My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

Zeal and Crow, who had gone off together to take care of preparations for our departure, rejoined us, and finally we were ready to set out. Zeal’s gloomy expression from the past few days had somehow brightened, so it seemed he had managed to resolve the issue with the broken sword.

I boarded the ship, tilting my head at how much extra cargo Zeal was carrying.

After we were inside, Noah gave a detailed explanation: the airship was apparently flying using our magical power. She went over the principles, but there were too many technical terms for me to follow. Even the hero, who had once explained basic principles of flight, couldn’t understand Noah’s explanation this time. Sighing at our puzzled faces, Noah summarized it simply. Basically, they used the magical power collected from us to power engines and control mechanisms—if you can manage the magic and the rudder, the ship would do the rest.

Noah’s profession was supposed to be a martial artist, but with the extra skill “Creation” she had, she seemed more like a scientist or a polymath. She’d even created the elixir of immortality herself and often talked about herbs and medicine with Amaryllis. Having lived long, she’d learned whatever piqued her interest, acquiring near-expert knowledge in several fields. Combat skills are biased by profession, but knowledge isn’t—Noah’s words were that the more knowledge one has, the better, even if it doesn’t show up as a skill. Right now she was studying the magical tools used to build the airship and learning about our world.

When everyone fed their magical power into the huge Ogre King's Demon Stone mounted next to the helm, the ship started to move the instant a certain threshold of power was reached.

After a heavy load pressed down on my body, the whole ship gently rose into the sky. In no time the safe house shrank to a dot, and far below we could see the full view of the Sacred Tree at the center of Elf territory.

The heroes cheered and leaned over the deck.

“Oh! That’s Elf territory?”

“Big tree! It’s glowing or something?”

“Look—Uruk looks so pretty from up here~”

While the heroes gawked at the distant city, Noah folded her arms and spoke calmly.

“I’m sorry, but since this was thrown together quickly, don’t expect much in terms of defense. I did add windbreaks and other necessary things, but if you fall from the ship I can’t catch you and I won’t go after you.”

The heroes who’d peeked straight down blanched and shuffled cautiously back to the center of the ship.

Precise speed aside, falling from an airship traveling at that height and velocity has only one possible outcome. I shuddered at the thought.

Seeing their pale faces, Noah listed more cautions.

“If all goes as planned we’ll reach around the middle of Demon Clan territory. But if something unexpected forces us to detour and we use more magic, we might fall into the sea. So I want the person with the largest magical power here to supply magic frequently.”

Everyone looked at Amelia. She returned the gaze and nodded. With a magical reserve as vast as an ocean, she could spare some for the ship without issue.

“I’ll be the main supplier. But what if I’m otherwise occupied?”

“What do you mean, ‘otherwise occupied’? Does something as dangerous happen in the sky as on land?”

A roar answered the hero’s question—voices from demonic beasts at the very edge of my presence detection and danger sense.

“Monsters live on sea and land—and in the sky too. Hungry wyverns have arrived.”

Through the windbreak magic, between clouds, a dragonkind monster was drooling over what was probably prey it had just spotted after a long while. My presence detection showed about ten of them heading our way.

“There’s a minimal barrier, but that many wyverns hitting the ship at once won’t hold. We can handle a few, maybe, but not a swarm.”

Hearing Noah’s calm assessment, I ran to the bow.

By the time my shadow magic—one of my longer-range attacks—could reach them, it would already be too late.