Flight magic wasn’t exactly safe. There were a number of ways to fly, such as by manipulating gravity or the wind, but maintaining balance was difficult no matter the method. Just making oneself float was manageable, but trying to move was where it got difficult. Failure meant crashing to the ground, so even the best Magi often struggled with flight magic. For this reason, aviary Relics and rideable winged creatures were expensive.
Since allowing just oneself to fly was difficult, there was exponentially more trouble involved in flying multiple people. It was enough to drive many nations to raise Magi who specialized in just flying magic.
Meanwhile, Lucia knew a number of spells for flying.
Staying upright and steady midair depended directly on the caster’s motor skills. However, Lucia Rogier, the Avatar of Creation, had worked herself to the bone to match the spellbook I had made with skyward dreams in mind. I was sure nothing was impossible for her. Probably.
“Listen, you need to hold on tight,” she said sternly. “I might’ve gotten the gist of it while using Kuuton, but staying balanced is really difficult.”
“Oh, that spell with the kite? You sure come up with some funny ideas.”
“Hm?! Goodness!”
I could vaguely recall some story we read a long time ago that had a scene with a kite. Perhaps she had taken inspiration from that and developed a spell?
Heh. I guess she is the younger sibling after all.
Once Lucia had mounted the staff—I mean, broom—I got on behind her. I couldn’t believe she could comfortably ride on something so narrow. I had only been on the broom a few times, but each time had left me with a sore bottom.
“Maybe the kite would be better,” I said.
“Just hurry up and grab on!”
If she was going to bark at me like that, then I saw no choice and wrapped my arms around her. When she finished her incantation, the broom slowly began to rise. I felt my body wobble. With such a narrow surface, it was hard to keep my center of gravity stable even while holding on to Lucia.
I could feel her inhale deeply. Then the broom instantly accelerated. The next moment, we had flown through the window of my office. All I could do was try and hold on. While escorting the emperor, holding on to Kris while atop the iron mustang had been a trial, and that wasn’t nearly as fast as Lucia’s broom.
Magi who could fly through the air at will were so powerful that some nations built military units around them. The broom approached a building at breakneck speed, only to change direction right before colliding. We began to climb, the intense G-forces causing me to make a noise like a frog being crushed.
Now that I think about it, this is the first time I’ve ridden the broom in a city.
“Urkh. I can’t...”
“Don’t make those weird noises!” Lucia yelled as I desperately hung on to her. “I can do this! It’s your fault I can’t control it as precisely!”
“You’re going too fast.”
My vision spun, and I thought I might vomit. My Safety Rings weren’t helping me, which suggested that G-forces didn’t meet the conditions necessary to activate them. They probably just barely didn’t make the cut. Not that I thought it would do me any good if they did activate.
My world turned and twisted. I quickly looked down and saw dozens of tiny people chattering and pointing at the sudden appearance of Lucia the witch flying on her broom. We were over the main thoroughfare, which was usually busy with carriages coming and going, but now they were almost all stopped, their attention on us.
Even in a place as populous as the imperial capital, it wasn’t every day you saw people flying through the sky. The broom’s speed increased even further, leaving the onlookers behind.
“We can’t remain stable if I drop our speed!” Lucia shouted over the roaring wind. “Do you understand?! How hard it is?! To stay upright?! Like this?!”
The wind was overpowering. I struggled to breathe. I felt like she hadn’t always flown at such high speeds. Or was it just that I had gotten weaker? Like with the broom, I felt the air pressure when using Night Hiker, but I guess that Relic came with some sort of countermeasure to soften the impact.
“Lucia,” I said, absolutely bewildered, “you’ve gotten good— Wha?!”
For a moment, Lucia disappeared. No. I was the one who disappeared.
My body tilted. My arms went slack. By the time I had noticed any of this, I was already plummeting. Now it wasn’t the wind pulling on me, but instead the ground. I was helpless. That, however, did not stop me from being at ease. I was used to falling, and I had my Safety Rings.
Lucia cried out when she noticed I had fallen off, her screams echoing throughout the imperial capital.
“WHY?! BROTHEEER!”
Lucia was usually calm, but now she was pale as a ghost and shouting between ragged breaths. “I don’t understand!”
“Nice catch!”
“Brother, please don’t joke about this!”
I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t trying to make jokes. What did she expect? I even fell off the iron mustang, so of course my hands would slip if we went as fast as we did. Good thing Lucia was so reliable. Kris was also reliable, but not as much as my sister. Even if we weren’t related by blood, I was proud to be her older brother.
“I can’t believe you managed to drop down and catch me,” I said. “You can really fly this thing.”
I guess it was a sort of acrobatics? When I was free-falling, she caught up to me, screaming all the while, and reached out and caught me with her right arm. It was the sort of stuff that got turned into legends.