Ch.216The Road to Peredias (1)

Guuuuu….

There was always a strange sound near the outer wall of the airship.

It was like hearing the sound of ocean currents from inside a whale’s belly.

In reality, it was the sound of a high-speed object cutting through high-altitude winds, but when it passed through metal and glass, it became distorted into something eerily peculiar.

I was in the engine room at the very rear of the Sky Warden, where four massive propellers were powered by enormous machinery that generated electricity amid thunderous noise and dust.

“My lord.”

“At ease.”

“If you had informed us of your visit, we would have cleaned up a bit…”

“It’s fine. Engine rooms are supposed to be dirty.”

Bored out of my mind, I was wandering around the Sky Warden, tormenting my subordinates.

Well, “tormenting” might be a bit much, but subordinates naturally become uncomfortable in the presence of their superiors.

“Are there any issues with the engine’s operation?”

“No, sir! Though somewhat old, we have sufficient parts and maintain it meticulously.”

“I see.”

I nodded casually.

I wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about machinery, and seeing shelves lined with boxes of what appeared to be parts and oil containers, I simply accepted it and moved on.

After all, if they neglected their duties, we would end up adrift in the sky. No matter how stupid or resentful someone might be, no one wants to starve to death in the sky.

Next, I visited the kitchen.

As it wasn’t mealtime, the dining hall was generally quiet, though a few people were enjoying snacks while reading. From the cooking area came the sound of warm water washing away grease and food scraps.

“What book are you reading?”

“Ah! My lord! Nothing special, sir. It’s a mystery novel. I’ve just started reading it.”

“I see. Even soldiers should cultivate the virtue of reading. Continue. I apologize for interrupting.”

“Yes, my lord!”

After the recent ascension incident, the soldiers had begun to regard me with even greater reverence.

The officers, having experienced all manner of bizarre things during their long military careers, treated me no differently than before. But the ignorant, uneducated soldiers, having witnessed me helping the dead ascend, had begun to think of me as God’s representative.

If only this were a misunderstanding…

I truly was God’s representative.

So it was inevitable that soldiers would find me intimidating. Even if I gathered them and suggested we become friendly, they could hardly address me as “Hey, Victor.”

I passed through the dining hall to the recreation room, from there to the storage room, then to the armory, to the barracks, to the helm, to the communications room, and finally back to the captain’s quarters.

After enjoying this brief but fulfilling adventure, I had lunch with my wife, and afterward, satisfied with our meal, we sprawled on the bed to enjoy an afternoon nap.

*

“How strange. The world looks so bright.”

I muttered while blinking my eyes.

Growing bored of lounging in bed, I stepped into the corridor to admire the scenery and noticed a different feeling from before.

Was the morning sunlight always this bright? Not in my memory.

The whitish sunlight streaming through the clouds suggested sunrise, but now I could almost see the individual particles of light descending.

“After all those vitamin injections, it’s no wonder things look brighter.”

“Ah.”

I conceded to Lucia’s pointed remark.

Indeed, with vitamin injections costing over a gold coin each, the pharmaceutical companies would be guilty of fraud if my eyesight hadn’t improved at least a little.

Still, seeing nearly a million gold coins piled high in a corner of the warehouse was undeniably satisfying.

At least we wouldn’t have to worry about running out anytime soon—we’d need to build an entire city to spend all that money.

“Perhaps the Sun is actually the god of money?”

“That’s blasphemous. Is Moneta at home frying chicken?”

“No, but you make money every time you have a fit about the sun. If you have about 100 more episodes, we might collect enough to buy an entire continent.”

“You wench.”

Bonk.

I lightly caved in Lucia’s skull, then watched as Casia took her sister back to their room.

Shortly after, servants arrived with mops and water buckets to wipe away the brain matter and blood, and once the floor was clean again, I made my way back to the captain’s quarters.

“Helm.”

[Yes, my lord.]

“How much longer until we reach Peredias?”

[We still have about 2 months of travel ahead, sir.]

“Two months, huh.”

I nodded as I muttered.

The continent was vast, and airships were slow.

They say in the ancient empire, people traversed this vast realm through teleportation… Literally, one could be lounging at home, suddenly want a beer in the Crucis Mountains, teleport there for a drink, and then return home to continue lounging.

While that’s certainly impressive, it’s merely transportation, not adventure.

I secretly thought it fortunate that teleportation technology hadn’t become commonplace, as I gently scratched under the chin of my wife who had somehow nestled into my arms (I call it a chin because she gets angry if I call it the flesh under her chin).

Is this a person or a dog-sized human?

Actually, it doesn’t matter. As long as she’s cute and attractive, that’s all that counts.

“Am I supposed to just have sex with you for the next two months?”

“Would you dislike that?”

“Hmm. Not exactly…”

Even the most delicious food becomes tiresome if eaten too often.

Of course, my wife isn’t food, but I’m using a metaphor to help explain.

“But really, there’s nothing else to do besides sex…”

Since I don’t enjoy card games or board games, there truly isn’t much entertainment I can share with my wife besides physical intimacy or drinking together.

I’ve actually tried to develop an interest in card and board games, but I simply couldn’t get into them.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve seen too many people gambling away their homes and land on those tiny cards, but hearing about “one pair” and “full house” and all those headache-inducing rules just made me recoil. As for board games, the rules were so complex and required so many pieces that it seemed like you needed to buy a house for the game rather than play the game in your house.

I tried computer games a few times too, but found them equally unconvincing.

RPGs, I think they’re called? Apparently, the mainstream ones involve moving a character around to kill monsters and level up, but after tinkering with them for a few hours at an internet café, I questioned why I was doing this at all.

What’s the point of leveling up… isn’t it just a story inside a screen?

Unable to understand why I should wither away to build up a virtual version of myself, I looked into other games while my time at the internet café hadn’t expired, but couldn’t get into those either.

Pretty Girl Gacha Games

-Couldn’t I just save the illustrations and carry them around? Wouldn’t that be the same without the gacha?

Real-Time Strategy Games

-Why should I deliberately do something that hurts my hands, eyes, and is just annoying?

Fighting Games

-The controls are too difficult. Not interested.

City Building Games

-What does a crime rate spike have to do with the economy? Wouldn’t 50,000 deaths be inconsequential?

Survival Games

-My life is already about survival, so why bother turning on a computer?

Horror Games

-True horror is not knowing where your next meal will come from, not wrestling with some murderer…

Dating Games

-Women don’t run away when you talk to them? What devilish trickery!

Idle Games

-If I’m going to leave it alone, why play at all?

Clicker Games

-My hand hurts. Not interested.

Adult Games

-How do I verify my age? I don’t even have an ID. Besides, prostitutes are everywhere on the streets, so why should I watch pixelated intercourse full of sound effects on a computer?

Rhythm Games

-Press buttons to the rhythm? Why should I do that?

That was roughly my experience.

I simply couldn’t understand why people found these entertaining or what they hoped to gain by competing with others.

Gaining a sense of achievement? Wouldn’t it be better to practice swordsmanship in that time?

Gaining satisfaction? Wouldn’t buying a bowl of beef soup with that money be far more beneficial?

Having fun? What’s fun about staring blankly at a screen watching voice acting and illustrations cycle through?

With this mindset, I ended up just wasting money at the internet café, and that was the first and last time I played computer games.

No matter how they advertised flashy action or high-quality illustrations, it was all virtual in the end, and I couldn’t develop any attachment to it.

And spending dozens of silver coins on a single character? That’s simply insane.

I couldn’t bring myself to join the ecosystem of suckers who justify this as “affection,” game companies who manipulate public sentiment with “in-game currency” while addressing players as “beloved users,” and those who call it “feed” while literally lapping it up like dogs.

In the end, I stripped my wife’s clothes off and threw her onto the bed, spending the entire day satisfying her and sharing our marital love.