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The day has finally came at last.
When the morning sun came up, I was up as well. I washed my face with the water from the barrel and that made me feel refreshed.
It was a long time…… A really long time.
I was forbidden to enter the forest for a week. I was earnestly absorbed in reading the Aluminare Basic Introduction while helping on the field, I also helped Anjou’s magic practice during that week. I was like a dog that was told to wait while baiting me with food, it sharpened my mind and soul.
That’s what happened until yesterday. From today onward, I was permitted to enter the forest again.
Oooh, I really want to go and meet that robot again so fast. It was good luck that it didn’t rain for a week, with the cockpit left opened, it would be well ventilated by now.
I took out the cleaning tools from the barn, I have placed it near the entrance of the house.
And when I went back inside the house, Mama was already preparing breakfast. It seems we will be having bread, fried eggs and bacon today.
“Let me help Mama”
“Oh? this is unusual. Eldo-chan is willing to help me?”
“I want to leave early to hunt. My arms are eager to go now”
“Really, such an impatient kid”
While Mama was smiling bitterly, she told me to set up the dishes.
As I was helping to prepare breakfast, Papa had appeared. He sat dawn while giving a big yawn. This time Papa has became a normal father, he doesn’t have his usual glint in the eyes.
“Good morning Papa. What is today’s target?”
“Eldo it’s King Deer and Wild Fruit Boar. Since we are low on meats right now, you need to hunt 5 animals worth.
“I understand”
King Deer is a rare species of deer that lives in the forest, It looks like a unicorn because it only has one horn. It’s usually gentle, but if you attacked it, it wont go easy on you. Well, it’s not a problem for me since I can kill it in one blow.
Usually, wild boars are omnivorous but the Wild Fruit Boar only eats fruits to live, it’s a herbivorous wild boar. That guy has an amazing habit, it climbs tree even though it’s a wild boar because it has a small body, also the meat taste great since they only eat fruits.
When it comes to five animals worth, even if I match both at five each, will only take as short time so it wont be a problem.Those things are much easier compared to the hummingbirds previously.
“Good”
“Then, I’ll have some food first”
I sat down when Mama brought over breakfast.
I quickly ate my breakfast within 10 minutes and got ready to go out. It’s the usual hatchet and game bag, but this time my real prey is different from the game, it wont be used for it.
“Well then, I’m off”
“Be careful, ok?”
“Watch out for the valley”
I rushed out of the house, took the dustpan and broom, which I have placed near the front door and placed them inside my game bag.
I cheerfully replied to the villagers who approached to greet me, while I went to the entrance of the forest. When I arrived, Anjou was there.
“As expected, you’re entering the forest very early”
Anjou stood in front of the forest,
“Oh come on. How come Anjou is here so early?”
“I thought it would be possible to help me with practice today. All I can say is this is a perfect timing”
“I see, but it’s not a good time now. I’m going to be late coming back today”
“So, is this about that Aluminare?”
My heart jumped out when Anjou said those words.
No way, did Anjou knew that the Aluminare is over there?
But Anjou hasn’t entered the forest and I haven’t told anyone either. There is no way she knows. Did the Village Chief and his predecessor knew for generations that the Aluminare is there? If that’s the case, It make sense that the current Village Chief wanted to become an Aluminare pilot. Also the Village Chief’s family almost never enters the forest for hunting in the first place.
As I was thinking out a variety of guesses, Anjou had sighed once again.
“It is as I expected”
“Why does Anjou knew Aluminare is…….”
“Just a hunch. I didn’t knew I was right on the mark”
“A hunch?”
“I mean, you were absorbed on that book for a whole week, Eldo-kun doesn’t really like hunting right? Until recently, when you enter the forest you look like its really tiresome for you. But today, you look really lively”
As she said so, I reflexively touch my eyes. It’s still half-open.
“So what if your eyes are half close? Your eyes are still shining though. It’s like probably the same way I feel when I used a magic for the first time”
“Seriously. Well, that might be so”
No way, my behavior since I found Aluminare was fully uncovered………. But it’s hard to hate a childhood friend.
However, It can’t be really helped if it has been noticed already.
“Well, you’re generally right. When I fell down on the valley, I found a broken Aluminare. And because it may still be able to move, It would amazingly be fun”
“Is that so…… Then I want to see it a little bit then”
Hmm, I never expect for Anjou to be interested in Aluminare. Although I’m glad to bring along Anjou inside the forest today, I’m still worried about taking her to the valley.
If I’m with her, we’ll be able to stay away from the dangerous animals, but even with my help of movement type magic, it will still be harsh for her descending down the valley, also Papa and the Village Chief will not allow her to go.
“Then you need to practice movement type magic from now on and you must be able to perfectly master it. And if you get permission from the village chief, I’ll bring you along”
“Really?”
“Yes. By the time I fix it so it could move, would you like it to ride together with me?”
“Yes”
Anjou happily nods. Seeing her like that, I also became happy.
If so, I will have to change the menu of the magic practice from now on.
“Then I’ll do my best to practice alone today”
“I have high hopes for you. Well then, I will have to quickly finish my hunt”
“Good luck”
“You too”
I stepped back a little bit from Anjou, casted [Active Wing], and jump to the woods with [Aero Thruster].
After a long time since I casted [Aero Thruster], I felt some dullness in my sensation and my speed is weird. I have to quickly eliminate this dull feeling before I go hunting.
I eagerly advance towards the center of the forest as I kick on the branches of the tree.
I made some serious effort in my hunting that I was able to finish it in the morning.
Regarding about the hunt this time, the number of deers were few and the wild boars were unexpectedly small to begin with. I was hunting wild boars when I found a deer by chance, with that I was able gather 5 animals worth of meat. Before the sun was high up, I was able to finish my hunt.
I carried all of the game to the Village Butcher shop, that marks the end of my work today.
The person at the butcher shop was surprised at my speed, but I didn’t paid any attention to it. I delivered the game quickly, and went back to the forest again.
Thus, I headed towards the valley to look for the Aluminare.
I know the approximate position, however it can’t be helped that I was zigzagging throughout the forest that there was some deviation now. When I reached it this time, I will have to put some marker on it somehow.
I arrived at the entrance to the valley after 10 minutes, and descended to the bottom by fully utilizing my magic.
Futhermore, after walking down along the river, I was able to return to the place where the Aluminare was located. It took me roughly 30 minutes to come here. It’s surprisingly close.
“It’s one week since then!”
The Aluminare sat proudly in front of my eyes, unchanged from a week ago.
I moved to the back of the neck with [Aero Thruster] and looked inside.
The smell ―― seems to be ok now. The air had been completely replaced, it doesn’t have the putrid smell anymore. It seems I have handle the dead person next.
I entered the cockpit and lightly touched the skeleton. Surprisingly, the bones itself are still solid as I was able to lift it as is.
Cleaning will become harder if the skeleton here will collapse and crumble. I thank that the dead person was healthy.
I carried out the bones one by one, any small bones left was respectfully collected using the dustpan and broom.
And I gathered all the bones together, placed it a cavity on the cliff and filled it up with soil to make a grave.
Because I do not know the name of the pilot, I did not wrote anything on a piece of wood that I stabbed on top of the grave. I tied down to the piece of wood, the ragged remains of their clothes, this would probably be a fair replacement.
I put my hands together, and performed a badly done Buddhist ceremony.
“I will now take your machine. No hard feelings, ok?”
The pilot might have wanted to make the machine its tomb, but you’ll just have to put up with me.
I decorated the grave with the flowers that became fine in the forest, I then came back to the cockpit of Aluminare once again.
There are some control lever on each side and foot pedal below. Buttons are installed in the seat, various overhead instruments, and switches. The position of the levers is somewhat different from what was drawn in the Basic Introduction, but the shape is generally the same. This machine is from decades before, I feel insecure as the specification might have changed significantly――――
“I understand if this is the case. So please work!”
I released the valve of the fuel tube that connects between the generator and the tank, the remaining level of the highly concentrated magical liquid called High Magia Liquid is at 60%. It looks like there is no leak. Probably got defeated quickly at the start of the battle. Lucky for me then. Because the left arm had came off, the energy supply valve there was probably not turned off.
I switched the state of the left arm to “purge” on the overhead console.
Ooh, it’s irritating that my body is that of a child. To even do something like this, I wont be able to reached it if I don’t stretched my body.
“Come on, go!”
I pushed the start button of the Aluminare. The button made a loud clank when it sank, and the bottom of the seat made a low vibrating and whining noise. Various meters moved, and the energy supply rate rushed into the primary stable region.
“It worked!”
The monitor on the cockpit lit up, all 24 monitors that formed the front hemisphere of the cockpit showed the outside scenery. It seems an external camera was broken as some parts on the left side was dark. Well, it’s not a problem.
But the Aluminare will not stand up the way it is now. It is still in idling condition.
That being the case, its only natural to rev up the generator to increase the energy supply to the secondary stable region, only then that the Aluminare will be in a start-up condition.
“Next is the start-up condition”
I carefully stepped on the foot pedal to increase the output of the generator.
The meter slowly rises, when it came halfway to the secondary stable region, a loud beeping warning sound abruptly sounded off within the cockpit.
What is it!? An Enemy? “
I looked at the monitor, but I didn’t see anything that I consider to be one. On the contrary, there isn’t even a falcon that used to circle around the sky.
So what is this warning sound?
In order to ascertain the cause of the abnormality, I pulled up all the possible information to the monitor.
No problem in the fuel. The generator is operating normally. Of course, that thing already went past primary stable region.
So which next parts had became useless?
I changed the information on the sub-monitor display installed on the seat from fuel system to fuselage damage table. That one displayed the whole body of the Aluminare, except for the lost left arm, in bright red.
“Damn, so that is the cause”
Because the left arm was in a purged state, it was not displayed. The leg joints and various drive mechanisms are severely damaged.
Perhaps the gears and various things got broken due to the shock when it fell to the valley. Because it got damaged to the extent that it cannot move, I forcibly returned it to the idling state.
Well, it’s to be expected if you thought about it normally. In a shock that cause the left arm to be severed, the joints wont be able to survive. Instead, the fuel system seems to be built considerably robust, all of it was miraculously safe.
“Really, it’s no good if I don’t repair all the joints”
This cannot be helped then. For the time being, it’s good that the generator started. And it turned out to work somehow. I’ll just have to repair this afterward. I do have a little bit of knowledge in me.
This heavy thing, even without heavy machinery, magic will cover for it.
The parts for this however, will just have to come from the left arm that was broken off. It must be compatible since it came from the same body frame.
Additionally, I might be able to request from the peddler some screws and gears.
Therefore from now on , I will need to earn some pocket money little by little. I will have to get 30% from the sales of the hunt, no let’s go with 20%. If so, I’ll be able to gather the parts in a few years. When the necessity arises, I will have to consider getting help from Anjou, though this would be a last resort. Parts that an amateur made will have some considerable defects, the other parts will be strained because of that, that’s why it needs to be evaluated properly.
I pressed the start button again to turn off the generator. Although the remaining fuel is at 60%, assuming that from here on the generator will be repeatedly started, it doesn’t hurt to minimize the usage of it.
I made sure that the generator has fully stopped, shut off the valve between the generator and the fuel tank, and went outside the cockpit.
“Hehehe, Hahahahahaha”
A smile rose, then I laughed from the bottom of my heart.
I found it. The meaning of my reincarnation to this world.
Yeah, I was born in this world be able to pilot the Aluminare!
The let’s do this thoroughly! I will repair the machine, remodel it, and convert it to a machine just for me and only me.
“Then let’s prepare”
I stood on the shoulder and saw the light faded in Aluminare’s face. I see some hope somewhere in that face.
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