The ship that should have taken the Zero Fighter with it had already sailed with the other ships and was waiting for them ahead. It was a special warship built to carry wind dragons, now it would carry the Zero Fighter as well.
The new and powerful ship, which belonged to the newly created Dragon Carrier-class, was named Varsenda.
Not only that, but Colbert, using Earth magic, placed enough gasoline for five flights within the ship as well.
So Saito only needed take Louise with him on the Zero Fighter and land on that ship.
“Well, with a lot… One cannot be completely safe, right?”
Saito said while turning around. Louise had not appeared yet.
“Because of this haste, I didn’t have the time to explain to you how the new weapon works.”
“Is that so…”
Saito found an iron pipe hanging under the Zero Fighter’s wing. What on earth is that tube for? But, there was no time for the detailed explanations now.
“But before you go, here is the manual I wrote for you.”
Colbert handed Saito a small notebook. Although Saito could not read it, Louise could. I'll read it later, he thought.
“Thank you.”
Then Colbert, looking hesitant whether to say or not, opened his mouth.
“To tell you the truth…”
“Eh?”
“To tell you the truth, I do not want my student to ride a vehicle used for war.”
He said bitterly.
“Student?”
“Aah, how should I put it? Well, though you are not a noble, I still think of you as one of my students. You don’t mind, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t mind that…”
Saito felt shy.
“I do not want to use Fire for murder. I…”
Colbert declared clearly.
“Why? Everyone is saying that the Fire element is the most suited for the war. Oh well, I do not know magic so well.”
“That’s right… Fire is the element of destruction. Fire users are of a great value… However, I think otherwise. I think that using Fire for destruction is lonely.”
Recalling the words, Saito hung his head, embarrassed.
“Oh yes, this flying machine is called ‘Phoenix’ by the royal army, right?”
“Yes, when I was attacking battleships with it at Tarbes, someone said, ‘This is the legendary Phoenix!’…”
“I see! That Phoenix!”
Colbert shouted, delighted.
“Teacher?”
“Phoenix is a legendary being. Phoenix… firebird god, a symbol of destruction…and a symbol of ‘Rebirth’.”
“Rebirth?”
“It's a reincarnation.”
Saito wondered why Colbert looked so pleased. Then, Colbert entered into a world of his own.
“That’s right… Rebirth… indeed… it’s a symbol right? Really?”
Then, Colbert noticed Saito who was watching him in amazement.
“Ah, aah! Sorry!” he bowed his head.
“No, it’s all right. I’m used to it.”
Colbert put on a serious look.
“Hey, Saito-kun… By the way, that…”
“What?”
At that moment, Louise showed up.
“At last,” Saito muttered.
“It can’t be helped! A girl has lots of preparations to take care of!”
“We're going to war. What kind of girl preparations are there?”
“Hmph!” Louise turned her face away, and ignoring Saito, climbed up the wing and entered the cockpit. One month had passed since they ran away from Louise's family.
Since then, things were like this.
Lifting up the rear bulletproof plane glass, Louise sat down in the seat.
“Well, errr, teacher, what were you saying just now?”
“N-no…it’s nothing. Yes.”
Saito boarded the Zero Fighter.
Then Colbert’s magic cranked the propeller, starting up the engine.
As it was a second time, it was possible to operate calmly.
Colbert helping again, created a strong wind.
Saito put on the goggles and rolled the muffler around his neck.
Colbert shouted through the roaring noise of engine.
“Saito-kun! Miss Vallière!”
Saito waved.
“Do not die! Do not die! Even if it is hopeless! Even if you’ll be called a coward, do not die! Never die! Return safe and sound!”
Through the roaring of the engine, the voice was not heard. However, Colbert's words reached somehow. Even though he could not hear them, they reached his heart.
“Ok!” Saito shouted opening the throttle.
The Zero Fighter started sliding and bit by bit it started lifting.
Gradually it grew smaller, until it faded away in the sky.
Even though the Zero Fighter had disappeared in the sky, Colbert quietly kept on watching.
After flying for two hours, there was a small break in the clouds. It grew bigger while approaching, until it became a fleet buried deep in the sky. Saito was reminded of a race of balloons he had seen on the television one time.
Varying from 50 to 100 meters in length, hundreds of ships were queued up, making it a grand and a beautiful spectacle to behold.
“Incredible…”
Saito exclaimed in a voice of admiration.
“Hey, Louise, look. Huge fleet!”
“…”
However, Louise turned away, puffing her cheeks.
Louise's mood did not improve. Lately, after returning home, was she always like this.
Saito tried to figure out the reason behind Louise’s bad mood.
After confessing my love, Louise looked like she accepted it for a moment.
Normally, one would expect a couple to get closer after that.
But I interpreted Louise’s reward, “Touch one place that you like,” as permission to touch everywhere, which made Louise angry.
And after Siesta’s “Unbuttoning” remark, Master, who has a very strong monopoly on desire got even more angry.
From Louise’s perspective, flirting with another girl was similar to serving two masters at once – Saito misunderstood it greatly.
Actually, Louise was just jealous.
Flirting with other girls after confessing his love to her and kissing her was something she could not forgive.
And, even though for a moment, she was ready to surrender her chastity for this familiar, even her own thoughts were inexcusable. Until marriage, it was definitely not good. Even three months after marriage, it was definitely not good. Being swayed by his actions – that’s what she was so angry about.
Because Louise kept being silent like that, Saito gave up.
At the moment, they needed to find that warship to land on. Several dragon knights flew up, surrounding Saito’s Zero Fighter. They started waving; Saito waved back. Seems like they were going to guide him to the ship.
Following the backs of the dragon knights, at the limit speed of the plane, Varsenda came into view.
The ship deck was flat and big in order to carry the large number of dragon knights. The sail mast was about 6 meters tall, everything must look like small bugs from up there. It wasn’t equipped with cannons as this ship’s sole purpose was to carry dragon knights.
It was a perfect place to carry the Zero Fighter, or perhaps one should say that it was impossible for other ships to do that.
But even though Varsenda's deck was long and wide, the length of the deck was still too short for the Zero Fighter to land on.
How could he land there?
Derflinger asked from his back.
“Partner, bring this airplane closer to the ship. Seems like they're going to catch us.”
Many mages could be seen on the deck.
Ropes were put out on the deck. Soldiers grabbed the ends of each rope and placed them perpendicular to the length of the deck.