As the girls' tea party continued, time quietly slipped by. Near evening, they could see the crystal-clear lake below, like a mirror, along with stretches of dreamlike fields.
This was the Lake Windermere District, the destination of their journey. It was famous as one of England's finest holiday destinations, not only for its beautiful scenery, but also as the hometown of Peter Rabbit.
Beatrix Potter had written the scenery she loved—surrounded by mountains and lakes—and the wild rabbits living in the pastures into her picture books. They still had countless readers around the world, turning this place into a "holy land" visited by innumerable pilgrims every year.
Gray clutched the sofa beneath her tightly, not daring to move an inch.
Just then, Olga Marie had activated the sightseeing mode of the White Whale airship. The floors and walls around them had become transparent, allowing them to see the scenery outside directly.
It made her feel as though she were sitting on a chair overlooking the world below. The drifting clouds around her and the vast world beneath her feet were beautiful, dreamlike even, but fear coiled around her heart like a venomous snake.
Only then did Gray realize that she was afraid of heights.
There was nothing shameful about that. Humans were creatures who could only survive with their feet on the ground. Though they had longed for the skies since ancient times, their heavy bodies and bones were shackles that bound them from flight.
Even in the modern age, with all kinds of spacecraft, humans still could not fly as freely as birds.
"This is the Animma family's residence, and also the destination of your previous visit."
The Animma family quickly found an open space by the lake large enough for the airship to land, then set up simple