Fly Further

Improving the jet fighter was simple, I just attached some more magic gems to it and boosted its defenses. I gave it a bit of a bird motif, it was mainly white with a gold nose resembling a beak, along with the rest of the head. Giving it a test run showed it worked better and easier than I expected.

The funeral for the village chief Metallum will be in the morning, so I’ll have the entire afternoon to go around the castle town. I do feel a bit bad doing it right after a funeral but I’m doing this as my duty to protect this village. Looking in my inventory showed that I had a little over 2000 gold coins and a ton of different treasures. It’ll be nice to see what I can buy and trade for there.

Speaking of buying, I’ll need a bunch of different metals, some materials for more kinds of clothing, and maybe a few magic items. Maybe I could see if there’s a few interesting foods too. Getting Carine used to the jet is the only thing I can think of before the funeral starts.

I ran around to find Carine. She was preparing some flowers for a display, “Ah, Akio, I’m just finishing up. What is it?” “I was wondering if you wanted to try flying the jet in order to get used to it."

She beamed and took my hands, “Yes, I’ve been wanting to try controlling a Stahl-Soldat since I first saw one when I arrived here.” Well, I’m not sure if a jet fighter would count as the same as a robot to be Stahl-Soldat but I guess it doesn’t matter as long as she feels a bit better. Carine gave the flowers to a woman and followed behind me.

I led her to the jet where it was parked on a flat enough area of land. “Does it have a name?” The question came from nowhere, but it was a fair one. Wanting to somehow make it connect to Grandeiwos to give it a way to fly, the name should be connected to it. “Uh, hmm. How about Graneagle?”

“It’s nice, it sounds strong.” I helped her onto the top and opened the cockpit. The inside was a bit tight, but another person could just squeeze in on each side of the seat. She takes the seat while I scrunch in on the right side of her.

“Alright just press the on button and put your hands on the controllers. Then just move your hands to move in a corresponding direction, and to move it forwards and backwards just use your feet... The other controls are weapons, but we probably won’t need them for now.”

“Ok, I’ll start it now.” She had a confident look on her face as she powered it on. Graneagle rose to the air, hovering in a stable position. She pressed on the (metaphorical) gas, making the jet boost forwards with great speed. I was pushed back a bit by the forces being put on me. “I think we can slow down a bit, we still need to get ready for the funeral.”

“Oh… yes, well I’m good with this for now. I’ll land us back where we were.” Carine did a U-turn back to the village. Aiming back where we launched from, we landed.

We got out and ran as fast as we could to where the funeral for Metallum was. Apologies were had and no one was happy. I had a terrible feeling in my stomach, I really should have taken things more seriously. There’s an awkward feeling when you’re at a funeral for a person you’ve never met before. People that were close to him talking about what he was like in life.

Eventually it was Ferro’s turn to speak.

“My father was a good leader, he cared for this village all his life even before he became chief. I, however, want to get some things out… Though he was there to further raise this village, he wasn’t there to raise his kids. As you might know, my mother died after my younger brother Hierro was born. In her stead I’ve had to care for him all by myself as my father put all of his focus into the militarization of this village.” Bunches of gasps came from the crowd.

I hardly knew anything about what kind man Metallum was other than what Carine said. But what does he mean by militarization?

“I’ll admit I played into his plan by becoming a Stahl-Soldat pilot, he wanted to form a mercenary village using the massive metal resources from our mountain to create many warriors. He was too lofty in his ideals as such a level of production he envisioned would be impossible.”

I guess my opinions of this Metallum are becoming a bit mixed, Carine was looking very disheartened. In a way, I was probably advancing that goal too…

But we are being attacked by aliens so it might be fair. I don’t really know…