CH 4

Once again, there was nothing but green, green, green…… green as far as the eye could see, and I silently held my head in my hands.

It’s not only the unevenness of the terrain and the man-made structures, but also the fact that I can’t even see where I am. I felt dizzy at the sight, not to mention the unevenness of the terrain and the lack of man-made structures that could even serve as a landmark.

If you look around, you can find places that are higher than this place, and if they are as high as this place, they are scattered to a certain extent.

However, the highest one that I could see was a protrusion that seemed to have no foothold and could only be described as a “towering turd”.

It’s a dirty thing to say, but such a stick-like rock face is growing out of the forest.

(I don’t know of any area where such structure exists.)

It’s possible that this was the result of the war because I don’t remember this kind of structure. For now, I’ll put this in my “I don’t know this thing” folder inside my head.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any experience in rock climbing, nor do I have any knowledge or skills. I’m a big gu. I think I have enough strength to support my large weight but there’s a good chance that I lose my grip. So for now, my plan would be to move steadily rather than force my way through.

So, I survey around the verdant land to look for a river but unfortunately there’s no river around. By the way, I can still see the facility. It’s so green that you can barely make out of the concrete walls and if you don’t look carefully from this distance, you won’t be able to see any structure there.

As I continued looking from a far, I discovered something. If I carefully stared at the same spot for a while. My field of view narrows and allows me to see things from the distance better just like when you’re changing the magnification of a telescope.

By repeating this process, I successfully get the hang of it, soon I will be able too use this skill freely. After a few experiments, I found out that I could also use this skill to see nearby object in greater details. In short, it’s a zoom function. I have no idea on how I got such ability, but since it’s not troubling. I’ll accept this gratefully.My body is getting far away from that of being a human… well it’s too late now since my appearance is all too far removed to that of a human. Now I’ll use this ability  – or rather, discovered – to a find a place to drink, even if there’s no river around.

I give up trying to figure out my current location. The sun is still directly above me so I decided to move on prioritizing on looking for a water source. As I look down on this seemingly endless forest, I saw a color that doesn’t look natural to me.

Using my newfound ability, I zoomed on it and found an object that looks clearly man-made; a red line on a whitish fabric that was visible even if it was covered in green. I can’t tell what is it from here, but I think it’s worth checking out. Fortunately, it’s in the opposite direction from the facility so I think it’s possible that it’s not related to the facility. So, I don’t have to worry about contamination and I might get something good there.

I quickly made my way down the cliff and took a path to the structure I just found. It took a bit of time to go there but we made it just as soon as the sun sets without any problem. The closer I get the more I realize what is it. It’s a huge sturdy piece of fabric, and through the broken glass you can see what resembled that of a cockpit

(An airship?)

Apparently, mankind had not given up on traversing the sky. There’s no fool who can’t understand the meaning of “Controlling the sky”. The value of it’s use in the military and logistic is immeasurable. I can’t even imagine how much wealth it will create, and it’ll definitely cause a revolution. But, it has never been done. It seems that there are still some people in this world who are willing to try, even though majority has given up on the idea.

(I wonder, when did this thing been made? If it crashed and didn’t burn, Does that mean this used magical technology as it’s primary power? If so, then this could be either from the east or north…)

If I can determine when it crashed, I can get a lot of information and above all, if the cargo of preserved food is still there, there’s a possibility I can still find something edible. This wreckage holds a lot of possibilities.  

I was a little surprised at my luck, but since it looks like this in the first place, If I don’t do anything now, I’m like likely to retire forever. So, I immediately began my search… disappointingly, it wasn’t worth it.

In addition to the cockpit, there was a small room with no seats and a tiny little cargo hold. It was impossible to get inside and search, so I tore down the walls and doors, but all I could do is slide my body in. I have no choice but to search from the outside and I only saw more and more skeletons.

I found the bones of probably four people in total, including some that were still intact. I don’t really want to imagine what happened to them, because some of them were gnawed off. I thought I can determine the country of origin but as expected in 200 years, the designs have been completely changed, so I can’t determine anything.

Anyway, I was able to get 2 things from this wreckage.

One is the emergency rations in this can. I don’t have as much faith in Imperial canned goods, but I didn’t think I could get that many safe ones.

Second is information – I’d be very grateful for this. This confirmed that 200 years really did passed and base on what we know from the facility we can infer that this airship crashed 5 years ago. This is because of the logbook obtained from a sailor’s bag which is still in the readable state which is written in the language of Canaan.

The Kingdom of Canaan is a monarchy located north of the Empire, which combines science and magic and the first one to declare war on the Empire. By the time I was old enough to go to school, the Empire is already at war and there were teachers who said “It’s a shame to learn a hostile country’s language”. When I was told of this, I replied softly” Wouldn’t that make it difficult to train intelligence officers?”. Before I knew it, I was force to change to be an “aspiring spy” and I was forces to work hard. In the first place, a job that requires patience isn’t for me. It’s not a kind of job for someone like me who would want to give up just because it’s so hard to turn a page.

But I never that choosing Canaanite as my first foreign language would come in handy in this situation… you never know what might happen. If I had known I should have taken my study seriously.

[I can’t help if I can’t read that well after my 200 years sleep] said the former Imperial soldier who just woke up 2 days ago.

For now, what I could find out from the logbook is that it’s flown as a test and as expected it crashed after being attacked by a flying creature. It’s common occurrence even before I was put to sleep and it’s not funny to see it firsthand.

By the way the rest of the information in the journal we’re useless. It was a bunch of slanders against their boss. Such as “Don’t be silly, I didn’t want to be a crew member of a flying coffin, a lab rat, or an explorer. I wanted to be a tester of the most advanced magical machine. What part of this is a “state-of-the-art magic machine”?　It’s a piece of junk that was around a hundred years ago, no matter how you look at it. I’m not sure how much nourishment you’re getting for your hairless head.　It doesn’t matter how much nourishment you send to your hairless head, it’s useless, send it to your brain. Also, your mouth stinks, brush your teeth.”

I’m not going to go into the rest of it, as it’s all a bunch of verbal abuse, but the second day was similar.

“Oi, Oi, Oi, Oi, Is it fine to fly with this speed all the time? I thought we’re going to gradually increase the speed. I thought we we’re supposed to  keep going faster and faster which would make me a target for the flying needles. And that red pattern, is it for scoring? Oh you think I’m joking? I’m not a suicidal maniac, so turn around and drop me right off!”

For the record, the “fly needle” is another name for the fish, and its official name is the “catarrunya,” a slender, feathered fish that looks about 50 centimeters long. It’s more famously known as the “flying stake fish,” and its hard, sharp fangs, which can smash through steel plates with ease, flies at 120 kilometers per hour toward flying objects.

To be honest, I’m not sure even I can withstand this dangerous monster now.

“Damn it!,  He saw my journal yesterday and was beaten.

Apparently, the ship went down after 3 days and with low loyalty of the crews the result is was “you guessed it” At firs glance it may seems useless but I could guess the reason why there’s so many preserved food left because they we’re left untouched.

The problem left is the quality of what’s inside, but with Canaanite technology. I’d like to think that it will last for 5 years… I hope. Unlike the imperial cans, these cans have lids on them, I’m scared that there’s no magical enchantment but I wouldn’t know till I try it.

I picked up a can which is about the size of a human fist and inspect I carefully. I remembered you need a special tool to open these cans but it’s not necessary for the current me. With the use of brute force there’s no way these cans can withstand my current arm strength, rendering it easily crushed, and out came a crispy loaf of bread.

In short. It’s a standard dry bread. I checked to see if there’s mold  and after I was certain that there wasn’t, I pulled it out using my finger nails and ate it,

[Still better than nothing.]

Those words came to mind

(Still couldn’t they just put some dried fruits in for nutrition?)

I had a few of them but with this body, my food may last for one day but for two days, that seems doubtful. And, with this amount It’ll just be a matter of time. It would be a dire situation if more than half was damaged. And with the tickling sensation from the water loss made me crave for water even more,

I knew I had to find a water source. I packed as much preserved food as I could jam in my backpack and the rest in a relatively good condition box which I held in one hand. After a quick hike, I decided that it’s look okay and left the wreckage. It wasn’t without reward but I wished that there should be something more I tought to myself.

I was afraid of the vibration from running would cause the box to disintegrate, but fortunately I was able to carry it without breaking. I have more luggage now, but it’s no problem for me now.

(An air ship… which is not very fast and had done three days of travel, I guess I’m near the Canaan border. I’ll head east to…)

I don’t know the current state of Canaanite territory or how it looks like but by heading east I should be able to find the city of GLACIER or the rail road leading to it. I don’t know if the city still exist but if I can find the site of the city, I can at least imagine how the war ended.

I already know the direction due to the position of the sun.

(First, I’ll go east and then be flexible from there)

Thus, with a crate in one hand and a backpack on the other, I head east going through with a lot of trial and error to acclimatize myself.

It seems having both of my hand occupied seems to be unexpectedly bad for my body’s balance, but it didn’t matter as I consider this a training since I’m a soldier after all. Even though I’m a new recruit, I’ve participated in military training so I’m not going to complain over something like this I thought, while using my unexhaustive body capability.

However, the period of my training was very short, so I don’t really know what I’m supposed to be doing. Do you think that the Empires lack of new soldier allows you to call yourself a recruit or was it because of the armaments so strong that it shortens training time? If you’re a modern historian arguing over such matters, I’d like to put an end on it.

There’s no way that I can do this it as I can only go “Gao! Gao!” but I still find it amusing to imagine things like this. Then again, the idea of turning into a monster and being put to sleep for 200 years is extreme enough. I have to find a way to have fun or else I wouldn’t be able to do so in this situation.

The sun starts to set when I smell something.

Yes, I smelled it. Or to put it bluntly It reeks.

Believing in my sense of smell. I wandered toward the source of the smell and then something unexpected came into view

E? Why is there a river here?

The question came out with a familiar “Gao! Gao!” voice.