#551 The Goblin Flies

Now, it’s time for Orkubo’s Castle!

Many participants are heading for the castle tower, across the beam, up the hill, and into the castle!

The cheers of the spectators are even more powerful now that Silver Wolf’s demonstration has fired them up!

We have Veil’s ramen stall and Letasreit’s bean shop (Horkosfon’s natto is also being sold here), offering refreshments to these spectators!

But this year, we also have Bacchus’ oden stall, which is steadily gaining popularity.

I informed him beforehand that he’s not allowed to serve alcohol.

Speaking of new stalls, there’s also a takoyaki stall.

And to my surprise, Platy is managing it!

“What are you doing?!”

I don’t want you stressing your body now that we’ve got a second child on the way!

You’re even carrying Junior on your back. All that while you’re in front of the hot takoyaki pan!

“I was hoping to counter with something sooner or later since Veil’s ramen is hogging the spotlight to herself!”

“Where is this sense of rivalry coming from?!”

“Fortunately, Krakky shared her tentacles with me, so I can keep making takoyaki! Takoyaki! Fresh hot takoyaki here! Delicious takoyaki made by a beautiful lady!!!”

Well, poor Junior looked bored, so I took him with me.

Thus, our various food stalls are packed with customers.

This year also set a new record for the highest number of challengers. 

I’m so glad the people of this world find Orkubo’s Castle interesting.

The problem, however, is that there are too many participants for us to accommodate.

We’re at that point where if we do the usual routine, it’ll be sunset by the time everyone gets their chance to participate.

We felt sorry for the guests who had come from far away, so we applied some ingenuity.

One of the ideas we implemented was to divide the course into several sections.

We prepared several different entry routes to Orkubo’s Castle so that the challengers could choose the one they preferred.

This way, we could spread them out and allow many people to enjoy the course simultaneously.

And because some guests come from faraway lands, it’d be inconvenient to hold the event for multiple days if they don’t have a place to stay.

Therefore, the multi-day event will be a plan for upcoming seasons.

This year, we will implement a new standard so that people can enjoy the event within the day.

I call it “Orkubo’s Castle: Aerial Attack Course”!

It was developed just last year, where you launch a human being from a giant catapult. The parachute attached to the person mitigates the fall and allows them to enjoy slowly descending.

The same mechanism was used to suppress a rebellion before.

After a year of improvements and thorough safety inspections, it was officially adopted as a part of Orkubo’s Castle.

A giant catapult is prepared for humans, and then the challengers are launched into the sky together with an instructor. 

Once the glider has risen to a sufficient altitude, it is deployed to catch the wind and fly.

If the glider successfully lands in the landing area on the castle tower, they pass.

One of the improvements is that the glider has been developed to have more maneuverability. 

Last year, a human catapult experience was done for fun, but it was something where you simply flew and landed.

The use of a glider this time has dramatically expanded the range of things that can be done in the air and has increased the playability of the event.

It allows you to turn right, left, or change altitude by catching the wind.

Of course, safety is also taken into consideration, so an instructor will accompany them.

After all, the people flying are first-timers.

If there is a sudden crosswind, or the challenger freaks out from the height and makes a piloting error, the instructor will immediately take over and stabilize the flight.

And these instructors will be none other than goblins.

Goblins are small and light, so they won’t add much weight.

In fact, they deserve all the credit for having spent the past year researching and thoroughly pursuing safety. After much trial and error, they completed the course that I just mentioned.

In a sense, it’s a presentation of the fruits of their labor, so it makes sense that they’re more enthusiastic about this than anyone else.

The goblins’ project, which they had put their hearts and souls into, was not only extremely safe but also had excellent playability.

The gist is that you’re launched by the catapult and fly to the castle tower, but there are several checkpoints along the way that award you points for passing by them.

To elaborate, points are awarded for touching the signs hanging on balloons spread across the course.

The goblin accompanying the challengers is responsible for judging whether or not they have made proper contact with the signs.

They also calculate the score, which means they act as instructors, referees, and scorekeepers.

Even in the unlikely event of a crash, our goblins could easily escape unscathed while saving the challengers.

It’s the perfect lineup.

Those who could land safely at the designated point on the tower while scoring a certain number of points would receive a prize.

This is merely a sub-program to ease the congestion of the main tournament, but the number of people who wanted to participate was more than we had imagined, and we were swamped.

As a result, the goblins alone were insufficient, so our relatively experienced students had to step in to help.

As I thought, being able to fly is probably one of people’s biggest dreams.

Although the structure is simple and the flight time is short, people flock to the attraction that can make their dream come true.

Even without getting used to piloting themselves and scoring a decent score after landing, many challengers happily returned, saying, “Oh, that was fun!”

Fortunately, there have been no accidents, and at this point, the project is as good as a success.

But there is one incident...

* * *

As I looked around Orkubo’s Castle, I came across two parties arguing.

No, it wasn’t anything violent like a fight. It was more like one side was persistently pleading for something. 

The goblins make troubled faces.

Because of this, the Aerial Course has been stalled.

“Is something the matter?”

“Ah, My Lord...!”

As the chief executive, I joined the conversation to discover what was happening.

The two parties arguing were the goblin in charge of the registration desk and a human in his mid-forties.

Judging his prim and proper appearance, he must be a kind of nobleman.

“Our guest here would like to let his son on the glider...”

“Hm? Why don’t you let him then?”

“That’s the thing, My Lord...”

The nobleman’s son had injured his leg last year and could not walk on his own.

The doctor told him that it was a severe injury and that even if he made a full recovery, it wasn’t guaranteed he’d be able to walk again. 

“I brought my son here to cheer him up... I think he’ll be happy if he can experience something he has never done before, such as flying. So please, I beg you...!” pleads the injured boy’s father.

I can understand how he feels. As a father myself, my heart aches with sympathy.

But at the same time, I also understand the goblins’ distress.

Since this project was proposed, I have always been most concerned about its safety aspect.

After all, it involves flying.

We’ve been pursuing safety to ensure that our customers never fall, and even if they did, they wouldn’t be injured.

We take pride in our foolproof arrangements, but only on the premise that the participants themselves have no health problems.

Before participating in the event, we conduct a hearing to check for any health concerns, and if the participant is intoxicated in any way, we deny participation.

The goblin running the registration knows this, so he can’t easily grant permission, but he also can’t outright turn them down.

It’s up to me, the person in overall charge, to make a decision.

“Call Gobukichi.”

“My Lord?!”

He is the strongest goblin on the goblin team, so I trust he’ll be able to handle the situation.

“Originally, the rule would be that we would not allow anyone with health concerns, but in the hope that your child will feel better, we will grant it an exception. Please keep this a secret between us, sir.”

“Oh! Thank you! Thank you so much!!!”

I was a hopeless person whose compassion took precedence over following the rules.

Gobukichi, who had been summoned, skillfully glided with the injured boy.

Rather than scoring points, they enjoyed simply flying in the air and did a full circle before landing safely in the end.

The boy, down in the dumps, seemed to have enjoyed flying so much that his eyes lit up, and his mood lifted after landing.

With his energy back, his injuries would heal quickly, and maybe he’d be able to run again.

His father thanked me so many times that I almost cried myself.

Even in a fantasy world, I guess the blue horizon does give people courage.