[V7C6] Whoosh, Huff Huff, Zoom!!
Translated by Jodas 7: To the NorthTia and co. ran in the direction Oliver had flown off to. However, it was highly likely that Oliver had flown outside of the Wedge Tower’s walls.
Eventually, once they got close to the outer walls, Tia caught sight of Rose and Gerald, both wearing gardening clothes.
“Hey, Tia! Oh, and Wren and Sevil too!”
“Piyo! Rose! Right now, Oliver just flew over this way!”
“Yeah, I saw! Isn’t that right, Gerald?”
“…Yes.”
Gerald, who had been squatting to pull weeds, stood up, dusted the dirt off of his hands, and nodded.
Wren, who had followed behind Tia, put up a hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he looked up at the wall.
“So he flew over this wall…? That’s so awesome, Oliver! But, how did he do it?”
“As far as I can remember, even during the magic battle, he was only able to fly directly upwards. Therefore, the propulsive force of Tia’s Magical Flying Device was necessary, was it not?”
Wren and Sevil voiced their doubts, to which Rose answered while scratching his fuzzy red beard.
“He flew up like whoosh! Then, he went huff, huff, then zoom!”
Wren narrowed his eyes and turned to Tia.
“…Tia, did you understand a word Rose just said?”
“Piyopp! Whoosh! Then huff, huff, then zoom!! I see, so that’s all he had to do!”
“You got that!?”
At that moment, they heard a tremendous roaring sound and the walls began to shake. Someone shouted “Augh!” in a low voice on the other side of the wall. That was Oliver’s voice. It sounded like he just slammed into the wall.
Rose shouted across the wall.
“Hey, Oliver! Tia and the others say they want to see your new move!”
“Roger that. Give me a second.”
Oliver spoke his incantation, then let out a mighty “Hmph!” and jumped high above the wall. This was what Rose described as a whoosh.
Then, Oliver moved his arms and legs frantically in midair. This was the huff, huff
That much was the same as before, but things got different from here.
After Oliver swung his arms and legs in midair, he chanted another incantation with his body oriented horizontally.
His first spell was the flight magic that sent him straight upwards. While maintaining that magic, Oliver activated another instance of flight magic, pushing his body directly to the side.
High up in the sky, Oliver flew towards Tia and the others with tremendous speed. This second flight magic was the aforementioned zoom.
Wren and Sevil raised shouts of amazement.
“Awesome! Oliver’s actually flying horizontally!!”
“I see, he’s maintaining two instances of flight magic at once. While it would be hard for him to make precise maneuvers, this is certainly convenient for long-distance flight. This could be a considerable time-saver.”
“Piyo! Amazing, Oliver! Amazing! …….Ah.”
As Tia watched, Oliver flew in a straight line until he crashed directly into the outer wall of the Second Spire: Golden Needle. Limply, he slid down the wall towards the ground.
“Fatal accidents are common when you’re practicing flight magic. Next time, do it somewhere where there’s a supervisor, okay?”
At the Main Branch of the Medical Office, a large older woman — Director Treu — spoke softly as she deftly attended to Oliver’s wounds.
Tia and Wren had followed him into the Medical Office.
As it was still the middle of their individual lesson period, Rose and Gerald returned to their gardening work while Sevil figured she might as well stop by the Protection Office while she was nearby and get some training in.
Tia sat down on a stool and swung her legs as she asked a question.
“Oliver, when did you think of that flying style?”
“Ever since you supported my flight with your Magical Flying Device, Tia.”
“So a while ago, then.”
Sitting on a similar stool, Wren’s eyes widened.
Tia and Oliver’s combined flight was a method of flying they came across relatively soon after they learned the magic battle would be happening.
However, Oliver did not attempt to use this flying style of using two instances of flight magic at once during the magic battle.
“This method of flying does not allow for maneuverability. It is not suitable for a magic battle. Therefore, I decided to focus on refining the precision of my refined flight with Tia.”
Definitely, just as Sevil had said earlier, this method of using two instances of flight magic at once was best suited for high-speed long-distance flight.
On the other hand, this method had catastrophically poor maneuverability. Plus, as it occupied both of a mage’s available spells with flight magic, the user was left without viable options for attack.
If anything, it was a technique best suited for messengers.
Oliver opened and closed his bandaged hand as he spoke in a deliberative tone.
“I don’t know the details, but the Wedge Tower is mobilizing every flight magic user on hand. I saw my brother flying off this morning. I tried to follow after him, but he kicked me to the ground.”
“I’m amazed you have the tenacity to keep chasing after him with how much hostility he shows you, Oliver.”
“Pirorororo… Frederik’s still mad at you, huh?”
Muttering, Tia clenched her aching chest.
In fact, since the moment she first saw Oliver’s two-stage flight earlier, Tia had felt this weird aching in her chest.
Oliver noticed her discomfort and leaned over a little bit to look towards Tia.
“Tia, what’s wrong? Is there a problem with your arteries?”
“No, that’s not it…”
Tia’s squeezed her eyebrows together.
She hadn’t imagined it would be this hard to objectively assess what kinds of feelings were welling up within herself and what form those emotions took.
Back when she was just singing and flying, she had never felt the need to think of such things.
“I was thinking that I’m really happy to see you learn a new way to fly, Oliver. I really, really want to think ‘congratulations.’”
“I see, thank you.”
“And yet, my chest is all tight and achy… Pevuvu… And now I’ve got this grumbly feeling towards you, Oliver…”
Oliver may have been the cause of this feeling, but that didn’t mean it was Oliver’s fault.
Tia had simply compared herself to Oliver without his permission.
“…Since I haven’t learned how to do something new, I feel frustrated, I think.”
“I was also frustrated.”
“Piyo?”
When she heard his whispered response, Tia’s eyes widened.
She could not understand what Oliver had to be frustrated about.
“I’m talking about the magic battle. Tia, you were able to make excellent use of the Magical Flying and Leaping Devices by yourself and gave my brother a run for his money. I, on the other hand, ended up dropping out early.”
Her wide amber eyes looked straight into Oliver’s reddening eyes.
With a gaze that told no lies, he spoke from the heart.
“My brother calls you his rival, Tia. Not that I particularly want to be my brother’s rival, but I still feel jealous about that.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah.”
She hadn’t managed to completely swallow it, but she felt as if that frustration that was running around aimlessly in her mind now pulled up a seat and sat quietly.
That was probably because Tia was able to empathize with Oliver’s ‘frustration.’
After leaving the Second Spire: Golden Needle behind, Tia and Wren made their way towards the Third Spire: Water Bubble.
Because both Tia’s Magical Flying Device and Wren’s inscription magic relied on magical devices from the Management Office.
As they walked, Wren spoke to her.
“I heard your talk with Oliver, Tia. I was thinking I should start looking for something that I can do, too.”
“Piyo? You mean something other than inscription magic?”
“Hmm, I wonder… I could try developing my inscription magic, or I could try thinking of a different way to fight too.”
Unlike Tia, whose breadth of ambition was limited to ‘flying,’ Wren wanted to do all sorts of things.
That probably wasn’t limited to magecraft, either. Wren had an insatiable appetite for new knowledge, even when it was entirely unrelated to magecraft.
Tia couldn’t work up the same appetite that Wren had, but she did want something other than the Magical Flying Device.
She wanted to be able to do something else.
How did people find those kinds of somethings?
As Tia waddled along, staring at her feet, her ears picked up a sound.
Plonk, plink plink…
That was unmistakably music. Sounds intentionally made to form a melody.
“Piyo! I hear something!”
“Eh? What…?”
Tia bolted off towards the source of that sound, waddling as fast as her legs could take her.
Wren hurriedly chased after her.