[TIDK] 56 – Crimson Engineer

The embassy was a wooden building with perfect lighting. The weather in the canyon was mild.

She saw gliders when she entered a vast warehouse behind the embassy. Scarlett wanted to see more, but Viktor didn’t stop walking.

He headed towards the end of the warehouse. Scarlett’s mouth opened after Viktor opened the innermost wooden door.

“Ah…”

There was a biplane: a massive double-layered wood-winged machine with a complex engine.

She dug through her memories and remembered the image of a biplane. After a while, she remembered her parents’ conversation.

“It’s too heavy.”

“That’s true; how can it fly?”

The engine wouldn’t propel the plane into the sky.

But this was the last engine that her parents had created. Salantier didn’t have the technology to build planes yet.

She was about to fix the engine, but Viktor stopped her.

“Can’t you hear me?”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“You have to change, miss,” Blythe, who was behind him, spoke, frustrated.

“Ah…”

Scarlett nodded hastily. As soon as she arrived here, she seemed fascinated by the biplane. The noise of her surroundings faded into the backdrop.

In the meantime, people entered the warehouse, including an officer named Waldor, who led a unit within the Air Force.

“If the engine runs, then we have nothing to say. But how can a beautiful lady be assigned such a dreadful job?”

“The Crimson family couldn’t make it fly anyway. You just have to run the engine,” Pallin came up from behind.

“Who doesn’t know that? I wonder if she can make it run.”

Scarlett looked perplexed. The navy and the army were not on good terms with each other.

“I’ll bring my wife too if you succeed.”

At Waldor’s words, the sailors scoffed.

Scarlett looked back at Viktor and saw that he was taking a cigarette out of his inner pocket. He had no interest in his ex-wife. However, he headed toward the door to smoke. 

“My ex-wife needs to change,” he told the other men.

As soon as he finished, the remaining soldiers left in a hurry.

Scarlett, left alone, saw the clothes Blythe had brought. 

It was likely the smallest piece of clothing here, but even so, it was large on her frame. The attire was the same as what the servants wore.

Scarlett reluctantly changed her clothes and began to repair the engine. It was old but in pristine condition. Perhaps it was due to the maintenance.

The plane may not be able to fly with the engine, but the design and concept itself were superior to Salantier’s technology.

Increasingly, Scarlett couldn’t understand why Salantier suppressed technology.

She twisted her hair, tied it roughly, and then concentrated on fixing the engine. After a day, Viktor entered.

“Why don’t you take a break?”

“…”

“Scarlet Dumfelt.”

“....”

“Crimson.”

“Yes?”

Only then did Scarlett flinch and turn around. Her eyes were bloodshot. Then she looked at her watch.

“It’s only been three hours,” she said.

“Fifteen hours, miss,” Blythe, beside him, spoke.

“Really?”

Scarlett looked at the engine again, troubled.

“I think just a bit more to confirm…No, let’s check it out now.”

“Really? Then I’ll bring Mr Waldor right away!”

Blythe ran out cheerfully.

In the meantime, Scarlett asked Viktor what she had been curious about. The thing had been on her mind for fifteen hours whilst she fixed the engine.

“I’m a staff member now. Can I ask you questions?”

“What is it?”

“Is Vestina going to war?”

“That’s a profound question.”

Viktor answered calmly and moved on.

After a while, people flocked.

Waldor spoke with a puff.

“You fixed that? That’s ridiculous!”

“How did you fix something that even an engineer who defected from Vestina couldn’t fix...”

They entered the room, but as soon as Viktor’s eyes narrowed on them, they shut their mouths.

The commander of the air force here was Viktor Dumfelt. But it was implicit, not decided by anyone. In terms of status, he was cardinal, and in terms of reputation, the same would be said.

From a lineage perspective, Viktor, with royal blood, was incomparable. At least Viktor respected Waldor, so Waldor had control to a certain extent.

Viktor stared at Scarlett, who finished repairing the engine that had been removed. The tools Scarlett had never thought she could handle moved smoothly in her hands.

Viktor looked at her hand silently.

---