Before the morning session was aBefore the morning session was about to end, Jin took Elsa to the waiting room. Saki came along as well.
“Elsa, are you okay?”
“… Yeah.”
Elsa’s reaction to seeing her father was not good.
She seemed to be confused about whether she was happy or scared to see him.
While clicking her tongue Saki nodded acknowledging Elsa’s feeling.
“Yeah, I know how you feel, Elsa. I’m in a similar position. I would have mixed feelings when asked if I wanted to see my grandfather.”
“… Sister Saki.”
Elsa still seemed to be anxious. Jin put his arm around her shoulders softly and whispered.
“It’s okay. I will never make you do anything that you don’t want to, Elsa. Her Majesty had acknowledged you as well. When push comes to shove, I’ll take you back with me to Horai Island.”
“… Brother Jin.”
“You wouldn’t be noticed since you’re currently in disguise. And I’ll surprise the guests first thing in the afternoon. Just watch.”
“… Yeah.”
Elsa felt a little more relaxed after hearing Jin’s confident reassurance.
* * *
The latter half of the session resumed at 1:30 pm after lunch. The giant golem was gone before anyone realized it. It was probably hauled out during the break.
Then the voice of the announcement echoed in the venue.
“Now, let us start the afternoon session. The first demonstration this afternoon is from Jin Nidou, an Honorary Magicraftsman of the Egelia Kingdom!”
Many people recognized Jin’s true strength from the mini golems demonstration the previous day and gave a big applause.
Empress Gelhart Hilde Von Rubies Shouro, Prime Minister Yung, Minister of Magical Technology Degauss, the 3rd prince of Egelia Kingdom Prince Ernest, the 3rd princess of Klein Kingdom Princess Lieschen, the 2nd rank Magi Craftsman of Celuroa Kingdom Steirleana Beta … everyone was curious in anticipation of what Jin brought in.
Jin had Steward and Reiko help him in installing something in the center of the square, they started preparing. Jin greeted the audience with an introduction.
“I’m Jin Nidou. Ladies and Gentlemen, this bag here was created from the Grand Spider threads.”
Astonished utterance came from several places amongst the audience, upon hearing the word “Grand Spider”. Those would be people who knew that the spider was a rare monster.
Steward and Reiko spread the bag open. When the edges were pulled open, the giant bag unfolded to about 40 meters long.
“I’ll inject it with a special gas here.”
The giant bag was connected to the magic contraption, which had been prepared the day before, and a nearby tank via a hose. The bag started to inflate.
The magic contraption was for collecting Helium from the air.
“Oh, ohhh?!”
“W-What is that?!”
The giant bag started to inflate in front of the audience. A long and narrow balloon started to take shape. Something that looked like a stabilizer wing was attached to one side.
“W-Why is it floating?”
When the long and narrow balloon was inflated to some extent, it gradually floated into the air from originally lying flat on the ground.
“… An airship …”
Elsa muttered from the arena.
“Huh, what?”
“Do you know what that is, Miss Elsa?”
Reinhardt and Berthie, who were watching next to Elsa, asked.
“Yup. That is called an airship. A gasbag… the bag is filled with gas that is lighter than air, so it could float.”
During her explanation, the gasbag of the airship continued to inflate. The shape became clearer.
A basket that served as a passenger compartment was set up at the bottom part of the gasbag. It appeared to be able to accommodate 3 - 4 people.
The compartment was not attached by wires but was directly attached to the gasbag.
There were cylindrical parts attached to the basket that served a different purpose.
“This is a Magi Propulsion Device. The recoil from the wind created with Wind magic is used to drive the airship.”
It was not a Magi Jet Engine. A Magi Jet Engine absorbed the recoil from the original Magi Formula assembled by Jin, while this airship utilized magic as per usual.
In theory, the wind created by the “Blower” magic was squeezed into the cylinder to increase the pressure. It would resemble puckering the lips to blow out hard.
By doing so, more pressure was created than the absorbed recoil, and the movement would be driven by the pressure difference.
The efficiency is lower than that of the Magi Jet Engine, but sufficient driving force could be obtained.
And finally, the airship was floating completely off the ground.
The magic contraption that was supplying the Helium, a gas lighter than air …, was stopped. The hose was disconnected and the inlet was sealed with Magi Engineering.
“In the unlikely event that there is a hole where the light gas escapes, it may crash, the gasbag … inside this bag is divided into several compartments that were designed to prevent the gas to escape all at once.”
At the moment, Steward had the airship secured to the mooring column by a rope, but if it were to be unraveled, it would fly up into the sky as it is.
“Well then, is there anyone here who would like to travel the sky with me? Besides me and my assistant, one more person can ride along.”
“I would.”
The first person to speak out was a woman. The audience was astonished upon discovering the owner of the voice.
“… Your Majesty …”
It was because Empress Shouro who volunteered for a ride.
“Your Majesty! You should not!”
The people around were trying to stop her. Jin was quite astonished as well since he did not expect the empress to volunteer for the ride.
“U-um, is there any other person?”
“Then, let me try it.”
The one volunteering was a face that Jin knows very well. It was Saki Eschenbach.
“Please, be my guest.”
Jin beckoned Saki to come forward.
Reinhardt seemed to be vexed that she beat him by a touch. He was surprised that Her Majesty the Emperor volunteered. Taking advantage of his delayed reaction, she beat him to it.
Saki, who arrived at the center of the arena, gave Jin a mischievous smile.
“Hee hee, I was wondering what you would do, Jin. But to fly in the sky — I’m amazed.”
Jin gave a supplementary explanation to the audience.
“Recently, I heard that an organization called the Unifiers arrived at the battlefield by a vehicle called ‘Hot Flying Ball’. On the other hand, this is called ‘airship’. This can fly faster and longer than a Hot Flying Ball.”
Some audience could be heard murmuring in awe after hearing his explanation. They were assuming that Jin must have seen a Hot Flying Ball.
Meanwhile, Jin boarded the basket. Reiko and Saki followed.
At the arena, Elsa, Reinhardt, and Berthie were watching with envious expressions.
“Right then, let’s go. … Steward, let go.”
When Steward released the rope, the moored airship floated and completely took off the ground.
“Oh, they’re floating!”
The audience roared in their seats.
Jin grabbed the control stick and jetted out the Magi Propulsion Device downward. The recoil increased the ascending speed of the airship.
“Woah …”
“A-amazing!”
“… They’re really flying …”
The airship soared into the sky as the audience watched in amazement.
“Wow, Jin, this is amazing! It feels good!”
Saki was so excited, like a kid in a candy store. It was the first time for Jin to ride on an airship as well.
The basket was not airtightly closed, and the muscovite windshield was only covering the front. So they could experience the wind. It felt very comfortable.
“All right, we’re going forward.”
When the Magi Propulsion Device was engaged, the airship moved forward in reaction to the vigorously blown wind.
“Yeah, this is good! I never expected to feel this good having a bird’s eye view of the ground!”
Saki was elated. Jin left the control details of the airship to Reiko.
In fact, Jin did not know the specific details of an airship either. So the details in this airship were his original idea.
The use of Magi Device, which was inserted in the gasbag, would allow the increase or decrease in buoyancy.
Heating up the inside of the gasbag would inflate it, and buoyancy would increase as well. On the contrary, cooling it down would decrease the volume and buoyancy.
Actual airships were not capable of doing that, but that was where Jin’s outstanding Magical Technology covered it.
“Wow, a-amazing!”
“They’re flying …”
“I also want a ride …”
“So do I …”
“It’s going pretty fast. Is it faster than a carriage?”
“As expected of Jin …”
“Hee hee, Jin is amazing after all.”
The audience was looking up from below: some were surprised, some were admiring, and some others were thinking about its practicality.