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Ina was in a good mood for a while after I told her she is an angel, but the longer we were moving through the town, the more strange her state got. 

“Souma-san, ahead of here is…ah, no, it is nothing.” (Ina)

She would look up at me every now and then, and she would seem somewhat uneasy.

I was walking without worrying too much about it, but…

“U-Uhm, how about going over here rather than there? Like the main street there.” (Ina)

“Eh? Uuh, no…” (Souma)

She suddenly pulled my hand and tried to make me go the opposite direction.

I was wondering what brought this, but she is looking pretty cornered here.

“The other day, you were looking enviously at the weapon store and the accessory store, right? If you have no plans today, how about looking around those places to your heart’s content?” (Ina)

Ina said this and pulled my arm.

It seems like she saw through the fact that I wanted to enter other stores since the time I went out from the item shop yesterday.

I thought she was dense in those areas, but she is unexpectedly perceptive. 

Could it be that this is Ina’s own way of being considerate? But there’s a place I have to check first.

“I will go to the store later. But in order to check those stores without any worries, there’s a place I want to see for a bit first.” (Souma)

At the outskirts of the town, in a different direction from the church.

We are currently heading to the vehicle that’s said to be the fastest in this world, the Magic Airship.

“Magic Airships are dangerous!” (Ina)

“…Really?” (Souma)

The moment we arrived at the terminal, Ina suddenly said this.

“B-Because a lump of metal being able to fly in the sky is just weird!” (Ina)

“Aah, yeah, that’s true.” (Souma)

She began saying stuff that sounded like those people who hate airplanes.

But it is not like I don’t understand her feelings.

A Magic Airship is basically like a flying yacht.

A ship that receives mana into the magic sail to fly in the skies.

That’s a Magic Airship.

I don’t know why they didn’t make it a boat plain and simple, but they must have wanted originality or something.

The originality in Nekomimi Neko exists solely in order to harass the players.

When speaking of Magic Airships…

“Also, this ship falls, you know?!” (Ina)

So she says.

A Magic Airship can transport around 20 people. 

It rides the wave of mana that flows in the sky, the Magic Flow, but because the Magic Flow is unstable, you can’t make the ships that big, and their operating times are always fluctuating. 

On top of that, the Magic Flow can change from any small thing, so the chances of accidents are through the roof.

In the game, it had a 30% chance of crashing which is instead deadly. 

“Moreover, the places it crashes onto are mostly monster dens! It is a different story if you are a merchant with Teleport Stones, but getting on a Magic Airship would be suicidal no matter how you think about it!” (Ina)

“No, I don’t think it is to that extent…” (Souma)

For example; in the case you get on this and go to the capital from Lamurick, it is fine if you fall close to Lamurick.

It may take time to return on your own, but the enemies there are around 50.

It might not be impossible to come back alive.

But in the case it falls on the other side, in the vicinity of the capital, the worst would be waiting.

The first time I got on that ship, it crashed splendidly. 

The airship made an emergency landing while I was still confused about what was going on. 

The merchants that were along the ride used their Teleport Stones one after the other to return to the city, and I was left behind in an unknown field all alone.

I still couldn’t understand what was going on and desperately tried to return to a safe zone…and died.

I learned later that, at worst, you could end up in the level 120 field, the Slime Mold Forest.

What would happen if players of around level 50 were to end up there.

…I honestly don’t want to remember that time.

Anyways, in the case you fall into that kind of place, let me tell you with certainty that players who leveled in Lamurick have no means of surviving.

“I think people who ride a ship like that are crazy in the head!” (Ina)

That’s why I understand why Ina is this insistent about her opinion here, but…

“Uhm, this place is the boarding terminal of the Magic Airship, you know?” (Souma)

“…Ah.” (Ina)

The eyes of the people around are super scary.

She must have thought it was bad, so she did lower her voice, but her opinion stayed unbending.

“I am not really speaking ill about this ship, but you really shouldn’t ride a ship like this!” (Ina)

No, you are totally speaking ill about it, but I didn’t say it out loud.

Moreover, her voice is loud again.

“Eeh, then, what about carriages?” (Souma)

“C-Carriages are also no good!” (Ina)

“Uh, why?” (Souma)

For now, I try changing the direction of her spear to cool her down, but it seems like she is excited here.

“B-Because carriages…they…they exploit horses!” (Ina)

“A-Aah, yeah, it is a pity for the horses.” (Souma)

They are literally being worked like horses after all.

Train-chan is seriously a benevolent one. 

“Carriages are no good too, but a-anyways, I think Magic Airships are dangerous!” (Ina)

Ina was heating up endlessly.

At this rate, it is only a matter of time before they kick us out of here.

I desperately try to calm down Ina.

“N-Now, calm down. It is not like I am planning on riding that right this instant and leaving somewhere. I was just checking out for future’s sake…” (Souma)

“Y-You must not! If you do something like checking out, you would of course want to ride it!” (Ina)

Am I a child?! 

…That’s not it.

“I understand plenty well now that you hate Magic Airships. If you don’t like it that much, you can head to the main street first.” (Souma)

“Eh…?” (Ina)

Why are you making a pained expression there? 

You want to be with me that much?

Even if we are both loners, the kind of loner Ina and I are is way too different, and there are times when I can’t understand how she feels.

Anyways, at this rate, Ina will not be creating a good result even if I were to leave her here.

Now then, how should I convince her?

I squeezed out my lacking wits, and somehow managed to bring out a proposal that she might accept easily.

“You know, we still haven’t sold the drop items in the Cave of Trials, right? It would be nice if we were to do that first…” (Souma)

“That’s…we can do that.” (Ina)

I said this without expecting much, but it seems like it was effective.

Maybe because of her long life alone, she loves being useful to others.

Her happiness of being given a job and the uneasiness of being left behind were clashing, and I could tell they were heavily conflicting inside of her. 

“You won’t be riding in the Magic Airship at that time, right?” (Ina)

She asked uneasily. 

I noticed that this is the time to attack, so I denied it with exaggerated gestures.

“Of course not. Look over there. They still haven’t even finished preparations to depart. Even if I wanted to, it is still not departing anytime soon.” (Souma)

My insistence must have shown effect, she finally nodded.

“…Got it. Then, I will go ahead first and sell the items we got from the cave.” (Ina)

“Yeah, counting on you.” (Souma)

I have given all the drop items of the armored knights to Ina. 

She obtained it thanks to me, so she said to at least split the profits, but I told her that it would be a pain, so to take it all, and she easily nodded.

I personally wanted to leave everything vague and give her everything, but now that it has come to this, it can’t be helped.

An issue of pushing the earnings might happen again, but I decide to think about it later. 

“I will go there too in a bit, so take care over there.” (Souma)

I pushed in a whole lot of things internally and gave my farewells, and Ina went…

“Yes! Ah, but come real quickly in exchange, okay?! If you don’t, I will write a whole lot of bad things about you at the plaza!” (Ina)

After leaving such ominous parting words, she ran off from where we came.

Her steps were light.

She really does seem to be happy to be asked things.

(I really don’t get her…) (Souma)

Why does she get happy being pushed to do annoying things?

I really can’t understand that.

“…Haah…” (Souma)

Anyways, I didn’t expect Ina to hate Magic Airships this much.

If I knew that, I would have found an excuse to act separately beforehand.

Could it be that Ina didn’t move from Lamurick in the game in part because of this? 

Aah, no, that doesn’t have much to do with it, huh.

“More importantly, the flight schedule…” (Souma)

I soon found it with just a bit of search.

The flight is today at 9 p.m.

The next one is 8 a.m. the day after tomorrow, and the next one after is on the next day right at noon, the other one is 3 days after; as you can see, the schedule jumps around a whole lot.

Not allowing your hand to reach the itchy parts, that’s Nekomimi Neko quality. 

The price for a one-way trip to the capital is a surprising 50,000E.

It is by no means a hard to pay number if I use the remaining money of the Heritage of Meripe, but it is a price setting that’s rough on early game adventurers. 

Well, there’s a 30% chance that the ship will not work, so if they don’t think of the costs for that as well, they wouldn’t be able to do a business with this to begin with.

They bring reality in a nasty way. 

By the way, the Teleport Stone that Ina mentioned for a bit can allow you to move from city to city in an instant.

But that’s a rare drop that normally shows up in midgame, and there would be times when it is sold in the market, but that normally goes for around 300,000E.

I can’t get my hands on that at this moment.

Other means of transportation would be on foot or carriage, but a variety of events happen when in a carriage, so it is sometimes more dangerous than walking, but it would take a really long time by foot. 

I tested it out with a cleared game save data, taking the shortest route, but it took me almost 2 days in game time.

There were fields in the way that I wouldn’t even have a chance as I currently am, so the Magic Airship really is the number one candidate to get to the capital.

Because the Magic Airship changes departing times and traveling routes, the danger changes heavily at every instance.

I compared the flight schedules and the route schedules to tell when would be the lowest chance of an accident happening. I am relying on my hazy memory here as I pondered.

“It took me more time than I thought.” (Souma)

I was a bit too into the choosing of Magic Airship routes. 

After returning to my senses, I hurriedly ran to the weapon store, but Ina wasn’t there. 

There were a number of weapons in the drops, but maybe she is in another store?

Or she might have finished selling them and has moved to a different place?

I immediately decided to check a different store, but the many weapons decorating the walls stopped my feet. 

Well, she did know that I wanted to go to the weapon store, so she might come search for me here.

I made that excuse to myself and began checking out the weapons lined up in the store.

“Ooh, boy! You are looking pretty troubled there. Want some advice from me?” 

My eyes were shining in front of the weapons, and a skinhead old man with a strong pressuring voice spoke to me.

Burly physique, an eyepatch, and bold.

A person with such presence, you would think it would be better for them to be an adventurer rather than managing a weapon store.

“Please wait for a bit more.” (Souma)

But I ignored the pressure hitting my back and continued looking at the many weapons lined up.

I may have experienced this in the game, but it is not like I have much experience seeing real weapons. 

Seeing the weapons that were respectively lined up by sword, spear, and axe category was breathtaking.

I direct my gaze at the weapon that is priced the highest among them all.

[Piercing Spear: 6,000E].

This thing matches the shape and price in my memories of the game.

I thought there would be the possibility for the prices of the items to change now that the element of reality has been added but, for now, it seems like that’s not the case.

Ah, it might be a little late to mention this, but E is an abbreviation for Element. Just in case.

When I looked at the Piercing Spear, a jeering voice hit me from the back.

“Haha! Give it up, give it up, boy! One of those goes for 6,000E, you know? It ain’t something a green adventurer like you can put their hands on.” 

Being told this, I finally noticed it.

Now that I think about it, Ina still has my mythril equipment. 

My equipment right now is that of a beginner. So that’s why he was speaking to me this much, huh.

(Now then, what to do…) (Souma)

It would be weird to go out of my way to tell him that I am not a beginner, and when you consider my actual level, I am indeed a newbie.

But I do have a bit of pride myself.

Being looked down on this much, don’t you think it is courtesy to strike back and surprise them?

I wanted a weapon anyways, so this works just fine. 

I stop looking at the weapons on the wall and turn to the skinhead storekeeper.

“Hmm? What are you tryi—?” 

As if sealing any further words, I strike in one go.

“I will be buying one of each weapon category in this store, the most expensive ones this store has. Can you please tell me the total price for them all?” (Souma)

When I said this clearly, the storekeeper seemed to not understand for a moment there, his eye opened wide, and then he scratched his head as if troubled and said this.

“Aah, sorry, boy, I am actually a customer too…” 

Just kill me.

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