"Mm, little Louis, I just saw flames shooting out of the back of that iron airship up ahead."
Lady Margaret's cheerful voice came from beside the window of the Sand King Worm carriage, tinged with the delighted amusement of someone watching a show.
The red-haired beauty, whose bold, spirited manner and succubus-like allure made her impossible to ignore, was kneeling on the sofa in a particularly eye-catching pose. Holding a spyglass, she studied the Heart of Ptolemy, which was leading the convoy through the sea of sand.
She turned and called to King Louis, who was seated at the desk behind her, diligently writing a letter.
The monarch was deep in thought and didn't answer. Instead, Queen Elizabeth, who was relaxing on the sofa with a book, said softly:
"That thing is called a 'thruster,' I think. I heard the diplomat mention it earlier. It's a mechanical creation made by the people of Sangha using the Creator's wisdom."
"So there are machines operating inside its iron shell?"
Lady Margaret asked curiously:
"Like the halfling factory we visited in Fog City? Those enormous, powerful machines, driven by levers and gears. The halfling engineers told me that every machine had an invisible little sprite inside it, giving it power, and that only clever people could see those sprites.
I saw them myself!
So, are there sprites inside the Sangha people's airship too?"
Lady Margaret's adorably clueless yet strangely alluring manner nearly made King Louis lose his composure as he wrote to his homeland. But what could he do? He was fond of this "larger-than-life succubus."
He shook his head, signed the fragrant letter, then turned the ring on his finger around and stamped it with his royal seal before rising from the desk.
The carriage carried by the Sand King Worm looked