It was noon, the autumn sun blazing high. An off-road vehicle sped down the highway, continually leaving behind swaths of golden wheat fields on either side...
The dark green off-road vehicle was draped in military camouflage. It had just driven out of a large airship base in Dragon Water Commandery, Peace Province. Apart from the driver, there was only one other person in the vehicle—a plain-looking young man in a sky-blue major's uniform, seemingly in his twenties.
The sky-blue major's uniform on the young man was the uniform of the air cavalry unit newly established by the theater. Such a uniform was especially eye-catching on someone so young. Ever since picking him up at the airship base, the driver had been studying the young man in the back through the rearview mirror, his eyes full of envy.
The driver was a green youngster himself, only seventeen or eighteen by the look of him. He wore an ordinary corporal's uniform from the air cavalry base, its shoulder patch marking him as part of the base's logistics system. To the young driver in front, the air cavalry major's uniform worn by the passenger behind him was filled with allure and longing—quite simply the coolest uniform in the world.
The young passenger did not speak much and seemed somewhat withdrawn. After getting into the vehicle, he merely watched the bountiful fields outside. He carried only a military duffel bag, which lay on the rear seat of the off-road vehicle.
Nearly five minutes after the vehicle left the airship base, the green driver, having looked at him for so long, finally could no longer bear the silence in the car. He took the initiative to strike up a conversation with the passenger in the back.
"Sir, is this your first time in the Western