The GATE Academy [Please read description]

Chapter 43: Coldest Goodbyes

"16 hour drive??"

"With a ferry fee," Ginzu added.

So, apparently what the request failed to mention was that we would be going to literally the coldest place in Russia, Oymyakon. And on top of that, the closest airport was in the city of Yakutsk, which was a 16 hour drive... plus a ferry ride across the Lena River. It seemed like the hardest part of this request would be the actual journey to just get there.

Yuki and Ginzu had joined Faith and I in the small bedroom, where we had waited out the rest of the flight. Faith rubbed my back as I stressed out. This trip was probably longer than our trip in Hell!

"Hey, Shizuo, don't worry about it," Faith said softly, "We'll find a way to get there, promise."

Her smooth voice soothed me, so I relaxed a bit, but I was still very much concerned about the transportation issue. No wonder this request paid so well, half of that money would go to transportation alone probably.

"Of course we will," I stood up and stretched. I walked over to the door, turned back to my friends, and smiled, "We don't have a choice now."

I left the room and walked up towards the cockpit. The freshman had already been dropped off somewhere in China for their request, so the body of the jet was unoccupied. I knocked on the door to the cockpit before opening it after I had a verbal confirmation from Argus that I could enter.

"What's up Shizuo?" He said, switching the jet to auto-pilot as he took his headphones off.

I pointed to the empty co-pilot's seat, "May I?"

Argus nodded and I sat down.

"What do you think we should do about the transportation situation? It's a 16 hour drive and a ferry's involved," I said, sulkily looking out of the window.

All three of Argus' eyes rolled, which was quite a sight, as he chuckled, "Now that's not the Shizuo I know. Professor Cloud always tells me about how bright and intelligent of a student you are, how you always pulled through, so I'd just encourage you to tap into that creative brain of yours and figure something out. How'd you travel in Hell? I doubt there was Uber down there!"

He was right, I mean, after our encounter in Mizukuya, I had flown all of my friends and I as a dragon across a frozen tundra. That shouldn't be too different from now, right? Granted, it might not have been a 16 hour flight, but I was up in the air for quite a while. And then we got assistance from Susano, the god of storms. His wolves carried us for another substantial amount of time across the remainder of the trip. It seems this time there would be no Susano, so I considered the first option. Maintaining the dragon's form was no problem, and by increasing my body heat enough, I could keep my friends warm...

Argus smiled as he saw my expression change, he could tell that I had reached a conclusion.

"Figure it out?" He asked, grinning.

I nodded, "I think so, it may take a lot from me, but it should be a lot faster and cheaper than any other way."

"Good," he said, "But I hope it's ready now, because we'll be landing in about ten minutes."

I peered over the dashboard of the jet and tried to look through the clouds. Though they were thick with the winter season, I was able to make out a city landscape illuminated by lights. Because of the time changes, we had actually skipped 19 hours ahead. So instead of arriving at 1 in the morning of the next day, we arrived in Yakutsk at 8:30 pm the next day. We were coming from the south, as we had came from China, but a thought crossed my mind.