Sorry if this chapter"s quality isn"t so good, I caught a cold and my head isn"t working that well. Thanks for reading~
We"re flying in the aircraft I made out of the dragon materials.
Considering I made it without testing it beforehand, it"s flying well, but the balance between the two wings is bad so we might crash if I make a mistake in controlling the wind. There"s also a problem with the airframe. Especially the joints, as they weren"t as strong as I thought they were, and they made strange noises when the aircraft went too fast.
I etch that information into my mind as I fly.
Trial and error are necessary for everything since there are many things that you won"t understand from just making theories. You need to identify problems on the go and fix them each time.
"Kearugsama, should I switch with you?" (Freya)
Freya asked me that from the back seat.
"No, it"s fine. It takes some time to get used to it, so we"ll fall if we switch right now." (Kearuga)
"I"m frustrated at myself for not being of use." (Freya)
"We can"t switch today, but I think you"ll be able to do it tomorrow. It should become easier to handle once I improve the design." (Kearuga)
"Okay! Please leave it to me tomorrow!" (Freya)
Freya clenched her fists and appealed her eagerness.
I"m sure she"s concerned about me, but I think she also wants to fly a plane.
After all, this is the fastest, man-made vehicle in the world.
"Guren"s trembling. This is, really, scary." (Guren)
Guren is still scared of it, and she"s clinging onto me with her fox ears flat down.
Since she"s in her fox cub form, it"s cute seeing her like that. It seems like Guren will never get used to the aircraft, no matter how long she rides it for.
Around four hours have pa.s.sed since we started flying.
I should look for somewhere we can land without standing out.
Although I still have thirty percent of my mana left, it will recover slower if it decreases to a certain point, and I need to save it for when we arrive at the Dioral Kingdom.
We"ve already gone past the desert area, so I don"t have to overwork myself anymore.
I found a good spot to land.
It"s deep in the woods, where there"s plenty of greenery. Since it"s an area that"s dense with broadleaf trees, there"s enough cus.h.i.+oning to land the aircraft.
… It seems there"s another problem with this airframe.
Since there"s not a single device to soften the landing impact, I either have to land on something with plenty of cus.h.i.+oning or use wind magic to cus.h.i.+on the landing.
And because of the sudden loss of momentum when landing, the aircraft nose dives since there"s not enough lift.
"Good grief, there are so many problems with this machine." (Kearuga)
I lower the alt.i.tude and speed while complaining to myself.
As I thought, it started falling because of gravity midway, overloading the wings and making them give off an unpleasant sound.
I was just barely able to engulf the aircraft in wind and land on the trees.
"Guys, come out. Let"s rest here for today." (Kearuga)
Once I made sure that everyone had gotten off, I checked each part of the aircraft.
Thankfully, none of them seems to be broken.
"Nn. Setsuna will go hunting. We need pelt to get past the night. There should be some in this forest." (Setsuna)
"I"ll help too." (Kureha)
Setsuna and Kureha disappear into the forest.
Since we were relying on the dragons this time, we hadn"t prepared any sleeping bags or tents for camping.
Although the forests in this region are hot during the day, the nights are awfully chilly, and it"s dangerous if we don"t make any countermeasures for the cold. Besides, we probably wouldn"t even be able to sleep at this temperature.
So, having a warm pelt to get past the night would be perfect.
Setsuna is from the ice wolf tribe, so she"s used to these types of things.
"Um, I will dig the hole for the toilet and collect some firewood." (Freya)
Freya, who was raised as a princess, has become a lot more reliable.
She knows what we need for camping, and she"s promptly taking action.
"Guren, help me with improving the aircraft. It"ll be easier to work if I use your flames." (Kearuga)
"Sure! Guren will do her best so she won"t die!" (Guren)
The fox cub somersaulted on the spot and transformed into her fox eared girl form.
She"s really eager, huh. I guess it is typical of her to want to repair it in case it breaks since she"s scared of flying.
We"re not actually going to do that much for repairs, though. We just have to adjust the balance of the wings and reinforce the joints.
I was thinking of making a mechanism to land safer, but I decided against it.
It would"ve increased the weight and absurdly increased the air resistance.
I can do something about the landing once I have time.
For now, if I just balance it out well and make it st.u.r.dy, Freya can do everything other than taking off and landing tomorrow.
It"ll be easier for me that way, and we should be able to fly further since Freya has much more mana capacity than me.
Setsuna and Kureha hunted a wild boar, instead of a monster.
Setsuna ran towards me with a triumphant face and held up game that"s bigger than her.
She carefully skinned the pelt, washed it in the lake and dried it on the open fire.
Since it was a large boar, the pelt was big enough for everyone to cover themselves in.
The weather doesn"t look too bad either.
At this rate, we should be able to bear the coldness of the night.
Now that we don"t have to worry about the night, we should have a meal.
I left my favourite cookware behind, so I had to make them myself.
I collected clay from the ground with earth magic, made an earthenware pot by heating and hardening it with fire magic, put in water with water magic, and then made hot pot with mushrooms and meat.
I"m glad I keep salt and other necessary seasonings in my bag since I was able to make something good.
We gathered around the open fire, and although it was a bit early, we decided to have dinner.
I gave everyone lots of soup with plenty of meat.
"Hot pot is irresistible on cold days." (Freya)
"Nn. Kearugsama"s meals are always delicious." (Setsuna)
Freya and Setsuna stuffed their mouths with the soup and praised it.
I was concerned since I made it differently to how I usually do, but it still turned out good.
"The taste doesn"t change much, no matter who makes this kind of hot pot." (Kearuga)
"That"s not true! When Setsuna makes it, the seasoning is off and it doesn"t taste good!" (Guren)
"… It"s annoying to hear that from Guren. But it"s true. The ice wolf tribe is fine with eating anything as long as it"s edible. Setsuna tried her best, but she couldn"t make it as good as Kearugsama"s hot pot." (Setsuna)
Setsuna happily ate the meat with the soup.
Since we were running out of ingredients, I mixed in the small amount of wheat flour I brought with me, making something soft float up.
Wheat flour is extremely useful for journeys since it fills you up easily.
It"s not as thick as noodles, but the squishy texture is interesting.
Everyone looked satisfied eating it.
Kureha looked up at the stars.
However, she wasn"t appreciating the view of the stars, she was checking our current location.
Since we moved hundreds of kilometres without a map, being able to read the stars is necessary.
"As expected of you, Kearuga. You moved us in the right direction, even from the skies. At this rate, we should arrive by tomorrow night." (Kureha)
"That"s true. The aircraft"s strength increased because of our repairs and the stability improved too. If I let Freya handle it, we should be able to fly faster and longer than today." (Kearuga)
"Please leave it to me. Kearugsama, you can rest a.s.sured." (Freya)
"Yeah, thanks… I made the aircraft because we had no other choice, but it turned out quite well, huh." (Kearuga)
Looking at the aircraft illuminated by the open fire makes my chest hot. It"s hard to put it into words, but I can say that it makes me excited.
"Today was full of surprises, but thinking about it calmly, this aircraft is actually an amazing invention, isn"t it. It could cause a revolution in product distribution. Not only that, it could change how wars are carried out too." (Kureha)
She said quite great things about it, but considering the ability of the aircraft, it"s definitely not an exaggeration.
"Only if you can gather enough, though. You"ll need materials from dragons, and it"s impossible to prepare enough wind if an elite magician doesn"t fly it. It would just be a toy if you only had one or two of them." (Kearuga)
"That"s true. But I feel like someday, people will be able to make them out of non-dragon materials and not use as much mana." (Kureha)
"Yeah, someday. The world will change completely once that day comes." (Kearuga)
This machine still has a lot of problems with it.
Just as Kureha said, people might be able to make this without using materials from dragons, while also having a more efficient method of generating lift too.
However, that will be in the far future.
For now, we"ll be monopolising the means of flying through the sky.
As long as we have this, we can fly wherever we want to, with an overwhelmingly fast speed.
"Goshujinsama, Guren just thought of something really good!" (Guren)
Guren looked up at me with mischievous eyes in her fox eared girl form.
"I have a bad feeling about this, but sure, say it." (Kearuga)
"We should go to the Grantsbach Empire instead of going to the Dioral Kingdom. And then, goshujinsama and Freya can go throw a bunch of ma.s.sive range magic to attack their castle! The war will end if you do that." (Guren)
Guren is really merciless.
I could clearly tell that from that statement.
"There are two risks of that. First off, if the hero of the【Gun】is in the Grantsbach Empire, there"s a chance he might shoot us down. It"s impossible to escape his range." (Kearuga)
"He"ll probably be out on the front lines! The good part about the aircraft is that you can get carried away and fly past the soldiers, so you can strike their headquarters." (Guren)
"Still, it"s dangerous to just decide that. And as for the second risk, there will probably be several allied countries attacking the Dioral Kingdom. The war won"t end by just destroying the Grantsbach Empire… also, there"s another risk. We"re planning to say that the Dioral Kingdom is in the right this time. So, we don"t want to involve many citizens as we can"t let ourselves look like villains." (Kearuga)
If we barge into the capital and reduce the whole place to ashes, we"ll be ma.s.sacring the citizens too.
Once we do that, no one will listen to our words justice.
I"m sure Ellen took measures regarding that, and I don"t want to hinder that.
"That"s annoying." (Guren)
"That"s just what war is. Anyway, we should get some sleep soon." (Kearuga)
"Yeah! Guren is very tired for some reason!" (Guren)
I transformed the ground with magic to make it easier to sleep on and covered myself in the pelt.
It doesn"t look like it"s going to rain, so it should be fine like this.
Is what I thought, but…
"Guren, what are you doing?" (Kearuga)
"It"s Guren"s day today! Make it big, quick!" (Guren)
Guren started rubbing her cheeks against a certain place that I won"t say the name of.
"No, we"re all going to be sleeping in one pelt today, so we shouldn"t." (Kearuga)
"Hmph, it"s Guren"s day today, so I want to feel good!" (Guren)
Guren doesn"t seem like she wants to yield.
She really doesn"t have any shame.
Guren had already flung off her clothes.
Although I have group s.e.x from time to time, it makes me flinch when I"m being seen by everyone else.
"Kearugsama, Setsuna wants your love too. She can"t hold it in when you"re showing it off beside her." (Setsuna)
Setsuna said that while taking off her clothes.
"… True, it is arousing. Besides, doing it under the starry sky doesn"t sound that bad." (Kureha)
Kureha started taking off her skirt.
"Ahh, I don"t like being left out." (Freya)
Freya also put her hand on her clothes.
"Ahh! It"s Guren"s day today! Guren won"t let anyone else have the very thick, first shot!" (Guren)
It just turned out like this for some reason.
All four of them are seducing me.
My mind is going dizzy from the smell of females.
I guess it can"t be helped.
I have no choice but to accept it.
Today, I"ll give love to everyone under this starry sky.
We might not have the time to do that anymore from tomorrow after all.
In the end, we kept going until they couldn"t stand up anymore and then departed towards the Dioral Kingdom the next morning. I checked Guren"s stomach, but as always, I couldn"t see any swelling.
It seems like it won"t just pop out like that everytime.
Letting Freya control the wind made the aircraft go faster than yesterday, just as I had expected.
However, since she didn"t notice the times when the aircraft would occasionally raise shrieks or when it would change direction a little, I had to caution her every time… it made me worry more than flying it myself.
And then, the Dioral castle finally came into view.
The enemy army isn"t close yet.
I"m sure we arrived faster than Bullet expected us to.
I should meet up with Ellen immediately and polish up a plan.