A week later, Tilly brought a roster to Roland's desk in his office.
"How was it? Did the recruitment go well?" Roland poured a cup of tea for her and inquired about her well-being. Facing this nominal "sister", he had always felt a lingering sense of guilt. Unlike Anna, who took the initiative to tell him, Tilly was the first person to see through him that he was not Prince Roland. Although Princess Tilly subconsciously protected him when the flying demons attacked Neverwinter, which made him understand that she had completely accepted him as an ally, the guilt in his heart did not lessen at all.
After all, he was the one who occupied Prince Roland's body.
At first, he had planned to unreasonably confirm his brother's identity, but when Tilly did not pursue the matter, he felt a little uncomfortable.
Of course, thinking about it was just thinking about it. He would not bring it up again and again. Those who wanted to get an answer in the end would mostly die on the way. He was very clear about this.
"Except for the number of people, everything else is going well." Tilly took the teacup and gently blew on it. "We selected 124 people from the immigrants and 73 official residents, which adds up to less than 200... I'm afraid such a small number of people won't be of much help when fighting against the demons."
"It's always difficult at the beginning," Roland said as he opened the name list. "Once we have a good example, we'll be able to attract more people in the second round of recruitment. By then, it won't just be a matter of Neverwinter."
Although people had different visions, the yearning for the vast space was engraved in their bones. From the moment civilization sprouted, people began to look up at the starry sky. Whether it was imitating birds or using balloons, the exploration of the blue sky was not exclusive to the era of aircraft. The explorers of the Society of Wondrous Crafts were the best examples, so he was not worried about the attractive ability of the air force.
The first thing he needed to do was to prepare a team that could fly.
However, he knew that it was not easy to train a pilot.
In an era when the flight control system was still immature, the most important thing for a pilot was... talent. Acrophobia, anti-dizziness, body coordination, and other tests were only the most basic requirements. Things like spatial orientation, understanding of aircraft, and even nerve reaction speed all determined whether a person was suitable to be a pilot or not.
The veterans of the First Army were very obedient and reliable. It was possible to select a small number of outstanding people to serve as core officers, but it would be difficult to transfer them all to form the air force.
This was also the reason why he expanded the screening to include the new migrants.
One's level of culture and theory could be nurtured later on, but if one didn't have talent, then one didn't have it. Instead of forcing people to bite the bullet and ascend to the heavens, it was better to find more talented people.
According to the statistics, more than three thousand people signed up in a week, and after screening, only about two hundred qualified. From the looks of it, it was a wise move to include temporary residents in the scope of consideration from the beginning.
Flipping to the last page of the roster, Roland could not help but exclaim, "There are still six people who didn't pass the oath?"
"Because of their duplicity, they were taken away by Vader for interrogation," Nightingale replied. "Two of them are official residents of Neverwinter."
Roland frowned. In theory, this was not something to make a fuss about. It was common for people to change their minds. They could go from being honest to being evil in the blink of an eye. He did not expect these people to stay the same forever. But when it really happened, he still felt an involuntary sense of disappointment.
They could have followed him into a better new era.
They could have even seen the threshold of the new era.
But in the end, they gave it up at the threshold.
"Did you find out the reason?"
"I wanted to report to you after a thorough investigation," Nightingale said lazily. "They were all bribed by foreign merchants in the hope of infiltrating the army to get more information about firearms. The police department was dispatched, but they only caught the merchant's assistant who stayed in the hotel. So I asked Summer to backtrack and found a letter from the old king's city in the illusion. Judging from the content, the mastermind seems to be a noble. Anyway, now we know his whereabouts, appearance, and identity. Soroya's portrait has also been sent to Theo through the Animal Messenger. I don't think he can escape for long. "
Hearing this, Roland could not help laughing, and his previous unhappiness was swept away. Faced with such an unreasonable investigation mode, the rebels were really pitiful.
"Uh … is there a problem?" Nightingale blinked.
"No, you did a good job." Roland suppressed the corner of his mouth. "Since they don't want to give up, the North Slope Mine won't complain that there are too many people."
It seemed that the old nobles had not completely given up. As long as he showed a little flaw, these people would come back from the ashes. However, this did not surprise him. After all, the nobles had been enfeoffed for nearly a thousand years, and they still existed in the other three kingdoms. It was impossible to make them disappear overnight.
"Well," Tilly coughed twice and brought the topic back to business. "The problem of the people has been solved. Where's the plane?"
"This problem … By the way, Evelyn recently made a batch of excellent Chaos Drinks. Do you want to try it?"
"Huh? Okay — no! " Tilly came to her senses instantly. "We're talking about the plane. Don't tell me you haven't even made a prototype?"
Bullseye.
"Anyway, they have to learn to read and basic theories. If it's just a demonstration, the glider is also …"
"No," Tilly interrupted righteously. "Even if it's a glider, the modified version will be completely different from the previous one, not to mention a brand-new plane. If I haven't even tried to operate it myself, how can I teach others? Those students are indeed far from flying, but I have to spend at least a month in advance to thoroughly understand its performance and make corresponding adjustments to the flight manual, not including the time for subsequent improvement. Since you've entrusted this task to me, I naturally have the responsibility to urge you to complete your due work. "
It was the first time for Roland to see Princess Tilly being so serious.
He could see that she was indeed very fond of this "big toy" that could both fly and match her own ability.
The only problem was that Roland had underestimated the difficulty of making a complete plane. Even if it was an old biplane, even if it only had one more set of power and fuel equipment than a glider, the complexity was multiplied. Moreover, this was the result of a lot of information in the Dream World. If he designed it alone, he might not even be able to finalize a finalized plan in a few years.
"I see." He shook his head helplessly. "In half a month, I'll come up with a finished product that can fly."
"Then it's a deal." Tilly smiled. "By the way, where's the excellent Chaos Drinks you mentioned? Please let me have a taste. "
…
"Strange …" Nightingale muttered in a low voice after Princess Tilly left with a whole bottle of Chaos Drinks.
"What's wrong?" Roland asked.
"She's called you brother many times in public, but she rarely calls you that when she sees you alone … Isn't it strange?"
"Is that so?" He was stunned. "But … why?"
"I don't know."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
