Chapter 138 (1/2)

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Mega Carriage Technology

The mega carriage that Katy arranged for was driven by six horses, characterized by two cars linked to each other with a curtain to separate.

「Behold, Hikaru. This is more than just two cars connected to each other.」Katy began explaining proudly.「Roads sometimes have sharp curves. So the wheels are designed in such a way that they can independently turn right and left. There's also a k.n.o.b in the rear car. If you exert power on it, the vehicle can turn a curve freely.」

It seemed they did more than just double the capacity.

「A magic item a.s.sists the wheels' operation and the spring installed under the seats to limit shaking was changed to an actual magic item. But wait, there's more! The carriage's frame is made of wood from Elder Treants so it's much more flexible and installing a foldable bed is possible…」

「Can you explain on the way?」

「Hm? Oh, so everyone's here.」

Katy sounded disappointed. She a.s.sumed Hikaru was deeply interested in magic items, so she tended to go on and on. He was interested, though—just not as much as Katy.

「Wow, there's so much s.p.a.ce.」

Living up to its name, the interior was much larger than a normal carriage. The rear car was used for luggage, while the front for pa.s.sengers. The seats in the cabin were just like the one found in trains, and there were two sets, each with six seats facing each other.

Overhead were what seemed to be luggage compartments, which really made the vehicle feel like an actual train, but apparently those were the foldable beds. One of the carriage's features was the pa.s.sengers could sleep inside instead of setting up camp outside.

They had plenty of time, though, so they might not need to use them.

「All right. Time to go!」

「Let's go.」

Sarah handled the driving. She had the experience, and was skilled in dealing with animals. Coachmen were in great demand during winter, when people wanted to visit their homes. Katy planned to pay a hefty sum for a driver, but Sarah volunteered, saying there was no need to waste money.

「Hmm, so I'm the only guy here, huh…」

Paula and Lavia sat beside Hikaru, while Selica, Selyse, and Sophie took the seats across them. Katy and Mille were sleeping on the other box seat. They hadn't had enough sleep the past few days making their yearly report in a hurry.

Hikaru thought they didn't need to be in such a hurry since the winter was long anyway.

「If we find something interesting there, who knows when I'll be back in the academy?」was what Katy said, her eyes gleaming.

Mille was much more sensible.「I'm heading straight home after Zubura.」she said.

「You should be more happy! You have yourself a harem!」

『If I had one, you wouldn't be a part of it. Actually, can you not say things like that? Lavia might get the wrong idea.』

『Oh. How about we make it real instead so she doesn't get the “wrong” idea anymore?』

Hikaru warned her in j.a.panese to avoid trouble, but she just had to wink at him.

『What a pain in the neck…』

『Who are you calling a pain in the neck?! I'm a third-year student! You're a first-year, aren't you?!』

「Ah, Selica told me you two are from the same town.」Selyse interjected.

Beside them, Sophie was bombarding Paula with healing magic-related questions like “Are you affiliated with the church? What's your position?” Paula eyed Hikaru, pleading for help. He already told her beforehand to just answer with “No comment” or simply dodge the questions. Hang in there.

「Did you know each other?」Lavia asked, seemingly interested in Hikaru and Selica's relations.h.i.+p.

「Not really! But he lived near the neighboring station!」

I'm pretty sure Selyse and Lavia can't comprehend how far “the next station” was. In this world, stations referred to carriage stations which were located quite far from each other. Not a distance one could walk in twenty minutes. No. It took a day to get to a different station here.

「Your hometown's civilization sounds interesting.」Selyse said.

「I suppose. Though I think this world is plenty interesting too.」Hikaru replied.

「Really now?」

「I find the existence of G.o.d here quite strange.」

The existence of a “divinity system” to be more precise, but Hikaru cut it short.

「G.o.ds exist, all right. This is common knowledge to us. Is it different for you two?」

「Our G.o.d wasn't exactly pragmatic. Not unlike here!」Selica said.

「There are plenty of religious groups over there, though.」Hikaru added.

「Does that mean people there wors.h.i.+p other beings besides G.o.d? Like demons or evil G.o.ds?」

「No. We have many G.o.ds.」Selica said.

「Well, yeah. I believe there are too many G.o.ds for us to count out there.」

「That's not what I mean. Our G.o.ds didn't exactly manifest before humans. So people imagined different kinds of G.o.ds, and they wors.h.i.+pped each of them separately.」