Character : Nathan Fiore, Earth Nation
-----
It's currently four in the afternoon.
The sun is going to set in just a couple hours, and the north is known to be cruel with the weather after the sun has set.
But even then, we march on. Or rather, we continued our flight.
Right now, I am inside a flying carriage. Or its commercial term, the 'Steelbird'. This flying carriage uses a jet engine that is fueled by origin energy, and it requires the driver or pilot to continuously insert their origin energy to the engine so that the carriage can fly. And at high speed, this flying carriage, the Steelbird, can reach far places in half a day, where it might take days if using a common automated carriage or even longer with a horse carriage.
We've been flying for over seven hours now. And yet, I'm still fascinated by all the buttons and lights. While sitting on the co-pilot seat, my fingers were itching to press all the buttons in front of me. I knew doing that will result in us crashing and possibly killing everyone on board, but I'm just still tempted…
I was about to lift my finger, but the person sitting next to me noticed.
"Don't." The real pilot of the Steelbird angrily told me, and I quickly sat straight again.
"Sorry… they're just so shiny, you know?" I reasoned while giggling, but the crown princess of the water empire only let out a tired sigh.
"They are bright so we can see them when it's night time. Not because a child like you can press it."
"Well, sorry for wanting to touch glimmering things. Pretty sure princesses do that all the time."
"Do you wanna die? I can just flip this steering wheel down--"
"I'm just kidding!!! Gee!!!"
It's one thing if I'm the one joking around. But if the real pilot started making death threats, then I'm very concerned.
"Seriously… just what did she see in you that made her so crazy…?" Princess Frisena started mumbling on her own, but I heard that very well.
"Maybe because I'm handsome?" I joked while swiping my hair, and she looked like she wanted to puke.
"I find looking at petite girls much more fun than looking at hooligans like you."
"Well, that's just your preference… Lily is different."
"She has always been." Frisena said with a bright smile on her face, and it looks like she is quite happy after seeing her sister.
"I thought for sure you two didn't like each other…" I said to her, and Frisena chuckled after hearing that comment.
"Before, perhaps. I never liked that she is such a goody two shoes. She always does everything people tell her to do." Frisena said how she felt, and then she turned to me. "But, looks like she has changed recently."
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. She asked me on a date yesterday outside the academy. Isn't that crazy?" I asked for Frisena's opinion, and it looked like she knew something about it.
"Was that after this morning? Around noon or something? She was talking to me in the morning about how much she wanted to change, and how she will be free from now on. I wasn't expecting that she'd break the rules right after we talked about that." Frisena said with a surprised tone, and I agreed.
"That was quick."
"I know… Wait, why am I talking about this to you!?" She suddenly barked at me, and I lifted both hands out of surprise.
"W-Why not!?"
"You're really asking what's wrong? After you went on a date with her and rejected her??" Frisena angrily asked me while still steering the Steelbird, and I tried making up reasons.
"That's… it was for the best!"
"You think she would accept any of that!? What if she sulked and decided to give up completely, huh!? What if she suicided!?!?"
"That will never happen!! Lily isn't like that!!" I tried reasoning, but Frisena only snorted.
"As if you would know. You're not her sister."
"And yet, as her sister, you never knew anything about her!" I said without thinking, and the next thing I knew, a demoness princess was staring at me with bloodlust.
My eyes then turned at Frisena's hands holding the steering wheel, and she quickly pushed the wheel down.
Oh shit.
VWUNGG!!!
The flying carriage immediately turned its direction downwards, and I can feel the life leaving my body as the Steelbird goes down.
"WOOOOOOIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!----" I screamed very loudly, and Frisena quickly pulled the steering wheel upwards.
In an instant, the direction turned from down to up. My body was rampaging from the change in gravity, and we are now heading up very quickly. Once we are at a good height, Frisena fixes the steering wheel to normal position, and I can finally breathe normally again.
Silence took over the Steelbird for the next ten seconds. I was too busy catching my breath from the sudden change in gravity, and I'm sure Frisena is affected by the same force. The only difference is, she was much prepared, and I'm sure she even had training before flying the Steelbird.
Once I had enough air in my lungs, I turned my annoyed gaze at her.
"Get. Me. Off. This. Thing!"
"Not a chance. I still have a duty to take you back once the mission is over, so my sister can beat you up after I told her everything."
"If you want me to live, then act like it! I might just die from a heart attack!"
"Well, good. At least it's easier than having me killing you."
This ******** princess is really something, huh!?
"Waaa~ Lily, I miss you~… I can't handle being with your sister like this…" I mumbled loudly so she could hear me, and the air really felt like Frisena wanted to just drop the Steelbird straight to the ground.
"Be quiet. We're here." Frisena said with a serious tone, and I turned my gaze to the horizon in front of us.
About a few hundred kilometers away, I can see a very tall mountain in the distance. The mountain looked really big, and I can see that the size of it is almost as big as the mountain where Fiordall is located. And just like Fiordall, this country is also known for being on top of a mountain.
The unnamed earth nation. It's a wealthy country known for its mines and jewelry. Because of the abundance of earth origin people, their daily jobs usually relate to forging, mining, or jewelry crafting. And from seeing the amount of tall buildings from the distance, I can see that they do not fall short from Ellen's architecture.
Frisena brought the Steelbird to the center of the capital city, where a massive tall castle can be found. As we flew past the city below us, I kept an eye on the amazing architecture that the city has. The tall buildings were vastly different from Ellen's, and they don't always have too many windows on the sides. Unlike Ellen's skyscrapers, where the sides of the building are just glass windows.
Beforelong, we arrived at the castle just before the sun set. Frisena very carefully lands the Steelbird on a wide yard in front of the big castle, and it seems like there are a lot of people waiting for us by the yard.
After landing, Frisena took off the seatbelt and started checking on her gears before getting up. Meanwhile, I already got up and grabbed my items from the passenger seat.
"Should we say anything to the people outside?" I asked Frisena, and she turned to me with her cold stare.
"What do you think, Second Prince of Fiordall? Is your title really just for show?"
"Well, if it was up to me, I just wouldn't say a word." I said how I honestly feel, but Frisena is much more extreme.
"If it was up to me, then I'd just kill all of them." She said while getting up from her pilot chair, and I was too surprised to say a word as she walked past me.
"Just say hello as you usually do when visiting another country. You can do that much, right?" She asked before pressing the button to open the back hatch, and I just thought about it deeply.
"Hmm… I wonder."
"Useless prince."
"Hey, I'm just joking."
As the two of us joked around, the hatch of the Steelbird was being opened. It took a while for the butt part of the carriage to go down, and once it had been fully lowered, we were able to see the people waiting for us outside.