Chapter 94
We were to head for a place called Veronica Gorge.
However, there were too many of us to use the La○d Cr○uiser Pr○do we had been using until now.
So I bought a new vehicle. It was the T○yota Hi○ce Commuter, often said to be the most frequently stolen vehicle.
Now, though, it feels a little strange to say this after buying a new vehicle...
“We ended up deciding to travel with the mage who fought the royal family and us without even asking what everyone thought—”
“Meow?”
“If anyone isn't keen on it, I can give you some money so you can stay in the royal capital, you know?”
“Don't say that, boss!”
“A little late to say that, nya? Aristocrats being tyrannical is nothing unusual, nya.”
The princess gave a wry smile at Myaree's words.
“If Kenichi is fine with it, then I'm fine with it.”
“Marrow Trading Company's Secret to Making Money—Business isn't about judging the other party's character, but their financial power.”
A secret to making money—so there was such a thing. Basically, it meant that if they were rich, you should associate with them for the time being, even if you disliked them.
Everyone was in favor of my opinion. And since the royal family had sent the princess to stay with us, they probably had no intention of remaining hostile.
Besides, I did not want to quarrel with old lady Snowflake's granddaughter. If something went wrong and I killed her or seriously injured her, I would feel sorry for the old woman.
Even so, if they insisted on being hostile, there would be no helping it... But for now, they did not seem to be showing any such signs.
While my family and I discussed the matter, Kaldon-san was circling the Hi○ce.
“W-what is this? A horse-drawn wagon? Does it move without horses?”
Everyone had cried out in astonishment when the vehicle fell from the sky—but Kaldon-san, who seemed to love this sort of machinery, was the first to bombard me with questions.
“It is a summoned beast that obeys me. It runs by consuming a special oil I made.”
I opened the door and looked at the driver's seat. There was a key in the ignition, so I pulled it out.
There was only one sliding door on the side. When I pressed the remote button on the key, it opened automatically.
“Whoa! It opened by itself! Is it magic?”
“Well, something like that. I shall put everyone inside and transport you to the site of the landslide at Veronica Gorge.”
“H-how fast does it travel?”
“Without stopping, I think we can reach the gorge sometime today. Assuming nothing goes wrong, of course...”
“Good heavens! That's incredible...”
The female mage Melissa was stunned as well.
“You're coming along too, right?”
“O-of course. The sooner we arrive, the better...”
“This is incredible—a soft wheel? What on earth is it made of?”
“Well, it is a summoned beast, so some of its parts are soft.”
Of course, that was a complete lie.
“Good heavens...”
Kaldon-san crawled underneath the floor of the vehicle.
As a mechanical enthusiast who had automated a draisine, he was probably interested in the mechanisms of automobiles too.
But if he investigated too thoroughly, would he realize that it was merely a machine?
As long as I did not show him the engine, I doubted he would be able to imagine how it worked...
Leaving him to it, I checked the princess's luggage.
“Lilith-sama, how much luggage do you have?”
“The maids should be coming soon, I believe...”
While we waited, I stored the house and Nyamena's shed in my Item Box.
Then I put away the toilet too—brought out the Yu○bo from my Item Box, and filled in the hole. Leave no trace behind, as they say.
The hole had been dug quite deep, so it should not produce any smells.
“Oh! Is this the summoned beast that rampaged in the audience chamber?”
Kaldon-san, the mechanical enthusiast, crawled out from beneath the Hi○ce covered in dirt.
“The one that rampaged was two sizes larger than this.”
“I see!”
Once I had stored our house and finished cleaning up, about ten maids carried over bags full of luggage.
There were ten bags in all.
“Normally, we would also bring a tent, but since you have your house, I suppose that will not be necessary?”
“That's right.”
I brought a pallet out of my Item Box and had them load the princess's luggage onto it.
“Store!”
When the luggage vanished into my Item Box, the maids cried out in delight.
“Amazing!”
As I grinned, Anemone tugged on my trousers.
“Kenichi, you're grinning too much.”
“Ha-ha, sorry. Well then, Lilith-sama, shall we depart?”
“Oh! We ride inside this, do we?”
“Choose any seat you like.”
“I would prefer to sit beside you—but hey! Kaldon! Enough already!”
Kaldon-san had crawled beneath the Hi○ce again, but he came back out.
“Yes! My apologies. I got excited despite my age.”
“It cannot be helped.”
He climbed into the vehicle with the draisine he had left nearby.
“Lilith-sama, this way, please.”
I opened the passenger-side door and escorted the princess inside.
“Indeed.”
However, Anemone and Bell, who had been denied the passenger seat, were both sulking.
Important people came first. It could not be helped.
“All right, everyone, climb aboard. Sit wherever you like.”
“Kuro-suke, let's go to the very back again.”
“Meow.”
Anemone and Bell sat in the seats directly behind the driver's seat.
“I-is it safe to ride in this...?”
The one leaning back in fear was Mairen-san, the bespectacled head maid.
“A steel body, an interior made from materials I have never seen, and wonderfully crafted seats. This is magnificent!”
Kaldon-san was excited as he examined the vehicle's interior and began inspecting how his own seat had been made.
“Is everyone aboard?”
“Yeees!”
“Boss! Even a large horse-drawn carriage couldn't carry this many people!”
Nyamena's voice came from the rearmost seat. Apparently, even the large carriages that ran between cities could carry only seven or eight people.
“Nyamena, are you feeling all right?”
“I'm fine.”
“How's your appetite?”
“I'm a little hungry...”
“Here, chew on this.”
I took a bag of bread from my Item Box and had it passed to the back.
“A drink would be nice, though...”
“Don't be so fussy, nya.”
Once everything was ready, I pressed the switch below and to the right of the steering wheel. The power sliding door closed, and we were ready to depart.
“Amazing!” “It's magic!”
Voices came from the back.
“All right, let's go!”
“Ooh!”
The vehicle began moving slowly. Since it was an automatic, it was easier to drive than the La○d Cr○uiser Pr○do.
We passed through the castle's rear gate and greeted the astonished guards.
We crossed the stone bridge over the moat and entered the castle town.
The gorge we were heading for lay east of the royal capital. But first, we were going to Kaldon-san's family home.
“Kaldon-san, please guide us.”
“Yes, yes! Leave it to me!”
When Kaldon-san came up behind me, he began giving me directions.
“Do you determine this vehicle's destination by turning that round wheel?”
“Well, yes, more or less.”
I could not give him a very detailed explanation.
I glanced behind me in the rearview mirror, and that mage named Melissa was quiet.
Well, quiet was good enough for me.
According to Kaldon-san, his family home was at the eastern edge of the castle town.
It was also apparently located along the highway leading to Veronica Gorge. That was convenient.
They seemed to live in a huge mansion away from the crowded city. Besides, if one was conducting magical research, it was probably better to live somewhere with few people around.
Following his directions, we left the city and crossed a bridge over a large river.
I looked both ways along the river from the bridge, but it did not seem to be used much. I could see only small boats.
“Do magical tools under development ever explode?”
“They do not explode, but magic stones can burst and injure people.”
Was that like overcharging a rechargeable battery?
After crossing the bridge and continuing through the suburbs for a while, we saw a large mansion amid vast fields.
Since his family had been court mages for generations, going back to his grandfather's time, they must have been well paid.
“Well, Kenichi? If you became mine, you could live in a mansion like that, you know?”
“To live, all I need is a small hut and an Item Box. One pot is enough to wash one's face, rinse one's hands and feet, and cook. A person needs only half a room while awake and one room while asleep.”
“Tch! That's why people without greed are so difficult to deal with.”
“Even so, this vehicle—is it a summoned beast? It rides as smoothly as though we were on top of a cloud. It hardly shakes at all, and even bumpy roads do not bother it!”
“Indeed. Traveling by carriage is exhausting in itself, but this is incredible.”
We passed through the mansion's gate, made from thin black iron bars, and arrived at Kaldon-san's family home.
I stopped the Hi○ce in front of the two-story mansion with its beautiful blue roof.
An elderly maid holding a broom stood in front of the mansion.
“Why, young master! What a sudden homecoming... Is this horseless vehicle your invention, young master?”
“Carolina, please stop calling me young master. I am rather old myself now.”
After Kaldon-san explained various things to the maid, we went together to a wooden shed a short distance from the mansion.
When he opened the wooden door, we found the dim interior packed with dust-covered tools whose purposes were impossible to guess.
“It should be somewhere at the very back... I just hope Mother hasn't thrown it away...”
As he searched for the item, a voice called from outside.
“Karl! If you're coming home, at least send word that you're coming home!”
“Mother, you haven't thrown away Grandfather's invention, have you?”
A tall, elegant-looking elderly woman entered the shed.
She wore a blue vest-like kimono over a white dress.
“I would have loved to throw out or burn this junk, but you told me not to, so I have not.”
“Mrs. Holt, it has been a long time.”
At some point, the princess had gotten out of the Hi○ce and come over to the shed.
“What?! Why, Princess! What brings Your Highness to a place like this? Carolina! Carolina! Prepare some tea!”
“There is no need. Once Kaldon finds the luggage he is searching for, we must head to Veronica Gorge.”
“The gorge?”
“The gorge has collapsed, and apparently the highway is impassable.”
“T-that is a grave emergency! In that case, is Your Highness personally going to direct the construction work?”
“Something like that.”
While the woman and the princess talked, I searched for the item in the dark shed.
“Found it! This must be it!”
What he held up was a black magical tool unmistakably shaped like '不'.
“This is it! There is no mistake. Then the one I have must also have been made by Kaldon-san's grandfather.”
“I remember it well because my grandfather used to boast that it was revolutionary.”
It certainly was revolutionary, but without knowing what it was used for, it would end up as nothing more than an incomprehensible magical tool.
Once I took the magical tool from Kaldon-san, we set off for the gorge again in the Hi○ce.
Kaldon-san said he would return to the castle on the self-propelled draisine he had unloaded from the vehicle.
Apparently, he wanted to test the durability of his invention.
He was certainly dedicated to his research. He had crawled beneath the vehicle and carefully examined the suspension and other parts, so perhaps he would create something based on it for draisines and carriages.
I had wondered what I would do if he said he wanted to come with us, but he had work at the castle, so that was probably not an option.
------◇◇◇------
Driving the new vehicle—the Hi○ce Commuter—we headed for a place called Veronica Gorge with nine people aboard.
Apparently, a large-scale landslide had occurred there, blocking the highway.
A bridge on the highway had also collapsed before we arrived at the royal capital. That meant two major highways were now impassable.
The royal capital imported food from all four directions to sustain its many residents, and it was usually somewhat short on food. Even bruised fruit that would not normally be sold in the countryside was being sold there.
The fact that the highway was blocked also meant that if the Empire invaded a border town, reinforcements could not be sent.
The king himself had asked me to lend him my strength.
With the king's daughter, the princess, accompanying us, we headed straight for the site of the collapse.
We took breaks along the way, while the Hi○ce raced down the highway.
After passing through a sparsely settled agricultural region, we entered a shallow forest. However, the trees beside the highway had been cut down, probably to be transported to the royal capital.
If people settled here, the land might become farmland.
But clearing land here had to be done entirely by hand—or with horses and oxen, at best.
Using the enormous golem that had been working in the royal capital would probably make tasks like pulling up tree roots much easier...
“Ooooh! This thing goes incredibly fast!”
The princess was delighted in the passenger seat, but I wanted her to fasten her seat belt. It would be a disaster if anything happened to her...
For that reason, I kept the vehicle's speed considerably lower for safety.
“Even so, we are driving quite slowly.”
Indeed, the road was unpaved and bumpy, making it rather dangerous. Although it had four-wheel drive, its off-road performance was probably inferior to that of the La○d Cr○uiser.
“Good heavens!”
“Is everyone in the back all right?”
“We're fine! It's so spacious back here, nya!”
“I-it's considerably better than a carriage.”
Melissa honestly offered her opinion while looking at the scenery outside.
Anemone was hidden behind the rearview mirror, but apparently she was reading one of the books we had brought back from the castle on her tablet.
Whenever I read in a vehicle, I got motion sickness. I wondered whether she was all right.
“Lilith-sama, are golems not used to clear land in places like this?”
“Hmm... I have not heard of it. Usually, they gather beastfolk known for their strength and put them to work, apparently.”
“Would it not be possible to expand the farmlands by deploying golems, so that food would not have to be imported from all over the country?”
“You are right, but large golems can operate for only about an hour.”
The princess glanced sideways at Melissa, who was sitting behind us.
Working one hour a day—stationing a mage in the countryside just for that was certainly inefficient.
“I used summoned beasts to clear my own fields, though...”
“Can your summoned beasts operate all day?”
“Yes, as long as they have the special oil they consume as food.”
The princess was impressed by how long my summoned beast—the heavy machinery—could operate, but she also seemed puzzled that I had cleared land and created fields myself.
“It is unusual to find someone as eccentric as you. Do people not normally employ others so they can take it easy themselves?”
“I enjoy making things. I think I am rather like Kaldon-san, whom we met at the castle.”
“Ah, I see...”
The princess seemed satisfied with my explanation. I had said it myself, but perhaps Kaldon-san and I really would get along.
Still, if I showed her too much advanced technology, she might figure things out. Kaldon-san was brilliant.
“Lilith-sama, we left the castle a little late, but if we hurry, we should still reach the site today...”
“No. By the time we are traveling through the mountain pass, the sun will be setting, will it not?”
“Probably...”
“The mountain road is winding and narrow. There is a cliff beside it, and driving after dark would be suicide.”
A mountain road without guardrails. I felt as though I had seen roads like that in videos of foreign countries in my original world...
It certainly sounded dangerous—a truly terrible road.
The mountain pass leading from my hometown to the city had once been winding and notoriously dangerous too.
To cross the pass, passengers used to get off and push the bus, then spend the night at the summit. Now, the same journey took thirty minutes by car.
“Then shall we spend the night somewhere?”
“There is a post town at the beginning of the climb. Let us spend the night there.”
“Is there a high-class inn suitable for Your Highness?”
“There is a main inn, certainly—but what will you do?”
“We can set up our house outside the town...”
“Are you saying you intend to throw me out?”
The princess grabbed my arm while I was holding the steering wheel, which was dangerous.
“Of course not. I would never do that. But if we camp outside and anything happens to you...”
“With three archmages here, what could possibly happen?”
“That is true, but...”
“As I said before we departed, the maids are highly skilled as well.”
So they were not merely the princess's playthings. Indeed, they could hardly have become her attendants without possessing some ability.
A vast mountain range stretching from side to side came into view through a break in the forest. We would have to cross that...? The peaks looked to be three to five thousand meters high.
I wondered how high the pass itself was.
This mountain range stretched from far north of the royal capital all the way south past Dahlia, dividing the Kingdom in two.
That was why the places one could cross it were probably limited. This must be Veronica Gorge.
After continuing for a while, we saw a post town surrounded by black walls.
As we drew closer, however, I saw windows in the supposed wall. It was actually a wall integrated into the buildings.
In other words, a circular building resembling a gigantic tire encircled the outer perimeter. Naturally, there were buildings inside it as well.
Apparently, its population was around ten thousand. Its name was—Agrostemma.
A little before the town, we stopped where a small stream flowed. We should be able to obtain water here.
And since we would be climbing the pass, it might be best to secure a little extra water.
“All right, this will be our campsite. Everyone out.” I stored the vehicle in my Item Box.
Then I cleared the grass from the place where we would set up the house. Bell immediately began patrolling the surrounding area.
“Oh! What is that?!”
The princess seemed interested in the machine I was using to noisily cut the grass.
“It is a magical tool for cutting grass.”
“That looks like fun! Let me try it too.”
“It is dangerous! The rotating blade will shred anything it touches, and a hit could cause fatal injuries.”
“Princess, please do not do anything dangerous.”
“Very well!”
After the head maid admonished her, the princess turned away. Grass cutters were seriously prone to accidents, after all.
“All right! Summon house!”
After finishing the grass cutting, I set up the house and placed Nyamena's shed beside it. Since we would be staying only one day, there was no need for the toilet.
I also took the pallet loaded with the princess's luggage out of my Item Box, and the maids carried the necessary items into the house.
Well, the women would sleep inside, while I would sleep outside again. If it rained, I could put up the tent.
Since we were near the town, there were many passersby, and they stared at us, but I was used to it by now.
I brought out a table and began preparing the meal.
“Come to think of it, I might be able to use that.”
I took the lesser dragon we had slain at the castle out of my Item Box.
A huge black body covered in scales emerged with a rumble that shook the ground.
“Damn! That's my dragon!”
“I was the one who killed it, so it's mine now, right? Isn't that so, Your Highness?”
“Well, I suppose that is how it works.”
“...”
Melissa looked genuinely upset. But I wanted to ask her all sorts of questions about summoning magic and find out how it worked...
Since I had been claiming that my heavy machinery and vehicle were summoned through summoning magic, I could hardly ask her about it.
“Boss, are you thinking of eating the lesser dragon?”
“Yes. I hear dragons are delicious, so shouldn't a lesser dragon be delicious too?”
“I've heard that too, nya.”
“Let's try eating it. I feel bad for the summoner over there, though.”
“Tch!”
Perhaps that was a little too pointed. We would have to cooperate from now on, so I should try to get along with her.
“If you don't want to eat the dragon you summoned, I can prepare something else...”
“I don't mind.”
“You aren't attached to it?”
“Even though I made a Contract with it, it's still a monster...”
So a Contract was necessary to summon a monster and make it obey one's commands. That made sense; without one, it would merely be a monster.
It might even attack its summoner.
“The meal will take some time. Could you give Anemone a simple explanation of summoning magic while I prepare it?”
“Why don't you teach her yourself?!”
“Mine is self-taught, so I can't explain it very well. Show her the proper magical theory of someone who graduated from a real school.”
“Fine. I can at least teach her the absolute basics—”
Melissa began explaining summoning magic.