A few days after we started training in flight magic, Mr. Byrne came back from the castle with Mayleen.
We also returned to the Goodlooser to hear a briefing on the future direction of the ship.

After detailed discussions, a joint survey was to be conducted by our country and Vertino.

　Yeah, so far, so good to go.

I'll explain it to you from here.

　Miss Maylene stepped forward and spread the map on the table.

'It was only a few weeks ago that the monster was discovered in our country. At first, everyone was amazed that a black island had suddenly appeared in our shipping lanes.

　He pointed to a point on the map and drew a circle.

'Sure, that demon was big, but isn't the island exaggerated?

　Liliera, who has encountered the Megalo Whale before, and Jairo-kun and the other sailors who have also encountered it nodded in agreement with her words.
　However, Mr. Byrne and the XO are the only ones with subtle expressions.

'We sent our ship to investigate the island, but it was attacked and sunk by a giant whale monster that suddenly appeared.

Hmm?　The whale demon is a megalohale, right?　What's that island you're talking about then?

　People are baffled by the lack of consistency in the story, but Maylene's explanation is not wrong.

'Yes, we thought it was an island at first, too. And shortly after the research vessel was destroyed by the whale monster, the island shook a lot.

　Maylene continued to explain, tapping her finger on the map.
Then the black island rose to the surface, and I was startled to see what happened when one end of it cracked wide open, revealing a fire-red color. The next thing we knew, the ship had been destroyed with a horrendous crash, and we knew it was a living creature that had been swallowed up by the red fissure. It was a living thing.

Did you swallow the ship?

What size is that?

　Everyone let out a similar cry from their mouths.
　The Megalo Whale they'd seen before was about three to four times as long as the Goodloser, and somewhere between one and a half and two times as big.
　But if it were to be swallowed, the mast would be caught in its mouth.

'We then surveyed the island and determined that it was the parent of the surrounding whale, based on its shape, which we could see from a distance.

Megalo Whale's ... parents?

　Everyone present was astonished and their words disappeared.
　That's right, the Megalo Whale is a large monster that can grow up to five kilometers in length.
　The Megalo Whale's fry that everyone has encountered until now could be said to be more unusual.

''Come to think of it, Lex-san once said something like that. I didn't think it was really that big.

　Liliera-san, who was the only one in this group listening to my explanation, holds her head.
　Yeah, there are a lot of things you hear about, but you can't really feel them until you actually see them with your own eyes.
　Because those megalo whale fry would give people the impression that those fry are the size of adults from their appearance.
　Most importantly, Megalo whales live in the open ocean, so some inlanders may not even know their name.

Fortunately, the parent whale's huge size prevents it from going into shallow waters, so it is less of a threat to its parents. That's why they are less of a threat to their parents, but their young are in great trouble because they attack merchant and fishing vessels.

For those hunters and merchants who can't fight, is a mischievous child not going to be a smile?

''Can't you take down a child first?''

　At Norbu's words, Maylene shook her head with a troubled look on her face.

'And that's why, if you try to attack a child, the parents will spew out a tide of rocky mixtures to attack you. They may not attack you aggressively, but they seem to fight back if it's to protect their kids.

　That's a megalohale bone rock attack.
　It goes without saying that even a child's megalohale attack is a threat to a normal ship, so a parent's attack is even more dangerous. Specifically, the size.

'Either the kids are in the way of attacking the parents, and if they try to attack the kids, the parents will attack them. You're out of ideas.

We're at sea, so we can't get close enough to hide, and if we try to attack them in the dark of night, they'll still find us, and there's nothing we can do about it.

　Mayleen-san puts a hand to her brow with a troubled face.
　Hmm, I think it would be fine if the military just attacked the whole area normally, but I wonder if there's a problem?

We're not going to be able to examine that tower at this rate, are we?

The tower?

　And that's when Maylene said something strange.
What do you mean by the tower?

Yes, that island, that big tower on the back of Megalo Whale's parents' back. When we saw that, we first mistook the creature for an island.

A tower on the back of a megalohale?

　What's that?　I've never heard of anything like that.

'Mr. Lex, do adults in Megalo Whale have that kind of projection on their backs?'

No, never heard of it.

　While returning to Liliella's question, I wondered about the existence of the strange tower.

'Is that really a tower?　Not a part of your body?

No, it was clearly an artifact.

　Mayleen answered Mina's question once and for all.

''The tower that grew on the back of the Megalo Whale.......I'm curious.

Did that tower bring him to you?

We had been trying to land, seeing that as a possibility, but...

　I see. That's why I was thinking of landing instead of defeating it unilaterally because I was worried about the existence of that tower.

That's why. Gentlemen, do you have a better idea?

Mr. Byrne turns to us and asks us a question.
I mean, why is he saying this to everyone, but his eyes are looking at me?

'Well, I guess it's because you're approaching us in a boat, isn't it?'

So you want me to swim away?

'As expected, it's too far to swim to the parents' demons. Besides, if the kids find us while we're swimming...

No, no, no, no, it's up there.

"Up?

　Mr. Byrne and Maylene nodded their heads together.

''Yes, why don't we just use magic to fly through the air?

　It's just a matter of a wizard in the military using flying magic to reach the Megalo Whale's parents and attack them from their backs.

　Since Vertino is close to the royal capital, it would be easy to get a wizard who can use flight magic from the court mages.

　They are very proud of themselves, but this time there are demons living in the country's most important waters, so they need to be given a boost.

　The first thing you need to do is to make sure that you have the right information.

''Wait a minute. I've never heard of flying with magic before.''

　Huh?　What are you talking about?

I'm sure there are plenty of wizards who can fly, you know?

　I float up into the sky in front of Miss Maylene.

"What?　No!　Yeah?

And so are they.

　I pointed to Gyro-kun and the others, and they all floated up into the sky too.

''And it's flying!

And then Mayleen-san's exclamation echoed in the blue sky.
　Could it be that Ms. Maylene and the rest of the Navy have never seen flying magic before?
　Is it because it's also a navy in a seaside country, so they give preferential treatment to water magic users?

It's not uncommon for the wizards who serve the organization to form factions with other wizards of the same attribute.
　The soldiers of the naval faction may not get along with the wizards of the wind attribute.

　◆

Oh, wow. Wizards can fly.

　Gyro-kun and the others aren't wizards, though.
　And from what Meleen-san said, it seems that she didn't know about the existence of flight magic itself, after all.
　It's a good thing we're members of an organization, so we should at least exchange information about what kind of magic we can use with each other.
　It's a good thing that the people like Meereen who can't use magic are the ones who get in trouble at times like this.
　It's also a good idea to have this kind of useless factionalism, which is why I don't want to belong to the country.

''So, if you go from the sky, you can avoid the Megalo Whale fry with no problem.

Okay, I understand. Then I will leave the investigation of the tower on the back of the Megalo Whale to you.

I understand.

Good luck with that, boys!

'Oh!　I'll take care of it!

　Jairo-kun replies cheerfully to Mr. Byrne's encouragement.

　◆

Then I'm off to investigate the Megalo Whale.

It's nice to meet you!

　When we were ready to investigate, we took off from the Goodruiser.
　The ship sends us out at a position just before it goes out to sea.
　This was to buy flight distance for Gyro-kun and the others, who were not yet accustomed to flying magic, and up to this point, we were just barely far enough away from being attacked by the Megalo Whale even if we left the ship.

''Then let's go, guys!''

""Yes!"

　Everyone floats up into the sky after me.

'Get as much altitude as you can, because if the Megalo Whale fry find you, you risk being attacked by a squirt!

All right!

　As they rose to a certain distance, a black shadow could be seen across the ocean.
　It was a distorted teardrop shape, moving slowly.

'That's the parent of the Megalo Whale, isn't it?

Is that the real Megalo Whale?

Those black dots around them are the kids we saw, right?

　Mr. Norbu was dripping with cold sweat as he compared the megalo whale and its fry.

'Let's go then,'

　And that's when it happened.
　Some of the Megalo whale fry suddenly began to roar and squirt.

What's wrong with them?

Look, there's a ship out there!

　When Megri-san pointed out that everyone looked in the direction the Megalo Whale fry were heading, there was indeed a ship there.

''I wonder if it's a merchant ship that jumped out of the country's control?　Honestly, I think I deserved it.

　Mina said coldly.

'But that's only for your employer, the merchant, isn't it?

"Lex?

　Sure, the merchants who sailed the ship got what they deserved, but the working sailors had nothing to do with it.

'You'll have to wait a minute.'

'What?　Are you going to help me by any chance?

Yes, just to buy a little time to escape. Everyone else, just go ahead!

　I dive between the merchant ship and the Megalo Whale fry as I drop in altitude and release my magic.

''Hydrogizer!''

　A huge geyser erupts from right below the Megalo Whale fry in the lead, flipping its massive body over.
　The fry scream in amazement, but since it was only flipped over, it wasn't injured.
　Depending on the results of this investigation, we might be able to drive the Megalo Whales back to the open sea without a fight.
If that's the case, there's no need to force them to kill us.

　As the leader of the group flipped over, the rest of the group was stranded and stopped moving.

''Please return to the port while you still can!

　As I approach the ship, I tell the sailor beside me to return.

I'm sorry!　Thank God!

　The sailor hurriedly ran to the coxswain, and the ship arced away toward land.

'Here we go,'

　That's when I thought that.
　The fry of the Megalo whales started screaming together.

"Huh?　I'm pretty sure Megalo Whale's child's yell was...

　As I recall, it was a sign to ask my parents for help.
　The moment I remembered that, a tremendous roar rang out over the ocean.
　The atmosphere trembled and the surface of the sea rippled loudly.

''Yabba!''

　But by the time I thought, it was already too late, and far away, in the direction where Megalo Whale's parents were, a large blue pillar rose up.

'It's the parent tide!'

　Yes, the Megalo Whale's parents blew the tide in response to their child's call for help.

　The tide stretched high into the sky, reaching its apex, and then it spread out and fell down around them like a mushroom crust.
　It was scattering countless bony rocks as big as a house.

　If this continues, Gyro, Mr. Burn and the rest of the Goodruiser above them will be caught in the crossfire.
　In the worst case scenario, the coastal towns could be affected.

''It's not good to have a wide range of civilians affected!　We have to destroy it before it reaches its zenith!

　I unleashed the fastest and most extreme magic before the tide of megalohale parents spewed out reached its apex.

'Lightning Pillar!'

　A circle of light is born in front of me.
　The circle of light, about 50 meters in diameter, stretches directly into the sky, and it looks like a tower of light reaching up into the sky.

　The tower of light extended beyond the tide just above the tide from which the Megalo Whale's parent erupted, and the tide collided with it from just below.
　The tide of megalohale hit the tower of light as if it was going to pierce it, but instead of going over the tower of light, it just stopped.
　But that doesn't mean it stopped.

　The pillar of light is a mass of super hot lightning.
　The tide and bone rock spewed by the Megalo Whale had been vaporized by the super-high heat of the Tower of Thunder.

　I slowly lowered the tower of light down.
　Then the pillar of tide lowers with it.
　The place where the tower of light has passed is standing in a misty fog.
　It's vapor from the evaporating tide.

　As I slowly lower the pillar of light, the tidal column of the Megalo Whale's parents gradually thins out.
　It looks like it's censored.
　And when the tidal pillar disappeared completely, I also released my magic and went back to everyone above.

I'm home! All the people on the merchant ship are safe and sound!

　I call out to everyone who was ahead of me.

"..........

　But for some reason, everyone is looking at me in silence.
　For some reason, their eyes widen.

'What's going on, guys?'

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "

Huh?

What the hell was that all about?

　What the hell, it's just a high level lightning strike magic.