Chapter 14: Emergency Flight.

Karat was enjoying a rare moment of peace.

The teacup he held in both hands emitted a refreshing aroma, like a forest after a morning rain.

The teacup contained tea brewed from the young shoots of the Mistwood tree, which he had obtained from Aina, an employee of the Irendel baronetcy, when he left.

‘Hmm. Just as the master said, it’s simple and subtle, a truly pastoral scent.’

Sigh.

It wasn’t just the scent; the taste was also excellent.

The first taste was sweet like the sap of leaves, the middle taste left a faint bitterness, and the last taste washed down the tongue with a faint citrus-like fruity scent.

All the elements one would expect from a decent tea were contained in this small cup.

‘I regret only getting enough to drink during the trip.’

It was a late evening, he didn’t have to attend to the master, he didn’t have to take care of a child, and it was the first time in a while that it was so quiet.

Sitting alone in the dimly lit dining room with only minimal lighting, Karat intended to fully enjoy this short peace. Slurp.

However, Karat’s small happiness did not last long.

Crash! Bang!

Before he could even empty half of his teacup, he heard a loud noise of something falling and colliding from the top floor.

“…Hmm? Is the master doing something?”

Karat quickly realized that was not the case.

The sound of something light pattering quickly followed.

Karat, who had put down his teacup, went out to the hallway outside the dining room to see what was happening.

As soon as he opened the door and went outside, the first thing he saw was Signo running down the stairs like crazy. She lost her footing halfway down the stairs with her small, slender legs that could barely support her own body… and sprained it,

“Miss Signo!!!”

She fell down to the middle of the hallway, making a grand sound.

Karat thought he heard the sound of her bones hitting the edge of the stairs when she rolled about three times.

“Heuk… Kkeueuk…”

Despite rolling so grandly, she didn’t even scream.

She just trembled briefly and let out a faint groan, then tried to stand up by forcing herself to lean against the wall.

For some reason, she was not wearing anything on her upper body.

“You should have been careful! What are you in such a hurry for!”
“Miss Yuko… is… not… right…”

Karat ignored that complaint this time.

Karat, who rushed to support her, gasped as soon as he saw Signo’s face.

Her right eye was torn, and one side of her face was covered in blood.

It must have been torn by hitting the railing or the edge of the stairs.

He was embarrassed about where to look because of Signo, who was revealing her bare skin without any sign of shame,
he hurriedly took off the coat he was wearing and politely draped it over her back.

“…Please wait. I’ll bring the master right away. Just bear with it for a moment….”
“That master… is not… okay.”

Signo frowned when the lisping words still popped out of her mouth. After mumbling something in her mouth for a while, she spat something out on the floor with a “Ptooey.” …The dark red thing was a blood clot.

“Listen carefully. Yukomis is sick… Lady Yukomis’ condition is serious.”

Her pronunciation became clear, as if she had done something, and she spoke, moving her blood-stained mouth.

“Yes? What do you mean?”
“Karat. Listen to me calmly.”

She was a young girl covered in blood and slumped down, but her eyes were more intellectual and calm than ever.

“I know I’m not in a position to give you instructions. But the situation is not good.”

Her eyes and forehead were torn, and her whole body was bruised.

But the girl in front of him didn’t seem to care about her wounds and pain at all.

Her attitude was firm, unwavering, and calm.

In Karat’s view, these were appearances that he couldn’t possibly think came from the mind of a twelve-year-old.

“We need to leave here immediately and return to the duchy. First, please call a coachman.”
“What’s going on?”
“Lady Yukomis is very ill.”

Signo answered again.

Karat thought something was wrong.

“Ill? If it’s a minor symptom, can’t she treat it herself?”
“She is unconscious.”
“Yes?”

His eyes widened.

“The master? She lost consciousness?”
“It’s a very critical situation. She’s having a magical power overcirculation due to a panic attack. She’s absorbing and releasing magical power unconsciously.”
“That means…?”

“She may have myocardial ischemia or arrhythmia right away. It seems to be symptoms following a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Karat, who didn’t have much medical knowledge, frowned.

That’s because such things were the master’s specialty.

No. More than that. Post-traumatic… stress… what?

What does that mean? Where did this girl pick up and know these things?

Karat answered dazedly.

“How serious is it? Stress… what is that?”
“…No, forget all those words. Anyway, she’s frantically sucking in and releasing magical power beyond what her body can handle. If left alone, her respiratory system will be damaged and her nervous system will burn out.”
“…!”

“The important thing is that Yukomis’ life is in danger, and if the symptoms develop in a complex way, there’s nothing we can do. We have to hurry as much as possible.”

Karat didn’t even understand half of what Signo was saying.

However, Karat could understand well enough the terrible words ‘the nervous system will burn out’ and ‘life is in danger’.

“Isn’t there anyone else who can help?”

“There isn’t. A magician is needed to treat magical symptoms, but coincidentally, both of Kiffle’s magicians are absent. A magician isn’t someone who grows on the side of the road, is it? So it’s faster to return to Lady Yukomis’ family home.”
“To return to her family home in one night, a wyvern would be the only means.”
“That’s exactly right. And we need a coachman to get to the wyvern runway. So Karat. Can you call a coachman?”

“Kiffle is a small city, so there won’t be a coachman open for business at this hour. But…”

Karat nodded with a determined expression.

“I’ll ask anyone who knows the coachman’s address and call him. It’ll probably be much faster for me to run than a messenger. I won’t hesitate to break down doors to find him.”

But Karat quickly realized that there was another problem.

He could somehow find a coachman, but finding someone to ride the wyvern was a completely different matter.

‘…There is no pilot available for night flights on Kiffle’s wyvern runway. That is the biggest problem.’
“It’s here.”

Signo pointed to Karat’s chest with her small fingertips.
“You can do it, right?”
“…Certainly. I can, but that’s just a story about combat wyverns that know how to find their way. I’ve never ridden a normal wyvern before.”

“No. You can do it.”
“How do you know that…”

How do you know that?

It was a very easy question for Signo to answer.

Why?

Because I taught you.

Because I was the one who put you in that position.

Because I know you can do it.

“If there’s a collision or crash, it can’t be undone.”

But she couldn’t explain it that way. Signo bit her lower lip tightly.

“If we leave her like this, Yukomis… Lady Yukomis will die too.”

“The unfamiliar night flight is too risky. Is there no other way?”
“There’s nothing else, Karat. It’s something you have to do anyway. Then you have to believe you can do it.”

Karat’s mouth gaped open when he heard those words.

Signo had been like a different person since earlier.

The one in front of him was not the girl who used to joke with Karat and try to climb the stairs with difficulty.

Karat also quickly made up his mind at her unwavering attitude, which he couldn’t possibly think was the mind of a nine-year-old, no, twelve-year-old.

“Call a coachman right away. I’ll pack my bags.”
“No, but Miss Signo with that body…!”

Karat pointed to Signo’s already red and swollen ankles and bruises.

“I can take care of my body myself.”
“But Miss Signo is quite seriously injured…”
“Karat!!!!”
“…!”

Signo grabbed Karat’s shoulders with both hands and shook him hard.

…Or she tried to shake him hard.

Signo’s grip and strength were so weak that they only made Karat flinch slightly.

“…Wh, what is your top priority?”
“Who are you? What is your top priority?”

Karat reflexively recited the first sentence of the oath of allegiance.
“…My duty is to protect Lady Yukomis Pranon Solenas, the sole heir to the duchy and the Imperial Palace’s greatest archmage. My master.”

“That’s exactly right.”

A strong will could be seen in Signo’s blood-stained eyes.

Karat answered as if possessed when he met those eyes, and she nodded.

“Go quickly. Hurry!”

Karat rushed out to the lower floor.

A few minutes later,

Karat arrived at the entrance of the inn with a coachman who had the most unfair and embarrassed expression in the world.

Signo, who was carrying Yukomis, who was much bigger than herself, was already waiting there.

Karat didn’t ask how she had dragged Yukomis from the top floor room with that body.

He could guess well enough just by looking at her expression of enduring the pain, her gasping breath, and her swollen eyes.

Signo, Karat, and Yukomis, whom he politely held in his arms, got into the carriage, but the coachman didn’t seem to understand the situation at all.

He had been dragged by Karat, almost grabbing his collar, just before he was about to have a drink at the pub after finishing a hard day’s work.

“Um, masters, now how do we…”
“Let’s go to the runway.”

Karat said firmly.

“Yes? But Kiffle’s wyverns don’t fly at night.”
“That’s none of your business!”

Signo shouted as if frustrated and took out five gold coins from her arms and handed them over without delay.

“I’ll give you five more when we get to our destination if you don’t ask questions and run. Got it?”
“Ah, yes, yes!”

As soon as he heard the words ‘ten gold coins for one night run’, he didn’t even care about the fact that he had been scolded by a kid he didn’t even know who she was.

The coachman, who had been looking like he was about to die, immediately started running towards the wyvern runway with a beaming expression.

Watching Signo’s resourcefulness, which he didn’t even know where it came from,

Karat made sure to fasten the robe so that the identity of his master would not be revealed.

‘It’s not good at all for the rumors to spread that Yukomis, who has many enemies in the political world, showed a weak side.’

‘Even if we can’t hide it forever, there’s no need to spread her weaknesses.’

‘There’s no one who can help more even if we reveal her identity.’

That’s what Signo said.

It was too late to ask how she could have such thoughts at the age of twelve.

If he started to argue about that, all the precocious behavior that Signo was showing now would be the same as unexplained.

No, it didn’t even make sense to just gloss over these things with the word ‘precocious’.

‘The master said that Signo Irendel is a genius.’

‘But that’s what she called talent for combat.’

‘Otherwise, she just thought she was a studious child.
“
‘When I think about it, even when she stabbed the kidnapper’s arm in the forest… it looked too familiar for a child.’

‘…What kind of boy… no, girl is she? You can never do these responses without experiencing them.’

‘Besides, she grasped the situation and acted much faster and more agilely than me, who had experienced the real battle.’

‘I feel so ashamed. Miss Signo acted more reliably than me, who should be serving the master…’

The master in the robe seemed to be having the most terrible nightmare in the world.

Her hands and feet were trembling, her breath was heavy, and her body temperature was so hot that it seemed like she would stop breathing at any moment.

The pupils inside the slightly opened eyelids were already turned over.

However, even the whites of her eyes, not just the pupils, were glowing with the light of magical power.

Karat, who couldn’t feel the magical power directly, could only tell from that fact that his master was putting a huge magical burden on her body.

‘It’s all as Miss Signo said. Where did she get such knowledge…?”

Fortunately, the coachman didn’t bother to question the identity of the painfully groaning woman.

It wouldn’t have been the first time he had dealt with a mysterious guest.

Kiffle was a small city, but its finances were quite well-managed,

There were magical lamps that guaranteed a certain amount of visibility on the main streets.

The carriage, which passed the sparsely visible pedestrians as if flying, passed through the southeastern outer wall much faster than Karat and Signo thought.

And not long after, it was the wyvern runway area.

As everyone knows, wyverns are basically giant lizards.

Despite the fact that wyverns were important livestock that accounted for a large part of the imperial system, such as mail delivery, transportation, and combat, ridiculously, no one knew what principle wyverns flew on.

With such a large body, muscles, and thick skin and scales… no matter how big the wings were, it was not enough to fly with that alone.

“Think of the birds. It doesn’t make sense to fly with that weight.”

That was the mainstream opinion of scholars.

They were just making vague guesses that wyverns were magical creatures, so they might fly with some magical principle.

But as a result, they are flying, right? Isn’t that enough?

It wasn’t wrong, so the Empire decided not to care too much about trivial things.

For imperial administrators and generals, the realistic situation that ‘flying transportation’ could become the power of the empire was much more important than the difficult problems that scholars had to solve over decades.

However, just because wyverns flew with the power of magic didn’t mean that the entire flight process was easy and smooth.

First of all, a headwind of sufficient speed was essential for the wyvern to take off,

Wyverns had to run fast on a flat ‘runway’ until they reached a speed at which they could take off.

The wyverns’ thick, muscle-filled hind legs were usually used for this process.

There was another reason why wild wyverns were on the verge of extinction.

In order for wyverns to live like this, they needed naturally made ‘runways’ or high cliffs that could be used for descent and takeoff, and they needed tremendous calories commensurate with their size.

In short, the operation of wyverns required huge terrain for takeoff and landing,

Astronomical amounts of money were spent on the salaries of skilled pilots and the cost of feed.

In the end, it was not livestock that an individual could own.

Anyway.

The two, who had left Yukomis in the carriage for a while, knocked and almost broke down the door of the wyvern airfield office,

It didn’t take long to call the chief officer.

The runway chief officer appeared with a frightened look that was no different from the coachman,

Karat and Signo showed him the duchy’s seal without delay.

“We need a wyvern. The biggest one, regardless of type.”
“…The working hours here are already over. Kiffle’s wyvern airfield is not flying at night.”

The documents and seals meant that it was definitely from the Solenas duchy,

Even after seeing that, the officer frowned.

“No, then what’s the reason why you guys eat and sleep here at night?”

The officer answered without knowing the burning hearts of the two.

It was in a tone that was very natural.

“And even if flight permission is not granted, we can guide someone who has flown here, right? From the beginning, there is no pilot who can fly at night.”
“We don’t need a pilot. We’ll drive ourselves.”

When a young voice was heard from below his waist, the officer turned his head down.

There was a young girl wearing a mismatched coat for some reason.

‘Did she just say ‘we’?’

Ignoring that question, the officer asked another question.

“…Excuse me, what is your identity?”
“She’s an associate of the duchy.”

Karat answered instead.

“No matter what you say, I can’t give you permission. All three wyverns in Kiffle are owned by the city.”
“Then I’ll requisition them with the authority of the duchy.”
“No matter how much of a duchy it is, you don’t have the authority to do that. Kiffle is a free city.”
“Hey, you.”

The officer turned his gaze down again. It was the little girl who was speaking just now.

“Do you know that Manya and Katie, the ‘former’ mayors of Kiffle, are on the run?”

It was a strangely annoying and sharp tone.

The officer thought that the girl’s face looked a bit messy, although it was dark and he couldn’t see her face well because of the hood.

“Yes? Yes. That’s right.”

The officer answered inadvertently and obediently.

Despite the huge age difference, the voice had an authority that inexplicably intimidated the other person.

Before the officer could even think about where this mysterious authority came from, the girl continued to question him.

“Then, strictly speaking, your final supervisor is currently vacant, right?”
“That’s right.”
“And you are in charge of this facility?”
“…That’s also, that’s right.”

“Then, even if you, in the current ‘situation where the final responsible party is unclear due to the absence of a superior’, ‘considering the city’s diplomatic relations’, ‘received an urgent request from the duchy that could have a huge impact on the city’s existence with on-site discretion’, no one would He was a great son’ problem with that, right?”
“”
At those words, the officer made a complicated expression with a mixture of strange realization and surprise.

No, who on earth is this girl, speaking these political words so casually without stuttering?

‘Is she… even ten years old? What the hell…’

And Signo quickly added a word to it.

“And if you’re the current chief, you can also handle the ‘fair compensation’ for that ‘urgent request’ again with ‘your discretion’, right? As you know, the Solenas duchy’s spending habits aren’t too bad.”

These were words that were enough to make the officer’s ears perk up.

Signo’s sweet offer quickly erased the curiosity about her identity from the officer’s head.

“…Hah, but how can I believe that?”

He was asking reluctantly, but Signo was sure that he had already fallen just by listening to the officer’s voice.

“Karat, leave your seal and longsword here to prove your affiliation.”
“Okay.”
“You can trust this, right?”
“Yes? Yes. Yes, sir.”

The officer bowed without even realizing it.

“You, give me the flight permit form. I’ll write it.”
“Yes? That’s quite complicated. It’s not something a young lady like you can write…”
“Shut up and give it to me quickly!!!”

Signo, who was unintentionally annoyed at this part, shouted at the officer.

She was trying to speak calmly, but she was so urgent that she wanted to stomp her feet right away.

However, Signo soon… calmed her breathing and quickly apologized.

‘Getting angry doesn’t help at all. There’s no point in fighting with this officer.’

She forcibly suppressed her exploding emotions with reason.

“…I’m sorry. The situation is very urgent. I wasn’t being polite.”
“Ah, no. You were the one.”

Scrambling. After entering the inner room of the office for a while, the officer appeared with papers and pens with complicated markings already written on them,

What he witnessed from then on was an absurd sight.

As soon as the girl received it, she started scribbling quickly without hesitation.

Flight supervisor, flight time, flight type, destination, route, passengers, pilots, various working-level supervisors, consent under the Imperial Aviation Act, etc. She filled in numerous blanks at a terrifying speed.

She sometimes frowned as if her fingertips weren’t moving as she wanted, but she never wrote any typos.

It was a familiar skill, as if she had processed these documents hundreds of times.

Finally, the girl wrote a signature at the bottom of the paper in a cool handwriting, ‘In the name of the Solenas duchy, with the grace of eternal magic’, and handed it to the officer.

…The officer, who picked up a perfectly written document with not a single place to find fault, was stunned.

“…Excuse me, miss, you said you were the duchy’s companion? What do you do for a living…”
“That’s not important.”

The girl lifted her head for the first time at an angle that received the candlelight of the office.

“What’s important is that you’ll get enough in return for this, and we don’t have much time.”

The officer realized then that the face that he had strangely thought ‘looked dirty’ was because it was covered in blood.

“Get the wyvern ready. I appreciate your hard work.”
“…I understand.”