Chapter 65: Aerial Combat (4)
The three had raced through the air like mad, and only just managed to rescue Gale before he drifted any farther—
Or worse, drowned.
“Puhhek!”
They laid Gale face-down on a broad, jutting rock and began to mercilessly pound on his back.
It was to make him cough up the water he’d swallowed.
“Augh! It hurts! I said it hurts!”
“Quit whining. This is all for saving your dumb ass. Bear with it.”
“You bastard…! You’re hitting me extra hard on purpose! AAAAAH!”
For the record, the one delivering the hardest hits was Sercia Edelweiss.
“Heal.”
Once Gale had mostly recovered, she cast a healing spell on him. The small wounds littering his body began to mend.
Wow…
Aajen Clover could only marvel in silence. Even though he’d seen it a few times before, the way healing magic seemed to rewind time itself always captivated him.
“Phew, I feel alive again.”
With a refreshed look, Gale twisted his neck side to side and sat up. Stretching and munching on his emergency rations, he looked completely unbothered.
Sercia gave him an incredulous, almost speechless stare.
“Man~ That’s one killer glare you’ve got there, miss. You know, you’ll never be popular if you act like that in public.”
Gale giggled to himself, pointing at her like some pathetic uncle teasing his niece.
But the girl in front of him wasn’t some helpless child.
Fwoosh!
A small flame rose in Sercia’s hand as she smiled sweetly.
“What was that? Mind repeating yourself?”
“My apologies. Just messin’ around.”
“You should’ve started there.”
She nonchalantly extinguished the flame in her palm as Gale immediately lowered his head in defeat.
Then she raised an eyebrow and asked:
“So what exactly were you doing up there before getting swept down the waterfall?”
“Ah, well, that’s…”
Gale scratched his cheek awkwardly.
Seeing him hesitate, the three silently pressured him. It wasn’t just Sercia—Calix and Aajen were equally curious.
“To tell the truth…”
Let’s rewind the timeline a bit—back to when Gale had fled from Elwin.
“Wow. I actually pulled it off?”
He hadn’t really believed it was possible, but somehow Gale had escaped the grasp of that demon!
Thanks to his stealth skills—or so he tried to convince himself.
In reality, a number of coincidences had aligned in his favor.
“Heheheh.”
What mattered was, he’d avoided being tossed off the airship.
“Eheheheh~”
Laughing slyly, he bolted with glee—
“Ah.”
—Only to realize midway that he had nowhere to go. Naturally, he wasn’t seriously running away.
No matter how much he whined, Gale actually liked this lifestyle.
‘This madness I can’t explain… and the memories I’ve lost…’
Only Elwin Krieger—that incredible boy—might know how to fix it.
So that faint glimmer of hope was something Gale had no choice but to cling to.
“So, what now…”
But going straight back to the airship would mean facing punishment. And not just from Elwin—the rest of the Spero members would chew him out too.
“Guess it’s better to link up with the butler’s group.”
Gale sighed deeply.
“But how am I supposed to find him in this vast place…”
Nevera Valley was massive and rugged, with complex terrain. And he had no clue where Nahrhan and Enaka had gone.
Even if he managed to find them, Gale worried what kind of sermon he’d get from that Elwin-fanatic Nahrhan Ferdic.
“…Well, guess I don’t have much choice.”
When he’d first looked down into the valley—
So deep and dark he couldn’t see the bottom—
—Huk!
Gale had been overwhelmed by an unexplainable fear. It wrapped around his entire body like a suffocating shroud. He couldn’t resist. Couldn’t endure it.
All he could do was stumble back a few steps.
Only after distancing himself from the abyss did he realize he’d been holding his breath.
“…I don’t think I’m afraid of heights.”
Back on the airship, or during his mercenary days climbing high cliffs and mountains—he’d been just fine. In fact, he was more energetic than most.
But for some reason… looking into the bottomless pit of Nevera Valley was painful.
“Better to take a scolding later. There’s no way I’m jumping down there…”
He muttered while walking aimlessly—
“…Voices?”
He heard murmuring from somewhere. At first, he thought it might be Nahrhan and Enaka, but as he got closer—
There were too many voices for just two people.
“…”
Gale held his breath and crept closer, a quiet smile on his lips.
Bingo.
He had a keen instinct for sniffing out schemes. He immediately sensed the people talking were enemies.
‘Depicio, huh.’
It was his unknown trait, “Troublemaker,” kicking in again!
‘Lucky~ Now I’ve got an excuse to explain my absence.’
If he took out these guys, it’d count as a contribution.
Maybe the nagging he’d get later for running off would be reduced.
Hiding in the thick brush nearby, Gale observed them.
Sharp ears, wings, tails—distinctive traits and shady black outfits with masks.
They were practically shouting “I’m a Depicio assassin!” with their appearance.
“Wow.”
But what really caught his eye was the massive object they were transporting.
Rounded and metallic, like it was made of iron plates.
With all his worldly experience, Gale recognized what it was.
“…A submarine?”
Why the hell was that here? He muttered without thinking.
But in quiet places, stray words always seem louder.
“Who’s there!?”
His impeccable stealth—enough to fool assassins—was instantly undone.
“Crap. Been a while since I botched it this bad… Man, this is embarrassing.”
Thank god no one saw that. If his comrades had, they’d be teasing him for weeks.
Scratching his head, Gale slowly stood and moved his hand to his waist—
Ready to draw and strike at any moment.
“You know who I am, right? This ol’ guy doesn’t like killing too much. So if you don’t wanna die, I suggest you surrender, bright young assassins~”
With his other hand, he gripped the gun hidden at his chest—ready to blow a head off with pinpoint aim.
Gale never let his guard down. Not even against weaker enemies.
That, he believed, was his greatest strength.
“What nonsense!”
Apparently unaware, one dopey-looking assassin shouted.
“Why is some suspicious, weak-looking geezer like you even here?!”
He clearly hadn’t received the intel from Skya Royal Hospital—and didn’t recognize Gale.
“You should be the one surrendering! I’ll give you a painless death!”
Suddenly, Gale bowed his head. The assassins thought it was out of fear.
They were dead wrong.
“…It’s fine if I call myself an old man.”
Gale’s voice was low and grim.
His red eyes gleamed fiercely.
“But if someone else calls me that—I can’t forgive it—!”
Letting out a feral roar, Gale drew his saber in one hand and his magic gun in the other.
The saber slashed through the air like a whip, while the gun spat blazing bullets.
The result?
Of course—it was Gale’s overwhelming victory.
“Uuuuugh…”
“Eek…”
“Ow… Hurts…”
He used White Snake’s Web, the same rope-like tool he’d carried even after becoming a Hunter, to bind the assassins.
“Phew, that’s that.”
Normally, Gale preferred to finish enemies off—
Tch.
—but something about these kids, with their baby faces and clumsy movements, made him hesitate.
Instead, he figured capturing them to get intel on Depicio was more worthwhile.
Leaving the final decision to Elwin, he glared at the squirming captives.
“Don’t move. Try to run, and I swear I’ll—!”
“Eeek!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
Once they shrank like terrified squids, Gale turned toward the submarine.
He climbed on top and began inspecting it—then spotted something.
“Huh? What’s this?”
A round red button.
Something about it just begged to be pressed.
And Gale… didn’t resist.
“A real man’s gotta be bold! Here goes!”
But he should have resisted.
Because that button—
“Ah, no—!”
One of the assassins, still tied up, suddenly yelled.
“That’s the launch button—!”
“What?!”
But it was too late.
The submarine had already activated—and Gale, standing outside it, was—
Splash!
“WAAAAAH! Gurgle—PFFT! BLEGH!”
Swept into the river as the sub departed. And Gale’s misfortune didn’t end there.
“Wait, no—no no no—!”
The place he’d fallen into? The upper reaches of Nelly Falls.
The current was fierce. Even locals avoided going near it.
“SOMEBODY HELLLLLLP—!”
And that… was how he ended up drifting here.
Of course, Gale didn’t mention the part about being paralyzed by terror after seeing Nevera Valley’s abyss.
“Well, so… yeah, that’s what happened.”
After hearing Gale’s story, the three were left speechless.
“…Hah. I knew you were an idiot, but not a raving idiot.”
“You lunatic! Are you out of your mind?!”
“Haha…”
As each of them gave Gale a piece of their mind—
“Hmm? Did it just get dark all of a sudden…?”
A massive shadow loomed above them. Instinctively, they looked up.
They shouldn’t have. If they hadn’t, at least their deaths would’ve been painless.
“…Huh?”
Above them hovered a pitch-black airship—definitely not Elwin’s. Not Spero’s either.
Clunk.
They saw it clearly—a huge magic cannon mounted on the front of the ship.
Aimed right at them.
Woooooom—!
An overwhelming amount of mana gathered at its muzzle.