Chapter 207: Traveling In Style
The 'festival' at tropolis-D had finally co to an end. People had gone ho or were busy Climbing. As for Josh, it was ti for him to go back to tropolis-C. That is when he noticed that the young Dumpling Maker was still there.
"Hey, you. Would you happen to have a driver's license?" He asked, hopeful.
"? No, I don't. I ca here to make money on the cheapest bus I could find. Besides food, I can't afford much." He looked away while sighing.
Josh tried ssaging Armin, but the man was busy. Then again, perhaps it was ti for Josh to learn to drive. Then he would go to the DMV's equivalent in this world and— as if! He gently tapped on his UW.
Ring-Ring-Ring!
"Hello, Markus! I need a tiny little favor!" Josh initiated the call.
Then, one thing led to another, and he was soon driving a bright and very cheap yellow flying car happily. (Next morning)
The feeling on takeoff had been the best! He had felt his body press on the seat as if a pancake. The excitent had been through the roof, and it had given him the feeling to be a kid with a brand new toy!
Even now, he was still enjoying the drive so much while singing loudly (and off-key) to so random pop music song. He was proud to admit that he was getting at least 10% of the lyrics right, which wasn't that bad for his first ti!
Next to him, there was his ashen companion that kept making a fuss. It was one silly complaint after the other! But, Josh was in such a great mood that even that couldn't damper his happiness:
"Please stop singing! My eardrums are about to burst, and my brain is about to turn into mush! If you can't sing, please don't! This is literal torture!"
"Don't worry. You'll get used to it."
"Why are we going so fast? The engine is literally burning up. I can sll the smoke from here!"
"Don't worry. It will be fine. It's because it's a used car, probably."
"Watch where you're going! We're about to crash into another ship, again! Please just activate the driving AI!"
"Don't worry. I'm already getting the hang of it. Plus, I'm actually enjoying driving."
"I enjoy living! Also, why the heck are we going to tropolis-C with a goddamn Black Legion armada in the first place?! Are you trying to attack soone?!"
"Don't worry. It looks cool."
"No, seriously! Didn't you say you were going to visit a few friends?! Is that how you usually do it?! Can't we just go quietly?!"
"Don't worry. I'm sure they'll think this looks cool."
"I'm not worried about that! What if we get shot down by the tropolis defenses?! What then?! They literally just changed the system after the last attacks from—"
"Hey, stop complaining, or I'll drop you on the side of the road!"
"Please do that! I don't want to play any part in this madness!" The Dumpling Maker shouted, making his stand clear.
"Oh? Are you sure?" Josh asked innocently sounding.
"YES! This is clearly overexaggerated. I don't know what you told Sir Markus, but I'm sure he's gonna be pissed once he finds out! There is no way visiting friends warrant such a crazy use of resources. That's misappropriation!"
"Oh, okay. I thought you'd want to hitch a ride since we're going to Dinsional Legion's Climber's School after this. My bad." Josh apologized.
"What?! Seriously?! That's the destination?!" He cried out in shock.
"Yep, guess I forgot to ntion it. Anyway, I'll drop you off—"
"I'm staying! My butt is stuck to the seat for so reason. Ah, but don't worry about . Let's just keep going. I don't want to slow you down!"
"That's the spirit! Now, let's sing, be rry and increase the pace!"
An audible GULP was heard. "S-sure. Let's be rry-AH that's way too fast!"
That is the mont when the Dumpling Maker embraced the insanely bad driving, the questionable journey, and even the horrifying singing, all for his dreams.
****
The bright yellow cheap car was speeding through the air. Right behind it, there was an incredible fleet composed of a few dozen warships. They were all large, coated in black, ard to the teeth, and seemingly ready for intergalactic war.
From ti to ti, they flew over farms. The occupants would then get the shock of their lives as they saw, felt, and definitely heard this armada pass through. They would raise up their eyes toward the sky and think to themselves, 'WTF!'.
So thought that the world was ending. They had heard about the attacks on tropolis-C, then about the monsters in tropolis-H, and now this! Was there going to be a world war once again?
Not a single soul understood the true aning of it: a madman had requested military help for his own benefit and had actually obtained it. The small car was hard to discern, and even the top guilds wouldn't have been able to warrant such support.
The scene was even more shocking for the inhabitants of tropolis-C. Markus had called in advance ahead of ti to inform the MTA of the fleet's arrival. Allistair had then relayed the information to people, but many hadn't gotten the mo yet because of limited ti.
This created two reactions. There were the ones that had seen the news and were aware that this was nothing more than a 'mobilization exercise' and the ones that were completely freaking out.
"What the fuck is this?! What is happening?! Why are you guys so relaxed?!" A man losing his mind called out to another calmly sipping coffee on the side.
"The Dark Legion is apparently making a surprise air show to train. Sothing about patroling to remind our citizens and enemies of our strength. It's probably related to the other recent security asures." He shrugged relaxedly.
"Wow, okay. Still, this timing feels so weird and—" He stopped talking abruptly, flabbergasted.
He then began rubbing his eyes as if he was seeing sothing unbelievable. But, after seeing the fully armored war fleet, was there anything more surprising? The man by the side found it peculiar.
"Are you alright, man?" He asked, worried about the man's sudden silence.
While still rubbing his eyes, the man pointed toward the armada. "Look right there. Is that a goddamn yellow car, or am I going crazy?! Did it fly in there by mistake or sothing? But how?!" This really didn't make any sense.
But then the previously calm guy noticed sothing and began shaking. "Oh god! Look at their trajectory! The whole fleet is following that shitty-looking car! Who the heck is driving it?!" He cried out slacked-jawed.
"Wait, does that an their leader is driving it?! Soone that can literally ride any damn ship he wants is riding THAT?! Voluntarily too, right?! Why?!"
"Holy shit. It takes a very special mind to do sothing like that. There is definitely sothing wrong with the guy, and….actually, I'll shut up. Whoever is in there is aweso!" He changed his discourse in sudden realization.
"Ah, you're right! Whoever is in there is amazing!" His companion shouted loudly while making sure everyone nearby had heard that part.
****
anwhile, in the biggest ship of them all, a tall mature-looking military man was trying his best to refrain from laughing out loud. At his side, another man with the sa military uniform was frowning.
"Are you finding this funny, Roderick? Does it please you to put in such an embarrassing situation? May I remind you that if it wasn't for your intervention, we wouldn't be here in the first place!" The man was frowning, extrely displeased.
"Hahahaha. This is actually funny. Don't worry, general Gaiden. I know how this looks, but he's neither a fool nor a clown… he's… It's hard to explain, but I guarantee you won't regret taking part in this expedition. Trust !" Roderick patted his chest confidently.
General Gaiden, the man in charge of the fleet, found the whole thing ridiculous, but he stopped complaining. This looked like a monuntal joke and a waste of ti! But, both the land troops general and the leader of tropolis-D supported the man. There had to be a reason, right?
But, Gaiden couldn't help but feel doubt again as he looked at their trajectory. "Where is he leading us? Wasn't our destination supposed to be tropolis-C?" He asked suspiciously.
Roderick looked at the navigation instrunts before exclaiming in realization: "We're heading to 'Very Happy Farms'! I'm sure of it!"
'Very Happy Farms', was it? Gaiden, of course, knew about it. So believed it to be related to Dinsional Legion, while others thought it was a scam. So even affird that Draconic was linked to it. They had saved the farr there, but it could have been just on a whim too.
"We'll know soon. Do you want to call Josh to have him explain?" Roderick offered.
General Gaiden nodded decisively. He would have done so earlier if Roderick hadn't insisted that they could simply trust him over and over. The man called in speaker mode so they could both hear it at once.
Ring-Ring-Ring
The call connected:
"???? I'm gOnNa rEaCh tHe sTaRs aNd— Oh, what's up? — I'm gOnNA FlY AwAy lIkE A BiG TaL BiRd tHaT JuSt wAnTs!!! ????"
Click!
Roderick decisively ended the call. Whatever was happening over there was a disaster: it was a sound attack that was horrible enough to render anyone insane! The n looked at each other.
"Was that…singing?!"
"I believe it was….but…."
"Yes, it was very …powerful!"
They nodded as they knew what the other ant. Josh singing pop music was truly morable. That is when they resolved to acquire so of his recordings. They could use it when interrogating criminals.
Then again, they would have to be careful with that. After all, this couldn't be considered anything but inhumane. But that would be for later. They were about to arrive at their destination...
Creator's Thought
Loud singing is an acquired taste. It may sound foreign to an untrained ear, but is aweso once embraced. The proof was the Dumpling Maker. He was happily singing along toward the end of the trip. See! It's not who's wrong it's them who don't know art!
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