The Unfortunate Girl Wants an Easy Mode in Her Second Life – Chapter 171

Chapter 171: Elvanslaw
ㅤThe sky outside the shuttle changes from indigo to jet black.
ㅤIt’s probably more space than sky now.
ㅤWhen I switched the shuttle floor to display mode, I could see a blue planet below.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Wow…”
ㅤ
ㅤSharrion lets out a voice.
ㅤ
ㅤThe other members also leaked sighs of admiration with similar expressions.
ㅤ
ㅤOf course, I’m no exception.
ㅤEven though Earth’s science is advanced, it wasn’t an era where you could easily go to space.
ㅤ
ㅤThe shuttle can control inertia with magic.
ㅤTherefore, there is artificial gravity, but I decided to turn it off for a bit.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Whoa, my body!”
ㅤ
ㅤ”It’s been a while since I’ve felt this sensation.”
ㅤ
ㅤSharrion is surprised, and Arne-san seems nostalgic.
ㅤ
ㅤEscavelm isn’t fazed by the zero gravity.
ㅤBut she’s looking out of the shuttle with her eyes narrowed as if it’s a rare sight.
ㅤ
ㅤ”It’s beautiful. I can’t reach this height with my own wings.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Because there’s no oxygen?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”No, it’s because there’s no atmosphere. I can manage the oxygen with magic, but I can’t ascend without enough atmosphere to fill my wings.”
ㅤ
ㅤ（So you can manage it.）
ㅤ
ㅤAs expected of a race that preserves the power of the Demon King era.
ㅤ
ㅤThe shuttle travels in satellite orbit, and after a few hours, the destination, the Elf Village, comes into view.
ㅤ
ㅤA donut-shaped structure revolves around a huge cylindrical axis.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Somehow, it’s not what I imagined the 『Elf Village』 to be like.”
ㅤ
ㅤRather, this is a space colony.
ㅤThe kind that people fight over, trying to drop it onto the ground.
ㅤ
ㅤ”The inside isn’t like that. Nature is abundant. I hear they preserve the ancient flora.”
ㅤ
ㅤArne-san tells me.
ㅤ
ㅤ”What about gravity?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”The outer ring is rotating, right? The outer side is the ground, and… uh, how should I explain it?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Could it be centrifugal force?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Yes, yes. Rotating objects have an outward force, right? They use that instead of gravity.
ㅤBut, it’s strange.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”What is?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”It looks kind of dull…”
ㅤ
ㅤArne-san said while squinting at the village.
ㅤ
ㅤI operate the touch panel and enlarge the image of the colony.
ㅤ
ㅤThe colony is a dull gray.
ㅤIt glitters silver in some places.
ㅤSince it’s made of metal, I don’t think there’s anything strange about it, though.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Yeah, it’s definitely strange.”
ㅤ
ㅤArne-san said.
ㅤ
ㅤ”What is?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”It’s too dull. The outside of the colony is coated with mithril, so it should be shimmering more silvery-white.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Silvery-white? It certainly looks dull. Like concrete.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Concrete?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Oh, uh, cement… you probably don’t know that either. It’s like a malleable stone material.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”So you’re saying it looks like stone.
ㅤThat’s certainly true.”
ㅤ
ㅤThen, Sharrion interjects.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Um, I know this might sound crazy, but…”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Did you notice something?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Y-yes. Onee-chan just said it looks like stone, right? So I thought, maybe it really is stone.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Stone… you don’t mean!”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Yeah. I think the townscape of Loft, petrified by the Ash of Ruin, was just that color.”
ㅤ
ㅤWe hurriedly look at the colony.
ㅤ
ㅤLooking closely, the surface of the colony wasn’t a single color.
ㅤGray parts and shimmering silver parts are mixed together.
ㅤIt’s as if the gray parts are gradually encroaching on the silver parts…
ㅤ
ㅤ”The silver parts are the original mithril, and the gray parts are petrified!?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”N-no way!? Even if Cretias got power from G*d, to petrify even this village!”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Could that knight be there…?”
ㅤ
ㅤSharrion’s face hardens.
ㅤSharrion was captured by that guy during the previous incident and used as a hostage against me.
ㅤ
ㅤI think for a moment and shake my head.
ㅤ
ㅤ”…That doesn’t seem likely. If Cretias’s power could reach from the ground to satellite orbit, a wider area on the ground should be petrified.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Is there a possibility that Cretias moved there?”
ㅤ
ㅤArne-san asks me.
ㅤ
ㅤ”I can’t say it’s absolutely impossible. But Cretias probably moved normally from the Tree Country to Zamzaria. He killed guards and other knights immediately after his escape, so I don’t think he could suddenly warp to satellite orbit. It took a considerable amount of time for Cretias to attack Zalbuck and proclaim himself the Holy King after escaping the Tree Country.”
ㅤ
ㅤRather, considering the distance, it took too much time.
ㅤHe might have needed some preparation before invading the royal capital Zalbuck.
ㅤ
ㅤArne-san says,
ㅤ
ㅤ”Is there a possibility that G*d transferred Cretias there?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”No, I don’t think so.”
ㅤ
ㅤThis time, Escavelm shakes her head.
ㅤ
ㅤ”G*d cannot directly interfere with the ground. The first Demon King, just before being defeated and having his power taken by the Grandmasters, bestowed upon them the phase of 『G*d』. This made the Grandmasters different from 『humans』 and they lost the power to directly interfere with the ground.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Wait, didn’t the Grandmasters become gods to change the world?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”They didn’t know, I suppose. That if you become a g*d, you gain great power but you can no longer be human.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”The Grandmasters changed the world to make adventuring more enjoyable, right? If they became gods, they couldn’t do that anymore?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”They can reincarnate. While remaining as gods, they can send their souls into humans. Thus, the g*d, the main body, can also enjoy the adventures experienced in a human body.
ㅤBut, they soon got bored. Wielding immense power is fun at first. But what remains after the initial excitement subsides is emptiness.
ㅤAs a result, they stopped reincarnating as adventurers, and after a long period of apathy, they even lost the boundaries of their egos and eventually became one g*d.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”So, it’s okay for that g*d to reincarnate me or give Cretias power, but it’s not okay to directly move Cretias somewhere?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”That’s right.”
ㅤ
ㅤEscavelm nods.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Then what’s happening there? Is there someone else besides Cretias who has been given power like Cretias’s?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”I don’t know. But even G*d wouldn’t easily bestow power like he gave to Cretias.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”So we won’t know until we go there.”
ㅤ
ㅤI shrug my shoulders slightly.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Onee-chan, are you going?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Yeah. We have to do something about the Ash of Ruin anyway.
ㅤBesides, that colony isn’t completely petrified yet. So there might still be survivors. They might know some way to resist petrification.
ㅤIt’s Arne-san’s hometown, so I can’t just leave it alone.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”…Thank you, Minato. But it’s dangerous.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”It seems like the Stone Immunity Ring prevents immediate petrification.
ㅤBut I only have one for me and Sharrion.”
ㅤ
ㅤI wish I had over-farmed Cockatrices and prepared enough rings for everyone.
ㅤ
ㅤ（I never thought I’d see the Ash of Ruin in space.）
ㅤ
ㅤI thought I could get them if necessary after getting information from the elves.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Sorry, but could you lend your ring to Arne-san, Sharrion?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Y-yeah. Okay. So, should I wait in the shuttle?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Yes. Escavelm and Sharrion will wait in the shuttle. Arne-san and I will board the colony. Once we’ve secured safety, we’ll have you two come over.”
ㅤ
ㅤI bring the shuttle closer to the colony.
ㅤ
ㅤAs we get closer, the difference between the mithril parts and the petrified parts becomes clear.
ㅤSome of the petrified parts were already starting to crumble.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Arne-san, do you know of any place where we can dock the shuttle?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”There’s no such place. It wasn’t designed for people to come from outside. There isn’t even a door to go outside.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Hmm. I can’t destroy the parts that are still okay, so we’ll have to enter from the collapsed parts.”
ㅤ
ㅤI take Arne-san and enter the shuttle’s airlock.
ㅤSeveral spacesuits are hanging in the airlock.
ㅤThey are much thinner and less bulky than the ones on Earth. The design is close to the pilot suits that appear in robot anime. The bright colors like pink and yellow are probably so that they can be easily seen if they are ejected into space.
ㅤ
ㅤArne-san wears the pink spacesuit, and I wear the yellow one.
ㅤ
ㅤThe walls of the airlock are also displays, and we can see the hull approaching the collapsed part of the colony.
ㅤ
ㅤ『Let’s go.』
ㅤ
ㅤI say to Arne-san through the spacesuit’s communicator.
ㅤ
ㅤ『Anytime.』
ㅤ
ㅤAfter hearing Arne-san’s reply, I open the hatch.
ㅤ
ㅤThe hatch is on the ceiling of the airlock, but since the airlock is in zero gravity, there is no up or down.
ㅤ
ㅤ『Let’s see, the docking anchor is… this one.』
ㅤ
ㅤI lift a device that’s about the size of a person.
ㅤThe shape is similar to a manta ray.
ㅤIt would probably be quite heavy if there was gravity, but now it’s weightless.
ㅤA wire extends from the tail of the manta ray.
ㅤThe wire is wound around a drum-shaped winder.
ㅤ
ㅤ『Lock on to the target with the laser on the head… like this.』
ㅤ
ㅤI operate the device and point the laser extending from the head to the place where I want to drive the anchor – in this case, the collapsed part of the colony.
ㅤThere’s a beep, and the lock-on is complete.
ㅤWhen I let go, the manta ray flies out into space.
ㅤA while after the manta ray is completely out of sight, there’s a sound from the winder.
ㅤ
ㅤ『Arne-san, hold on.』
ㅤ
ㅤI hold the winder in one hand and extend the other hand to Arne-san.
ㅤ
ㅤ『O-okay.』
ㅤ
ㅤAfter making sure Arne-san is holding on, I press the button on the winder.
ㅤThe wire is wound up.
ㅤArne-san and I fly out of the shuttle and arrive at the collapsed part of the colony along the same path as the manta ray.
ㅤSince the wire is wound up, we can’t return to the shuttle anymore.
ㅤ
ㅤ『It’s a one-way trip, but it’s scary to keep this connected to the shuttle.』
ㅤ
ㅤI can’t imagine what would happen if the ash spread through the wire and petrified the shuttle.
ㅤI store the retrieved anchor in the Abyss Worm’s Infinite Stomach. I’m wearing the Stomach like a shoulder bag over my spacesuit. I call it a Stomach, but it’s shaped like a shoulder bag.
ㅤ
ㅤArne-san says,
ㅤ
ㅤ『This place is dangerous too. We need to get to a place without ash quickly.』
ㅤ
ㅤEntering from the collapsed part of the colony, we find ourselves in a wide passage.
ㅤIt seems to be for maintenance, with pipes and tubes running everywhere.
ㅤThe ash is floating in the passage.
ㅤ
ㅤ（The concentration isn’t that high.）
ㅤ
ㅤFrom what I checked in Loft, this much shouldn’t be a problem with the Stone Immunity Ring.
ㅤ
ㅤSomething is written in Elvish on the petrified passage.
ㅤWhen I decipher it using the language selection option, it reads 『Elvansrow』.
ㅤIt seems to be the name of this colony.
ㅤ
ㅤGravity is acting outwards in the passage.
ㅤAs Arne-san explained, it’s probably the centrifugal force from the colony’s rotation.
ㅤHowever, the collapsed part is crumbling towards space.
ㅤIf the centrifugal force is acting towards space, it means that if we fall into the hole in the outer wall, we’ll be thrown out into space.
ㅤ
ㅤFortunately, the collapsed part isn’t that wide.
ㅤThere are plenty of detours.
ㅤ
ㅤHowever,
ㅤ
ㅤ『This is terrible.』
ㅤ
ㅤArne-san says, looking at the petrified elves in the passage.
ㅤThere are petrified elves everywhere, perhaps those who couldn’t escape in time.
ㅤSome are petrified with expressions of terror, others with expressions of desperation.
ㅤAt this rate, some of the petrified elves probably fell into the collapsed part and were thrown out into space. Even if we could cure petrification, I wonder if we could find people who were thrown into the vastness of space.
ㅤ
ㅤI compare the scene I saw from the shuttle with the information on the minimap and proceed towards what seems to be still safe.
ㅤThere are places where thick shutters are down, but they can be opened with nearby switches. They seem to be designed to prevent air leaks in case of an accident rather than to prevent intruders.
ㅤHowever, they wouldn’t move when I operated them; it seemed like Arne-san had to touch them for them to work.
ㅤ
ㅤ『It seems like there’s air around here.』
ㅤ
ㅤAs we move away from the collapsed part and deeper into Elvansrow, the air density gradually increases.
ㅤ
ㅤThe inorganic passage that continued for a long time now has wood-grain interiors, and ivy and flowers are increasing.
ㅤThe ivy crawling on the ceiling even has wisteria flowers and bunches of grapes.
ㅤIf it weren’t petrified, it would have been a soothing sight.
ㅤ
ㅤAfter passing through the passage, we come out into a large dome-shaped space.
ㅤ
ㅤ『Look!』
ㅤ
ㅤArne-san raises her voice.
ㅤ
ㅤIn the center of the dome, a young elf girl is clinging to a petrified elf and crying.