The Druid Who Devoured the Great Nature

As I came out of the cabin, Sage came running up to me.

“What happened?”

“She says she has nothing to do with it. According to her.”

“I’ll keep an eye on her.”

A ray of light flashed from the staff she held tightly in her fern-like hands. It was a staff modified from the artifact I had taken from Cliff Button when we had fought the Thorson Expedition. The shaft was a sword, and the body was a combination of stakes that called down lightning. Each spark that flew like static electricity held the potential to turn into a lightning bolt.

Light drives out darkness. It would be effective against Bianca, who handled shadows.

“You don’t have to. She said she couldn’t help with the battle, but she would help with what she could.”

If she were going to play tricks, she wouldn’t have gone to such trouble. She would have just stayed put, using the excuse that her ability didn’t work. If even that was a high-level scheme to induce carelessness… I would just have to take it.

Being stranded with my bare body was a slightly dangerous accident, but not a disaster I couldn’t handle. I was confident that I would survive even after finishing my bloody revenge on Bianca.

“What the hell is going on!”

“Don’t beat around the bush, just explain the situation properly!”

“Could it be that the airship is under attack…!”

A commotion was felt from the main hall. Although the number of passengers was small, their voices were as loud as a crowd of dozens when faced with the threat of death.

Thanks to my prior warning, it seemed they had succeeded in preventing them from knowing that a formation of small airships had attacked. The efforts of the crew, who were desperately blocking them from looking out the window, were tearful.

But that was just a stopgap measure. If the passengers pushed their way through, the crew would be helpless. It would be an even bigger disaster if they touched them and they got hurt.

I grabbed a crew member who was just wringing his hands and pacing back and forth. It was that rookie crew member again.

“W-what is it? Did something even bigger happen…?”

“Let’s not waste time biting our nails here, let’s go inside and make an announcement.”

“An announcement? An announcement, you say?”

“They’re curious about the situation, so we should let them know quickly.”

“We can’t! If we do that…!”

“I didn’t say to reveal the truth. Just say that we’ve encountered turbulence and the aircraft is shaking a lot. Some people might not believe it, but it’s better than the current situation where you’re just hiding it without a second thought.”

“Yes?”

It was the moment he asked back, as if to say, ‘Will that work?’

The sound of something thick and sticky flowing down. A black, liquid-like substance was covering the window. Soon, all the external light sources were blocked, and only the light from the chandelier in the ceiling illuminated the main hall.

Since the room had been bright even without turning on the lights, the difference was even more pronounced. As everyone was speechless, I urged the crew member.

“Hurry.”

“Ah, yes!”

Now that he seemed to have a better idea, the crew member ran off. Sage poked my forearm with her fingernail and asked.

“……Did that woman do it?”

“She didn’t cover the entire airship. She just covered the windows that showed the outside with shadows.”

Under the bright sunlight, even that would have been a lot of trouble. Above all, the domain of handling shadows was the trademark of the Shadow Empress. It was a display of skill that risked revealing her disguise if something went wrong.

This much was enough to believe her claim that she had nothing to do with this attack. As I listened to the deceptive announcement as I had instructed, the crew member returned.

“Thank you, thanks to you, I was able to catch my breath. But the situation itself hasn’t been resolved, so I don’t know what to do…”

“Where is the way to the deck?”

“Uh, if you go straight that way. But why do you ask?”

“I’ll solve it.”

“W-wait a minute! I know you helped, but I don’t know if that will be allowed…”

“You don’t have a choice anyway. We don’t have time to waste with the higher-ups holding a meeting and going back and forth.”

With a dull impact, the airship tilted to one side for a moment. Although it was quickly restored, it was a situation that gave weight to my argument. He must have realized that something really big might happen if things continued like this.

“……Here’s the key. You can open the locked door and go up the stairs.”

“And while you’re at it, please take this child to the cockpit. She’ll be a help.”

Sage met my gaze and nodded maturely. The design of the airship was completed with the technical support of the Mage Tower. Naturally, magic technology was also used in its operation.

More important than winning or losing the battle was that the airship did not get damaged and stop in the process. With Sage’s talent, she would be able to make appropriate adjustments so that no problems would arise.

I unlocked the lock and went up the stairs. The deck was just as I had imagined. Unlike the luxuriously decorated interior, it was the deck of an ordinary sailing ship.

The wind was not as strong as I had thought. I didn’t know if it was because the altitude was low or because of a magical effect, but it didn’t hinder my movement.

As I stood on the stern, the formation of small airships came into view at a glance. They had already come close enough to identify their faces with the naked eye.

‘A combination of a mage and a knight, how classic.’

The one holding the ship’s key and wearing a robe was a mage, and the ones wearing plate armor and glaring at us were knights. As expected, they were not a bandit group that operated in this area, like the mounted bandits who lived in the Land of Similarity.

There was a sense of unity in their attire and behavior, which was closer to an organization that had received common training. Looking at their classic attire, they must be a military force raised by a prestigious family from the City of Iron and Blood.

‘It doesn’t seem like they’re trying to take hostages.’

A bomb thrown by a knight exploded near the engine of the airship. If it had been an attack aimed at taking hostages, they would have connected a rope to create a path and boarded the deck. They were clearly aiming for the airship to crash.

As if their purpose was to prevent outsiders from entering the city.

‘They’ve covered themselves so that we can’t tell which family they belong to, as if they have something to hide.’

It was a shame, but it was almost certain that it was the doing of a family from the City of Iron and Blood.

‘There was a commotion inside, but was it so big that they had to do something like this?’

It takes a long time for a rumor from one city to reach another. By the time it had reached Claire’s ears, it must have been reaching its peak. The fact that it was not a passing shower that an outsider could avoid by being careful, but a typhoon of a scale that would risk diplomatic problems, was purely due to my bad luck.

‘That’s why there was no answer to the radio.’

They were openly trying to kill us, so why would they respond to negotiations? We had already crossed a river that could not be turned back. It didn’t seem like they would back down even if we reached the City of Iron and Blood.

We had to end it here. I made a decision and immediately put it into action.

This side’s engine role was being replaced by a mage on that side. Naturally, the target I was aiming for was also the mage. A snipe from a range that was impossible with a pistol. The surprised mage froze, still holding the key.

I had guessed that they had prepared a means of defense. Why was the airship holding up despite the continuous bomb throws from the knights? It was because although there were no cannons, there was a protective shield.

It was not a facility prepared for an attack. It was to break through bad weather. Their airship would have a similar structure.

So from the beginning, I had used a special bullet containing the seed of a Geranium. The mage was still frozen. For now, one.

“Tsk.”

With a dazzling spark, the bullet, which had been cut in half, passed by the mage. The white blade glittered as if it had captured the pouring sun.

A knight, a formidable opponent. A superhuman who could see the trajectory of a bullet and cut it. As he knew that the mage was their lifeline, one person was standing guard.

He grinned and shook his finger from side to side. That side had one person protecting the mage, and still had a hand to spare. The airship’s protective shield was still working well, but it was not designed to withstand the impact of a bomb.

It would soon reach its limit. The knight’s provocation contained that meaning. No matter how much you struggle, the ending is set.

‘I could bet on Sage in an emergency situation like the engine exploding… but the best thing would be to deal with it before that.’

I and Sage were confident that we would survive even if we crashed, but if the distinguished guests of the city were all killed, the aftermath would be too terrible to imagine. First of all, my entry into the City of Iron and Blood would be restricted, and it would also cause a lot of trouble for my purpose of finding one person.

But the attack aimed at the mage had returned to nothing. It wasn’t as if I could just cross over to their airship. The means of returning would be a problem, and they wouldn’t just stand by and watch me cross over, and the numerical superiority was also on their side.

An aerial battle, it was indeed a tricky battlefield. The opponent was fully prepared, while this side was bare-bodied, so it was even more palpable.

「The World Tree scoffs, saying it’s arrogant.」

But it wasn’t that I had come out without any plan. If sniping was all I could do, I would have just called Sage. I rolled up my coat sleeves and stretched out my hand.

The strong wind playfully swept through my fingers. I felt a huge flow pulsating from my heart. The power that had spread through my blood vessels and had reached the peripheral nerves at my fingertips met the wind.

Fragments of light shattered and mixed with the wind, assimilating into the atmosphere. It was a radiance that shone more brilliantly than the scattering of sunlight at eye level. None of them would have noticed.

It was a halo of light that was only visible to my eyes, just like the spirits.

「Divinity is emitted from the World Tree!」

Divinity. The moment I clenched my fist, I felt the wind, which should not have been caught, gathering in my hand. It was not a feeling, it was real.

In the past, the World Tree was called the incarnation of Mother Nature. And the World Tree, which had recovered a fragment of divinity, had evolved into a sacred tree, had regained its forgotten faith, and had mostly restored its completeness.

Mother Nature is all things in the world. In that sense, ruling and controlling the vegetation was only a part of the abilities that the World Tree possessed. It was the same as how the psychic power of the leader, who had controlled liquids, had been enhanced by the Fruit of the Holy Spirit.

The divinity of the World Tree was in contact with Mother Nature. This place, the flow of the atmosphere above the sky, was under my will.

The moment I pulled my hand as if pulling a net, the wind swirled like a storm. It was a natural disaster that just raged, without any prelude or regularity of direction.

The small airships, which had been flying stably at a high speed, swayed and overturned like sailboats caught in a storm.

“……!”

A cry of bewilderment rang out. More than half of the knights could not withstand the sudden shaking of the ship and fell. Even a knight who could see a flying bullet and cut it would not be safe if they fell from this height.

The knights who were holding onto the railing and enduring shouted something at the mage. It was a meaningless urging. The one who was sweating profusely was the mage as well.

The operation of an airship was on a different level from driving a car. The fact that they were performing it stably meant that they were clearly outstanding mages. If it had been a magical event, they would have interfered with the mana and quickly regained their balance.

But the event of divinity was a similar ability to psychic powers. The systems of magic and psychic powers were completely different fields. No matter how outstanding those mages were, it would be difficult for them to find a solution in a short period of time.

Furthermore, it was impossible to control the turbulence and operate the airship at the same time.

In the chaotic situation, what flew instead of a bomb was a rope with a grappling hook. The knights’ judgment was quick. If they wanted to survive, that was the only way.

Their appearance, running on a single rope in the turbulence, was close to an acrobatic feat. The fact that they were throwing bombs with that skill was probably in case someone recognized them.

“A misjudgment.”

Although it was a result-oriented statement, it was their mistake. Although they relied on the rope, the restriction of movement in the air was the same for them as it was for me. They were defenseless enemies.

Of course, the knights also knew that disadvantage. They ran in a line, wrapping their bodies in mana and rushing with the force of a tank. It was a mindset to break through with their bodies, even if it meant getting hit by a bullet.

But I was the one who had broken their advantageous board from the beginning. I had no intention of acting as they expected.

The dandelion seeds that had bloomed on the deck rode the wind and scattered around them. A puzzled gaze crossed as it was not a bullet. Soon, they realized the harmlessness of the seeds and picked up more speed.

It was a mistake.

「Grafting is successful!」

「Two plants are grafted, and a new attribute is granted!」

Those were not just seeds. Grafting, a technique of joining two different plants to take advantage of each of their strengths.

If I had to name it, it would be something like an explosive seed. A spectacular explosion struck their defenseless bodies.

(End of Chapter)