WM V4C0718

Chapter 0718 Foreign Tour

Translator: Jay_Forestieri

Editor: Tseirp

 

“The development of technology is beginning to connect different cultural spheres, or even economic spheres.”

“Hm?”

In the usual royal office, the Premier Duke was giving an impassioned speech while His Majesty the King drank coffee.

 

It was a very unusual sight.

It was unusual for the Premier Duke to be speaking so passionately… normally, he would be sprawled out on the sofa reading a book.

It was unusual for His Majesty the King to be drinking coffee… normally, he would be drowning in paperwork and signatures.

 

 

On Earth, there was once an era called the Age of Exploration.

Many technologies made it possible… but among them, perhaps the greatest crystallization of technology was the compass.

Its practical use made it possible to know the direction even in the vast open sea.

By day or by night.

Even if the sun, moon, or stars could not be seen.

 

In this world, ‘Phi’, there is magic. There is alchemy as well.

Those can serve in place of a compass.

However, there is an even greater difficulty.

 

Sea monsters.

 

That is why the most crucial part of seafaring technology became how to avoid being attacked by sea monsters.

 

“Even so, in the end it’s nothing more than monster repellent.”

“Hm?”

“It’s not technology that can defeat a Kraken.”

“Well, of course not.”

“The dominion of the sea is still in their hands!”

Ryo protested bitterly.

 

Yes, Ryo had not forgotten.

The tragedy of the Rondo-class first ship, Rondo, being sunk by a Kraken.

To prevent that tragedy from happening again, the Rondo-class second ship, Neil Andersen, had been built, and vengeance had been taken.

But that had only been a one-on-one victory.

 

Even now, if they had to face a group of Krakens, there was no guarantee they could win.

The dominion of the sea was not in human hands.

 

“It’s not just the sea. Humans don’t have dominion over the sky, or even the land either, do they?”

“Huh?”

“Asides Wyverns in the sky, you couldn’t beat a Griffin, right? And on land, Vampires aside, you couldn’t beat a Behemoth or a Dragon, right?”

“Th-that’s true…”

“And on top of that, not even against Djinns… right?”

“The sea can’t be helped, but on land, we need to train much harder.”

Receiving Abel’s words, Ryo nodded with a determined expression.

 

“Train?”

“If people train hard, they can become stronger.”

“Well, sure, to an extent. But whether they can become strong enough to defeat a Djinn…”

“You won’t know unless you try!”

“Really? I can tell without trying…”

“You only think you can. First, let’s have the Royal Knight Order do twenty straight hours of training a day for seven days. After observing that, we can think about future training schedules…”

“Yeah, no, they’d collapse, so stop.”

 

Ryo’s Spartan-style training method was stopped.

 

“Then, to provide an example that it can be done, Abel should do continuous training…”

“Why me? You should do it yourself, Ryo.”

“I-I’m busy with alchemy research…”

“As a special exception, I’ll allow you to train while doing research.”

“I don’t need that kind of special exception!”

 

Apparently, when something falls on them, people wake up to reality.

 

 

“Well, about the Royal Knight Order…”

After saying that much, Abel sighed.

 

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me they’ve gone back to being a hopeless knight order like before?”

Ryo tilted his head as he asked.

 

At one point, the Royal Knight Order’s reputation had dropped significantly.

But after its reconstruction, it had risen once more to become the knight order admired by the kingdom’s citizens.

At least as far as Ryo knew, the captains at the core were all competent people…

 

“Of course they’re competent. That’s not it. It’s just that Dontan, about me going on a foreign tour…”

“Dontan-san, the Captain of the Royal Knight Order? Well, of course he’d object.”

“He said he’d agree if Ryo came along, but naturally, he insists I bring the knight order as guards…”

“Ah, I see.”

Ryo nodded.

 

From Ryo’s perspective, that demand was only natural.

After all, one of the Royal Knight Order’s duties was surely ‘to protect the king’.

 

“But he says I have to bring a hundred men. There’s no way that ship can carry a hundred guards alone.”

“Yeah…”

Abel shook his head slightly, and Ryo nodded.

 

This was the king’s foreign tour.

Naturally, the civil officials in charge of practical matters and the attendants who supported daily life would also be aboard.

This was not ‘Adventurer Abel’ going on a journey.

Even simply appearing before the people of another nation, he could not show up looking shabby.

That would call into question the dignity and standing of the Knightley Kingdom itself, known as one of the great powers of the Central Countries…

 

“Being king sounds tough.”

“Yeah. I think so too.”

Both Ryo and Abel sighed.

 

 

The Skidbladnir was, in Earth terms, a clipper ship.

A clipper ship was characterized by three or more massive masts, a great many square sails for high-speed travel, and a narrow hull stretched long from bow to stern.

For that reason, its cargo capacity was never particularly high.

 

Of course, the Skidbladnir itself was a fairly large ship with a hull over one hundred meters long, so it could carry plenty of cargo.

The mainstream ships in the Central Countries, what would be called galleons on Earth, were just over fifty meters long… compared to those, it could certainly carry more.

 

Ryo thought back from memory.

When he had improved the Skidbladnir in the Republic of Mafalda, he had stared at its blueprints until his eyes nearly bored holes through them.

There, along with the crew size, were the listed cargo capacity and passenger limit…

 

“The expected crew size is fifty, and at full load the passenger capacity should have been one hundred twenty.”

“That’s quite a lot.”

“Yes. The hull is narrow, but it’s very long from bow to stern. It was originally built for ocean voyages… apparently designed for trade between the Western Countries and the Dark Continent, and for transporting important figures.”

“Important figures?”

“A means of travel for the Republic’s VIPs going to the Dark Continent, or the Dark Continent’s VIPs coming to the Republic.”

“It wasn’t a government ship though, right? Just a normal merchant company’s ship?”

“Yes, right. But because it was said to be the fastest ship in the Republic, the government planned to pay to use it… or at least, that was how it was supposed to be at first.”

“And then that alchemist left the Republic, and the ship was never completed…”

“The latest technology is difficult to use.”

Ryo shook his head slightly.

 

“One hundred twenty people… yeah, bringing a hundred guards just for myself really is impossible. Well, it can’t be helped.”

“Why do you sound so happy about that?”

Abel was making excuses in a way that sounded just like Ryo.

 

 

After a while, Ryo seemed to think of something.

“I’ve come up with a good idea.”

“When you say that, Ryo, it usually isn’t…”

“What a thing to say! This time it’s the real deal!”

“Fine, whatever. So what is it?”

“How about using my Ice Golems as Abel’s guards?”

“Ice Golems?”

 

Abel tilted his head at Ryo’s proposal.

 

“Come forth, Oniwaban First Squad!”

In response to Ryo’s voice, eleven ice golems appeared.

The golem at the front had ‘horns’ on its head.

It was Herald No. 1-kun, who led the First Squad.

 

Of course, Abel remembered them.

“They’re the golems that were guarding the Rondo Manor in Darwei, right?”

“Yes, yes, them. I gave Friendship Token No. 2-kun to Captain Luyao, so the Second Squad is without a captain, but the First Squad led by Herald No. 1-kun, can work just fine. Shall we have them handle your protection, Abel?”

“Ah…”

At Ryo’s words, Abel looked at the golems.

 

“Starting with No. 1-kun, they all have expressions full of motivation.”

“I-is that so…”

Ryo said happily, but of course Abel could not read the expressions of the golems.

No, probably no one but Ryo could.

 

And not being able to read their expressions meant not being able to know what they were thinking.

To be honest, as beings to entrust his life to… that was frightening.

Of course, since they were the golems of Ryo, whom he trusted most, nothing strange would happen…

 

But this wasn’t a matter of logic.

It was a matter of emotion.

 

“No, you keep those golems for yourself, Ryo. I’ll have the Royal Knight Order handle my protection after all. I’ll have them narrow down the numbers, but considering the future too.”

“Ah, I see. You want to let the knights gain experience. A royal expedition is something that hardly ever happens. It’d be a waste not to make use of such a valuable opportunity. As expected of Abel, that’s deep.”

“O-oh… well, it’s nothing much.”

Ryo nodded with a slight misunderstanding, and Abel answered while hiding his expression.

 

What Ryo was saying wasn’t wrong.

It really was an opportunity to let them gain valuable experience.

 

 

“These kids need to be upgraded more too.”

“Upgraded?”

“I mean, made stronger. Well, they weren’t originally for combat… but even so, they can still serve as shields when guarding someone like Abel.”

“I see…”

“But they still can’t keep up with Abel, the king who races through the sky.”

“Races through the sky?”

“Abel, you can fly through the sky with your ‘Flight Ring’, right?”

Ryo tilted his head.

 

It was true that Abel had removed the Flight Ring after returning to the kingdom.

As king, even the accessories he wore were prescribed.

 

“One day, these Oniwaban will also be able to race through the sky with ice glider wings and <Water Jet Thruster>. At that point, they’ll be able to guard Abel too.”

“I-I see…”

“Together with the Golden Hind, they’ll protect the kingdom’s skies… and if we think of the sky as the kingdom’s garden, then there are no better people than the Oniwaban to defend the skies alongside the Golden Hind!”

Saying that, Ryo happily patted No. 1-kun’s shoulder.

 

His thoughts drifted toward the Kingdom’s skies of the future.

 

 

Watching Ryo like that, Abel realized something.

True, Abel wasn’t wearing one either, but neither was Ryo…

“What happened to your Flight Ring?”

“I gave it to Kenneth.”

“You gave it away? Come to think of it, you originally bought two of them, didn’t you?”

“Yes, yes. One was for dismantling and research… but I completely took it apart and couldn’t put it back together.”

“Ah…”

“Well, I understood a lot from that, so I got my investment back.”

“I see…”

Research costs money.

 

“The one I’d been wearing, I gave to Kenneth, and apparently he finished most of the analysis in three days. He said it was much easier to understand than the magic-nullifying cylinder. As expected of him.”

“That’s amazing…”

Both Ryo and Abel were impressed.

 

“But apparently it still devours magic power like crazy.”

“Hm? Over there, everyone was flying, weren’t they?”

“Yes, in ‘Chuo Chuang’.”

“Ah, so that’s it.”

Abel immediately realized and nodded.

 

Abel’s Flight Ring had been modified by Ryo, allowing it to fly anywhere.

But as a result, they learned that its magic power consumption had become astonishingly high.

 

In the region called ‘Chuo Chuang’, where Darwei was located, it seemed that magic power was supplied to the Flight Rings like wireless charging, so the user’s own magic power consumption was low.

As a result, outside of Chuo Chuang, Flight Rings could not be used.

 

“Kenneth was shocked after calculating how much magic power was needed to use a Flight Ring outside of Chuo Chuang.”

“Hm?”

“For an ordinary person, it apparently consumes so much magic power that they couldn’t even fly for thirty seconds.”

“I… practiced with it quite a lot, didn’t I?”

“My point exactly. He was surprised, thinking that even though you can’t use magic, Abel, your magic power reserves must be unusually high.”

“Having lots of magic power when I can’t even use magic doesn’t do me much good…”

“W-well…”

Abel shrugged, and Ryo could not think of any words to comfort him.

 

“M-maybe someday, Abel might become a grand magician…”

“No chance.”

“Right… probably not…”

“Being able to fly is enough for me.”

Abel said that and gave a wry smile.

 

To fly through the sky.

A dream many people had imagined.

Just being able to do that, thanks to having more magic power than most… Abel thought that alone made him fortunate.

 

 

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