Gazing at a reproachful and exasperated Tilly, Roland somehow felt his little sister was pretty cute in a way . Tilly rarely called him brother when she was in a good mood . She only did so in the presence of others or when she was really annoyed like now . Roland suddenly had an urge to tease her .
"Ahem, this isn't right," Roland thought, hastily turning his lack of attention into a hacking cough . "The plane isn't complete yet . Anna and Soraya have to make every part manually . As the war is around the corner, they have a lot of work to do . You should know it better than anyone else . I did draft the plan a long time ago, but I can't suit the action to the drawing just by myself . "
As the railway continued to extend, it now took the "Seagull" three to four days to fly to the front instead of one or two . He could not really blame Tilly and Wendy for being slackened, because it was really hard to complete all the preparation work within one day . They had no choice but to wait .
As the pilot of the "Seagull", Tilly obviously knew everybody was busy . Many witches actually fell asleep straight away after they boarded the plane . For this reason, they had even added upholstered cushions to the chairs . Realizing that their most important goal at present was to defeat the demons and recover the Fertile Plains, Tilly deflated resignedly, her hands back to her sides . "I just want to test the plane sooner so that the Aerial Knights can do their jobs . . . "
"Don't worry . The main body of the plane is almost done . We just need a few auxiliary parts . All I need is just a little patience from you — "
"Hold on," Tilly interrupted . "You said the main body is completed, which means I can still fly without those parts, right?"
"Well . . . " Roland hesitated, realizing he had just slipped the information out . Princess Tilly was now not so easy to be deceived anymore, for she had learned a lot about planes . "Well . . . you still can, but this new model is very different from the 'Seagull' . If anything happens, Wendy won't be able to fix it in time . . . "
His voice trailed off in the end .
Tilly's eyes were glistening with daring and excitement .
He just could not resist her .
Nightingale giggled behind him . It appeared that she really loved to see Roland lapse into an awkward silence .
After staring at each other for quite a long time, Roland breathed out a sigh and said, "Alright . I'll ask the airport staff to get ready for a flight . "
"That's the spirit," Tilly praised, her raised brows back to their normal positions, grinning .
Roland picked up the phone and said, "Remember, if anything happens during the test or you lose your control, you must abandon the plane immediately . Do you understand?"
"Of course . We can always make a new plane but can never have an excellent pilot like me again," Tilly said confidently while folding her arms . "That's what you're thinking, right?"
. . .
At the Neverwinter Airport .
There had been nothing but two tracks at this clearing before, but now this place had become a real pilot training base, which was also the forerunner of the future air force academy .
In the enclosed testing field, a silver plane was transported from the hangar and placed at the end of the tracks .
Tilly took a deep breath and said, "So this is . . . the plane for me . . . "
"Yes," Roland said while nodding . This is the 'Unicorn' . It's powered by a radial straight-five engine and can fly more than 150 kilometers per hour in theory . Even the fastest devilbeast would not be able to keep up with it . "
As the first man-made self-powered aircraft in this era, the "Unicorn" looked very different from the "Seagull" the glider . The biggest difference was its huge head . To house the engine, the head of the plane was in the shape of a barrel rather than in a sleek aerodynamic shape, as though its top had been chopped off .
Also, it had a two-blade propeller attached to its head at the front, which the "Seagull" did not have . Since this was literally the first plane powered by a piston engine, it was still quite a basic model despite that the extensive research Roland had done . He believed a two-blade propeller should be sufficient considering the power was relatively low .
Finally, the plane was small in general . As the "Unicorn" was a fighter rather than a passenger aircraft, it was only nine meters' long, only half as long as the "Seagull" . Nevertheless, the internal structure of the plane was much more complicated . Apart from an operation system, it was also equipped with some power units such as a gas tank and a fuel pipe . There was also room for a firing system and a second seat .
"The 'Unicorn' . . . You sometimes do come up with creative names," Tilly said as she rushed to the plane, but soon noticed something unusual in the flight deck . "That is where the missing parts should go, isn't it?"
There were two holes where the cockpit control panel should have been . It was obvious that the plane was not complete yet .
"That's right," Roland said with a nod . "These parts were used to show the speed and the altitude of the aircraft, which were the two most important flight dynamics parameters . We used to have Wendy to control the plane, so we didn't necessarily need them . But now, it's all on you the pilot, so you must monitor these two parameters from time to time . . . "
"Don't worry . I don't necessarily know how to make a plane, but I'm definitely the best pilot in Graycastle," Tilly said as she crept into the plane and settled herself into the pilot seat self-assuredly .
The "Unicorn" was technically exactly the same as the "Seagull", except that it had an additional gas pedal . Even the power levels were positioned in the exact same location . Tilly had done many mock exercises earlier, so Roland did not think there would be any problems . However, since this was essentially a brand new plane very different from the "Seagull" in terms of weight, flexibility and speed, and its mechanical system had yet to be tested, there was a chance that something went wrong .
That was what Roland feared . If the plane crashed at the onset, even an outstanding pilot like Tilly might not even be able to know how well the plane performed . Roland had wanted to create several similar models so that Tilly could gradually get familiar with the aircraft and learn on the go .
But now it was too late .
"Your Majesty, it's ready to go," the hangar manager reported .
"OK . Let's begin," Roland said and left the tracks .
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Two workers soon inserted a crankshaft into the engine launcher and started to spin it .
Roland felt like this was more like operating a tractor than the latest weapon created by human beings . He decided to invent storage batteries and electric helper motors once they started mass production .
As the piston gradually accelerated, one worker closed the pressure-relief valve, and the oil in the cylinder was instantly ignited . The engine erupted a few loud explosions . Within a second, a few inarticulate blasts became a series of thunderous roars .
The two-blade propeller blurred into shadows and light . The plane glided along the tracks for a mere 30 seconds and took off . Under the scrutinies a group of awestruck spectators, the "Unicorn" soared into the azure of the sky .
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