Relic

We should never have trusted any promise made by Uncle Zagu, an old man who looked utterly unreliable at first glance—especially when he declared that this battered airship was running perfectly. As it turned out, this thing had already become a pile of scrap metal in an underground warehouse when Milia was four or five years old. After another ten years of decay, it had lost every function except growing mushrooms. Even Lin's big-mouth landing method was far more reliable.

But at least Uncle Zagu had not been wrong about one thing: the Radiance Glory's engine system really was bursting with the enthusiasm of its prime. That enthusiasm was so intense that it took out the main engine's cooling system ten minutes later. By the time we had climbed several thousand meters into the air, the ancient aircraft began letting out miserable wails. The temperature in its engine compartment was rising, while its power output was gradually approaching that of an electric scooter. The badly discolored flat projection screen at the controls displayed the scene inside the engine compartment. It looked like the inside of an electric oven.

The piercing alarm had been blaring for two minutes. It was currently the only thing on the airship that seemed to be working properly.

"I told you, anything connected to relics is bad business." Uncle Zagu released the control stick with a miserable expression. "The engine will shut down in five minutes. If we're lucky, we'll fall into Lake Ten Thousand. If we're unlucky, we're done for—say, why do you all look so calm?"

The old man was astonished to discover something. Inside the airship, even Bi Luna, who was usually the calmest and steadiest of them all, looked nervous. Yet our crowd of over twenty people was calmer than the next.