Releasing the brakes, the Zero fighter started moving. He looked to the front and headed in the direction of the best take-off spot. “Austri” was not a small courtyard but his Gándalfr runes told him that it was a bit short for a runway. At that moment, Derflinger, who was leaning in the cockpit, said, “Partner, tell the noble to use wind to propel you from the back.”
“Wind?”
“Yes, so that this thing can take off even with the shortened distance.”
“How do you know that? You don’t know a thing about airplanes.”
“This is a ‘weapon’ right? I’m with you all the time, I know about it in general. Have you forgotten? I’m ‘legendary’.”
Saito popped his head out from the windshield and called out to Colbert. His voice didn’t reach him. He tried some gestures, signaling him to cause wind to blow from the back. Colbert was quick witted. He understood Saito’s gestures and nodded.
As the incantation for the spell finished, a strong gust of wind came from the back. He put on the goggles Siesta entrusted him and relaxed the pressure on the brake. He opened the cowl flaps and adjusted the propeller’s pitch lever. He further released the brakes and he pushed the throttle lever down.
Like a spring, the Zero fighter accelerated forward with great force. He pushed the control stick slightly forward. The tail had left the ground. The Zero fighter was gliding. It approached the academy’s walls. Saito gulped.
“Partner! Now!”
Just as they were about to hit the wall, he pulled the control stick. The Zero fighter flew up in an instant. Grazing the wall slightly, the zero fighter flew in the air. He retracted the landing gear. The indicator light, bottom left from the gauges turned from green to red.
The zero fighter continued to ascend. Saito looked at the runes with a relieved expression.
“Wow! It’s flying! This is pretty interesting!” Derflinger said excitedly.
“Of course it is. It was made to fly.”
Under the bright sun, the zero fighter split the winds, and rose up into the sky of another world.
The fire consuming Tarbes had calmed but the area had changed into a cruel battlefield. Battalions had been assembled in the field and were awaiting the moment they would clash with Tristain troops in the port city La Rochelle. Protecting them above were the Lexington's dragons. The Tristain dragoons would attack sporadically, but they had all been forced to retreat.
Before the battle, Albion's command decided that they would use the cannons of the warships to deal with the Tristain troops. And so, the fleet prepared its cannons.
One dragoon on the lookout above Tarbes noticed an enemy dragoon was approaching from above, about two thousand five hundred meters away. The dragoon had the dragon cry out, alerting the others that an enemy was approaching.
Saito looked out from the windshield and saw Tarbes below him. There was no trace of that simple, beautiful village he had seen before. The houses were scorched with black smoke rising from them. He clenched his teeth. He remembered how recently he and Siesta were looking out at the field. Siesta’s words replayed in his head.
“Isn’t this field beautiful? This is what I wanted to show Saito.”
A dragoon unit breathed fire at the forest located at the outskirts of the village. The forest was instantly set ablaze.
Saito bit his lip. He could taste the blood in his mouth.
“I’ll kill you.” He said in a low voice.
Saito pushed the control stick to the bottom left while pressing the throttle firmly. The Zero fighter started to swoop down towards Tarbes.
“What could one dragoon possibly do?” muttered the ascending dragoons as they prepared to attack.
However, it had an unusual figure. It had two horizontal wings stretched out, as if the wings were fixed and didn’t flap. It also made a thunderous roar they had never heard of before.
Did such a dragon exist in Halkeginia?
However… no matter what dragon it was, it would be finished off with a single breath from the Albion fire dragons, just like the rest. When its wings were burnt it would probably go down. Using this strategy, they had already killed two of Tristain’s dragoons.
“This is the third,” said a dragoon awaiting the descending enemy, with the corner of his mouth bending into a smile.
He was surprised. It was fast. Faster than any dragon.
Panicking, the dragoon made the dragon breathe fire. At that moment, the wing of the descending enemy flashed. Countless number of shining white things were flying towards him. Large holes appeared on the wings and the body of the dragon. A round entered the dragon’s mouth. A fire dragon has pockets of oil for strong combustion in its throat. The autocannon shell caught one of the oil pockets. The fire dragon exploded.
Slipping by the dragon that had exploded in midair, Saito continued to descend in the Zero fighter. The fighter’s machine gun range was tens of times than that of the dragon’s breaths. Letting his rage take control of him, he fired the 20mm autocannon shells and the 7.7mm machine gun on both wings at the dragoons.
Four more dragons fluttered in the skies above the village. They had seen the dragon which exploded from the enemy’s attack. The attack wasn’t a breath. Which meant that it was probably a magic based attack. Whatever attack it may have been, one dragoon alone can’t do anything. Three dragoons ascended to attack.
“Three more are coming from the bottom left,” said Derflinger in his usual tone.
Three dragoons were spread out below him and ascending.
“Don’t get hit by their breath. You’ll get burnt to ashes in an instant.”
Saito nodded. He did a hundred and eighty degrees turn above the dragoons. Drawing a path similar to spiraling down a funnel in a bottle, he ended up behind the dragoons. The dragoons couldn’t catch up. The speed of the fire dragons was about 150km/hr. The zero fighter’s speed was close to 400km/hr. It was like attacking something that wasn’t moving.
By the time the panicking dragoons had turned around, they had already been clearly targeted. Saito readied the pointer on the glass pane of the sighting device and pressed the throttle lever’s fire button.
With a dull sound followed by the shaking of the plane, the autocannons on both wings opened fire. The wings of the fire dragons broke, and they went spiraling down. In the next instant, Saito had put his foot down on the right foot bar and glided the Zero fighter, taking aim at the next dragon. Saito fired again. Taking numerous hits from the autocannon on its torso, the fire dragon shrieked in pain and dropped towards the ground.
When the third had suddenly dived in an attempt to escape, the 7.7mm machine gun filled its body with punctured holes. The fire dragon died and dropped straight down.
Saito quickly made the airplane ascend, controlling the plane naturally. He switched the velocity level to high. Against dragons, the Zero fighter which had a reciprocating engine, had the most advantage at those speeds. As the Zero fighter descended, the velocity would increase. The first thing to do was to control the area above the enemy. With the shining runes on his left hand, he maneuvered the Zero fighter like a veteran.
Derflinger, who was looking out for him, told him his next target. Just as he was about direct the plane there, he heard a voice behind him.
“T-T-T-That’s incredible! These Albion dragons are reputed to be unrivaled yet they’re dropping like flies!”
Startled, Saito looked backwards. Louise’s head popped out from the gap between the seat and the rest of plane. Behind the seat was originally a stupidly big radio, but since this world didn’t have anyone who could contact through him the radio, he had removed it while he was adjusting the plane. After taking that off, only the wires connected to the rudder were left. Louise had slipped in there.