LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 6: Chapter 6
—Leon POV —
Showing Roxanne where the ship was currently resting, she was surprised to see how small of a ship it was. A relatively small cabin cruiser, with a single bedroom and bathroom, my grandfather had discovered the craft when he stumbled upon this island. Realizing that the craft was functional, he used it for several years till eventually, it fell out of the sky in our backyard. Fortunately for my grandfather, he was only five feet above the ground at the time. Had this occurred over the ocean, several thousand feet below our floating island, he would have died quite gruesomely.
"So this is what we are going to fix?", Roxanne inquired, a bit skeptical about its ability to fly, "Where is the giant balloon that makes it float, and the paddle wheels to make it move around?"
"This ship is considered a Lost Item, it uses long-forgotten technology to fly and propel itself around. If I can get this ship back in working order, we can travel around in style.", I remarked, with a big grin, "I have been wanting to work on this thing for a while now. This is so exciting!"
Climbing aboard the ancient vessel, Roxanne began looking around while I went below to the engine room. Realizing that the entryway was locked, probably because the ship had no power, I forcibly jerked the door open with my hands. Getting the door only partially open, I managed to squeeze through the opening with minimal effort. Using Light Magic to illuminate the room, a rat's nest of wiring greeted me as the room lit up.
'You have got to be fucking with me. How the hell was this able to fly in the first place!?', I thought, already mentally exhausted from the amount of work I had before me, "Roxanne, while I work on the engines and power source, can you make sure that everything else is in order? Check every inch of the ship for any signs of damage."
"Roger that!", she called out, "Are you sure you do not need help in there?"
"I can figure this out…eventually.", I chuckled, pulling my few hand tools out of my Item Box, 'Alright, time to get to work.'
Wanting to start with a clean slate, I began the tedious task of unplugging and removing all the wiring in the room. Once everything was out of the way, I noticed a book poking out from underneath the dormant fusion reactor.
'Is this the manual for the ship?', I wondered, carefully prying it out so it did not tear.
Dusting off the cover, the first words I saw were "Engineering Manual" which gave me hope that I could figure this out. Skimming through the pages, my mind quickly consumed all the information written within. Wondering how this book had gone unnoticed, I realized that in my haste I failed to notice that it was written in English. English was a long-forgotten language in this world so it was understandable that the engineers who looked over the ship overlooked it. Tossing the book into my Item Box, for referencing in the future, I began the tedious process of rewiring the ship.
—Two Days Later—
Working nearly round the clock on this project, Roxanne kept me company throughout the whole ordeal by sleeping in the bedroom on board. While I worked on repairing the ship's systems, she cleaned and polished every inch of our boat from bow to stern. Confirming that everything was in good shape, other than some damaged paint, once I had everything online we went to fetch my parents.
Catching them in the middle of breakfast, I informed my family that I had fixed the boat and was ready for my father to check it out. Nearly choking to death on his toast hearing my announcement, he looked at me in shock and disbelief.
"You fixed it in two days!?", he gasped, "How is that possible?!"
"It was pretty easy once I understood what everything was and what it did. I personally believe that someone sabotaged the ship, it was a nightmare to repair all the wiring problems inside the ship.", I told him, "Can we take it for a test flight after you are done eating?"
"Of course!", my father said, excited to see it fly for himself, "It stopped working a few years before I was born. He told me how much fun he had flying it around, I hope you get as much fun out of it as he did."
Shoveling the rest of his breakfast down in a hurry, he quickly left the dining room with us to check it out for himself. Chasing after us, as they were also interested in seeing it fly, my mother and two siblings shouted at us to slow down for them. Quickly boarding the ship, I approached the control panel that had been inoperable even during my grandfather's time.
"Wait, where is the wheel and throttle lever?", he asked, confused by the large, illuminated panel in front of him.
"It never should have had one, everything is controlled from his panel here.", I said, waving my hand over the screen.
Waking up from Sleep Mode, the ship began to hum slightly as the Fusion Reactor engaged. Quickly checking for any anomalies or issues with the ship's systems, as I had jump-started the reactor with a powerful surge of lightning earlier, I was relieved to see that all systems were green. Initiating the startup sequence, the Levitation Engine and Stabilizers began to fire up in unison. Feeling the craft begin to rise off the ground, Nicks began shouting that we were actually flying.
Jumping back in fright, my father reached for his blade out of instinct but I quickly stopped him from acting rashly. Not wanting him to damage the control panel, as finding a replacement was impossible, I quickly explained what was going on.
"Please wait a moment, that voice belongs to the ship. It is calibrating the stabilizers which will help keep our ride smooth.", I told him, "I can assure you that everything is working properly, we are in no danger here."
"Alright…warn me next time before it does something like that please.", he said, reluctantly removing his hand from his sword's hilt, "Go ahead and take us around the island, please take it slow for your mother's sake though."
Nodding my head, I engaged the propulsion systems and limited their output to thirty percent for the time being. Gaining momentum quickly, we soon were cruising along at roughly sixty miles an hour. Surprised by how fast we were going and how smooth the ride was, my mother inquired why we were not feeling the wind rush past us.
"The ship is equipped with special shielding that blocks out the wind.", I said, "I can disengage it if you want me to."
"No, please leave it on. It is a nice change of pace to not have the wind messing up my hair.", she admitted, with a smile, "Roxanne and you have both pulled off the impossible by fixing this boat. The best and brightest engineers in our nation were unable to fix this, yet you made it work in just over two days!"
"Leon, this means you could become a really important person in the capital!!", Nicks remarked, genuinely happy for me, "The Kingdom has hundreds of ships like this that they cannot use. You could make a lot of money fixing and maintaining them!"
"He is right Leon, no one else in our nation or our neighboring nations can do what you have done.", my dad said, praising me, "You are going to be set for life after you graduate from the Academy one day. Make sure you do not forget about your old man and your mother!"
"Haha, I promise not to.", I swore, with a smile.
Glaring at me from the bow, Jenna was less than thrilled about the praise I was getting. While nowhere near as bad as my stepmother Zola and her two children, Jenna hated my guts because I was a boy and received more praise than her. Even though our parents showed their love to each of us equally, she felt that she should get more love from them because she was a girl. The praises I received for my achievements and actions rubbed her the wrong way to the point that just being in the same room with Jenna earned me death glares from her.
"Now that you have your stupid boat, go start earning money for me!", Jenna snapped, "I need new clothing and a slave when I go to the Academy in a few years. If I do not have those, I will be the laughingstock of the school so get to it!"
Opening my mouth to start cursing her out, my father interjected to stop our bickering before it began.
"Jenna, I will make sure you have everything you need for the Academy.", my father assured her, uncertain how he would find the funds, "Please leave Leon alone, unlike you, he will have to make his own way once he turns eighteen."
"I do not care what happens to him after the Academy, he can die for all I care.", she said, meaning every word she said, "As long as I get what I want, I do not care about anything else! Can we go home now? I am already tired and bored of being here now."
Sighing in frustration, Dad asked me to steer the ship home with an apologetic look. Acknowledging his request, I turned the ship home and made a haste return to dump her trashy ass off.