The chassis for a "brand new magitech car" concept.

It's about time I take action and head to a dungeon.

Dea-kun gathered intel from Blade-senpai, and we learned there's a dungeon in a town called Karkassa. On foot, it's apparently more than a month away.

"But man, I'd get bored just lazing around at home for that long."

Faking that we "traveled" is such a hassle.

… Maybe I should just buy a carriage. No idea how many gold coins it'd cost including the horses, though.

If only we had a car…

"Oh, right. I'll just make a car."

A car. Since there are Golems, something like a car should exist too.

If we had a car, we could pass off covering a month's walk in three days. Fuel costs would be an issue, but… actually, we won't have to pay anything in practice.

That said, it needs to be something Karina Shounin can afford — or rather, if I frame it as a loan from Dea-kun, that should work out to some extent.

I already repaid the one gold coin from buying the slave, so I could take on some additional financing.

"Alright then, let's make a car, Dea-kun! Aishia, help too!"

"Eh, what is this all of a sudden?"

"I don't really know what that is, but okay!"

Oops, I should explain properly.

 

*

 

First, we need to procure lumber as the main material. We can fell trees in the mountains near the former site of Alchemia. Free of charge. Normally the wood can't be used without drying, but Spatial Magic can do that in an instant. Even if rapid drying causes cracking, Spatial Magic can fix it — it's just that overpowered.

For now, we'll shape it like a handcart; it just needs to move on its own. Something that can go reasonably fast and be steered.

"And here's the chassis for a new-model magitech car I made along those lines!"

Ta-dah. What I showed the two of them was a wooden three-wheeled handcart. It looked like a retro three-wheeled truck. For steering, the front wheel had a bicycle-like handle that let you adjust the direction a bit. No brakes yet.

"This is a magitech car? There's no horse Golem, and I don't see any magic circles."

Ah, so there are setups where you have a horse-type Golem pull a carriage. Huh.

"If there are Golems you can ride inside, a car-type Golem wouldn't be that strange either. I wonder if anyone's made one."

If a Japanese person made a bathhouse, I wouldn't be surprised if they made a magitech engine too. Setting the Denma aside. I hesitate to develop erotic stuff, you know? No no, a Denma is just a massage device, so it's not erotic.

"It's probably about driving skill and compatibility. If existing coachmen can operate it as-is and existing carriages can be used as-is, then a horse Golem works better than getting in and driving yourself."

Plus, powering a horse Golem with magic stones costs more than a real horse. A biiiig fuel economy problem there.

"Will this even move?"

"I'll actually move it with my magic. Like, swoosh."

"Oh, it ru—did it run? Did it?"

I lifted the chassis a few millimeters with Spatial Magic and made it run. I also tried sliding it at top speed… At that velocity, anyone riding inside would probably get minced. We'd need to protect the interior with Spatial Magic.

"I-it's really fast…! But something feels off about it, Master."

"Well, I'm just moving it myself. It's like sliding a box back and forth in your hand."

To put it another way, it's like pushing a toy car by hand.

Right. It doesn't actually have to be practical as a magitech car.

It's in development! A cost-be-damned, energy-guzzling prototype! That's the setup.

Point is, as long as we can use this to say our travel is fast, it's fine.

What's that? We'll be in the red from fuel costs? Sure, but a noble sponsor is footing the bill, so it's not Karina Shounin's problem!

"So, I want you two to modify this to make it look like it's magitech. At least for its internals."

"I see, so it doesn't have to be the real deal. In that case, even I might be able to handle it now. We just need to come up with plausible mechanisms, devices, and magic circles, right?"

"Yeah. You can even think of a way to actually make it run. Like a piston engine."

"Give me details on that, Onee-san!"

"Umm, there's something called an internal combustion engine. A crank, a heat sink…"

I gave a quick overview of engine concepts starting from pistons. I don't know the details either, though.

"Um, Master. What should I help with? I don't know anything about magitech devices."

"Assist Dea-kun… For the fake engine — the heart of it — can you incorporate design motifs with a speedy vibe to sell the bluff? Can you do something with your bard sense?"

To sell this as magitech, we need at least the core section to have a cool look that immediately says, "This is something amazing." Not that we'll have many chances to show it off.

"Understood. I'll consult with Dea-sama and give it a try!"

Yep, do your best.

I handed them parchment, ink, and pens. Since it's for design, using replicas is fine.

"Then I'll go do market research on what to bring when we go peddling to Karkassa. Maybe I'll even procure stock."

"Okay, see you, Onee-san."

"Leave the house-sitting to me, Master!"

We don't really need someone to watch the place, though. This is a space no one can enter without my permission, so it's not like customers will come. In the end, I never got around to renting an inn room and setting up a door there.

Ah, and I need to buy materials for massage devices starting with a Denma (wand massager). Fufufu.