Nova walked with the three of them in unbearable silence.
The four of them had made their way to a modern looking, bright orange car that was parked outside the castle in a parking lot that didn't fit the castle's aesthetic at all after Raina had shown them the way out.
『...Hoho.』[Mune]
The silence was broken by Mune.
He seemed to be captivated by the car.
『This is a Curezzo Wind Cutter, right?!』[Mune]
He quickly ran over to the car and started to caress it.
Nova looked at the car and knew the brand due to the signature glowing logo- proof of the Curezzo brand of luxury.
Raina grinned smugly.
『Yeah. Reagan bought it for my birthday last week.』[Raina]
She crossed her arms together, looking proud.
『No way! This Wind Cutter is at least 150 thousand Cryst!』[Mune]
Nova's eyes opened up wide in shock.
『...If it's two thousand Cryst for a weapon that can destroy a rank 4 brownling in one swing…uhm... It's over 70 times the value of that?!』[Nova]
He felt his mind boggle at the overwhelming worth of the car.
Raina waved her finger while shaking her head.
『No, no!』[Raina]
She snapped her fingers, and the car suddenly turned into a flash of light.
Nova had to close his eyes for a moment, but when he opened them back up, the car was gone.
Apparently that was enough to confuse even Zousa.
『Wait… what?』[Zousa]
Raina lifted her hand up, showing off an intricate looking ring next to her wedding ring.
The ring was beautifully carved with a bright orange jewel in the center of it.
『It's… a… ring?』[Zousa]
Mune seemed to be visibly shaking now.
『It's… a Prima Wind Cutter?!』[Mune]
Raina gave a thumbs up.
『Full points, Mune! It's worth 4.5 million Cryst!』[Raina]
She started clapping enthusiastically while laughing.
『Prima! My dream car!』[Raina]
Nova's jaw opened wide- he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words to measure up to the value of the car.
Mune suddenly stumbled onto the floor of the parking lot.
『...I… I… How many years… did it take him to save that much…?』[Mune]
Nova was out of it.
This was the first time he had seen Mune speechless.
Raina had struggled to think of something, but she eventually shrugged.
『...Eh, I dunno!』[Raina]
She snapped her fingers and the car appeared again.
『Anyways, get in. We need to be there in about 20 minutes.』[Raina]
The car had automatically opened, revealing 4 car seats facing each other and a table.
『...Wait, how the heck are you supposed to drive this?』[Nova]
『Hmm? Don't you know?』[Raina]
She looked at Nova as if he was uncultured.
『...No, normally you'd have a wheel, right?』[Nova]
Mune got up from the floor and dusted his pants off before grabbing onto Nova's shoulder.
『Let's talk about it later, the mission is serious. I want to know what functions her car has too, but we have to get there as soon as possible.』[Mune]
Nova blinked a few times, not expecting Mune to get serious at the drop of a hat, but he nodded and got into the car.
Nova and Mune sat next to each other, with Zousa and Raina sitting opposite of them.
Suddenly, the black table between them began to glow.
An artificial voice reverberated forth.
『Greetings. How will you be operating this vehicle today?』
A variety of things popped up in front of them in the form of floating text, but it was directed at Raina, so Nova couldn't see what they said.
『Mana manual mode.』[Raina]
『Connection loading. Please wait.』
『Oh shit.』[Mune]
He quickly reached around for his seatbelt before strapping it in and making sure it was secure.
『System connection successful. Current driving mode: continual flow: normal.』
『Huh? What?』[Nova]
Nova knew Mune enough to know that something was wrong if he was buckling in right now.
He quickly grabbed the seatbelt and secured it in the same way.
『Yup! Always make sure that you have your seatbelts on! System, activate continual flow: hyper!』[Raina]
Zousa then realized what was about to happen.
He quickly reached for the seatbelt, but it somehow jammed, not letting him buckle in.
『...Wait!』[Zousa]
It was too late.
A giant screen appeared in front of Raina, depicting the scenery all around the car in 3-D.
『Wh-wh-what?!』[Mune]
She suddenly raised her hand up, the orange glow of mana surrounding her hands.
They could feel the car vibrate unsteadily as Zousa struggled to put his seatbelt in.
Thankfully, the click sounded out before the car had begun moving…
Up.
The car's shape seemed to be changing on the outside, but they weren't able to see it.
『Wha...WHAT THE HECK?!』[Nova]
He held onto his seat as the car started to shake violently.
『Hehe! Still trying to get used to this thing!』[Raina]
Mune looked completely terrified.
『Just drive it in the normal way!』[Mune]
She shook her head.
『Nope! This is the fun way!』[Raina]
She pushed her hand forward all the way, causing Nova and Mune to feel a huge force pulling them in the direction of the other two.
The scenery instantly disappeared and the surrounding area made them think they were at least a few hundred feet in the air.
Mune seemed to be in some pain, while Nova's breath got knocked out of him almost immediately after she started to speed up.
『WHAT?! WHERE IS THE MOMENTUM CANCELLING?!』[Mune]
『Oh, yeah! I never figured out how to turn that on. Do you know how?』[Raina]
Mune struggled to take out his phone while resisting the force of the car.
Raina opened up a window.
『Gotta feel the wind!』[Raina]
Mune tapped his phone and found and answer, apparently.
『ASK THE SYSTEM TO TURN IT ON!』[Mune]
『What was that, Mune? I couldn't hear you over the wind!』[Raina]
『THE SYSTEM! MA'AM, NOVA LOOKS LIKE HE'S DYING!』[Mune]
Indeed, Nova had circulated his mana the best he could to avoid dying.
『SYSTEM! TURN ON MOMENTUM CANCELLING!』[Mune]
A red screen popped up in front of Mune's face that made his stomach sink, promptly followed by the same artificial voice.
『Invalid permissions.』
Mune just closed his eyes and hoped for the best at this point.
『...Maybe it would have been better to walk.』[Zousa]