“Is that about it? Fina, how about you?”
“It’s fine. Though we had to rush, I’ll need to properly review it later.”
Marina and Fina were attaching a belt made of Sky Serpent leather to the Beast Carriage. Eos, who had fully transformed into a Green Dragonian, was to thread their arms through the belt and firmly hold the carriage by hand.
“Eos, how is it?”
“It’s easier to hold than I expected. There won’t be any problems with this.”
Since Eos assured me it was fine, let’s get started.
“Just to confirm, it’s Mana, Lydia, and Ludia fighting the Elephant Boars directly, Ed, Marina, Fina, and Apricot will wait in the Beast Carriage, Prim will guard the Beast Carriage, and everyone else will handle the Long-nosed Boars, correct?”
“We can’t help it.”
Prim sounded displeased, but everyone else nodded firmly. Honestly, Ed, Marina, Fina, and Apricot should have remained in Dragunia, but since we don’t know what Duke Narlstadt might do, they’re accompanying us against their will. And Prim being in charge of guarding the Beast Carriage is because it would be troublesome if their level increased by fighting carelessly. The reason Mana, Lydia, and Ludia are to gain combat experience against an An is partly to gain experience, but also to gauge their abilities against an S-rank Elephant Boar, given that five High Class hunters from the Holy Grave defeated an S-rank Orc Princess. Raus also seemed eager to join, but unfortunately, he hasn’t evolved yet, so he’ll be a key player among the Long-nosed Boars. I’m thinking of Mina as a main force for the Long-nosed Boar battle as well, but with support from Flam and Rebecca’s archery, and Yuri and Carol, and Yuria providing support with their unique magic, things should be fine as long as nothing unexpected happens. Rika, Marisa, and Viola will also join the Long-nosed Boar battle, but since all three will be fighting up close, I’ll need to keep a close eye on them. Athena is on her first assignment, so she’ll be fighting without pushing herself too hard. Eos is a G-rank Hunter, but since they’re in their fully dragonized form this time, they’re only expected to provide support.
“Alright, let’s go. Eos, sorry to trouble you, but I’m counting on you.”
“Understood. Please board the Beast Carriage.”
“We’re counting on you, Eos.”
Once everyone boarded the Beast Carriage, Eos firmly held it and slowly ascended into the sky. Since we’re in the Mirror Room, Eos won’t feel our weight, and the Mirror Room has windows, so we can see the scenery outside. It’s quite a nice view.
“Yamato-san, a preliminary report: the Mirroring’s enhancement extension seems unlikely. The interior keeps breaking no matter what.”
“The interior breaks? Why?”
“It seems we have to re-apply the Mirroring, so the effect will inevitably wear off once.”
So, the interior will destroy the Beast Carriage from the inside. If that’s the case, we’ll have to get a new Beast Carriage, which will be a lot of trouble.
“Also, regarding this Beast Carriage, your and Prim-san’s mana is putting a considerable strain on the wood. It seems that unless we use something like Cherrywood, even the finest Beast Carriage will likely suffer the same fate.”
“Seriously? The wood used for this Beast Carriage is Cypress wood, as I recall. It’s a high-quality material for Beast Carriages, but it’s no match for Cherrywood. Cherrywood is also known as a minor World Tree and is considered the highest grade among the Helios Orb woods, capable of withstanding Ancient Class mana, so it would be better to use that.”
“Cherrywood? But since it’s managed by the Trader’s Guild, it should be quite expensive, right?”
Yuri is right. Cherrywood is planted in several cities like botanical gardens, managed by users of Bestowed Magic and Tree Magic. It seems to consume a lot of mana and is difficult to manage, so Cherrywood rarely appears on the market. Because of this, Cherrywood commands a high price, and using it for a Beast Carriage would easily cost tens of thousands of Divine Gold Coins. Illegal logging is a serious crime, and offenders are immediately demoted to criminal slaves, but still, I hear some people are caught every year. However, if our mana is already damaging the Beast Carriage, we have no choice but to build a new one. It wouldn’t be funny if the Beast Carriage broke down during camping.
“Fina, if we use Cherrywood, 50x Mirroring, and keep the exterior and interior roughly the same as this Beast Carriage, how long do you think it will take?”
“Maybe 5 to 6 million El. The reward changes depending on the Crafter’s rank, and we have to consider the number of wives that Lord Gaia mentioned. It might even reach 7 million El.”
Whoa, that’s more money than I expected. For the interior, my room will be for 13 people, Ed’s room for 5, and Raus’s room for 7, so we’ll need to make the bedrooms larger, and since the number of familiars and summoned beasts will increase, the stables will also need to be expanded.
“Just a moment. Let’s see, for a Beast Carriage of this size with 50x Mirroring, that’s 750 square meters. Let’s make the bedrooms 60 square meters each for three rooms, the bath 70 square meters, and the living room 70 square meters. We’ll need more toilets, so that’s 40 square meters, and then seven 30 square meter rooms for guest rooms and servant quarters. And then stables and a garden, how about that?”
“Hold on, let me calculate. Hmm, if this part is like this, and this is like that… um…”
“Yamato, that won’t do. The stables are the same as this Beast Carriage, 180 square meters.”
Fina was trying her best to calculate, but Marina was faster. Well, Marina can use commercial magic, Counting, so it’s natural for her to be fast. Wait, is that true?
“Geez, it’s true.”
“Marina can use Counting, but Yamato-san, you’re really fast at calculating.”
Well, I can do about this much. Anyway, I wanted the stables to be about twice as large, so this isn’t enough at all.
“For the guest rooms and servant quarters, wouldn’t the same size as now be fine? Marisa, what do you think?”
“No problem. To begin with, aren’t there too many guest rooms?”
“No, there are four Butlers now, right? If each of them needs their own private room, then this is the only way.”
Currently, one of the 20 square meter guest rooms is the room for Marisa, Viola, and Yuria. And Eos is supposed to be in there too, so it’s definitely too cramped.
“Yamato-sama, you don’t need to allocate rooms for all the Butlers.”
“That’s right. If you could prepare a room large enough to accommodate about ten Butlers, that would be more appreciated from our side.”
Listening to the opinions of Butlers Marisa and Viola, I reconsidered and thought that approach might be better. In that case, it would be better to have three guest rooms and consider the servant quarters to be 40 square meters.
“In that case, the stables will be 260 square meters. It will be about 1.5 times larger, so this should be fine.”
Alright, with that much space, it should be manageable. We have close to 30 million El from our previous hunts and rewards, so using Cherrywood shouldn’t be a problem.
“With that said, I intend to make it using Cherrywood.”
“I didn’t expect Ancient Class mana to be an issue here, but if that’s the case, then it can’t be helped.”
“Indeed. It would be the worst if the Beast Carriage broke down during camping.”
For everyday use, whether High Class or Ancient Class, there’s no problem. In fact, magical tools are designed not to let excessive mana flow through, so anyone can use them with the same effect. But Beast Carriages often undergo mana reinforcement with Mana Rings to withstand and defend against monster attacks, and it’s not uncommon to unconsciously flow mana, which seems to be the cause.
“It’s for safety, so it can’t be helped.”
“Right. Besides, this Beast Carriage was made with the earnings of Yamato and me, and the new one will be too, so you don’t need to worry about us.”
That’s that, and this is this. Since we’ll be using it in the Union, everyone’s opinion is important.
“So, after we obtain the Cherrywood, we’ll ask Fina-san to make the Beast Carriage?”
“That’s right. Now, we just need to find out which cities plant Cherrywood, but that should be easy to find.”
Unfortunately, Feel doesn’t plant them, and I don’t think Emosion does either. Float doesn’t plant them, but they should still be able to find out where they are planted, so that should be fine.
“Then it’s alright. If it’s Cherrywood, Memoria also plants it.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. It’s not the largest scale, but it’s a considerable size.”
That’s a relief. Memoria, or rather, the Marquisate of Amatista, doesn’t have any Magic Silver mines, but it prospers through trade because ships go up to Float. However, they apparently needed some kind of specialty product, so a few generations ago, the head of the household started planting Cherrywood, and it seems to be their main industry now. Rika says it’s not that large, but as a single city, the city south of Duke Turkis’s territory is the largest. However, when considering the entire territory, the Marquisate of Amatista is the largest Cherrywood planting area in Amister, so it seems we’ll be able to secure enough for the Beast Carriage.
“I’ve heard that users of Tree Magic are in high demand in the Marquisate of Amatista.”
“Of course. Without Tree Magic, you can’t plant anything.”
Carol, whose own Bestowed Magic is also Tree Magic, seems interested. Tree Magic doesn’t just control plants; it can also promote their growth, so it’s certainly suitable for planting.
“Cherrywood, huh? I wonder if it will work?”
“Mana? Is something wrong?”
“Ah, sorry. I was just surprised about making a Beast Carriage out of Cherrywood. Speaking of which, what are you going to do with this Beast Carriage?”
If a new Beast Carriage is made, this one will likely become unused. I and Prim won’t be able to use it, but I don’t think having two is a bad thing. I, Prim, Mana, Lydia, Ludia, and Eos might participate in the Alliance, but everyone else won’t.
“No, if everyone is participating in the Alliance, then we can’t go hunting, can we?”
“That’s right. We couldn’t even go hunting during the recent Alliance.”
Mina and Flam answer, but they can still use it in town… Since Breeze is the only familiar left, they can’t use it then, can they?
“What should we do? It’s not like it’s a problem to have it, but if we don’t have a chance to use it, keeping it might not be necessary.”
“Right. And since the reason we can’t use it is because of my and Yamato’s mana, it should be fine for normal use. Still, selling it doesn’t feel right either.”
“In that case, why not offer it to the Royal Family? They probably don’t have a Beast Carriage with 30x Mirroring, and you can change the interior, can’t you?”
While Prim and I were debating what to do, Rika made such a suggestion.
“It’s possible. However, to reinforce it, we would need to remove the interior once.”
“Reinforce, you mean the body of the carriage itself?”
“Yes. Fortunately, at the moment, it’s just starting to be noticeable. I don’t know how it will be once we return to Feel, but it might only require adding about two crossbeams.”
Since Fina mentioned reinforcement, that might be a good option. Even the Royal Family might rarely use it, but since Emperor Reinhardt is also a Hunter, we can’t say for sure he’ll never have a chance to camp. Especially after his abdication. Queen Maruca has also evolved to High Class, and Princess Eliss is thinking of evolving, so we can’t discount the possibility of him making time to hunt before the Coronation Ceremony.
“Fina, how long do you estimate for the delivery date?”
“I’ll need to ask the Crafter’s Guild, but it should be possible within a week.”
“Alright, I’ll leave it to you.”
After obtaining the Cherrywood, we’ll have it made once we return to Feel. It’s a problem if the Beast Carriage breaks, but it would be even worse if it happened during camping. Of course, we’ll consult with Eos about making it easier for them to hold, and perhaps shape it like the bottom of a ship to reduce air resistance, and even store the belts on the roof.
“We’ll have to discuss that with Eos as well.”
