The vehicle needed no introduction; it was undoubtedly a colossal machine, and it was incredibly fast.
But it wasn't until they saw it that everyone realized what it meant.
It was a gigantic vehicle, filled with a sense of technology. If forced to describe it, Roa could only call it a spaceship.
In fact, it was indeed named as such.
The principle of takeoff was unknown, but as they entered the cabin and the door closed, the spaceship unfolded wing-like supports from the sides, and the rear power source ignited, with flames shooting out, slowly propelling the massive craft forward.
The flying ship floated above the clouds filled with ether, gliding smoothly.
Their destination was one of the sanctuaries in the Astral Zero—Sky Island "Laguna"
This was the venue for the upcoming Spirit Blade Dance Festival.
Originally, this sanctuary was only accessible to the priestesses of the "Divine Ritual Institute" who served the Elemental Lord, but during the "Spirit Blade Dance Festival," it was specially opened to the public.
Standing high above the clouds, looking down at the ground from the window was a novel experience.
Even Roa felt a sense of novelty, and the girls beside him were naturally the same. The girls chattered excitedly, forming a group to discuss the scenery outside the window.
A mere window separated them, yet it felt like two different worlds.
"I have to say, this flying ship is amazing!" Claire exclaimed excitedly.
Rinslet's face also showed a hint of blush. Although she was a wealthy young lady, it seemed to be her first time riding such a gigantic spaceship.
"This is the latest model of flying ship! If the journey goes smoothly, we should arrive around noon."
As time passed, after the initial excitement, everyone fell silent.
Just as Rinslet had predicted, in just a morning, they had arrived at their destination.
The floating island was the sanctuary of the Wind Elemental Lord.
From the thick clouds covering the sky, they could glimpse a massive floating island surrounded by steep mountains.
"Laguna"—one of the most important sanctuaries in the Astral Zero.
Looking at the island, Claire and Rinslet were the first to excitedly shout.
"I see it! It's really huge!"
"Is this the floating island?"
Of course, some remained silent, like Ren Ashbelll and Restia.
The girl in the elegant black dress had appeared beside Roa at some point, simply sitting and gazing at the distant island, lost in deep memories.
Roa glanced at Restia's exquisitely beautiful face and casually asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Restia retracted her expression, a smile forming at the corner of her mouth as she replied, "I was thinking about how you will deal with what is about to happen next."
Roa pondered for a moment and did not respond directly to Restia. He merely shrugged and said, "Who knows?"
The two were just chatting casually, but Roa had considered the specifics.
The true darkness, the so-called otherworldly darkness, could not erode Roa's mind, which was the real reason he dared to face those frenzied Elemental Lords.
What he needed to do was simply eliminate those frenzied Elemental Lords one by one.
As for whether the elimination of the Elemental Lords would directly lead to the collapse of the world's elements, sorry, but Roa's mind was too simple to think of anything more straightforward than that.
In theory, if all five Elemental Lords were truly killed, the four elements of wind, fire, water, and earth in this world would collapse, as the source represented by the Elemental Lords would have been extinguished, making the collapse of the elements a natural consequence.
But the question remained: could he defeat those Elemental Lords? That was still an unknown.
While he was lost in thought, the flying ship quietly approached the port of the floating island.
Upon arriving at the port, everyone had to switch to the carriages prepared by the "Divine Ritual Institute."
The carriage was originally designed for four people, and it was quite cramped to fit seven. Fortunately, the remaining two were just spirits, and they forcibly sent the dissatisfied Est and Restia back, making it a bit more bearable.
Even so, it still felt somewhat narrow.
However, soon, Roa began to feel a headache.
The road was not smooth, and every time the carriage hit a bump, Rinslet, sitting next to him, would jolt, her chest colliding against Roa.
Although Roa wanted to dodge, the cramped space meant that even if he managed to avoid it, he would quickly bump into her again the next moment.
After several instances, even with Roa maintaining a calm expression, the girl had already turned red in the face.
The blush crept from her neck to her cheeks, but due to Roa's usual imposing presence, she could only look at his calm face, and with a bright gaze, Rinslet squeezed out a sentence: "Roa, you're such a pervert."
Roa fell into contemplation, then nodded, shifting his gaze away from the girl's chest.
The mountains before him were indeed worth admiring, but the price of that admiration was being seen as a pervert, which was a bit too much to bear.
Rinslet couldn't help but retort, "You looked, and now you want to pretend nothing happened?"
Roa shot her a sideways glance and replied, "What do you want me to do?"
For a moment, the carriage fell into silence, with no one speaking.
Only Rinslet played with her hair, her eyes flickering with an unclear meaning.
Roa sighed, feeling helpless and also troubled.
He knew very well what these young girls were thinking, but what could he do about it?
Outstanding individuals tend to attract the attention of the opposite sex, and what more could be said about someone like Roa?
The girls' vague feelings constantly influenced their thoughts.
At the age of budding romance, it was perfectly normal to fantasize about a prince charming.
But it was amusing that the love of Prince Charming Roa was limited; a single heart could be divided into three parts, or even four, but it couldn't be split into seven or eight. If that were the case, it would no longer be called being fickle.
Learning from the lesson of Mitsuri Kanroji, he had no intention of making promises to them in this world.
Noticing the subtle change in the atmosphere, Ellis spoke up: "This floating island (Laguna) is one of the five sanctuaries in the Astral Zero, the territory of the Wind Elemental Lord. According to records, the Spirit Blade Dance Festival was held here seventy-four years ago."
Upon hearing this, Roa became interested and cast aside his previous thoughts.
By the way, the venue three years ago was a volcanic city in the territory of the Fire Elemental Lord. The choice of venue had no specific rules; it was determined according to the decrees given to the five Spirit priestesses.
Seeing the curious gazes of the girls, Ellis cleared her throat awkwardly and continued, "And the castle located in the center of the island is said to be a relic from the mythological era long, long ago."
"Is that where we will be staying?" Claire was the first to ask.
Ellis pondered for a moment, uncertain, and replied, "Well, saying that does seem to be correct."
"What fun or interesting things are there?" Claire asked with interest, continuing to probe.
However, this put Ellis in a difficult position; she had never been to this place, and most of her knowledge came from reading books.
Seeing Ellis stammer and unable to answer, Claire was greatly disappointed, sitting on the carriage seat and looking at the scenery outside.
The view outside the window was a rapidly passing landscape, while the atmosphere inside the carriage felt strange.
Roa truly felt the pressure this time.
He could clearly sense three pairs of eyes occasionally sizing him up.
These three pairs of eyes, needless to say, belonged to Ellis, Claire, and Rinslet.
Aside from the expressionless girl in a kimono, Ren Ashbelll, who was crossing her arms, the gazes of these three girls frequently darted toward Roa's position.
Roa couldn't help but smile bitterly.
He should find a time to clarify things. After completing this task, he planned to leave this world and had no intention of staying any longer.
The carriage finally stopped in front of a castle gate made of massive stones.
The castle stood on a small hill, its exterior incredibly magnificent yet dignified.
Its style was somewhat reminiscent of the world of "Mushoku Tensei." Oh, this Roa was not the same as his name; the town was actually called Roa.
Surrounded by lush forests, there was also a large lake nearby.
It seemed that the other teams had already arrived, as several carriages were parked at the entrance.
"To the priestesses who will perform the Blade Dance for the Elemental Lord, we welcome your arrival. During your stay, we will take care of your daily needs."
At the gate, girls dressed in splendid priestess attire stood in a line, ready to greet the guests.
The outfits of these girls were quite bold, leaving Roa feeling quite surprised.
At the moment the lead priestess bent to bow, a hint of spring light peeked out from the open neckline of her ceremonial robe. Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that the ceremonial outfits worn by the girls were almost half-naked.
The fabric was quite minimal and very cool.
In fact, in some respects, it was overly cool.
Not only was the front wide open, but one could also glimpse smooth skin from the slits at the hem.
Clearly designed for conducting ceremonies, the holy garments were… how should one say it, a bit thought-provoking.
Roa even felt that if those Elemental Lords were male, they would surely have inappropriate thoughts.
Roa's gaze was naturally noticed by the others. After getting off the carriage, Est also displayed a dissatisfied expression on her doll-like face.
Est complained, "Master, where are you looking?"
Roa withdrew his gaze, pondering whether it would look good on Roxy if she wore something similar.
Thoughts aside, Roa certainly wouldn't voice his ideas. He smiled and ruffled Est's head, saying, "I was thinking that if Est wore something like this, she would look even cuter, right?"
After spending some time together, Roa had a good grasp of Est's personality. Est's thoughts were quite innocent, which meant she was easy to please; a few compliments would make her happy.
Roa's words had the desired effect, and Est looked up, her doll-like cold face revealing an uncontainable joy.
"Does Master like this kind of outfit? I can wear it for you to see."
Est said this.
Roa patted Est's head, wearing a faint smile.
Roa's voice was very soft, but Ren Ashbelll, standing nearby, had a strange expression.
Glancing at the little bird-like Est, Ren Ashbelll filtered the values of this world in her mind and ultimately reached a conclusion.
The captain in front of them seemed to be a loli enthusiast.
Thinking of this, Ren Ashbelll's expression became even more peculiar.
She admitted that the girl in front of her was indeed quite cute, but even she didn't have the desire to see a little loli dressed like that.
The girl serving as the priestess cleared her throat and said, "Anyway, let me assign the rooms to everyone first."
After saying that, she began to allocate the rooms.
However, when she came to Roa, the girl's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Well, male spirit user, you might have a bit of trouble."
Roa looked up in confusion, his golden eyes fixed on the girl.
The girl maintained her expression and said, "Because you are in the same team, you might have to share a room, even if one of you is a male spirit user."
The girl clearly had a provocative intent; she wanted to see the expressions of the spirit users in the team complaining.
But unexpectedly, everyone remained quite calm.
In fact, she could see a few girls with expressions of delight on their faces.
This made her feel somewhat disappointed.
Having failed to provoke them, she didn't lose heart and led everyone into the city.
Passing through the city gate and entering the inner tower, the first thing that caught their eyes was the spacious entrance hall.
The hall was designed with a high ceiling, and even the ceiling was adorned with vividly carved decorations. Behind the deep door was a stone column corridor covered with plush carpets.
The lighting was not from lamps or spirit stones, but from small light spirits floating in the air.
Looking at the light spirits hovering in mid-air, Roa couldn't help but feel intrigued by the unique features of this other world.
Although this place was a relic from the mythological era, after thousands of years of time and renovations, the original appearance of the ruins was almost unrecognizable. The only thing that could evoke a sense of nostalgia was probably the carvings on the rows of stone columns.
On the walls of the stone column corridor, colorful murals depicted the history of the past few hundred years, showcasing the renowned spirit princesses and the winners of the various "Spirit Blade Dance Festivals."
The Spirit Blade Dance Festival had been held many times, and there were naturally many winners, most of whom were either beautiful or valorous women. Roa's gaze swept over the characters, stopping at Greyworth.
Seeing Greyworth again didn't strike Roa as strange; when encountering someone familiar, it was natural for his gaze to linger for a moment.