Glory was staring blankly at the ground.
“......”
The guy... was staring at a corner of the smuggling ship’s deck, where some used cigarette butts had gathered.
Then he picked up a half-smoked one that still had some tobacco left, and put it in his mouth.
“Hey.”
“......”
He slowly turned to look at me.
Smack!
I slapped the cigarette out of his mouth. While I was at it, I slapped his cheek too.
“...Why did you hit me?”
“Are you seriously insane? Why the hell would you put that in your mouth?”
“...Is there a problem?”
“Problem? You look like a total degenerate. How the hell is anyone supposed to revere you as a hero when you’re picking up smokes off the ground like a stray dog?”
“...I wouldn’t know. But... for someone like me, even this feels like more than I deserve.”
Glory picked up the butt again and stuck it back in his mouth.
And when I stepped forward again, this time he turned his body slightly to keep me from hitting him.
This bastard... What the hell is he?
“......”
He pulled out a crumpled box of matches from his coat and lit up. Smoking, thinking deeply.
The funny part?
Even now—he looked like some old-school 1970s cigarette ad model, gazing into the distance with melancholic eyes. In reality, he was a depressed vagrant puffing on trash.
“...I’ll think about it, for now.”
“Think about what? You don’t want the holy sword?”
“It’s not that. I do want it... and everything you said makes sense, to a degree... it’s just, I’ve lived like this for so long...”
If every person had a rhythm, then this hero’s rhythm was just... slow. I decided not to rush him. He’s the one who needs it, after all.
After that, we got into a structural discussion about the Demon King War.
“What do you know about the war with the Demon King?”
“...A lot, actually.”
Glory spoke.
He claimed that ever since he was a child, he had been able to perceive bad things that were going to happen—almost like ‘prophecy.’
“The recent invasion... and the fight with Bomiteka... they’re just the beginning. There’ll be at least two more invasions. And each one will cause the world to collapse more and more...”
Then Glory described the demons «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» he had foreseen.
A trap that moves and breathes like a living village, where nothing is as it seems.
An eyeball that lulls all of humanity into slumber by projecting an ideal world that doesn’t exist.
A heart that grows stronger over time and must be destroyed, no matter what...
Most of it was stuff I already knew.
“And probably... by now, everyone’s starting to notice.”
“You mean the End?”
“Yes. I don’t know much about the Constellations, but I think that’s why the powerful showed up at the casino and the auction. They’re sensing something.”
Eternity Constellation∞ had said something similar before.
Honestly... if even the [Constellations] don’t notice it by now, they’re either idiots or pretending not to know.
There’s still about three years left.
But the main storyline... if it’s fast-tracked, it’s already approaching its midpoint.
‘Even so... it’s strangely quiet.’
Sure, the [Constellations] are the type to hide away with their power, pretend to be mysterious, act like they’re some superior species.
But even so—this level of silence when the entire world is at stake? That’s just unnatural.
“What do you know about the Triangle Demons?”
“...You mean the Demon King?”
“Yeah.”
Glory lowered his head with a gloomy look. He didn’t respond further—but that was all I needed to confirm that he knew nothing about the Demon King.
Which, honestly, was a problem for me too.
Because while the final boss of [Hard Difficulty] was the professor...
I still had no idea what the final boss of [Hell Difficulty]—the Demon King—actually was.
‘Guess I’ll have to find out piece by piece.’
The main storyline 4 that follows will no doubt be a full paradigm shift.
When that time comes, I’ll pour all my capital and research into discovering the truth behind the Demon King. I’ll write a dissertation on it.
Methodology ideas are already forming in my head. It won’t be too hard.
“Wanna try wielding the holy sword?”
When I asked him one last time, Glory shook his head.
“...When I’m certain in my heart, I’ll draw the ‘Peacemaker†’ then.”
***
“Oooh... That’s sick. There’s so many floating islands.”
“For real...”
Gray muttered as she looked out the window.
Even Balmung—usually dry as dust—was staring out there in awe.
Outside the round window, high in the sky, countless ‘floating islands’ drifted far in the distance. Some as large as fortresses. Even the smallest ones were bigger than cars. They clustered together in the sky, forming a majestic scene.
“If I get rich someday, I’ll buy the Professor a floating island.”
“...I don’t need one.”
Balmung—like always—squeezed in an off-timing compliment the moment he saw a window of opportunity.
Freak.
“Yo, hey. Isn’t this place kinda dangerous though...?”
“Looks like it.”
“Right? Feels like we’re gonna crash into something. Why’d we even come this way...?”
When they don’t know something, students turn to their professor.
That’s why the two of them turned their gazes back to me again.
“Because of the Imperial Aerial Patrol.”
“Aerial Patrol...?”
“The Empire uses the sky like a sea. But for sky surveillance, they usually assign rookies. And rookies don’t like the ‘Laputa Belt’ where there’s lots of floating islands.”
Because even a small collision can be deadly. And the Laputa Belt has chronic turbulence.
“Ah... So the government pushes the job onto subordinates. And the subordinates take shortcuts. And then the smugglers wedge right into those gaps.”
“Exactly.”
“Ugh... So these smugglers—are they all just good pilots?”
“The bad ones are already dead.”
Gray let out a stifled giggle, and even Balmung chuckled faintly. Saying it’s the same everywhere people live.
Before long, the airship entered the space between the floating islands.
“Once we’re back, it’ll be a new semester. We’re second-years now...”
“But since we’re heading to the Empire, we probably won’t be at the Academy much.”
The two of them made idle conversation like that.
Night was falling.
At night, especially, the patrols rarely venture into the Laputa Belt.
Which means—we’re basically safe now.
Once we arrive, I’d like to sleep for a full day.
── Thunk!
The airship suddenly shook—violently.
The entire deck beneath our feet rumbled.
“Wha? What the hell...!?”
“Professor, are you alright?”
Both of them turned toward me in alarm. Even Kendreik, who had been napping nearby, jolted awake.
Before I could even respond, the airframe shook again.
Creak—creak—
The floor tilted sharply, and everything on the tables crashed and rolled.
Clatter!
The tilt became severe enough that Adele Mouin rolled off the bed.
“Gah! What the hell!?”
“Stay here. I’ll go check the situation.”
I stepped outside.
As expected, chaos reigned among the crew. They were yelling, running in all directions.
Other passengers in the neighboring quarters were shouting at the crew, trying to figure out what was going on.
“It’s nothing serious!”
“The hell do you mean nothing serious? The whole damn ship is shaking! What’s the reason!?”
“Ah, just stay inside, will ya!? It’ll be resolved soon!”
But the 【Script】 made things clear.
【Smuggler Crew – Vito: ‘Fuck, why the hell are the Skyspawn freaking out all of a sudden?’】
I narrowed my eyes.
Skyspawn.
Colossal neutral creatures that soar through the skies. They make their nests near floating islands and, being nearly as intelligent as humans, generally don’t show hostility toward us.
And now they were rampaging?
The crewman shoved the passenger back into his room and tried to head back out.
“Hey, you.”
“Ugh, what now?! Can’t you see we’re in the middle of—”
A face like mine comes in handy at times like this. The guy froze stiff when he saw me.
“...Y-yes?”
“You said the Skyspawn are rampaging. Is that confirmed?”
“W-well... Word came from the lead ship... Apparently the things started moving all of a sudden, and now there’s heavy turbulence—”
Again, the airship shook. The floor tilted.
“Waaagh!”
The crewman shrieked and grabbed a handrail for support.
I, being an assassin, didn’t need to.
“Where’s the captain?”
“O-of course he’s in the bridge...? This is deck three...”
As I started walking, the crewman panicked.
“W-wait, sir! Don’t go on deck! The Skyspawn are flying around out there! Besides, our company consultant is a taming-class assassin, a [Grandmaster]! Just leave it to him!”
I kept going anyway. The guy—despite being part of an illegal smuggling crew—seemed to be full of some righteous sense of duty. He suddenly grabbed my arm and clung to it.
“What do I do?”
“Please don’t go! You’ll die! J-just follow our instructions, dammit! If you go out there and die, I won’t be able to face my ancestors, I swear to God!”
“......”
If the [Grandmaster] assassin from the [Summon–Taming] class was onboard, he should know how to handle Skyspawn well enough.
Still—rather than leaving it to others, I had to observe it myself. We were flying nearly 12 kilometers above the ground.
Even after I sent the crewman away, the ship kept shaking. I went up to the second deck to get a better view.
– Tap. Tap.
A broadcast rang through the cabin.
– Ahem. A quick announcement. It seems that, amid the current chaos, some passengers have begun tampering with our cargo aboard other vessels.
– Hey, you fucking bastards. If you don’t want to end up dead, keep your hands to yourselves.
Smugglers riding a smuggler’s ship. As expected, it was complete anarchy.
Meanwhile, the airship kept trembling.
– Also, if there’s anyone onboard who’s an expert in Skyspawn behavior, please inform the nearest crew member immediately.
The voice over the speaker wavered subtly.
***
“Hey! You bastard!”
The chief engineer barked into the comms room.
“Why the hell are you blabbering nonsense?! What do you mean, ‘Skyspawn expert,’ you dumb shit?! You still think you’re on a commercial flight or what?! Snap out of it!”
– W-what else was I supposed to do!?
Normally, engineers and crew wouldn’t dare talk back to the chief, but the comms officer was his own idiotic youngest son.
– The consultant can’t handle it!!
“Shut up, you little shit! Just sit there and shut it!”
Bang!!
He slammed the receiver down like he meant to break it.
Voices erupted in the strategy room.
“Damn it, we should head out there and take control! Aren’t you supposed to be from a zoo background?!”
“Bullshit! Do those things look like animals to you!? Even the consultant couldn’t control them, how the hell am I supposed to?!”
“Then what the fuck are you even doing here, huh?! Just sitting there flapping your gums!?”
Smack!
A fist flew, and a sailor lunged to retaliate. The rest pulled them apart.
It was bedlam.
“Everyone calm down! The Fleetmaster is on his way!”
That one line made everyone snap to attention.
The man responsible for coordinating all ships had arrived.
An old man with a thick mustache and weathered eyes. He was the president of Falcon Marine—the Empire’s largest smuggling company—and a [Challenger]-level mage himself.
Falcon Hagrid.
“Where’s the consultant? That goddamn consultant!”
He spoke with feigned fury. The consultant was a taming-class assassin hired to manage the Skyspawn.
“H-he...”
The chief engineer stammered.
“...He went outside, and then...”
He was eaten.
Alongside his own tamed Skyspawn, he’d been swallowed whole by a 30-meter-class beast.
The Skyspawn that ate him had crashed soon after, but that was little comfort—it was a mutual destruction at best.
Falcon Hagrid roared in frustration.
“Useless sack of shit! I feed you gourmet meals and pay your ass well, and THIS is how you repay me!?”
Kuuunng—
The ship rocked again. Several people toppled over. The chief engineer hit the corner of a cabinet and began bleeding from his forehead.
“Fleetmaster! You need to make a decision!”
Airships can only move forward. They cannot hover or stop.
“We have to divert course! If we stay on this path, the turbulence will worsen, and we’ll all die!”
The engineer’s voice rose—but the navigator jumped up.
“W-we can’t! Wind speed’s over 50 knots! Half the ships won’t survive the maneuver—they’ll get torn apart!”
“Better to lose half and survive than get everyone killed! The Skyspawn are going berserk with no clear reason—this ends in total annihilation otherwise!”
“Cut the crap! There’ve only been a handful of cases where Skyspawn attacked ships!”
“You done flapping your mouth, asshole!? One of my men just got fucking swallowed alive by a Skyspawn!”
Even with the Fleetmaster standing right there, tempers flared again.
And then—the doors to the strategy room flew open.
All heads turned.
A junior officer stepped inside.
“A-ah...!”
He froze when he saw the Fleetmaster, then stiffly saluted.
“What is it? Speak.”
“Y-yes! S-sir! Th-there’s a man outside who says he can help—!”
The answer came from someone else.
“You little shit! You think this is a joke?! Get the fuck outta here!!”
“Ah! S-sorry, I—”
But Falcon Hagrid raised his hand—and silence fell.
“...Who is he?”
“He, uh... said he’s a senior professor from the Department of Assassination...? He didn’t give his name...”
They were drowning men grasping at straws.
“Let him in.”
And so, the man stepped into the strategy room.
The assassin with the pink eyes.