Chapter 59: The Sky Knight Order and the Soaring Wings

“””””A-A human just descended from the sky without wings!?””””””

We came to the Sky People’s village, but for some reason, we were the ones who surprised the Sky People.

“Umm, flying in the sky is pretty normal, right? You all fly down to the ground too.”

“Well, that’s true, but you were flying without wings, weren’t you!”

A nearby Sky Person uncle pointed to his own back, looking apprehensive.

“Yes, if I use flight magic, I can fly.”

“Fl-Flight magic!? You mean the lost ancient magic!?”

The mention of flight magic sent the place into an uproar. Wait, lost ancient magic?

That’s strange. Sky People are supposed to fly with the wings on their backs, yet these people don’t have wings, and they’re surprised, calling flight magic ‘lost magic.’ If they could fly on their own, they wouldn’t need to be surprised by flight magic.

“Could it be that you can’t fly?”

Just maybe, are these people and the Sky People different races?

“N-No way we can fly. We’re different from the Knights.”

Just as I thought. It seems ‘Sky People’ refers to the winged people called ‘Knights.’ But in that case, who are these people?

“Um, who are you? Are you different from the Sky People?”

“Who, you ask? We’re Sky People. More importantly, who are you!? We’ve never seen humans like you on this sky island!”

Huh? These people are Sky People too? But they don’t have wings, right? What on earth is going on?

“I’ve never seen a human who can use flight magic. Could it be you’re humans from another sky island?”

It seems they think we’re Sky People from another sky island. Now, how should I answer?

“No, we’re adventurers from the surface. We came here looking for the Sky Continent.”

There’s no need to keep it a secret, so I decided to tell the villagers our original purpose.

“Sky… Continent?”

Hmm, their reaction is slow. Was this a waste of time? It doesn’t seem like I’ll get information on the Sky Continent, so maybe I’ll ask about my other question, about the Sky People. Why don’t you have wings, why is this village so modest despite being a Sky People village, and just what are Sky People, anyway?

“By the way, about this village…”

Just as I was about to ask about the village, the villagers looked up at the sky and shouted.

“They’re here! It’s the Knights!”

We looked up just like them, and the winged knights we saw in the surface town the other day were descending from the sky.

“Knights, it’s those people.”

An old man, apparently a village resident, pointed at us and spoke to the knights. Could it be we were reported?

“You two over there! Are you the insolent ones who illegally entered our Sky People’s country! What is your purpose!”

A person who seemed to be the knights’ commander interrogated us. It seems we’re being treated as illegal immigrants, so I’ll just answer honestly here.

“Hello, Sky People. My name is Rex, and this is my traveling companion, Liliera. We came to this land searching for the Sky Continent. The Sky Continent should be around here, do you know where it is?”

However, the knight commander tilted his head at our words and said,

“Sky Continent? That thing crumbled and was destroyed long ago!”

“Eeh!?”

That can’t be!? There’s no way that huge Sky Continent would crumble so easily. Or rather, what could make that huge continent crumble!?

“The legend that these floating Sky Islands are the remnants of the former Sky Continent is known by everyone living in this sky! Your pathetic excuses won’t work!”

“Eeh!? The sky islands are remnants of the Sky Continent!? What does that mean!?”

What on earth is going on!? However, the knights didn’t answer and readied their spears, surrounding us. Light dwelled at the tips of the knights’ spears, and I guessed they were probably magic items that shoot light-attribute attack magic.

“If you don’t tell the truth, you’ll be turned to ash by the light of judgment from our holy spears. You’re spies from another sky island, aren’t you?”

Hmm? Why did it turn into that?

“No, we came from the surface.”

“I told you not to lie. There’s no way lowly surface humans, who have no wings, can ascend to the sky. Only the people of the sky islands, who have the same power as us, can come here!”

Hmm, it seems they can’t believe it because they don’t know we can use flight magic. In that case, I’ll fly and prove it to them.

“We really did come from the surface. We have proof.”

“Proof, you say?”

“Yes, look. We flew here using flight magic like this.”

I activated flight magic and floated into the air.

“Impossible!? He flew without using wings!?”

“See? I’m flying, right?”

“So, you’re flying with a wing power different from ours! What are you using!”

Hmmm? Why won’t they believe it’s flight magic? And ‘using’? Aren’t they flying with their own wings?

“I’m telling you, it’s flight magic.”

“Those who can use flight magic perished long ago! Yes, it must be so!”

‘Must be so’? Meaning, it’s inconvenient for them if people who can use flight magic exist? I don’t really get it, but it seems there are some complicated circumstances.

“Capture them! If they resist, you have permission to kill!”

Wow, they’re really going for it.

“What do we do? Fight? Or surrender quietly?”

Liliera asked me for our policy, whether to fight.

“Hmm, even if we surrender quietly, I don’t think they’ll believe our story. Let’s just brush off this trouble, shall we?”

They’ll probably chase us even if we run.

“Right. They’re clearly not people we can reason with.”

We readied our weapons back-to-back and charged at the knights in front of us.

“You dare resist! Fine, kill them!”

“Duck!”

“Yes!”

Liliera responded to my words from behind. Because we suddenly ducked, the knights surrounding us and holding spears ended up hitting their comrades in front of them. Taking their comrades’ attacks, their extravagant armor was greatly damaged.

“Captain, we’re hitting our allies!”

“Fools! Attack the enemy!”

Well, this is what happens when you surround someone from all directions. Or rather, I’m surprised they actually hit their allies.

I had a vague feeling, but are these knights too inexperienced in actual combat? Even Liliera understood my intention instantly when she saw their encirclement and helped induce the knights’ friendly fire.

“Hah!!”

I leaped into the knights’ chests with speed enhanced by Body Enhancement Magic, destroyed their armor and weapons, and while I was at it, gave them a non-lethal blow with my sword’s hilt to neutralize them.

“Sei!”

Liliera, unlike me, attacked the knights relentlessly. While parrying the opponents’ spears with her own, she repeatedly made small, shallow attacks, hitting the gaps in the enemy’s equipment.

“Gwaah!”

“Impossible! Our weapons aren’t working!?”

The knights seem surprised, but I think this isn’t a problem of weapon performance, but a problem of actual combat experience. Honestly, their skill level is just too low.

Thus, we cut down the knights one after another.

“I-Impossible… We, the Sky Knight Order chosen by the King…”

“Damn you… if only the Spear of Light would hit…”

One of the knights repeatedly shot the spear’s light at us.

“Spear of Light?”

Even if he says ‘if only it would hit,’ it doesn’t look like it has much power anyway. I tried intercepting the spear’s light the knight shot with my own magic.

“Photon Lancer!”

The spear’s light shot by the knight was easily destroyed by my magic, and not only that, it wasn’t even properly offset and destroyed the spear the opponent was holding all at once.

“It was frailer than expected.”

“I-Impossible!? The Spear of Light was destroyed!?”

“I-Impossible! This is a weapon bestowed by the King!”

“Hmm, that magic item isn’t very strong. At best, its performance is low-tier, you know?”

“W-What did you say!?”

“The power of the weapon bestowed by our King is low-tier!?”

The knights looked at their weapons, dumbfounded.

“Kyuu!”

Just then, Fluffy jumped onto one of the knights I defeated earlier and bit his wing. Hey, hey, you can’t eat those people.

“Ptooey!”

However, for some reason, Fluffy stopped chewing the knight’s wing and spat it out.

“Huh?”

Were the Sky Person’s wings unappetizing?

At any rate, we defeated the knights surprisingly easily, almost anticlimactically. They were unexpectedly weak.

“I-Impossible…”

“These are Sky People? How disappointing.”

Liliera is also perplexed that the Sky Knights were weaker than expected.

“Th-The Knights were beaten!”

And the villagers who were watching the fight panicked and fled now that the knights were defeated.

“Oh dear, everyone ran away.”

Well, we don’t have a grudge against the villagers, so there’s no need to chase them.

“Liliera-san, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m done here.”

“As expected, splendid.”

I praised Liliera’s fighting, but she looked conflicted.

“I’m happy you praise me, but after seeing you fight, I can’t really rejoice wholeheartedly.”

My oh my, such a stoic way of thinking, as always. I wish she’d just be happy.

“Well then, let’s hear what they have to say.”

Since it was just a misunderstanding, I didn’t kill the knights. It seems Liliera was also careful not to take their lives.

“Umm, where’s the commander from earlier?”

I looked for the knight who unilaterally certified us as spies earlier.

“Huh? He’s not here?”

Yes, the commander who was giving orders until just now was gone. Did he escape?

“No…!”

I twisted my body and dodged sideways. And immediately after, a line of light passed through where I had been.

“As expected, a surprise attack!”

I reflexively put magic into my sword and released a slash. The slash, born from magic power, hit the hiding knight and sent him flying.

“Hmph, the blunt side.”

A flying slash created with magic power… its power can be adjusted by the user. It’s a convenient attack that won’t accidentally cause serious injury even if I counterattack reflexively. …Or so it should have been.

“Gwaaaaaaa!?”

Despite that, for some reason, the flying slash easily destroyed the knight’s armor, and furthermore, even cut his wings in half.

“Uwaah!? I’m sorry!!”

Crap, I overdid it. I have to cast recovery magic quickly! With my recovery magic, restoring a severed body part is no problem.

“Wait, huh?”

“What’s wrong, Rex-san?”

Panicked, I hurried to treat the fallen enemy commander’s wing, but absolutely no red blood was flowing from it. On the contrary, the inside of the wing was neither flesh nor bone.

“This wing… this is a magic item.”

“Eeh!?”

Yes, the inside of the wing was packed with metal and magic catalysts, and the wing part that looked like a living creature’s was a fake.

“What on earth is going on?”

It seems the true identity of the Sky People isn’t the mysterious existence we thought it was.