Chapter 148 – Super Carriage
After tying the golem horse to the carriage the temporary preparations were complete.
“Alright, here you are.”
Jin opened the cabin’s door. Then a mechanism caused some steps to come down.
“This is, amazing.”
This time, Elsa was wearing a long dress with a low hem, so she had been thinking that while getting off the carriage she could manage (by jumping off) she didn’t know what to do about getting on the carriage.
With the steps she could easily get on.
“The inside is…interesting.”
The cabin was for six people. There were three seats side-by-side in two rows. They were not face-to-face, instead both were facing the direction of movement.
The window that worked as a windscreen was made to be wide, and the seats were arranged so that there was a good view of where you were going.
As the seats were covered with a magical beast’s leather and filled with devil silk wadding their cushioning properties were also good.
The driver’s seat was more or less prepared, but as the pulling was done by a horse golem it was in practice unnecessary. Consequently, without a coachman you could see ahead better.
“Reiko, could you sit on the driver’s seat just in case?”
Jin asked and,
“…Yes.”
Reiko replied somewhat sullenly. Nevertheless, maybe because some time ago Jin had said Elsa’s like a young little sister, Reiko didn’t look that much displeased.
Reiko who had sat down on the driver’s seat turned around to look at Jin. He was sitting next to Elsa. When she saw that, Reiko’s face became just a little harsh.
“Alright, please.”
Maybe he noticed, maybe he didn’t, Jin gave the signal to go.
Reiko grasped the reins stretching out from the horse golems and commanded them with Magic Energy. The horse golems began to walk gently.
“Sweet. We moved.”
Elsa was pleased. That was probably because of the movement.
The carriage came from behind the guest house to the front of it, and then left for the plaza. The eyes of the castle sentinel who saw it turned round.
The carriage was fine. It looked a bit eccentric, but that was that. However, the horses pulling it.
They were verdigris green. In other words, that meant they were made of metal. Namely, they were horse golems. The sentinel had never seen such things.
Because it appeared from behind the guest house, they figured it was a guest of honor’s possession. However, it was too extraordinary for them to just let pa.s.s,
“Ho-hold it, the carriage over there.”
So they commanded it to stop.
“Reiko, stop.”
“Yes, Father.”
The carriage stopped, the sentinels saw the little girl who was the coachman and were even more amazed, but on a second look they recognized that girl.
“Ah, perhaps you are…Reiko-san!?”
For some reason the sentinel used honorific language.
“Yes, I am Reiko.”
Reiko replied.
“Ooooh! I knew it! During the golem riot the other day, Reiko-san saved me by a hair’s breadth!
“Huh.”
The sentinel was somewhat agitated, but Reiko didn’t remember at all. Because every human except for Jin literally came second to her.
“A-anyway, what might this be!?”
“It’s a carriage.”
“Err, I received a permit and built this carriage.”
The door opened and Jin spoke, then,
“Ooh, aren’t you Jin-dono! The gentleman who received the t.i.tle of ‘Honorary Magi Craftsman’ and who built Reiko-san!”
The sentinel was sweltering. Sweltering more Reinhardt when he got excited.
“Is that so, a carriage that you’ve built. I see, even the horses are golems! As expected of a ‘Honorary Magi Craftsman’!!”
“Excuse me, but can we go now?”
Reiko asked and,
“Yes! Go right ahead!”
And the castle sentinel saw them off while waving their hand.
“…A weird person.”
Elsa voiced her impressions.
In the plaza inside the royal castle, because the soil was being prepared they couldn’t really test the riding comfort but,
“Amazing. It nearly doesn’t shake. Before this I thought the carriages Jin-kun and Rai-nii remodeled were amazing but this is even more amazing.”
Elsa gave high prase.
Then they tried increasing the speed a little. They went to maybe about ten kilometers per hour. It was likely they’d be scolded if they went too fast inside the royal castle.
“Reiko, what’s the output on the horse golems?”
Jin asked and,
“Yes, it’s around ten percent.”
Reiko’s reply came. Jin nodded like he was satisfied, but Elsa was surprised.
“…Jin-kun’s standards really are different.”
With that the test run was over, and the carriage did a U-turn. The wheels that had independent suspension offered little resistance, and the carriage changed its course nearly on the spot.
“What was that, just now?”
Elsa looked like she had witnessed something unbelievable.
Because of her high position, she had had the chance to ride many carriages, and once again she realized that none of the carriages she had previously ridden on were a match for this one.
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“Heeey, Jin!”
Someone yelled. Looking at that direction, there was the third Prince, His Highness Ernest, accompanied by Lotte.
“I was looking out from my room and haven’t you made something amazing!”
Seems he was also interested.
Jin got off the carriage and greeted the Prince.
“Your Highness, is this okay? Coming out from the inner palace?”
He asked and Prince Ernest said,
“It’s fine, I’m the fourth in line for the throne. My two elder brothers and my uncle are above me, so as far as this country’s concerned I’m not that important.”
This was the first time Jin heard that and he replied to the Prince’s irresponsible words,
“Your Highness, you shouldn’t talk like that. For His Majesty, Your Highness is obviously a child who shares his blood. Please try to remember the time of the attack.”
Jin said and remonstrated him.
Prince Ernest looked a little down while listening, but soon raised his head and said,
“…Mm, I know. It might be as you say. I’ll be careful.”
“Please be, Your Highness.”
Jin was relieved. Pince Ernest had his selfish moments but deep down he was an honest kid.
“Be that as it may, this carriage, it’s amazing!”
Because the Prince was staring at it with twinkling eyes Jin smiled awkwardly and,
“Want to get on?”
He asked,
“Yeah!”
And an energetic answer came right back at him.
“Err, there’s already a preceding pa.s.senger, is that okay?”
“A preceding pa.s.senger?”
The prince peeked inside the carriage, and met the eyes of Elsa who was there.
“Ah, I see. So Jin was in the middle of a tryst with her.”
“Y-your Highness!”
Jin was fl.u.s.tered,
“A tryst?”
And Elsa didn’t understand.
“Your Highness, she’s Reinhardt’s cousin, Elsa. She’s my friend.”
“I’m Elsa.”
Elsa go up, pinched the hem of her skirt and lightly bent her knees in a curtsy.
“My my. Miss Elsa, I am the third Prince of Egelia Kingdom, my name is Ernest.”
The prince said, took Elsa’s left hand and kissed the back of it. From the gesture you could tell that even though he was 13, he had been thoroughly taught the manners of royals.
“Now Jin, make it run for me!”
However, his The high-spirited figure he had while saying so was appropriate for his age.
Jin instructed Reiko to have the horse golems run at ten percent power.
＊ ＊ ＊
“That was terrific! Jin, I want one too! Build one!”
Sure enough, it turned out that the Prince wanted an identical carriage.