"So the one you like is named Celine, and she is a princess. Why does your love story sound so classic?" she joked, then laughed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you. It's just that I've read too many love stories about knights and princesses, so I feel like your story is somewhat similar."

I stood up, cleaned my pants, and observed Nana running over with a worried expression on her face. "You're not wrong. The difference is that our ending might not be a happy one, while the stories you've read certainly have happy endings.

If you ask me why, I don't know the reason either. However, based on the current situation, I feel like we won't end with a smile."

Nana approached, asking if I was okay while pointing at my head. I nodded and told her, "I'm strong, Nana, so you don't need to worry. Thank you for being concerned about me." Then I gently stroked her little head.

She nodded, walked back to the garden, but glanced over here a few times to make sure I was truly okay and wouldn't suddenly faint or something.

"Will you leave once all of this is over?" I asked curiously.

Miss Sheila nodded while observing the clear blue sky adorned with clouds and birds flying. "We should have left by now, but because Cleo disappeared, we have no choice but to postpone it. However, we can't postpone it any longer. That's why we're also preparing everything.

Her Majesty the Queen has only given us until the end of this week to find my brother. If we don't find him by the deadline, we have to leave without him. Because according to Her Majesty, we need to find out about this world immediately, or we will miss out on valuable opportunities that could make Clockheart become better."

A sigh escaped from his mouth. "Some of us still can't believe that there are other races besides humans. That's one of the reasons why Her Majesty wants us to quickly provide evidence that those races exist and find out how they live and if they can use magic.

As you know, Z, our world doesn't have the abilities you possess. If you appeared in our world before we moved to this one, you could have been considered a god.

However, when we heard that there are still beings much stronger than you, capable of leveling our great city with a flick of their hand, I started to think that we may have become too arrogant for having defeated other kingdoms.

In our previous world, we fought each other over natural resources, especially iron and coal. Without them, we couldn't build an airship, and what good is an airship without fuel?

However, among these two things, we still have one more natural resource that helps lift those heavy airships into the sky. That resource is called Cryssaline, a crystal that can only be activated using steam and envelops its container with energy, thereby lightening the airship's load.

Without those crystals, we're not sure if we can lift those heavy airships into the sky. It's too impossible to rely solely on steam power, and that's also one of the reasons why Her Majesty is urging us to leave soon. To search for Cryssaline in this world.

No matter how far, we have to bring it back, or Clockheart won't function anymore. Especially after our new energy was taken by someone."

Let's pretend not to hear that last statement.

"I have already refused to use the new energy that we still don't understand. We also don't know if that energy might already belong to someone else or not. Now that the new energy has disappeared, what can we do?

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Her Majesty exchanged our old energy with that new one. Something that could only be created centuries ago, a technology that has long been lost and cannot be retrieved.

If only Her Majesty the Queen wasn't so greedy for power and didn't intend to conquer this world, we wouldn't end up like this."

Miss Sheila flinched, covering her mouth, realizing that she unintentionally revealed a major secret from their world to someone who could erased it in an instant.

She may not fully understand the strength of the figure in front of her, but based on what she has seen, Miss Sheila can conclude that it's better to make Z a friend rather than an enemy.

Unfortunately, now she's no longer sure if she can do that or not. She doesn't know how Z will react upon hearing that their world intends to conquer this world.

However, the figure in front of her just laughed loudly.

"I'm truly sorry. But..."

My laughter burst out uncontrollably, so loud that it made my stomach ache, and I hope it doesn't offend Miss Sheila's feelings. But their queen wants to conquer this world?

A world filled with beings beyond comprehension?

Damn it, my laughter grew even louder as I thought about it.

"I'm sorry... I... " I quickly took a deep breath to suppress the laughter still stuck in my throat. I took another deep breath, this time louder, and a wide smile formed on my face that I couldn't control. "Your queen wants to conquer a world where there are more than ten immensely powerful beings? Is your queen sane?"

Suddenly, Miss Sheila pointed her pistol at me with a piercing gaze as sharp as a knife. "Never insult Her Majesty the Queen."

"Do you forget that Nana can see us?" I whispered.

Miss Sheila glanced towards the garden, relieved that her little sister was still busy picking flowers and put the pistol away. "I'm sorry. It's a habit from the past," she replied. This time, her voice sounded calmer, and her eyes returned to their normal state.

"Oh? You're a soldier?"

"I am from the 07 Brigade. I was the leader of that elite team, a team specifically formed to be the shield and sword of the queen. Several years ago, we were disbanded due to certain circumstances, and I ended up becoming a researcher. It happened to be a field I had talent in.

And here I am now. Being one of the pillars of the kingdom with the inventions of new type of airships that brought us to victory.

I think I became too arrogant with those achievements, which made me underestimate this new world. If only I had been more active in opposing the new energy, maybe we wouldn't have fallen into this critical situation.

It seems I have offended you with my words to the point of pointing a pistol at you. I apologize for my rudeness, Z," she said, bowing her head.

"No need. Even if you were to shoot a bullet, it wouldn't harm me. So it's not a problem for me," I replied confidently while smiling at her.

She responded by rolling her eyes. A smirk appeared on her face. "Can't you lower your ego a bit? I'm quite weak against it."

"Can you lower your flirtation a bit?"

"Are you weak against it?"

I chuckled softly, shaking my head slightly as a response, and approached Nana, who was now observing a butterfly with a magnifying glass, her face full of enthusiasm.

Miss Sheila continued to watch the man, smiling as she saw him playing with her little sister, who looked so happy when Z used magic. It had been a long time since she had seen Nana so joyful since losing Cleo, who had always been her companion to play.

Nana indeed doesn't show emotions in front of others, but once she is alone in her room, she would cry and pour out her heart. It's quite difficult to make Nana open up because she is a reserved child and prefers to spend time alone when Cleo is busy with school.

So, seeing her open up to Z brings a sense of calm to Sheila's heart.

Sheila turned around, observing the airship in front of her, and sighed as she recalled the past, reminiscing about the memories when she was still the leader of the 07 Brigade. Several questions arose in her mind, one of them being whether any remnants of her team members were still alive or if she was the only one left. Because until now, she hadn't found any trace of them.

They vanished without a trace.

If they were indeed gone, as a leader, Sheila wanted to give them a proper farewell. At the same time, it would be a final moment before Sheila said goodbye to them forever and apologized for not being a leader they could rely on yet.

A few seconds later, someone approached, bringing the latest information about the Blood Reavers suddenly moving. The other two groups did the same. They inexplicably changed their positions even in the early morning like this. According to their subordinate, there had been a massacre that caused them to run in fear like they were doing now.

Sheila wondered who could possibly make that formidable group become the hunted. Then she remembered the previous night when Z mentioned having a friend.

She looked at the man who was now laughing with Nana, questioning whether all of this was part of his plan.