The Airship was successfully dug up, but now there a mountain of things to do.

Protrustes may be in Sungchul’s possession, but it unmistakably belonged to someone else. Riding around in this ship as-is was not a wise decision.

“…I should at least change the color.”

Sungchul walked around the Airship to look at its beautiful frame as he decided on the first thing to do. Of course painting such a large Airship was no easy feat. Even if the problem of labor could be resolved by Sungchul’s own hands, a paint job requires paint and tools. But this did not concern Sungchul, because he was an alchemist.

“Bertelgia.”

When would he be able to make use of his abilities as an alchemist if not for situations like these? Bertelgia did not have a way to contribute in combat, but she was completely unmatched for her usefulness in things related to daily life. She answered while feeling sheepish.

“What color would you like?

Among Bertelgia’s pages were recipes for nearly all the colors imaginable, and some even had the property of having different colors depending on viewing angle.

Sungchul took a moment to consider his options and then gave an answer.

“Black seems appropriate.”

It was the least offensive color as well as being chic.

“Isn’t that a little too drab?”

Bertelgia turned towards Marakia who was meditating not too far away as she continued.

“It would match the color of his feathers as well.”

“Hmm. You’re right, now that I think of it.”

Sungchul was a man who was stubborn in his preferences, but he readily changed his mind for this.

Speak of the Devil, Marakia somehow sensed that he was the topic of conversation and flapped his wings to fly closer.

“You two. What are you discussing right now? My feather itches.”

“We’re picking a color for the Airship.”

Bertelgia told him bluntly.

Marakia looked back and forth between Sungchul and Bertelgia as if he was suspecting something. But ultimately he couldn’t figure out what it was because nobody wanted to tell him.

He must have realized that he’s also a part of Sungchul’s party, so he crossed his arms. After he stroked his beak with one hand sageously, he nodded and spoke.

“Black seems approperiate.”

“Black is out of the question.”

Sungchul replied in a calm tone.

“Mmm? Black is the most precious of colors. Haven’t you heard the words, at the beginning of the creation was darkness? The dislike of the color black is an instinct born from weak prey that fear the night.”

“Go away and exercise or something.”

Sungchul chased away the annoying bird with one utterance. Marakia left with his wings spread wide, feeling dumbfounded.

“Now, what color should we pick?”

Bertelgia spoke once the distraction was gone.

“Mmm… I can’t really think of any color, but grey seems like a good idea.”

“Gray? Why do you like those dull colors so much? I know that you’re hated by the entire continent, but shouldn’t that mean that you should move ahead with brightness at heart?”

“Mmm. Not all. Isn’t there a fair number of people who like me?”

“I bet there’s way more people that hate you.”

“…”

Sungchul momentarily lost his words upon Bertelgia’s irrefutable reply. He fell into deep thought before his eyes seemed to sparkle.

“Red. Something red seems like a good idea.”

“Red? Thats…”

“Red is the color of passion. And I don’t know what it is but I get the feeling like if we were to paint this Airship red, then it could fly faster.”

“That’s superstitions only things like orcs would believe in.”

Her consecutive rebuttal seemed to indicate that Bertelgia had a color in mind. Sungchul set his gaze on Bertelgia and asked calmly.

“Was there a color you were thinking of?”

Bertelgia shook hard to nod at Sungchul’s question and replied in a bright voice.

“Pink!”

“…Red it is.”

“Ehh? Hey, that’s not fair!”

The color was decided upon. There was no need to worry about materials. After all, Sungchul’s Fragments of Calamity was capable of producing a near infinite quantity of paint.

Sungchul consoled the grumbling Bertelgia before creating red paint with alchemy.

He and Marakia began to paint the Airship together. Since both of them were beings that have reached the pinnacle of power in human standards, the work was completed very rapidly.

“Haha! If only I had an Essence of the Wind Spirit, then the work would have been done three times faster!”

Aside from Sungchul briefly considering making a beak muzzle, it was a smooth operation. In just half a day, the white Procrustes took on a new fiery red color. Unlike normal paint, the paint Eckheart had developed had the property of shining when hit by light like an enamel. The Airship looked even better than before.

“…Mmm”

Sungchul looked pleased with his work.

Sungchul began his next task while waiting for the paint to dry.

“So I guess the next is to name the ship.”

Bertelgia had a terrible premonition when she heard this. She placed a piece of paper on top of a work table and ordered him to write down the names he was considering. The names read as follows.

Candidates for the Name of the Airship

1 Favre

2 Seton

3 Gaebaek

4 Gundom

Of course Bertelgia was horrified to see the list.

“That Favre again!”

“Why do you dislike Favre so much?”

“You absolutely can’t use Favre! Seton as well!”

Bertelgia picked up a pencil and drew thick lines through Favre and Seton’s names. Sungchul looked disappointed, but he let it go because Bertelgia’s feelings on the matter was certain.

“Then I guess we have to pick between Gaebaek and Gundom.”

There were two names remaining on the list.

Bertelgia shivered when she read the last two names.

“Hmm… I don’t know about the others, but Gundom seems really dangerous for some reason… Why did you put it there anyway…?”

“…Now that you mention it, I don’t really have any deeper thought on it. I don’t know why I wrote it. And as you have said, I also sense something extremely dangerous from Gundom.”

Sungchul took his pencil and removed the fourth entry in the list. The name Gundom was erased without a trace.

Now there was only one remaining.

Gaebaek.

“What’s Gaebaek?”

Bertelgia asked after reading the last surviving candidate. Sungchul recalled a tattered old children’s book on great men that had been sitting on a bookshelf in the corner of a decrepit house. He replied calmly.

“He was one of the prominent ancestors back in the world I had come from.”

“Prominent? Was he a scholar like Favre?”

“He wasn’t a scholar, but a general. He was one of my favorite great men to read about as a child.”

“A general you say. What kind of person was he?”

“He didn’t back down from an unwinnable fight. And to make sure he would never run, he killed his own wife and children with his own hands. This made him famous.”

“…”

Unlike the other names, Bertelgia looked like she was seriously considering this one.

After a bit of time passed, the result was out. The answer was a negative.

Bertelgia shook slightly and explained in a moody voice.

“He’s a courageous soldier for sure but… I don’t think it’s a name we should be giving our ship.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because… it’s a little…? Even if the battle was so dire, to go so far as to kill your own loving wife and kids with your own hands…”

Sungchul could imagine what Bertelgia was thinking about.

‘She doesn’t want a tragedy to occur.’

There are lots of people that enjoy tragedies, but there are almost nobody that could enjoy a tragedy happening in their own lives.

“I see.”

Sungchul likewise did not wish for a tragedy. He had experienced too many of them already, he didn’t need more. Deep inside of his heart, Sungchul hoped that only good things will be waiting in the future.

Sungchul made a faint smile as he placed his hands gently on Bertelgia and asked with a soft tone.

“Was there a name you were thinking of?”

“Why do you even ask? You’re probably not going to use the name I pick anyway, right?”

Bertelgia thought back to her pink suggestion being rejected and replied curtly.

Sungchul made a bitter smile and nodded as he consoled the little friend.

“I’ll decide after I hear it.”

“Hmm… Well, I won’t expect anything.”

Bertelgia opened her pages and flapped into the air before grabbing a pencil with a flair and writing down the name she had thought next to Sungchul’s four name candidates.

Sylphid

“Sylphid? That name sounds familiar.”

“Mmm? Really? I guess you have a wider breadth of knowledge than I thought!”

“I remember seeing it in a fantasy novel that the empire deemed dangerous. I recall it being called something along the lines of operating something something.”

Sungchul muttered to himself as he remembered the final moments of a mountain of outlawed books set aflame at the center of the stadium.

‘I believe the crime it was found guilty of was Boring…’

Bertelgia interrupted Sungchul in the middle of him reliving his memories.

“It’s not a name from a fantasy novel though.”

“Really?”

“It’s the name of one of the Fairy kings of legends. Fairy king of the wind!” Bertelgia explained energetically.

“Hoh, a Fairy king you say?”

“She was the queen of the wind fairies who were the masters of the sky!”

Bertelgia seemed to have some fantasies of her own regarding this Sylphid, the queen of the Wind Fairies. Sungchul thought that was rather endearing and nodded before he made his reply.

“Ok. Let’s give the ship the name Sylphid.”

“Really?”

“A man does not go back on his word.”

Bertelgia shouted in glee and fluttered happily into the air. In the midst of her merry celebration, she suddenly went to Marakia who was just standing around to pick at his feathers.

“Pii… What is the meaning of this! A mere living book dares!”

“Stay still for a bit! Let me pluck just one feather!”

It was the first time Sungchul had seen Bertelgia so happy.

Sungchul who was watching Bertelgia with a warm smile suddenly went rigid. A voice as cold as ice interrupted his thoughts without warning and thoroughly spread throughout his consciousness.

“For one thing, those children are, indeed, siblings.”

It was not the voice from the present. It was a distressing memory of the past.

‘Of all times to remember this.’

Sungchul’s previously satisfied and content expression froze up like ice. The unwanted memory continued against his will.

“Did that child say that? That she’s father’s daughter?”

An eerie voice containing not one ounce of emotion echoed in Sungchul’s mind.

The voice he was hearing was identical to the one person Sungchul was relying on the most. But it belonged to a completely different being.

In the frigid room containing the Scripture of Calamity, yet another book floating before it without an inch of motion. This book was nothing to Sungchul. Though it had its own share of strength, Sungchul could reduce it to dust at any time.

But the terrifying thing about the book was not its might.

Sungchul clearly recalled the last thing that book had said to him.

“Anyway, if you want the status quo to continue, it would be a good idea to give up something like the Creationist class. For you, and for that child.”

Sungchul desperately shook himself to get rid of the uncomfortable memory that was threatening to take over his mind.

The memory scattered away, and so too did the voice fade. But the experience continued to weigh heavily in the corner of his mind.

“Hmm? Why are you making such an unhappy look now? It’s a historical moment when the name of an Airship was decided upon!”

Bertelgia who finally managed to pluck a feather of Marakia flew like a butterfly as she came to talk to Sungchul. Sungchul shook his head and spoke calmly like usual.

“…It’s nothing, Bertelgia.”

Sungchul hoped that nothing would happen like he had said as he turned around.

The shadow of Sylphid, his new ship that sparkled with a brilliant red color, covered the gloomy expression on his face with its majestic and graceful visage.

*

Time continued to flow like running water.

It was about the time when the signs of the end of winter began to appear all around the Tower of Recluse that Sungchul completed all the preparations necessary to begin on a new journey.

The problem of crewmen was resolved unexpectedly easily.

Bertelgia’s suggestion was to use Eckheart’s miniature golems as crewmen. This was possibly the best solution available.

Unlike human crewmen, miniature golems would not require pay, food, or likeness of ideology. Of course there was the small problem that the golems required the use of the Carbuncle Soul Stones in his pockets. But this could be solved simply by retrieving them during the battle

Sungchul resolved to make use of his knowledge of alchemy to make his new Airship operate as efficiently as possible during the travels as he hurried to finish getting ready.

“Where is Marakia anyway?”

“That guy, he seemed to be hiding in the Tower of Recluse to scheme.”

Marakia showed himself on deck right on time.

There was a suspicious smile on his face.

“Kukukuku… with this, everything is ready…”

He must have been planning something sinister inside the Tower of Recluse. Sungchul suddenly asked him a question.

“Did you go read the Ant Wiki again?”

“Piii… What do you mean?!”

His strong reaction seemed to indicate that he had been doing something with Ant Wiki after all. Sungchul ignored Marakia and grabbed the wheel to his new Airship with his hands.

“Anyway, let’s get going.”

Miniature golems untied the ropes that secured the airship to the moor.

The frame of the airship rocked as dozens of tight ropes were untied at once and sent the Airship lurching into the air.

But that was only for a moment.

Sungchul’s flagship, the red colored Sylphid, began to cross the skies without hesitation.

The streams and forests in the middle of the transformation of the spring thaw were spread out far and wide before Sungchul and the others.