Meanwhile, Ishida and Rhina discussed their plan in Ishida’s mountaintop cabin.“On the back of the mountain, there are many abandoned factories.” Ishida began. “Some of them are still operating. A few days ago, before I entered the ammunition factory, I also saw an aircraft factory. I’m pretty sure there are still lots of planes in the hangar.”“So what are we going to do?” Rhina asked.“We’re going to sneak into the aircraft factory, get in a plane, and fly away!” Ishida replied.“Fly away? What about the war reparations?” Rhina demanded.“What I meant to say was that we’re going to fly to the Gre

“My parents told me that they hid a secret item inside this cave and that in the far future, a young man and a girl with star-shaped earrings would come to this island. They told me that when that day came, I was to lead them here,” Nina told Ishida and Rhina. “I believe that day has come.”“I’m scared, Grandma,” Jameck said, trembling with fear.“Don’t get worked up, Jameck, you won’t have to go inside,” the woman assured her grandson.“Now, young man, you must go in by yourself. Next, when you walk into the cave and reach the point where you can no longer hear us talking, you must cry, ‘Arise, Great Rexius! Show me the path to Ajens!” Nina instructed.

The cliff that Jameck pointed to was a relatively small one; perhaps it should be called a rock ledge.  This landform was surrounded by steep hills and overlooked the ocean. Below the ledge was an area covered in dense fog. Through the openings in the fog, Ishida could see a patch of sand.  As Ishida and his companions gathered around the tiny cliff, they discovered something peculiar.  It was a cube-shaped, rock-like object that was sticking out of the ledge. It had straight sides, smooth faces, and sharp edges.  The thing certainly did not resemble any naturally occurring rock formations, for it had a pyramidal top with a sharp point.  Ishida placed his ha

Ishida and his companions were locked up in a small, damp cell on the flying ship. If it weren’t for a window that let in the dim moonlight, the cell would have been completely dark.Ishida stood leaning against the mossy wall on the opposite side of the window. He stared at the blue crescent moon that seemed to be very close— close enough for him to touch it. He reached his hand out in vain, trying to grab hold of the moon in the cloudy night sky. Sitting next to him was the girl he rescued a long time ago, with her head down and her eyes closed— at least they seemed to be closed. 

As the three brave adventurers were flying over the Gulf of Cessabit, Ishida spotted something very unusual. It was a long, yellow strip of land, perhaps a sandbank or a shoreline.  Ishida took a closer look with his binoculars. He saw a sandy beach with coconut trees blowing in the gentle breeze and round pebbles scattered all over the place.  “How is this possible? We’re about to fly inland!” Ishida said in dismay. “Ajens is a sea city, it can’t be on land!” “Maybe we flew over it when it was hidden beneath some clouds,” Rhina suggested. “We might have to fly lower.” “No, we’re already flying low. And Ajens is a huge floating island. No cloud can be large enough to hide it. Besides, Takao said that we need to fly a h