Chapter 17

Selina had a pretty good grasp of things we didn't know, such as the overall flow of how the kingdom's army operated.

Things like, if a soldier's body was found on the field, it would be buried in a suitable spot and marked, and later, the responsible unit would recover it and hold a funeral.

Lirisa and I built a temporary grave for Theo near the crashed airship.

Standing before the grave, I had various thoughts.

How could this tragedy have been prevented?

It was simple.

Antidotes, flares, communicators...

If even one of those had been properly supplied, Theo would have returned to the airship alive with us.

And another question arose.

Would Theo's death be the end of it?

Would Viscount Lemming come to his senses because of Theo's death and become a proper commander?

No way.

Viscount Lemming wouldn't even bat an eye upon hearing the news of Theo's death.

And he would likely push the rest of us into dangerous situations.

The commander is, in essence, the entire unit.

If the commander, who is practically everything, is defective, what should be done?

It was only after sending Theo off that I could make a proper resolve.

"Ryan?"

"…?"

I raised my head at Celina's call.

She stood by Theo's grave, where I had picked up a suitable piece of wood to make a temporary headstone, and for some reason, she was looking at me with very uneasy eyes.

She spoke very carefully.

"I was going to ask for your help in searching the airship...Um...Ryan.You're not thinking anything strange, are you?"

"Strange thoughts?"

Only then did I examine myself.

My appearance, digging a pit large enough for a person next to Theo's temporary grave with a shovel.

"Ah..."

Indeed.

Realizing what Celina was thinking, I put down the shovel and gave a small smile.

"There's no way."

It seemed Celina thought I was making a wrong choice, having been shocked by Theo's death.

She was mistaken.

I wasn't an emotional person who would end my own life by following a dead person, nor were my feelings for Theo that passionate.

This pit belonged to someone else.

I was going to kill Viscount Lemming.

***

I helped Selina thoroughly search the wreckage of the crashed airship.

When I was desperate to find an antidote for Theo, I hadn't paid much attention, but there must be quite a few financially valuable items left inside the airship.

Especially if we found even one intact airship part, it would significantly boost Unit 707's budget.

A White Hero's airship carrying a Level 2 Hero would surely be flying towards this location, but considering the distance, we had plenty of time.

The player would arrive much later, staring blankly at the empty wreckage with a look of despair.

"By the way, it's amazing you found an airship like this."

"What do you mean?"

"This was my first deployment, you see.

So I really wanted to do well.

When I was on deck, I had my eyes peeled, hoping to salvage something, but I never spotted this airship."

"…"

I, having a guilty conscience, could only remain silent.

The wreckage of the crashed airship had apparently been left for quite some time, as it was covered in tree branches and vines, making it difficult to spot from above.

It was natural that Selina hadn't discovered it, and I wouldn't have even known such a thing existed without the Dragon's Eye.

"I've been thinking about this for a while, but if I were the commander...No, what am I saying?Forget it."

"…?"

"I've rambled enough.Let's focus on the search."

I couldn't fathom what she wanted to say.

But for me, who had many secrets, it was rather a relief that she glossed over it.

As Selina and I chatted about this and that, the search had progressed considerably, and only the engine room remained.

Unfortunately, we hadn't found any intact airship parts until this point.

Only the engine was left, but selina and I didn't have high hopes.

"I'll open the door."

selina turned the doorknob.

The door didn't move easily, perhaps because the door frame was slightly warped from the impact of the crash.

It was only when Selina and I combined our strength that we were finally able to detach the door.

The inside of the engine room was unusually cold and quiet compared to other areas.

One might expect an engine room to be complexly covered in pipes for fuel and coolant, but airship engines are based on magic, not science.

Therefore, complex pipelines don't exist.

Instead, magic circuits emitting a faint light were intricately intertwined on the engine's surface.

"This is..."

Selina, who discovered the engine in the center of the engine room, her eyes shone.

She trotted over with light steps, examined the engine's condition this way and that, and smiled brightly.

"Ryan! We finally found an intact part!And the intact part is the most expensive engine, we're lucky!"

"...Indeed.We were lucky."

Truly.

It was nothing short of a miracle.

I had agonized countless times over how to draw out Viscount Lemming's true form to kill him, as he had never once shown his true self.

I had been fretting alone, unable to find a way.

But finding the engine in such perfect condition clearly meant that even the heavens wished for Viscount Lemming's death.

Even a small airship engine holds immense value.

Considering greedy Viscount Lemming's nature, he would not give up the engine.

And removing an airship engine essentially requires a magician.

Viscount Lemming would personally visit this place for the sake of his own desires.

***

Lirisa stood before Theo's grave for a long time.

The Lilisa I knew was a very warm-hearted person.

I worried that her psychological state might become unstable due to Theo's death.

"Ryan.Is the search over?"

Contrary to my worries, she seemed fine.

Seeing her smile brightly, as if she had never shed a tear, made me wonder if I was the one whose psychological state needed worrying about, rather than Lilisa.

"You don't look well.It seems you didn't manage to salvage anything decent.But don't be too disappointed.After all, anything great we find would only fatten Viscount Lemming's wallet anyway."

"Lilisa."

"Yes?"

"I have a favor to ask you."

"A favor?"

Lilisa cautiously examined my expression.

As if trying to read my thoughts.

To be honest, I debated dozens of times whether it was right to ask her this favor.

But to execute what I had in mind, I needed someone's help, and Lilisa was far more trustworthy than Adam or Celina.

Lilisa, lost in thought for a moment, nodded, telling me to speak.

Lilisa wouldn't betray me.

Believing that, I opened my mouth.

"I'm going to kill Viscount Lemming."

"…!"

As expected, Lilisa was greatly surprised.

Her eyes widened to their limits, and her hands were neatly brought together in front of her mouth to hide its gaping.

She took a deep breath, only rolling her eyes, and then began to scan her surroundings this time.

Edam and Selina were talking some distance away.

Judging by Selina's bright expression, they were likely discussing the airship engine they had just found.

Lilisa narrowed the distance until her breathing was clearly audible if one listened closely and whispered.

"What are you talking about?

You're going to kill Viscount Lemming...?"

"Lilisa.I want to live.What about you?"

"...Me too.When the unit split and I parted from my brother, we promised to survive together.You know, don't you?

We refugee conscripts can be discharged after just three years of service.

It's not much, but there's also retirement pay."

Lilisa smiled faintly, talking about her brother who wasn't here.

I remembered hearing that her brother was also conscripted and serving in the military.

Unlike Lilisa, who was chosen as a suitable candidate for the growth system, her brother, who wasn't, would probably have been drafted as a regular soldier by now.

The probability of a regular soldier surviving on the battlefield is extremely low, but Lilisa seemed to have no doubt that her brother would survive and be discharged.

"I'm planning to combine my retirement pay and my brother's retirement pay to operate a small orchard.

I wanted to grow peaches, and my brother wanted to grow apples, and we used to fight about it..."

"Yes.I hope it turns out that way."

"Thank you."

"But you know it too.If we stay under Viscount Lemming, that dream won't come true."

"..."

Lirisa fell silent.

The rapid darkening of her expression indicated that she, too, agreed with my opinion.

Because of this, I was able to continue speaking with conviction.

"I kept thinking about how we could survive."

"And the result of your deliberation is killing Viscount Lemming?"

"That's right."

"..."

"I have a way.But I can't do it alone.I need your help.Even if I fail, I won't cause you any trouble."

Lilisa once again looked in the direction of Adam and Selina.

Then, unable to bear her anxiety, she began to bite her nails.

This was not just any request; it was to participate in the assassination of a noble.

I didn't expect her to readily agree to help.

I waited for her to make a decision.

And a moment later.

Lilisa nodded with a determined expression.

"What can I do to help you?"

***

Among the supplies we secured this time was a communicator.

As the name suggests, it was a tool that enabled communication with distant allies, but unlike real-world ones, it used the power of magic.

We decided that it was impossible to move the supplies here by manpower, so we chose to call Unit 707's airship using the communicator.

"But how do you use this?"

Adam, who naturally became responsible for the communicator because he was the field commander, muttered in confusion.

Adam sent me a pleading look for help.

"I don't know either."

I, too, knew about the communicator's existence and purpose, but I didn't know the exact usage.

No matter how much D&K tried to maximize realism in the game, it didn't focus on such minute details.

In the end, Celina stepped forward again.

"It's probably best for everyone to know how to use it, just in case.You see the green triangular button here?If you press it three times consecutively, an emergency signal will be sent to the nearest Alliance airship.Normally, you'd match the communication frequency with your unit's airship and use the blue round button, but since we haven't done that, let's use this method.The closest airship at this point will likely be Unit 707's airship."

"Alright."

Adam nodded and pressed the triangular button three times consecutively as Celina instructed.

The signal device emitted several clear, transparent sounds.

But there was no reaction.

"This human...!"

Selina exploded in anger once again.

Communication standby during an operation is a fundamental basic.

Since their unit's commander wasn't even following such a basic rule, Celina's anger was perfectly justified.

After a whopping twelve attempts, a response finally came.

"...Who is this.State your unit and name."