Jasson was supposed to be doing something else. He'd gone so far as to find where and when and who and a small description. All he needed was a bag of gold and a bigger bag of courage. A whole Santa's sack of courage.
He could have been helping build the Manor with galvanized square steel and an eco-friendly wood veneer. He didn't have an aunt to borrow screws from, but it was definitely a better project to work on.
But he kept having to wait on people to finish their part, and he didn't really have any skills to contribute himself. They didn't need him at the Manor.
So, instead, Jasson was building an airplane.
The first thing to do would be to source materials. Extruded aluminum and rivets would be perfect, but they didn't seem possible here. Jasson decided on doing it the Wright way, with wood and canvas. This world could already fly, and perhaps they had already found ways to do what he was trying.
Jasson didn't want to know if someone else had done it. He just wanted to do it himself.
There were three rules of this world that made this easier.
First was freaking Air Crystals. Petra had really driven home their strength when they'd flown on the table all the way to Smill. Tremendously light with no moving mechanisms, it absolutely shattered the law of conservation of energy. Apparently, Kami never studied law.
Second, there were certain self repairing crystal devices. The adventurer's guild had these, but Jasson had forgotten it until Petra got the ones on the Manor working. These were complicated magical devices that latched onto a material and fixed small breaks. Most catastrophic structural failures in the multiverse are due to unaddressed micro-fractures which compound like interest.
Third, is that, now that Petra could deal directly with the government, Jasson's slice of the crystal pie was getting absolutely huge. Materials were now affordable. And Scott could craft the wood itself.
Or so Jasson thought. Apparently the self-healing systems were prohibitively expensive. Also, Scott was busy with the Manor so he couldn't make a wood frame for Jasson. Jasson's Earth crystal MADaptation simply didn't work with wood for some reason. So he was forced to do this by hand.
Or rather, hire people to do it for him.
"No," Jasson said, holding the stave, "I'm looking for wood used for bows, but huge. I need long, boat sized pieces of flexible wood."
The carpenter scratched his head and said, "We're a landlocked city. Our river don't bring supplies from the port. Perhaps you'd better go there for your materials. Although, they use oak not yew. But sourcing the wood ain't the problem. The skilled workers are. You'll need someone who can shape wood with some precision over a long distance for your needs. That's the ship builders."
Jasson sighed. It seemed a road trip was in order.
"Alright," Jasson said, "Let me get your recommendations."
Jasson thought, I'm sure that one of the girls will want to come.
****
Now, the thing about starting a random project for no good reason is that people are less likely to go with you on supply runs. Especially if they are going to take a week.
So Jasson found a trading caravan heading to port and bought passage. He considered getting a carriage. He'd made it all the way into the carriage service company. Then he'd walked out, humbled.
He wasn't made of money. It was only marginally cheaper than Charon for his own carriage. He'd have to split it with eight other people, and then they would still be traveling alongside the caravan.
Of course, if Jasson hired the spot in the carriage at the next city over, it would be cheaper. And so on, and so forth. Jasson walked endlessly these days. The Manor's new carriage had seen little use beyond supply runs. He could knock off the fare by at least one city.
So he put on the hiking boots he had gotten from the Wet Rat inn, which were already thoroughly broken in, and decided to have a lovely stroll in the growing autumn.
To Jasson's credit, he didn't complain. And he did make it to the next city. He did have to keep using his healing crystal, but he'd made it.
He took the discount immediately.
Jasson sighed, relaxing into a surprisingly tall carriage. It was the last seat available in all the carriages on the caravan. The other occupants were joining in this city, but had reserved the seat ahead of time.
The caravan was only stopping for water and a snack, and Jasson found himself yawning. The afternoon was nearly gone.
Jasson looked outside and checked the time, then took a deep breath of the crisp autumn. The days were getting shorter. The birds still sang, but the crickets of night had started retiring to winter burrows. Or wherever the heck crickets went.
Jasson tried to look it up, but he didn't have any signal. He'd have to wait until at least one person joined him in the carriage. He hadn't had to worry about signal since…forever.
There had always been someone around. Friendly enough for him to scroll as he liked. Usually it was one of the twins, hovering within range. Sometimes he couldn't see them and knew it was Harriett. Scott was decent, although his range wasn't very far.
But he was surrounded by brief strangers here. He could scroll with low speeds, waiting for each one to load. It didn't seem worth it. Jasson pocketed his phone. The afternoon sun was hot, but the air was cool. It felt good on his closed eyelids.
Jasson jolted awake as the carriage rocked violently, careening to the side. Jason looked around, only to see a moving jumble of cloth and skin. The carriage groaned like a man asked to stay late for no extra pay. The confusing jumble of a person settled into the entire three person seat opposite Jasson, relaxing two legs on the two seats to the right of Jasson. Filling the entire carriage in a surprisingly relaxed position.
Grog, the mountain.
"My apologies, lad." Grog said, "It looks like it will just be us traveling. I bought out the other seats."
Jasson brightened and looked at his phone, seeing one strong bar of signal shining. He ran a speed test. 25mbps.
"Excellent," Jasson said, "I look forward to our journey together."
"Likewise," Grog said, settling in, "We finished excavating the basilisk last week, by the way. The crystal core is waiting for you to claim at the guild."
"The core?" Jasson said, "I didn't kill it though."
Grog chuckled and said, "No, you didn't. But you did your best, and managed to shoot out its eye. Consider it a gift from me. It's too bad the meat went bad before we could get the snake out, otherwise I'd be giving you a roast as well."
Jasson's stomach churned as he said, "That's alright. And I don't deserve the crystal."
Grog frowned and said, "If we're going to be traveling together, it would be best if you did not start the journey by being rude. I said it is a gift. Take it."
Jasson's gut twisted and his neck grew warm. He'd gotten closer with Grog but…
"Thank you," Jasson said, "I accept the gift most graciously. I'll pick it up when I get back."
"Excellent." Grog said, then brightened, "What brings you to this caravan? Are the shield and sword in a different carriage?"
"I came alone," Jasson said, "I'm going to the harbor to speak with some ship builders about some parts?"
"Oh?" Grog said, "I know a thing or two about sailing. Do you have any questions?"
"I'm actually not going sailing," Jasson said, "I'm looking for people who can make customer light but strong beams of wood. I'm…building something."
Grog raised his eyebrow and said, "What are you building, lad?"
Jasson hesitated, but he'd told Jane this ages ago. It's not like it would be a secret.
"I'm building a airplane," Jasson said, "a vehicle for flying in the air without magic. I mean, I will be using magic. But it's not essential. It just makes it easier."
Grog was silent for a moment before saying, "That is quite…ambitious. Are you a secret genius perhaps?"
Jasson flinched, then said, "Absolutely not. It's…where I come from we do not have magic. But we are still able to fly through physics. So what I'm doing is just copying that as best I can."
Grog nodded and said, "Why are you doing this?"
Ah, why in deed. Because in the mind, unlike in life, it is easier to outrun darkness than to banish it.
"We're going to be traveling a lot," Jasson said, "Especially once we retake that castle. And then we'll have to contend with-"
"I see," Grog said, eyeing the open window, "Best you don't speak of such plans here. Suffice it to say that you would benefit from such travel. I understand that there are many vehicles people use for this task. Are you going to be crafting a glider?"
"It would be easier," Jasson said, fiddling with his phone, "But my people made something better. It takes less power while handling greater load."
"Could it carry me?" Grog said.
Jasson frowned and said, "Hmm. The ones from my home could carry a hundred of you, but what I was planning on would be a little too small. It's definitely possible, though."
A sudden, almost giddy grin spread across Grog's face as he said, "Do you take investors? No, wait."
Grog leaned forward and stretched out his hand, saying, "Do you take partners?"
With wide eyes, Jasson reached out and reflexively shook Grog's hand saying, "Partners?"
"Of course," Grog said, "I'm one of the foremost leading field developers of crystal technology."
Grog sat back, crammed into the tiny carriage as he said, "And it has always been my dream to fly."