Chapter 432: Air Travel

“I feel sick.”

Syd gently rubbed Sorcha’s back as the goblin slumped across her lap. She was tempted to make a joke about noticing that the woman was looking a little green, but she knew it probably wouldn’t go over all that well.

“What’s the matter, feeling green?”

“Go suck on a fish,” Sorcha groaned.

Syd chuckled before putting some extra effort into rubbing the witch’s back. Just as she had suspected, Sorcha had not appreciated the joke.

“Maybe looking out the window would help?”

“Absolutely not,” Sorcha rejected the suggestion immediately. “I don’t need to see how high up we are right now. Just let me die in bloody peace, please.”

When Alex turned her head to give the goblin a concerned look, Syd held up a hand and shook her head.

“Not literal, don’t worry about it.”

Jadis wished there was more she could do to help her tiny lover, but airsickness wasn’t something she could fix. Not even Eir had a spell for getting rid of that discomfort, which was a real shame for Sorcha. Not just because being motion sick was unpleasant, but because the view from up high was gorgeous.

It was a beautiful, sunny, warm spring day and the flight so far had gone perfectly. The imperial countryside slowly passed by below them as the Behemoth floated eastward, helpfully pushed along by a light wind that was going in the same direction. It had taken some time to set up the balloon on top of the wagon so they hadn’t departed until after the eleventh bell, but the speed at which they were flying more than made up for the relatively late start. Some of the changes Sabina had made to the wagon after its initial test flight had helped smooth the bumps out and improve the overall ease of travel, but unfortunately none of that mattered to poor Sabina. The goblin just didn’t seem to do well in the air. At least no one else was feeling sick. Cramped, certainly, but not sick.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Eir asked for the tenth time.

“I’m fine,” Dys assured her doting lover. “We need the space and I don’t mind. I’ve got two other bodies who are able to stretch and anytime I get an inch I’m just transferring that feeling to a different self. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“But maybe we should get you some pillows…?”

“She’s wearing a helmet, you goose,” Kerr poked at the priestess with one of her mildest teases. “The pillow isn’t going to do much for her. Besides, she’s used to having two or three of us sit on her at once. This isn’t that much worse.”

“I think the context is somewhat different in this case,” Eir shook her head at the incorrigible therion.

“True! Maybe you should pull your robes up and sit your red butt on her visor. That would make her feel right at home.”

While Dys admitted that she wouldn’t mind the view, she didn’t encourage that suggestion. Getting erections while wearing solid plate armor was uncomfortable, especially for someone of her size. She could live with just staring at the ceiling.

The problem with converting the Behemoth into an airship was that, despite its large size, it just wasn’t big enough. Sure, the forty-foot-long wagon had lots of space inside, but the space disappeared quickly once you loaded the storage up with all the crates filled with their travel supplies. Additionally, there was now a large motor at the far back of the wagon that powered the propeller, further shrinking the available space. While there was still plenty of room for all of Jadis’ lovers to comfortably fit inside the wagon, that space had been decreased even more by Jadis’ three giant armored bodies. There were many advantages to having a multitude of large selves, but portability wasn’t one of them.

A partial solution to the space problem had been made by Jadis having one of her bodies simply lie down on the ground. A wooden platform that Sabina had whipped up folded out of the wall and covered most of Dys, which greatly reduced her ability to move but made it so that everyone else could just walk or sit on top of her. It wasn’t exactly an elegant solution, but at least it gave everyone else more elbow room. It did make for a boring experience for Jadis’ Dys self, though.

On the bright side, there were other views to keep Jadis entertained. Same for the rest of her lovers. Several sliding panels had been added to the left side and back walls of the Behemoth which opened up to give everyone views of the passing landscape. Eir, Kerr, Thea, Bridget, Tegwyn, and Alex were all taking advantage of those little windows, watching the landscape pass by. Kerr was even sticking her head out of one of the openings, grinning broadly as her tail wagged excitedly.

The best view, though, was at the front of the wagon.

“Can you believe how fast we’re going?”

“It’s pretty impressive,” Jay said around a grin as she leaned halfway through the open door to the driver’s seat. “I don’t think it’s going to take us seven days to get to Thea’s village.”

“A few hours at most,” Severina said with confidence as she watched the way Aila carefully adjusted the controls. “We should arrive well before nightfall. There’s an updraft coming, Aila. Take us to the starboard slightly and the winds won’t be as rough.”

“How do you know there’s going to be an updraft here?” Sabina asked as she halfway leaned over Aila to talk to the Seraphim. “Is it magic or something instinctual telling you? Oh! Is it Valtar? Or can you see something in the clouds and winds that indicates an updraft? Also, are you sure about it taking a few hours? I think it might be even quicker based on my calculations of our approximate speed and the distance we have to travel in a straight shot. Is my math wrong?”

“Sabina, please,” Aila complained as she pushed the half-elf away so she wasn’t practically climbing into her lap. “I’m trying to focus.”

“It’s nothing magical or guidance from the All Father. I’ve flown around this area many times over the years. There’s always an updraft by this bend of the river on sunny days,” Severina answered Sabina’s questions with surprisingly calm patience. “I have no idea if your calculations are accurate, but I can tell you that the wind is going to shift once we pass by that hill ahead of us. That you can tell by the way the clouds are moving. We will be fighting the winds, so to get to Cold Brook we’re going to need to curve our flight path.”

“Sort of like a ship and the tides and the way they tack against the winds?” Sabina asked.

“Somewhat, yes,” Severina nodded. “Similar enough, though there are different considerations when it comes to flight than sailing. Both are dependent on wind to some extent.”

Jadis smiled at the interaction. While her addition to the trip was unexpected, Severina’s presence was a great comfort. Out of everyone Jadis knew, the Seraphim had infinitely more experience flying than anyone else and was able to offer a great deal of advice. Aila greatly appreciated the wisdom since she was piloting the brand-new technology, while Sabina was just excited to get some practical information that she could potentially apply to future ship upgrades.

A light jostling rocked the airship just as they passed by the riverbend that Severina had indicated, sending the Behemoth upwards by several dozen more feet in only a few seconds. Syd grimaced as Sorcha let out a pitiful moan while Dys grunted out a wordless noise of protest.

“S—sorry,” Thea apologized as she took her booted foot off of Dys’ helmet.

“So, do you think this is better than driving a wagon?” Jay asked her redheaded lover.

“This is amazing,” Aila answered with a note of excitement in her tone. “Honestly, I love flying. Now that I’ve tried it, I’m hoping I can unlock a spell that lets me fly all on my own.”

“I hope you do,” Jay leaned in and gave Aila a kiss on the back of her head.

“Your wish may come true,” Severina added from where she sat on Aila’s left. “Wizards and sorcerers who show a special aptitude for flight when given opportunities by Seraphim, or magic beasts with wings, have been known to receive flight spells as an option. And from what I have seen so far, you are a natural.”

“You think so?” Aila asked as she briefly turned her blue-eyed gaze onto the angelic blonde.

“Definitely,” Severina nodded. “I’ve never flown anything like this before, but you are handling the changes in altitude and windspeed with unexpected finesse.”

“Thank you,” Aila smiled before refocusing on the airship controls. “I think a couple of my Cart Driver skills are somehow translating to driving this amazing contraption. I even gained a level in my primary class when we first took off.”

“I don’t think that’s how that would work,” Sabina said absently as she pressed her face against the glass on the right side of the driver’s seat to look at a farm they were passing by. “Your cart skill says it helps with land vehicles. This is an airship. But I guess it’s a land vehicle too because it has wheels and can be driven on the land? But it’s not on land right now so I don’t know if that would count or not. Would a ship count as a land vehicle if I put wheels on it and let you drive it around on the beach? If that did count, would it still count as a land vehicle if you then drove it into the sea and sailed around for a while before coming back onto shore?”

“Who knows?” Jay laughed. “Maybe it’s the skill, but I think Severina is right. Aila, you’re a natural. You were born to be in the cockpit.”

“A natural what?” Aila startled at the unfamiliar word.

“Is now the time for another dirty joke?” Severina asked as she turned her peculiar cross-shaped irises onto Jay with disapproval.

“Cocks don’t have pits,” Sabina murmured her confusion. “They have balls. Well, your cocks don’t have balls, but they don’t have pits, either.”

“I… you know what? I’m not even going to try to explain,” Jay shook her head. “Because I don’t even know the origin of that word. Whatever. Blue, keep up the good work.”

Leaning back, Jay contented herself with watching the louds pass by as her three lovers continued to discuss flight in the front seat of the airship. The pride she felt at actually pulling off real flight via a combination of magic and technology made her heart swell. There were other happy thoughts to keep her occupied, too. Aila’s primary class had gone up a level, increasing Cart Driver from twenty-seven to twenty-eight. Jadis hadn’t been sure if piloting the airship would count towards Aila’s experience gain, but apparently a flying wagon did in fact count so far as the system was concerned. Jadis hoped that experience would continue to pour in for her redheaded lover and she would be able to level up her non-combat class in ways other than the bonus experience that came from slaying Demons.

Aila had put the two attribute points she had gotten from the level up into her Focus stat, bringing it up to forty-five. That brought her base magic reserves up to four hundred and fifty. With her Nephilim Saturation skill, that meant she had a normal running reserve of six hundred, further boosted to seven hundred thanks to Jadis regularly duplicating two extra selves into existence to upkeep her and Bridget’s power-boosts.

Aila wasn’t the only one to go up in levels thanks to the airship, either. Sabina had gained three levels, one in her primary class and two in her secondary class. Enchanter smith of the Reborn had reached level ten, which gave Sabina both a single point attribute boost, as well as a new skill. The boost had also gone to Focus, bringing Sabina from fifteen up to sixteen in that attribute. The new skill she chose had been a choice between weapon enchantments and one for eleria-based runes that was exceedingly rare according to the temple records. Naturally, Sabina had taken that one.

The skill Sabina had unlocked for her primary class was another passive, and she had only unlocked it that morning when they had finished putting the last touches on the Behemoth’s alterations. Specifically, the metal and glass windshield Jadis had suggested that now enclosed the front of the wagon.

Jadis wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not that all of Sabina’s skills were passives, but she wasn’t about to question the method. The smith was doing great work, so clearly, she didn’t need active skills. At least, none that had been offered so far were better options than the passives.

“You know, once we get to Bridget’s hometown and deal with this countess business, we could take a day to fly a little north and visit Rosenbaum.”

“Hm?” Jay blinked, realizing that Aila had been addressing her. “Rosenbaum? Where’s that? Why would we go there?”

“It’s the territorial capital of Duke Messer,” Aila remarked. “Remember? I believe that’s also where one of the… suggestions Sholto gave you was last seen.”

“Ah,” Jay let out a bemused huff. “Well, let’s focus on getting Tegwyn laid first. I’ve got my hands full for the moment, anyway.”

“I’m looking for a suitable mate, not a one-night stand,” the Dryad laughed from his spot where he was leaning out of one of the open panels. “If the lady of the grove by Thea’s home village is taken or otherwise incompatible with me, I won’t be upset. I’m in no rush to wed.”

“Besides which, Teg would like to marry someone he loves,” Eir said kindly as she patted the tall Dryad’s shoulder affectionately. “A romantic after Lyssandria’s heart.”

“I cannot deny I am looking for a certain spark,” Tegwyn grinned brightly at the elf.

“Well, Thea’s mom is single,” Kerr commented as she pulled her head into the wagon for a moment. “Maybe she’ll be fit for the cockpit or whatever the word is.”

“Kerr!” Thea yelped as she gave the therion’s rump a smack. “D—don’t talk about m—my mother that way!”

“Hey, she’s a woman, too,” Kerr shrugged before sticking her head back out of the window. “Now, slap my ass again. That was a good one.”

As amusing as the back and forth was, Jadis chose to ignore Kerr and Thea’s antics as an odd feeling caught her attention. While the others laughed and chatted, she focused on the familiar yet alien sensation that had risen up inside of her stomach. She recognized the feeling as a guiding instinct from Lyssandria. The goddess had just given her some kind of a nudge, fanning the flame of her instincts. She wasn’t entirely sure what the goddess was trying to tell her, since it wasn’t anything so direct as a word or a vision, but she got the feeling it had something to do with Tegwyn since it had begun as soon as they had started talking about finding Teg a girlfriend at Thea’s village. Maybe the female Dryad who lived around Cold Brook really was compatible with Tegwyn? Certainly, Jadis felt like she was getting sent positive feelings about the lone avatar.

Maybe they really were going to be able to play matchmakers after all.

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