Chapter 158.2: The Tripartite Expedition (1)

158 Part 2

‘Leaving him like that…!’

However, Douglas did not even have similar mana, let alone the power of language to protect his brain. He was an ordinary person, and it would be nearly impossible to avoid the side effects.

“Stop!”

Ian separated Douglas and the book, but it had been too late. Ian could only see the whites of Douglas’s eyes, and reddish bubbles were coming out from his mouth, nose, and ears.

“……!”

Ian’s face distorted after confirming the side effects, and Ledio looked the same. The two men glared at Baion simultaneously, but he only walked to the sculpture where the book had been stored like he did not care a bit.

“One did not come out yet.”

Baion mumbled like he wanted them to hear and breathed mana into the sculpture once more. An object came out from deep inside the sculpture’s head, but it was not an alchemy book, let alone a book. A vial containing a pale green liquid fell onto Baion’s palm.

“Have him drink that.”

Baion spoke as he threw that vial to Ledio.

“What is this draught?”

“It’s for the head. He might become smarter if he’s lucky.”

“Can we trust you?”

“He will die if you don’t in a minute.”

Ledio threw away all tenacity at Baion’s definite answer and had Douglas drink it after opening the vial’s cap. Douglas’s eyes returned to normal, the reddish bubbles calmed down, and his pale face quickly found its blush again.

“What, what is this?!”

On the one hand, Ledio was relieved at the speedy recovery but could not hide his surprise and amazement as an alchemist on the other.

“A draught like this existed…?”

According to Ledio’s knowledge regarding alchemy, he only knew one medicine that would immediately show a biological response in full effect after drinking.

‘It has to be a deadly poison.’

Unless it was a poison of the highest levels that a high-class assassin would use, all medicine in this world needed time to take effect and spread in the body.

“Hey, are you surprised?”

“Ah…that’s.”

“Expect much. A mere draught like this will be the basic of basics for that kid now. He would make it without much effort while picking his nose.”

“That means.”

Ian intervened in Baion’s speech.

“Can Douglas make that draught I spoke to you about?”

“Oh, of course.”

Baion did not hesitate a moment in his answer.

***

Even if he had so many problems to prepare for or solve, time did not care a bit for Ian’s situation or any others.

‘Except for Fran Page, who is the cause of all these problems.’

While Fran, who used the power of time as he wanted, would not know what the pressure of time meant, it was different for Ian. The ten days had been breathtakingly busy.

“We will sally soon.”

The mechanic Siram approached Ian and spoke. They were at Siram’s underground workshop, the massive space where the airship ‘Dragon’s Heart’ was stored.

“All right.”

Ian nodded lightly as Siram went up the airship, saying that they will proceed.

“You have to unload everything we prepared and shoot the flare immediately, so the tripartite expedition troops will move without any hesitation.”

A large portal appeared in the underground workshop space with Ian’s last request, which was the passage the Dragon’s heart could come in and out.

With a rumbling noise, the airship’s head turned to the portal as it started to rise using the dragon heart, which creates mana on its own, as its resource. The ship started to move, and a vast sky showed through the portal. The sky was above the Eastern Plains, where the preparations would begin a battle that would become history.

“Umm, I have come at the right place.”

Siram mumbled in satisfaction, and he continued to fly above the empty sky of the Eastern Plains. The enormous shadow of the ‘Dragon’s Heart’ rolled over the quiet grounds.

“A little bit more, a little bit more…”

The ship seemed to be headed at the center of the plains for its first destination from its regular direction and slow speed.

“All right, now’s the time for…”

They had crawled for quite a long time until the Dragon’s heart arrived at the center of the Eastern Pains. Siram had been given three missions from now, and he now had to perform the first and most important task.

Siram’s right hand wandered over the handle that appeared near the pilot’s seat as he took in a deep breath. He seemed to need to pull the handle.

“I’m going, going…should I?”

Siram hesitated longer than he expected, and he covered his eyes with his left hand before fumbling his right hand on the handle.

“Here goes nothing!”

The ‘red handle’ next to the pilot seat, which was the ‘unlocking handle’ for the oval-shaped object fixed under the airship, was pulled without delay as Siram shouted. The metal locks and safety devices connected to the oval structure were unlocked with speed.

“Let’s go-!”

Now, the black oval shape under the airship, which remained a mystery, dropped down in the middle of the Eastern Plains.