The next morning, Ishida adjusted the ship’s course to the northeast.
Breakfast that day was brief and silent. No one said a single word; each of them seemed to be thinking.
The rest of the morning was rather uneventful. The afternoon, however, was quite the opposite.
At half-past two, Ishida spotted a plane— a seaplane, actually— in the sky. It appeared to be flying around in circles.
Looking through a telescope, Ishida discovered that it was a Piletan aircraft.
“How unusual!” he remarked. “The Piletans nev
The cliff that Jameck pointed to was a relatively small one; perhaps it should be called a rock ledge. This landform was surrounded by steep hills and overlooked the ocean. Below the ledge was an area covered in dense fog. Through the openings in the fog, Ishida could see a patch of sand. As Ishida and his companions gathered around the tiny cliff, they discovered something peculiar. It was a cube-shaped, rock-like object that was sticking out of the ledge. It had straight sides, smooth faces, and sharp edges. The thing certainly did not resemble any naturally occurring rock formations, for it had a pyramidal top with a sharp point. Ishida placed his ha
Ishida stood on the deck of his ship, cruising gently through the silent waters.He took a deep breath, inhaling large quantities of the sea air. A cool afternoon breeze began blowing from the west.There was not a single cloud in the sky nor was there any land in sight. Hundreds of kilometers away from civilization, he felt mixed feelings of fear and excitement— along with an uplifting peace of mind he had never felt before.Of course, if he and his friends did not find the great sea city’s treasure vault in time, his hometown would be burnt to ashes. But if they did… perhaps he would find out the truth about what happened to his father.
Ishida and his companions were locked up in a small, damp cell on the flying ship. If it weren’t for a window that let in the dim moonlight, the cell would have been completely dark.Ishida stood leaning against the mossy wall on the opposite side of the window. He stared at the blue crescent moon that seemed to be very close— close enough for him to touch it.He reached his hand out in vain, trying to grab hold of the moon in the cloudy night sky.Sitting next to him was the girl he rescued a long time ago, with her head down and her eyes closed— at least they seemed to be closed.
Ishida did as he was told and immediately went to free his friends. He told them that the pilot who had taken him to “fix the engines” was his elder brother.Soon, the Piletan pilots and prison guards were awake. When they saw three prisoners running down the hallway, they instinctively jerked out their guns and started a shooting frenzy.BANG! BANG! BANG!Clink clink clink!BANG!CLICK!Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!BANG! BANG!
As the three brave adventurers were flying over the Gulf of Cessabit, Ishida spotted something very unusual. It was a long, yellow strip of land, perhaps a sandbank or a shoreline. Ishida took a closer look with his binoculars. He saw a sandy beach with coconut trees blowing in the gentle breeze and round pebbles scattered all over the place. “How is this possible? We’re about to fly inland!” Ishida said in dismay. “Ajens is a sea city, it can’t be on land!” “Maybe we flew over it when it was hidden beneath some clouds,” Rhina suggested. “We might have to fly lower.” “No, we’re already flying low. And Ajens is a huge floating island. No cloud can be large enough to hide it. Besides, Takao said that we need to fly a h
At the same time, the Piletan captain anxiously paced the decks of his warship.He watched uneasily as the suspicious plane with the Piletan star painted underneath its wings circled above them in the air.One part of him wanted to shoot the plane down or at least order the people flying to land for a thorough investigation.Another part of him was reluctant to do anything, for the aircraft had the seal of a well-known Piletan admiral painted on its fuselage.Therefore, the captain dared not open fire. Instead, he foraged through the containers in his cabin, in search of something that would help him contact the pilot.“Captain Paxis, is this what you are looking for?” a sailor abrupt
Ishida opened his eyes and found himself back in the amphibious aircraft port at the center of Piletus City. That...that was just a dream? he asked himself. But it felt so real! “Alright, everyone!” the young man cleared his throat. “I’ve finally figured it out!” “What are you talking about?” Jameck asked. He was obviously confused. “This city may have once been the capital of the Ajenian Empire, but half of it’s missing. I am now going to prove it,” Ishida proclaimed, sauntering towards the edge of the lake and crouching down on one knee. Ishida cupped some water into his han
“This can’t be good. We shouldn’t be leading them to King Rexius like this,” Rhina stated. “Think of all the horrible things they would do if they found him!”“Calm down, I know what to do,” Ishida responded confidently. “Jameck, can I borrow that hat of yours for a while?”“Huh? What are you going to do with it?” the child asked in suspicion.“Well, you’ll find out in a minute.”“No! Answer my question first!”“I’m going to use it to temporarily blind those pilots who are following us.”“But this hat belon