Meanwhile, Zenjirou was en route to Utgard with Freya’s twin, Yngvi, the crown prince of Uppasala. Zenjirou had first teleported from Capua to Uppasala. That same day had been host to a simple, unofficial welcoming ceremony. He had then spent the night in their palace before they departed via horse-drawn carriage to the northernmost edge of the capital. There, they had switched modes of transportation to the “vehicle” that Utgard had provided.
Said vehicle was effectively a huge sleigh. Two reindeer—or at least that was the closest creature Zenjirou could think of—were pulling it. Of course, they were significantly larger than the heavy horses that had brought them this far, so he wasn’t entirely sure whether they could really be called reindeer.
The sleigh itself was not what you would normally picture when hearing the word. Atop it was effectively a huge box, just as big as the enclosed carriage they had arrived in.
It was early fall. Although Uppasala was in the far north of the Northern Continent, there had still been no snowfall near the city itself. That begged the question of how the sleigh was moving, and the answer was that it was gliding through the air itself. The two reindeer ran through the sky rather than on the land, and the sleigh slid along silently behind them.
The interior of the sleigh’s coach was just as strange. The walls, floor, and ceiling were neither metallic nor stone, but were made of a bright, gray material that was almost white. The main things inside were two sofas facing each other and a square obelisk between them. The block came to about hip height and had a slanted top that was glowing faintly.
The flat face was home to magic letters. It started off by saying, “Doors closing,” and was followed by “Please be seated” and finally “Departing.” The doors did indeed close on their own, and shortly after the two of them had sat down, the sleigh had silently started to move.
A few moments after the movement began, they felt a slight force pushing towards the back of the sleigh, but it wasn’t long before it stopped. There were no windows in the floor, ceiling, or four walls, so it was impossible to tell for sure, but it felt like gravity was pulling it straight down. Incidentally, there were magic lights at the front and rear of the interior, so it was plenty bright enough inside.
The panel then changed to say, “You may move about the cabin.” Apparently, they were allowed to leave their seats now. He wasn’t intending to stand up, but Zenjirou felt the strength fall from his body as he let out a sigh of relief. With his nerves soothed, he finally had the wherewithal to pay attention to his fellow passenger. His younger brother-in-law’s eyes were sparkling in excitement.
“What in the world is all this?!” he asked, practically leaping from his seat.
Hurriedly, Zenjirou gave him a warning. “Yngvi, you shouldn’t rush around too much. It might say we can move around, but we are flying through the air.”
There was a long pause. “Huh? Through...the air?”
Although Zenjirou had offered the warning like it was obvious, Yngvi seemed to barely understand what he’d said. It made some sense once Zenjirou considered it. The sleigh had definitely been on the ground, pulled by two reindeer when they boarded. After that, the door had closed and they had started to move. The only light was from the magic, with no windows, so it was impossible to see outside.
The diagonal pull had been enough for Zenjirou to realize they were flying, but that was only because he’d flown on planes on several occasions. Then again, seeing a sleigh pulled by reindeer was enough to make him imagine that it flew to begin with.
Meanwhile, Yngvi had never flown before. That was hardly surprising since Uppasala didn’t have any flying horses and the younger prince couldn’t use flight magic. All this meant that he was unable to conceive of the sleigh itself gliding through the air, especially since horizontal flight at a constant velocity meant that there was no inertia.
“We’re flying? Really? Um, is it safe?” He wasn’t entirely convinced but knew what Zenjirou was claiming now, and he looked uneasily at his feet.
“Well, they invited us and provided the transportation. It shouldn’t be particularly dangerous,” Zenjirou answered, tilting his head uncertainly. It was the best he could do to reassure the younger man.
“It makes sense when you put it like that. Are you sure, though? I know you aren’t the type to make such jokes, but it’s still hard to believe.”
Zenjirou mulled over the younger man’s honest reaction for a while. “Well, there’s no proof, so it makes sense you’d have trouble believing it. What to do, then?” He realized there was only one thing that could be a clue within the sleigh. “Is this just a display?” he asked himself, carefully getting up and looking at the glowing panel.
In large characters—Japanese, as far as Zenjirou could see—the panel read “underway.” As he looked even closer, he saw smaller words that said “limited controls.”
“Oh, that might be it,” he muttered, guessing at the significance. He hesitated to touch it, though. After all, controlling a magic tool he’d never seen before while it carried them through the air was unnerving.
“What is it?” Yngvi asked. His face—so similar to Freya’s—looked somewhat bemused as he inched over to Zenjirou’s side.
“Right. Could you take a look at this?” Zenjirou asked him. “Not the big thing in the middle, but the smaller words in the top left.”
Because they were written in magic writing, Yngvi would be able to read them as well.
“Not ‘underway’ so... Oh, this. ‘Limited controls.’ Controls?” The word made the prince lift an eyebrow. “We can control this?” he asked, curiosity and desire mixed into his smile.