Airship Captain

[Ferlock]

Welcome to the airship. I am the captain Ferlock.

Is there anything that I can help you with today?

Thierry? Well, I do not think that I know that person.

I can guarantee you at least that he is not working for me.

I am sorry, but I cannot release such personal information to an unauthorized person.

- Captain Ferlock was carefully listening to you while you were explaining the reason why you have been looking for Thierry. -

Ummm....I see, I fully understand the siatuation. But, this is my situation that I am not allowed to release our passenger lists to unauthorized people...

*Sigh*....I guess that rules exist only to be broken one of these days... Okay, I will let you check our passenger lists. Please give me a moment.

- Captain Ferlock took out a heavy book from somewhere, and wrote the name 'Thierry' on the first blank page. -

- As the letters slowly disappeared, pages of the book started being turned by themselves. -

- The pages stopped turning at a page that the name 'Thierry' was written on. -

Haha, you must be surprised by this, huh? As you see, this book is a magic book which you do not need to turn the pages to find a specific page.

Well, this is how we, Schwarzwald Republicans adopt magic in their lives.

My old friend has given me this....well, it is not important at this moment anyways.

Let's see, Thierry, Thierry.... Yes, he was in the airship about a month ago. He was heading to Hugel, and he was one of the very first passengers of the Hugel route.

....Oh, did you say that he was good at researching stuffs? Now I remember him, he was the guy!

It was the very first day that we operated the Hugel route. While we were heading to Hugel, a group of dragons raided our airship.

We were unprepared for a such attack, so basically we were at the very dangerous moment.

It was all my fault because I knew that dragons were one of the reasons why people had not dared to visit Hugel.

How stupid of me! Even until then, I did not even think twice about preparing our crews for those brutal dragons' attacks.

So the dragons seriously damaged our airship, and we were about to fall into the ground. Then this young man came forward and repaired the airship as if he knew that it would be coming.

I am very sure that Thierry was that guy who saved our lives.

At that time, I wondered what made him look so sad and depressed. And now I know why.

I am so glad that I decided to help you in finding this amazing guy. Now you can go tell his fiance where he is.

If you meet him, please send my regard to him.

Please tell his fiance where he is.

Ah, thank you for coming.

Now, I wanted to ask you

why you were investigating

Ymir's Heart Piece. Are you

merely curious, or did you

have some special reason?

Just curious...?

I don't know if satisfying

your curiosity is worth the

risks that you have already

taken. You should be more

careful in the future...

Well, I shouldn't be

trusting you this much,

but since you've helped

me and my brother, I feel

that you must be one of those altruistic adventurers. Very well.

If you promise that you'll

never tell what I reveal to

you, then I suppose I can

tell you know about the Rune

Stone and Ymir's Heart Piece.

Alright, then. I expect you

to keep your word. Now, you

already know that the Airships

are powered by Rune Stones, imitations of Ymir's Heart pieces.

Although Rune Stones are

inferior to true Ymir Heart

pieces, we can make as many

as want. As for true Ymir Heart

Pieces, they're difficult to find or effectively reproduce.

You may have already

figured this out, but all

Rune Stones are produced

in the Einbroch Laboratory

for use in the Airships. So

you see what's going on?

The Varmunt Project is

a continuation of one of

the projects started by the

great Sage, Varmunt. Even as

a child, he was renown as an

incredible genius, a prodigy.

However, no matter how

much academic success he

enjoyed--he even became a

tenured professor at Juno

University--Varmunt was never able to finance his own research.

Eventually, he accepted an

offer from Rekenber Co. to

develop an energy source in

exchange for funding. The

result of his work for them is the invention of the Rune Stone.

However, the public isn't

supposed to know that Varmunt

invented the Rune Stones. Now,

Varmunt disappeared before he

could perfect the Rune Stone

creation process.

Therefore, the Rune Stones

we have now are unstable and

become useless after a while.

The Varmunt Project aims to

correct these flaws and perfect

the Ymir Heart replication...

Er, anyway, that's why

I was at the Einbroch

Laboratory today. My Rune

Stone was close to empty,

so I went there to pick up

a fully charged one.

*Phew...*

Would you give me

a moment to catch

my breath before

I continue? Yes,

there's a little more...

Now,

you must be wondering

why I'm telling you all

this. I believe that some

party wishes to steal the

Rune Stones from the Airships.

Have you noticed the

Gremlins and Beholders

that attack my brother's

ship? Believe it or not,

Gremlins are usually just

harmless and mischievous.

Gremlin wings also aren't

naturally powerful enough to

enable them to fly. However,

if someone implants Wills of

the Darkness into them, their

powers increase exponentially.

Although Gremlins tend

not to attack humans unless

provoked, and that they tend

to shy away from people, they

are being controlled to steal

our Airships' Rune Stones.

Whoever is controlling the

Gremlins also sends those

Beholder monsters in order

to monitor their progress

and observe our resistance.

My brother and I have been

investigating this matter, but

so far, we haven't learned very

much. Now, my Airship only

provides domestic flights

and hasn't been attacked.

Now, my brother's Airship

specializes in international

flights and suffers from the

Gremlin invasions, so we are

guessing the attackers are from outside the Schwarzwald Republic.

In any case, that is all

I really know. Please keep

this information to yourself

and let me know if you learn anything new about this situation.

If I manage to uncover

anything about the ones

that are using the Wills

of Darkness to control the

Gremlins and steal our Rune

Stones, I'll let you know.

Who is sending these

monsters to invade our

Airships, and for what

purpose do they want the

Rune Stones? Hmm. Well, this

is goodbye for now, adventurer.

I'll be quite busy with my

captaining duties and my

private investigation of the

attempted Rune Stone robberies.

Hopefully, we'll be able to meet again later. For now, take care.

Hey there, welcome

aboard the Airship. I'm

Ferlock, your captain

on this flight. How can

I be of service to you?

I'm sorry, but I can't

give you that kind of

classified information.

It's too important to the

security and safety of

this Airship, you see.

You give Captain Ferlock

the letter that his brother

Tarlock has written for him.

Oh, this is from my

brother? Hey, thanks so

much for bringing this to

me for him. Ah, give me

a minute to read all of

this, would you now?

...

So that's what he's been

up to. Huh. Hahaha! Oh, that's

funny. Ah, it's always good to

hear from Tarlock. Anyway,

I'm sorry to make you wait.

Anyway, my brother wrote

about the usual stuff, but

he mentioned that he was

hoping to finally return a few

things he borrowed from me.

However, he lost them...

It turns that those nasty

gremlins that sometimes

attack his ship stole my

things, so was he actually

hoping that you would

help me get them back.

Yeah, yeah. He specifically

mentioned that I shouldn't

give you my reply until you

hunt those monsters and get

my stuff back. I'm sorry, but

I guess you owe big bro, huh?

Well, if you're willing to

help me, would you get my

2 Will of the Darkness and

2 Prickly Fruit back for me?

The monsters that attack

Tarlock's Airship should

have them. I'd appreciate

it if you'd help me out on

this, adventurer. Thanks

in advance and good luck~

Oh this is great! Finally,

I have my stuff back! Still,

I have no idea why Tarlock

wanted these things to begin

with. Oh well. Would you please take this reply to Tarlock for me?

Thanks again

for all of your help!

I don't think I'd ever

see these things again

if it weren't for you~

You have received

Captain Ferlock's letter

to deliver to his elder

brother, Captain Tarlock.

Oh, I'm sorry, but it looks

like you're missing something.

Would you please go and find

2 Prickly Fruit? Thanks,

brave adventurer~

Well, I hope that

you enjoy your time

here on the Airship

and that you have a

very pleasant journey.