Knight’s & Magic: Volume 6, page 1
Table of Contents
Cover
Color Illustrations
Prologue Chapter 48: The World He Desires
Chapter 49: Residents of the Sky
Chapter 50: Formation! Order of the Violet Swallow
Chapter 51: The Order of the Silver Phoenix’s Choice
Chapter 52: Departure of the Advance Exploratory Fleet
Chapter 53: Poison-Spreading Monster
Chapter 54: A Place Without Him
Chapter 55: Encounter in the Forest of Monsters
Bonus Textless Illustrations
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
Prologue
The continent of Setterlund was a land rich with humans, giant mechanical knights, and monsters.
At the center of this vast continent towered the steep peaks of the Auvinier Mountains, which separated east from west. On the eastern side lay the country of knights, Fremmevilla Kingdom. In the part of the kingdom’s abundant land where the mountainous area blended into the plains it bordered lay the academy city of Laihiala.
One day, Selestina Echevalier was relaxing in her home—located in said academy city—when she suddenly spotted something strange in the sky from the window. It seemed like a ship, but it was parting the clouds in the sky like waves in the ocean, and it was upside-down.
“Oh my. I’ll need to hurry and prepare,” she said to herself after spending some time watching the ship in a daze. She seemed to have noticed something and jogged off.
She wasn’t the only one to have seen this strange ship. Anyone walking the streets, merchants manning outdoor stalls, and the students of Laihiala Knight Runner Academy all stared speechless up at the sky.
Regardless of the uproar being caused by the unknown object’s appearance, it slid into the airspace over Laihiala Knight Runner Academy before slowing, and the bottom of the ship which looked like its poop deck opened up. The opening looked like a black maw, from which someone—or something—jumped out. It was a giant humanoid with four limbs wearing metal armor. Naturally, it was one of the greatest weapons available to this world’s humans: a silhouette knight.
In a show of extreme recklessness, the silhouette knight had jumped from the ship while it was still high in the air without a single chain to support its fall. Everyone watching gulped, naturally. Fire spewed from the silhouette knight’s armor. The fierce jet’s recoil allowed the machine to fight against gravity, and it slowed visibly on its way down. Eventually, the silhouette knight touched down in Laihiala’s training grounds, throwing up a cloud of dust.
Teachers showed themselves in quick succession, forcing apart the crowd of noisy students. Among them was the combat skills teacher, Matthias Echevalier.
The silhouette knight training grounds in the academy were quite large. As soon as he saw the silhouette knight touching down amid a plume of flame, he let out a sigh. There was no mistaking the machine, with the four arms extending from its back and the mask of anger on its head. Even if one were to search the entirety of Setterlund, it would be impossible to find another such silhouette knight that defied all convention. The knight runner inside was no different.
“I was wondering what this fuss was all about, but of course it was Ikaruga...” he muttered. “Agh, that Ernie. It seems he’s done something ridiculous again.”
Deciding to put his exasperation off for later, he proceeded to Ikaruga’s side through the cloud of dust.
◆
The city’s residents were noisily debating something as they pointed at the ship in the skies above Laihiala Academy. At this point, pretty much everyone in the city had come out from their homes or classrooms and were watching the large floating ship with keen interest.
A small figure slipped through the crowd filling the streets at a quick jog. A light purplish-silver sparkle caused several people to turn around, but the flash of color was quickly lost in the hustle and bustle as it swiftly moved toward a certain spot in town.
Its destination was a large house that somewhat stood out from its neighbors on the street—the Echevalier household. A woman was standing in front of it.
“My, Ernie! Welcome home.”
Tina had been waiting in front of the house, and as soon as she saw Ernie, her expression softened. This caused Ernie to smile as well as he ran up to her.
“I’ve returned, mother! Also, look at this! I brought back a cool ship as a souvenir.” Ernie pointed at the ship floating above Laihiala.
Instead of being ruffled by the unprecedented object, Tina tilted her head in puzzlement. “My, I knew that ship was yours, Ernie. The West must be an amazing place, to be able to make such a big ship fly.”
She sounded like she was impressed, and Ernie decided not to try and correct her slight misunderstanding. “Yes, it’s a special ship. Do you want to try riding on it? Fremmevilla is quite pretty from the air.”
“I can get on it too? But I’ve barely ridden regular ships... Still, my own son invited me, so I suppose I’ll make a visit.”
“Okay! Also, I’ve got lots of other souvenirs...”
Ernie easily made personal plans for a top secret weapon as he went inside his home, happily talking to his mom.
The year was 1283 O.C. Winter had just passed.
The Order of the Silver Phoenix had come to the aid of the Kingdom of Kuscheperka—a friendly nation—as the war that would be known as the Grand Storm of the West kicked off. They had saved the nation, and they were now making their triumphant return to Fremmevilla.
◆
On a later day, a commotion much like what happened at Laihiala occurred in the capital of Konkaanen.
The levitating ship that calmly crossed the capital’s airspace continued on until it reached the vicinity of the Royal Guards’ training grounds. It then folded its sails and slowly descended. Though the Royal Guards nearly sortied for combat, they stopped when they noticed the figure that had appeared from the ship.
Lowered on a jangling chain by crane, a single silhouette knight descended to the ground. Its golden splendor let everyone know it was Goldleo. The assembled men groaned in exasperation as it boldly touched down, and the tension in the air vanished.
“Ha ha ha! It’s been a while since I’ve seen Konkaanen! I’m home!” Emris shouted.
After that, the scene switched to the audience chamber at the center of Schreiber Castle. The king—Leotamus Haalce Fremmevilla—having received reports of the Order of the Silver Phoenix’s return, couldn’t hold back his sigh after seeing the full-faced smile on Emris, the second prince.
“My word... This fool. How can there be a prince that sails right over the king’s head instead of going straight to him after returning home?!”
“Whoa, there. Sorry, pops. We had to send the silver chief home first!”
“You can’t get through this with just a sorry. Do you know how much of an uproar the capital was in after that flying ship passed by?”
“Ha ha ha! I bet you were surprised! That thing’s pretty interesting, pops!”
Leotamus hadn’t expected to be driven to his wit’s end by how badly their conversation was meshing, but he managed to hold it together because he was in front of other lords.
“I am curious as to what that is, but I can hear about that at length later. So...did you win?” He settled back into his seat.
Emris’s smile deepened before he threw up his hands. “Yeah, of course! Kuscheperka was lost for a little while, but we managed to restore the kingdom. My aunt, Isadora, and Eleonora are all safe too!”
“I see. Good...so they were safe.”
In that moment, Leotamus was not reacting as a king, but simply as a man worried for his family. This was because, aside from their relationship as friendly nations, he was worried for his little sister, Martina, who had wed to Kuscheperka’s royal family. But he quickly reined it in, returning to his dignified, kingly demeanor. His gaze went past Emris to the strange ship outside the castle.
“Still, I never expected a ship to fly. You definitely chose an eccentric vehicle for your return. Was that Ernesti’s work?” Leotamus asked. Once he’d learned the result of the war, what most interested him next was the levitating ship.
Up until this point, no practical aerial vehicle had existed in this world. Bizarre though it might have been, its invention would shake the world. And Leotamus could only conceive of the boy who led the Order of the Silver Phoenix as the one who could birth such a thing. The surrounding lords thought the same, but Emris surprisingly shook his head.
“Nope! You see, that was actually made by the Kingdom of Jaloudek, the ones who invaded Kuscheperka. We’d never seen or heard of a flying ship. We ended up having to fight those things, and it was tough going...”
Those around them gulped quietly at the response they would never have expected from the second prince. They could feel the tension of looking up to the sky only to see a large ship. Those who had led knights before imagined themselves fighting, and it only served to make them more nervous.
While those present reacted, the next words out of Emris made all that tension disappear. “But Ernesti was really taken by it! He not only shot them down, but he seized several of them too!”
While Emris puffed out his chest as if it were his own achievement, Leotamus slumped over in his throne, propping himself up by the elbow. The lords present reacted similarly, and they were lucky they weren’t chastised for their rudeness.
“I would say I should’v
“Ah, right! We left almost all the ships we stole with Kuscheperka! There’s a limit to how much a single ship can hold, so we came back first. The rest of them will be arriving before long.” Emris laughed loudly as his father clutched at his head, but that only lasted for a moment.
“That’s enough of that too. I have to say, though... Convenient though it may be, you only brought one back? That’s troubling... You said it was technology from an enemy nation—does no one else know how to build one?”
“No need to worry on that front! The Order of the Silver Phoenix examined it thoroughly. We’ve shared its construction with Kuscheperka too, so with time, knowledge of it should spread through the Occidents.”
The Order of the Silver Phoenix stood on the cutting edge of technology, running across it with wild, gleeful abandon. No better group existed when it came to examining new technologies—at least, not to the knowledge of anyone present. Emris clapped his hands, and a page came up respectfully, carrying a sheaf of paper. These were the secrets of the levitating ship.
Leotamus looked through the papers before groaning once more. “I see, so we can’t be late to this either. In any case, our ally’s victory is to be celebrated. We must spread the knowledge, this strange ship included. Once the order’s main force returns, we will hold a ceremony.”
With that settled, he left the audience chamber. The lords each started taking hurried action to deal with this new situation. Only Emris seemed at ease, thinking only of relaxing in his room for the first time in a while.
Leotamus was quietly walking along a passage that led to the inner palace when he made a slight gesture. When he did, a figure appeared in utter silence, bowing behind the king.
“Call Gaizka and Olvàr here right away,” Leotamus ordered. “They’ll probably come running once you tell them it’s about a flying ship.”
He glanced back, but the figure was already gone. He paid that no heed, though, as a premonition of further turmoil seeped through his entire body.
◆
The pair appeared at Schreiber Castle two days after they were called. They were led by soldiers not to the overblown audience chamber, but a plain meeting room deeper in.
When the king eventually made his appearance, he found these men were contrasting in appearances. The young-looking head, Olvàr Brommdall, was as cool as ever, while the workshop chief, Gaizka Johansson, had his prodigious age carved into his body. Still, Gaizka couldn’t hide his uncharacteristic excitement.
Leotamus had expected this, so he smiled wryly as he jumped right into the main subject. “Now then, you two know the reason I’ve brought you here. The flying ship that caused such a fuss in the capital...is more accurately called a levitating ship. I have a request of you engineers. Pretty exciting, no?”
His words sounded more like a confirmation rather than a true question, and the pair nodded back. It had been two days since Ernie and Emris had made their victorious return. The ship was parked on the outskirts of Konkaanen, but neither man knew anything more than that. That was why they’d hurried to respond to the summons.
“Y-Yes! Of course, sire. I wonder what kind of mechanism permits a ship like that to fly. My curiosity knows no bounds...” Gaizka was a little more reserved than he’d been when Ernie had taught him a lesson, but he couldn’t completely hide his tendency to rapidly gesture.
Beside him, Olvàr looked calm, but every once in a while, the king could see something twitching underneath his headwear.
Unlike the previous king, Leotamus didn’t have the habit of building tension and keeping people waiting. He pushed the sheaf of papers by his side toward them.
“Here are the details, brought back by the Order of the Silver Phoenix. They called it the Pure Ether Effect, I believe. It’s the secret behind making a ship float in the air.”
Olvàr made a small gulp as he nervously picked up the papers. “To think that ether behaved like this. The levitating ship...a ship that travels through the sky. What a fearsome thing.”
Though Olvàr was a protector, he was still an alv—the race that created ether reactors and knew the essence of magic. He probably had complicated feelings over the existence of the Pure Ether Effect. He seemed totally, uncharacteristically absorbed in the documents.
“Damn that Emris,” Leotamus muttered. “Because he just had to boldly fly in on a levitating ship, the city is aflame with speculation.”
The king shook his head—he sounded somewhat tired. As he’d said, the capital was boiling over because of the unknown ship, and the rumors about it kept being embellished further and further. If it wasn’t put under control soon, there was no telling what kind of misinformation would spread.
“It’s already shown its worth in Kuscheperka’s war; it will undoubtedly change the future of the world. From what you said, the technology has already spread through the Occidents, and things are getting lively over there, no?” Gaizka’s face had gone pale from all the excitement. He was also gradually starting to grasp the enormity of the technological progress that was being made, and what kind of effect it would have.
“That war taught us that our standing isn’t unassailable. We must prepare for all eventualities. The National Silhouette Knight Laboratory must use all its power to research these levitating ships,” ordered Leotamus.
“As you will!” Olvàr replied.
In the end, both of them accepted the order. That was how they were handed the knowledge to construct levitating ships and returned to their headquarters in Dufort. Once they’d returned, they immediately and eagerly went into action.
After the pair left, Leotamus returned to the inner palace, sighing deeply. “It’s only been a scant few years since the Order of the Silver Phoenix brought us new silhouette knights. That was already an astounding event; but when it comes to them, everything is sudden and hectic.”
Was it lament or delight he was feeling? Leotamus didn’t show his emotions as openly as the previous king or his son, so he was harder to read.
◆
After that, the national lab’s activity was incredible to see. They squeezed out all their skills and pride to learn this new technology.
Luckily, the fundamentals were already written down in detail by the Order of the Silver Phoenix, so it was easy for them to imitate the basics. In the first place, excluding the Etheric Levitator, levitating ships were pretty much entirely just maritime ships in construction. The principle behind the Etheric Levitator wasn’t too difficult either. It didn’t take long for a civilian cargo ship to make its way onto the scene in Fremmevilla.
That was how the entire continent—both east and west—proceeded toward the age of aviation.
The Occidents were still in chaos due to the Grand Storm of the West, but Fremmevilla was steadily mass-producing the newest generation of silhouette knights. The increase in silhouette knight strength was lessening the danger of monster attacks. That tied directly into an increase in their national power.
And in the midst of such leaps in strength, the unknown of a flying ship was thrown in. Something everyone dreamed of.
This new opportunity had people burning with passion and excitement when a certain plan was brought up inside Fremmevilla.
The plan? To use levitating ships to explore the Great Bocuse Forest.
Part 11: Flying Knight Development Arc
Chapter 48: The World He Desires
A while after Emris and Ernie had gone ahead in Silver Veil to return home, the rest of the Order of the Silver Phoenix arrived in Fremmevilla over land, crossing over the Auvinier Mountains for their victorious homecoming. The people of the capital boiled over with excitement as they watched the incoming knights while listening to the report of their victory.
At the same time, the mysterious ship underneath a veil was revealed to the people as a levitating ship. The appearance of a miraculous ship that could sail through the air was more than enough to shock them all. The people were charmed by the prospect of flying through the sky, and they envisioned a future where flying was common.
Then, a ceremony was held to honor their victory, and the members of the Order of the Silver Phoenix were finally able to return to their normal lives.
