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“Wh-, what was that…?! It sounds like something fell into the sea…!”
“3 o’clock! The sound came from that direction!”
“I saw a column of water rise above the clouds!”
“…Judging from the situation, something must have happened to the Highland here.”

Eris’ face stiffened.

“This is supposed to be the HQ of one of the Archdukes. What could possibly happen here? Perhaps one of their weapons of mass destruction went out of control, or maybe there was an attack by a powerful Magic Stone Beast, or a raid by the Ironblood Chain Brigade, or perhaps the Church Founder’s Union launched an invasion… Either way, this is no trivial matter.”
“…Your smile isn’t trivial either. What’s with that?”

Eris let out a very, very deep sigh. With her childlike appearance, the sparkle in Inglis’ eyes made her appear like a child in front of a jewel box.

“Right now, Glis is basically an excited and happy girl with a birthday cake in front of her…”

Rafinha also sighed when she saw Inglis’ current emotion under the Star Princess.

“She’s gotten younger on the outside, but she’s still the same on the inside…”
“No, I know for sure she’d react the same even if she were five years old on the inside as well. I mean, she’s always been like this since a long time ago.”

Rafinha waved her hand in dismissal.

“There’s nothing we can do then…”

Leone chuckled.

“Turn to starboard! Find out the source of that sound! There may be an emergency in Illuminus!”

Vilma sent instructions to the surrounding Knights and Soldiers.

“Miss Vilma, we’ll go ahead for reconnaissance!”

As she made that declaration, Inglis ran ahead with the Star Princess unit still above her head.

“AH…?! Oy, what are you doing…?!”
“We’re helping! We need to have Miss Eris be healed too, after all!”

She answered with a huge smile, and jumped off the deck of the Flying Battleship.
Of course, Rafinha and everyone on the flygear came down with her.

““““GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!!!!””””

Since the Star Princess hadn’t been started yet, the flygear fell freely through the sky, eliciting some screams.

“Ah, Rani. You hold the steer, okay?”
“I know that, but warn us beforehand! It was frightening!”

Rafinha held the steer and started the Star Princess’ engine. The falling flygear finally regained its buoyancy, stabilizing in the air.

“Sorry. I couldn’t wait.”

Inglis twisted her body and boarded the flygear. With five people on it, space was tight.

“It’s getting crowded, too many people aboard…!”

Rafinha protested.

“Y-, you’re right…!”
“In that case, I shall take off!”

Liselotte activated the Gift of her Artifact. With pure white wings sprouted on her back, she flew alongside the Star Princess, grasping its rim. And thus, as the group of five flew ahead of Vilma’s battleship, descending further, they saw a large island ahead of them.

“What is that…?!”

The buildings and facilities on the island were clearly different from those usually found in the Midlands. Many of the buildings were box-shaped, and the exterior of every building appeared to be designed with a crest much like the engravings on an Artifact.

If those crests had the effect of controlling the flow of mana and producing magical phenomena similar to an Artifact, then it was only fair to call each of these buildings an artifact of its own.

“That’s not just any island…! That’s the Highland,” announced Eris.

“That’s the Highland…?!”
“So the loud sound earlier was the sound of it falling into the water…!”

Rafinha and Leone spoke in succession.

“I’m surprised it manages to stay afloat…!”
“That is probably due to the Highland’s technological prowess… Even so, something unexpected is definitely going on…!”

Eris had a point. They were scheduled to rendezvous with the floating island in the sky above, yet it appeared to have crash-landed on the water.

“Look over there, Miss Eris…!” Inglis pointed to the shadows of a school of fish under the water’s surface. Each one was huge, twice the size of a man, and they were swarming by the dozens. They were all heading towards the newly crashed Highland, now an isolated island in the middle of the ocean. Clearly, this wasn’t natural, but rather something planned.

“They’re heading towards the Highland…!”

That was when one of the fish leaped to the surface, revealing itself. It had a hardened epidermis, with gem-like chunks embedded here and there on its body. Its eyes were blazing and rabid, and the horn extending from its forehead was covered with fine, saw-like blades.

“…Magic Stone Beasts! They’re going to attack the Highland…!”
“Ooh…! Nice going…!”

With a school that large, it looked quite a handful. It was hard to tell what caused the Highland to crash into the sea, but seeing a Magic Stone Beast from the ocean was a new experience for Inglis.