“Mm, hmm, heh~.”
The girl with blue hair laughs as she hops joyfully.
In her hand, she clutches an ice cream bar that looks like it has been bitten several times, holding it tightly with both hands as if it were a treasure, resembling a small rabbit-like creature.
The sound of her laughter contained such joyful emotions that it seemed it could make the people around her happy as well.
“Pyris, don’t bounce around too much. You might drop your ice cream.”
Upon hearing those words, the girl tilted her head for a moment before nodding and slowed down her pace. She took another bite of her ice cream, grinning as if she owned the whole world, her mouth moving softly.
In the meantime, Pyris held onto the ice cream tightly with both hands as if determined not to lose it.
This was because she had already experienced dropping this beloved ice cream once.
When she had seen another child picking up an ice cream that had fallen on the ground and trying to bring it to their mouth, she was horrified and exclaimed, “You can’t eat something that fell on the ground! It’s dirty, dirty!” After that, the child had started to cry, and only after purchasing a whole bag filled with ice cream did she finally calm down.
Thus, it was no wonder that Yerna let out a sigh.
“Ugh….”
In the end, she hadn’t even been able to conduct a proper health check.
At this rate, she might never be able to go back to the hospital.
She didn’t want to experience the frustration of playing tag with a child she could never catch again.
While running around, shouting “Pyris, I’m sorry! Can you please come out now?” while holding the ice cream, the glances from people who looked at her as if she were crazy were quite painful for Yerna, who had already been through so much.
“Is it really that delicious?”
In response to Yerna’s question, Pyris looked up at her with a big smile and replied.
“Yes!”
Well, there shouldn’t be anyone who dislikes something delicious.
Especially when it came to snacks like ice cream, Yerna had never seen a child who said they didn’t like it.
“Alright, if you like it that much, that’s fine….”
Yerna decided to give up her worries.
Did they really need to proceed with the check right away?
Although there was a reason she wanted to know about Pyris’s condition in advance because of Luke suddenly transforming into a dragon, the main purpose was to ensure the paperwork for “temporary protection” was in order.
Unlike Luke, who couldn’t escape from reality, Pyris, who could switch between human and spirit forms at any time, likely didn’t need a guardian like her right now.
Based on her appearance, she didn’t look like she was at an age to go to school anyway…
“….”
Yes, looking at her appearance, she resembled Luke quite a bit.
Luke also often made such expressions when he was eating something delicious, and at that moment, she wondered if they had arrived at the airport safely.
“…It’s probably not a good idea to follow them….”
She thought to herself, and even Dayton had asked, “Are you going to Beriton this time?” But following a child on their first school trip with friends felt wrong, so she decided against it…
‘But still, it should be fine to just call and check if they arrived at the airport.’
Just as Yerna was about to reach for her phone, Luke’s cello performance, which had been set as a ringtone, rang out unexpectedly.
‘Who could that be?’
It was an unknown number.
There shouldn’t be anyone contacting her who she didn’t know…
Could it be a response regarding the request she sent to the former leader concerning the Dragon Heart?
Yerna received the call with slight tension.
“Hello?”
– Ah, this is the airport. Are you the guardian of Luke Irushi? You might need to come here.
“…Excuse me?”
———
Finally, the bus arrived at the airport.
When Emma instructed the adults to wake the sleeping children, Shirud lightly shook Luke, who was leaning against the window, to wake him up.
“Luke, wake up. We’re almost there. This is the airport.”
Still groggy from sleep, Luke began to rub his eyes and look around. Since the sky was still blue, it didn’t seem like much time had passed since they set out.
It was about an hour or so from the rest stop.
“Alright, once the vehicle comes to a complete stop, the children in the front will get off in an orderly fashion!”
“Okay!”
Unlike the answers they had given at the beginning of the trip, the children’s responses were barely audible now.
Many of them were still in a sleep-induced daze.
Luke was one of those children.
“Yawn….”
He covered his mouth and yawned, holding onto the empty walnut snack bag and other trash.
Those with manners should tidy up the area they stayed in, after all.
Of course, he wouldn’t forget to thank the bus driver who had worked hard driving them.
As Luke, who was sitting near the front, did this, the other children followed his lead and began to greet as they got off.
As they passed through the cargo area and moved toward the entrance, the scene visible beyond the airport windows was quite overwhelming.
The “airplane,” an aircraft resembling a bird that he had seen in a magazine before, looked enormous.
In the past, there had been airships.
However, they didn’t know the design that assumed flight at that time, and in those days, the craft that could carry the most people was simply a “ship.”
Unfortunately, the level of magical engineering back then could not imagine anything beyond that.
Thus, airships were only able to float by attaching numerous sails like wings to a ship to lift it into the air using levitation magic, which was ineffectively compounded, resulting in only a few trial runs during wartime.
They wondered why they could not advance further in the past; it was because the circle system allowed little room for magical engineering to develop.
Circle magic, after all, is a system that enables one to realize their authority to alter the world through personal enlightenment.
Few mages pondered how to share the hard-earned authority with others, and the mages of those days could only create artifacts by enchanting junk or producing scrolls, which was virtually the extent of their capabilities.
But now, an airplane.
A mode of transportation that could efficiently carry dozens or even hundreds of people through the skies.
Moreover, a world in which this technology was available to the public without the pretext of war.
Seeing the advancement of modern magical technology firsthand made Luke’s heart race with excitement.
Right then, the words levitation, acceleration, and lightweight, along with hundreds of circuit diagrams, flooded his magic sight.
The intricately constructed magical sigils were like a delightful toy to Luke.
At that moment, having the magic sight was such an exhilarating experience for Luke.
If he hadn’t had the magic sight, he would have had to dissect the airplane to analyze the magical sigils, but Luke certainly couldn’t do that now.
He thought that if that were the case, he might have been tempted to break the glass window and rush over to take the airplane apart with his bare hands.
Indeed, having magic sight was a blessing for both Luke and the airplane.
‘…How embarrassing.’
However, Luke, who was shining with excitement while sticking to the airport window, seemed far too embarrassed in Shirud’s eyes.
Sitting in the waiting area, pretending not to notice, Mary approached and spoke as she came near the window Luke was stuck to.
“Is this your first time seeing an airplane?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen pictures in magazines a few times, but seeing one in person is definitely a first.”
Indeed, today was a day to praise the advancements in magical technology; flying transportation! Aside from the warp that transcended space itself, wasn’t this the fastest mode of transportation that barreled straight to the destination without any hindrances?
But warp magic wasn’t something that could be used so easily.
Transcending time and space typically meant enduring strong dimensional pressures, and to avoid losing oneself in that pressure, the user had to be at least a 5th-circle mage to withstand the shocking interference between dimensions.
Moreover, for some reason, “mana” could not pass through warps.
Thus, before spatial movement, one must assess whether mana could be supplied at the designated location, and if not, they would need to prepare multiple potions to increase their mana recovery.
Therefore, if a mage opted to warp over long distances, they became vulnerable.
Unless one reached a realm where they could twist the very laws like “The Great Luke Irushi” in his prime.
But what about flying?
Since the body never leaves the Material Plane even for a moment, it remained stable for humans, allowing mages to maintain their mana as they traveled.
That meant they could be deployed to the front lines at the fastest speeds.
Naturally, one hoped that these beautiful machines wouldn’t be used for war, but having experienced the continental war against the Demon Realm in legends, Luke couldn’t help but think of that.
But as he gazed at the airplane with those thoughts, no one, including Mary, who was looking at him, would know what was going through Luke’s mind.
To the others, he would simply appear as a child who was awe-struck at seeing an airplane for the first time.
So, they would watch him with a warm smile.
“Really? So, you really like airplanes, Luke!”
To be honest, Mary felt somewhat similar when she had first seen an airplane as well.
Though that was five years ago.
Back then, she didn’t even have proper horns on her head.
At eleven years old now, it wasn’t that incredible anymore.
However, there were quite a few other children seeing airplanes for the first time alongside Luke.
But simply seeing the airplane wasn’t all that fascinating, and their interest quickly waned as they left the windows, seeking out other distractions, which made it hard for their homeroom teacher, Emma.
Yet Luke’s gaze remained fixed on the airplane, sparkling, even after quite some time had passed.
‘Luke really likes airplanes a lot.’
That was the thought that crossed Mary and Shirud’s minds.
“Alright, let’s go if we’re done looking. We need to go through customs now.”
“Okay… I understand, let’s go.”
Although Luke felt a twinge of regret for not having absorbed all the magical sigils, he excitedly detached himself from the window, knowing that soon he would get to examine the magical circuits inside.
——–
The check involved submitting the documents Yerna prepared and passing their luggage and bodies through a scanner.
As she handed the previously prepared documents to the examiner, he thought, ‘Wow, you really packed a lot.’
Exaggerating, he speculated if they might exceed the weight limit.
“Hey, can you lift that by yourself?”
Luke responded to the examiner’s suggestion with a “There’s no need” as he lightly placed the bag onto the inspection table, leading the examiner to nod, figuring it must have been lighter than it seemed.
I wonder if there’s a large doll or something inside?
Watching the luggage slowly enter the scanner, the examiner said to Luke, “Alright, you can go through there in the meantime.”
“Understood.”
The place the examiner pointed to was a type of gateway made with two pillars.
It was a type of passage enchanted with detection spells.
‘Hmm, what exactly is this supposed to detect?’
As he pondered this and was about to pass through, suddenly…
Beep-beep-! Beep-beep-!
Startled by the sudden noise, Luke flinched and froze.
“What’s that noise?”
Since it didn’t seem to be a good sign, Luke turned to the examiner and asked.
He answered nonchalantly, “Do you happen to have a phone in your pocket?”
“Oh, do I need to take that out? I didn’t know.”
Luke removed his phone and tried to pass through the pillars again, but the noise continued.
“Do you have something like a magic device, perhaps? Earrings or a necklace, anything?”
Luke shook his head.
“Not really… I don’t have anything like that.”
In the past, he might have worn earrings or necklaces that he had crafted as computational aids, but now he was satisfied with his body’s computational ability and didn’t see a need to make them.
So what was triggering this warning sound? As he was contemplating this, the examiner suddenly looked shocked and asked.
“Did you eat a core from the World Tree or something? What on earth is this mana level… No, is this even possible…?”
