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.
"I want you to look at the back of their saddles," I said.
"They've got something attached there," Castor noted, looking where I'd told him.
"Is it those rings?"
If you looked closely, yes, on the back of the wyvern knights' saddles there were
two rings; one on the left, and one on the right.
I answered him while still looking up at the sky, "What you see there on the back
of their saddles is a miniaturized, light-weight version of the Little Susumu Mark V."
(The Maxwellian Propulsion Device.) "When equipped with those, wyverns can fly
faster and with a greater cruising range than ever before."
◇ ◇ ◇
It had happened on the day when Ludwin took me to see Genia's dungeon
laboratory.
They'd shown me Genia's inventions like the Little Susumu Mark V and
Mechadra, and while I'd still had some concerns (especially about what I was going
to do with Mechadra) on my way home, I had been confident that I'd found the key
to bringing a revolution to this country. That was when a certain idea had occurred
to me.
"...Hey, Genia. Can this Little Susumu Mark V be mass-produced? Also, could you
make it smaller and lighter?"
"Hm..." Genia answered after thinking for a little while. "It's really an issue of
whether I can secure a source for a certain special metal, but if that can be taken
care of, mass production is possible. Now, as for miniaturization and making it
lighter, you do realize the output will scale down with that, right?"
Metal, huh? This had been before we'd absorbed Amidonia, so getting that metal
would have been difficult in light of the poverty of mineral resources in the
kingdom...
Genia tilted her head to the side quizzically and asked, "What were you going to
use them for?"
"Well, they suck in air and blow it back out, right? In that case, I was thinking we
could fix them to the wyverns' bellies, or maybe the back of their saddles."
"Oh?! I see! I hadn't thought of using it like that!"
There were three types of creature used in a manner similar to airplanes in this
world: wyverns, which were in wide usage; griffons, which only the Empire had
succeeded in breeding; and the dragons of the Star Dragon Mountain Range. If I were
to assign them a grade of S, A, B, or C to their flight speed, turning, and cruising
range, it would look like this:
[Wyvern] Flight Speed: B, Turning Ability: C, Cruising Range: A
[Griffon] Flight Speed: A, Turning Ability: S, Cruising Range: C
[Dragon] Flight Speed: S, Turning Ability: A, Cruising Range: S
...Well, more or less.