I didn’t mention anything to Duran or Pait. There was no point popping their balloon. I was curious if this girl could see the future or not. If this dungeon at as much lore as they suggested, perhaps it was using the past to predict the future. I had no clue. I was also prepared to accept that the dungeon was sentient, and the soothsayer was the dungeon itself.

Either way, I planned to stay away from the dungeon, and as for the master or avatar of the dungeon, I would respectfully speak to them on behalf of Duran, but otherwise keep my distance. If I had to invoke Dirage’s name and the council of the dungeon masters, then I would, even though I didn’t truly know what that entailed, having never gone to such a meeting.

All I knew was that this next week was my vacation, and I wasn’t going to spend it playing around in some place called the Abyss. What? It wasn’t going to happen. If the dungeon somehow became an issue, I would just start dropping meteors on it until it collapsed. It didn’t sound like this place was underground, and if the canyon collapsed and buried the place, it’d probably be better for everyone. Perhaps we could even open up trade with Shie Gescar!

As I was thinking about how this wasn’t going to become a dangerous adventure where I had to put my life on the line, we finished our approach. There was a small platform that could be risen with levies that the ship used to bring us on board. Most of the girls could jump and or fly to the ship, but that would probably be rude. We gave out farewells to Duran who finally turned away and left as we rose into the air painfully slowly.

Stolen story; please report.

Terra clung to me fearfully as we started our ascent. During a normal time, this would have been cute and I would have loved for a fearful girl to cling to me for protection, but Terra was a nine-foot-tall golem made of solid metal. Not only was she so heavy that the ropes seriously sounded like they might break, which only made her more afraid and cling to me harder, but she wasn’t soft or cute at all. It was decided. The first thing we’d do when we got to Jespain was to find the technology to build her a body.

After about five minutes of rising, Celeste lost her patience, and turning into her small fairy form, flew up the rest of the way. Seeing Celeste cheat, Lydia grabbed onto the rope and started rapidly climbing. Using her acrobatics, she quickly made it up to the top as well. Shao also abandoned the ship, seemingly slipping into the shadow cast by the airship as it blocked the sun. Miki gave an irritated noise and then held out her arms. The temperature felt cold for a second, and then she rose into the air, flying up to the ship. Was she using spirits to carry her? That felt like an abuse of power!

The girls all leaving caused the platform to become unbalanced for a bit and it shifted with a sudden thud. Terra cried out in a girlish voice as she threw her arms around me. My face was buried into the rock chest of a crying golem, which is where I remained for the rest of my ascent. This vacation was starting well.