Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Outside Thorn Town at the Cage Mountain.
“A, atishoo — ”
Good sneezed as he entered the hangar against rushes of snow and gusts of wind. He placed the heavy ammunition case beside the plane and slumped onto it. “I hate winter. It reminds me of those old days when we were refugees.”
“Nobody likes the Months of Demons, but I have to say that true winter hasn’t come yet,” Finkin said while twitching his lips as he opened his wooden case. “You should feel happy that we aren’t far from the sea. The Months of Demons aren’t that bad on the coast. Before His Majesty became the lord of the Western Region, everyone feared that they would not survive the night. Their houses might collapse at night, and they would then be buried in snow if they stayed in. They could not even run for life.”
“Well, are the Months of Demons in Neverwinter really that terrible?”
“That’s right. The situation didn’t change until His Majesty built concrete houses. Why do you think His Majesty named the new king’s city ‘Neverwinter’?” Finkin said while shrugging. He took out the ammunition from the case and put it into the cabin.
The “Fire of Heaven” was equipped with two machine guns, one at the front and the other in the middle. Although they were both new general machine guns, their loading methods were quite different. The machine gun at the front was half merged with the plane, so they used a cartridge to load shells. The ammunition case was, therefore, made of metal. When they load shells, they had to remove the whole thing.
The machine gun in the middle was fixed to a rotating gun rack. Its operation method was exactly the same as Mark I used by the Gun Battalion, only that they used a saddle-shaped drum magazine that could accommodate 100 shells to load the weapon. The machine gunner at the rear loaded ammunition manually once the shells ran out.
To ensure that every time before the operation, they had sufficient ammunition, they needed to reload the weapons after the plane landed, no matter how many times they had fired. Normally, the ground staff would take care of this matter, but Good preferred to do it himself. He did not want to miss a single opportunity to touch the plane, even if it was just a fleeting second.
Just then, a loud wave of cheers erupted outside the hangar.
Undoubtedly, some students had passed the exam and landed on the runway.
Even if it was now snowing, Her Highness did not stop the training.
She was even busier than usual.
Apart from teaching the new students, she took them to patrol the northwestern area of the Kingdom of Wolfheart twice a day. At night, they discussed flight theories and issues they had come across during the day. She hardly took a rest.
Under her influence, everyone studied hard, and they actually did even better than in Neverwinter. During the past one week, not a single trainer aircraft had crashed.
After installing the new ammunition case to the storage room at the front of the plane with his partner, Good walked up to the window and let out a sigh.
“What’s the matter? Are you homesick?” Finkin asked as he followed Good.
Good shook his head and said, “I’m just worried about…”
“About the war and your sister back home?” Finkin interjected while smiling slyly. “I remember her name is Rachel, right?”
“I’m worried about that I’ll be replaced!” Good exclaimed indignantly as he glared at Good.
“Why?”
“We only have four fighters, one of which is Her Highness’ ‘Unicorn’. In other words, I have to be one of the top threes to operate the Fire of Heaven,” said Good as he turned around and watched the training field at a distance. “Our strength lies in war experience, but we haven’t seen a single demon yet. If there are one or two gifted students among the new people, we would probably fall behind.”
Surprised at Good’s concern, Finkin said in a resigned tone after a long silence, “Oi, oi, you’re worrying too much. We’ve earned a lot of experience by shooting real bullets. Didn’t Her Highness say that even the Gun Battalion needs a couple of months to practice, wasting thousands of bullets before they throw themselves in a real war?”
“But we don’t really do well in shooting, do we?”
“Well…” Finkin was at a loss for words.
Although the Aerial Knights had never met a single demon so far, they had fired on the plane numerous times. Tilly did not ask them to bring back the ammunition but asked them to use up all the bullets. They were told to pick a random target and practice as if it were a real battle. The target, sometimes, was a balloon in the air or a big tree on the top of the mountain.
Good discovered that he was much less talented in shooting than flying. Also, he had heard that many new students had quite outstanding performance during the training, one of whom was called Manfeld. His gift was soon acknowledged by the instructor in just a few days.
Therefore, his worry was not completely groundless.
He could improve his flying techniques by constant practice, but there was no shortcut for shooting.
Suddenly, a sharp alarm broke over the airport.
It pierced the air like a firecracker!
Good and Finkin exchanged dark looks, and their manners instantly tightened.
Once the alarm went off, all the training was suspended. The runway was cleared. The official Aerial Knights must immediately gather at the headquarters at the airport.
It was their first time hearing the alarm since their arrival at Thorn Town.
They thus ran to the headquarters at once.
Soon, there were more than 30 people in the temporary headquarters.
“We received a message from Iron Axe just a minute ago that a troop of demons had appeared 200 kilometers to the north of the Gust Castle,” Princess Tilly said as she pointed at the map. “The message was delivered by the animal messenger, and in the letter, Iron Axe has pointed out that there are also refugees nearby. The demons may aim at these refugees. It would take the garrison at the Gust Castle more than two days to travel there. It would be too late if we wait for them.”
“This is what the Aerial Knights can help with. Nobody can cover such a long distance within two to three hours except the ‘Fire of Heaven’. The demons would have never thought that they would share the sky with us one day! Now, heed my command. Aerial Knights, advance!”
“As you wish, Your Highness!” everyone shouted together.
Good clenched his fists. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time!
By the time they returned to the hangar, the ground staff had finished the preparation work for the takeoff.
Good strode over to the pilot cabin, quickly turned on the engine and spinned the lever. As the motor was set in motion, black smoke spiraled up from the head of the jet. The plane finished its first cycle as it roared.
Once the engine was on, the piston would continue working.
Good put on his goggles, waved at the cheering crowd and pushed down the lever.
Around seven or eight mintues later, four biplanes streaked across the runway and rose into the air in the snow before they headed off to the north.
