Chapter 12 – Second time going out, let’s go to the capital (of a different continent)

Gatangoton……gatangoton……

After receiving the extremely shocking explanation from Olivia, a few hours had passed.

Ain had already descended from the huge ship and had now moved to a different location.

As a side note, that ship they boarded had a name, and was called “Princess Olivia”, according to Chris.

“(That’s totally a ship exclusively for Mother’s use, right?)”

With the talk progressing with terms like Princess, and Olivia-sama and so on, Ain had no choice but to accept this as reality, even if he wasn’t completely convinced.

“Princess Olivia”‘s speed was unusual. The continent would usually take three days by boat from the Port City Roundhart, but it only took two. So, they arrived a short time at the Unified Nation of Ishtalika.

According to Chris’ explanation, the power source of the boat was, just like the ships in Heim, using magic stones to generate propulsion.

However, even if the same fuel was used, there was a big difference in speed because the number and size of the engines was on another level.

The materials of the engine and other parts were not detailed, but when making a normal engine, the size and the numbers were decided according to the hardness of the material.

With the difference this big, the materials used for the hull of the ship were probably also superior and something Ain didn’t know.

He didn’t know how it worked, but this vehicle, which used a mountain of magic stones, was quite comfortable for Ain.

He got a sense of satisfaction similar to fullness.

“Well, leaving aside the speed of the ship, the matter of mother’s birth was more of a shock.”

“Ain? What’s wrong? Did you say something? ”

“Just that this is an amazing ship, Mother.”

“Fufu…… is that so? I’m quite proud of this ship.”

That little murmur did reach Olivia’s ears.

However, she didn’t seem to care much.

Unified Nation of Ishtalika’s Second Princess, Olivia Von Ishtalika.

That was Olivia’s former name…… or it could be said that she went back to her original name since she had separated.

While remembering what he learned about that country, Ain went over everything he knew about Ishtalika.

Leaving aside that Heim was no match in land area versus Ishtalika, not even the whole continent where Heim was located was a match for Ishtalika.

They lost by a score of two, nearly three times.

If all the small islands were added to continental Isthar, that score was tripled, and even if it was only between the main continents, Isthar was still twice as large.

Although many people lived on the small islands, they were not militarily strong since most of the inhabitants were peasants, like farmers or civil workers.

Coming to that point, it was a mystery to Ain why such a strong country had sent a princess to marry into Heim.

＊

“……Mother.”

“Huh? What is it, Ain?”

“There are a lot of things I don’t understand, after all……”

What I was explained then was that mother was the second princess, and that the fact she married into the Roundhart family was because there was something Ishtalika needed.

Also, that the blonde female knight Chris was a former member of mother’s exclusive knights, and now she was on knight duty on another department.

Gatangoton……gatangoton.

And one last thing was, about where we were headed.

That place was the capital city of Ishtalika, the place where my mother’s parents live…… in other words, the castle.

I heard the castle is (supposedly) very beautiful, and it’s called “White Knight”.

Seems like that name originated from the fact that the first King who unified the continent of Isthar was a Silver Knight.

……But the thing I still don’t understand the most is, why did she hide fact that she was the Second Princess, and what is that which Ishtalika is in need of?

After all, they have amazing technologies here.

They have abundant resources, they lack any food-related problem, and have a lot of military power.

What the heck do they need to make a princess marry into another country?

“Sorry. I’m suddenly making you go through a lot of things, Ain.”

“N……not at all, I’m okay! It’s not like I was separated from you mother, and left alone, right? ”

That’s a common story.

The mother sacrifices herself to let her son escape.

And then, the child swears to take revenge on the man who caused his mother’s death.

“There’s no way I’d let that happen, Ain. Up until we got into the ship at the Roundhart port, I thought that might have been the case…… but no matter how much I think about it, there’s no way I will let that happen now. I’m sure you have a lot of questions to ask, right? There are some things I can’t decide myself, so tomorrow…… Ahh, the date has already changed, I’ll explain it later today when we arrive at the castle, Ain…… is that okay?”

“Alright. Honestly, rather than anxious, I’m a bit interested in where we’re going! That’s why I’ll wait properly.”

“……Really well said……he’s a really smart person isn’t he, Olivia-sama?”

“Yes, he’s a great boy, right? ”

After getting off the ship, Chris-san kept close to us.

She said it was because there was nobody stronger than her in this place right now.

She must be an excellent knight, after all she was the escort of a princess.

“You did well in hanging in there with ‘that’ for this long……I-I’m extremely sorry, I overstep my bounds.”

“……I still have some regrets about that person, but most of the feelings pretty much disappeared a while ago, and even from the beginning they were uncertain.”

Not only Chris treated Ain’s father as a ‘that’, but even Olivia’s own evaluation of her husband wasn’t great.

“(Chris and mother are quite friendly……)”

“Ahh! S-……Speaking of which, what kind of vehicle are we riding right now? I don’t know what this is since after we got off the boat, we went through a tunnel and got in.”

I wasn’t aware at the time we were changing vehicles since the same kind of carpet and luxurious vibe was on the street, just as in the ship, and then we got into another luxurious room.

However, from outside I could head that Gatangoton sound.

But I wasn’t sure what it was.

“Ohh, I beg your pardon, Ain-sama. We switched to a water train, but there isn’t a similar vehicle in Heim.”

“Wa……water train? ”

So, it was a train after all? I imagined that might be the case because of that rattling sound……ahh, but if you think about it, they have that high-level technology to make such a huge ship and have plenty of resources, so it’s a given they can easily make a train.

But, what’s a water train? Is this thing running on water?

“Yes, a water train. To explain the principle in a simple way…… the crushed magic stones are submerged into a specially shaped water tank. There’s a special layer at the bottom of the tank that allows the crushed magic stoned to be interacted from the outside, generating heat.”

I see, so steam?

It seems this is more eco-friendly than using coal, since there isn’t smoke.