Ballad of the Dreaming Pilot | Chapter 8

[healingbonds]

Chapter 7 << | index | >> Chapter 9


(Clang)

Murr: What’s going on? If I do this, it’s supposed to send orders to the nucleus.

Arthur: Maybe the main motor itself has been influenced by the < Great Catastrophe >....?

Murr: ..........

Arthur: Murr?

Murr: .........

Akira: When Murr is lost in thought, he can’t hear what the people around him are saying......

Murr: ....There’s no damage to the central motor. But it’s definitely gone mad.

Akira: Huh?

Murr: It’s been running wild for a long time because there was nobody to stop it: now it knows the selfish freedom of tyranny. It won’t listen to anyone’s commands anymore.

Akira: Then what should we do....!?

Murr: I’ll test out everything that comes to mind. But first.... Arthur!
Steer this ship with your magic!

Arthur: Steer the ship?

Murr: If we change its course, it’ll move away from the island towards the ocean. That way, it won’t set fire to the island!

Akira: Arthur, have you ever steered a ship?

Arthur: I have not. But I must do everything I can right now! I’ll see if I can change this ship’s course.
Murr, please take care of Sir Sage.

Murr: Leave it to me! Sir Sage, hold on to me tight.

Arthur: << Pernoctant Nixzo >>

(Rumble)

Arthur recites his spell, and the entire ship lights up. Then, it makes a steep turn, and shakes like a fishing boat in a storm.
Maybe it’s because Murr is fixated on removing the central motor: he doesn’t budge an inch despite the shaking.
The ship continues its rampage: it’s resisting orders. Arthur grips the helm with force.

Akira: Arthur, you can do it.....!

Arthur: Ku.....h. << Pernoctant Nixzo >>......!

(Rumble)

With Arthur’s desperate steering, the ship finally departs from the island.

Akira: Yes! There’s the ocean!

Arthur: Thank goodness..... But it might be back on its path of destruction in no time. We need to stop this ship right away.....!

(Rumble)

A terrifying sound reverberates through the entire ship once again. It’s preparing the massive weapon it houses. I grow tense.

Akira: Is it going to shoot that thing again....!?

Arthur: Murr! How do we stop the main cannon!?

Murr: We can’t! With the central motor out of control, it’ll reject every order we send!
Let it shoot away. The ocean is the only thing that lies in its path!

Chloe: Shylock!

A voice rips through the sky. Everyone’s eyes are drawn to one person.
The ocean is the only thing that lies in the weapon’s path. ....That was what we thought.
Shylock is there.

✦✧☾✧✦



Shylock: ......h.... Why now....

He sits on his broom, clutching his chest in pain.
His bizarre injury from the < Great Catastrophe > is stopping him in his tracks at the worst possible timing.

✦✧☾✧✦

Arthur: Murr!?

(Footsteps) (Woosh)

Before we know it, Murr is gone. He shoots out of the ship like a bullet headed straight for Shylock.

Arthur: This is bad! It’s going to shoot!

Akira: Murr! Shylock!

A violent tremor, and a blinding white flash. The world falls silent in that second.

(Boom)

The shot scrapes off the surface of the blue ocean. A giant pillar of water rises with the rumble of its impact. The strength of this weapon is overwhelming.
I can’t make out Murr or Shylock, engulfed by this fierce light.

✦✧☾✧✦

Shylock: .....?



Murr: Phew~! I’m not dead! Which means I’m alive!

Shylock: .....Murr? .....hh..... Did you.... come to save me....?

Murr: Looks like it!

Shylock: But why..... .....Oh, what a loathsome wound. It subsides only after it has failed to kill me....

Murr: Huh, does your heart injury not hurt anymore? Feel free to cry some more.

Shylock: ......... The old you never would have saved me, even if I were on the brink of death.

Murr: Shylock?

Shylock: Whenever I was exposed to danger, you would simply gaze at me as if you were observing the stars. The Murr I knew.... Was that kind of person.
Yet you risked your life without a second thought to protect me just now. Why is that, Murr?
Was I the one who changed you — who remade you? Did I teach you to put yourself in danger’s way to save me....?

Murr: I don’t know! That’s just how I turned out!

Shylock: .......

✦✧☾✧✦

Chloe: Arthur! Sir Sage! Are you all right?

Arthur: Chloe, Rustica! What happened to Murr and Shylock!?

Rustica: Rest assured. It looks like they escaped by a hair’s breadth.

Akira: Really!? Thank goodness......!

Rustica: Yes, truly. Prince Arthur, Sir Sage, are you two hurt anywhere?

Akira: We’re all right. But the ship is still out of control.....

Arthur: We’ll have to figure it out without Murr. Let’s see if we can stop the central motor with magic.
Chloe, can you lend me a hand?



Chloe: Yeah!

Arthur: << Pernoctant Nixzo >>

Chloe: << Suispicibo Voitengok >>

Rustica: It’s dangerous, Sir Sage. Hide behind my back.

Arthur: Please, please stop......!

I can do nothing but pray as I watch the two of them desperately trying to stop the central motor.

Akira: (Please. Please stop.....)

A fraction of a minute later, the meter needles that were violently swinging back and forth come to a halt.

Chloe: ....Did it stop?

But it’s only for an instant. A moment later, the needles resume their frenzied fury.

Arthur: Kuh, it didn’t work!

Akira: (If they can’t stop it with their magic, what can we do....!?)

✦✧☾✧✦

(Woosh)

Oz: Take the Sage and escape.

I hear a voice and look up to the sky in surprise. Oz is flying above us.

Chapter 7 << | index | >> Chapter 9