“Hahaha!” Tuilë’s burst into laughing, to the point that she rolled around on the ground. “Sorry, sorry, I just can’t help it…! The chemistry that the two of you share is just so hilarious!”
“R-Right…” I spared her a confused glance and waited for her to calm down before continuing, “Okay, let’s cut the chit-chat and get back to the main topic at hand: Lunaria, tell me the truth about the apocalypse that you call ‘Crimson Apocalypse.’”
In that instant, Lunaria’s body tensed up and froze in place, even if her flat countenance remained the same. As a matter of fact, Tuilë got tense as well; she was holding her breath as if the act itself would minimize whatever fear she was having.
“I’m also curious about this. For years, my kind — especially me — has been exploring ruins of the past, but we never came up with a definite answer,” Tuilë chimed in.
If even a natural explorer and engineer race like Tuilë’s didn’t have a single idea about this, then much less could be said about the people living in Aquarine. Our best chance would be to ask Lunaria.
Slowly, Lunaria opened her mouth and corroborated, “Alright. But before that, I’ve to inform you two that while most of my memories have returned, the rest are still fragmented, including this… Consequently, I can only tell you what I know…”
“Alas, that’s better than nothing.”
I mean, knowing something was better than not knowing it at all. Perhaps this piece of crucial information could be very important in the near future.
After some more time and consideration, Lunaria finally told us the truth. The truth that horrified me to the core…
Secrets and dark truths were then revealed to the minds of the wise, then everything turned silent.
At first, it was something that I could accept with a bit of suspense — and maybe a huge grain of salt — but later it devolved into something that just by hearing a word of it was enough to give me a hair-chilling dread. So, so terrifying…
“To think that it was so devious…” Beads of sweat were trickling down my forehead endlessly.
Regret would be fit to represent my feeling right now… No, I shouldn’t regret something that I had decided to hear no matter the outcome.
So there’s indeed a supernatural force influencing the world. What the civilization of this world did in the past is only helping it to trigger… Unintentionally, that is, I thought while narrowing my eyes.
“There is no greater calamity than being consumed by greed,” would be perfect to represent the backstory behind this whole end-of-the-world thing. I better take extra precautions so as not to fall into the same road.
Unfortunately, Lunaria didn’t continue to discuss this since she didn’t know anything more, so we likewise diverted our attention elsewhere. It wasn’t that I was too afraid to ask more… Yeah, I wasn’t scared.
“I suppose the topic is hard for you two to swallow… Before that, Maxim.” Lunaria held my jacket that I had draped on her earlier. “Your jacket sure is smelly. When was the last time you washed it?”
“Ugh, that…” I scratched my chin while making a wry smile.
Well, the last time I washed the jacket was like a month ago when I was still living atop the skyscraper. The past month had been so full of actions that I simply didn’t have time to do much else… I mean, usually, I only changed the clothes under while keeping the jacket unclean.
“You know what, I’ll wash it clean for you. So, I’m keeping your jacket with me until then.” She kept the jacket close to her chest. Didn’t you say that it was smelly?
“Ah, okay… Thank you, Lunaria.” For now, I should follow through with her whim.
“It’s nothing. Since you persuade me out of my cold shell, you’ll have to live up to your words and take proper responsibility. Naturally, I will do my best to help you in return.”
“I did promise you that, didn’t I?” were the words that I held back from being spoken. Since I had let the arrow loose, then it was only right for me to take responsibility to the end and thoroughly at that.
“Hm, that’s only natural.” I nodded and paused a moment before making a resolute declaration: “Mark my words, I promise you a lifetime of peace and happiness.”
“Such a big mouth you have there.” Although her tone was flat as usual, a gleam danced in her eyes as her mouth formed a slight crescent.
“Hm, now that the matter here is taken care of, we are friends again, right, Lunaria?” Seemingly gone from her shock, Tuilë scurried toward Lunaria, who was still sitting on a wooden chair and took her hands.
“All’s well that ends well?” I chuckled.
“Yup! Absolutely!” She grinned, rubbing her cheeks to Lunaria’s.
“My, then how about we celebrate this by conducting the maiden flight of the airship? I suppose that will be something worth celebrating.”
“Right! I wanna see how this bad boy rises into the sky!” Tuilë stroked the interior of the airship.
I also followed suit. “Agreed. I bet nothing beats sitting on a luxury airship while enjoying the beautiful scenery from high altitude.”
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After all, to finish the mission, I had to prove to the world that the airship wasn’t only a display — a gimmick — but something that could function normally. The time was ticking down as of this moment, and the red fog would soon encroach this area.
As a result of our agreement, we left for the bridge. Along the way, I finally got to see how the airship had changed compared to before the reconstruction, from the second floor where the laboratory was situated, to our destination. There were now numerous large glass panels that decorated the hallway of the third and fourth floors. Considering that runic inscriptions were implanted on the exterior of the airship, there was no need to worry about the glass shattering because they were easily as hard as steel while being lighter than your typical modern glass.
Also, the interior was much larger and more stylish than before, despite its lack of decoration. Although it would still be impossible to fit in the entirety of Aquarine’s population, perhaps two hundred or so personnel could fit here if needed.
Tuilë was so proud of her creation that her mouth never stopped chattering about the capabilities that the airship possessed. While Lunaria was mostly responsible for providing the blueprint for the more advanced part of the airship, Tuilë had learned a lot from this endeavor.
Not long after, we finally stepped to our destination. It might be called a bridge — where the captain and officer supposedly direct operations — but it wasn’t really an elevated, enclosed platform given that it was attached to the fourth floor of the airship. Thus, it would be more fit to call it either an oversized cockpit or a flight deck.
“Here I am, finally going to on the captain’s chair again, huh…” I caressed the reclining of the big chair on the center elevated part of the flight deck with nostalgia.
It truly was money well spent.
Sitting in the chair while still nostalgic, my hands danced across the console, activating the systems with practiced precision. The airship hummed to life, vibrations coursing through the deck as the engines came online.
It might have looked like that I was the one responsible for the activation of the airship. To be honest, even though there were all sorts of buttons and levers on the console near my chair, there wasn’t much for me to do, as most of the necessary things were being taken care of by both Tuilë and Lunaria, who were sitting on the chairs on my left and right behind me. How convenient.
“It’s all ready for the flight. The steel cords binding the airship have been released.”
“Mm! Let’s see how this child unfolds in real-time.”
Both Lunaria and Tuilë gave me reports regarding the ship’s preparations to take off. I was no longer alone as a crew member (in flesh) of this ship; there were now two additional passengers…
“Alright! Wait, now that you don’t control Luna-1 by yourself, how does it function?” Previously, Luna-1 would be sent to release the steel cords binding the airship, but with it no longer having Lunaria’s consciousness inside it, I didn’t know how it operated.
Lunaria seemed to notice my confused stare, so she explained, “Don’t look at me like that. Remember that I am only controlling it remotely rather than simply residing on it? You see, it can still function just fine, but now it’s operated by a simple AI.”
“Aah, is that so? That’s good…”
The drone would come in handy whenever situations that couldn’t be handled by humans easily arose. Be it as a scout, constructor, or even combatant in times of need. Until we could produce more of them, it would be better to keep away from danger, though.
It just that most microchips made in the past would have rusted by now, so finding more would be a pipe dream…
“If only we could make semiconductors…” I murmured.
Now that it crossed my mind, the shelter that Raymond lived in before should contain some that might still work with it having machines and all.
Hm, Lunaria should possess the coordinates for the location considering that it’s close to where she first found the original owner of this body… I planned ahead as I held the steering wheel.
“Hey, what are you dilly-dallying for? Are you getting cold feet over the airship’s performance, hmm-hmm? Here, let me give you a push.” I didn’t know when she had sneaked right behind me, but Tuilë quickly pulled the steering wheel toward me and pushed frontward a tall lever on my right, causing the airship to tilt upward and ascend at an extreme angle… And at an extreme speed!
“H-Hey! Slow down!” I shouted, scrambling to stop whatever Tuilë was doing.
The crash-landing experience at Aquarine was still vivid in my mind… It sure was a bad memory.
It appeared that the lever acted as a pedal to increase the output of the jet-like engines. Furthermore, the steering wheel could now work and move similarly to the one available to conventional airplanes… allowing it to ascend and descend unlike what a normal airship would be capable of.
Now high in the sky, I gazed upon the landscape that stretched out beneath me. Everything looked so small, smaller than when I was on the steam kite with Tuilë before. The large forest that circled the expansive plain where the hill was located, along with a long river… I could see the entirety of Aquarine.
The view from the sky was so incredible. Truly unlike the rest of the Crimson Fogland that had been swallowed up by red fog. Lonely and menacing.
Ten minutes into the flight, I was notified of the mission notification.
Mission Accomplished!
Congratulations on passing the mission. You have done an incredible job at preserving the ship and upgrading it further.
The reward has been issued.
This was one long mission; one that took everything from me to be completed. However, I was sure that this wouldn’t be the end of this, and I hoped whatever came next would be much easier than this one.
“Oi, Maxxy. Why with the long face?”
“He’s probably thinking of something naughty right now.”
“Yikes. He must have been.”
“No—! Sheesh, you two!” Has the previous incident with Lunaria caused Tuilë’s opinion of me to degrade? Lunaria was one thing, but Tuilë wouldn’t utter snarky remarks like that.
“Hehe, I’m just joking.” Tuilë laughed inwardly. “So what’s on your mind?”
“Tuilë, have you not tried going out of Aquarine before, with your steam kite?”
She froze, her previous merry expression gone to the drain the moment I brought this up. I’d carefully observed her change in expression, thus noticing it so soon.
Nonetheless, was there something out there that blocked her from going out?
Her lips trembled as she uttered, “I have. Multiple times at that, but each time I was blocked from escaping this prison that is Aquarine.”
“Huuh?” This gave me even more confusion and was suddenly recalled the abominations that had attacked the ship when I first got here.
“There are a few barriers that forbid any sort of entry from the inside and outside… It’s better if I show you than explain it with words.” She smiled bitterly.
Therefore, we changed our course toward the north of Aquarine, exactly toward the interval zone where we had previously killed the Third-Order pale cruncher. Thanks to the speed of the airship which easily reached six hundred kilometers per hour, we got to our destination in nothing more than five minutes from where we were at.
Right now, the place had been engulfed in the red fog, leaving only a few skyscrapers around this area.
“How far away until the barriers you speak of?”
“It’s not that far away… Look,” Tuilë pointed her finger at a black dot in the sky and said, “that is but one of the barriers…” with a trembling voice, blanching in the process.