28 – Flight

Vivi let the adventurers who had defended the Convoy claim the spoils of war, but only after extracting a promise that the commoners affected would also be taken care of.

Sure, many of the adventurers present had only fought for their own sakes, but their efforts had delayed the monsters and prevented a worse disaster nonetheless. And it wasn’t like she needed the coin herself. Hopefully the tragedy could be mitigated, not that money solved all problems. Especially for those who hadn’t made it. But it was something.

While she waited for the engineers to confirm that the Convoy was operational, she stood on the central carriage and kept watch over the adventurers dashing from corpse to corpse to loot the sea of bodies. Golden spears impaled any monster that came so much as two thousand paces from the Convoy. Bloodthirsty and half-mad the creatures were, even they eventually learned their lesson when faced with a battlefield strewn with corpses.

In the meantime, Saffra sat next to her, legs dangling off the ledge of the Convoy’s hull. Her brow was furrowed as she worked through her next attempt at [Scorchlance]. She made a surprisingly diligent student, using her downtime even after an event like this to study. She was making good progress, too. She thought. It wasn’t like she had a standard to go off.

Jasper jogged up when the engineers had finished. “Didn’t find anything wrong,” he called. “Just waiting for you to get inside, and we’ll be off.”

She nodded and followed him back to the Lounge.

Striding in, she was met with something she’d forgotten about. Lord Caldimore and his entourage. A petty nobleman was hardly important on the scale of the catastrophe she’d been dealing with, so he had passed out of her mind entirely.

Not she from his, though. He seemed to be aware of what had transpired. That she had been the one to pick up the Convoy—with them inside—and repair the vehicle. As well as kill a Titled-rank monster. And all other monsters in thousands of meters.

Their eyes didn’t meet hers. They stalwartly pretended she didn’t exist, and not as a snub, but in the way a mouse might freeze underneath a cat, not sure what else to do besides remain small and quiet and hope the beast’s attention passed over it. Vivi liked to imagine they were sweating underneath their fancy coats. Lord Caldimore had certainly realized the magnitude of his mistake.

She snorted. Saffra also seemed pleased by the development, though she didn’t let herself make a show of it. The catgirl shot a number of smug looks toward the men, though, and especially the pushy Caldimore brat, who was palest of the bunch.

They took their seats secluded from the rest, and just like that, they were back on track. Literally and figuratively. The Convoy glided forward, with Vivi barely noticing the jerk of its launch thanks to the dampening enchantments.

***

She didn’t have such terrible luck that monsters attacked the Convoy twice. The rest of the trip—around ten hours—passed without issue.

She spent that time mentoring Saffra, sorting through her massive spell list, ruminating over the residual signature of the dimensional anomaly and other various problems—like what to do when they reached Meridian—and idly watching scenery fly by with an empty mind. She was only human, and a new world’s charm would take a while to wear off.

Er, demonic. She was only demonic. She was going to mess that up in conversation eventually, wasn’t she?

Evening had come and passed by the time the Convoy rolled into the station. The blanket of night had fallen over the city of Siroc. Vivi sent out a [Farsight] and saw a commotion developing outside—no doubt thanks to the delay created by the Convoy’s derailment. A smaller one-carriage car, filled with a rescue crew, had intercepted them an hour outside the city, then escorted them back. The City Guard, or some other authorities, had arrived to no doubt interrogate everyone aboard and form an understanding of what had happened.

In short, a complete debacle was brewing, one she would be dragged into if she didn’t excuse herself. She would not be repeating Prismarche.

“We’ll be taking our leave,” Vivi told Saffra, holding her hand out. “The next few hours will be extremely annoying, otherwise.”

Confused, Saffra put her hand in Vivi’s. She [Blinked] them onto a rooftop a safe distance away. Saffra staggered, but found her footing.

“W-whoa. That felt weird.”

Spatial transportation wasn’t pleasant, even for Vivi, so she sympathized. Not everyone was like Prismarche’s Guard Captain to handle it so easily.

“Let’s find an inn for the night. You know these cities better than I do. Lead?”

Saffra perked up, happy to be given a task she could help with. She stood on her toes to get an extra inch of perspective, gaze sweeping out across the city.

She pointed. “That way.”

Vivi [Blinked] them onto a new roof, and that process continued as Saffra took the lead.

The night closed after a quick search for a tavern and a resulting hearty meal. Vivi woke the next morning pleased that the City Guard hadn’t tracked her down and demanded a report. Safe for now, but maybe not for long, so she wouldn’t idle.

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She met Saffra at the tavern bar, and the catgirl was already scarfing down her breakfast. Eggs, bread, ham, and a mug of the weak ale that served as a water replacement for this world. Vivi was still getting used to the taste of it all.

“We’ll be skipping the Convoy,” Vivi told her as she slid into the seat next to her.

Saffra paused with her fork half-raised. Bits of egg clung to the side of her mouth, and Vivi repressed the urge to brush it away for her.

“Skipping?” Saffra asked through a mouthful of food.

Her manners, Vivi had noticed, weren’t the best. And not even because she didn’t know better—Saffra realized her breach of manners a second later and swallowed, blushing slightly. The egg remained, and Vivi’s hand twitched, but she fought the urge. She didn’t think Saffra was the kind of person who liked being touched without warning. Vivi sympathized. She was the same.

“What do you mean skipping?” Saffra asked. “We’re not going to Meridian?”

Vivi crushed the hopeful look in her eyes. Saffra clearly didn’t want to head back to the city that hosted the Institute, but it was a necessity.

“We are. Just more directly.”

“Oh.” She deflated, but shook it away. “Directly? What does that mean?”

“The Convoy is too slow, and I don’t want another incident. I’ll bring us there with flight and acceleration spells.”

She had considered doing that from the start, but had wanted to explore, to take a leisurely trip through the world of Seven Cataclysms. But she reluctantly admitted that she needed to get a move on. Not only was there the dimensional anomaly, but dawdling by taking another Convoy ride might invite a second accident.

“Flight and acceleration spells,” Saffra repeated slowly. “Won’t that take even longer? The Convoy is really fast.” After a second, she grimaced. “Who am I kidding? It’s you. Okay. That’s fine. Is there anything you need from me?”

Vivi shook her head. “I was just letting you know.”