[V4C8] The Fragile Bird Flies Fast; The Strong Bird Jumps High
Translated by Jodas 4: Flying Through the Sky“Piyo! There you are, Oliver!”
Waddling at top speed with the Magical Flying Device on her back, Tia ran up to Oliver as he was practicing with his spear.
Oliver planted the spear into the ground and looked at Tia.
“Tia? ……Hmm.”
Oliver covered his disorganized bangs with a slightly displeased expression.
Probably because he’d been practicing his flight magic, his usually spiky hair was now laying a little more flat.
When his hair was like that, he looked shockingly similar to his brother.
“Give me a second.”
Oliver whipped out a small comb and ran it through his hair, reforming his typical spikes.
It’s like a Monster’s intimidation tactics Tia thought.
Some weak Monsters would try their hardest to appear threatening. Some would try to make themselves look larger by puffing out their fur or attaching sticks and leaves to themselves.
“You always make your hair so spiky, Oliver!”
“Doesn’t it make me look stronger?”
Wow, Tia was shocked.
For some reason, she had assumed that Oliver wouldn’t rely on such a paper-thin method of intimidation.
Yet, Oliver spoke with confidence.
“The stronger I look, the more my brother can relax.”
“……Pefu! I see…….Pefufu…”
It was for his brother’s sake. Those words made her feel strangely happy because they reminded Tia of how much she loved her sister.
Since Tia kept huffing and puffing, Oliver made a curious face.
“What’s up, Tia? Is something the matter with your respiratory system?”
“No. Actually… pefufu……”
Tia stood as straight as she could and whispered into Oliver’s ear.
She didn’t want to divulge too much about her nature or origins, but this much should probably be fine.
“You know, I have an older sister myself, so it makes me really happy to see you think of your brother like that, Oliver! ……Um, I guess this is what they call ‘sympathy’ then?”
“Oh, you have a sister?”
“Yep. Her wings are super pre- …….. Her hair is super pretty, and she’s great at singing!”
“Pefufufufu,” Tia smiled with pride while Oliver looked at her with a softer expression than usual.
Oliver was always making such a serious expression all the time, but it looked like he could make nicer expressions as well.
Surely Oliver sympathized with Tia’s feelings of admiration towards her sister just as she sympathized with him.
“By the way, was there something you wanted to ask me?”
“Oh, right, yes! Actually! I have something I want to ask you, Oliver!”
Tia spun in place to let Oliver see the Magical Flying Device strapped to her back.
“Right now I’m practicing flying with this Magical Flying Device, but I can’t fly very well yet……. I’m having a super hard time taking off.”
“I have the opposite issue. I’d say I’m very good at taking off, but I have difficulties moving in any direction after that.”
“Yeah! So, I was wondering if we could combine!”
“Combine?” Oliver repeated with a serious expression.
Tia flapped both of her arms as she tried to explain her her vision.
“So I hold on real tight to your back! Then, you use your flight magic to get really high up! Then we’ll fly around with my Magical Flying Device!”
The problem with Tia’s flying device was that it required tremendous force to get off of the ground, but thanks to that momentum, it would send her into a tailspin.
However, if Oliver could handle the taking off, she wouldn’t have to worry about that issue. Along the way, if she put out too much force and started to spin, Oliver would also act as a counterweight.
Oliver stayed quiet and listened to her whole explanation, then nodded with an “Uh-huh.” There were no wrinkles between his eyebrows.
“I think it sounds…….possible. We won’t know until we try it for real, though.”
“Then let’s do it! Right now! Piggyback!”
“Alright.”
Tia spread her arms wide and demanded a ‘piggyback!’ to which Oliver nodded immediately. He left his spear on the ground and squatted in front of her.
As Tia scrambled onto Oliver’s back, she had a realization.
(……Oh, they’re different.)
Tia reached out a hand and patted around Oliver’s shoulder and arms.
“What is it?” Oliver asked, turning his head around to look at her once he stood up with her on his back.
“Um, well, I’ve had a piggyback ride from Frederik before this, so…”
“Brother did that?”
“Frederik and Oliver… your bodies are totally different. Your muscles are a lot tougher than his are.”
Frederik’s body was specialized purely for flight, with as little flesh on his bones as possible.
On the other hand, Oliver exercised daily, so despite his thin frame, his muscles were very dense.
“If you two had a simple strength contest, I think you’d be the stronger one, Oliver.”
If the scrawny Frederik wanted to increase the power of his spear thrusts, he had to rely on either accelerating with flight magic or adding to the strike with a blade of magical wind.
Types like him had a hard time dealing with with Monsters with hard shells or dense skin and flesh. The Snow Boar Tia encountered the other day was an example of such a Monster.
“Maybe, if you and Frederik attacked each other head on, the one who would be blown away would be Frederik. You’re just a lot heavier than he is.”
“……Brother has lost that much weight?”
“Yeah. His body was built to fly. Even though he’s a human. He’s fast, though. Like a frail bird.”
At that point, she felt Oliver’s back tense up.
Oliver was looking straight ahead, so Tia, holding onto his back, couldn’t read his expression. That said, she guessed he was making the same sharp expression he usually made.
“When we fight him in that magic battle… Let’s make sure we win, Tia.”
Oliver spoke decisively.
“After we win, I have some things I’d like to say to my brother.”
Oliver began his incantation. As he did, he bent his knees and dug his soles into the ground, then took off in a great leap. Far higher than a wild hare.
“WOOOOO!”
With a powerful shout, Oliver’s body sped higher and higher into the sky, eventually exceeding the height of all the buildings in the Wedge Tower.
The wind of the skies brushed against her cheek. This was it. This was the wind she was looking for.
(Magical Flying Device, activate!)
She poured mana into the magical device on her back. As she did, Oliver’s body, with Tia on it, began to move forward with vigor.
However, it felt like they were about to start flipping head-over-heels.
Oliver’s flight magic pushing them upwards fought with the Magical Flying Device which pushed them forwards.
“Oliver, make your flight magic weaker!” “Then you’ll have to keep both of us up!” “It’s okay! After all……”
She felt the weight of Oliver’s body pulling her down, and adjusted her angle of attack accordingly.
The metal wings could grasp the wind properly now.
“Flying is what I’m good at!!”
It made her feel unbelievably good to puff out her chest and say that with confidence.
No longer is she the Harpy who curled herself into a ball and despaired I can’t fly. I can’t fly.
Two bodies lightly and smoothly gained altitude.
Their flight now was a world away from the great climbing leap that Oliver usually did or the cannonball flight the Magical Flying Device tended to do. It was a smooth flight.
“Pyo! Fu!”
She leaned over slightly and initiated a wide barrel roll.
Then she leaned the other way and floated up. She could do a barrel roll — properly.
It was the same feeling she’d had when she’d had Dammer dangling from her legs as a counterweight.
“Oliver! I’m gonna go as low as I can then go Whoosh! back up!”
“In that case, I’ll increase the power of my flight magic as we climb.”
“Piyopp! Here we go!!”
Like sliding down a steep slope, they descended with vigor. An ordinary human would start screaming at this rate, but Oliver didn’t move a muscle. He was brave.
“Now!”
The moment Tia shouted, Oliver lifted them up with his flight magic.
This time, he wasn’t just flying straight up. With the support of Tia’s Magical Flying Device, the two of them proceed up on a diagonal trajectory.
“Fufu! Pefufu! I did it! We’re flying! We’re flying, Oliver!”
“Yeah…….I must thank you, Tia Vogel!”
“Pyofufufufu! I’m happy too! Thank you, Oliver!”
As of now, Tia still couldn’t fly by herself.
Nevertheless, with the help of the Magical Flying Device that humans made for her, and the power of Oliver’s flight magic, she had, without a doubt, taken to the skies once more.