In Another World with JUST MONIKA 65 The Dream of Fligh

It was another bright and sunny day in Reflet.

It was a day that found me with Charlotte clutching at my pant legs and crying out "You won't have to waste your time with unimportant things! I'll cook for you! I'll wash your clothes! I'll even give you most of my salary! PLEASE DON'T ABANDON MEEE!!"

We were inside the Silver Moon Inn. Micah and Aer were at the desk and stared at us with dull judging eyes.

"This man is scum," said Micah.

"Total scum," agreed Aer.

"THIS ISN'T WHAT IT LOOKS LIIIIKE!" I screamed out desperately, even as Charlotte more desperately wrapped her voluptuous body around my leg and sobbed piteously.

All right, so let's backtrack. Back to the start of this week.

Journeying back to Alephis over the weekend was necessary because we promised to tutor Sue. But if it takes five days just to get there, and another five days back, then what was the point? We might as well just stay there and take missions from the kingdom capital's Adventurer Guild.

But that was for normal people with normal horses. We could cut the journey to two days – in total four days travel and two days residence – six days. That's still most of a week. But by myself I could probably rocket-boost my way over there in half a day.

With some spars of wood and sheets of leather and some help from some carpenters it was perfectly conceivable to build a glider. Monika had many examples of working designs. Now we just needed a sufficiently high place to throw myself off. There was room enough for two to hang under the glider, but Linze literally laughed in my face when I asked her if she wanted to come along.

"No. No, thank you, Mister Zah… but no. No way." She shook her head and shivered, hugging herself. "While you learning alone with Miss Charlotte... it's scary. Still too scary."

So we split the party. The girls would take missions in Reflet and get to bumping up Yae's Guild card rating. I would be away for around four days.

It was the first time in this other world that I would be by myself for so long. Monika looked a bit worried.

"Are… are you sure about this?" Elze asked. She peered over the sheer cliff and sputtered again as a strong mountain wind blew her long silver hair onto her own face. Yae yelped and braced herself, keeping the glider from being blown away too early.

"Sure I'm sure. What's the worst that could happen?"

/"… Player, no."/

"You fail and you die?" she retorted dryly. "Although I guess this is part of why I don't mind how much your magic is so unfair. You have this one thing you really like and then you put all your heart into it. But what do you love more – flight or making money?"

"JUST MONEYK"

/"Ouch. That pun literally hurt me. Right here. In the memory controllers."/

I grinned. "But really, there's a saying that goes: [Do what you love and it doesn't feel like work.]" Unless what you love is something like gambling or something, "In fact, if you get good enough at what you do, people might pay you just to see you do what you do best. Both flight and making money with franchises complement each other. There's a lot of traveling involved.

"And the dream of flight… Elze, I don't just want to fly – I want everybody to fly! Someday, heavier than air flight would be so commonplace, it wouldn't even need magic! Freedom to go wherever we want, it's not enough for one person – it's all the differences that make the world interesting! The more we interact with each other, the more we change, the more the world of yesterday is a stranger to the world of tomorrow! A man who wishes to be free doesn't just need to be free in space, but in time as well!"

Elze looked back at me doubtfully.

"Follow me and become a Fallschirmjäger, Elze Silhoueska!"

"I'd really just like to throw you off this cliff now."

And then it was time.

"Hut! Hut! Hut! Hut!" Elze and Yae grunted together while holding the left and right wings of the glider. They helped to push the glider until closer to the edge they let go and the wind threatened to lift up and tumble over the glider as it had done so in prior tests.

But I fired air jets from under my boots for force the glider's tail to lift, and as soon as I crossed the cliff's drop the air slamming against the rock face created a lifting force to raise the whole thing to the sky. "Wahoooo!" I couldn't help but to scream out in glee.

The glider had no control surfaces, but with manual magical adjustment of incoming air pressure walls, I was able make the glider bank around and overfly the girls. Elze raised a celebratory fist to the air. Despite her taunts, seeing this was possible excited her too.

Linze cupped her palms and shouted up at me "CONGRATULATIONS! PLEASE BE SAFE, MISTER ZAH!"

"SAME TO YOUUU!" I shouted back. "SEE YOU ALL AGAIN SOON!"

Since I was strapped in belly-down, I was flying and feeling like Superman. I was Jetman. No feeling like it in the world! Monika laid a HUD over my vision, showing my speed, heading, altitude.

/"Congratulations indeed, Player. You're one for the history books."/

"I'm almost certain someone's done actual magical flight before. Now if we could just figure out magic to electricity and an electromotor engine…" I whispered back. "Monika… this is amazing."

/"Yes, yes it is. Thank you for this, Player. Even if I were a real girl, this isn't something I would have imagined I'd experience. There's certainly a difference between flying inside an aircraft cabin and flying like this, exposed to the elements.

/"But are you all right? Aren't you too cold?"/

"I'm fine. This… this is everything I ever wanted. And now… even though I'm so happy, it... for some reason it doesn't feel enough. I just wish… that I could share it with someone else. I mean, I am sharing it with you, but I wish I could share the experience of flight with other people - that's the thing that would give it real meaning. You know what I mean?"

/"I understand. You have a pioneer's heart, Player, and that's another thing I love about you. Some people like to be the first simply to be able to brag about it, but you want to be the first so that there could be a second.

/"Unfortunately, you can't. It's too dangerous without your utter mastery of Wind Magic. I suppose this glider could fit two, but not everyone is so eager to risk their lives as you. If we just had Teleport magic, none of this would be necessary."/

"I suppose if there's teleport magic or anti-gravity float magic, aerodynamic research isn't really needed. That really just makes me sad," I sighed. Magic retarding technological development because there was more convenient solutions was something we expected, but it was not quite true.

I flew. I watched the country pass by underneath, my flight speed was about 47 km/h, pushed forward by the jets coming out my boots. This joy, this feeling of utter freedom, this triumph at defying common sense by using the laws of nature to work for me, a feeling almost godlike and sublime…

It was a feeling I really didn't want to keep for myself. Every person had a right to be happy, and this happiness I wanted to share with others. To conquer the skies was a power given to every human being! We just needed tools, dedication, courage! It took us thousands of years, and thousands upon thousands of deaths, but our souls could no longer be weighed down by gravity.

I wondered who could be brave enough and light enough to accompany me in flight.

Obviously not Sue, because totally no way would I dare any harm to my little sisteru.

Chapter end

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