While it was true that it was certainly inferior compared to the Guardian Train planned and operated by the Order, the airship was a ans of transportation with its own rits.
For one, its nature of moving through the air ant the ride quality wasn't bad, and while it still fell short of the Guardian Train, its cargo capacity was far superior to other conventional ans of transport.
Due to the nature of its structure itself, its maximum cargo load surpassed that of automobiles.
And contrary to the prejudice that it was slow as molasses, its travel speed far exceeded that of ships, which had been the most widely used thod until then.
Moreover, while other modes of transport relied entirely on the propulsive force of their engines for mobility, airships used it only for propulsion and steering, resulting in better relative fuel efficiency.
Without need for a lengthy explanation, the very fact that airships still existed as a ans of transport proved this.
If the airship had not been a cost-effective mode of transport, it would have long since been driven out and disappeared, even in the unofficial market.
In summary, it was a machine that beat ships in speed, automobiles in transport volu, and whose quietness was superior to any other ans of transport.
So why had such a fine mode of transport like the airship been reduced to an illegal ans of travel in the black market?
The reason was simple.
It was because the Order's ‘Guardian Train’ surpassed the airship in every single area where the airship had an advantage.
Of course, back when Magitek was just beginning to establish itself, both the airship and train sectors benefited from technological advancents.
As described earlier, the airship was a decent ans of transport, to the point that it was the only one in the field of transportation that could be compared to the train.
However, the two could only be compared up to that initial stage.
Once they were equipped with early Magitek engines and airships, and trains with applied Magitek began to be comrcialized, the gap between them widened rapidly. [T/N: Magitek refers to Magic Engineering Technology]
The airship's weakness of being vulnerable to external attacks, despite boasting a high cargo capacity, began to surface.
While the market for transportation itself was growing in the sense that war creates a huge market, the airship's vulnerability to external attacks, which had previously been treated as just one of many drawbacks, was highlighted as the most fatal flaw when it entered military use.
News of cargo-carrying airships being intercepted by enemy attacks beca frequent, and the cargo from the intercepted airships fell entirely into the hands of the enemy.
Easy to intercept, and easy to snatch the cargo.
From the enemy's perspective, it brought about the worst kind of supply failure, which was the best possible outco for them.
Of course, that didn't an the Order imdiately gave up on the airship, which had shown excellent performance.
They attempted to improve it by devising two thods: incorporating a stealth function to hide the airship from enemy eyes, or ultra-high-altitude flight, which would make it difficult to intercept even if discovered.
However, despite such improvents, aerial interceptions continued due to its characteristic massive Gasbag, and what’s more, the increased costs led to a gradual decline in the airship's inherent efficiency, which had been its advantage.
Eventually, the project to apply Magitek to airships was overturned due to the practical problem that the cost-benefit analysis didn't add up.
The technology and manpower that would have originally gone to airships were all poured into railways, giving birth to the current ‘Guardian Train’.
Unlike automobiles and ships, which were eliminated from mass cargo supply but survived by showing strengths in other areas, the train, which held complete superiority, had entirely replaced the airship's position.
Thus, while it had its own rits and wasn't at a level where it couldn't be used, it was ambiguous to build and use intentionally.
Because there was a perfect substitute called the ‘Guardian Train’, the airship, which had been the market's number two, plumted from its quite solid position.
And so, it reached its current state of being used, at best, as an illegal ans of transport within the territory.
—Alright, those of you getting off at Aileen Village, please disembark now. This isn't a scheduled stop, so we're departing in exactly three minutes.
From a distance, we heard the attendant's voice calling for us, and hearing it, Eliya stood up, dusting off her bottom, and muttered.
“It wasn't as bad… as I thought.”
“Right?”
“…I thought it would be the worst, being illegal and old. But at this rate, if they just added so anities, it wouldn't be so bad.”
Was it because she had anticipated a grueling three days?
Her head was tilted to one side, as if that ti had passed faster for her than expected.
It seed she was wondering why they didn't use it, since it was perfectly serviceable.
“According to the analysis, the problem was clearly the enemy's seizure of cargo due to interception… It seems like it could serve its role well enough as a ans of transport within the Order's territory.”
“……”
“…It's strange. Even if the Order doesn't operate them directly, it should be perfectly fine to allow privately operated airships.”
It was a reasonably valid thought.
Excluding the risk of interception, the airship was certainly a decent ans of transport.
However, her thinking was missing one very important point.
Naly.
“It’s better to invest in sothing certain rather than ambiguously developing sothing and stopping halfway.”
“…Ah. That’s true.”
The fact that Magitek was still in the process of developing.
Even before I could add a detailed explanation, she nodded her head as if she understood.
“Indeed, the Guardian Train isn't just diocre; it's an field of application so excellent it could be called the essence of Magitek…”
Pruning.
In an orchard, the smaller branches of a tree are pruned to produce high-quality fruit.
This is to ensure that a tree with 10 units of nutrients is allowed to bear only 10 fruits.
Fruits that grew with ambiguously divided nutrients were bound to be poor in marketability and taste.
It was the sa in this case.
The field of Magitek was growing, and a visible, substantial fruit called the ‘Guardian Train’ was already ripening.
In that situation, there was no need to extend a new branch to the side and divide the nutrients ambiguously.
The fact that most existing airships were still using the early Magitek engine models that competed with trains was ultimately a story in the sa context.
The application of Magitek to airships was culled to prevent researchers from being distracted by other fields of application, so that the developnt direction of the burgeoning Magitek could follow a clear path.
Well, to be precise.
‘…It was probably to keep ‘her’ from getting distracted by other things.’
It wasn't for the sake of the researchers, but to tear her eyes away from the airships she had once been fixated on, pouring useless ti, money, and effort into things like ‘stealth functions’ and ‘ultra-high-altitude flight engines’.
『…But you know. Honestly, don't you think this weapon called a gun is way more romantic than things like swords? It's a weapon that makes anyone who holds it the strongest.』
『…….』
『Once it's complete, even a five-year-old kid could take care of a Demon race mber in one shot…….』
She was a true genius, but she had a bit of an otaku streak, so once she got hooked on sothing, she would stay up all night focusing on it until her enthusiasm died down.
Things like guns and airships were such cases.
‘Efficiency’, ‘relative superiority’, ‘mass producibility’, and so on, which the Order desired.
She set aside all those realistic aspects and stayed up all night researching to bring to life the absurd ‘romantic notions’ that floated in her head.
Of course, it wasn't that it was aningless.
When she entered one of those feverish states, her brain, which normally used only a fraction of its capacity, would operate at 100% output, and in that process, unbelievably innovative technologies were sotis born.
…The problem was that since it was all to satisfy her personal desire for romantic notions, it lacked practicality, so the Order had no particular use for the new technologies developed in the process.
I've never seen it myself, so I don't know for sure, but.
In the case of the airship incident, I'm sure the Order must have been quite exasperated.
Even in the process of her making the gun I used right up until my Regression, I know they had tried to intervene quite desperately.
…Well, considering my enhanced combat power as a result, it probably wasn't a loss for the Order in the end.
“…It was, without a doubt, the worst. I'm getting off first.”
Jerry, who hadn't used the restroom for three days because it wasn't properly maintained, got off the airship first.
“Ugh… Move it, you bastard. I'm first.”
Next was Tom, who had been constantly vomiting due to his acrophobia, which he had managed to endure for only the first day.
‘…Emily.’
I too got off the airship, thinking of the genius girl who was probably holed up researching in the Magitek city.
* * *
“Well, this is our village!”
Tan had also disembarked from the airship with us.
His reasoning was that although it was a town where hunters occasionally visited, it still had a closed-off tendency due to its location as a rural outpost, so it would be more convenient in many ways if he accompanied us.
…Well, even if that wasn't the case, it would have been strange to move separately when we were heading from the sa starting point to the sa destination anyway.
As we passed the village entrance, marked by crude wooden posts, wary gazes from between the old buildings turned towards us.
But the wariness in their eyes soon vanished.
It was because they had belatedly noticed the presence of Tan walking with us.
“Look at this. Didn't I say I'd definitely be a help?”
“…That you are. For sure.”
“I’ll accompany you on this one lap around and all the way to the Village Chief's place.”
As if to show the villagers, Tan took us on a lap around the small village and then guided us to the Village Chief's house.
Knock, knock—
With his knock, a voice, weak with age, ca from inside.
『Who is it?』
“Village Chief, it's ! Tan.”
Following Tan's answer, a crude, cracked wooden door opened cautiously.
Creeak—
“…My boy. How long has it been?”
“Haha! I know, right? You still look the sa, though, Village Chief.”
“What do you an, the sa… I'm just old now.”
They exchanged the kind of conventional greetings that made it instantly clear they hadn't seen each other in a long ti.
“But who are those behind you….”
The Village Chief's gaze turned to us standing behind him.
Tan exclaid, “Ah!” and introduced us.
“I t them on the way. They said they're the Beast Hunters who were supposed to co to our village. You heard the news beforehand, right?”
“Hunters? I haven't heard any news…”
“……”
“Tsk. It seems that Marel fellow must have missed a delivery.”
The Village Chief, who had tilted his head, clicked his tongue, then looked over our faces one by one and made a suggestion.
“For now, co on in with this Tan fellow. You've co a long way, so I'll at least offer you a cup of tea.”
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