Chapter 103
It took only a few days to put together the buggy frame and attach everything to it.
There were some difficulties since we had to adjust the pipe lengths every time, but....
[At the speed of light, going 3.336 nanoseconds gets you 1 m, right? I had it all set up in advance.]
“You could count nanoseconds?”
[I'm a god, so of course I can. Anyway, even in your medieval history, there were plenty of people making a killing off units, right? To prevent that, I drew a clear line using the power of religion.]
There was no problem to begin with, since the metric system was already firmly established.
Akion had wondered how the metric system was maintained, but apparently the Heavenly Lord delivered a one-meter-marked ruler weighing one kilogram every cycle.
“What did you make it out of?”
[A diamond with 99.999% purity.]
“Oh my god.”
The ruler did look obscenely expensive, though. Anyway.
As Akion wondered whether he should ask the Heavenly Lord to make him some industrial diamonds someday,
he headed to the lab.
“What is this?”
And when he reached the front of the lab building, he saw that a gigantic mini-car track had been set up.
“Ah, you've arrived!”
And the three dragons who seemed to be the culprits poked their heads up from beyond the track.
“Where did you get the clothes and the drill...?”
“That child Clad lent them to us!”
“This is truly convenient. We can drill precise holes, and easily drive in these threaded screws!”
“If they're yours, I'm sorry. We'll borrow them for a little while!”
Their expensive clothes were gone, and all three had changed into work clothes.
They were also holding tools made in Akion's workshop.
“Tower Master. Your Highness the Imperial Princess.”
He tried calling out to the Tower Master and Flare to stop them,
“I'm sorry, Akion. I need to adjust the second mini-car a little more.”
“I'm sorry, Young Master. I've finished all the assignments you gave me, so may I focus on the mini-cars for now?”
“Good grief....”
They were dragons too, so what else could he have expected?
The two of them were completely absorbed in taking apart the spare mini-cars Akion had made, piece by piece.
“Wait! Shouldn't that section have a steeper slope?!”
“Flare's right!!”
As much as they might like wheeled things, these were dragons—the pillars of the Empire?
Still, he figured he could at least keep their attention diverted while he developed the buggy.
Above all, he wanted to give the buggy he was developing as a sort of gift, so he had been working on it in secret from everyone.
And so, relieved, Akion entered the lab.
“Workshop Master! You've arrived?”
“Yes, yes. Is the shaft turning without any problems?”
Akion's buggy had currently been designed with shaft drive instead of a chain.
He wanted to put the engine in front because of the center of gravity,
but the shaft would also be useful for various machines he planned to make later.
“There is actually a problem. The hydraulic pressure in the suspension is too strong, so it won't compress quickly enough.”
“The oil passage is too narrow, or the oil is too viscous. It would be hard to find oil that's easier to obtain and purer than what we're using now... Let's widen the oil passage.”
“Good grief. We have to take this tightly packed thing apart again...!”
Alongside it, they also developed hydraulic suspension to make full use of the hydraulic system.
More precisely, they managed to implement coilover suspension, with a spring fitted around the outside as well.
“But Lord Clad, this hydraulic system could later be used in technology that stamps things out of sheet metal.”
“You mean pressing sheet metal and stamping something out?”
“Remember the injection molds I told you about? The operating principle is the exact opposite, though.”
“Ah! This is giving me a sudden surge of motivation!”
The structure itself wasn't terribly complicated, so it was enough to pay attention to a few things, such as sealing and the precision of the hydraulic cylinder.
After wrestling with the hydraulic dampers for several days, Akion finally found himself facing:
“Heh, heheh. This is making my blood run hot...!”
“Right?”
Though it was a prototype without even seat belts, a buggy had finally been completed.
*
This buggy used a motor as its power source.
And the fuel for that motor was mana.
What Akion had taken care to do was connect the fuel compartment where the magic stone was mounted to the steering wheel as well.
Because....
- Ssssss....
“Wow. It's really absorbing mana?”
Its fuel efficiency would be absurdly good anyway,
but he had wondered whether, as an emergency measure, it might also run by absorbing mana from the driver holding the steering wheel.
“For now, stop supplying it with mana and let's try running it on the magic stone alone. Press the accelerator.”
“The accelerator, you mean? Let's see....”
Of course, they ought to make sure it never needed that, but there was no harm in having the option.
Thus, out on the plains beyond the capital, Aicirel sat in the driver's seat and pressed the accelerator according to Akion's instructions.
- Whiiiiiiiiing~!!!
“Whaaaat?!”
- CRASH!!! Thud-thud-thud!
She shot forward, and the car promptly rolled over and over.
“Phew, I thought I was going to die!”
- Whiiiiiiiiing!!!
Even so, it had been built sturdily enough not to crumple,
and the buggy, back on its wheels, began tearing across the ground according to Aicirel's control.
“Hahaha! The propulsion is far beyond what we expected!”
“Mm-hmm. I expected it.”
Akion had known this would happen, anyway.
The motor had been custom-designed by him, with every coil wound by hand, so there was no way it could fail to produce such powerful output.
Unlike an internal-combustion automobile, this motor-powered buggy was essentially a tiny electric vehicle, with overwhelmingly fewer parts.
- Vwoom~!
- Squeeeal!!
“Wahahaha! Kyahaha!!”
The battery that powered the motor was a standard magic stone.
Since it was no different from an electric vehicle, they only needed to replace it.
Of course, it was less efficient than a mana incandescent lamp. A motorized device carrying people shouldn't be more energy-efficient than a mana incandescent lamp.
And so, the first test drive without seat belts....
“Akion, this is incredible!”
earned tremendous praise from Miss Aicirel, the test driver.
“It's an awkward riding experience because it's different from riding a horse...! But once you get used to it, it's definitely different. Unlike a horse, I have a much clearer sense that I'm controlling it myself, and it follows every movement of my hands exactly...!!”
“I see, I see. Anyway, was there anything uncomfortable about steering?”
“Oh, there was! It was─.”
In this era, the only things people rode were carriages, horses, and their parents' backs.
In an age where that was the norm, a new riding machine called an automobile had appeared out of nowhere,
so would people who rode horses really not be interested?
“Professor Akion! I heard the rumor and came to see for myself!”
“Ah, Lord Montefio.”
Among them was Ben Montefio, commander of the Imperial Mage Corps and the power behind the Department of Magic, who enjoyed horseback riding as a hobby.
The mage had taken an interest in the rumor, ‘Akion's lab has created a magic tool faster than a horse!’ and come to visit,
“Good heavens, it's nothing but bones.”
But when he saw the buggy—the first automobile in this romance-fantasy world—he probably wasn't all that impressed.
That was understandable, since Akion had stripped away everything except the necessary frames and components, such as the roll cage, to keep it lightweight.
In its current prototype form, it looked like a skinny horse with thick bones.
“Would you like to take it for a ride?”
“Hmm-hmm. It would be awkward to refuse when you're being invited.”
But hadn't he said Akion had made it?
Honestly, he was curious.
And above all, this old mage....
- Thump! Thump!
The moment he saw the buggy... he felt as if he were facing a wild horse.
A wild horse that only pretended to be tame, but wasn't tame at all... a wild horse that offered him its back and challenged him, ‘Come on, try taming me.’
“Perfect timing. Since Lord Montefio is here, shall we try running it without the magic stone?”
“Hmm? Is this a magic tool powered by the rider's mana?”
“I've made that possible too. I haven't tested it properly yet... Would you like to try?”
“No harm in trying.”
Still, worried about him, Akion securely strapped him into the seat with a three-point harness.
Montefio had been about to brush him off as needlessly worried, but after taking hold of the steering wheel....
- Shasasas....
“Hwooo....”
He already felt slightly bewitched by the buggy greedily sucking away his mana.
With it sucking away this much mana, just how fast could it actually go compared to a horse....
The last time he had ridden like this was back in the West, when he had ridden a famed horse across a broad field without a single rock.
“You may dash at top speed. Just keep your defensive magic ready at all times.”
“Hahaha! I've never fallen from a horse or been injured since I began riding! Don't worry.”
By Akion's standards, approximately 70 km/h.
Could this buggy really keep up with that speed?
And would it really be safe at that speed?
- Clench!
Carrying those expectations and anxieties, Montefio pressed the accelerator,
- Whiiiiiiir─!!
- Krrrraaaakakakak!!!
“Uwoooook?!”
Unlike Aicirel, he was using his own mana.
And since his skill at handling mana was no joke, a large amount of mana was injected into the motor as well.
- Whiiiiiiir!!
As a result, the motor spun at tremendous speed, as if bursting into flames, and shot the buggy carrying him forward like an arrow.
- Whiiiiiiir!!
- Thump! Ka-thump!!
The tremendous acceleration coursing through his entire body.
The wind battering him so fiercely that it was difficult to keep his eyes open.
Even the tremendous vibrations from the high-speed drive traveled through his hands.
“Ha, haha....”
That time in his youth when he had raced alongside a famed horse?
Those exhilarating days when he had roamed the western plains without a care in the world?
- Whiiiiiiiiing!!!
- Rattle-rattle!!
“Hahahahahaha!! A-hahahahaha!!!!”
Montefio firmly believed that he was happier now.
It was running one and a half times faster than the fastest famed horse he had ever ridden!
And unlike a horse that sometimes refused to obey, this steel horse responded to every turn of the steering wheel!
“You really love this.”
“A man is naturally helpless before riding, conquest, and speed.”
The two watching Montefio tear around wildly then
- Tap.
“Huh?”
“Hmm?”
felt hands gripping their shoulders and turned around.
There stood,
“Akion.”
“Gasp.”
“Urk.”
five dragons led by the Tower Master and Flare.
As Lord Clad, who had been beside Akion at the time, later put it,
“What is that?”
Though he had survived countless battlefields and hardships,
the look in their eyes as they gazed at the buggy was....
“Eek.”
“Guh....”
“Akion... that wheeled thing going so, so fast... why didn't you tell us about it? Was there something you were upset with me about...?”
“No, that's not it....”
“If not, then what is it?”
“Hek.”
Of everything he had seen in his not-inconsiderably-long life... it was the greediest, shiniest look he had ever witnessed.
“Well, you see. It was because you mustn't get hurt.”
“We?”
“Akion doesn't need us anymore!!”
“What am I supposed to live for now that I've lived this long?! Woe is me!!”
“Aww.”
Naturally, Akion was at a loss.