Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The streets of Rentato were crammed with people.
“Look, what’s that?” Suddenly, someone exclaimed in the crowd. Everybody looked at where he was pointing at.
“What is that?”
“Can alchemical cars fly now?”
They burst out with equally shocked expressions when they saw that a silver object was flying at the altitude of the third floor. It looked similar to the alchemical cars on the street, in that it also had a head, a carriage, doors, wheels, and lamps, although it did seem too light to be made of regular metals. Of course, the greatest difference about the vehicle was that the weird alchemical car could fly! Wasn’t it an ability that only the sorcerers above the third circle and the radiant knights were capable of?
With their exclamations, more and more citizens looked at the sky. After a while, Rentato had a thousand statues that craned their heads at the sky.
Things were better in Rentato. If it were in any other place, the ordinary people would have escaped in a panic while shouting “monster”. Chances were that there would even be a stampede.
On the “flying car”, Viscount Leebel looked at the crowd below in satisfaction, with a cigar in his mouth. He felt that their exclamations were the best compliment for him.
“What’s to be surprised at? A bunch of bumpkins,” Viscount Leebel snorted. “This is just a perpetuated floating skill plus the engine device of the alchemical cars.”
He was the son of a certain count, and he had activated his blood power with drugs. It was impossible for him to fly on his own. Also, he felt that flying with common alchemical items was too ugly and made him feel that he was naked. Nobles should have the “etiquette” for flying. They had to be unhurried and graceful.
He had the dream for a long time, but he never had the chance to realize it until alchemical cars were invented. He finally understood what he really wanted. A real noble should fly in midair with such a vehicle so that the lowly citizens could only look up to him without seeing his real face. Of course, if this weren’t his first test, he would’ve hired a “coachman”. A noble should not drive a car in person!
Therefore, he found a few sorcerers who were highly interested in money and materials. Based on “alchemical cars”, they chose new metal materials that significantly reduced the weight as well as the safety performance. Then, the floating skill was perpetuated on that basis so that the alchemical car could float under the maneuver. That was because the flying skill could only be perpetuated by the senior rank, and the middle-rank sorcerers could only activate their flying skills several times every day at best, which could not meet Viscount Leebel’s demand.
Eventually, they modified the engine device of the alchemical car so that it could jet gas, thus allowing the controller to change the direction freely. In such a way, they enabled the alchemical car to fly without using the flying skill, and it could also drive on the ground.
Of course, such “flying cars” had its own deficiencies. Firstly, floating was not exactly flying, and the take-off and landing could be terribly slow. Secondly, it consumed a great amount of energy. Even though the floating skill had been perpetuated, it required the refill of magic gems that were unaffordable for ordinary people.
Viscount Leebel, however, was quite satisfied with that. It was his purpose to make the “flying cars” unaffordable for the bumpkins. That was the way to highlight the grace of nobles!
Looking at the alchemical cars on the ground that were driving slowly in case of collision as well as the shocked faces in them, Viscount Leebel extended his left hand and snapped the cigar ash off, before he said proudly, “What a bunch of bumpkins.”
Showing his “nobility”, he hit the accelerator in excitement, trying to pass through the air channel among a few tall buildings so that the bumpkins down below could only see the back of himself and his flying car!
Hardly had he passed the “channel” when his eyes were frozen, because an identical vehicle flew right at him on the opposite side. Inside the vehicle was a man who was at a loss in panic. He was equally fast and at the same altitude!
“Damn it. Those sorcerers sold my idea to other people!”
At this moment, of all the things he could’ve thought of, that was what popped up in his head. Then, he pulled the lever “skillfully”, hoping to ascend and avoid the possible collision.
However, the greatest problem with the floating skill was the slow rising and landing. Being a non-sorcerer, he neglected the problem.
The two equally shocked and terrified faces looked at each other in bewilderment, before the two flying cars ran into each other brutally.
“I shouldn’t have flown at such a low altitude just for other people to see me…” Viscount Leebel’s pupils constricted violently. Since his blood power was not normally activated, he did not have the willpower to remind himself of his knightly capabilities during the emergency.
Boom!
An enormous fireball burst out in midair, and the remains of the alchemical cars hit the ground like raindrops.
“Well…” All the craning citizens were utterly dumbfounded this time. What was this all about?
Bam.
An object that was burning intensely fell right before Ali who was carrying a black suitcase. He backed off in fear and almost stepped into the manhole next to the street.
“What a terrible explosion…
“It almost hit me…
“Rentato is really a dangerous place…”
Many ideas occurred to Ali. Having just arrived at the place, he had deeply recognized the “dangerousness” of Rentato. At this moment, he suddenly had the epiphany that his path would never be short of obstacles if he wanted to make a name for himself. If he was not careful enough, it was possible that he would be killed in the tiniest accident.
His uneasiness was soon suppressed by the strange experience.
“Hurry! Call the police!” The citizens were back to themselves.
They were already used to the police department of Holm.
……
Inside the Atomic Universe…
“What are you smiling at?” Natasha flew back with her longsword. Having just finished the afternoon sword practice, she saw Lucien’s weird smile.
Instead of giving a direct reply, Lucien nodded and said, “Somebody is indeed spying on me.”
“Did you find anything with the statue of Yuri?” Natasha was keen enough to remember the incident. Lucien had asked Katrina to install the statue in Dumute for two purposes. One of them was exactly a test!
Lucien chuckled. “If ‘he’ did not do anything, I would have to figure out a way to let Heit discover it, but thankfully, he jumped out promptly.”
“Do you know who it was?” Natasha asked solemnly.
Lucien shook his head. “I made the prophecy based on the event, so I don’t know who exactly it was. I only know that such a guy exists. After all, adding unnecessary magic circles to the statue would’ve placed Katrina in danger.”
Lucien certainly did not intend to involve his student who hadn’t even reached the senior rank in such peril.
“You don’t seem worried.” Natasha was relaxed seeing how easy Lucien was. She sheathed the Sword of Truth.
“Wary, I am; worried, I am not. Why do I need to worry about a guy who attempts to become a demigod by keeping an eye on what I do all the time?” Lucien began to joke with his wife. “Look at me. I always research and explore on my own and never care about what other people do. That’s the demeanor of an expert.”
“Tsk. If you are an expert, turn into a legendary knight and have a sword exercise with me!” Natasha raised her eyebrow.
Lucien replied “fearlessly”, “Not a problem, as long as you don’t use the Sword of Truth and the Shield of Truth.”
After joking with each other for a while, they discussed the mysterious guy and the God of Craftsmen again. At this moment, Butler Leo walked in. “Madam, a maid from the Nekso Palace asked for you.”
He always addressed her as madam instead of Your Majesty.
“Me? Is there anything important?” Natasha walked to the library in confusion. There shouldn’t be any emergency that the queen had to deal with in person recently.
After a while, Natasha was back. She said to Lucien with a weird face, “The ‘car accident’ you mentioned constantly has happened, but it’s in the sky…”
“In the sky?” Having come from Earth, Lucien knew very well about the danger of car accidents. After the alchemical cars were invented, he specifically advised speed limits and other safety measures in the city. No car accidents had taken place yet because alchemical cars were still rare. He never expected that the first car accident would happen in the sky!
Natasha explained what had happened. “The dead Viscount Leebel was certainly a creative man.”
A naughty kid who liked playing and got killed because of it… Lucien secretly remarked. The nobles and sorcerers of this world were truly “practical”. They had even created “flying cars” that he had never thought of.
Natasha patted her hand. “I have to host a meeting in the Parliament of Nobles. The deaths of two nobles have prompted the conservative old men to propose a ban on flying cars. If their reason stands, wagons should’ve been thrown into the ocean a long time ago.”
As the wife of an arcanist who was good at inventing all kinds of bizarre items, she was rather interested in the idea of flying cars.
“That’s right. It’s better to regulate the things that will eventually appear than to ban them. We should establish rules on aircraft and road safety. It will be better if the police department can set up special units to enforce the rules,” Lucien suggested.
“Haha. Should we forbid sorcerers from flying in the city like Allyn? Well, the Bill of Flight Management of Sorcerers?” Natasha joked and returned to the Nekso Palace through the portal in the hall.
Lucien shook his head with a smile and walked to the Thunder Hall, ready to discuss arcana with his teacher and Mr. Brook.
He had barely entered the Thunder Hell when he heard an intense explosion. Fernando’s magic tower glowed, and an energy swept out while consuming everything as if it were the end of the world. Then, everything was curbed by the magic tower.
“Damn it. Another explosion!” Fernando appeared before Lucien, with his hair in a mess.
Lucien said helplessly, “Master, you’d better be careful. If it were any other arcanists, they would’ve been long dead.”
