'Whoa, what is that!'

　Liliera-san looks at the sky and exclaims in surprise.
　Of course, that's because what was floating in the sky was not a cloud, but an island.
　It is also a large number of islands.

''That's an empty island,''

Empty Island?

Yes, as you can see, it's an island in the sky. Some of them are even as big as the continent in the sky.

A flying continent?　How in the world does it fly!

　Hahaha, Liliela looks at the empty island again and again in amazement.
　We decided to change our base of operations, and we decided to visit all the unusual places in the world.
　As a first stop, I brought Rieliela here to Skyland.

The soil and rocks of Sky Island contain a substance called Gravium, which has the ability to float in the air in response to magic.

　Gravium is only found in the material of the empty island, and it is so sensitive that it reacts to the magical power in the air and to the magical power emitted by nature's creatures, so this is how it can fly even on an uninhabited island.

''What's that?　If there was such a thing, wouldn't you be able to fly all the way through the sky without using magic?

　Yes, Liliera's impressions were correct.
　In the past, gravium was extracted from the Sky Island and the Celestial Continent in order to extract gravium, and many flying magic items were developed.

　But the development of flying magic made gravium unnecessary, and the over-extraction of gravium threatened to destroy the Sky Island and the Sky Continent, so the excavation of gravium was banned.

It's not that I'm not a fan of magic items, but I'm a fan of flying magic, which is more convenient, so magic items that use gravium became obsolete a long time ago.

　It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for when you're in the market.

I'm curious how you know that, but well, it's Lex-san.

　For some reason, he lets out a sigh as if he's given up.
　No, no, no, I think you can learn more about that situation by going to the library.

　By the way, I'm the one who developed the flying magic and magic items that work with flying magic.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on in the world.

But I can't see the Sky Continent. I thought it was around here.

Isn't it somewhere else?

No, I mean, you should be able to spot it easily, even though it's pretty far away, given its size.

　However, all I can see are the empty islands.
　And I wonder if there are so many empty islands?
　And there's a strangely large empty island that I don't recognize.　

"Hm, since we're here, why don't we go to Empty Island for a bit?

Well, I'd love to see it.

　Liliella agrees, as if to say she's been waiting for it.

'Kyu!'

　Mofumov agrees with me with great interest.
　We fly up into the sky with our flying magic and fly towards the empty island.

'Beautiful....'

　Lilliera-san, who approached the empty island, let out a sigh.
A large amount of water flowed down from the edge of the larger empty island, making it look like a waterfall in the sky.
More water fell onto the empty island below and splashed heavily, creating a small rainbow in the air.

The waterfall falling from the sky was a fantastic sight for us to enjoy.

'Wow, it's floating in the sky, but it's a proper island.

　As Liliella said, there were trees and grasses on the empty island, and a spring and river could be seen.
　The water that flowed from there went to the edge of the island, creating a waterfall in the sky.

''Kyu!''

　When I looked, I saw that Fluffy Mofo had attacked and eaten the beast from Kuujima.
　I see, you followed me because you wanted to eat, right?

Hey, Mr. Lex, do you think there's an empty island in those clouds?

Liliella asks me that when she sees the waterfall coming down from the clouds above the sky island.

'Maybe it is. Because the altitude of the sky island changes depending on the gravium content and the number of creatures living on the island.'

An island in the clouds...

　Liliera-san is staring at the sky above the empty island with sparkling eyes.

''Ah, there's a town nearby. Let's spend the night there today!

　I just looked at the ground from the sky and noticed that there was a town nearby.

I'm not sure if I'm hungry or not, but I'm not sure my magic is good enough. I guess I was a little overzealous.

Oops, I shouldn't. Liliera-san's magic power is in trouble.

''Well, shall we go?

　After visiting the empty island, we went back to the ground to look for an accommodation.

　We went back to the ground to look for a place to stay.

Welcome to the party.

　The clerk at the counter greets us cheerfully as we enter the inn.

'Can I have two rooms for one and a pet?

'Sorry, it's crowded today, so there's only one room for two. Also, as long as your pet doesn't pee or poop, you're good to go.

　Double occupancy.

'I don't mind. I used to share a room with a man and a woman because we didn't have a lot of money and we used to share a room together.

　Hmm, I hope you're good, Liliera.

Sure. Then we'll have a room together. And I'll be fine, because I've got it all under control.

Coo!

Fluffy raises his hand when it's not a problem.

'Haha, I don't know what it is, but it's cute. And the room for two is one silver coin per night. Four coppers per meal if meals are included.

That's pretty expensive.

　Lilliera frowns when she hears a single silver coin.

''Oh?　I thought our guests were here to see the celestial man descend?

"The celestial host descends?

　What's that?

You don't know who I am?　Hmm ... that's lucky.

Lucky?

This town is protected by the celestial beings who came out of the sky.

"A celestial being from the sky?

　Uh, what's the legend?

'Oops, you don't believe that face, do you?　But, you see, the Sky People are real.

Uh, what's this all about?　I mean, what is a celestial person?

　To be honest, I'm chumped.

'This town was originally a pioneer village fleeing the war, but it's been attacked by a lot of demons for a long time, probably because of the land.

.....

　Liliera-san makes a bitter face when she hears that she was attacked by a demon.

''I heard that our ancestors resisted desperately, not wanting to have the land they had worked so hard to cultivate taken away from them, and sometimes hired adventurers to defend their village.

　The shopkeeper is used to telling us stories about the old days.
　Maybe she tells us this story every time a customer comes in.

The village grew into a town, and our ancestors built a protective wall against the monsters and established a large vigilante group. Then one day, a horrible and large group of demons attacked the town. Everyone fought desperately, but the walls were destroyed and the vigilante fighters were defeated one by one. The country abandoned their ancestors, and the adventurers fled as it was not worth it.

　I feel bitter when I hear that the adventurers have escaped.

''It's no use, when everyone gave up, the miracle happened. A shining spear was released from the sky and the swarm of demons was wiped out in a flash. Then our ancestors looked up into the sky and saw the winged knights descending from the sky.

"Winged Knights?

　What?　I've never heard of that kind in my life!

When the Winged Knights descended to earth, they healed the wounded and drove away the rest of the demons. I heard they called themselves angels of God and celestial beings.

"The angel of God...

　That's just like a mythical angel.

Moreover, the sky-man is coming down from heaven today.

"Today?

　Today?　Wait, wait, wait!　Isn't that a legend?

celestial beings are really real?

　Rielieliela rolls her eyes in disbelief.

Yes, they are. I see them every year, you know.

Every year?

Yes, our ancestors made a pact with the Sky People. The Sky People made a pact with our ancestors that they would pay tribute to the Sky People every year and protect our city in return.

Is today the day we send that tribute to you?

That's what I'm talking about!　That's why every inn is overpriced today!

....

　I look at Liliera and she looks at me.

'I'm staying,'

Always!

　You're not going to be able to do that.

Uh, is this the ceremonial altar?

There's a lot of people here.

　We took the room and immediately went to the ceremonial altar where the shopkeeper told us that a tribute ceremony would take place.
　It's useful to have a magic bag that you don't need to put your stuff in at a time like this.

Hmm, this is going to take a while. Shall we start from the roof?

Well, I guess we'll just have to do it.

　The clerk had told me that I should hurry if I wanted to see the ceremony, so Liliella agreed to go from above.

''But no flying, if we fly here it will cause a lot of trouble in many ways.

I know.

　Yes, it's true that if we fly on the day when the sky people come from the sky, people might misunderstand us.
　Well, we don't have wings, so we won't be mistaken for them.

"Yo!

　We use body-enhancing magic to improve our leaping power, and jump onto the roof of a nearby house.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a place on the roof that looks like a ritual altar, so we run across the roof and leap between houses to get to the altar.

　And as we approached the altar, a loud cheer erupted from the front.

'What!

'Mr. Liliella, on the altar!

　We stopped at the roof of a house on the way and looked above the altar.

'Lie....'

　Liliera-san couldn't help but let out a voice.

　It was a very majestic scene.
　A large circular hole opened up between the clouds above, and sunlight leaked out of it.
　And from that hole, ten wings slowly descended.

It really does have wings....

Is that the Man in the Sky?

""Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!"

　As ten knights with feathers sprouting from their backs and dressed in white and silver armor slowly approach the ground, the entire town cheers.

''What is that thing?''

　What Liliera wondered about would be the large disk in the center of them.
　The celestial people formed a circle, each supporting the disk with their hands inside the circle.

　And when the Celestial Knights approached the ground, their voice was heard.

''In accordance with the pact of heaven, we will fulfill our covenant. We offer you a pledge of fertility in accordance with the pact of the earth. This is the covenant of heaven and earth!

Is this a bullhorn spell?

　The voice that probably echoed throughout the town, I guessed that it was caused by magic.　

　And as the sky people held the spear in their hands in the air in a radiant manner, light sprouted from the tip of the spear and lines of light colored the sky.

''Oh!''

　The light that was emitted from the light pouring down through the clouds looked so majestic and brilliant.

'Oh, great angel of heaven!　Receive our tribute according to the pact!

　An old man dressed as a priest shouted loudly, and the celestial people came down near the altar.
Then the people who climbed up to the altar laid out their tributes one after another on top of the celestial people's disks.

''That's a lot of power.''

　The hands of the celestial people are supporting the disk.
　The tributes are being placed on top of that disc, so the weight must be quite heavy.
　Even though they are all holding it together, supporting it with one hand is surprisingly strong.

　While the tribute was being placed on the table, the question and answer session between the celestial man and the priest was still going on.

''Even so, there's a lot of food.

　The tributes placed on the altar were all foodstuffs such as vegetables, dried meat and fish.
　There are other items as well, but the money and goods are small.

You said earlier that it's a sign of fertility, and I wonder if that's what you mean by food?

Yeah, that might happen.

　Hmmm, I wonder if it's like a ritual to offer the best crop of the year to the earth gods?

　Then, after the conversation between the celestial man and the priest was over, the tribute seemed to be finished, and the celestial people went up to the sky again.

Ah, I see, the question and answer is just a performance until they finish loading the tribute.

　Then, the celestial people who had risen to the sky held their spears again and emitted the light from earlier, this time spinning slowly as they rose into the sky.

　Once again, the whole town cheered from the town, and their voices continued until the celestial people's figures disappeared above the clouds.

　◆

But then again, I didn't know there was such a thing as celestial beings.

　Yeah, that surprised me too.
　I used to be a hero, and I've met most of the races.

　It was variously allies and enemies, but even so, this is the first time I've encountered the Celestial Race.
　And the only race I've seen with wings sprouting from their backs is the demons.
　Well, I've seen demons with wings that resemble humans, but those guys can't talk.

It's a messenger of the gods who allies with humans. It's like a mythical being.

Yeah.

　I mean, if such a being is real, why didn't he help us in our previous lives in our fight against the demons?

　I think it's more of a question of why than of how great it is.
　Hmmm, I'm curious.
　Celestial man, what in the world is he?
　My mind is filled with such questions and I come to one conclusion.



　Yes, until you find out if you're wondering.
　My master in a previous life also told me to charge into the women's bathhouse if I wanted to know, even if it was a women's bathhouse, and I was half-dead when I looked into the women's bathhouse.
　

　Anyway, if you're interested in an unknown being, it's only natural to investigate its habitat to find out its biology.

'Huh?　Are you sure you're okay?　The other party is an angel from the sacred sky, right?

　Liliella shouts in surprise at my suggestion.

That's why. To be honest, I don't know of any celestial beings. It's not just the fact that I don't know of any celestial continent that bothers me. If they have been living in the sky for a long time, I'm sure they would know about that too.

'Well, maybe, but...'

And doesn't it bother you how much it bothers you that the country is further up on Empty Island?

　When I asked her that question, Liliella crossed her arms and thought about it.
　Then, with an indescribable expression, she said

''........well, that's not something that doesn't bother me.

Of course!

　Yes, we are adventurers.
　A profession where we risk our lives to earn our day's money, and dive into danger ourselves to see the unknown!
　If we have such a sight in front of us that we've never seen before, there's no reason not to stand up!

　And while we're at it, let's also ask her why she didn't help us fight the witches in her previous life!

'Then tomorrow we'll go to the land of the celestial man!

Oh...!

Coo!

　You're not going to be able to do that.

It's pretty chilly in here.

　We fly to the sky, aiming for the land of the sky people.
　Our destination is a waterfall coming down from above the clouds.

'We're about to approach the clouds. If we rush in, we risk hitting the bottom of the sky island, so we'll go around the clouds and climb up.

Okay.

　We climbed up, being careful not to go into the clouds.

'The clouds break up. We've reached the top.

　We jumped through the clouds and reached the top of the cloud sea.

'Wow.....'

　Liliella is immensely impressed by the sight of the sea of clouds from above.
　Further up in the sky, there is nothing but blue sky and the sun's rays shine on it.
　And underneath the view is a sea of white clouds all around.

　And inside it.....

Here it is. Empty Island. And it's big!

　The empty island in the clouds was one of the largest empty islands I've ever seen.
　It's not so much a continent, but it's still about the size of a small country, isn't it?

"We're in the sky, but there's really a lot of land. It's not like an empty island crammed full of things on a small island.

　Just like Liliella-san said, this empty island looked like a scene on the ground that was cut out and floated on the clouds.
　It's fantastic, but not fantastic, I should say.

''Come on, let's go.''

Yeah, yeah.

　I took Liliella's hand, who was confused by the sight of the empty island, and we began to fly towards the center of the empty island.

　◆

I've never seen so many animals in my life.

　Liliera shouted excitedly when she saw the animals on the empty island.

'That's a ball rabbit. As you can see, it's a round rabbit like a ball, and it doesn't run, it bounces and moves around.''

Squeak!

　Fluffy is excited about something, but that's not your relative.
　It's true that they're mopey looking, but their biology is obviously different from yours.

　Liliera-san is enthralled with the animals on the empty island, so I observe the surroundings instead.
　Then, after flying for a while, I discover something that is clearly not a natural object.

'Oh, look. You see that village over there?

　I discover a man-made village on an empty island.

"It's true. It's a village ... or is it a village?

What's going on?

No, aren't celestial people more awesome than the people on earth?

I'm sure.

　I think it's actually great because that's what the people in the town down there said.

'So why is it a village?　And from the looks of it, it doesn't look that great.

Indeed.

　It's really a village, if you ask me.
　It's kind of like a normal village on the ground.

''It might be different if you see it up close, so why don't we go there anyway?

Yeah.

　We fly to the Celestial Village.

I got closer, but it's just a regular village.

It's a village.

　It looks like a normal house.
　If I were to make a strong difference, I would say that there is no fence in the village of the sky people.
　This is probably because there are no vermin such as wolves or other vermin, unlike on earth.

"Let's go down for now, shall we?

　We descend to the village of the celestial man.
　There is no fence or gate in the village, so there is no need to get off outside once.

　Then we hear a commotion on the ground, or rather from the Celestial man's village.
　It seems that the people in the village are pointing at us and making a lot of noise about something.

''Huh?''

　Seeing that scene, I suddenly felt uncomfortable.

'What's wrong?'

'Oh no, it's a village of celestial beings and they don't all have wings.

What?

　Yes, the celestial people didn't have wings sprouting from their backs like the celestial people we saw on earth.
　What does that mean?

That's right. He doesn't have wings.

　Hmmm, I don't know why, but I'll try to be friendly at first anyway.
　As I landed in the village, I smiled and greeted the villagers.

'Hello, celestial people.'

　Then the people in the village rolled their eyes and froze.

'Huh?　What's wrong with you all?

A human being without wings came down from the sky!

　Huh?　Why are you surprised?
　I mean, you all don't have wings, either.