I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 12

by Namekojirushi

  “Shirley, it’s all yours!”

  “Leave it to me.”

  As soon as I was on board, I tossed the key over to Shirley at the helm.

  “Erm, I just need to place it here, right?”

  Shirley placed the key into the rounded indentation on the ignition stand. It then suddenly came to life with a hum as the translucent roof and wings of the ship began flashing the colors of the rainbow. Then we heard a low tone, like the ship’s systems had booted up or something.

  “Okay, here we go!”

  Shirley rolled the key in the stand forward, and the ship slid ahead as though to match its movements.

  “Amazing... I don’t sense any magic at all. I wonder how it’s moving...” Satsuki looked around at the ship in wonderment.

  Just to make sure, I looked up through the half-transparent roof to make sure the airship Sherlyn and the others were on had taken off safely too. Iris was in charge of piloting that one. As for the reason... It was simply because, like Shirley, she was used to driving a spaceship.

  I mean, to be fair, none of us had ever helmed an airship before, but we all decided it would be best to leave the piloting to the people who had... you know... at least some piloting experience. For the record, even though she was familiar with the airships, Nyanyan was a princess and had always had someone to drive her around. She didn’t know the first thing about flying one herself.

  Anyway, the short of it is that this whole flying adventure was risky business. Takeoff was a little harrowing, but once we achieved liftoff, the ship ascended rather smoothly.

  “I was a little worried considering how it looks, but it seems it can fly just as well as an airplane,” said Tsumiki.

  She was sighing with relief just like I was, but perhaps that was premature. There were still eight ships in the airdock. The enemy could still catch up to us... Or rather, they might have if we hadn’t taken countermeasures already. I glanced behind me to see that playing out exactly as I’d hoped.

  The runway we’d just taken off from was shrouded in darkness that crept all the way back to the office building. There was no way anyone was taking off under these conditions.

  “Looks like Corona did a good job.”

  Part of my plan had been for her to use her signature dark magic to basically blackout the dock after we left. And it seemed to be working. With that all said and done, I would love to say it was time to take a breather... But we were just getting started. In spite of what lay ahead, however, I decided to at least enjoy the trip heavenward.

  “So it’s off to meet the king of Laputa, huh?”

  Chapter 3: The City in the Sky and the Land of Illusions

  After successfully ditching our pursuers, we all looked down through the clouds and took in the sights of our fantastical journey through the sky.

  “So to get to Laputa, we just have to head towards the red point on this map, right?” asked Shirley.

  “Hom nom... That’s right,” Nyanyan answered as she munched on a complimentary airship cracker.

  There was what appeared to be a map of the skies at the helm that displayed the current clouds and atmospheric conditions in addition to a red dot that marked our destination—Laputa.

  “Radar in this era... That’s incredible. Actually, if this red dot is Laputa, then it appears to be moving... Will this airship have enough fuel or energy or what-have-you to get there?” Hibiki asked Nyanyan as she pointed to the moving red marker on the map.

  “That won’t be a problem. Laputa and Atlantis are twin islands, after all.”

  “Twin islands?”

  “Yup. They always maintain the same distance between each other no matter what. If Laputa moves, then Atlantis moves with it. That’s what my father told me, anyway.”

  “If Laputa moves... Atlantis moves too? Hold on. Does that mean Atlantis is drifting across the ocean?”

  “That’s right. Didn’t you notice?” Nyanyan said, responding to Hibiki’s shock with casual indifference.

  “...I see. Well, that’s one mystery solved.”

  “Which mystery?” I asked, curious as to what she’d figured out.

  “Remember how we discovered Atlantis sunk in the Pacific Ocean? The legend is originally from Europe, however, and says it sunk in the Atlantic. Just think about the name.”

  “Huh, yeah... That is strange.”

  “But if the city is moving... I guess if the island is moving? Whatever. The important part is that if it’s drifting across the open sea, that explains how it got from one ocean to another. No wonder it was always so mysterious. If you saw it from land, it would look like any island... But then it wouldn’t be there the next day.”

  Yeah, a moving island... I guess that really is the stuff of myths. There’s a kind of romance to the story.

  Meanwhile, Shirley—who had been listening to us talk all this time—began tapping her index finger against her chin.

  “But twin islands, huh? I wonder if there’s some kind of magnetic field that ties them together? Or is it more like a planetary orbit kind of relationship?”

  She was completely immersed in her thoughts instead of flying the ship. Good thing it was smooth sailing. That said, not everyone found the moment to be peaceful.

  “...”

  “Hm?”

  Chirika had been awfully quiet for a while now.

  “...”

  She was stock-still, clutching her katana to her chest and staring dead ahead.

  “...Chirika?”

  “Mgwuh?!”

  When I called out to her, she jumped a little in her seat.

  “Oh, it’s you... What is it?”

  “Nothing. You just don’t look so good. Are you motion sick?”

  “Sick? Certainly not. I haven’t been ailed with anything.”

  “It’s not that kind of sickness, erm... Do you feel like you want to throw up or anything?”

  “No, but...” In a rare moment of nervousness for her, she looked out the window and said, shoulders shuddering, “It’s hard to believe a boat is flying through the sky. I keep waiting for the moment it falls.”

  Come to think of it, they didn’t even have planes in the time period she was from. This had to be a completely new experience for her. It was perfectly naturally to be scared.

  “Don’t worry. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Remember the television at my house? This is just another incredible, everyday part of life in the future. It won’t fall that easily.

  “...When you say ‘that easily,’ you mean to imply that it can fall?”

  “No, no, no! It’s not gonna fall at all! It’s totally fine! This is perfectly normal for humans in the future, so no biggie! Just pretend like you’re aboard a large boat!”

  Really, there were airplane accidents too. And I didn’t know how safe these Laputian crafts really were. But I decided to leave all that out and tell a few white lies to reassure her.

  “Hmph...”

  I don’t know how much of what I said she really believed, but she saw how desperate I was and flashed a less high-strung smile.

  “To think I’d be comforted by the likes of you... A samurai should never be cowardly. I need to reflect on my actions.”

  With that, she closed her eyes and started to meditate. It looked like some of the tension in her shoulders was gone, so it seemed that even if I hadn’t made her feel any safer, I’d at least cheered her up a little.

  “Wah!”

  “Eep!”

  Suddenly, Harissa and Tsumiki both exclaimed in surprise.

  “Whoa!” I echoed them unthinkingly.

  The wide open sky, which had only carried sunbeams and clouds so far, was suddenly filled with a gigantic floating island.

  “I wonder if it’s active camouflage... The whole island is covered,” Shirley said, impressed by the view of it from the helm.

  It really was an enormous island. I had wondered how big an island floating in the sky could be, but it was at least the size of a small moun
tain. It was pretty small to call a kingdom, honestly, but the impact of it floating in the sky made it seem so much bigger.

  We brought the airships down at the edge of Laputa. Surprisingly, or perhaps mysteriously, the island itself was made of dirt and rock, and it had grasses and trees growing everywhere.

  “The ground is solid and the trees seem real too.”

  Other than the fact it was floating through the sky, everything seemed normal about Laputa.

  “I pictured something more like a battleship or flying fortress, but this is pretty much literally an island in the sky...” Shirley muttered to herself as she looked around.

  She’d been postulating about the scientific advancements of Laputa the entire time she was flying us up here in the airship. I can only imagine the questions she had. While we didn’t know what was powering the airships, they were otherwise comparable to a modern-day aircraft. Their helms were even equipped with a device that worked like radar. It could monitor weather conditions in real time like a weather station, but without all the equipment and setup. From the standpoint of this era, Laputa was using some seriously futuristic technology. And, actually, thinking of it that way, Shirley was right. A battleship or a floating fortress would have made a lot more sense than a flying mountain... but whatever.

  “So, Nyanyan, where is this Great Library of the Heavens?”

  “It’s at the center of the island. It won’t take any time at all to get there.”

  “It won’t?”

  If it was at the center of the island, that meant it’d be at the summit of the mountain before us. It was a two- or three-hour climb on foot, easy. I didn’t see any convenient vehicles lying around for us to use, either. Actually, it didn’t look like there was anything manmade at all. We’d even landed in a clearing, nothing like the paved stone surfaces of Atlantis.

  “If the Great Library of the Heavens is at the top of the mountain, wouldn’t it be quicker just to go the rest of the way by airship?” I asked.

  “Of course not. Flying over the king of Laputa’s head would be most disrespectful. Silly Rekka.”

  Nyanyan looked at me like she was disappointed... But there was no way I could have known that, right?

  “Okay, well, walking up there is going to take a while. What’s this supposed ‘no time at all’ transport method of yours?”

  “This way.”

  Rather than answering my question, Nyanyan pointed to the start of a mountain path. It was maintained enough that it could fit three or four people abreast, but there wasn’t anything else particularly remarkable about it.

  “Stand here. There’s a lot of you, so try to stay as close together as possible.”

  “Huh?”

  Nyanyan gathered us at the base of the path with those vague instructions.

  “Just what—?”

  I was about to ask what she was doing, when....

  “Here we go. Don’t slip and fall.”

  Nyanyan raised her right hand and drew something in the air with her finger. Whether it was a character or just some kind of gesture, I wasn’t sure, but...

  “Uwah!”

  “What? The ground is...?!”

  It triggered something, and the ground began moving under us. We were now sliding up the mountain path.

  “Wh-What is this?!”

  It reminded me of how I used to use cardboard as a kid to slide down hills, only in reverse.

  “Is it like an escalator? Except we’re the only thing moving...? The ground, trees, and everything else are all staying in place. I’m very curious as to how this works,” observed Shirley.

  I said the ground was moving earlier, but Shirley was actually right. This was nothing like a moving sidewalk or conveyor belt. We were the ones moving along the path, and not the other way around. Not even the pebbles on the ground were disturbed as we slid by. Apparently, this mountain was only ostensibly all natural.

  “I... I guess this will take us there in no time at all...”

  Even if we were in constant fear of slipping and falling. Harissa had been clinging to my sleeve for a while now and showed no sign of letting go.

  “Hm?”

  Just then, I thought I caught a glimpse of someone in the mountains. We passed by so quickly, however, that I couldn’t even turn to get a second look in time. I just had to shrug my shoulders.

  “I wonder what kind of guy this Laputian king has to be to make something like this...”

  I’d probably find out once I reached the end of this completely automated mountain path. OR so I was hoping as I prayed that there were no curves on this sloped path.

  ▽

  Fortunately, it was a straight path and we all survived it, coming to a stop at the Great Library of the Heavens.

  “Amazing. It’s become one with the mountain.”

  I looked up at the entrance to the library in admiring wonder. If you’d told me the Great Library of the Heavens was a building, I could kind of see it. There were remnants of architecture here and there, but otherwise, it just looked like the tip of a mountain.

  “The library has trees growing on its outer wall.”

  “Is it cover to thwart enemy attacks? No, there’s no one alive who could attack a floating island in this era, which means... Personal taste?” mused Hibiki.

  “I heard the Great Library of the Heavens doubled as the king of Laputa’s residence, but this certainly doesn’t look like a castle...” added Satsuki.

  Everyone else shared their opinion too, and it seemed we were all on the same page—this didn’t look like any library.

  “So is it okay to just walk straight in?” I asked.

  “Of course it’s okay. I’m here with you,” replied Nyanyan.

  Somehow, that only made me worry more...

  Nevertheless, we timidly followed after the fully confident Nyanyan as she walked straight through a door that I had completely missed.

  “Whoa...”

  I was surprised all over again once we got inside. The interior was decorated beautifully compared to the rugged exterior, and it was positively overflowing with books. There were mountains of them. No, a whole sea. One of my upperclassmen at school really loved books, but not even her vast collection could compare to this. All of these books wouldn’t even fit in a normal person’s house. Looking up at the atrium-styled floors, it was all bookshelves as far as the eye could see. With books almost literally stacked to the sky, I now understood why they called this place the Great Library of the Heavens.

  “Umm... What’s that?”

  But there was one other surprising sight in the library. They appeared to be employees bustling about busily, but no matter how I looked at them... They were just puppets moving on their own.

  “Robots?!” several people, including me, exclaimed.

  Unlike Shirley’s assistant, Garnet, these weren’t so delicately made that they could be mistaken for humans, which really only enhanced their robotic-ness.

  “Are they some kind of marionette?”

  Chirika, however, had no idea what robots were. Accordingly, she was a little less shocked than the rest of us. More so just... confused.

  “They don’t seem to be bothered by us,” said Rain as she approached one of the puppets and patted it on the head.

  “...”

  It simply, silently, continued to work as if it hadn’t noticed.

  “They don’t seem capable of autonomous thought like Garnet. They can only perform specific functions they’ve been preassigned,” Shirley analyzed.

  Perhaps Laputa had these puppets working all over the place. Maybe one of them was what I saw on the mountain? It made me wonder...

  “There are puppets, but no people?”

  I strained my ears and listened, but I couldn’t hear footsteps, talking... anything. Was there really nothing but puppets here?

  “Hmm? What are you lot standing around for? Let’s go and see the king already!”

  Perhaps she was simply used to the sight, fo
r Nyanyan showed no hint of surprise over the puppets as she bounded further into the library.

  “Hey, don’t run ahead!”

  We quickly followed after her, but...

  “There’s no need... to hurry,” called a seemingly young but sage voice from above.

  We all froze in our tracks. Then, a strange flying sphere fell down in front of us from overhead, coming to a stop right before it made contact with the floor. On top of it sat a little girl who looked younger than Harissa and Rain.

  “King Laputa!” Nyanyan, all smiles, ran straight over to the girl when she saw her.

  “You’ve brought along some interesting company, Nyanyan,” said the king in a rather emotionless voice as she stared our way. “Yes, what rare guests. Welcome... to the Great Library of the Heavens. We would gladly... have you.”

  “Thank you...”

  She was a child no matter how you looked at her, but I reflexively bowed my head in her inexplicably majestic presence.

  “Um, are you really... Er, would you perhaps be the king of Laputa?”

  “Indeed, we are. Does our appearance unsettle you?”

  “Honestly, a little...”

  “Every time our physical body reaches its limits, we create a new one and transfer our memories into it. That is how we have lived... for 300 years. Thus appearances... mean nothing to us.”

  “Th-Three hundred years...?”

  “Cloning and memory transfer now? Honestly, what’s with Laputa’s technology?” Hibiki muttered with a groan.

  This place was honestly just one surprise after another...

  “There’s one thing I’d like to ask, but is the reason this island floats the result of your technology too?” Shirley asked the king out of curiosity.

  “No... it’s not. The reason this island floats... is natural providence. The propulsive force to direct its path, however... was installed by us.”

  After the Laputian king responded flatly, she guided us further into the library with a staff in hand.

  “You are the first guests... we’ve had in a while. Please make yourselves... at home. And if possible... bestow upon us knowledge we have yet to learn.”