The rope ladder was hauled up with all the strength of the people aboard the airship. Gwen clung to the hatch, staring fixedly below.
White mist, white mist—an apparently endless expanse of white mist. The airship was like a lone boat sailing through a sea of clouds.
She stared blankly for a long while before suddenly turning around and asking the people inside the cabin, "Who was that little girl just now?"
The cabin fell silent for a moment, and everyone turned to look at her.
"What little girl?"
"A little girl about this tall, small, with white hair and white pupils. She looked very, very... Anyway, she was around eight or nine years old!"
The people aboard the airship exchanged surprised looks. At last, someone dressed as a member of the Expeditionary Force stepped forward.
"There was no little girl on the airship. Where did you see her?"
"Down below—no, in the air. Just as we were about to be caught by those white bones, she fell down like that... Wait, there was no little girl on your airship?"
"That's right. The airship is a combat unit, after all, and we're in the middle of a mission. How could we allow a little girl aboard?"
Gwen opened her mouth, but no words came out. Indeed, it would have been strange for there to be a little girl aboard this airship, but...
But she looked down at the white mist below, then back at the people inside the airship.
That little girl had truly vanished just like that. No one knew. No one noticed. She had silently sacrificed herself. "What about that skeletal mass? Did it just disappear on its own? She clearly defeated that huge skeleton, and then she never came back up... None of you noticed?"
Gwen shouted