……
After dinner, Roland heard about it from Tilly.
“Because... of a feeling?” He couldn't help but be stunned when she talked about the reason for changing her mind.
“What, can’t I?” Tilly said, folding her arms.
“No, you made the rules for the Sky Knight Academy, so of course, you have the final say.” Roland quickly waved his hand, “I just feel… what can this represent?”
“It represents talent. Sure enough, you don’t know anything about flying.” Tilly shrugged, “For most people, practice is just completing tasks conditionally according to the manual. There’s nothing else besides performing the actions themselves, even after a day of it. But some people can envision a picture of every action, and when they haven't taken action yet, they already see the result of the action.”
“Uh… is it that amazing?” Roland twitched his lips. He didn't deny that he knew nothing about flying. Without Tilly's help, the Sky Knight project couldn't have started at all—relying on the blueprints in the dream world to build a qualified aircraft would be tantamount to fantasy. Trial production, improvement, finalization, and training all require Tilly's participation. If it were an ordinary person, turning the blueprints into a real machine and then using the real machine for combat might take decades of exploration. It's just that the plane is ultimately a machine. Shouldn't operating the machine be done according to the manual and repeated practice?
“Because I am like that.” Tilly showed a regretful expression, “You can’t imagine it, which means you don’t have the talent for it. Brother, if you were a member of the Sky Knight Academy, you would probably be among the ones to be eliminated.”
“Cough cough…” Roland almost choked on his saliva, and Nightingale's suppressed laughter came from behind him.
“Do you think you can master flying just by practicing?” Tilly seemed to see through his thoughts, “It’s true that some people can connect actions and feelings after hundreds of thousands of practices, but don’t forget that this is a talent in itself, just slightly inferior to the former. More people will never be able to reach this step. Being able to fly is already a difficult task. Who do you think has a better chance of surviving in the war?”
Roland was speechless for a moment.
Without a doubt, the answer is those with outstanding talents. Spending the same amount of time training, these people can often reach a higher level and quickly accumulate experience in war, while those with mediocre abilities have difficulty even protecting themselves, let alone improving further. From the perspective of training cost-effectiveness, the former can reach several times that of the latter.
“But you can’t determine anything based on just one statement, right?” He said after a while, “After all, there’s also the possibility of accidentally guessing right.”
“So you’ll know everything after one flight.” Tilly didn’t care.
“...What about the other two?”
“They all chose to test fly.”
“Oh?” Roland blinked in surprise. Being expelled from the Sky Knight Academy is not a trivial matter in this era, especially when the head of the academy is Her Royal Highness the Princess. It means that an unsightly mark will be left on their resume, and it will be much more difficult to apply for other jobs afterward. Secondly, the remuneration for ground crew and chores is not low, which is also a stable job, and they can also enjoy some preferential policies of the academy, such as buying a house, medical care, etc. Compared with the former, the gap can be said to be very large. “It can be said that they are not without courage… If they are expelled like this, don’t you think it’s a pity?”
After all, the entire Winter City currently has less than two hundred prospective pilots, and each one can be said to be precious.
“The Sky Knight Academy doesn’t need people without talent. Having only courage is just courting death when facing Terror Beasts. It’s better to let them leave earlier.” Tilly said in a low voice.
At this point, the atmosphere in the office became a little heavy for a while. While Roland was preparing to pour a drink to ease the atmosphere, the other party took the initiative to change the subject, “By the way, I’m here to ask about the previous matter—do you have any clues about my new plane?”
Sure enough, she didn’t come to the office just to chat about work. Roland's heart skipped a beat, “I think this matter can be discussed at length… The establishment of the air force cannot be separated from you, and besides, your staying in Winter City poses a greater threat to the devils—”
Tilly didn’t answer. Her burning eyes showed her attitude.
Roland sighed inwardly.
The new plane doesn’t refer to the Unicorn, but a more powerful flying weapon suitable for combat. After Ashes sacrificed herself, Tilly cried in his arms for a long time, as sad as a helpless child, but that was also the last time he saw her weak side—when she woke up, the first sentence she said to him was, “I want a plane that can kill devils.”
She wanted to avenge the devils.
Although Roland used a bunch of reasons to perfunctorily dismiss it at the time, she obviously didn’t change her mind.
“Are you really going to do this?”
“You didn’t have so many concerns when ambushing Ursrook.”
“That’s transportation, and it’s completely different from direct combat.”
“The facts are not much different. I’m using my abilities where they’re needed most,” Tilly shook her head, “I agreed with this view, which is why I persuaded Ashes to go to the front lines. You also know this—if you want to take back the sky from the hands of the devils, relying on the current sky knights alone cannot ensure victory. Whether in terms of quantity or level, Winter City is at a disadvantage, and only I can reverse this!”
“But the academy…”
“Of course, I will take on my due responsibilities—before the war comes, as long as I train a group of qualified instructors, they can continuously expand the ranks of the sky knights and pass them down.” Tilly was silent for a moment, staring at Roland and saying word by word, “I know this is a bit willful, but this is my only request, brother.”
Roland looked at her for a long time, and finally let out a long breath, “I understand.”
Tilly released her clenched fist, “Thank you.”
“By the way, do you have any requirements for the color of the fuselage?” Roland suddenly asked as she was about to leave.
Tilly stopped in confusion, “No, this…”
“Since there are no specific requirements, how about red?”
“Is there any difference?”
“Generally, the protagonists who dominate the sky use this color.” Roland said softly.
“Is that so?” Tilly slightly raised the corner of her mouth, “Then do as you say… use red.”
When the door closed, Nightingale said with a complicated expression, “Her Highness… is serious.”
Roland rubbed his forehead with a headache, “That’s why it’s troublesome.” When Tilly said that sentence "the only request," he could even feel the strong obsession and hope revealed by the other party—besides himself, no one else could help her realize her revenge wish. If he refused and let this hope turn into despair, he vaguely realized that he might lose her.
“She has changed too.” Nightingale sighed, “But I can understand her. If something happened to you—” She paused for a while before shaking her head as if giving up, “No, I don’t even dare to think about that result.”
Roland couldn’t help but fall silent… He suddenly remembered a sentence, war will change many people and things, and the only thing that remains unchanged is war itself.
If they want to avoid the continuation of such tragedies, the only way is to end the War of Divine Will as soon as possible.