Standing at the edge of the military camp, along with the group of children for the fifth and final flight of the day, Lucas thought this scene of moving cargo, flights of stairs, and flying ships was somewhat similar to scenes from his inherited memories.
He even muttered aloud unconsciously, "Looks like a primitive airport…"
Christina, who happened to be nearby, helping wrangle the excited children, overheard Lucas and couldn't help asking, "What's an airport?"
Quickly coming back to his senses, Lucas realized he had let slip something he shouldn't have. Still, he quickly managed to make up an explanation, "I've heard tales of places in the bigger kingdoms and the Empire where dozens of Skyships land and take-off from, carrying people and cargo to destinations all over the continent. I think they were called airports or skyports or something. I'm not sure."
"Hmm, is that so?" Christina raised an eyebrow at this explanation.
She was a princess, so her education was naturally top-notch and she was far better informed about the various wonders beyond the nation's borders than most children in the Rockwell Kingdom; yet repeatedly, it seemed to her like Lucas knew about and understood things she had never even heard of before.
It really made her curious to know just what this young countryside boy had experienced in life to be so well learned.
Under the scrutinizing gaze of the princess, Lucas felt himself sweating a little, but in the end, Christina didn't press the issue and instead just said, "I'm sure that would be amazing to see. Even the Roya… even my family only has 3 Skyships, and we rarely use them, so I can't imagine what dozens of them all together would look like."
"En," Lucas nodded along, "I'd like to see such a place one day."
Just then, a faint whistling sound came from the far west, drawing the two children's eyes. It took a while, but a faint green flare eventually came into sight above the Great Western Forest.
"That's Aunt Celestina's third green flare today. It seems she and the other masters have managed to clear quite a wide swath of the forest," Christina commented, a clear note of admiration in her voice.
Even after the whole debacle with her fighting Lucas, and ultimately being rejected by Celestina, the young princess continued looking up to the female General.
Christina's admiration only grew stronger when she understood the lesson that fight was meant to teach her; in her eyes, Celestina was still an ideal role-model, alongside her mothers.
Lucas also agreed, "Having fewer dangerous beasts lurking nearby is certainly a good thing for the evacuation…"
Although he was speaking positively at first, Lucas let his voice trail off at the end as worry began creeping into his heart. While it was true that not having to fear being attacked by powerful Wild Beasts was good for Redwood Town right now, it also begged certain questions.
Noticing the fall-off in her conversation partner's voice, Christina turned back to see a familiar look of contemplation on Lucas' face.
This expression was quite out-of-place for such a young boy. In fact, it was quite out-of-place for people in general. The princess was much more used to seeing this kind of deep-thinking posture on the faces of the leaders of the kingdom, including her father and mothers.
As for those young noble sons and daughters she normally interacted with, Christina really wondered if any of them ever made such faces.
Despite only having known Lucas for a couple of days, and not exactly having the best first impression of him, Christina would readily admit he was the most unusual and impressive youth she had ever met. No one even came close, not even her older siblings in the Royal Family.
Lucas' true strength was low, as was his cultivation, but when it came to his mind, that was a whole other story. Christina wouldn't be surprised at all if this 10-year-old boy was smarter and more insightful than most of the nobles she knew, and not just those of the younger generation, but those who ruled over cities and provinces.
Observing how Lucas interacted with the various adults around Redwood Town, and how he was constantly being trusted with heavy responsibilities and important tasks, all of which he tackled with remarkable efficiency, only further reinforced this notion.
As such, seeing a look of concern on Lucas' face also made Christina grow a bit anxious and she quietly asked, "Is something wrong?"
Breaking out of his daze, Lucas looked up at Christina and pursed his lips, debating whether he should consult with her or not. However, upon remembering who he was dealing with, he decided it wouldn't hurt to bounce his thoughts off her, so he explained, "Master's primary goal in taking this aggressive approach was to determine whether the pack of Saberclaw Raptors from yesterday was still around or not."
"En, Sir Green told me about that and warned me to remain on guard while he was assisting Aunt Celestina," Christina nodded, still not quite understanding as she inquired, "Isn't it a good thing that those dangerous beasts haven't been spotted yet?"
"For us, yes," Lucas agreed before frowning deeply, "However, if that pack isn't here, where did it go?"
Christina may not have been very worldly, but she was much smarter than other children her age. It was only next to Lucas, an anomaly by any definition, that she seemed a bit slow.
Still, with Lucas having explained to this point, she also understood his concern.
Furrowing her brow, the princess thought it over quickly before hesitantly suggesting, "Maybe they retreated back into the forest?"
"I hope that's the case, but I very much doubt it," Lucas muttered, not completely convinced.
"Why not?" Christina asked, genuinely interested in Lucas' reasoning process.
Wrinkling his brow, Lucas replied, "Because it only gets colder the further one goes into the forest."
Seeing the tilt of the princess' head, Lucas realized he wasn't being clear enough, so he continued, "Master said that Saberclaw Raptors only live in the tropical southern jungles. We have no idea how they showed up in the Great Western Forest, but it's certainly not their native environment and they were clearly trying to leave it when they attacked the town."
"If I was them, I wouldn't go back that way just because I ran into a troublesome opponent. I'd look for a way around that enemy and then continue south."
"But you can't go south from here, you'd only run into the ocean," Christina pointed out, and she was right. Redwood Town was basically the southernmost major settlement in the South-Western Province, just a few days journey from where the Blue Sky Continent meets the Cerulean Ocean.
"En," Lucas nodded, "But I've heard that the Barrier Mountains and Cerulean Ocean meet not far west of here in the Great Western Forest, meaning you can only travel further north if you go west, taking you into colder climates. I don't know how smart the Saberclaw Raptors are, but their instincts are probably quite sharp. I'd bet on them wanting to head east, then south, rather than try to cross a mountain range to the west."
Silence fell between the two for a time as they watched the children transfer from one carriage to another before heading off to the distant embarkment point.
Only after a good minute did Christina speak up again, "Should we tell Aunt Celestina about this?"
Thinking about it for a moment, Lucas shook his head, "If I can notice this, I'm sure Master can as well. If I'm not mistaken, now that the third area sweep is finished, she should be returning. We can discuss it with her when she gets back if she somehow overlooked this possibility."
Nodding, Christina took a deep breath to regain her composure before saying, "There's only one flight left for today, and we've already finished escorting the kids from the Town Lord's Manor. Maybe we should leave things here to the others and head back."
"En. We're basically done for the day, so there's no point loitering," Lucas agreed, before a grin slipped onto his face, "Unless you'd like to help tip over more boxes, Tina."
Whacking Lucas' shoulder, Christina hastily defended herself, "That was an accident! And it was just 1 box that I spilled!"
"Hahaha," Lucas laughed, remembering the incident earlier today where Tina, clearly not used to this kind of physical labour, had tried to lift a large box of flour, only to slip on the wet ground and overturn the crate, causing a huge white cloud to explode out.
Needless to say, the princess covered from head to toe in flour was quite an amusing sight.
Remembering the embarrassing incident, and seeing Lucas openly laughing at her, Christina's face scrunched up into a pout; but soon, an idea came to her and she flashed an enchanting smile, "Hey, how about we race back to the manor? The last time we raced, you had an unfair head-start..."
The laughter immediately caught in Lucas' throat when he heard this proposal, and seeing the predatory light flashing across Tina's eyes as she gently palmed her fist, a cold sweat began dripping down the boy's back as he stuttered, "I-I thought we weren't going to bring that up anymore..."
Feeling a sense of triumph that had eluded her thus far, Christina innocently said, "I don't know what you're talking about. I just thought it would be fun to have a little competition. You may have beat me once, but I'm not the type to just accept a loss and not try to avenge myself."
Realizing there was no way he was getting out of this, Lucas decided to seize the initiative.
Hurriedly turning his head back over his shoulder, he gasped, as if spotting something shocking. This naturally caused Christina to turn her head as well, but when she did, Lucas took off in a sprint.
By the time the princess realized what was going on, Lucas had already gained a large head-start.
Seeing the boy's figure dashing off into town, bad memories from a few days ago began surfacing in Christina's head and her brow began to twitch.
Incensed, the princess kicked off the ground and gave chase, shouting as she ran, "You little bastard! Get back here and fight fairly!"
"All's fair in love and war!" Lucas shouted out, only realizing what he had just said a moment later and blushing furiously.
Shocked, Christina froze in place, her brain seemingly shutting down for a moment before restarting. Her cheeks turning bright red, she roared twice as loudly as before as she shot off, "What's that supposed to mean!?"
"I don't know!!" Lucas professed at the top of his lungs, putting all the strength he could into his legs as he ran even faster than before, feeling a deep sense of danger rapidly closing in on him.
And so, the scene from 2 days ago, with one young boy running for his life, while one young girl chased after him, ready to beat him to a pulp, repeated itself.
The only difference was that today, both of them had amused smiles on their faces, seemingly having the time of their lives.