Vol 1 Prologue (1/2)

Prologue

“The princess is not there?”

“Indeed,” head maid Theresia explained with as bitter a look as possible. “Until a while ago, she was having tea with us in the central garden. Then she suddenly stated that she wanted to see the castle in the light of the setting sun from the roofs of s.h.i.+kou Palace.”

“s.h.i.+kou Palace… come to think of it, isn’t that where the departure point for airs.h.i.+ps is!?” the head of the western palace guard shouted in dismay.

”My!” Theresia made a face as if she just realized it for the first time as well. “What should we do? The princess is among the best pilots in our country. In the last race too, although she admirably became the runner-up, she flew into a rage, as if there was no meaning to it if she didn’t end up in first place. She was about to throw away the trophy of all things, and we were desperate to stop her.”

“Is that so? N-No… we shouldn’t get into that right now.”

While the captain started getting fl.u.s.tered, his subordinates behind him looked at each other apprehensively.

“What might she be up to?”

“I suppose she is planning on making a casual round of the capital on an airs.h.i.+p. She must feel reluctant to leave.”

“No, it’s that princess. I’m sure she suddenly changed her mind about the marriage and decided to get away.”

“Even I don’t like it. It's outrageous that our Vileena, the third daughter of His Royal Highness and princess of Garbera, a country where we take pride in our chivalry, has to consent to a marriage with that monkey from Mephius!”

Some of them snorted through their noses and stamped their feet on the floor,

“No, she is a princess and would not do selfish things like that. We all know how mischievous and incredibly lively Princess Vileena is. But listen to me my friends; she is also someone who loves this country, its people, and its environment more than anybody else. She would not vitiate a contract with Mephius because of her own displeasure.”

While others calmly reproached their comrades.

“This is because we are spineless.”

“Yeah. The Ten Year War with Mephius – what if we could’ve finished it with a victory on our side? If we could’ve raised Garbera’s national flag at Mephius's palace, a thing… a thing like this…”

Shaking their heads in frustration, some ended up being moved to tears and sorrow.

All of this was proof that there must be love for her, or so Theresia thought. Garbera’s third princess is Princess Vileena. Only fourteen years old, and after the coming week, she would be married into the Mephius Empire[1]bordering the country in the northwest.

Although Theresia herself would be accompanying the princess in order to look after her surroundings, of course, for many people in Garbera, this would be farewell. Everyone who now met with the princess, although able to congratulate her on her marriage, couldn’t hide the loneliness, the anger, and the sorrow from their faces when they did.

Theresia was standing in a ceilinged corridor facing the garden on her right. On the side of a nearby pillar, a doodle of her, which had been drawn by the princess at a younger age, faintly remained. Theresia softly laid her hand on the drawing that depicted her in a devilish manner; the princess must have drawn it right after being scolded by her.

This is your last act of selfishness, okay, princess?

As she clung onto the captain of the guard, asking for an honest, desperate search for the princess, Theresia inwardly voiced her true thoughts.

About twenty kilometres southeast of Garbera Kingdom’s capital city Phozon.

In a range of gentle hills, there was a palace overlooking a vast lake. During the rebellion that took place five years ago, the region had almost become the centre of war. But now it was much like its mild climate, at peace, with a relaxed time flowing by.

However, it was just before the sun was about to set when it suddenly became very lively.

“Third air defence fleet, ascend!” the commander of the air defence force yelled, straddled over his own airs.h.i.+p. “The first and second protect all sides of the royal palace. The fourth hasten on to Phozon Capital.”

Just five minutes ago, a flare signal had been raised from the watchtower. It was a signal that meant unidentified air units were approaching. And just now, they had confirmed visual of a single airs.h.i.+p.

As the sky began to blend into the same colour as the surface, the air defence force rose into the air.

With a metal base made of dragonstone, steel, silver, bra.s.s, and the like, Garbera’s ornithopter-type single-seated airs.h.i.+ps were modelled after the large sea eagles that inhabit the Mother Earth. From the bill to the tip of the tail, they were approximately three metres long, and the full span of their high-speed flapping wings was about seven metres. The pilots had their seats built where the eagle’s claws would be as they whirled up into the sky.

I doubt a single unit would attack, though.

While the commander of the air defence force raised his suspicions, a deep black shape approached from the other side of the slope. It was the type which let the pilot lie with his belly directly on the hull during flight, and it wasn’t an ornithopter, but had a rear propeller and rudder controlling its direction instead while moving forward via propulsion. It was a type of airs.h.i.+p mainly built for speed.

Isn’t that our country’s?

The chief looked at it through narrowed eyes. Garbera excelled in the art of purifying dragon fossils into a weightless metal – the so-called dragonstone – and the country’s development of small airs.h.i.+ps was unmatched by other countries. There were also many variations.

“Stop!”

“Don’t go any further!”

Although the men on the air defence s.h.i.+ps raised their shouts unanimously, the approaching unit did not show any signs of lowering its speed. It just pa.s.sed by the airs.h.i.+p of the third fleet’s captain at a hair’s distance and, as the airs.h.i.+p was about to nearly lose its balance because of the near crash, the area suddenly grew tense.

“We told you to stop!”

“We’ll shoot if you don’t follow our warning!”

One craft blocked the course of the approaching unit that was flying straight ahead, the remainder went up, and took up positions to fire from the left and right. The commander himself was about to place a finger on the trigger that was directly connected to a machine gun, when,

“Thanks for doing your duty.”

Suddenly, a voice called out to him. It was a woman’s voice… or more precisely, a girl’s. He lifted his finger from the trigger.

Their airs.h.i.+ps were about to pa.s.s by each other, and her's left a platinum trail behind. When he realized that it was the pilot’s long hair streaming in the wind,

“Princess!?” the commander couldn’t help but raise his voice.

“Sorry, I’m in a hurry.”

The rapid words that returned came from the same voice, and then she was gone.

Everybody from the third air defence fleet was put off with equally flabbergasted expressions. Before long, gliding wings appeared from the airs.h.i.+p near the small boards by the seat, and he just managed to see that she was steadily descending.

“Commander?”

“At ease.”

The commander of the air defence force was already into his mid-forties, and had a daughter who recently became fourteen. The same age as Garbera’s third princess Vileena. Fourteen years.

To him, it seemed like not much time had pa.s.sed since he’d seen the tottering steps of his baby daughter. But the world already saw her as an adult member of society, and even if she got married and started having children at this age, no one would think of it as strange.

“Call back the fourth air defence fleet. I have to return to my post and write my journal: today, we’ve seen nothing but a peaceful sky.”

He was fixedly staring at the moon outside through the window.

Sitting up in bed, although his features, exposed by the pale light, neared the limits of age, the grace and austerity that he seemed to naturally possess was still going strong.

“I thought it was strangely noisy tonight, but I guess it must have been you.”

He spoke the words as he looked up at the moon.

“Yes, it’s me.”

The answer came from the side.

A shadow came in from the room’s entrance. With every step that was brought forward, the figure was gradually revealed by the moonlight, eventually producing the appearance of a girl.

“My son wouldn’t turn a blind eye if he saw you like this. In a certain sense, he is a man older than me.”