I had spent so much time lately researching magic and golems that it was finally time to get back to my adventuring activities. My first task, however, was to find some iron ore. I needed materials to upgrade my golems.
"Ta-da! This is how we’re traveling today!"
『Oh, that floating golem thing!』
Usually, we’d just walk to the stairs leading down, but today I had a different plan. I was about to unveil the culmination of the past few days of research: the Golem-style Airship!
The biggest hurdle to getting an airship airborne was building a massive Helium Golem. I had no way to contain that much helium, which had made the whole idea feel impossible. I solved that with a technique similar to simultaneous spellcasting—though I wasn’t entirely sure if I was actually casting them at the same time.
The idea started with <Create Water>. Since that spell generates water out of thin air, I figured that if I could use <Create Water> and <Create Golem> together, I could manifest a water golem without needing any external materials. As it turned out, I could. By focusing on the activation of <Create Water> while chanting the spell for <Create Golem>, I produced a water-based golem from nothing. Using the same logic with <Air Jet> allowed me to create wind golems. I even managed to add some color to the gas so we could actually see it—an invisible golem is a major safety hazard, after all.
Once that was sorted, the rest was easy. I just had to emit helium via <Air Jet> while constructing the largest golem I could manage—all while making sure it didn't just drift away.
The hull itself had been built in a rush by the furniture artisan who’d made my bed. While I called it an airship, the shape was closer to a hot air balloon. We would ride in a gondola, while the ceiling and sides were made of a light wooden framework covered in sturdy fabric.
"Traveling with this... but how?" Spira tilted her head, unable to imagine how the contraption would actually move.
"I know!" Halfa chimed in. "A golem is going to carry us!"
She was close, though probably not in the way she imagined. I couldn't wait to see their reactions once we were actually flying through the sky!
The ceiling of the airship had a large empty space designed to house the Helium Golem. I cast <Create Golem> while focusing on the helium output of <Air Jet>. Normally, the gas would have leaked through the coarse fabric, but once it was part of a golem’s body, that wasn't an issue.
With all of us on board, the ship was quite heavy. Even with my wind magic at full power, the Helium Golem wasn't buoyant enough to lift the hull on its own. But that was fine. I’d built this golem body to be capable of expanding its volume.
"Petit No. 1, expand as much as you can!"
A chime rang out in acknowledgment. Lately, the golem had learned to mimic sounds by vibrating its body. If I taught it words in my own voice, it could repeat them back to me. I was only a step away from a talking golem.
"Ah!"
"It's floating!"
"Could it be... is this really happening?"
Having gained sufficient buoyancy as Petit No. 1 swelled up, the airship finally lifted off. Cries of surprise rose from the group. Shiroru, who had helped with the experiments, wasn't shocked, but since it was her first time actually riding the thing, she was wagging her tail so excitedly it became a blur. She couldn't see out of the gondola floor, so she perched herself on my head. It was extremely ticklish.
The ship continued to climb until most of Aingurna was visible below us. Just as I was about to tell Petit No. 1 to stop, a heavy thud shook the vessel.
"Wh-what was that?!" Lowell cried out.
"I think we hit the dungeon ceiling," I replied.
"Oh, right... we're still in a dungeon," Lowell muttered, his face turning a shade of pale green. He seemed a bit overwhelmed by the strange environment, quite the opposite of the two girls who were practically bouncing with joy. To be fair, Lowell's reaction was probably the more rational one.
Since being stuck against the ceiling wasn't ideal, I had Petit No. 1 maintain a slightly lower altitude.
"Alright, we're moving!"
For propulsion, I used a modified version of <Air Jet>. Standard use of the spell ignores the laws of physics; it blasts wind at high speeds but produces zero recoil for the caster. That’s useless for moving a ship; if I blasted it outward, nothing would happen, and if I blasted it inward, the gondola would turn into a wind tunnel. To fix this, I tweaked the spell to produce proper recoil, pointing it backward to push us forward.
It was trickier to steer than I expected, though. If the jet wasn't perfectly centered, the hull would just spin in circles, making it hard to make any headway. I wasted a fair bit of time wrestling with the controls, and in the end, we weren't much faster than walking. It definitely needs some more refinement.