Ch.222Chapter 222: Arrival

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The journey had continued with a picnic-like atmosphere, free of any major incidents.

“This aircraft has just entered the airspace of the Golden Moon Empire, established by the agreement between Solarium and Golden Moon last year.”

The captain’s booming voice echoing throughout the cabin signaled that we were approaching the final stage of our journey.

It was the morning of the fourth day since boarding the aircraft and beginning what had seemed like an endless voyage.

Naturally, the somewhat relaxed atmosphere among the diplomatic delegation dissipated the moment the captain’s announcement resonated through the cabin.

I could see determination returning to the eyes of the young officials in the delegation who had been in high spirits due to the unexpectedly comfortable journey.

Being assigned as a guard knight—a role that required maintaining a certain distance while observing them more closely than anyone else—I had naturally come to understand their mindset toward their duties.

Everyone seemed intent on focusing on their fundamental responsibilities as diplomatic envoys, which was commendable.

However, Princess Lucius, who had been leisurely sipping the coffee and tea I served her while thoroughly enjoying the brief journey, showed the most dramatic change in demeanor.

Despite her magical disguise as a man, her feminine grace had subtly revealed itself in all her actions except her speech.

“I can’t wait to see how those Golden Moon Empire fellows’ expressions will change when they see this. They were the ones boasting and making a fuss about mass-producing aircraft before us.”

Now she was displaying a somewhat androgynous voice that matched her male disguise, filled with triumphant pride—truly the most transformed of all.

…For a moment, I wondered if this changed demeanor might actually pose a greater problem for maintaining her dignity as royalty, given how brash she had become.

“Your Highness, rather than openly displaying our triumph in the technological competition with the Golden Moon Empire, it would be more appropriate to focus on expressing the composure and humility of a victor.”

“Ahem. I was just getting into character this once, Wibel.”

At the timely advice from her shadow, Wibel, who had appeared beside her, she regained her composure and once again displayed the dignity befitting royalty in all her actions and expressions. So there shouldn’t be any issues.

Anyway, as we arrived at the Eastern Continent without facing the harsh winter winds one would normally encounter on a sea voyage, or even storms if unlucky, only one thought crossed my mind:

‘That was fast…’

I was amazed by the speed of the aircraft that had brought us to the Eastern Continent at a pace unimaginable via conventional routes.

Compared to the traditional route—taking a train from the Solarium Archipelago to Kadama where sea routes to the Eastern Continent were established, and then boarding a ship—this was revolutionary.

Just traveling on the high-speed train that covered the entire Central Continent to reach Kadama at the eastern edge, where sea routes to the Eastern Continent were always open, would take about two days.

And the sea journey from there to the Eastern Continent would take at least ten days, even at the fastest pace.

Even this ten-day period was significantly reduced thanks to ships equipped with magical engines, considered one of the pinnacles of magical engineering.

If we had taken an outdated sailing vessel that had already been decommissioned, it would have taken at least a month to travel from Kadama to Jinmen, the port city of the Eastern Continent.

Does that put it in perspective?

Simply put, if we had taken the conventional route instead of this aircraft that brought us into Eastern Continent airspace in just four days, we wouldn’t have even entered Golden Moon Empire’s territorial waters by now.

This alone was revolutionary enough to make the empire’s railway and maritime workers nervous—worthy of extensive media coverage.

“As soon as this one was completed, we began developing the next generation aircraft, which is expected to reach the Eastern Continent from the western edge of the Central Continent in less than a day.”

Listening to Princess Lucius proudly describing future plans for mass-producing aircraft even faster than this one, I could sense that exchanges between continents, which had previously relied solely on sea routes, would soon accelerate in various ways.

This too was something that hadn’t existed before my regression.

Back then, not only were there no such aircraft, but with the empire’s administrative and technological capabilities focused on the north to counter the increasingly aggressive movements of the Obsidian Palace, I never even heard news of such aircraft being developed.

…Most likely, development had been initiated but naturally pushed down the priority list as budget and personnel were redirected elsewhere to address external threats.

The fact that I could witness the development of an aircraft showcasing the empire’s progress just by using my past experiences to predict and eliminate monster outbreaks in the north during preventive campaigns was remarkable.

With a little more effort, perhaps we could see Desire, even after awakening from her long slumber, confined to the Obsidian Palace with her power severely limited?

[As if that would happen. That vicious woman wouldn’t hesitate to move even if her legions were insufficient.]

Paphnir’s voice in my head bluntly denied my faint hope, bringing me back to reality.

Of course, he’s right. As Paphnir said, how could someone so ruthless be deterred?

Unpleasant memories of the one who had ruined my life before my regression began to creep into my mind.

First came her excessive persistence in obtaining whatever caught her eye.

Then her cold-heartedness in discarding those who displeased her, regardless of their past contributions.

Despite having ascended to a transcendent state, she had unnecessary emotional aspects—showing no movement on days when white snow fell—yet simultaneously possessed an extremely arrogant nature that failed to understand and looked down upon mortal beings who lived each day to the fullest within their limited lifespans.

Someone harboring such unparalleled ugliness compared to anything else I had encountered would not remain docile simply because she lacked a legion or two to command.

Suddenly remembering this made me feel a heavy weight on both shoulders, realizing that a clash with the awakened Desire was inevitable.

‘Still, I need to clean things up. After this is over, I should head north again.’

Since it was certain that eliminating the elements that would become her limbs before she began her activities was not meaningless, rather than dwelling on a future calamity that would still take time to materialize, I silently nodded to Paphnir’s continued warnings about the demon god and accompanied Princess Lucius on her way to the control room.

Along with Shizu and Excel, who were also assigned to guard the delegation members.

Just as I had escorted Her Highness right before boarding the aircraft.

This moment was perhaps the most proper action I had taken as a guard knight during the entire journey, given how relaxed the situation had been.

One might wonder what I had been doing for four days if simply escorting my charge counted as work, but there was a good reason for this.

Or rather, it was more of an incident.

While trying to serve coffee to Shizu, who was wandering around due to lack of sleep, I caught the princess’s eye and was assigned the task of serving coffee and tea to everyone on board the aircraft, putting my guard duties on the back burner—truly an unexpected turn of events.

At first, I felt uncomfortable serving beverages to people other than Shizu, but…

“Excellent. Iriana’s praise wasn’t unfounded…”

“I sometimes think you could have made a living without ever picking up a sword.”

“Oh… Tea served by a scion of a renowned swordsmanship family—how special. Not just the situation, but the aroma and taste are even more exceptional.”

The unanimous praise from those who drank the tea and coffee I brewed, along with…

“Tch… I wanted to keep you all to myself.”

Seeing Shizu express her untimely desire for exclusivity made the discomfort in my heart instantly fade away, making me think it wasn’t such a bad deal after all.

Of course, such a profitable side job would end here, and from the moment the aircraft landed, I would need to tighten the reins of tension and resume my main job as a guard knight.

If we had traveled by sea to the Eastern Continent, the tension would have been unavoidable due to the battle against seasickness, but this aerial route had been so comfortable that only now did I need to become alert.

…The journey had been so comfortable that I had even entertained the impertinent thought of some unexpected variable causing the aircraft to suddenly crash.

[Dream on. Looking at the protective magic arrays installed in this small airship, they’re on a different level even compared to those on the Night Haven walls. Even an Adorator would struggle to shoot this down if it flew up with the intention of doing so.]

‘You make a good point.’

Paphnir’s correction of my misconception was so logical that I was about to dismiss the thought of a crash as a waste of mental space when…

“Hmm, I can see it. Even though it’s been a year since I last saw it, the Eastern Continent truly is a beautiful land.”

Following the princess’s gaze as she looked intently out the cabin window, what entered my vision was…

“Wow…”

A white landscape that embodied the concept of beauty no less magnificent than the delicate exclamation that unconsciously escaped from Shizu beside me.

Snow—yes, the kind of pristine white snow rarely seen except in the north during this time of year had covered every surface in sight…

“Despite being a country named after the golden moon, when winter comes, it’s blanketed in a silvery white light…”

I found myself nodding involuntarily at Princess Lucius’s murmured observation—it truly was a land of pure white snow.