Risou no Himo Seikatsu - Volume 15 - Chapter 1.1

Chapter 1 — Utgard

Meanwhile, Zenjirou was en route to Utgard with Freya’s twin, Yngvi, the crown prince of Uppasala. Zenjirou had first teleported from Capua to Uppasala. That same day had been host to a simple, unofficial welcoming ceremony. He had then spent the night in their palace before they departed via horse-drawn carriage to the northernmost edge of the capital. There, they had switched modes of transportation to the “vehicle” that Utgard had provided.

Said vehicle was effectively a huge sleigh. Two reindeer—or at least that was the closest creature Zenjirou could think of—were pulling it. Of course, they were significantly larger than the heavy horses that had brought them this far, so he wasn’t entirely sure whether they could really be called reindeer.

The sleigh itself was not what you would normally picture when hearing the word. Atop it was effectively a huge box, just as big as the enclosed carriage they had arrived in.

It was early fall. Although Uppasala was in the far north of the Northern Continent, there had still been no snowfall near the city itself. That begged the question of how the sleigh was moving, and the answer was that it was gliding through the air itself. The two reindeer ran through the sky rather than on the land, and the sleigh slid along silently behind them.

The interior of the sleigh’s coach was just as strange. The walls, floor, and ceiling were neither metallic nor stone, but were made of a bright, gray material that was almost white. The main things inside were two sofas facing each other and a square obelisk between them. The block came to about hip height and had a slanted top that was glowing faintly.

The flat face was home to magic letters. It started off by saying, “Doors closing,” and was followed by “Please be seated” and finally “Departing.” The doors did indeed close on their own, and shortly after the two of them had sat down, the sleigh had silently started to move.

A few moments after the movement began, they felt a slight force pushing towards the back of the sleigh, but it wasn’t long before it stopped. There were no windows in the floor, ceiling, or four walls, so it was impossible to tell for sure, but it felt like gravity was pulling it straight down. Incidentally, there were magic lights at the front and rear of the interior, so it was plenty bright enough inside.

The panel then changed to say, “You may move about the cabin.” Apparently, they were allowed to leave their seats now. He wasn’t intending to stand up, but Zenjirou felt the strength fall from his body as he let out a sigh of relief. With his nerves soothed, he finally had the wherewithal to pay attention to his fellow passenger. His younger brother-in-law’s eyes were sparkling in excitement.

“What in the world is all this?!” he asked, practically leaping from his seat.

Hurriedly, Zenjirou gave him a warning. “Yngvi, you shouldn’t rush around too much. It might say we can move around, but we are flying through the air.”

There was a long pause. “Huh? Through...the air?”

Although Zenjirou had offered the warning like it was obvious, Yngvi seemed to barely understand what he’d said. It made some sense once Zenjirou considered it. The sleigh had definitely been on the ground, pulled by two reindeer when they boarded. After that, the door had closed and they had started to move. The only light was from the magic, with no windows, so it was impossible to see outside.

The diagonal pull had been enough for Zenjirou to realize they were flying, but that was only because he’d flown on planes on several occasions. Then again, seeing a sleigh pulled by reindeer was enough to make him imagine that it flew to begin with.

Meanwhile, Yngvi had never flown before. That was hardly surprising since Uppasala didn’t have any flying horses and the younger prince couldn’t use flight magic. All this meant that he was unable to conceive of the sleigh itself gliding through the air, especially since horizontal flight at a constant velocity meant that there was no inertia.

“We’re flying? Really? Um, is it safe?” He wasn’t entirely convinced but knew what Zenjirou was claiming now, and he looked uneasily at his feet.

“Well, they invited us and provided the transportation. It shouldn’t be particularly dangerous,” Zenjirou answered, tilting his head uncertainly. It was the best he could do to reassure the younger man.

“It makes sense when you put it like that. Are you sure, though? I know you aren’t the type to make such jokes, but it’s still hard to believe.”

Zenjirou mulled over the younger man’s honest reaction for a while. “Well, there’s no proof, so it makes sense you’d have trouble believing it. What to do, then?” He realized there was only one thing that could be a clue within the sleigh. “Is this just a display?” he asked himself, carefully getting up and looking at the glowing panel.

In large characters—Japanese, as far as Zenjirou could see—the panel read “underway.” As he looked even closer, he saw smaller words that said “limited controls.”

“Oh, that might be it,” he muttered, guessing at the significance. He hesitated to touch it, though. After all, controlling a magic tool he’d never seen before while it carried them through the air was unnerving.

“What is it?” Yngvi asked. His face—so similar to Freya’s—looked somewhat bemused as he inched over to Zenjirou’s side.

“Right. Could you take a look at this?” Zenjirou asked him. “Not the big thing in the middle, but the smaller words in the top left.”

Because they were written in magic writing, Yngvi would be able to read them as well.

“Not ‘underway’ so... Oh, this. ‘Limited controls.’ Controls?” The word made the prince lift an eyebrow. “We can control this?” he asked, curiosity and desire mixed into his smile.

“Probably. Though they are supposed to be restricted.”

Zenjirou was assuming that it was similar to what passengers on planes could do, like raising and lowering the blinds on the windows, or how someone on the bullet trains could put the backrest down.

Utgard had provided the vehicle, so he thought it unlikely either of them would be able to use the internal controls to change the sleigh’s altitude, speed, or especially heading. If they could, there was a risk they might simply abscond with it. That wouldn’t be good for anyone involved—Utgard would lose their sleigh and the two passengers would potentially lose their lives by making a mistake while attempting to pilot it.

Zenjirou chose his words carefully so that Yngvi would be able to come to the same understanding as he explained.

“I see,” the younger prince answered when Zenjirou had finished. “I’d like to try it, then. What do we do?”

The shock had completely vanished, replaced with boldness. Zenjirou had more or less expected that but was still somewhat surprised.

“You want to try the controls? It should be fine, but there is still the risk.”

He was somewhat concerned about Yngvi, less so about himself. He had the magic tool imbued with teleportation, after all. If the worst came to pass, he could activate it and save himself. Logically, though, limited controls shouldn’t put them at any real risk, which was the main reason for his lack of concern.

“I want to try.”

Due to his reasoning, Zenjirou was able to keep his calm at the eager response. “Then let’s do it. If it seems dangerous, we’ll stop immediately.”

With that, he carefully reached out with his right hand. At the same time, his left found its way to the magic tool hidden at his chest, pressing into it over his clothes. From what he recalled, the king of Uppasala had used his finger to manipulate the green gem to turn it into an invitation.

Zenjirou’s theory was proved correct. The moment his index finger brushed “limited controls,” the panel shifted.

“Oh!” Yngvi exclaimed in surprise. Still, the panel hadn’t changed all that much. The word “underway” had simply gotten smaller and shifted to the top right, while the other text had shifted down into the center. A moment later, more text appeared beneath it, forming a list.

Light adjustment.

Seating adjustment.

Food and drink.

Amenities.

Wall transparency.

It seemed that Zenjirou’s assumptions were correct. All the controls could change were things related to the interior. They should be able to adjust them without concern.

He started off by pressing a finger to the lighting adjustment text. Underneath it appeared two more words: “bright” and “dim.” He pressed the former and the lights on the ceiling got brighter. He pressed the latter and they dimmed. Then, he kept his finger on the “bright” text and the lights shone more and more.

With every change in light level, Yngvi let out another excited gasp. Zenjirou moved on to the seating adjustment, and another list appeared beneath it.

Two lengthways.

One lengthways.

Two widthways.

One widthways.

Sleeping.

The “two widthways” was the only one illuminated, so that probably showed its current setting. He was slightly uneasy about what might happen to the two of them when the seats moved, so he left them alone. The next two options were similar. He wasn’t particularly thirsty, nor was he desperate to answer the call of nature. The latter of the two particularly would be necessary for a longer flight, but there was no need to investigate immediately.

The last option was the issue. “Wall transparency.” Just reading the words made him picture the walls becoming see-through. As things currently stood, it was like being on a plane or train with the blinds down, and this would be the equivalent of raising them.

He was still concerned about what it could mean, though. There was a possibility that it meant opening up the wall itself rather than the “blinds.” It depended on speed and altitude, but opening a window while flying would (presumably) be suicide.

Still, he didn’t hesitate much before pressing the text due to how the other two controls had acted. Neither had made any immediate changes just from pressing the headings. Instead, they had prompted more text to appear underneath. With that in mind, the wall transparency should act the same, or so he assumed. Pressing it, he found that to be the case. Underneath it appeared another sequence of words.

Front.

Rear.

Right.

Left.

Floor.

Ceiling.

The six options were easy to understand; they would determine what became see-through. The question was which to pick.

The ceiling and floor were immediately rejected. All they would be able to see through the roof was the sky, so it wouldn’t give them any extra information. In terms of information, the floor would be the best option, but it was just too scary. Even if his belief that the material would become transparent—like strong glass—was true, it would feel like there was no floor. That wasn’t an option. Zenjirou would never be able to get along with someone who made a bridge out of tempered glass.

After thinking it over, he softly pressed “front.” He didn’t expect what happened next, though. Another two options appeared beneath it in even smaller text: “full” and “partial.” He eventually selected the latter, tapping it with a shaking finger.

Immediately, part of the front wall of the sleigh turned into a glass-like material.

“Wow!!!” Yngvi cried in innocent joy.

Zenjirou couldn’t blame him. The view waiting for them out of the new window was exactly what he had expected. The first thing they could see was the pair of reindeer hauling the sleigh. Looking closely, he could tell that they had something that looked like red leather on both their heads and legs, which were freely trampling through the air.

There was no doubt about it—the sleigh was flying.