Chapter 831 — Into the Blue Sky

A gust of wind rose right on cue, brushing across the black dragon's hard scales and spread wings. Feeling the air flow over her hide, Maggie directly used her innate talent for manipulating mana to activate the mana capacitors set at the base of her wings.

The surging mana was immediately channeled and injected into the steel wings; along the edges of her natural wings, fine streams of light swiftly spread across the surfaces of the additional metal framework, and the runes on one metal component after another lit up in sequence, resonating with Maggie's own crippled, malformed wings—

The dragon-tongue runes missing from birth were instantly made complete, and a sensation she had never experienced—the ability to command the elements and the sky—surged into Maggie's heart.

The feeling made her unable to resist recalling that leap from Dragon's Leap Cliff years ago—

She took two steps forward, yet her body nearly toppled over from a lightness she had never known before; chaotic currents of air swirled and danced around her, the wind so fierce it forced her eyes shut.

Rebecca Gaoluo's voice called out from behind: "Maggie! Take it slow! No-o rush!! One step at a time, then take off!!"

The black dragon drew a deep breath, steadied her balance once more, and called upon her magic again.

There was nothing difficult about this—dragons were meant to soar the blue skies; flight should come to every dragon as easily as eating and drinking.

Maggie set her feet in motion once more, spread her wings, took a short running start, and then abruptly launched herself into the air.

From childhood to now, she had attempted this a thousand times, and fallen a thousand times.

This time, she did not fall.

The howling wind struck her face, then was channeled by an invisible field of magic to sweep past behind her; Maggie finally opened her eyes—only to see the earth moving backward beneath her feet, while magic gathered around her, lifting her ever higher into the sky.

This was an experience utterly different from piloting a "Dragoon"—different even from gliding off Dragon Leap Cliff, different from rising on the storm Victoria summoned.

This was the feeling of flying to the blue sky on her own wings.

Maggie suddenly wanted to cheer—which ran counter to the calm, composed air she had worn before others for so many years, but... there was no one else here anyway.

A low dragon roar came from high above; many startled birds burst from the nearby woods, flapping up in a clattering flock.

Rebecca tilted her head back to watch the sky, then suddenly laughed and said to the person beside her: "She seems awfully happy!!"

……

The broad plains and woodlands receded ceaselessly from view; even the clouds seemed within reach. Wrapped in her magic, Maggie stretched her wings to the full, and along the malformed, twisted outer edges of those wings, the flight-assist devices of magitech alloy and steel frame caught the sunlight and gleamed brilliantly.

The dragonborn would surely be interested in this thing—especially the young ones, especially the friends she knew.

Maggie thought with absolute certainty, and even... felt that this thing might move those stubborn councilors and elders, might move the august Duke Baryll.

Perhaps the "high dragon" of Thalrond possessed powers greater still; perhaps this technology of flight would not even register in the eyes of true dragons—but to the malformed dragonborn, this was something that could change their fate.

Maggie adjusted her flight posture, and while mulling over how to negotiate with her kin, she began testing more of the gear's functions, began attempting more challenging flight maneuvers.

Suddenly, she sensed something was off.

Something seemed to have come loose in the mid-section of her left wing—or perhaps a rune had melted down; the sudden loss of balance pitched her body sideways, and then she plummeted downward at speed—

A thought flashed through Maggie's mind: new technology always has to endure a great many failures.

The next second, she was struggling to right herself, trying to recover her posture.

She had crashed more than once while testing the "Dragoon"; from the very beginning she had steeled herself for the test craft developing every kind of problem. The loss of balance now rattled her for only a moment—as a veteran "test pilot," she was amply experienced in "crashing."

After a few desperate attempts at correcting her balance, she found she could no longer climb; the only option left seemed to be to glide down for a forced landing.

Maggie forced herself calm and began doing her utmost to hold her posture. She spread her wings and tried to enter a glide—and this was far harder than ever before. That suit of steel "armor" was no great burden under normal circumstances, but in a forced landing it was plainly a hindrance; bearing that unfamiliar weight, feeling the wild, frantic air currents, she strained with all her might to avoid a vertical plunge, and already the town below and the Whitewater River not far off were clearly visible.

Maggie kept adjusting the angle of her wings, steering herself away from the town, toward the river surface at her side as best she could—

This way, at least, there would be no casualties... and she herself should not be too badly hurt. Though striking the water at high speed would bring a terrible impact as well, it was better than landing on hard ground; with a dragon's constitution, and decelerating all the way down... it was a survivable injury.

Maggie rapidly completed the calculation in her mind, and the next second, the Whitewater River rushed up to meet her...

Tire sensed that something in the air seemed to be approaching at high speed. She, who had been about to soak in the water for an afternoon nap, could not resist poking her head out and looking up at the sky.

A huge dark shadow came smashing straight down at her.

The last thing Tire saw was an iron jaw blurred by its high-speed approach.

"Mama mia—gack—"

Year 2 of Cecil, the 12th of the Month of Revival.

The Iron Wings prototype took to the sky.

Dragonborn test pilot Maggie piloted the Iron Wings through a one-hour flight, then made a forced landing in the Whitewater River due to mechanical failure.

The siren Tire was stabbed to death by an iron jaw falling from the sky (1/1).