Chapter 69
“Eloise was their granddaughter….”
By the reservation schedule Ophelia got from Royal Mayfair, we had come to ride the London Eye, which used to be the largest Ferris wheel in the world. Surprisingly, my rival kid model Eloise Whitmore was also scheduled to ride the London Eye at the same time.
Her grandfather was Edmund Whitmore, and her grandmother was Margaret Whitmore. In Britain, does the surname change to the husband's after marriage? I feel like I saw that in a comic somewhere.
“Why, are you upset?”
“N-no! That’s not it!”
“Hey, Elsie. Why are you snapping at your friend like that?”
“..I wasn’t snapping at her, Grandma.”
With her slight aversion to Awakened people, Eloise had seen my flustered expression, blurted out something testily, and then got scolded by her grandma. It wasn't that I hated Eloise being here or anything; I was just a little self-conscious.
Still, maybe because I was seeing the ordinary Eloise instead of the model version, it felt really strange. No heavily styled hair, no spring outfit for a photoshoot. Seen like this, she just felt like a ridiculously pretty elementary schooler?
“Princess. Boarding time is almost here.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Elsie, let’s go too.”
“Yes, Grandma.”
After Ophelia had the online tickets checked for boarding the London Eye, Eloise and the elderly couple were also verified. After a simple security check, we went into the capsule.
“Wow..!”
The inside of the ferris wheel capsule was much more spacious than I had imagined. In comics and the like, it looked so small that if you reached out while seated across from each other you could touch hands, but here it was about the size of the studio apartment I used to live in.
The walls were all curved glass, and there were seats on both sides, so it looked like it could easily hold twenty people.
The ceiling was also ridiculously high, to the point that even tall Ophelia could stand and walk around without issue.
“Heheh, doggy. You’ve gotta take good pictures, okay?”
ㅡbeep!
As soon as I finished the security check and the capsule opened, I dashed straight inside. I hurried over to grab the seat with the best view of the Thames, and Eloise, who was behind me, let out a tiny “ah!” at the sight of it.
“What? You were going to sit here? Want me to move?”
“Not really? It’s fine.”
“Hmph, okay.”
After sitting down, I could see glass all around me. It was hard to tell whether I was floating or something. There was also a small glass section in the floor, but it wasn't entirely glass.
Eloise didn't sit in a chair and instead stood right by the wide pane of glass, looking out at the view. About two minutes after everyone had boarded, the capsule began moving so slowly that you couldn't even tell it was moving.
I was just looking at the night view, but for some reason it felt like the scene was slowly sliding past. I thought that once it started moving, it would go clunk! and whirrrrr~, but there were more people talking than I expected.
Aside from Eloise and me, there weren't any children, but still, since it was the end of the year, maybe even the adults were excited. Wait, come to think of it, I'm not a child either, am I? Eloise is the only short one here.
“Hwoaah.”
ㅡbeep..!
“How is it? Pretty amazing, right, doggy? You can see all of London..!”
ㅡbeep-beep!
As the capsule we were riding in rose higher and higher, the panorama of London began to spread out wider and wider. The air wasn't especially clean, but Grandpa had said this was decent enough, so I guess so.
“Ophelia, this is so much fun!”
“Yes, it is.”
“Heehee.”
By the time our capsule had turned about a quarter of a circle and reached the far right side,
ㅡclunk!!
“Kyah..?!”
“W-what..?!”
The London Eye's rotation suddenly slowed, and the capsule stopped dead in midair. It didn't feel like an intentional stop to let people off other capsules; it felt as if it had suddenly gone thud and come to an unintended halt.
Eloise and the elderly couple were flustered by the unprecedented situation. Ophelia calmly stood up to assess what was happening, and even the dog on my head started trembling at a rate comparable to Saffron, the elderly couple's chihuahua.
“O-Ophelia..! What happened..?!“
“I’ll find out, Princess. First, please take a deep breath and keep as steady a posture as possible.”
“A-ahh..!”
Ophelia turned her gaze outside and began slowly scanning up and down. The others standing near the glass windows also sank to the floor or sat down in their seats, and Eloise, with a face stiff with fear, clung to her grandmother and grandfather.
“D-doggy….”
ㅡbeep-beep..!
Not only could it not protect me, it was crawling into my arms. How was this cowardly little thing, supposedly the Royal guard dog, supposed to protect me?
After about three minutes of us staying like that, a huge voice suddenly began to echo from the highest capsule, above the one we were in.
:: Ahh— I don't know if you can hear me well. From this moment on, I will personally take control of the London Eye. If you show even a hint of resistance, I'll drop the capsules one by one. ::
The terrorist's declaration, made from the capsule at the very top.
:: My name is Cedric Morrow. An A+ telekinetic Awakened. And I'm also someone born in Sligo, Ireland, who lost his hometown because of Britain's Awakened headhunting policy during my parents’ generation. ::
Cedric Morrow suddenly started introducing himself and guilt-tripping everyone out of nowhere.
“Ophelia, what does that mean..?”
“I see.”
Cedric Morrow is a grown man who sounds like he’s in his fifties, with a deep voice. For his parents' generation, that was the period when Awakened people and gates were exploding in number.
Because many Awakened people from nearby Ireland were brought into Britain, either with money or through semi-forced relocation, many Irish Awakened people emigrated.
As a result, Ireland was left with far too few active hunters for its land and population. That made it impossible to respond properly when urgent situations like open gates or dungeon structures came up.
Sligo, where Cedric Morrow lived, suffered terrain erosion, but Britain had forcibly relocated countless Awakened people for safety or to issue Hunter licenses by taking advantage of its status as a developed country, then blocked their return home.
“Britain, you bastards.. It's you again..!”
I muttered to myself so no one else could hear, but honestly I just wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. Why do they pull crap like that and end up creating terrorists like Cedric Morrow?
Of course I'm not saying Cedric Morrow was right, but Britain did have some blame to carry here. These invader-country bastards..!
:: There are only a few things I want. Provide free repatriation and resettlement support for hunters from Ireland and their families, and return them to Ireland. Restore the damage done to every city harmed by Britain's Awakened headhunting policy fifty years ago, including Sligo, where I lived. And lastly, I demand a public apology from the British Prime Minister and the British Hunter Association president. ::
“W-what do we do, Ophelia..!”
Without saying a word, Ophelia tightly held my trembling hand. The dog had burrowed into my arms, trembling so hard that my head felt like it was buzzing.
But even more than me, Eloise, sitting beside me, was in worse shape.
“H-huhh..!”
“E-Eloise. Are you okay..?”
“D-don’t talk to me..!”
“Calm down, Eloise. The government will take care of everything….”
Cedric Morrow's voice came through again.
:: There are 32 capsules in total. Good, I'll wait two hours. After that, every ten minutes I'll drop one of the 32 capsules. If you're thinking of getting ready to catch them from below, or of trying to do anything to me, don't bother. I'll crush the capsules with telekinesis and slam them into the ground with all my strength. ::
“Eeek!!!!!”
“P-Princess. Please calm down.”
How am I supposed to calm down in this situation? He’s an A+ telekinetic Awakened.
Of course, if he takes them one by one, then no matter how much the people inside resist, he can just crush each capsule with all his strength and slam it into the ground like planting a bean.
Even if you put a trampoline on the floor, it’d tear apart under that much weight! The London Eye is just a bare metal structure with no magical reinforcement at all!
And of all things, Suri and Minyumi are on the other side of the planet right now. Even if you combined Minyumi's Hyper Jet Booster and Suri's wings to fly here, it would take over twelve hours.
If Cedric Morrow has no sense of time, or if he gets sleepy halfway through and takes a nap, we might be able to get here before our capsule falls.
But that was almost impossible..!
“Haa….”
Eloise, sitting next to me, was completely losing it. Her eyes were rolling around, cold sweat pouring down, and honestly, the adults weren't much different either.
“O-Ophelia..! What are we going to do….”
“..Princess, there is one way.”
“A method..? What is it?!”
Ophelia hugged me tightly and said with resolute eyes.
“It may be a little selfish, but even if I fail... I can at least protect you, Princess. Please don't worry.”
“W-what kind of method is it..?”
* * * * *
An hour and thirty minutes had passed since Cedric Morrow's announcement. The sky was already growing dark, and with no meaningful response from the British government, the situation was getting worse.
“Hoo, still nothing.”
“There are still 30 minutes left, so let’s wait a little longer.”
The one who had directly stopped the London Eye's operation with telekinesis, Cedric Morrow; one accomplice who amplified his voice to broadcast it across London; and another Awakened with a sturdy barrier ability to deal with outside interception or unexpected situations—three in total.
Everyone who had already been inside had been restrained and neutralized through Cedric Morrow's telekinesis. They were just sitting quietly in their seats, looking out over London's panorama.
“..Something's strange.”
“Why, what is it, Cedric?”
“What... is this?”
Telekinesis doesn't work on mana-containing mediums. Because Cedric's mana collides with the mana in the medium, direct control is impossible.
But it can easily block civilians with no mana, or ordinary firearms. And even if something moves too fast to be caught by telekinesis, it doesn't matter because there's a powerful barrier.
But.
ㅡkreeeek..!!!!!
The London Eye started slipping out of his control in an instant. It was an all-metal structure with no magical reinforcement. It was impossible to uniformly and instantly apply mana stronger than Cedric Morrow's to every single one of its metal components, which weighed 2,200 tons in total.
Or so he thought.
“Emergency requisition..!”
“London Eye · Giant..!”