runcandel has protected and didn’t attack Tikan so far is only to confirm and get ‘new information’ that Jin will bring.
“…… I'm sorry. We should have gathered more information before you came, my lord.”
“The world has changed much faster than I thought. I am more than grateful that all of you endured it without any deaths or serious injuries. Don't talk like that, Sir Valkas. Everyone did better than expected.”
Indeed, it felt like a miracle that all of his comrades were safe in a rapidly changing world.
“Anyway, it's better to reserve all judgments about my clan until I visit it myself. Depending on the situation, I'll have to either make more progress during the remaining six months promised by my mother, or go back right away. Dealing with emergency fire called Smarion Proch is important for now.”
As the conversation continued until there, Qwaul announced that the inspection of flying ship had been completed.
Following him to the ship building area prepared in Tikan's middle layer, Jin couldn't help but burst into admiration.
‘The scale is not comparable to the construction site of the Sota Desert, but anyone will be able to recognize it at a glance that Dr. Qwaul’s ships building is far surpassed Zipfel’s technological prowess at the time.'
Tens of thousands of cogwheels, machines that operate so elaborately that they look beautiful. In the middle of it, in a spacious space prepared like an altar, the first masterpiece that Qwaul didn't smash was showing off its elegant figure.
It was not a large ship known to the world like Kozec, Grenil, and other mass-produced ships.
“It’s small.”
"Yes. It can board five people, and the mounted firearm is only one main cannon, which is an improved version of the imperial family’s mass-produced dragon lance.”
Because of this, Qwaul said that the firepower of the flying ship was poor, but the dragon lance was the strongest war weapon in the Empire until before the Sword Emperor castle War.
Downsizing the mass-produced version of the dragon lance without deteriorating performance and installing it on a small ship was something only Qwaul could do in the world.
In the first place, only Qwaul is able to produce a ‘small ship’.
“However, the performance of the built-in protection artifact is comparable to Enya's dragon fire blocking curtains. It is an artifact created by Valeria and me, like the definitive edition of magic and magic engineering at this point.”
Qwaul's eyes turned red as he explained.
How many walls of magic and magical engineering have they broken before making this...…. At the moment of completion, even Valeria seemed to be in tears.
“You have worked hard, Dr. Qwaul. Here's a handkerchief...….”
“Hey, fuck it. I just got cigarette ash in my eyes. Anyway, the official name of this flying ship is wavelength-tracking synchronous spatial-jump ship. If I easily define it in one word.”
“…… Are you saying it's a ship capable of teleportation?"
"Yes. Also this ship overcomes all the shortcomings of the transfer gates, which has now become a symbol of the old era. It’s a task that needs so much power to be solved in the future.”
Apart from the reliability of Qwaul, it was a thing that was hard to believe before experiencing it firsthand. Because it was so shocking.
“The name Valeria and I gave to this guy is Red Owl.”
It seemed that Valeria was the one who given the name.
"It not going to happen, but the manual is inside, so check it out in case of an emergency situation. Get on!”
Jin, Gilly, and Valkas went up to the Red Owl's cabin with bewildered faces.
"Doesn't it need to be operated separately?”
“The arrival and return coordinates were set to ghost castle and Tikan. When the launch pad is open, just press the button in the center of the cabin. In the blink of an eye, you'll be in front of the ghost castle. Also, invisibility is still under development, so when you arrives there, pay attention to exposure first.”
“Invisibility?”
“I don’t know when it will be developed. Anyway, keep in mind that on the day the Red Owl is damaged, Valeria and I will kill you no matter what.”
Creak...…!
When Qwaul opened the launch pad, Jin could see the endless sky and sea.
Then, when Jin carefully pressed the button in the center of the cabin, the red owl was enveloped in mana and vibrated for a moment, and the red owl began to rush with explosive acceleration.
Just like the ship of the Pirate King Cosmos when he was a reserve flagbearer, or faster than that.
Jin and his comrades were stunned by the absurd acceleration, and in an instant, they felt their heads go blank and their vision darkened.
A few seconds later when they opened their eyes again.
Jin and his comrades blinked their eyes at the bleak scenery of the Ghost Castle that they can see through the cabin window.
“…… Really? Is this real?”
Even after seeing it with his own eyes and experiencing it himself, Jin couldn't accept it as reality for a while.
"You've already built a flying ship, the results are better than I expected."
“You will take the first flight except for the few test drives that I had done with Valeria. Know it with all glory, I have created something that no one else can't even imagine! I will come after inspecting the flying ship, so please wait while talking about back stories.”
"All right."
Originally, the fastest way to get to ghost castle is to use the transfer gateway.
The ghost castle is located in the Vermont Empire, and the Vermont Empire has the most transfer gateways in the world.
Besides, since the current ruler of Vermont is Regent Dante, there were no procedural problems.
However, in the three years since Jin left, a lot has changed in the world.
“By the way, wouldn’t it be faster to use the transfer gate?”
At Jin's words, Valkas shook his head. First of all, all transfer gateways in the world have been disabled.
“It is because of the chaos that has spread all over the world, young master. Originally, the transfer gates became extremely dangerous only during heavy snow and rain, but now the omnipresent Chaos Particles play that role.”
“In addition, all forces entered a cold war called a truce and closed all connections. They can't use it anyway because of the chaos particles.”
Also, flying ships, which were considered exclusive to Zipfel until Grenil appeared, are now quite common.
Not to mention Zipfel and Kinzelo, even the imperial family (they were incorporated into Zipfel along with the eastern part of the Empire, as Jin predicted) received blueprints from them and operated a number of flying ships.
“If Dr. Qwaul hadn’t completed the flying ship, we would have had to use land and sea routes to ghost castle.”
“He has completed more than ten flying ships so far, my lord. He just smashed all of them, saying that this kind of thing is trash. If it hadn't been for the Gold snow tribe’s Merchant, Tikan would have gone bankrupt already.”
“Anyway, he is eccentric and a genius who proves his conventional wisdom.”
In addition, there has been a rapid development in Zipfel’s living golem, the imperial family’s Majins, and Kinzelo's Plutonian-type golems.
The subjects that Jin saw in the Great Desert were engulfed in chaos, and there were certain codes.
At that time, as Jin predicted, each force was strengthening the test subjects through their own 'chaos control'.
Kinzelo had the highest Chaos Control, followed by Zipfel and the Imperial Family.
However, each faction did not exactly know each other's technological prowess.
Valkas and Gilly took turns explaining these things.
“By the way, the things that I was worried about when I saw the Zipfel fleet in the Sota Desert happened exactly the same. I think it's fortunate that the enemies haven't added a few Kozec or Grenil-class ships yet.”
Unlike other factions, Runcandel only captured a few flying ships.
Although seven colored peacock confirmed that Runcandel had kidnapped the ship builders, but they could not able to secure key personnel. Even if they secured key personnel and all blueprints, finding an engineer to produce them would be another matter.
Runcandel made no progress at all on chaos control either. It was, of course, praiseworthy to train only pure knights in the midst of horrific living golems and modified humans, but it was undeniable that Runcandel was falling behind the times.
‘But there must be some things that Prophet has arranged. If my clan is already under the control of the Prophet, they must be just hiding...….’
The blueprints and parts of the spatial-time device obtained from the Sota Desert are still in Tikan's possession, as they were three years ago.
And while Jin was away, Runcandel never aimed for Tikan.
‘If the gap due to technology was really serious, mother would have pursued my comrades even if she has to broke her promise with me.’
Jin said that he would complete both the blueprints and the machine through the brethren of the Plutonian tribe, but it was not difficult for Rosa to notice as long as Qwaul's research materials were continuously being supplied to Tikan.
‘But the reason mother never pressured Tikan is because she judged it is okay. Or…… it’s the prophet, not mother.'
After the rapid development of each faction's technology, Runcandel's external status has been pushed back to third after Zipfel and Kinzelo.
The perception of the people was definitely like that. Some even commented that Runcandel is a time-limited clan with only few days left until it perish.
“If that assessment is true, it seems that Zipfel would have put more pressure on Runcandel whether it was a truce or not.”
“Yes, young master. The great forces still avoid serious friction with our clan.”
“Because they are conscious of the existence of my father and the Prophet.”
There was still no news of Chiron's expedition.
At least that's what Tikan understood.
“Didn’t you say it was half a year ago that the Garden of Swords started controlling news about me?”
“Yes, young master. Until then, articles were periodically published on the achievements of the young master and the progress of your close door training. It felt like imprinting the status of the next patriarch on both the clan members and the public. Now even newsletters that don't belong to the clan don’t publish an article about the young master.”
It was the reason why Jin’s comrades were worried in case Runcandel threatened Jin right before he came to Tikan.
It wasn't just media control. Since half a year ago, Runcandel has been hiding all the activities of the clan’s leadership, blocking the entire city of "Kalon," where the garden of the sword is located.
So, rumors are circulating that the fallen Joshua Runcandel has been reinstated. Or, rumors that Rosa usurped the throne while Chiron is away.
“As far as we know, a total of 7 explosions and earthquakes have been detected in the vicinity of Kalon since you left, my lord. We couldn't able to confirm whether it was a civil war or something else.”
“It is highly likely that it was a rampage caused by my mother's demonization. If Tikan figured out seven explosions, then it must have been a lot more than that.”
It was difficult to guess the current state of the Garden of Swords just by hearing the story.
If Rosa was out of control and the command of clan was in danger or civil war had spread, other forces would not have let it slide, if the gap in technology was serious, they would have attacked Tikan, and if Joshua had been reinstated, it should have already been revealed to the front.
None of that was happening. That rather made Jin nervous.
Worst case is.
The Prophet has already taken control of the clan, and its power is feared by other factions, and the reason Runcandel has protected and didn’t attack Tikan so far is only to confirm and get ‘new information’ that Jin will bring.
“…… I'm sorry. We should have gathered more information before you came, my lord.”
“The world has changed much faster than I thought. I am more than grateful that all of you endured it without any deaths or serious injuries. Don't talk like that, Sir Valkas. Everyone did better than expected.”
Indeed, it felt like a miracle that all of his comrades were safe in a rapidly changing world.
“Anyway, it's better to reserve all judgments about my clan until I visit it myself. Depending on the situation, I'll have to either make more progress during the remaining six months promised by my mother, or go back right away. Dealing with emergency fire called Smarion Proch is important for now.”
As the conversation continued until there, Qwaul announced that the inspection of flying ship had been completed.
Following him to the ship building area prepared in Tikan's middle layer, Jin couldn't help but burst into admiration.
‘The scale is not comparable to the construction site of the Sota Desert, but anyone will be able to recognize it at a glance that Dr. Qwaul’s ships building is far surpassed Zipfel’s technological prowess at the time.'
Tens of thousands of cogwheels, machines that operate so elaborately that they look beautiful. In the middle of it, in a spacious space prepared like an altar, the first masterpiece that Qwaul didn't smash was showing off its elegant figure.
It was not a large ship known to the world like Kozec, Grenil, and other mass-produced ships.
“It’s small.”
"Yes. It can board five people, and the mounted firearm is only one main cannon, which is an improved version of the imperial family’s mass-produced dragon lance.”
Because of this, Qwaul said that the firepower of the flying ship was poor, but the dragon lance was the strongest war weapon in the Empire until before the Sword Emperor castle War.
Downsizing the mass-produced version of the dragon lance without deteriorating performance and installing it on a small ship was something only Qwaul could do in the world.
In the first place, only Qwaul is able to produce a ‘small ship’.
“However, the performance of the built-in protection artifact is comparable to Enya's dragon fire blocking curtains. It is an artifact created by Valeria and me, like the definitive edition of magic and magic engineering at this point.”
Qwaul's eyes turned red as he explained.
How many walls of magic and magical engineering have they broken before making this...…. At the moment of completion, even Valeria seemed to be in tears.
“You have worked hard, Dr. Qwaul. Here's a handkerchief...….”
“Hey, fuck it. I just got cigarette ash in my eyes. Anyway, the official name of this flying ship is wavelength-tracking synchronous spatial-jump ship. If I easily define it in one word.”
“…… Are you saying it's a ship capable of teleportation?"
"Yes. Also this ship overcomes all the shortcomings of the transfer gates, which has now become a symbol of the old era. It’s a task that needs so much power to be solved in the future.”
Apart from the reliability of Qwaul, it was a thing that was hard to believe before experiencing it firsthand. Because it was so shocking.
“The name Valeria and I gave to this guy is Red Owl.”
It seemed that Valeria was the one who given the name.
"It not going to happen, but the manual is inside, so check it out in case of an emergency situation. Get on!”
Jin, Gilly, and Valkas went up to the Red Owl's cabin with bewildered faces.
"Doesn't it need to be operated separately?”
“The arrival and return coordinates were set to ghost castle and Tikan. When the launch pad is open, just press the button in the center of the cabin. In the blink of an eye, you'll be in front of the ghost castle. Also, invisibility is still under development, so when you arrives there, pay attention to exposure first.”
“Invisibility?”
“I don’t know when it will be developed. Anyway, keep in mind that on the day the Red Owl is damaged, Valeria and I will kill you no matter what.”
Creak...…!
When Qwaul opened the launch pad, Jin could see the endless sky and sea.
Then, when Jin carefully pressed the button in the center of the cabin, the red owl was enveloped in mana and vibrated for a moment, and the red owl began to rush with explosive acceleration.
Just like the ship of the Pirate King Cosmos when he was a reserve flagbearer, or faster than that.
Jin and his comrades were stunned by the absurd acceleration, and in an instant, they felt their heads go blank and their vision darkened.
A few seconds later when they opened their eyes again.
Jin and his comrades blinked their eyes at the bleak scenery of the Ghost Castle that they can see through the cabin window.
“…… Really? Is this real?”
Even after seeing it with his own eyes and experiencing it himself, Jin couldn't accept it as reality for a while.
