Water Magician

Vol 3. Chapter 710: Bonus Part: Ryo and Abel’s Journey Home (38)

710. Return Home

After departing Jakeleah, the Federation capital, Abel and Ryo were about to cross the border together with their ten thousand escorting cavalry.

“I was wondering how you gathered ten thousand cavalry... but you really scraped them together from all over.”

“The lords in various regions answered Rihya’s call and sent them in haste.”

Sera answered Abel’s words gravely.

“While you were gone, Abel, Rihya had a very difficult time. When you return to the royal castle, you should thank her for her efforts.”

“R-right. Understood.”

Sera spoke in a tone that brooked no argument, and Abel accepted it.

This was a conversation inside the carriage King Abel was riding in.

As the commander-in-chief of all knight orders, Sera was in charge of this escort, but... she was inside the carriage.

Incidentally, she was lying with her head in Ryo’s lap.

Ryo wore a gentle smile as he stroked Sera’s head while she lay there...

Seated across from Ryo and Sera, Abel said nothing about the two of them.

He had decided it was not his place to say anything about it.

It was definitely not because he did not want to say something strange and make Sera angry...

King Abel’s ten thousand escorting cavalry.

Naturally, the core was formed by the Knightley Kingdom’s knight orders.

Added to them were the Silverdale Knights, the Marquisate of Hope’s knights, the Marquisate of Heinlein’s knights, the March of Rune’s knights, and the knight orders of nobles mainly from the central region of the Kingdom, where the royal capital was located.

“I understand Silverdale, but the Marquisate of Hope is in the western part of the Kingdom, right? They made it in time remarkably well.”

Abel said this with admiration.

From the time Ryo used Abel’s Soul Echo to send a message to the receiving device that Viscount Kenneth Hayward was supposed to have improved, until the welcoming party crossed the border, only two or three days should have passed.

From the western part of the Kingdom, cutting through the Fourth Highway, the royal capital, and the Second Highway all the way to Red Post... No matter how hard they pushed the horses, it should have been impossible in three days.

“That was coincidence. The Marquisate of Hope’s knights and the Silverdale Knights were holding a mock battle in the royal capital. That is why they made it.”

Sera answered.

Of course, from Ryo’s lap.

“Heinlein and Rune...”

“They rushed through the restored Great Ro Bridge and joined us at Red Post.”

“It feels strange for me to say this, but the Kingdom’s knight orders are amazing.”

Abel murmured as he shook his head slightly.

Just then, someone knocked on the carriage door.

“What is it?”

“Forgive me, Your Majesty. Actually, two horses have been following us for some time...”

“Horses?”

“A black horse and a gray...”

“No way!”

As Ryo said that, he leaped out of the open carriage door.

When the gray horse spotted him, it came running over.

“Andalusia!”

It rubbed its head against Ryo.

And against Abel, who had stepped out of the carriage as well...

“Feiwan!”

It gave Abel’s face a long lick.

For both horses, these were expressions of affection.

The knights were surprised at the sight.

At the same time, they smiled.

To knights, a horse was a partner.

It was only natural that they would smile when they saw that the two men they served also had horses that had opened their hearts to them.

“Those two are?”

Sera asked.

“This is Feiwan. A fine horse, is he not?”

“This is Andalusia. She is very clever.”

Abel and Ryo introduced them to Sera with expressions as pleased as if they were talking about themselves.

“They are certainly splendid horses, but...”

Sera looked at Feiwan and nodded, then looked at Andalusia... and could not take her eyes off her.

Ryo noticed.

“E-even if it is you, Sera, I will not give you Andalusia, all right? I do not mind if you ride her a little, though.”

Ryo said this with an anxious expression.

“No, I am not thinking of taking her from you.”

Sera smiled wryly.

Hearing that, Ryo felt relieved and began stroking Andalusia again.

What was Sera seeing?

From Ryo’s body overflowed what the elves called the fairy factor.

Sera could see Andalusia absorbing that overflowing factor.

Of course, Sera and the other elves absorbed the fairy factor as well.

But the amount Andalusia was absorbing was several times greater than what an elf absorbed...

Sera had never heard of an ordinary living creature absorbing that much.

Incidentally, ordinary horses absorbed such a tiny amount that even Sera could not perceive it.

In fact, she could not confirm Feiwan beside Andalusia absorbing any at all.

Sera tilted her head.

“Can a living creature ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) absorb such a vast amount of fairy factor?”

There was no one there to answer that question.

“Um, should we ride the two of them? Or should we ride in the carriage?”

“The carriage, please.”

Sera immediately answered Ryo’s question.

Ryo tilted his head slightly, but he did not object. He looked at the two horses and spoke.

“Andalusia and Feiwan, will you follow behind the carriage?”

When Ryo said that, the two lined up companionably behind the carriage.

“They really are clever.”

“They are magnificent.”

“I think it is probably because they are not ordinary horses...”

Ryo and Abel praised them, and Sera’s murmur was too quiet to reach the two of them.

The three returned to the carriage, and the procession began moving again.

Andalusia and Feiwan followed behind the carriage happily.

Rather, the other horses the knights were riding seemed to be paying attention to those two, glancing at them again and again...

“Abel, when you arrived in Jakeleah, you made a flashy entrance, did you not?”

“Flashy... Well, yes, I suppose.”

“That story will reach the Kingdom eventually.”

“I imagine it will.”

“In that case, perhaps you should also stage a proper ‘arrival of King Abel’ when we enter Red Post.”

“What?”

Abel tilted his head at Sera’s words.

“People may ask why you answered the cheers of the crowd in Jakeleah, yet hid yourself from your own people living in Red Post.”

“Ah...”

Abel grimaced.

After thinking for a little while, Abel looked at Ryo.

“Ryo, in Red Post as well...”

“Yes, let us enter the city on the ice podium.”

Ryo nodded as he stroked Sera, who had once again laid her head in his lap.

“But if we do it in Red Post, we will hardly be able to say we will not do it in the other towns, will we?”

“Th-that is how it would turn out after all, yes.”

Abel grimaced even further.

“At the very least, you should make a show of it in Wingston.”

“...Yes.”

At Sera’s words, Abel gave up all resistance.

And so a series of performances later called “King Abel’s Return” would take place.

In Red Post, a crowd had gathered along the broad street leading from the castle gate to the front of the government office.

“The king is really coming?”

“I heard he spent a year traveling all over the Central Countries.”

“No, I heard he joined the army to subjugate the Demon King.”

“Wasn’t he pursuing some huge monster?”

“I heard he went to the Eastern Countries.”

“That one is impossible.”

The people of Red Post standing along both sides of the broad street exchanged those words.

The cavalry entered Red Post in a long formation.

After they had advanced a certain distance, the column of cavalry stopped.

At its center was a single carriage.

Its door opened, and beyond the door appeared an ice podium.

“Is that... no way...”

“The one from when the king gave that speech in Rune?”

“I have heard of it!”

And then...

From the carriage door emerged a man dressed in red and white, and he stepped onto the podium.

The man waved to the people.

The next instant, cheers exploded.

“Oooh!”

“The king!”

“It is His Majesty Abel!”

The ice podium floated in the air.

Standing upon it, King Abel waved.

Together with the ten thousand cavalry, King Abel advanced.

The cheers moved with him, and flower petals thrown from somewhere danced along the road.

“Incredible.”

“Abel is popular.”

Ryo exclaimed in admiration, and Sera answered with a smile.

The two of them were inside the carriage.

From inside the carriage, Ryo used magic to slowly move the podium Abel was riding.

“As expected, Ryo, your magic is precise.”

“I still have a long way to go before I reach your Wind Raiment, Sera.”

“That is a matter of familiarity. Rather, when I fight close to full strength, I become more tired without Wind Raiment.”

“Yes, I had that feeling when we were mock-fighting.”

Sera said so, and Ryo agreed.

Wind Raiment increased every aspect of Sera’s sword speed through wind-attribute magic.

Ryo had thought it was magic she activated almost unconsciously, as though she were breathing—no, as though she were making her heart beat.

“I want to become able to use water-attribute magic like that.”

“You can. Or rather, instantaneously, you can already use it that way, can you not?”

“I want to be able to do it constantly, even unconsciously...”

Ryo made that declaration with renewed resolve.

Seeing him like that, Sera nodded with a smile.

The procession advanced down the broad street while receiving cheers.

Abel continued to show himself openly as king.

“As expected of a member of the royal family.”

“It means he has been trained since he was little.”

“I cannot even imagine that kind of world.”

“Nor can I.”

Both Ryo and Sera smiled wryly.

“But we are doing this in Wingston too, right?”

“Yes. We may do it in the other towns as well. We need to inform both the inside and outside of the country that the king has returned.”

“Being king really is difficult. Best to leave it to Abel.”

Ryo felt just a tiny bit grateful to Abel for fulfilling the role of king without a single complaint.

“Eventually, I think a ‘role’ will be prepared for you as well, Ryo.”

“Huh?”

“Those two horses from earlier may be just right for it.”

“Uh...”

Surprised by Sera’s words, Ryo instinctively looked back at her face.

Sera wore a smile, but she did not explain in detail.

And so, from Red Post to the royal capital, the “King Abel’s Return” event was held in every larger town.

Then, ten days after crossing the border, Abel finally arrived at Crystal Palace, the royal capital.