Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?

Chapter 233: Is this an airplane or a ship?

I didn’t cram in much work even after the picnic, living life at a slightly slower pace.

(Still, I can’t postpone it as long as I want.)

If it was simply going to the continent in the south known as the Demon Continent, our current ship would have been more than enough. It wouldn’t give even an inch against a gigantic aquatic monster.

「How is it? Making any progress?」

「Oh, it’s you, Akane. That’s rare.」

While I was working out an idea in the Sanctuary workshop, Akane made a rare appearance.

Her showing up here was unusual. She normally wouldn’t even approach this place.

「Once in a blue moon, yeah? I was intending to get over Yamato, but there’s still that thing with Akira too, so I definitely want to go with you to the Demon Continent. ……so I was wondering how that would happen.」

「……Akira definitely shouldn’t be given up on. Anyway, going to the Demon Continent is simple. Our ship can cross the ocean easily. The problem is our method of transport within the continent.」

I explained to Akane that the land routes of the Demon Continent had extremely harsh environments that even Tsubaki’s carriage would find hard to traverse.

「……so roads don’t exist. So that means you’ll be building an aircraft?」

「Ohh, as expected, Akane. I’ll need to check if an airplane is possible, but a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft would be ideal.」

If we choose to go in an aircraft, then it would have to be a VTOL type, which doesn’t need a runway for takeoffs and landing.

「A VTOL type? Not a fighter jet?」

「There are fighter types as well, but you know the troubles with its fuselage when it was brought over to Japan from America, right? If I take the transport volume, should it be that?」

Since even Akane would have known about the many accidents shown on the news, sharing that image with Akane was no problem.

「Still, it’ll fly with magic, so it’s fine even if I don’t fuss over its form.」

「Magic?」

「That’s right. Wyverns and dragons can’t fly with their wings, right? They fly using magic. That’s why I haven’t decided on whether it would be an aircraft or a flying ship, but I don’t have to be so particular with the aerodynamics if it’ll fly with magic.」

「Well, that makes sense. You may as well go for the cool one, huh.」

Honestly, I really wanted a flying ship, but that would obviously be too big. If it ever flew, I’d even ride it while cosplaying as a space pirate.

「Anyway, good luck.」

「Yep, I don’t think you’d have to wait that long though, so don’t fret.」

Maybe because Akane, who finds making things by hand uninteresting, had had enough, she waved her hand as she left the workshop.

「Now then, it’s about time I make a basic plan.」

Akane’s already left, so let’s carefully review ways to move around in the Demon Continent.

If we’re flying over the ocean for several days, landing in the water for breaks would be a necessity. If we use the ship for sea travel and limit the new vessel to travel within the continent in the south, it wouldn’t be a problem as long as it’s a VTOL aircraft.

「If we use the ship until the vicinity of Samandour Kingdom and fly from there…… it would depend on how fast we can get.」

How fast could the Osprey[1] go, I wonder. Well, it’s not like I’ll use a motor though.

Click

The workshop door opened and Laeva came in.

「Takumi-sama, what will you be making today?」

「Ahh, I was thinking about a method of transport in the Demon Continent, but could you help out too?」

「Of course. Laeva came here for that purpose.」

「Thanks. Let’s do our best.」

「Yes, let’s.」

Laeva and I first thought about the form.

Should it be formed based on the aerodynamics of an aircraft? Or should it be purely be taken from fantasy? Not that I could say “fantasy” to Laeva.

「Dynamic lift? This is my first time hearing it.」

「This is a hypothesis on flight using magic, but I think it would be more economic on magic power if we take air resistance and dynamic lift into consideration.」

「That’s true. Now that I think about it, flying monsters are streamlined.」

Laeva and I decided on the size of the vessel that would be used in the continent.

「Like the carriage, the interior will be fine if it is bestowed with Space Expansion, so how big it is on the outside is what we need to decide on.」

「Since it will fly, I believe we should go for a size that would be fine even if hit by a Wyvern.」

「You’re right. Let’s go with a size larger than a Wyvern.」

If it spans 60ft (approx. 18m) to 70ft (approx. 21m) like a large cruiser[2], and if we use mithril alloy for its body, I think it would be alright even if it collides with the majority of the flying-type monsters.

「Fundamentally, we will fly in the inland areas, however I imagine it would be even better if we are able to land on the sea water.」

「For sure. Let’s make it so it’s floats in a well balanced way even if we land on water.」

A form for flying that lands stably on water……

「A Trimaran[3] with the pilothouse, residential area, and hold in center hull. The propulsion devices on both sides would also serve as floats. And connect them like wings, maybe?」

I drew a rough sketch on the table.

「Ooh! That looks neat!」

「So the wings would be able to change course even without magic, I think we should add rudders and elevators.」

I briefly explained to Laeva a method of controlling the airframe using air resistance and dynamic lift.

「A method to control movement without magic?! That’s amazing, Takumi-sama!」

「Well, it’s just to supplement the magic though.」

While pacifying the excited Laeva, I drew a sketch so we could put our ideas out.

***

Footnotes:

1. オス○レイ – I think it’s a reference to the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey. Man, I had to search so much for that.

2. I am assuming he meant a cruiser aircraft.

3. A trimaran is basically a three hull ship. An example here.