Ron lifted his head up and laughed.
"Haha. That small lad actually sent over one of his personal planetary ships."
"..small lad?" The golden guard was sweating a little. Only someone of Sir Ron's stature could actually call Master Pearson a small lad!
'So this is our ride?!' Erin was speechless.
"So shiny.." Olivia had a mix of awe and pity in her eyes. Although the planetary ship looked nice, she thought it was a pity that it wasn't built as a starship.
"I wonder how much food could be stored on it.." Edward had different priorities.
The levitating vehicle finally came to a steady halt right before the rear part of the planetary ship. The ship's airlocked doors opened and a metal platform descended right next to the vehicle.
"Well then, this is where we shall part." The golden guard said with courtesy as everyone else exited the vehicle.
"I have to return to my duties in the A-18 Dimension Gate Room. Otherwise, I wouldn't hesitate to accompany your entourage to your destination." He added in regret. The metallic hawk on his shoulder also bowed its head politely.
"It was a pleasure." Ron expressed his gratitude as he began boarding the planetary ship. Erin and the younglings bid the guard farewell and followed Ron on-board.
After the airlock doors closed again, the ship immediately took off into the air.
From the messages the golden guard sent out earlier, the crew on this ship already knew where to go. Furthermore, they were aware that their private passenger's wanted to get to their destination as soon as possible.
The group walked around the halls until they finally found an elevator. They used it to travel all the way up to the ship's viewing platform.
"Wow!!" Olivia was in awe.
"Everything is so pretty!" She ran off the elevator first and basked in the beautifully decorated and wide area. Natural potted plants were scattered throughout and smelled very fragrant. There were giant reinforced windows that covered one whole side of the area.
When Erin moved around, he quickly noticed that the elevator was built at the center of this place. It stuck out of the floor and reached the ceiling like a pillar of support.
On the other side of this area was another section that was covered entirely with giant reinforced windows. It seems they were near the roof of this planetary ship.
The group made its way to the edges so that they could see outside.
Outside this ship was a glorious city that appeared to have no end in sight!
Many buildings appeared to be fifty stories high at the bare minimum. The buildings near their take-off platform were over a hundred stories high!
Although it was less than the several hundred story high metropolises that Erin was used to seeing, this view still made him feel a little nostalgic.
The only real difference was that the city's design didn't feel cold or modern.
Instead of glass and metal, a lot of the buildings had marble or white stone exteriors. Many roofs were also slanted with what appeared to be shiny blue tiles.
If it wasn't for the cloudless sky and warm sun, Erin would have thought the city was hit by a snowstorm!
To Erin's disappointment, he didn't really see any levitating vehicles gliding throughout the city's corridors. In its place, there were actually countless tiny planetary ships flying in orderly streams slightly above the city.
He saw the starship platform that they passed by earlier. It was surprisingly far.
That meant their levitating vehicle was actually going much faster than Erin originally thought!
The sight of several thousand starships ascending and descending through the planet's atmosphere was also rather interesting. Even Olivia and Edward were amazed by the sight.
"Don't be fooled by the view." Ron said as he noticed the group's eyes were wandering around the many starships.
He also recognized that Erin mostly had curious expressions through most of this trip. From that, Ron assumed that Erin had never been to the Planet Charh before.
This meant that aside from Ron, none of them have ever been to this planet before!
"Even though there are many starships here, this is simply because Charh is one of the richest planets in the entire universe! None of the people that can come here are ordinary. In fact, you could even say that this world is made by the upper-class for the upper-class." Ron tried to make things clear.
He especially did not want Olivia or Edward to misunderstand the sight and think that starships were more common than their father had told them.
"Starships are still rare on most planets in the universe. It's just that the type of people that come to this planet are usually people that are traveling with an entourage of starships."
"Look over there!" Ron spotted a good example. "That group of nearly a hundred starships are all dark-purple with a special crest engraved on their hulls. From a layman's perspective, they might think it's just a faction descending to the planet at the same time. However, if you look closer, you can see that they are in a formation. There's a small dark-purple starship that has no engravings at the center of this formation. Odds are, this is either a group of mercenaries tasked with guarding that center starship or a clan escorting an important or valued member."
"How come the center starship doesn't have any engravings?" Olivia didn't understand the purpose.
"There's a very good chance that the small ship has a warp-drive and camouflage device installed. Such things are common amongst people in positions of power. In the event that their entourage faces an attack and is on the verge of losing, the small ship could warp out and escape under the protection of the other ships. By not having any engravings, they can camouflage into a different color and increase their chances of escape." Ron explained patiently.
'That sounds really useful.' Erin thought about the Imperial Academy starship. Did it not have a warp-drive installed?
When Erin dived deeper into his memories, he widened his eyes in bewilderment because he finally remembered that warp drives were still in the experimental stage back then!
Even though the idea of warp drives were popularized by the intergalactic media, there was no news of any of the experiments being a success. It seems they've completed the technology somehow.
'Didn't the younglings tell me that a lot of technology has been lost since the 2nd intergalactic war?' Erin was becoming very speculative. 'There must be pieces of information that I'm missing.' He wasn't stupid enough to make more conclusions until he had a better source of answers.
Erin's deep thoughts were disturbed by a ding coming from the nearby elevator.
"Enjoying the view?" A calm and dainty voice came from the women walking out of this elevator.
She was dressed in a professional officer styled uniform with a medium-cut skirt. Her blue eyes and long blond hair were very striking. The thing that attracted Erin's attention the most though was her very voluptuous body.
Erin gulped a little and started blushing a bit.
Edward didn't understand why Erin's face got red but Olivia squinted her eyes with a knowing glance.
Ignoring Erin's somewhat embarrassing face, Ron chuckled as he realized the young women actually looked very familiar.
"Oh? Aren't you little Alice? Goodness, has it been that many years already?" Ron was genuinely surprised. "The last time we met, you were no bigger than the Young Miss."
Ron casually waved his hand over Olivia's head even though Olivia seemed to be pouting.
'I'm still growing!' She thought to herself.
"Haha. Your eyes are as good as ever, Uncle Ron." Alice nodded.
"My apologies for not introducing myself sooner. I was on a very long call with my father earlier. He's currently on his starship heading towards an important Guardian's meeting right now. By the time we finished talking, I noticed that our planetary ship was already in the air."
"It's no problem at all." Ron waved off the formalities. "How is Pearson doing?"
"Very well thanks to Uncle Darwin and yourself." Alice's face was full of gratitude. "If my father didn't have to attend the meeting today, he would have dropped everything to meet up with you."
"Heh, that lad would offend a lot of people if he really did that. It's good enough that he sends his well regards." Ron chuckled. He was aware that Guardian meetings were very rare. Skipping one was enough to get him heavily reprimanded by his superiors.
"I appreciate your understanding." Alice slightly bowed. "Actually, part of the reason I'm here is because I really wanted to meet Uncle Darwin's kids."
She glanced over at Edward and Olivia. Edward had dark-green eyes with short blond hair. Whereas, Olivia had dark-blue eyes with long blond hair. Both of them were surprisingly small.
Alice didn't even consider Erin because she knew Darwin didn't have any kids around her age.
"I didn't expect that they were still younglings!" Alice lightly muttered.
'?!' Both Edward and Olivia suddenly looked very offended.
"We're not younglings!" The two of them said in unison.
"I am already 12! ..It's just that I happen to be a little short for my age.." Edward's voice sounded a little dead on the inside. His furrowed eyebrows and despondent eyes appeared very pitiful.
"I am 13! I should be having my growth spurt soon!" Olivia flared at Alice like she was staring at a well-proportioned vixen.
Ron had an awkward smile on his face while Alice was honestly surprised.
Erin was dumbfounded.
'They aren't younglings?!' Erin looked down at Edward and Olivia and felt like the world was a lie. He really thought they were 7 years old at most. This revelation shocked him a lot.
'It's a good thing I never said it out loud..' Erin thought as he looked at the two children's pitiful and angry faces.
"Oh, my deepest apologies." Alice spoke in a very sincere tone.
Edward seemed a lot better after hearing this apology.
On the contrary, Olivia just didn't want things to end so easily. Her upset eyes and pouting face were enough to make Ron intervene a little.
"A small misunderstanding." Ron chuckled since this wasn't really a big deal. His intervention barely forced Olivia to calm down.
At that moment, the planetary ship started its descent. Ron glanced outside the ship's giant glass windows and smiled at the familiar sight.
"It seems we arrived faster than I anticipated. My thanks to your father for being so considerate." Ron knew that Pearson went out of his way because the ship they were riding was likely the biggest and fastest planetary ship on this side of the planet.
"It's nothing but a minor matter." Alice politely responded. "By the way, this gentleman is?" Her eyes floated to Erin's direction.
"This young sir is Erin Dawn." Ron bowed his head as he motioned his hands to introduce Erin.
"He's quite the special young lad." Although Ron's head was bowed, there was a hint of an amused smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Alice."
Erin tried to give the most courteous gentlemen's bow that he has ever given in his entire life. Although his face looked polite, there was still a tiny hint of blush.
Alice's eyebrows raised a little when she heard Erin's last name.
She was also surprised that Ron was going out of his way to introduce the young man.
Although Ron was currently a butler for Darwin's family, his previous status was at a level even her father looked up to. For him to act like that, it meant the young man gained Ron's recognition.
"The pleasure is all mine." Alice noticed Erin's light blush and let out a small smile herself.
This unexpected atmosphere annoyed Olivia a lot. Her eyes were even more squinted and her red cheeks were puffed out now.
Edward looked at his sister and got very scared.
Ron lifted his head and was even more amused by the odd mood.
Finally, the planetary ship landed at its destination.