Chapter 2: The Kingdom's Secret Weapon part 1

The middle of the 2nd month, 1,547th year, Continental Calendar
“Ohh! Why Your Majesty, welcome and thank you for gracing us with
your presence.”
When I passed through the door into the Jewel Voice Broadcast studio
that we had set up in the castle, a well-built middle-aged nobleman
welcomed me with an exaggerated flourish.
This was Moltov Juniro, the father of Ivan Juniro, who played Silvan,
the Kingdom of Friedonia’s first tokusatsu hero.
“Hey, Moltov,” I said. “How are things going on the program?”
“Sire, we’ve been doing our best to follow the example you set.”
The truth was, the other day, partly because his son’s Silvan had become
so popular, I had decided to go all the way and appoint Moltov as the
director of broadcast program production. I’d done that because I wanted to
be able to keep the programs in production even when I was busy.
Moltov, like his son Ivan, had an ability that made it so there was no
need for special effects, so I’d decided that would make him a good pick for
the position.
Moltov stroked his beard and said, “Well, this program-making business
is deeper than you might think. There are things the people want to see,
things that they don’t want to see, things that we want them to see, things
that we don’t want them to see... It’s quite difficult to strike a proper
balance.”
Moltov groaned in consternation.
I was relieved to see him taking his job so seriously. “Do you want to
quit?”
“No! I appreciate the challenge!” Moltov responded with a lively smile.
Somehow, I felt that that was a better look for him than when he was
trying to foist his daughter Siena off on me.
On that subject, Siena, who was now appearing alongside her brother
Ivan as a supporting heroine (something similar to **ckle in St**nger), had
said with a gentle smile, “I believe my father has found his purpose in life.
There are a limited number of ways to rise in stature as a noble. You can
distinguish yourself in the military or administration, or you can become a
maternal relative of the Royal House. Those have always been the only
ways, so he had been wholeheartedly pursuing them. However, Your
Majesty, you taught my father something: the joy of creating a broadcast
program to entertain the people. Thank you so much.”
Sigh... She was such a good daughter, I almost had to doubt she was
actually a blood relative of that boisterous father and son.
Anyway, let’s get back on topic.
Like Siena had said, Moltov was enthusiastically working on creating
broadcast programs.
I extended my hand to him. “I have great expectations, Moltov. If you
keep developing your craft, I’m sure eventually I’ll be leaving a jewel in
your care.”
“My word! You’d give me a jewel?!”
“Yeah. I’d want you to use it not for public broadcasts, but to open your
own broadcasting station.”
In other words, making him a private broadcaster. If all we had was a
public broadcaster, there were limits to the number of programs that could
be produced, after all. In order to make such a thing happen, there would
need to be further advances in technology, and the appropriate laws would
need to be put in place, so it couldn’t happen right away. Still, it was best to
start preparing for five, ten years from now.
Moltov gave a jolly laugh. “You’ll be giving me my own independent
station, huh! The dreams are endless!”
“Yeah. So, work hard for it.”
“Leave it to me!” Moltov thumped his chest proudly. “By the way, sire,
what were you doing here today?”
“Oh, yeah, that’s right. I think Juna was supposed to be around here
somewhere...”
“If you mean Ms. Juna Doma, she is currently shooting the educational
program.” Moltov pointed towards the studio.
It just so happened, Juna was currently in the middle of a live broadcast
for the educational program. The song she was currently singing and
dancing to was a children’s song from the other world with a slightly Asian
style. The way Juna looked as she danced with the strings wrapped around
her sleeves fluttering was just like a celestial maiden. It made me want to
pray, “Close the pathway through the clouds.”
Eventually the broadcast came to an end. Juna noticed me and rushed
over, still in her stage outfit. “What’s going on, Your Majesty? I didn’t think
you were planning to come here today, were you?”
“Well, no, I wasn’t, but... I had a favor I wanted to ask of you.”
“Of me?” Juna asked.
I nodded. “For about three days, starting tomorrow, I’m going to be
away from the castle to meet with someone. I’d like to have you escort me.”
“I don’t mind, but... you’re leaving the capital unattended for three
whole days?” Juna tilted her head to the side, looking slightly perplexed.
“With all due respect, won’t the government’s work be impeded by your
absence?”
“Oh, that should be fine. That thing I had Genia developing is complete
now.”
“What... am I supposed to say...?” Juna was at a loss for words.
I had waited for Juna to get changed, then we’d gone to the office. Now
she was looking at the thing I had been talking about.
Yeah... I could understand.
I had put in an order with Ludwin’s fiancée and self-proclaimed
“overscientist,” Genia Maxwell, to have her develop a certain thing for me.
My ability, Living Poltergeists, could imbue objects with a part of my
consciousness; could make them float; and could allow me to see them
from an overhead view; but it was only effective within a range of a
hundred meters or so. If I had a pen doing paperwork in the governmental
affairs office, I had to stay within a one hundred meter radius of it at all
times. Because of that, during the time just after the handover of the throne
when things had been really busy, I’d never left the capital for more than a
day unless there was a crisis.
Also, as you already know, this ability’s effective range could be ignored
if the target was a doll; but, unfortunately, dolls weren’t able to write very
well. It was easy to write when I was controlling the pen directly, but for
some reason, it was unusually hard to do it when I had a doll holding the
pen. It was like using a remote control to operate a robot arm that was
holding a pen. It took an awful lot of focus, and what I wrote still ended up
looking like chicken scratch.
I couldn’t have messy writing on important documents. There were a lot
of documents where it could cause major problems if they were misread.
In the end, even though dolls negated the range limitation of my ability,
that hadn’t changed the situation which was keeping me from leaving the
castle for an extended period of time. I’d known that if I’d had a machine
that could write letters, I could do my work from a distance, and that would
let me leave the castle without worries.
That was around when I’d discovered the highly capable Genia.
She had used dragon bones as a basic frame, combining them with
various mechanical and organic parts to create the mechanical dragon,
Mechadra. I’d figured, Maybe she could create a doll that moves like a
human hand.
With that thought in mind, I’d made the order, and just the other day,
Factory Arm #1 (named by yours truly) had been completed.
From the side, it looked like an arm had bizarrely sprouted from an Lshaped platform. In simple terms, it was like a prosthetic arm or a
manipulator. However, it was strangely realistic and human-like in a way
that was creepy and off-putting. That much was evident from Juna’s
reaction to seeing the thing.
Oh, Genia, why did you have to make it so realistic?
Well, I’d experimented with using Living Poltergeists to control Factory
Arm #1. The artificial arm moved smoothly, grasping the pen and writing
letters on a piece of paper.
...It was twice as creepy in motion. So this was the “uncanny valley,”
huh?
“When the bureaucrats see this thing doing work, they’re always scared
stiff,” I said. “Oh, and when the maids bring tea, they often scream and
faint.”
“I completely understand how they feel.” Even Juna’s smile was
twitching a little as she said that. It did look like something out of a horror
story, after all.
“In any event, now that I can have Factory Arm #1 do work for me, I’m
able to travel outside the capital,” I said. “I’m already having a number of
them made.”
“Having a whole bunch of them moving... I don’t even want to imagine
what that looks like,” Juna said sounding apologetic, but I agreed with her.
The arm dolls, in an empty room, writing endlessly. Even imagining it
was grinding away at my SAN stat.
Juna shook her head, trying to put the image out of her mind so she
could get things back on track. “But, sire, why do you want to have me with
you as your partner? Wouldn’t the princess, Aisha, or Roroa do just as
well?”
“Hmm... Considering who I’m dealing with this time, I want you to lend
me your strength,” I said. “I think for the others... they’d be no match for
her.”
“Her? Who are you talking about?”
“National Defense Force Commander Excel Walter.”
“...I see. Grandmother, huh? That’s why you want me.”
Juna seemed satisfied with that explanation. However, she soon cocked
her head to the side quizzically.
“But, sire, Grandmother has been your ally all along, hasn’t she? When
you say they’d be no match for her, is there some reason you would be
taking a stance against her?”
When I saw the worried look on Juna’s face, I said, “Oh, that’s not it,”
and shook my head. “The reason we’re leaving the capital for three days is
to survey the progress on a project I’ve had Excel working on; but aside
from that... I’ve heard that Marx recently made contact with Excel.”
“The chamberlain? Now why would he do that...? Was it for something
important?”
“Oh, no, nothing that important. He didn’t seem to be making any secret
of it. He was just getting her advice on some things, but... it’s what he was
getting advice about that worries me...”
“...And what do you think he was getting advice about?”
“It seems... it had something to do with a ‘sexual instructor’ for me.”
The moment I said that, Juna winced a little.
Sexual instructors were a custom of the upper classes in this country.
(The knights, the nobility, and higher.) When a man came of age, an
“experienced woman” would be dispatched. To ensure that he wouldn’t
embarrass himself when he took a wife, she would teach him, well...
“bedroom etiquette,” and other such things.
It was standard for those lessons to be taught at a desk like a health and
physical education class, but there were some houses that included “handson learning.”
I scratched my head awkwardly. “I’m turning twenty this year, and I’ve
got beauties like Liscia, Aisha, and you by my side. I guess they thought
that, as a healthy young man, if they just left us alone, I’d lay my hands on
at least one of you eventually, so it never came up before. But because I’ve
taken so long, Marx has gotten impatient, and he’s been saying that maybe
some education is needed. It seems Hakuya agreed with him on that.”
“I see... So that’s what it was.” Juna nodded, her expression still
twitching.
This country’s Royal House was on the verge of extinction due to the
succession crisis that had broken out upon the death of the king before the
last one, so Marx was always badgering me to “hurry and produce an heir.”
While the wedding had yet to take place, I was already betrothed to Liscia
and the others, so it apparently didn’t count as premarital sexual relations in
his mind. That was how bad the shortage of royals in this country was.
“And so, the two of them turned to Excel, who’s five hundred years old
and has a bounty of experience when it comes to romantic affairs,” I went
on. “‘We don’t have a good woman for the job in mind,’ they said. When
they did...”
“...I have a bad feeling about this.”
“...Excel raised her hand and volunteered herself.”
“The nerve!” Juna shouted, something she rarely did.
It seemed that, when she imagined her betrothed (even if that was still a
secret) possibly having relations with her grandmother, she couldn’t
maintain her composure. She showed a mixture of panic and anger.
She can make expressions like that, too... That’s kind of refreshing, I
thought.
Incidentally, when Marx had come to her for advice, Excel had said,
“Oh my, in that case, why don’t I teach him for you? I have a decent
amount of experience in that field, after all. If you’d like, I can even handle
the practical lessons personally, you know? I come from a long-lived race,
so it’s not that likely that I would get pregnant. Hee hee,” with a laugh that
made it hard to tell just how serious she was.
According to Marx, giving the lie to her mid-twenties appearance, her
eyes had had the glint of a snake that had found its prey.
...I suppose she wasn’t from the sea serpent race for nothing.
When I told Juna that, she pressed a finger to her temple, looking
worried. “I’ve heard about this from Aunt Accela.” That was Excel’s
daughter and Carla’s mother. “When she was still a young girl,
Grandmother would tempt the men who fell in love with my aunt and tease
them.”
“Wow... That’s pretty awful...”
“No, she only did it with the ones my aunt had no feelings for herself. It
was to make them give up on having an illicit affair with her daughter, but...
my mother once told me, with an exhausted look on her face, ‘I never
wanted to have to see classmates who had tried to woo my mother and been
shot down.’”
Well, no, I don’t imagine she would have. Thinking about it, Castor had
initially approached Excel, hadn’t he? Had she been cold to him because
he’d gone after her first? It was definitely true that she was a breathtaking
beauty. If I hadn’t built up a resistance to that by being around Liscia and
the others, I might have been at risk of falling for her myself.
“So, now that you know what’s up, I’d like to ask you to accompany
me,” I said. “Can I count on you for that?”
“...I understand. I will do my utmost to protect you, sire.” Juna saluted
me, her face filled with resolution.
Protect me from what? ...Yeah, the answer to that went without saying.
Juna looked to me as if she wanted to say something, but she was having
a hard time saying whatever it was and she looked away. I wondered what it
could be, so I waited for her. Juna seemed to resolve herself, then opened
her mouth and said, “Um... About the issue you’re having, well... Wouldn’t
it be solved if you just laid your hands on one of us? It could be the
princess, or Aisha, or Roroa, or even... um... me...”
When she said that with her face looking down and her eyes upturned, it
hit me hard, but I gulped and restrained myself. If Marx had his say, this
might be exactly the problem.
“I’m... uh... not ready to be a father yet,” I said. “Listen, I love all of
you, of course, and I’m definitely interested in doing that sort of stuff with
you, but... when they tell me I absolutely have to make a baby, I’m hesitant.
With me as I am now, with this country as it is now, I question if I can make
all of you, and the children to be born, happy.”
“I see...” Juna looked a little disappointed, but she quickly covered it
with a gentle smile. “That’s very much like you, sire. I can feel how much
you care for all of us.”
“Of course I do!”
“In that case, I will be looking forward to it when you’re ready.”
Juna’s smile was so wonderful that I hugged her tight. She seemed
surprised, but she didn’t resist.
She was soft and smelled good.
I wasn’t ready yet, but... I could do this much, at least, I figured
A few days later — Lagoon City
Lagoon City was the central city of the Walter Duchy.
It was located in the northeast of Friedonia, and as the name would lead
you to assume, it was a city built in a lagoon. Because of the high heat and
humidity, it was built much like Venice in Italy, and there were canals
running everywhere in the city.
When I looked at this city, it reminded me of a certain iyashikei manga I
had read a long time ago, but unfortunately there were no cute girls acting
as gondoliers here. Instead, I could see burly men loading and unloading
cargo from little boats all over the place.
It was winter now, so the men were bundled up tight; but if this had been
summer, they’d probably have all been practically naked. (Like, wearing
nothing but a loincloth.) Even the thought of it was suffocating.
I was there, watching the scenery of Lagoon City from inside a carriage
with Juna.
“Were you born here, Juna?” I asked.
“No, I was born a little further to the northwest, in a small port town
near the border with the Union of Eastern States. It’s not as lively as it is
here, but we do catch lots of delicious fish there, you know?”
“Oh, yeah? I’d like to go there someday.”
“Yes, I hope you will.”
While we were having that pleasant chat, the carriage arrived at Excel’s
manor.
At Lagoon City, the Navy’s stronghold, there was a base, but there was
no castle. That was because they didn’t anticipate the city being besieged by
a land-based force. It reflected the fact that the Navy was able to show its
fullest power at sea, and if this land were ever invaded by a foreign enemy,
they would simply board the ships and eliminate the enemy, city and all,
with coastal bombardments.
The sea serpent race loved this land more than anyone, and if they
couldn’t have it, no one could. They were pretty yandere when it came to
their feelings for this land.
When we rode onto the grounds in our carriage, I saw that Excel was
standing in front of the manor, awaiting our arrival. Her blue hair shone in
the sun, her beautiful face peering out from behind it.
Like always, Excel was so beautiful, you could tell even from a distance.
You could really tell she was Juna’s grandmother. (Though there were few
people whom the word “grandmother” would have suited less.) The blue
outfit she was wearing that was like a kimono crossed with a dress looked
good on her.
When I looked over, Juna had a grim look on her face.
“Juna? What’s wrong?” I asked.
“That kimono...”
“The kimono?”
“It’s Grandmother’s favorite. It seems... caution may indeed be
warranted.”
“Um... Technically, my only goal here is to survey a military facility...”
When I said that, alarmed, Juna wrapped her arm around mine, holding
it tight, then looked at me with a serious expression. “Sire, when you are in
front of a sea snake, you never show an opening to strike. If you do...”
“If I do?”
“You’ll be gobbled up.”
“...”
...I didn’t know exactly what that was supposed to mean, but I made a
mental note to be careful.
◇ ◇ ◇
When we disembarked from the carriage, Excel met us with a smile.
“It’s been too long, Your Majesty. Welcome to Lagoon City.”
I knew what Juna had said, but for now, she didn’t seem any different
from usual. I tried not to make my wariness evident, responding in a
friendly tone. “We haven’t seen each other since I appointed you as
Supreme Commander of the National Defense Force, right? I’m glad to see
you’re in good health.”
“Hee hee! Oh, sire, you do love pushing off major duties onto this old
lady.” (She seemed to be fine with calling herself that.) “But thank you. I
hope you’ve been well, Juna.”
“It’s good to see again, Sea Princess.” Next to me, Juna gave a graceful
bow.
Excel had been called “Sea Princess” in the former Navy. It was
probably similar to addressing her as “ma’am” for them.
But Excel shook her head. “Juna, you’ve been discharged from the
Navy. You will be marrying His Majesty, even if it is as a secondary queen.
The only positions we have relative to one another now are the ones we
have as family.”
“Sea... No, I understand. Grandmother.”
Yeah. This was a good scene, one that brought across their bonds as
family... or so I thought.
“Hee hee hee. So, Juna, that means you and I are equals now.”
...What was that? Had I imagined that she’d stressed the word “equals”
there?
Also, when she heard the word “equals,” I thought I noticed a vein rise
on Juna’s temple. “...Hee hee hee. Whatever do you mean by that,
Grandmother?”
“You see, the key to not getting tired with a life that goes on for too long
is to always take an interest in someone or other.”
“Is it now?” Juna asked. “By the way, do you have an interest in His
Highness?”
“He’s the first hero we’ve had since the first king, after all. I find him
fascinating.”
Excel was smiling. But I sensed a strange pressure behind that smile.
Juna was responding with a similar smile of her own.
...What was this atmosphere? I really wanted to get out of there.
“A-Anyway, do you mind if we go inside?” I suggested. “There’s no
need to stand out here, surely.”
“Hee hee! I’m sorry about that,” said Excel. “Please, come right this
way.”
In any case, with the formalities (?) out of the way, we were led into the
building.
Inside it was like a classy Western-style manor. The furniture on display
wasn’t excessively gaudy, instead melting into the relaxed atmosphere.
Even I, who was by no means artistic, could appreciate Excel’s good
aesthetic sense.
Eventually we were led to a room bearing a plate that identified it as the
parlor.
There was already one person in the parlor, standing at attention.
That tall man, who was wearing the uniform of a non-commissioned
officer in the Friedonia National Naval Defense Force, had bat-like wings
and a lizard-like tail. The man saluted me, then began preparing tea.
Even once we had seated ourselves and he’d finished distributing tea to
everyone, that man continued to stand behind Excel, waiting for orders.
I massaged my temples. “If he’s just going to stand there, it’s going to
bother me too much not to think about it.”
“I did tell him he could just act like normal,” Excel said with a wry
smile.
The man standing behind her was Castor. He had formerly been one of
the three dukes and the General of the Air Force. He was also Carla’s father.
Having been held responsible for defying his king and stripped of his
post, he had been forced to retire and leave the family headship to his young
son Carl, while he himself had been put in Excel’s custody.
Incidentally, the one acting as Carl’s aide was, at the man’s own request,
the former steward of the House of Vargas and current General of the
National Air Defense Force, Tolman.
Anyway, from what Excel had told me, she was working Castor hard as
a rank and file soldier of the National Naval Defense Force.
Perhaps becoming a defeated general had stripped him of his stubborn
pride and made him more meek. Or perhaps he was simply making a show
of acting only as a rank and file soldier of the National Naval Defense
Force out of stubbornness.
If he met them on the streets, he bowed even to those who had been
ranked far beneath him until just recently, and when it was his day on
cleaning duty, he cleaned all of the toilets on the ship.
I thought this about Carla, too, but the members of his bloodline tended
to be far too loyal to the positions they found themselves in.
“...This is an order,” I said. “Sit down, Castor.”
“Yes, sir! Pardon me, sir!” Castor finally took a seat.
Good grief.
“Also, it kind of creeps me out, so drop the excessive formality,” I
added. “Unless we’re in public or there are other subordinates around, I
want you to talk normally when it’s on a personal basis. That’s an order,
too.”
“Yes, sir... But...”
“Castor, does a non-commissioned officer defy his king’s orders?” Excel
demanded.
“...Understood.” Castor reluctantly acquiesced.
Whew... Now we can finally have a relaxed talk, I thought.
“Anyway, it’s been a while, Castor,” I said. “How’s life in the Navy
treating you?”
“Quite well, sir. I have already grown accustomed... I’ve gotten used to
the smell of the sea. Also, um...”
“Hm? What’s up?”
“How is Carla doing?” He seemed concerned for his daughter who was
now my slave. Well, he was her father, after all.
“Relax. Carla is... Uhh, she’s getting along fine.”
“What was that pause?! What was that ‘Uhh’ for?!”
“No, I’m sure she’s doing great and all, it’s just...”
If I recalled, back in the castle right now, Carla would be...
Meanwhile, in the studio back in Parnam Castle...
“Bwahahahaha! Silvan, today I end you! Get him, Wheel Monster
Dialgon!”
“Dialgoooon!” (Moltov had taken over playing the monsters from
Aisha.)
“Curse you, Miss Dran and Dialgon! I will protect peace in this
country!”
“...Yep. She’s (probably) doing fine. Physically, she’s the very picture of
health. I know she’s a slave belonging to the Royal House, but I haven’t laid
my hands on her or anything like that.”
Now, as for her being mentally fine, I wasn’t so sure. I mean, Serina was
always toying with her...
“You haven’t done anything to her... When I hear that, I’m actually more
worried.”
“Hm? Why does that make you look so depressed?” I asked.
“Because if you had laid your hands on her, I’d think that would make
Carla safer.” Castor let out a little sigh. “I’ve heard from Duchess Excel.
You’re the kind of man who values his family, and you’d do anything to
protect them. In the time since I was left here, I’ve come to hear rumors of
what you do, and... I hold the same opinion. That’s why I figure that if
Carla became pregnant and you recognized her as family, nothing could
make her safer.”
Not so that he could become a relative of the Royal House, but so that
his daughter would be safe. It made me think about how complicated a
father’s feelings were.
But...
“I have zero intention of taking Carla as my queen.”
He was silent.
“Still, Liscia would be upset if anything happened to Carla,” I said. “I’d
rather not have to see Liscia sad. I can guarantee you I won’t do anything
too bad to her.”
“You won’t...? I’m relieved to hear that. Please, I ask that you take good
care of my daughter.” Castor bowed his head deeply.
I’m sure he took on that more formal tone at the very end because it was
a sincere, heartfelt request. With the way Excel had been treating him,
maybe it had helped him to grow somewhat as a human being. (Well, as a
dragonewt, actually.)
I looked over to Excel. “So, Excel, do you think we can use this guy?”
“Hee hee! I’ve prepared him well. As you would expect from a man
who once led armies, he learns quickly. The way things are going... I’d say
it’s possible.”
“I see... Well, let’s go then.”
Having finished that exchange which only the two of us understood,
Excel and I rose to our feet. When they saw us suddenly stand up, Juna and
Castor’s eyes went wide.
“Um, sire? Where are we going?” Juna asked me with a blank look.
I smiled wryly. “Did you forget already? Our plan for the day is to
survey a military facility, remember?”
“Oh, now that you mention it... That’s right.” Juna’s cheeks flushed red
with embarrassment.
Her mind must have been preoccupied with staying on guard against
Excel. When she was embarrassed, she actually acted her age. It was really
cute. I wished I could just watch her forever, but I had king things that
needed to actually get done.
“Now then, first order of business...” I turned to Castor, who looked like
he had no clue what was going on. “For now, let’s put a blindfold on
Castor.”
◇ ◇ ◇
With Castor blindfolded, we got onto a wyvern’s gondola, then traveled
an hour or so, including the time transferring over to a ship midway.
When we finally reached our destination, I said to Castor, “Okay, you
may now take off the blindfold.”
“...Why do you sound so high-handed?” Castor grumbled.
Even as he grumbled about it, Castor took off his blindfold. When he
did, he found himself in the middle of the woods.
The only ones there were Juna, Castor, Excel and me, and the only thing
in sight was a bunch of trees.
“What are we doing in a place like this?” Castor seemed dubious, but
then he suddenly seemed to realize something and furrowed his brow. He
asked me, “Is this... an island or something?”
“Oh...? Why would you think that?”
“I can smell salt water in all directions. We’re near the sea, right? We
did get on a boat in the middle of the trip, after all.”
“...Perceptive,” I said.
Even though he had been blindfolded the whole time, he had managed to
immediately figure out that we were surrounded by the sea. That was
impressive. I could see Excel had trained him well.
That’s when I noticed that Juna was dumbfounded by what she was
seeing.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“Oh, no... It’s just, on the way here, I’ve seen a lot of incredible
things...” Juna said a little embarrassedly, realizing I’d caught her with her
guard down.
Ohh... Come to think of it, I never had told Juna about this place, did I? I
had been leaving it totally in Excel’s hands, after all.
Seeing Juna like that, Castor looked even more suspicious. “Just what is
this place supposed to be?”
“Hm? Well, to put it in the simplest terms I can... It’s our secret weapon,
and a testing ground for a type of troops, maybe?”
“Secret weapon?” Castor repeated.
“It’s faster to just show you. Come this way.” I started walking and led
the way for everyone.
When we had walked a little ways, we came to a clearing. It was a
meadow covered in short grass.
There was nothing high up, so the blue sky spread out over our heads.
When I looked up to the sky, there were wyvern knights flying in formation.
I pointed up to those wyvern knights. “Castor, what do you think when
you see that?”
“They’re very... fast, huh...” Castor said, narrowing his eyes as if it were
bright. “Too fast, if anything. That’s not a speed wyverns can fly at. Are
they using magic or something?”
“Well, when it comes to magic... you could say they’re using it, in a
way, yes. But, if they used magic to create a tailwind, do you think they
could still fly in formation like that?”
“...No, not possible. If they were accelerating themselves with magic,
they’d be less synchronized.”
Like Castor was saying, people had varying skill levels when it came to
magic. Even if they used magic of the same type, the power, range, and cost
depended on the person. That was why, even if we gathered a bunch of
people with the same ability to manipulate wind, they probably wouldn’t be
able to fly in neat formations like that while accelerating with magic. So
that speed didn’t come from magic, it came from technology.
r

Chapter end