22

As Eris and Ruijerd talked, I worked. For this new model drone, I decided to go with two engines instead of the single engine design on the smaller drone—speed was of the essence here. Because it would be acting as a carrier, I made it large—so large I had to knock down the walls and raise them again when I was satisfied it was big enough—and made the interior hollow, giving it a set of doors on the bottom that would open and release smaller drones.

I gave it retractable landing struts so that it could touch down somewhere if needed. Then, because I saw the need for vertical takeoff and landing, along with hovering in place, and wanted to make it easier on the spirit I was planning to stick into it I added a set of four small, vertical facing engines that would be sealed off under normal flight conditions for aerodynamic reasons. Those, I set each on their own independently turning gimbal system so they could direct thrust as needed. Luckily, I didn't actually need to do anything beyond build the parts and tie in some control enchantments—the spirit I summoned would do the rest.

Because I was a bit paranoid about defending it, I also enchanted in a Shield spell and Invisibility, on top of the general elemental manipulation spells I'd added to the phones—then I had Sprite go ahead and update the phones with those too, in case they were needed. It would be easier to shield against a threat than to try to fix 'dead,' after all. The rest of the enchantments were pretty much copy/pasted from the phones and other drones at this point, since nothing really needed to be added that I could think of at the moment—but I something did come up, I could remote update it.

Finally, looking over the new engines, I decided that the situation warranted breaking out something I'd been thinking about for a while now but hadn't had a need for yet and so hadn't really gotten around to playing with. Before now, all my 'jet' engines were essentially forced air scoops running off a modified wind spell. The short version was, they ran off of compressed air. But I really wanted this thing to get where it was going as soon as possible and while compressed air engines were fast (I'd gotten up to, at a guess, 250 in the ultralight on a relatively small version of that engine), actual jet engines were faster.

Why not Send it to Sylphie or Roxy, since they were closer? Actually, that was the plan. It still had to cover the ground between either Ars or Shirone back to Fittoa though.

I created a smaller drone as a mock-up for the new design and held it in place with Telekinesis, then enchanted the new, smaller engine with the spells I wanted. Since I was holding it in place, I could power it myself, so there was no need for a mana crystal or summoned spirit yet. When I was satisfied, I looked over to my companions. "I'm about to test something. This could get loud."

Eris looked over, saw what I was working on, and grinned like a loon. She knew from experience that any time I improved something like this, that improvement generally went towards every other design that worked on the same principals. So if I improved my bike, hers got the same improvements shortly after. When I went from the fan engine to the pressure jet, Eris had demanded I take her up and had the time of her life. To her, improvements with something like this generally translated to her getting to ride something fast, and the girl was a speed demon.

Bracing myself with Telekinesis and creating a shield around myself just in case, I fired up the engine.

The engine promptly exploded, sending shrapnel pinging off my shield. Instead of looking annoyed, Eris only looked more excited.

"Well, that didn't work."

Apparently just throwing fire and wind together was a bad idea. What about… A fuel tank? Pull water from the air. Split water into hydrogen and oxygen in separate tanks. Mix hydrogen and oxygen in engine. Cram in air to burn. Ignite fuel air mixture. Second ignition as it exits the engine… Essentially, a hybrid between a hydroxy engine and a true ramjet with afterburner.

More shaping of metal, more enchanting, more shields… And I was ready to test again.

This time, it didn't explode. Not immediately. No, the single engine roared to life and flames shot out the ass end at it tried to hit escape velocity and I held it in place. The force behind it was immense and the engine was loud, but it seemed stable. Ish. It had enough force that where it was pressing against the telekinetic force holding it, the frame was starting to warp. Still, I had learned my lesson from the tires. Even with magic, sometimes problems weren't immediately obvious.

So, I tested it to failure. I upped the output to full burn and waited. Eventually, the metal began to glow a cherry red, then parts began to slag. Finally, the whole thing exploded when, if I had to guess, something hot got to the hydrogen fuel tank. Right. No fuel tanks. Straight conversion from atmosphere inside the jet itself. Going to need cooling too, so an ice spell on the engines maybe. What about something less intense than a full time burn and instead, timed pulses? The old 'donuts on a rope.' Could get it up into scramjet territory if I do it right. Just requires changing the internal structure for more compression, if I recall correctly. Add in magic and we could up that by a lot.Also, I think I can just enchant it to use earth magic to self-repair, so I'll test that too. That way, if it starts looking like it's going to break, Sprite can fix it.

As I worked, I set my phone to the side. "Sprite, call Roxy and Sylphie again for me."

"I'll reconnect you to their group call. Should I add Eris, master?"

I sent a look over at the girl talking to the Superd. "Eris, I'm going to call Roxy and Sylphie again," I called out to her.

Eris looked between me and the Superd warrior. Ruijerd gestured for her to join me. "Go. I will go hunt for food."

"Mm," Eris nodded, hurrying over to sit beside me.

So we wouldn't have to hear the drone's engines, or it exploding, I enveloped the whole thing in a sphere of silence. Then, I had Sprite place the call. I saw that in addition to Roxy and Sylphie, we had the blonde on Sylphie's side still—though apparently Sauros had hung up at some point, so it was just the three of them. The slightly older girl's sky blue eyes immediately shifted to me. "You're American!" she accused.

I sighed. "Guilty as charged." Casting a sidelong look at Eris, I considered her for a moment. "So, truth is I'm not from this world—"

"Reincarnated. I know. Roxy and Sylphie told me."

Blinking, I turned my gaze back to the hologram. Roxy had the good grace to blush. "Did she now?"

"Yeah," Eris nodded. "Doesn't really change anything. Annoyed you didn't tell me yourself, but… I probably would've blabbed it to everyone if you had earlier anyway."

Nodding at that, I asked, "So, you two told Eris?"

It was Sylphie who answered. "Sorry, Rudy! We just thought—"

Roxy cut her off with a simple, "Yes."

No attempt to prevaricate, explain, plead, or anything else. A simple statement of fact, admittance that she did it, and apparent willingness to accept responsibility for it. I sighed. "Well, it's not like I wasn't considering considering it anyway, especially after last night. I would've told her eventually. Don't tell anyone else unless I give you permission, okay? Blondie there is the exception, if only because we figured each other out."

"I won't," Roxy agreed immediately.

"Okay!" was Sylphie's reply.

A simple "'Kay," was all I got from Eris.

Nodding, I sent the bluenette a threatening promising look. "Roxy, you're still getting a spanking later."

"Eh?! W-why?"

"You're old enough that you should have known better," I answered.

Hesitantly, Eris leaned closer and asked, "Can I watch?"

"EH?!" Roxy's response was a bit louder.

"Me too!" Sylphie cheered.

Roxy buried her face in her hands, hiding a blush. "Eep!"

The blonde laughing drew us out of our moment. "Wow. You really are a harem protagonist."

I sent her a flat look. "Not even remotely. Firstly, I'm not dense when it comes to recognizing when the women around me are interested." Eris and Sylphie nodded. "Secondly, I actively pursue women." Roxy nodded where she still had her face hidden. "Thirdly, I'm not some celibate Japanese herbivore man with decision paralysis or moral qualms about whether he should or shouldn't sleep with the women surrounding him. I can and do get laid." Eris leered, nodding enthusiastically.

"Now, not to be impolite, but who are you and why are you with Sylphie?" I asked the blonde.

"Rudy!" Sylphie hissed, trying to wave me off. I raised an eyebrow at that.

"Ariel," the blonde introduced herself with a smile. "And who might I have the pleasure of addressing?"

I considered the surroundings on Sylphie's side of the call, what the girl was wearing, and her general high class looks—on top of the fact that she had introduced herself as Ariel and was speaking in a more down-to-Earth manner. Mid-to-high ranked nobility, maybe royalty. She's not throwing around her titles or her noble status, and she's trying to make herself approachable and put herself on our level socially.And Sylphie, I looked at the formerly green-haired girl who nodded hesitantly, isn't giving more details and is implying I go along with it for now. Okay then. I'll play her game and see where it goes.

"Rudeus Greyrat."

Beside me, Eris puffed herself up. "Eris Boreas Greyrat."

Ariel nodded. "Sylphiette—Sylphie? Can I call you Sylphie?" she asked, turning her attention to the gre—white haired girl in question.

"Y-yes Your—"

"Ah ah ah! No. Ariel," she insisted, before gesturing at me. "Be more like Rudeus there. Please?" After getting a mumbled agreement from Sylphie, she said, "The others told me you were looking into the Fittoa situation?"

"Yeah. I should have a drone over there by mid-day tomorrow at the latest. Just depends on how long it takes to prototype, then I can Send it over."

Ariel blinked, before laughing. "Of course. I should have known. And you make these yourself? What all can they do? How do they work?"

"Yeah, I make them. They're basically flying wing style drones with forced air engines, aside from the big one I'm using for a carrier. I think I've managed to figure out a scramjet. Maybe. Still trying to keep it from exploding but I should have something that works by the morning. They've got many of the same enchantments the phones have on them, so remote A/V capability, and a few other spells—"

"By which you mean they're armed."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, yeah. American."

"Naturally," the girl laughed.

"And they're all controlled by summoned spirits."

Looking interested, Ariel asked, "What other things have you managed to import over from our world? Besides cellphones and drones, that is."

"You want it in order, or by what I think is the most impressive?" I considered it for a moment before a small grin crossed my lips. "Not that it matters, it starts the same way anyway."

"Oh? What do you feel was the most important?"

"The flush toilet, followed by the shower."

Ariel froze in place, her eyes growing slowly wider before she turned to Sylphie. "Is this true?"

Sylphie nodded, but it was Roxy who answered. "I helped Rudy build the first one. That was the day he told me about your world. My first hot bath was… amazing."

Orgasmic. She meant to say 'orgasmic.' She tried to be quiet, but I'd heard her in there having fun.

"They are pretty nice," Eris agreed.

Ariel whimpered. "No, no, no. You people don't understand. For you, this, this living in filth is normal and those things are a novelty at best! Nice, but you could do without. But you!" Ariel turned suddenly half-crazed eyes my direction. "You understand."

"I do," I agreed with a nod. "I could make you one when we get back, as a favor to a fellow modern day citizen of Earth."

Ariel looked like she could weep with joy. "Thank you."

"And speaking of returning, that brings up a good question. What is the kingdom of Asura going to do about the refugees, princess?"

The blonde flinched slightly, a quiet sigh escaping her lips. Sitting up, back straight, tucking her hands into her lap just so, and tilting her head to look down at me ever so slightly Ariel put on a kind smile. The time for pretending to be normal was over and we needed to talk business, and while she seemed reluctant to do so, that didn't stop her from doing it. "What is your magely title, Rudeus Greyrat?"

I sketched a half-bow. "King-level Elemental Mage Rudeus Greyrat, at your service… Second Princess Ariel Anemoi Asura."

Yeah, I'd done my research. I didn't recognize her on sight, but given her bearing and everything else, along with the name, the list of potential candidates was short. Considering that Sylphie cut herself off from addressing her as 'your highness,' that kind of shortened that list to one.

The girl's smile became slightly strained, but she nodded. "I see. As of now, my father, the king, is not aware of any disaster or happening in the Fittoa region of the kingdom. He is aware of an irregularity that teleported a monster into the palace garden and killed one of my guards, Derrick Redbat. A monster which Sylphiette rescued me from." She reached out and patted Sylphie on the shoulder once, her smile turning much more genuine for a moment. "However, it will be the better part of a week before scouts can reach the region, assess the situation, and report back."

"And if he had access to visual evidence?"

Ariel shook her head. "Your friends have adapted well to the idea, both from whatever you've taught them and from seeing it for themselves—not to mention, they all trust you greatly. My father is not so trusting—cannot be. Nor does he have the benefit of our knowledge. I believe you because I understand the technology and concepts involved, but lacking that information he would likely believe it to be a ruse of some sort. I cannot vouch for you in this as to do so would be to reveal my nature and that is a risk I cannot take—for both my reputation and safety."

"I see. They don't know you're a reincarnation. Fair enough, I didn't exactly tell my parents either, nor do I plan to. You're from Japan and if the royals are anything like most of the nobles, that must be rough. How old were you?"

The mask of 'Princess Ariel' cracked. "You have no idea. The nobility are all degenerate filth, but the royals take that and turn it into a contest. I was seventeen and in my third year of highschool. The things I've had to do, to sacrifice to fit in, just to keep them from suspecting that I'm not one of them…"

"I'm guessing you were the girl on the street that day?" Ariel nodded. "I'm sorry. If I could've saved you too, I would have."

Taking in a deep, shuddering breath, Ariel closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, the princess was back. "I don't blame you. It was our fault for having our argument in the middle of the street. The driver is equally at fault for his failure to stop. You did all that a man could in that situation—more even than most of my," she paused and I could see her forcing herself to correct the thought, "my former people would have. The past is the past. Let's leave it buried there and focus on the present."

"Agreed. What do you think the king will do, once he learns of the disaster? What will he do about the various refugees? Sprite hasn't had the drones up for long here and she's already spotted a few and had to intervene to prevent them from getting killed right away. And that's just the few within a small radius of where I am now. There's no telling how many are out there dying right this second. Eris' father would have likely suffered a similar fate, had we not intervened."

"He may submit a mission to the Adventurers' Guild, organizing a Search and Rescue mission and offering a reward for their return." After a moment's pause, she added, "Or he may decide it's a problem for the Lord of Fittoa and delegate it to your grandfather, Sauros," she directed her gaze to Eris, who nodded. "Who was next in the line of succession?"

"My father," Eris supplied.

"Who was also in Roa when the disaster struck," Ariel murmured. "Then it would probably go to your uncle." Eris winced and, seeing that, Ariel extended an olive branch. "I'll talk to father about it. If he doesn't handle it himself, I can bankroll it on behalf of myself as princess."

"Thank you," Eris muttered, looking away as she did.

"And I take it your father wouldn't take seeing Sauros on a call as proof of life and not hand over the reigns to her uncle?"

Ariel shook her head. "Most likely not. Not without having one of our court mages examine your magical cell phones and mostly figure out how they work."

"Yeah, that's not happening," I immediately denied. "Okay. If the Guild is handling it, I can go to Rikarisu's Guild office and submit the same mission. Then, I can scale up, build a plane or an airship, and we can come pick Sylphie and Roxy up and start looking for our families within the week."

Ariel's sharp-eyed gaze locked firmly on me. "You could build airships?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It'd probably take a while to get it right, but not that long. I've been experimenting with related stuff for a while. It's just a matter of putting it all together. Here, I'll send you a phone so you don't have to borrow Sylphie's and you can let me know when your dad makes his decision. Just don't let your court mages get ahold of it. I don't need someone trying to replicate the tech. Someone's been sending thieves and assassins after me for about a year now, and that was just over the bikes and an ultralight aircraft."

I Summoned a spare phone from the bunker to hand and Sent it line of sight to Ariel's own hands. The girl fumbled the phone, her mask as the princess breaking entirely as she caught it before looking up at me with wide eyes. "You can teleport things?!"

Roxy smirked at me. "I was wondering what it would take to finally break her."

"What? But— This is bullshit!" Ariel yelled.

Turning a more amused smile on Ariel, she said, "Now you see what we have to deal with."

Ignoring Roxy, Ariel asked, "You can teleport things! You can clearly do it line of sight. You have drones! Why can't you just teleport all the refugees back—"

"NO!" a chorus of three voices shouted her down instantly, silencing the princess and leaving her with a flummoxed expression.

Ariel glanced to her side where Sylphie shuddered. "Never. Again."

Eris was reacting likewise beside me. "So many tentacles."

Roxy pulled a face. "Rudy, did you upgrade your lab to include automatic purge protocols yet?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Anything that gets out of hand will get a Saint-level spell's worth of fire magic crammed into the space of an Elementary-level Fireball to the face."

Seeing our reactions, Ariel asked, "Okay, just, what? Would someone please explain?"

Sighing quietly, I fielded that one myself. "Someone," Eris winced, "suggested pretty much the same thing. At the time, I was experimenting with…" I blinked. "Oh. Shit."

"What?" Ariel demanded.

Eris and Sylphie turned their gazes onto me, but it was Roxy who asked, "Rudy, what do you think the odds of the test subjects surviving the teleport incident are?"

"Too high for comfort," I murmured. Clapping my hands, I grinned. "Good news though! They're all sterile. So we won't be overrun with a swarm of magically enhanced super mice!"

"'Magically enhanced super—'" Ariel blinked, her eyes going wide, before narrowing into a glare. "Did you make those things from Warhammer? The intelligent rats?"

"Not quite," I answered evasively. "Tiny was the closest thing to them, and he's dead."

"Unless he regenerated," Roxy whispered.

"Very. Very. Dead." I reiterated. Turning my attention back to Ariel, I asked, "You ever watch classic horror? American horror, that is."

Ariel shook her head. "Not really my genre, sorry. Scary things are scary. My friends made me watch the original Ring once and I refused to watch any other scary movies."

"Okay, well, let me explain. You see, what had happened was, we tried a live teleportation experiment on one of the lab mice I had been keeping for medical experiments—trying to develop higher level healing spells. Cause, you know, Millis."

"Yeah, those guys suck," Ariel agreed.

"Well, Tiny was a MOUS." Ariel raised an eyebrow. "Mouse of Unusual Size—"

"Princess Bride! I haven't seen that in ages." She stopped, then cleared her throat and retook her 'princess' pose. "Continue."

"As you wish." The mask cracked around a giggle and a smile. "Well, Tiny was a cantankerous, evil little shit. By the time we tried this experiment, he was about the size of a badger—and mean as one too. I Sent him from one side of the lab to the other. The problem is, we shouldn't have disregarded the warnings in the book. Summoning/Sending is a much lower level spell than Teleportation or creating a Portal. If you're into scifi, it's the equivalent of a cargo transporter—good for inanimate objects, but not something you send live specimens through. We Sent Tiny through and he came out looking like a badger crossed with a pillbug, covered in tentacles."

Eris covered her ears and shook her head. "La la la! I can't hear you!"

"Yeah, apparently it isn't immediately lethal. No, instead you get The Fly. He was, I guess spliced with tardigrades and likely some sort of intestinal parasite. Someone thought it'd be a good idea to take her sword to him—"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time!" Eris wailed, still covering her ears.

"Except some worms regenerate when you cut them. So instead of one armored tentacle badger, we got two. Then ten when they started moving again. Eventually, Sylphie and I killed it with fire."

The white-haired girl nodded. "It smelled really bad. And they screamed the entire time…"

By now, Ariel was looking a bit green around the gills. "You should have nuked the entire site from orbit, just to be sure. You're American, surely you've built one by now."

"So miss 'scary things are scary and I refuse to watch horror movies' has seen Aliens. And hey! I resent that accusation!" Ariel stared. "…I haven't had time," I admitted quietly.

"Please don't," Roxy shook her head.

Ariel cast a look between Roxy and myself before asking, "You told her about those?" I nodded and she sighed. "Well, please keep the nuclear genie in the bottle. As to the refugees, I can see that teleportation isn't an option. But you can build airships. Would you construct some and ferry refugees back to Fittoa?"

Looking between Eris, who shrugged, and Sylphie and Roxy who nodded, I gave my own shrug. "Sure, as long as I get paid."

"Out of my own pocket if I have to," Ariel agreed immediately. "In fact, I'll set things up for it tomorrow."

I guess we'll go with my original plan. Use drones to scout out the Demon Continent, find the survivors, and get them all down to Wind Port. Then I'll make some airships and send them home. Are you going to pay extra to get people from places other than the Demon Continent?"

Ariel nodded. "You're the only one I know of with the ability to do so, other than perhaps Perugius. And no one simply walks into Laputa and knocks on the door. As if they could get up there anyway."

"Fine. I guess it looks like we're not going to be making a quick trip back. Sylphie, what do you want to do about your mom and sister?"

The girl bit her lip and considered it. "I want to go get them, but even knowing they're safe in Sprite's care we don't know where they are."

"I'll send a drone once I have one made," I promised. "Have you tried summoning your bike?"

Sylphie shook her head. Pulling out her key, she held it out to the side of the bed and did so. What appeared was… mostly a bike, if it had been wrapped around a tree. Hers hadn't been in the bunker with ours, so it stood to reason that something could have happened to it. I winced, but Sylphie hummed. "I think I can fix this. The enchantments feel intact and the tires look fine, so all I really need to do is straighten out the metal."

Ariel stared. "Is that a motorcycle?"

"Yep," I nodded.

Considering the bike, Ariel asked, "Could you make a car? Or perhaps something larger?"

"Maybe. All I've got is bike tires, but I don't think it'd matter much. Why do you ask?"

Sending the girl at her side a fond smile, Ariel answered, "Sylphiette saved my life. I am in her debt. And yours, as her master. I would like to provide her an escort to wherever she needs to go to find her mother."

Reading further into that, I asked, "You suspect you're going to have to leave or something?"

The princess hesitated before nodding once. "Eventually. I've been considering bowing out of the political backbiting and leaving to go to Ranoa College of Magic for a while now. This would give me a legitimate excuse to leave and a way to get ahead of any messengers my siblings could send. My own magical bodyguard died in the teleport incident and I had hoped to ask to pay Sylphiette for her services, but that would keep her from rescuing her family. If I leave now however… Two birds, one stone."

Humming, I sent Sylphie a raised eyebrow. "It's your choice."

The white-haired girl nodded slowly before turning to Ariel. "My fee is that of a King-level mage and Intermediate-level swordsman."

Ariel laughed, agreeing with a nod. "Of course. I would pay whatever you like."

"Alright, now that that's settled," I cut in. "I'm going to hand the call off to Eris so I can get back to work on that carrier drone. Anything you need from me, ask her to relay and she can fill me in later. Sylphie, Eris, try to get ahold of your family and wake them up. Roxy, did Lilia and Aisha ever wake up?"

"They have not yet. Sprite said she would alert me when they did. She believes they are in the Shirone kingdom, within the castle, after some investigation using her imaging spells."

I blinked, before turning my eyes to the silently waiting and watching hologram of a woman in miniature, off to the side of my projection. "Thank you. Do you think you could…?"

The spirit smiled. "Of course, master. I cloaked them inside an invisibility spell and am moving them now, using telekinesis. I will choose an inn and set them down nearby, where they can wait for mistress Roxy."

Chuckling quietly, I sighed. "Thank you for anticipating my needs, Sprite. I know you do a lot for me, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask for more very soon."

"Command me as you will, my master. I will do whatever I can for you if it is within my power to do so."

Turning my attention back to the others, I said, "Okay. I've got to get back to it. Let Sprite know when you're ready to reconvene tomorrow and we'll get together and review where we stand. Hopefully, I'll have a drone in the air over Roa by then. Ariel, it was nice meeting you. We'll have to talk more later. Sylphie, Roxy, good night."

Having said our goodbyes, I had Sprite transfer the call over to Eris' phone and pocketed my own before shooing the girl off. Then, I settled in and got back to work.

That was how I spent the rest of the night, refining the drone design until I was sure it wouldn't explode. Shortly before dawn, yawning and feeling the lack of sleep but knowing that if I slept now I'd never get over the magical jet lag, I summoned up another wind spirit and had it take over the big drone, after I finished loading the last of the smaller drones inside (and having summoned a spirit for each). Four wind-based pressure engines lifted it up and out of our shelter before directing it away. Then, the main engines kicked in and it began to accelerate and climb, retractable doors closing over the VTOL engines as it picked up speed.

It circled a few times before it disappeared in a flash of multi-colored light as Sprite sent it back to the Central Continent, using the feed from Sylphie's phone there to send it to the sky over Ars, where it immediately began releasing a few of the smaller drones as it winged its way towards Roa—the drones each peeling off in a different direction. One to stay behind in Ars and one in each cardinal direction but west since Ars was situated on the coast. Over the next week, I planned to make more drones to Send to the current drones and spread out from there.

I checked the feed from my phone just to make sure everything was working as it should be, then instructed Sprite to let me know if something happened. Looking over the camp, I found Eris curled up asleep nearby under Ruijerd's cloak. The Superd man had watched the drone take off in silence, a contemplative look on his face. "Alright," I called over to him, "let's get a move on."

"You aren't going to sleep?"

I cast a healing spell on myself and shook my head. The spell would blunt the worst of the effects of sleep deprivation, but it wouldn't do any of the things sleep did for the body and mind—meaning I'd just put off the inevitable crash for a few hours. "I'm fine for now."

Reaching down, I shook Eris awake. The girl sat up with a confused look, starting slightly when she spotted Ruijerd before calming down and reminding me of that particular mess I wanted to investigate. Later. Way later. It didn't even make the top one hundred on the list of shit I needed to get done ASAP. "Oh. We're really here."

"Yeah," I quietly confirmed. "You hungry?" I asked, before realizing I hadn't eaten the night before. A glance over at the fire showed no leftovers from whatever Ruijerd brought back.

"Mm," Eris nodded, sitting up and rubbing sleep from her eyes.

I fished one of the MREs out of my backpack and broke it open, before offering her the bag. Eris dug out a handful of jerky and a couple of pieces of hardtack. I took a bit for myself before offering the package to Ruijerd. The man took it in hand and studied it curiously before fishing out a piece of jerky. He bit into it carefully before nodding, a small smile crossing his face. "It's good. Thank you."

I dug out the tea and made us some drinks to go with it. Once everyone was done, I put everything away and moved off to the side. "Alright, let's see what the damage is," I muttered, before focusing on my bike and summoning it. I had sent them to the underground storehouse, but I hadn't exactly been careful about it when I did, so I was worried that I might have damaged one of the frames or something.

Turns out, I needn't have worried and should have trusted my own skill at building them—or maybe my skill with Sending. Either way. My bike looked fine when I inspected it, both visually and with magic. Eris took out her key and summoned her own bike and I gave that a look over too before confirming it was good to ride. Ruijerd had stood and approached, looking at the bikes with curiosity. "What are they?"

Eris chuckled deviously, climbing onto her seat. "You'll see. Rudy! Knock down the walls!"

"Hold your horses," I grumbled. I considered summoning Ghislaine's bike, but she would need that to get back to Roa—or what was left of it—and it would be faster on wheels than on foot. Instead, I tried to summon the bike that Phillip and Sauros had been using. When that met with failure, I instead summoned the key for the bike and used it to summon the bike itself—since the keys were enchanted to summon a specific mana crystal and everything attached to it and not 'the bike.' That was how Sylphie had summoned her own bike and one of the reasons I had enchanted them the way I had—specifically so that if someone stole it and damaged or repainted it, I could still summon it as long as the mana crystal was intact. It arrived exactly as I had originally expected my own bike to, and in a pretty similar state to Sylphie's—with a warped frame and damaged parts. Thankfully, nothing was missing, so I was able to get it back into shape in just a few minutes.

Setting the newly restored bike upright, I patted the seat. "Okay, hop on."

Looking at Eris waiting impatiently, Ruijerd mimicked her pose on the bike, holding his spear in one hand. "Oh, hang on, you're going to need both hands," I held up a hand. A bit of reshaping the metal of the faring and I had a place to put the spear for now, until I could work up something like the mount for my staff. "Right, put that in here. Now, let me show you how it works."

Eventually, I lowered the wall and we took off, allowing Ruijerd to lead—even if he was still a bit wobbly on the bike at the moment. Several hours of time difference, so Roxy and Sylphie are still sleeping. I'll give them a call when I think they've woken up and we'll review and compare notes. In the meantime…

"Eris," I called to the girl, riding up beside her. "Tell me how things went with everyone else last night. And any update from Ghislaine?"

"Mom's fine. She was awake by the time we called her back. She's in some place called Labyrinth City. Roxy said it's about as dangerous outside the city as the Demon Continent, but she's got money so she'll be staying there for a while. Sylphie's mom and sister are in the north somewhere—she said thanks for sending her a drone, by the way. Sprite killed some kind of bears that were prowling around and now they're walking towards a town. Lilia and your half-sister woke up and are waiting on Roxy to get them out of the city in an inn. Ghislaine met up with some people and she's somewhere called the Conflict Zone. Sprite thinks dad is there too. She's actually pretty close to Roxy, but Ghislaine is going the opposite direction, back to Fittoa. Grandfather was able to confirm he's in Millis, so he's going to head to Millishion and get a carriage back, after speaking with the local Guild and organizing a search and rescue mission."

"I see," I said, once she'd finished speaking. "Okay, that's… mostly good."

Quietly, almost so quietly I didn't hear her over the sound of our wheels on the ground, Eris said, "We'll get our family back, Rudeus. We will."

That wasn't hope I heard in her voice, I realized. It was faith.

Faith in me. In what I had done and built.

I wished I could feel the same. But as time had proven again and again, faith was no shield against imminent physical danger. Not from men and certainly not from the monsters of this world.