(MC POV)
"Oya, oya? Isn't it my most adorable little brother and cute little harem?"
I suppose since it's a city Elaria was building, it should be natural that the rest of my family was here too.
Which is why I wasn't really surprised to find Odriana strolling around the 'palace' when we alighted there.
I say 'palace' because it's what Elaria had called it, even though to me it just looks like a random building located in the centre of the city that is basically just a dome with completely smooth walls. Like it was really just a white dome in the middle of the city without any features whatsoever.
At this point you might think the interior would somehow be especially grand or something as a contrast to its exterior appearance but no, the inside was also just a gigantic, featureless, empty room with a complete lack of furniture as well.
Was Elaria thinking of letting us spend the night on the floor inside this building? Not that I would mind, just slightly confused why we would come all the way here when we could just camp outside this building instead.
Speaking of which, the four servant girls didn't follow us here. Apparently they would be spending the night in an inn down the road instead that Elaria had already designated for them.
I raised my hand to greet my elder sister, "Hello Odriana, I hope you don't mind us spending the night here. We're on our way to the country of Sun as diplomatic envoys."
"Oya? Of course my cutest little brother can stay here! This is your kingdom after all~ And it's not like I don't know about that~" She chuckled.
Please don't remind me…
Trying to change the topic, I gestured to the room, "So… What are you doing here? And what is this place actually? Looks too empty to be… Anything, really. Or is this some kind of training room?"
Elaria giggled, "Ehehehe~ We're actually standing in the City Hall, Onii-sama! Or what would be the City Hall anyway, it's not finished yet. All of the city's administration will happen right here!"
I raised an eyebrow at her, "Didn't you say we were going to the palace?"
"Oh this place is part of it! There will be another way to get there in the future but since it's not done yet, we put the entry here."
I looked around the conspicuously empty room that only had that one entrance we had just came in from.
Even my disciples were looking around, trying and failing to find where the supposed entrance to the palace might be.
I turned back to her, "Umm ok… Where are you hiding that entrance because I definitely don't see anything around here that might suggest that it's an entrance to anywhere else."
She gave me an impish smile and nodded to Odriana.
Our elder sister fished out what looked like a set of car keys from the depths of her cleavage and pressed a button on the remote. I won't comment on the location of where she kept that.
The air behind her shimmered and a rectangular ship with a wedged bottom appeared out of thin air behind her.
Right… I wasn't searching for anything invisible so I missed that…
Elaria jumped in front of me, "Surprise! It's our OSSN troop transport! Isn't it cool?"
I suppose it's pretty cool… I can already kind of imagine what she's going to use it for.
The ship looks big enough to fit about forty people inside with twin barrelled cannons on either side of its bottom wedge. Accompanied with its stealth capabilities, she could be using this to stealth drop troops into enemy territories without them knowing.
Who knows… She might already be doing just that.
"Ok, it's a ship," I noted. "How is that the entrance?"
Elaria took hold of my hand and began dragging me towards it, "I'll show you, Onii-sama! Come on! Onee-sama will drive!"
I turned to our elder sister and she flashed me a card that had 'Lin Kingdom Starship Licence' printed at the top.
…
Could I just ask who is the issuing authority for such a licence??
Unfortunately, I didn't get to question her before Elaria pulled me to the front of the ship, prompting the ramp to open up and ushering us into the ship's interior.
It was nothing fancy, just some chairs built into the walls with seat belts to fasten yourself with and some portholes along the wall to see the outside of the ship. Then again, it's a troop transport, not a pleasure yacht.
While my elder sister went to the cockpit, Elaria gave my disciples a quick warning about flight safety and what to do in an emergency. Which was kind of amusing considering most of them could fly on their own and could even carry this ship along with them if they wanted to.
Once she was done, Elaria quickly strapped herself into the seat beside me while I helped Cai Hong with her straps, the little dragon giggling cutely while looking around her with sparkly eyes.
The ship's engines came to life and the entire ship rumbled once before I felt the ship lift off from the ground.
I looked out the porthole window to see the ground rapidly moving away from us as we ascended…
And ascended… And ascended…
Er… Why are we still continuing our ascent? Aren't we going to smash into the roof at this rate?
I prepared a shield around the ship in case Odriana actually crashed us into the roof but my concerns turned out to be unnecessary since the roof opened up at the last minute, allowing us to fly out unhindered.
Weird design but ok…
But even then, the ship continued to ascend straight upwards so I was really confused on whether Odriana had her leg stuck on the accelerator or something.
Once again, my concerns were proven unnecessary once we rose past the clouds.
Right outside the window was an actual piece of floating island about half the size of the city below it and on top of said island was a giant palace not dissimilar in design to Guiying's palace.
My disciples were obviously stunned by it, even Cai Hong was tugging at my sleeve saying , "Papa! Papa! 'Bwig' castle!"
But the fact that this palace was not built like the rest of the city's futuristic theme was a little puzzling so I turned to my little sister with a raised eyebrow.
She already knew why I was making that face at her so she grinned, "Isn't having a fantasy castle in the sky something Onii-sama had dreamed about?"
I wouldn't say dream but… Well… I guess it was something I may have talked about… Specifically regarding one of those animes I might have seen…
Tsuki turned to her, "How?"
"Hehe~ We broke off parts of the land in the surrounding area and pieced them together with gravity thrusters built into them!" She explained with a proud look on her face.
"And if they run out of power?"
Elaria directed her gaze back to me, "Ehehe… I was hoping if Onii-sama could help us make an inscription as a fail safe for that… It's Onii-sama's new home after all!"
This girl…
This was what they've been building for the past few years huh…
A literal floating castle…
I ain't even mad, that's actually really impressive.
But still… Could you at least show a little restraint, little sister of mine?
Next thing I know, this castle can fly around and fire weapons of mass destruction from above…
…
I just jinxed it didn't I?
