Right now, the troop is here with me in the formation room. The reason for that is simple. If what I am planning works, then this room is going to be the safest in this ship. That is very ironic, considering it is also going to be the most dangerous room on this ship if it doesn't work.

  The problem that I am facing is the fact that this is not going to be the standard battle. The ship is too fragile right now to survive such a fight. Even a single shot might just end up ruining this ship. That is simply a risk that I will not be able to take.

  That means that I am going to get to try something that I have never really done before. I am going to be trying the dance. (Technically, it is called advanced airship maneuvering, but everybody calls it the dance.)

  You see, airships and the way to control them are usually quite restricted. After all, if you were to twist and turn the ships as you wanted, things would become very chaotic. The result is going to be everything inside the ship flying around like a ping pong ball.

  That is why you have basic maneuvering, which treats flying to be similar to sailing a boat. (This is not to say basic maneuvering is any less complex than advanced maneuvering. It is just more stable and less likely to cause the ship to careen out of control.) Basic maneuvering has to be used when you are shooting a cannon. You can't aim during the dance.

  I am not in the least prepared for the dance. As far as I know, every ship of the guard corps has protections in place for the dance. Even my crappy ship before had formations to root everything to the floor. (It had begun to fail much like everything on that ship.)

  Well, the gentle sword does not have that. Maybe my master did not expect that I would be trying to pull off something like this. Maybe he simply did not have the time to put it in, but it has ended up screwing things for me. We have had to fasten down everything using the standard method, which would be ropes.

  That is the reason that the troop is in here with me. When the ropes do end up snapping, there is nothing pointy here that might blind somebody.

  As for what we are doing right now, we are all waiting down here with enough tension in the room that it can be cut with a knife. Right now, there are a bunch of patrollers looking for us somewhere up there. I guess that I should be thankful that it is not the shadow at the very least.

  The ship has a reputation, even though it has never been seen by us. Reputation enough, that I don't want toever see it if it is possible.

  Along with the brawler, the archer also controls a legion of patrollers. It is these ships that are looking for me right now. Luckily, I am certain that the brawler is not here. Even injured, I should be able to sense that much mana. Still, I think that there are at least ten patrollers here.

  Well, it also suits this archer's personality. He tends to make use of his brawler very rarely. Instead, he focuses on arming and strengthening his patrollers. It is these that he uses to ambush his targets.

  At the moment, it seems that these patrollers are looking for me. As for why I am saying it seems to be, it is the fact that my mana sense is barely able to catch it. I could use my sensory formation to sense it better, but that would also mean that the other side would detect me.

  If I were at my peak, I would have been able to approximate the location with just my mana sense. Right now, all I can feel is the flashes of the sensory formation activating. I can't tell where it is nor give directions to it. All I can tell is that sensory formations are being used. It is like seeing a blob, where I should be seeing a bullseye. I can't even say if I am imagining this right now.

  Being blind like this is scarier than I had expected it to be. Every time I hear anything, I imagine it to be a ship landing on the ground next to me. Why the hell is the forest so windy? The leaves are rustling outside like the whispers of the dead.

  The only lucky thing about this is that their patrollers are spread apart looking for us. This is another place where the stinginess of the pirates has benefited us. Their sensory formations are very crappy.

  These are active sensory formations. (The reason they are called this is due to how much mana they release when being used. They have a reputation of not being strong.) They are active sensory formations that only enhance the five senses at that. Of these five senses, only two are a real threat to us, right now. That is sight and hearing.

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  We have somewhat managed sight by camouflaging ourselves. The troop has been particularly busy doing that after fixing up the ship. They have been covering the ships with branches and leaves to hide the ship in the trees.

  It is not a good camouflage in any way, but it should be able to fool a ship looking at us from five or ten kilometers away. If we are lucky, they might even end up passing us by without finding us. It depends on how skilled the pilot is at using his sensory formation.

  As for hearing, it is the reason that we are trying to be as quiet as possible. Right now, none of us is even twitching for fear that somebody would be able to hear it.

  That is the only benefit of this search party looking for us. Every ship is pretty far from the other ship. I just need to think about a single ship for now. If I escape that single ship, then most of their ships will be too far away. It will allow us to escape all the ships.

  I don't know what I will do after escaping, though. With the way that things are going, my hope of finding allies near the Mayfire castle is decreasing. If the mayfires were active, they would have already revealed their presence here. The bloodfire gang would certainly have been able to function with such boldness.

  Right now, there is no use in thinking about it. The mayfires are not weak. Even if they are not able to leave the castle, they should still have control over a decent chunk of the place.

  (After about ten minutes.)

  Right now, the ship is silent enough that I would be able to drop a pin and it would be heard at the other side of the ship. The reason for that is quite simple. There is a ship above us.

  You are always able to tell with sensory formations. It feels like somebody is staring at you from a distance. They are pretty close to us. I can't be fully certain, but I would say they are about two kilometers away.

  I can feel thoughts pop up, causing my back to become slick with sweat. Anything that we do right now might end up revealing us. The camouflage has an already decent chance of failing. I need to be ready to move the minute that they look like they are about to attack. Still I can't move prematurely, because that will also reveal us. Right now, I have no way to tell how our present situation is going to end up. I don't even know if there are ships in my path. All I know is that my plan seems stupider with each passing second.

  If we do end up being discovered, things are not going to be pretty. Up there are at the very least ten ships, of which any could have the archer in it. If the ship above us passes over us, I will be able to run away. If it manages to hold us for even a bit, the other patrollers will catch up to me.

  At my full speed, I am not worried about any of the patrollers. Thankfully, the brawler is not here.

  After all, the shadow is supposed to have five cannons at least. Even dancing, I would not be able to handle that many cannons, even without the archer. A slight tilt of my head shows Trevor. With Trevor, his gaze holds the patience of the hunter. He is keeping his entire body still just to spring into action as would be needed. I wonder how the man is so calm.

  The other are also keeping still. With the other two, it is more the fear of being prey and is more reactive in nature. I have to be thankful that the two have not unlocked their mana sense yet. With how nervous they are, they would have ended up doing something.

  Not that being completely still like this is really that necessary. Very few ships tend to have formations that can enhance a person's hearing to such an extreme degree. It is just such a finicky sense, and so prone to overloading a person's mind, that it is not very useful. There have been more than a few cases of people losing their hearing when they crank it up to such an extreme degree. I don't want to take a risk, though.

  Still, that is a risk that none of us wants to take. By the way, every second that I am speaking, the mana signature is becoming clearer and clearer. This means that the ship is getting closer every second.

  Now it makes me wish that my mana sense was better, to tell just how close it is. Every second, it is taking all of my will not to just connect to the formations and bolt away.

  Fuck off, I am stopping this log. The more I record, the more I can feel myself slipping into a panic.

  (A few minutes later.)

  Well, it looks like we have managed to fool the ship for now. Right now, the mana signature of the ship is blurring again. This can only mean that they should be going away from us.

  Right now, we are all getting into position. This means that I am connecting myself to every formation here in this room. Once the ship has gone a decent distance (if it gets even more blurry). I am going to activate the ship at its maximum throttle.

  The speed of my ship should be able to leave them in the dust. That is especially true if they have to turn back to chase after me.

  Right now, the main threat that I will be facing is the ships that are still in our path. While they would not be able to keep up with us, they will still pose a threat. Especially because I have to assume that they are going to have the archer in there somewhere. Still, as long as they do not manage to make me pause, I will escape.

  He might not be there, but it is better to assume that he is.

  "In a minute, captain." It is Trevor who speaks.

  His voice is barely a whisper, but in this silence, it seems like a thunderclap. Well, I was the one to tell him to time the launch for me. I will need to warm up the propulsion formation after all.

  It is a bit of a risk, but I hope there is no way that just that bit of mana would be enough to be a real risk. It would be more risky for us not to be able to achieve our maximum speed immediately. They might have cannons in the back of their ship after all.

  "Now."

  Trevor's voice interrupts me as I release the propulsion formation.