Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?

Chapter 238: Test Flight

The Airship Ouranos was complete and a test flight will be conducted.

It’s something that flies in the air, so being too careful isn’t excessive. A trifling thing could lead to a grave accident.

But that doesn’t apply all too much with the Airship Ouranos, the first of its kind in this world. As long as levitation magic is there, it wouldn’t fall even if it stalls.

In addition to myself, Laeva, Doganbo-san, and Sophia who had the aptitude for the Wind attribute were chosen to be part of the test flight. On the off chance that things go wrong, we would escape by flying.

The Sanctuary children wanted to board, but I got them to understand that they only could after this test flight and if nothing goes wrong.

A door opened slightly in front of the wing, turning into a ramp for boarding.

I took the lead and boarded the Ouranos. Sophia, Laeva, and Doganbo-san subsequently followed.

Sitting in the cockpit, I pushed the lever and the Airship Ouranos floated up.

Stowing away the landing gear and reaching 50m up in altitude, I pushed on the throttle and we slowly started moving forward.

「Oooh! It’s floating! It’s flying!」

「Uwaaaa!! Amaaaazing!」

Doganbo-san yelled in excitement. And Kaede who came out of the Subspace at some point had also exclaimed.

As the speed rose steadily, it eventually reached approximately 500km/h in velocity.

「It is a huge success.」

Laeva folded her arms, feeling content.

After that, I asked Sophia and the passengers to wear their seatbelts, then I methodically and repeatedly turned the Ouranos left and right, ascended, descended, made sharp turns, sudden climbs, and nose dives as a test.

「It looks like everything is in tip top shape. How about we go back for now?」

While we were on our way back, I taught Sophia and Laeva how to pilot the Ouranos.

Since the Ouranos was incomparably more stable than an airplane, Sophia and Laeva soon got used to piloting, so much that they were able to manipulate it at will.

It was only tested for several tens of minutes, but the steering system had no problems, so we were able to validate its expected performance. The weapons test still remains, but that doesn’t have to be done at this very moment.

The Airship Ouranos, which had returned to the Sanctuary skies, deployed its landing gear, descending slowly and landing.

When we alighted, everyone rushed over.

「Takumi-oniichan! I wanna fly in the sky too!」

「Me too!」

Catkin siblings Wappa and Sara demanded to ride, and the Cat Sith sisters Miri and Lala said they wanted to board. As a result of the pleading of the children who came for a field trip, I ended up taking them around the Sanctuary on a sightseeing flight in turns many times because they couldn’t all gather at the same time.

For some reason, the Great Spirits Sylph and Undine were mixed in among them. They’re Spirits, so I had thought flying in the sky wasn’t anything new to them though……

It was evening by the time everyone was satisfied with Laeva, Sophia, and I piloting them around.

「The experiment, both in low speed or high speed maneuvers, was a success.」

「Yeah. The barrier worked well even during sharp turns and the like. All that’s left is to check the weapons.」

The test for the Mana Gatling Gun[1] and Holy Bolt Cannon will be verified either on the way to the Demon Continent or after we reach the Demon continent.

Since the test flight of the Airship Ouranos had no issues, we began our preparations for the Demon Continent manhunt.

The Southern Continent according to the information from the Great Wind Spirit Sylph, Great Light Spirit Selene, and Great Dark Spirit Nyx, commonly known as the Demon Continent, was a region almost entirely consisting of quasi-monster nests, and in comparison to the continent we live in, the density of monsters and their numbers were immeasurably larger.

「That’s why it had fortress city-states.」

「Yeah, it wouldn’t hold up unless it’s a fortress city surrounded by strong walls.」

「Mazoku and Beastkin have the ability to survive in such a severe environment.」

According to Sylph, the Demon Continent had a great number of monster nests within the quasi-monster nests, and monsters from monster nests were not like those in the savage lands outside the Sanctuary that would make occasional appearances. The monsters that inhabited monster nests could move unrestrictedly if the region was a quasi-monster nest.

「Maybe the camp should be a strong shelter using barriers and Earth magic.」

「If we are making a base, we would be able to establish a Teleportation gate.」

「We don’t know what kind of place the Demon Continent is, so making a base all of a sudden is unjustifiable.」

The Gate Sophia mentioned was a magic device that had the ability to teleport, making long distance teleportation between gates feasible at the cost of little magic power. Currently, the places we’ve established Gates at were only the Sanctuary mansion basement and the Volton mansion basement. It’s been fitted with a personnel authenticating feature by way of magic, so not just anyone could use the gate, but I can’t establish it in a place with inadequate security.

「It might be better to also keep eyeing the possibility of creating a base.」

「Yes, well, aside from the fortress cities, the land over there isn’t owned by anyone, so there’s no need to worry about anyone.」

Sylph and Selene shared information that they acquired from their familial Spirits.

「……sure, if there’s a place that look good, then we should consider building a base too.」

If it was just me, I could potentially return to the Sanctuary mansion by teleportation. However, teleporting the entire team would consume too much magic power, so teleporting to the mansion almost daily to sleep was unreasonable.

We crafted potions in addition to gathering our rations and daily necessities. We’re also preparing wood for building furniture that would be necessary when we get a base set up.

I also stored fresh cooked food in my Item Box.

And now, we leave for the Demon Continent.

***

Footnotes:

1. Says Vulcan Cannon unlike previous chapter. Will keep mana gatling gun for consistency.