Chapter 15: Kingdom of the Heavenly Queen
While the Flying Wing transited east, the group had a little free time so Garfield set to work on creating and enchanting an item idea he was knocking around his head for a while. “Done. Solana, come over here.”
“What is it? What is that?”
“Try putting this helmet into your Infinity Sack and then taking it out.”
“Okay.” She did as she was told without issue.
“Now, try putting it on.”
Solana suddenly got very excited that this strange helmet would do something really interesting. As it settled into place, it shrunk slightly to match the size of her head, then extended downwards to surround her whole body. As the material contracted around her, it took the form of body armor. “Wha!?” Startled at first, she started to assess her new armor. “This is amazing but, is it just armor?”
“No. Before I show you the rest, I want to test one more thing. First, take it off.”
“Aww. Okay.” Solana pulled up on the helmet. The armor retracted into the helmet through some magical mechanism.
“Hand it to Hannah. Hannah, try putting the helmet on.”
“Okay!” Hannah put the helmet on but nothing happened. “Huh?”
“Good. It’s only supposed to work for Solana. Go ahead and put it back on Solana.” Hannah reluctantly handed the helmet back over to Solana, who donned it again.
“As you can see, the equipment provides some defense. However, that’s not its main purpose. Do you remember how I said I was thinking about making you a magic gunner?”
“Yes!”
“This armor is enchanted so that you can draw your weapons at any time. It’s kind of like the Infinity Sack, but much more suited for use in the middle of combat. Try looking down. Do you see a list of equipment you can use?”
“Hm? Hmmmm! What are these?”
“Try selecting the first weapon on the left. It should appear in your hands when you’re ready.” A futuristic pistol (from Garfield’s perspective) appeared in Solana’s hands. Garfield spent a few minutes teaching her the fundamentals of how to use it. “Normally, carrying ammunition, just like carrying arrows, would be extremely limiting. However, look to the right.”
Solana did as she was told. She noticed additional writing on the edge of her view. “What do I do?”
“With your mind, select the topmost option. That will replenish your ammunition.”
“I think it worked.”
“Good. While we’re transiting, practice shooting at the trickle of enemies. Also, practice reloading and replenishing your ammunition as efficiently as possible. Don’t try using anything else without my permission.”
“Okay!” Solana was enjoying her new weapon and learning how to use it. She had no idea that Garfield was starting her out with the basics of the basics, only.
Everyone else except for Eleha kept asking Garfield to make something similar for them but he refused. Solana was most in need of a class change, and Garfield would take his time experimenting with her before doing anything else too extreme.
--
As the Flying Wing crossed the border with the Kingdom, the enemy waves started to thicken. Garfield’s party was back to firing at will. “Garfield, should I form a thunderstorm again?” Hannah asked.
“Actually, I want to try something myself.” Everyone turned to look at Garfield when he said that. They could barely imagine what he had in mind, but they knew it would be spectacular. Probably.
“I have several spells at my disposal with similar effects,” Garfield began explaining. “One of them, while active, automatically targets any enemy within a certain range with fire magic. Effectively, the enemies are getting bombarded with a continuous fireball spell. Another spell looks similar but has an entirely different mechanism behind it.”
Everyone nodded along, excited to see where Garfield’s explanation would go.
“This second spell causes the enemies to heat up from the inside. They combust not from fire magic but from self-generated heat. Am I able to keep both of these spells active at the same time? How is the effect on the enemy different depending on which of the two spells I have active? That’s what I want to see.”
“But Garfield, you have to get close to the enemy, right?” Hannah wanted to confirm. “Do you have to go down… there?” Hannah gestured to the monsters down below.
“Yes. Any other questions?” Garfield’s companions all looked at each other awkwardly but didn’t comment. “All right, I’ll lead on the ground, you all can follow from the air and keep an eye on the surroundings. Hannah, come get me if there’s a problem, but stay at least 30 meters away.”
“Okay.”
“«Enchant Self: Slowfall».” Garfield hopped off the Flying Wing and started descending towards the ground.
“Is… is he going to be okay?” White Glow’s mage asked.
“Well, it’s Garfield, so…” her friend the archer responded.
--
As Garfield was nearing the ground, he cast the first spell, dealing external fire damage to any enemy within 30 meters in any direction. The circle of affected enemies grew as he neared his touchdown point. Just as he landed, the circle of burning enemies extended out with a radius of 30 meters.
“Hm, they aren’t standing up very well to the first spell. Let’s switch the second spell before I try both…”
Garfield quickly deactivated the spell and then cast the second spell, which would cause any enemy within 30 meters of him to heat up from the inside. Some enemies rushed over to him, only to succumb shortly after entering the effective range of the spell. It took a bit longer for the flames to become evident with the second spell, but the enemies would fall more quickly once that point was reached.
“Okay, the differences are pretty slight. Now let’s try both.”
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Garfield activated the other spell. As far as he could tell, both spells were working concurrently. He looked to the next wave of rushing enemies. As they crossed the threshold, their bodies blackened immediately and then scattered into powder. The powder too dissipated into nothing.
“Huh? That’s strange…” Garfield was wondering why the effect was so immediate. He could understand the enemies falling more quickly, but not necessarily instantly. He decided to worry about it later. For now, he’d use these results to wipe out the enemy.
“This going to take a while if I walk, huh?” Garfield enhanced himself with magic. Primarily, he was increasing his running speed and endurance, along with a wind resistance reduction. If he summoned a creature to ride, he’d have to figure out a way to render it immune from his active spells, and that seemed like a pain in the ass. The effects of his spell were so fast though, he could run as quickly as he wanted without worrying about nearby enemies outlasting the effect and surviving.
--
“What’s he doing?” Solana asked the group.
“He’s strengthening himself with magic,” Hannah explained, having seen it many times.
“Why’s he doing that? What’s next?”
“He’s…” Eleha put two and two together. “He’s probably going to pick up the pace considerably. Prepare to follow him at speed!” The gnomish operators nodded at Eleha and reconfigured for higher speed flight again.
“Holy!”
--
Garfield ran along following a zigzagging pattern to eliminate most of the enemies as he progressed west to east. The enemies nearly 30 meters off from his course would only enter his range for a split second. He adjusted his speed until it was just slow enough to allow for those enemies to get vaporized by heat.
Having looked at a rough map before, Garfield figured he could continue along in this manner until the Heavenly Wall started to curve northeast along with the Dragon Mountains. After that, the enemy waves would surely thin to nothing.
Eventually, he lost track of time and his mind was starting to wander. He gave some thought to how he would continue to develop Solana and her use of the magic guns. He realized he was overdue for providing Kay with something she wanted as thanks for her continued support and… silence. For Hannah, he’d continue helping her develop her weather manipulation ability. Plus, she had many other abilities at this point. He didn’t want to risk her getting too powerful too quickly, though.
He’d try to get Yttria involved in something after the current mission. Eleha was going to a desk job soon, so he didn’t think he needed to work much with her. If anything, he’d need her to start teaching him stuff. Regarding White Glow, he’d probably already gone overboard with what he provided Brooke and the attack mage, so he’d hold off on anything else for the time being. As he thought this, that mage was noticing something strange about how it felt when she cast spells using the Boom Stick.
--
“Kay.”
“Princess, what is it?”
“The Duke told me.”
“Told you what?”
“About the other world.”
“He did!?”
The princess raised her eyebrows at Kay, who suddenly realized her blunder.
--
Queen Rosa herself stood atop the wall where she had a commanding view of the battlefield. “If more help doesn’t arrive…”
“Yes, My Queen.”
“I’ll never get married!”
“Wha!? Oh, yes, of course, my Queen.”
One soldier turned to whisper into another’s ear. “It’s amazing she still goes on about crap like that even in this situation.”
“You’d think after all these years she’d give it a rest, at least so we can watch the destruction of our Kingdom in peace…”
The soldiers turned their eyes forward again to see Queen Rosa standing right there, looking at them. “Oh I couldn’t possibly…”
Both soldiers started sweating. One of them attempted to take the heat in exchange for rescuing the other. “What couldn’t you, my Queen?”
“I couldn’t possibly marry both of you!” She looked back and forth between the two terrified soldiers. “It would get to be too much! Won’t you reconsider?”
The two soldiers looked at each other again, dropped their weapons, and sprinted away. Nobody raised a finger to stop them from deserting. They knew the soldiers would come right back to work once the Queen was off their case. Between the horde of monsters and the Queen, it was clear who terrified the soldiers more.
“I’m in my 30s, you know.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
“Maybe there’s someone suitable down there.” The Queen gestured towards the endless monsters.
“Could be, my Queen.”
“Don’t agree so quickly! You want me marrying a…” She squinted down at the enemy. “…a troll?”
“I’ll make the arrangements right away.”
“Oh, you damn ministers…”
A messenger came running over to the Queen and her small group of attendants. “Report! The wall is nearly breached just one kilometer west of here!”
“Damn!” one advisor shouted.
“What can we even do?” asked another.
“They’re really fighting hard to be the first to propose, aren’t they?” the Queen suggested.
“Uh, my Queen.”
“What?”
“Perhaps you were correct after all.” The man pointed southwest. The queen squinted again and witnessed enemies burning up and disappearing at an incredible rate.
“What is that?”
“It’s really hard to see, but I’d say it’s a person running among the monsters and burning them.”
“A person!? A man or a woman? Oh, it matters not!”
“It doesn’t?”
“Start making the arrangements!”
“Um, my Queen, I would be delighted to start planning your marriage to whomever that is, but… they appear to be extremely skilled at running away. Are you sure you won’t reconsider?”
“No.”
--
Garfield came to a stop near the southeast corner of the Kingdom. He cancelled his fire and heat spells and looked back to see the Flying Wing approaching. He used some magic to cleanse himself and his clothes which were understandably drenched with sweat, then boarded the aircraft.
“Any problems?” he asked. Most of his party shook their heads but Solana had something to say.
“I realized if I hold the trigger while I aim, it increases the power of the shot!”
“Ah, yeah, it does that. Did you get the hang of it?”
“Yes!”
“All right. Let’s return west to that big city we passed while I was running around.”
--
“My Queen, repairs on the wall are in progress. The enemy numbers are so low that we are keeping them at bay without danger to the work crews. Also, some more reinforcements arrived from our northern neighbors. Do you want to meet and perhaps propose to any of them?”
“Good work. And no, I won’t meet with them right now.”
“Understood.”
The Queen and some attendants continued to watch from atop the wall. She insisted on standing even though soldiers had done their best to make chairs and benches available. “My Queen, do you know who was behind that attack which wiped out most of the monsters?”
“Of course! My future husband or wife!”
“…You’re serious about marrying even if the hero was in fact a heroine?”
“I’m always serious.”
While the usual banter continued, a soldier point to the southeast and announced the arrival of something strange.
“Oh, is it that flying contraption again?”
“It seems so, my Queen.”
“Flag it down!”
“Please remain behind us, my Queen.”
“Oh, fine. This is what I get for not having any children.”
--
Garfield looked down at the group that seemed to be in charge. As the distance closed and he could make out details, he noticed a woman in regal attire who appeared to be in her 30s. Alarm bells were going off in his head. There was something strange about that woman and his gut was telling him to steer clear of her.
“Don’t land. Just bring us close enough to chat with them.”
“Aye,” a gnome acknowledged. Hovering was more difficult but still possible in the Flying Wing. As they arrived, the woman called out to them.
“I am the Heavenly Queen Rosa! With whom do I have the honor of speaking!?”
“I’m… Smith, an adventurer from the Foucault Empire! It’s an honor to meet the Heavenly Queen in person!”
“Thank you for rescuing us from those hordes of monsters! Your footwork was incredible!”
“Don’t ask me to try it again! I might not survive!”
“I was expecting you to pretend you were not the person running along the ground! After all, there was no possible way we could identify someone moving so fast from so far away!”
Well, it was at least nice of her to point out Garfield’s misstep to him. “Oh, I would never be so dishonest to royalty!”
“I’m happy to hear it! Please, come join us!”
“Unfortunately, I must decline! We intend to rush over to the Principality Legati and see how they are faring! We helped them out before coming here, but we can’t be sure they are safe yet!”
The Queen narrowed her eyes. “Have you met my husband, Sir Smith?”
“I have not had that honor!”
“Oh, then perhaps you won’t understand what he goes through! Are you married by any chance?”
“Oh, no, marriage is difficult for an adventurer after all! You never know when your luck will run out!”
The Queen looked over at one of her attendants who nodded. “It would seem I too must attend to other matters! Thank you again for your help!”
“Good luck in your recovery efforts!” Garfield’s Flying Wing departed to the west.
“How long will it take you?” the Queen asked her attendant.
“I’ll have a detailed sketch of him within the hour.”
“Good. Get started.” She licked her lips.