Ch.746Pride Showdown’s Conclusion

For three days, we continued northwestward, living and eating aboard the airship.

Though not as fast as my top speed, it was incomparably swifter than traveling by horse.

“So—last time, your sister—”

“Demian, look at that. Isn’t the lake beautiful?”

Despite the increasingly cold weather, everyone enjoyed meals and casual conversation on deck while admiring the landscape below.

The aerial view was quite familiar to me and becoming familiar to Demian as well, but for the others who had never been at such heights, it remained a spectacular sight no matter how many times they saw it.

They wore clothes made from Rurik’s fur and sipped warm tea, doing their best to endure the cold.

“To improve power efficiency, you’ll need precision machining techniques. Casting and forging alone can’t perfectly eliminate minute errors.”

Asha spent her time teaching the mage tower researchers how to mechanically improve the airship, while Ophelia enhanced the magical formulas applied to the vessel to increase mana path output and efficiency.

What was it she said? Something about it being an impressive vessel, but even at a glance, various inefficiencies were obvious?

Well, prototypes are always like that. I was just grateful it didn’t suddenly malfunction and crash.

—-

Nigel and Jahan spent all day together engaged in contests of pride. Since they were on an airship, they didn’t resort to swordplay, but they competed using every other possible method.

They compared lung capacity by seeing who could hold their breath longer, tested strength through arm wrestling, and competed in archery by aiming at ground targets with dragon-slaying crossbows.

If one side had achieved an overwhelming victory, their hierarchy might have been established, but… sometimes Jahan won, sometimes Nigel won, so their competition continued to escalate endlessly.

It was quite entertaining to watch, so I let them continue competing.

The two were merely testing each other’s abilities rather than building resentment.

In fact, I hoped they might become friends through this process.

Though things seemed better lately, there had originally been subtle friction between them due to their different backgrounds—one from Landenburg and one from the Great Plains.

If harmless competition could resolve that friction, I’d welcome it.

For that reason, their competition continued. Until no trace remained of the original purpose of comparing their martial abilities.

—-

“A drinking contest…? What does that have to do with a warrior’s qualities?”

“Ah—you don’t know? Western people truly are incomplete warriors. It’s common sense that a warrior’s virtues are fighting well, killing well, and drinking well. A transcendent warrior naturally has transcendent drinking capacity.”

Jahan raised the corner of his mouth, looking down at Nigel as if surprised she didn’t know something so obvious. He had gathered all the liquor from the airship’s storage and placed it beside them.

“What nonsense… By that logic, the Empire’s elite knights would be nothing but back-alley drunkards.”

Nigel shook her head and sighed in firm rebuttal. Her tone was resolute, as if the matter wasn’t even worth discussing.

“Backing out, unlike you… Wait, could it be you can’t drink? If so, I should apologize.”

Nigel was startled by Jahan’s sudden bow of apology and forgot what to say, opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish.

“Uh, no, what’s this suddenly…?”

“I’m sorry. From your appearance, I thought you were well over twenty, but I didn’t realize you were even younger than that archer, let alone Lord Haschal.”

“…What?”

Nigel’s expression twisted strangely.

“To think I was seriously competing with a young girl who doesn’t even know how to drink. I was immature. I lacked consideration. As an adult, I should have been more generous with a child’s tantrums.”

That was the decisive blow.

Unable to respond to Jahan’s utterly sincere apology, Nigel’s face turned bright red. She grabbed a bottle from the table, uncorked it, and poured it straight down her throat.

Gulp, gulp. The strong alcoholic scent that even Perne would appreciate spread instantly in all directions.

“No, wait! What are you doing, that’s not something a child should—!”

“I’m not a child-! I’m twenty-one!”

Nigel pushed away Jahan’s startled hand and slammed down the now-empty bottle. Her attitude was as fierce as an enraged hound. She seemed genuinely angry.

“Child’s tantrum? Child’s tantrum? You seriously say that just because I don’t drink much? Fine, alright. Let’s see who wins this drinking contest!”

She glared at Jahan with fire in her eyes. Her aura blazed fiercely in waves.

“Wait, wait… twenty-one?”

A confused Jahan turned to look at me, silently asking if her claim was true.

“She’s twenty-one. She’s the second oldest in our group after you.”

“…I see. I misunderstood.”

Having cleared up the misunderstanding, Jahan sat down across from Nigel and picked up a new bottle.

“Then I can’t let you win.”

“Let me win? Let me win? Not a chance. You think Landenburg’s sword is so easy to beat? I’ll drown you in alcohol!”

And so, the drinking contest between the two began.

All night long.

—-

…So who won, you ask?

Well, how would I know? They both kept drinking endlessly like bottomless pits, so I figured there wouldn’t be a winner even if I watched all night. I just left them to it and went back to my cabin to sleep.

Demian and the others also got bored of watching and left, so unless we heard directly from the participants themselves, there was no way to know who won.

—-

“……”

“……”

The next day, Nigel and Jahan were unusually quiet.

They didn’t engage in their now-routine arguments or even chat with others. They just sat far apart, silently staring at the drifting clouds.

…Seriously, who won to leave them both in such a state?

Honestly curious about the result, I approached Nigel, who was sighing deeply while staring into the distance, and asked about the outcome of the drinking contest.

“So, who won yesterday?”

“……”

Instead of answering, Nigel’s face turned red and she just moved her lips wordlessly. It was completely unlike her usual self—more like a child who had done something wrong, fidgeting uncomfortably.

“Nigel?”

I tilted my head and asked again.

“Well… that is…”

Nigel finally opened her mouth, and as if extremely reluctant, muttered a single word in a barely audible voice.

“…A draw… yes, it was a draw.”

A draw, huh. It seems after drinking all night, both reached their limits and collapsed.

Her blushing and hesitant attitude, so different from usual, was probably because despite accepting the challenge with such confidence, she ended up passing out.

After declaring she would drown him in alcohol, she herself drowned alongside him—no wonder she was embarrassed.

“So that’s why you’re looking so grim. I was wondering why you’ve been so quiet since morning.”

I patted Nigel’s shoulder with a smirk.

She’s so uptight. Getting embarrassed over a mere draw.

Achieving a draw in a drinking contest with Ka’har’s champion is something to boast about, if anything.

Anyway, from that day on, Nigel and Jahan stopped competing and arguing, instead avoiding each other as if the other didn’t exist.

…If anything, they seem more distant now. Should I have stopped them before the competition got too heated, rather than finding it amusing?

—-

“Grwooooaaar!”

While our journey to the Sky Mountains was generally peaceful, it wasn’t entirely without incident.

Traveling across Imperial territory, we naturally encountered unwelcome visitors.

“Grave Eaters, Deathknights, and Skeleton Serpents… I can smell the stench of rot from here.”

Monsters that emerged from all sorts of places, rampaging until they were subjugated.

They were merely post-meal exercise for us, but for ordinary people, these creatures rampaging everywhere were nothing short of calamities.

“…What shall we do? Should we handle them?”

“Let’s do that. It looks like it’ll take a while for any subjugation team to arrive. Demian, go wipe them out.”

I tossed Demian toward the monsters that were raising their heads, glaring at us and howling.

Since only Demian and I could freely come and go without landing the airship, and it would be a waste of experience for me to step in, Demian was the only choice.

“Uwaaaaah-!”

With a shout that could have been either a battle cry or a scream, Demian spread his wings wide before hitting the ground, then began swinging his greatsword at the monsters.

“I’ll help too!”

Millia and Asha provided fire support, raining arrows and bullets, while Nigel and Jahan aimed their dragon-slaying crossbows at the monsters.

Me? I just leisurely watched their battle while drinking tea with Lena. There wasn’t a hint of danger to be found.

“Everyone has become amazingly strong! These monsters would have given us trouble before, but now they’re being so overwhelmingly…”

“Indeed, they’re fighting well.”

Perhaps because I was the only one relaxing while everyone else was working hard, the aroma of the tea I was sipping seemed dozens of times more fragrant than usual.