Sword, Magic and Academic Society

"It was my bad, really, Ren! It really wasn't my intention to keep you out~!"

Dui apologetically lowered his head as I stuffed my cheeks with BBQ meat, sullen. 

Apparently, Magic Car Club had been here for their tour plan. Well, according to explain, they'd no such plan initially, and rather an impromptu one. 

Rather, I missed out on this because I had left the Inception Ceremony midway on the last day of Royal Academy's final term of each grade. Not that I had wanted to, but I just couldn't have accepted Schord's speech with a straight face, who was the guest speaker.

Then, I also skipped the dorm and instead returned to our house in Royal Capital, and contacted Dan to take us to Rabeldin via ship so that I could stop Master from getting a whiff of my tracks. 

After the inception ceremony, someone in the club decided, on a whim, to use the spring break to visit Dui's house. That's how the whole thing came about, so it’s no surprise I didn’t know about it.

I know not to find fault with others for this one, since I was getting dessert for my own action despite being the man of the wind. Then why the sullen look, you may ask? Because—

I understand that everything’s a result of my own impulsiveness, but the reason I’m still in a bad mood is because—

"God knows my appreciation for you is as vast as roads we have treated for creating the Magic Card Club, Allen! I wouldn't have been able to bask in this falling sunshine, riding the Magic Car with fellow clubmates in this budding spring of youth! You know what, you're absolutely right. This club is really filled with the charm of youth. Ha~, I may have gained a newfound perception of the world!"

And so-so my Classmate Viz weaved his words with a smug smile, his hand circling around my shoulder.

"Hey, Viz. Can you not throw coal into the fire? There have to some responsibility as to why Allen had to leave Royal Capital in absolute secrecy."

"Tut-tut~, responsibility you say? You're just too pure, O' Dui! You should have seen his nefarious grin when he shouted 'I'm going to enjoy the heck out of my spring break' in the class,  so smug about this, and then disappeared on his own accord too! I bet my darling magic car that he must have planned some sort of hotpot which is going to boil the Royal Capital at the end of the day! Alright, 'fes up now, Allen! Since you didn't know about our road trip, likewise, the Magic Car Club was also not involved in your plan, right?!"

Damn you Viz... you really think too highly of me...

The heck you mean I had a plan. It was just a normal grave visit along with my parents and what could be a short field trip at best. 

"I have a premonition. A grave misfortune is going to fall on you as soon as spring break ends, Viz."

"Viz's expression turned pale at my sudden statement.

Hmph. Well, I wasn't actually planning anything big though, but it's his fault to believe that I was always out there cooking something bad. And since he believed so, I was sure he would now pass the remainder of vacation in worry, wondering what might it be.

"Hey, you can't just spit out anything and then go silent, Allen! What kind of misfortune? Hey, I am asking you something. Stop blatantly ignoring me!"

Next was a round of Viz pestering me for the meaning of my words.

Kukuku. I kept my silence, saving an exaggerated sigh that I released with a distant look, and gnawed on meat. 

Viz's face was entirely dyed in despair when he saw that. I had quietly relished the scene but Dui suddenly put his hand on Viz's shoulder with an innocuous expression.

"There's nothing as you're imagining, Viz. Allen isn't such a mischievous type, he's just pulling your leg. Also, thank you, Allen. I was honestly happy that drop by my house. Thanks to you, I managed to find the magic car when I was unsure about things... So, did you come here for a reason?"

When Viz heard the line from pure and innocent Dui, his mouth flapped like a fish as he uttered something like 'A-Allen, and...' 

Viz might be a pain, but admittedly, Dui was always sincere. In the end, I couldn;t stay sulkies for too long.

"Oh, right. I just came to hang out. Though my business is supposed to be after that, which required me to travel to Dragreid. But the schedule is a bit too tight, so I was wondering if we could do a marathon run to Dragreid if you're free."

A pleasant smile spread on Dui's face when he heard me.

"Ah, then you couldn't have come at a better time. We also had plans to leave tomorrow, and head to Royal Capital via the Dragreig route. How about we all go together then? Even with a leisure ride and sightseeing, I believe we can make it in four days. When do you need to reach there?"

4... no, 3 days if I do a bit speed up while taking a leisure ride huh? Well, that's just one-third time of what the initial trip with the carriage would've taken. Besides, the speed wasn't that comparable, and the horses would also need rest. So the active travelling time of carriage in a day could only be that long.

Well, bikes also require enough expertise to drive, and it shouldn't bring a revolution in the world that quick. But once they're widely adopted, they would become a game changer for... sure. 

...It could be me, but I suddenly have not so good feeling. ...Whatever. 

Anyway, a carriage's plus point was their loading capacity too, and either way, the more options to travel wouldn't hurt anyone. Definitely... and you know what, I think there's no need to deep dive. 

Haa... my thoughts were all over so I decided to shelve away the premonition of trouble. It might turn into a bit of a ruckus, but I couldn't keep worrying about everything, or that would just stop me from doing what I want to do.@@novelbin@@

"I need to reach there in 7 days, so I have plenty of time! LSo let's enjoy the trip, everyone!"

◆◆◆

The five magically engineered two-wheelers dashed through the rural highway. 

The roads offered around here were barely in shape, so the bikes sported off-road designs for the most part. 

Of five bikes—for convenience sake, we named them from 1st Bike to 5th Bike—1st and 2nd bike's seating were randomly shared. On the 1st bike, it was newly joined March-senpai, and Carl-senpai, while Vand and Dui rode on the 2nd bike. 

The 3rd bike was operated by Pan, 4th bike by Viz, and the last 5th bike was by me. 

Carl-senpai was an Artificer aspirant, and had interest in magic engines, fitting perfectly with Dui who loved to trifle with these machines. 

We were all wearing helmets for safety, goggles to shield away from the dirt etc thrown into unrest by the lead bike, and knee and elbow pads. From the riding safety measure of Earth, that was quite a neat setup. 

As for why, well, as stated about the poor roads, it was easier for the even small stones to throw balance all of a sudden, and cause the crash.

This was mostly countered by the magic guard, and as long as we're not going too fast, the injuries could be prevented this way. While the equipment were to improvise the defense even if by small margin, or so Dui had insisted. 

"It felt nice, ain't it, Allen!?"

Viz raised his choice ecstatically, and I followed with a nid.

"Yup, it's the best!"

Squibble like yesterday were everyday matters, so neither of us cared. Such small events barely matter in the grand matter of things.

"Weehoo!"

Exclaimed Viz as he shifted the weight slightly backward while sandwiching the bike's upper frame between his knees, and twisted the accelerator, causing the front part of the bike to rise up. 

He was performing the so-called wheely. It might sound easy and fun, but it required considerable techniques to pull that off. And considering the paths, it was quite a necessary skill. Like, imagine encountering a fallen tree in the forest road, so this sort of movement allowed a smooth manoeuvring, or else the vehicle would have to be stopped and lifted or slide up to pass. 

He was also one of the earliest members to join the club when it was established, so his driving skills also stood out most among everyone. 

I couldn't put it in words, this required an intricate control over accelerator, brake, and an innate talent to control the core of one’s body while performing such a task. 

You forgot him since he appeared like any regular joe, but he was also someone who cracked his way into the Class-A of Royal Academy.

"Sheesh, boy we all know you got those skills, alright."

I whispered my amazement, and performed the wheely like him. Though I had used my wind magic to lower wind pressure on the front. 

The 5th bike was modelled to be used in tandem with wind magic, basically exclusive to me. Though on the idea that it would be a waste to keep it behind in Royal Capital, the club used it for their road tour and tuned it so that even normal people could use it. Dui reversed the changes as much as possible yesterday night. 

Anyway, since this model of bike had wings which created different speeds of wind on the upper and lower part, I just had to easen the downforce by the wind, thus allowing the front part to easily rise in the air with ease. 

"I don't want to hear that from you, Allen. The fact that you are riding that picky machine with a cool face explains. Uh-huh, if only I had a talent for wind magic."

A regrettable sigh escaped from Viz. He had thrown hands to learn about wind magic when he saw my usage of it. However it turned out his talent in outer mana circulation was rather subpar. 

He immediately discarded any hope after ascertaining that, and instead turned to exert his effort in the activities of Magic Car Club. 

Well, the eye to ascertain one's own shortcoming, and expanding one's own options was just like him. 

"Hehe. Well this is where you're wrong. I say the world would've been a boring if everyone had same spec. It's our ability to customise ourselves to our preference that brought colors to life, just like these two-wheelers."

"...Hmm, you are right!"

A grin crept on Viz's lips as he lowered the front wheel to the ground, and with a twist of accelerator, he jumped his own on the wilderness running alongside the highway. 

Since this was the rural side, even the highway was no better, and was littered with depression of tires from the frequenting carriages, and water pooling on them. Yet, Viz's face remained unchanged as he made his bike run through the wilderness. 

I couldn't explain properly, but seeing that visage of him, as he skillfully maneuvered his roaring bike, it filled me with an indescribable joy.

◆◆◆

Our road trip only had an endpoint, however the rest of the route was left on our whimsical minds. On the second day, which is today, we decided to spend the evening in a rural town called Ado that we had arrived. 

We dropped our speed as we approached the town, and ended up at the sight of a chubby uncle, apparently the lookout on town's entrance, falling on the group while holding a pitchfork, whistle clenched between his teeths. 

With even the sight of magic cars being extinct in such countryside, a two-wheeler was even more unrecognisable. So it apparently had him misunderstood as some new kind of monster. 

The inn we found was quite a dilapidated one, fashioned after dormitory with four double-bunk beds placed in a narrow room. But for us, who had been living in a general dorm, and had been used to outdoor camping during our exploration work, that was barely a dealbreaker. 

After securing our place to sleep, we quickly had dinner and bath before moving to service our machines while bringing out points of improvement. 

"Sure enough, raw mana stones are not cut out for the life of the engine. ......Alright, this should be enough for today;s report. And now that they're tuned, the 3rd to 5th bike would've no problem traversing through mountains, just what we had planned. Do you guys want anything to be adjusted for tomorrow?"

Once the maintenance had ended, the topic shifted for tomorrow's departure.

"Let's see... we wouldn't be able to go that fast when passing through mountains, so I think the front weight needs to be adjusted for quick turning."

"That's a point... along with it, I think I should tighten the foot spring a bit."

The foot spring here was the mechanical part that absorbed shocks, much like the front fork or rear-shock. 

The more it was given the headroom to expand, the easier it was for it to absorb the vibrations, but during the jump etc, the spring might sit back to its limit, and result in breakdown from being unable to absorb the shock. This would be an unrecoverable loss for the journey. 

Or well—so was our guesswork. To be blunt, no one here was as knowledgeable as Furi-senpai or her father and magic card division leader Ashim Elvart. 

But that was fine. 

Working our brain out and sharing such candid views was what made this time fun. 

We continued to engage in our silly talk until the date changed, trifling with the bike before calling it the day, though not until cleaning our machines and making them shine. In the end, we firmly tied them with chain locks to the sturdy looking pillar on the stable, a measure against thieves, and dived into our bed. 

Professional racers all had lean builds, no exception, so it should be an easy guess how extraneous the motor sports were. Today, we also drove for hours on underdeveloped roads with machines still in the refining phase, so we had to constantly experience jolts, sometimes strongest ones, and while impact was prevented by Body Strengthening magic, it left us dead-tired. Besides, there was also travel fatigue to count.

At the end of day, I ventured into a deep sleep, and didn't wake up until the sun had reached high.