“Why are they flying so low?” I couldn’t help but wonder, watching the dragon-like creature soar merely tens of meters above the ground. Wouldn’t it be easier to fly at a higher altitude?
“It’s a regulation,” Lavishly Karafar replied. “If deities and winged beasts were allowed to fly anywhere they pleased, it would become quite chaotic.”
She then pointed to the streets below. “That’s why, within the city, flight is restricted to within sixty meters directly above the roads. It keeps things much more orderly.”
I nodded in agreement. That made sense. So, these dragon-like creatures were called Winged Beasts? What a rather plain name.
The Winged Beast flew with incredible speed. The buildings on either side blurred into indistinct shadows. Before long, we had left the urban sprawl behind.
The Winged Beast suddenly ascended, soaring hundreds of meters into the sky in an instant. I was startled. While I wasn’t particularly afraid of heights anymore, such a rapid ascent was far more exhilarating than any roller coaster.
Looking down, the landscape below was not unlike the beautiful plains of Earth. Yet, it was punctuated by numerous bizarre sights: a World Tree tens of thousands of meters tall that we had nearly collided with, a colossal vine thousands of meters long swaying in the wind, and swarms of ant-like creatures, larger than humans, hauling “apples” the size of trucks.
Other Winged Beasts occasionally flew past, appearing like massive floating islands drifting by, their sheer size making them seem so grand.
“Hmph—” The Winged Beast let out a low grunt, gradually decelerating. It glided through the air, descending steadily onto a vast, circular plaza.
Disembarking from the Winged Beast, my legs felt a bit unsteady. It had been quite the thrill; hundreds of meters in altitude were covered in the blink of an eye, the ascent and descent speeds truly astonishing.
At the edge of the plaza, a blond youth waved from across the expanse, jogging towards us. Behind him, a purple-haired girl, appearing rather aloof, followed at a leisurely pace.
“Qian… Qianyue?” I gasped in surprise. Leixar had actually managed to bring Qianyue? While Leixar had claimed she could, having interacted with Qianyue myself, I was certain that without a compelling reason, Qianyue would never agree. No, even with a good reason, she probably wouldn’t.
The blond youth was, of course, Ryan Micheus. He strode over quickly, gently taking the wooden box I held in my hand.
I started to protest, but Ryan simply chuckled. “I was explicitly called here to be an attendant, you know. If you won’t even let me carry a wooden box, are you trying to get Sister Leixar to send me home?”
“How… how could that be? Wait, Mentor Leixar is… your sister?” I was utterly astonished.
“That’s right, my biological sister,” Ryan stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Didn’t she tell you?”
“No, she most certainly did not tell me!” I retorted, taken aback by his audacity in asking, ‘Didn’t she tell you?’
“Well, you didn’t ask, did you? Besides, it’s not important, so there was no real need to mention it,” Ryan said, scratching his head.
For a moment, I was speechless. Then, he leaned closer. “By the way, does Qianyue have some kind of misunderstanding or issue with me? It feels like she radiates killing intent whenever I’m around her.”
I looked at him with a sympathetic gaze. “How long did you spend alone with her?”
“An entire morning, and she didn’t respond to a single one of my attempts at conversation,” Ryan grumbled, his face as wrinkled as a bitter gourd.
My gaze shifted to one of admiration. To have the courage to initiate conversation in the face of such an aura? “She’s always like that, actually. She barely pays any attention to me either,” I admitted.
“Huh? She ignores you too? No way! A cute girl like you must be quite devastating to someone like her,” Ryan exclaimed in surprise.
Damn it! Ryan always found a way to annoy me. What did he mean, ‘cute girl’? For some reason, hearing those words from someone I aspired to be like felt incredibly hurtful.
A sudden tightness seized my chest, and I ignored him. Lavishly Karafar and the other women nearby couldn’t help but sigh. How did Ryan always manage to provoke even the good-natured Moe God?