As Zenjirou had expected, the carriage was much the same as the sleigh they had traveled in so far. There were, however, two differences that he noticed. The first was that the vehicle itself was on wheels, not skis. The second was that the panel inside showed “Automatic Travel” and nothing else. There was nothing they could control directly. In other words, without the ability to create windows using the panel, they were stuck with the plain gray walls, with no way to see outside.
“It’s shaking.”
“If anything, I would say it’s shaking less than I expected,” Yngvi answered. “At least for carriages. The vibration is even, so I believe the path is paved rather regularly.” His comment showed the difference in their frame of reference.
“Right. It’s less stable than the sleigh, but more stable than a normal horse-drawn carriage.”
Zenjirou thought back to riding drake-drawn carriages. The carriage they were currently in didn’t really shake in comparison. Compared to the sleigh they’d been riding so far, though, it was much rougher.
It was hardly a surprise. The sleigh had spent most of the journey flying, and after landing it had skated along ice practically polished to the smoothness of a mirror. That made Zenjirou focus more on the differences now.
I wonder what’s going on. They look pretty much the same, but they really differ in what they can do.
Overall, the actual coaches seemed all but identical. The interiors were the same, all a uniform light gray, with a panel on a pillar in the floor. It felt very different to ride in, though. The interior controls from the sleigh were also not available in this one. Put simply, it just felt like an inferior version. He wondered why.
The choice to use two models in the same series at the same time was usually because one had advantages in different ways than the other. Often the higher-spec version was more expensive to make, while the inverse was true for the lower-spec one, with the better option being more fragile while the simpler model being more capable of taking damage punishment. Therefore, there must be some benefit to using this less functional vehicle that prevented the better one from completely replacing it.
As Zenjirou was pondering that, the carriage gradually slowed and eventually came to a stop. “Stationary” and “You may alight” were displayed on the panel.
“Brother,” Yngvi prompted.
“Right, let’s get out,” he replied, standing and reaching for the door.
“Welcome, Yamai Zenjirou. Welcome, Yngvi Uppasala. I am the representative of this city, the current Rök. I only speak Ymirian. Ymirian has very little in the way of honorifics and the like, though it does have some. Therefore my words can sometimes appear rude to those who speak other languages, though I intend none of it. To avoid needless strife, I apologize in advance. My deepest regrets and apologies are offered to you both.”
Yngvi and Zenjirou had been shown to a building akin to a huge temple, and then to a similarly large room within it. Standing in that room, the man calling himself Rök bowed his head deeply. As he had indicated, his speech hardly sounded like he was addressing royalty that he was meeting for the first time. He came across as rather brusque, excepting the final apology, which was rendered much more formally. It made it feel almost like he was mocking them. But considering Utgard was essentially a city-state, he was all but its monarch.
“I am Zenjirou, spouse of Queen Aura I of the Kingdom of Capua. It is an honor to meet you, Representative Rök,” Zenjirou replied, deciding to treat him as superior in status.
“I am Yngvi, second son of King Gustav V of the Kingdom of Uppasala, Representative Rök,” Yngvi said, following suit.
“Zenjirou, Yngvi, sit and we will talk.” The way he spoke was still blunt enough that it would be entirely possible for negotiations to be called off. Still, he had explained ahead of time, and negotiations with the veiled territory were so important that neither Zenjirou nor Yngvi was foolish enough to fly off the handle over casual speech.
The two of them moved to sit down in the provided seats. As they did, Zenjirou looked around the massive room again. More specifically, the massive room in the massive temple. It wasn’t just this chamber that was large, but the building as a whole. In this instance, “huge” didn’t only refer to the size of the building and individual rooms—the entrance was massive, the door was just as big, and the handle matched its scale. The chairs and table readied for the meeting were also on the large side. The building and furniture as a whole were on a giant’s scale—the temple itself was a giant’s temple.
The thing that drew most of Zenjirou’s attention was the window. The immense space was covered with glass, far better made than he had seen in the commonwealth. The transparency of it made him think it might even be crystal rather than normal glass. It had been formed into a window fit for a giant. Although he couldn’t say for sure without getting closer, he couldn’t see a single defect in either its shape or clarity.
Of course, Zenjirou and Yngvi couldn’t sit in the giant chairs, so they were provided with normal chairs suited to their stature. The human-scale furniture looked almost like a doll house’s next to the giant items surrounding them.
Zenjirou and Yngvi sat next to each other, with the table between them and the representative. Once they had sat down, Zenjirou turned back to the man opposite them. Representative Rök was large for a human. The largest human Zenjirou had personally met was Marshal Pujol, but this man was even larger. He easily cleared two meters in height. However, he was not so tall that you would call him a giant. Even on Earth, there was a not insignificant number of people of similar height, like pro basketball players.
In fact, while the chair he was using was clearly custom-made, it was almost the same as the ones Zenjirou and Yngvi were using when placed alongside the giant chairs.
Once all three were seated, Representative Rök began the conversation. He was the one who had sent the invitation to Zenjirou and had also provided the venue, so that was to be expected.