Chapter 26: Airships

  Solitair was the smallest continent on Gaia: a small island with only one landmark. However, that landmark was tied to the biggest structure on the planet. A massive volcano rose from the sea, towering above nearby Albion and Xanadu to the south. The volcano’s size wasn’t what was special. A series of structures lined the entire outer surface, tied together by clear tubes. A spherical structure rose out of the magma chamber, connected to the rest of the structure by a series of insulated tubes crisscrossing the peak like a lattice crust on apple pie.

  A flat surface with a crude label caught my attention: Airship Landing.

  “This planet has airships?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Sir Palamedes said, pointing to one of the structures in the aboveground Camelot Castle. “In the past, there were a total of five landings: Solitair, Camelot, Dabia, Celestea, and Shangdu Castle.”

  When he said Shangdu, he pointed to a castle located at the northern tip of Xanadu. That brought my attention to the final continent on Gaia: Xanadu. Outside of Shangdu Castle, there was only one more landmark: a mansion called Summer Residence.

  “What about this one?” I asked. “Does this location have an airship landing?”

  Sir Palamedes examined the map before answering. “As I explained, our information is several centuries old. It is possible that they added a few destinations.”

  What Sir Palamedes said worried me. “Is there a place we can go to get updated information?”

  Sir Palamedes pointed at different locations on the map as he explained. “Dabia has fallen, so I doubt anyone there could give you a reliable answer. The same goes for Celestea. If what the refugees say is true, it only recently made a resurgence. I’d say your best bet is here.”

  He pointed to Solitair.

  “Can I go there?” I asked.

  “From our northern shore, it should only take a few hours to make it by ship,” he replied. “Whether or not they will allow you an audience is another matter. The lords of the planet live there.”

  “Do they control the airships?” I asked. “It would be nice if we could get them to add service to Camelot.”

  “Albion once had the largest fleet of airships on Gaia,” Sir Palamedes explained. “The only other nations that had them were Celestea and Solitair.”

  “What happened to them?” I asked.

  Sir Palamedes took a step back. “To be honest, I’m not sure, My Lord.”

  “Do you think they are down here?” I asked. “In the underground city?”

  He shook his head. “I doubt that. The undercity never had direct access to the surface except through the castle. I suspect they are stored elsewhere. Arthur would know.”

  “Arthur, are you here?” I called out, expecting him to answer. He was pretty much everywhere on Albion, after all.

  When I didn’t get a reply, I went back to the map. The old towns in Albion had me intrigued. I needed a way to direct my newly minted citizens to them. Then, a thought hit me, and I pulled up the road menu. Sure enough, there were dirt paths leading to every one of the would-be towns. I focused on creating a single-lane road to every location on the map.

  Mana Cost: 147,300

  I took a glance at the kingdom’s total.

  Albion’s Mana: 178,221/14,921,021

  “Hmm, looks like we have just enough,” I grinned.

  “My Lord?” Sir Palamedes looked perplexed.

  “Never mind,” I replied, clicking confirm.

  The dull paths lit up as roads spidered out across my fledgling nation. It felt like I connected the power to Christmas lights. I wanted to widen some of the roads but the remaining mana prohibited me.

  Albion’s Mana: 30,921/14,921,021

  “We need more mana,” I muttered, turning for the door. “And then I’m going to Solitair.”

  “Be sure to set a delegate to approve citizens before you depart,” Sir Palamedes reminded me.

  “Is Bori back?” I asked.

  Sir Palamedes looked up for a moment. “Yes, she arrived in the castle a short while ago. She refuses to go to her new home before she sees you.”

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  “Let’s go then,” I replied.

  “Daddy!” Bori yelped as I entered the throne room.

  Her core rested on the arm of my throne. I scooped her avatar in my arms when she got to me and gave her a long hug.

  “Guess what, Daddy?” she squealed. “I leveled up one whole rank while you were gone. I’m B-rank now! That’s the same as Mommy.”

  “How did you catch up to her so fast?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe because I’m a puzzle dungeon and Mommy’s a monster dungeon.”

  “But don’t you summon monsters too?” I asked.

  Bori rolled her eyes. “I can but they’re icky.”

  I examined her.

  Borealis Krup

  Class: Dungeon-Core

  Type: Puzzle

  Ascension Rank: B

  Classification: Pink Core

  Origin: Earth

  Affection Level: Still Adorable

  “Did the other kids rank up?” I asked.

  She giggled. “No. Those guys are lazy. They are still D or F ranked.”

  I whistled. “Wow, that’s my girl.”

  Bori changed the subject. “Do I have to go in the dungeon right now? Can’t I wait until you leave?”

  “Sure, Sweetie,” I replied. “But I’m going to be heading out soon, and you have a very important job to do.”

  “Job?” she asked. “Do you mean being a dungeon, because that’s not a job, that’s who I am.”

  “No,” I grinned. “You have an important job as a princess. It’ll be your job to grant people citizenship.”

  I didn’t mention they’d only get sent to her if they refused to deal with the ogre but I somehow doubted Bori would care. The smile on her face told me she was pleased to have an official job.

  “Can I make them solve a puzzle first?” she asked.

  “Sure, Honey,” The thought of making applicants complete tests to be granted citizenship made me chuckle. “But keep it simple. They can do tougher ones after they become citizens.”

  “Oka~ay,” she chirped.

  She dragged me to the throne and insisted I deposit her core into my arm. Next, it was time to figure out the airship situation.

  “Arthur,” I called out.

  He wouldn’t ignore me in the throne room, would he? It took several minutes, but he finally appeared.

  “What do you want?” he snapped.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I asked. “Wake up on the wrong side of the netherworld?”

  He huffed. “You paraded my wife around like some kind of trophy. I will wrest her from you, one way or another.”

  “We can talk about that when I’m dead,” I replied, waving him off. “Now, where did you hide all the airships?”

  He chuckled. “Those old things? I was wondering when you were going to get around to that. They are in storage in the hangar by the lake. If memory serves me correctly, there should be three of them. However, I wouldn’t expect them to work. The infernal machine that powers them requires a significant amount of mana to run, and from what I’ve seen, you just wasted our surplus on roads.”

  I could’ve kicked myself. “How much do they require?”

  “At least one hundred thousand to restore, and then several thousand per minute to operate,” he explained. “It will take some time to recuperate that much at your current rate.”

  “Not if I make more citizens,” I replied. “Where is everyone, anyway?”

  Sir Palamedes cleared his throat. “The refugees have been asked to wait outside for the time being, so they are camped at the crossroads.”

  “Wasn’t Ceru going to see them?” I asked.

  “She isn’t ready to hold court,” he explained. “Her father asked to give her a couple more days.”

  “Ah,” I replied, turning to Bori. “I guess I know what we’re doing today.”

  I sat on the throne, and Bori materialized a miniature one of her own to sit beside me. Sir Palamedes nodded to the guard at the door, whose footsteps clanked down the hall as he rushed off to send in the refugees.

  Several hours later…

  “Daddy?” Bori whispered as a large group of treelike creatures left the throne room.

  “Yes, Honey?” I asked, leaning over so we could have a private conversion.

  Her brows furrowed. “You’re approving everyone. Why do you bother asking them questions?”

  I patted her on the head. “I want to get to know them. It would be rude to just accept them and dismiss them.”

  She smiled. It was a far more diplomatic reason than my true motive.

  Current Population: 11,537

  Original Inhabitants: 143

  Immigrants: 11,376

  Humans: 4,422

  Ogres: 985

  Orcs: 1,222

  Trolls: 17

  Goblins: 12

  Grimlings: 3,740

  Eaglin: 257

  Treants: 721

  Gods: 5

  Dungeons: 13

  Citizens: 5,006

  Albion’s Mana: 103,291/14,921,021

  “I think we have enough!” I exclaimed.

  “Enough what?” Bori asked.

  I stood abruptly, causing Sir Palamedes to jump. “How would you like to see an airship?”

  Bori squealed. “I’d love to!”

  Due to the fact that I could only afford the single-lane roads, we had to make the journey on foot. Still, the trip was nice. Closer inspection revealed cobblestones paved together so smoothly that it almost felt paved beneath my feet. Others walked the path alongside us, exploring the safe countryside the same way I would if I were a new resident with nothing else to do.

  “We should distribute maps,” I informed Sir Palamedes, who walked a few feet behind us. “That way they will know where the towns are.”

  “We will prepare them at once, My Lord,” Sir Palamedes replied.

  “There are towns?” one of the women who was within earshot asked.

  “Yes,” I replied. “Though I believe they may need some fixing up. I haven’t inspected them yet. The new roads lead to each one.”

  Once I said that, the people within earshot darted off ahead of us, eager to be the first to discover one of the new towns. When the dust settled, it was just me, Bori, Sir Palamedes, and my royal guards.

  “That makes things easy, I guess. Let’s find this hangar.”

  It didn’t take long to get to the lake with Sir Palamedes guiding us. It was the same one where I took the underwater trial on my way to claiming Albion. Just like the last time, I didn’t see a hangar or any man-made structures around the lake.

  “Where is it?” I asked.

  Sir Palamedes pointed to a forest on the far shore. “According to Arthur, it should be just over there.”

  Since I wasn’t in the mood to craft any submarines or boats to get across the lake, it took a little while to get there. That didn’t bother Bori one bit. She spent the entire time telling me all about how she foiled half of Yew with the puzzles in her dungeon.

  “Even the mayor couldn’t solve my magnet puzzle,” she said, adding a giggle at the end. “Nobody knew the secret was to turn the blocks around.”

  “Do they know about magnets on this planet?” I asked out of curiosity.

  Bori shrugged. “I don’t know. I wonder how I know about them.”

  “Because you’re originally from Earth like me,” I replied. “Tell me more about the disco boss. Where did you get the idea for that?”

  She looked thoughtful for a moment. “I thought it would be fun to make them memorize a pattern of lights and dodge the boss’s attacks. If they guess wrong, they get a mild shock. If they guess successfully, they get to attack the boss.”

  “That should help them with real monsters,” I replied. “While they don’t have flashing lights like yours, most monsters telegraph their special attacks. If adventurers learn how to predict when an attack is coming, they won’t take as much damage when fighting tough monsters. Video games teach us that back on Earth too.”

  “I wonder if I ever played a video game,” Bori said, rubbing her chin.

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I’ll get you one next time I visit Earth.”

  “Can I come?” Bori asked.

  “We’re here,” Sir Palamedes said, pointing to something between the trees. It was just as well because I didn’t know if I was allowed to bring dungeons back to Earth.

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