Queen Elizard was riding a horse.
She was not riding along an elegantly maintained dirt course meant for horse riding. Instead, she was on a narrow paved road heading from Windsor to London. Just a bit before, she had been travelling through a dark forest, but now gentle pastures stretched out before her all the way to the horizon.
(…Really. The British flag is a fusion of the flags of England, Scotland, and the others as a symbol of our union and yet we're completely scattered. It looks like I really have to recover that from London to bring us all together again…)
She had travelled about 50 kilometers.
Compared to the previous forest and hills, the path was not all that complex. (If she ignored the speed limit) she might have been able to arrive in London in only 30 minutes using a car.
But…
(It looks like this is the limit for a horse even if it is militarily trained.)
Elizard sighed as she held the reins.
Some of the thoroughbreds that appeared in horse races could run faster than a car, but that speed was only possible on a soft surface like dirt or a lawn. If a horse dashed at full speed atop hard asphalt, its hooves would break.
Also, horse tracks were like short or medium length races to the horses, so they couldn't keep those speeds up for a longer distance of 50 kilometers.
As a result, the queen was moving along at about 20 to 30 kph while taking occasional short breaks to ensure she didn't wear out the horse.
(The horse is wearing special horseshoes for public roads and I could increase its physical strength and stamina with one of my spells…but I suppose I shouldn't force it. This would go much faster if I could use the large scale magic circles placed occasionally along the old road that increase the horse's horse power, but I can't exactly do that.)
The magic circles along the old road were under the jurisdiction of the British government, so people under the influence of the second princess would be able to tell she was using them. If that happened, things were sure to get much more troublesome.
Her slow progress did not bring an irritated expression to the queen's face.
Instead, Elizard's gaze held pity for the horse she was overusing.
"Sorry for having you come along with me in such a dangerous situation."
The horse did not understand human language of course, but the queen spoke to it regardless. The horse did not respond, but there was no dissatisfaction, fear, or confusion in its strong movements. As she watched the mass of muscles propelling her ever forward, the queen decided that she had been blessed with a truly excellent subordinate.
A car's headlights then came shining from behind.
Thinking it might be pursuit from the knights or the royal family, she focused on Curtana Second as it hung from her hip, but that was not who it was.
A gaudy youth riding in a gaudy convertible drove right up next to Elizard and the military horse. The man in the driver's seat was gaudy, but so was the woman in the passenger seat.
Actually, looking closer….
"Yaaay! The hitchhiking was a success!"
"Y-you're kidding, right!? You really stayed there in the forest waiting for a car to come by!?"
Sitting in the passenger seat, Laura Stuart smiled and nodded towards Elizard who was sitting atop the horse in shock.
The edges of the gaudy youth's lips bent up.
"At first I was afraid because I thought she was some kind of hitchhiking ghost, but it turned out she was just an annoying pervert. I was just going to throw her out somewhere around here, but if you know her, can you take her?"
"Sorry about that. I'll take that other-worldly idiot."
Elizard sincerely apologized, grabbed the woman in the passenger seat with an arm, and pulled her over onto the back of the horse.
At that point, the man holding the convertible's steering wheel finally got around to noticing something.
"Huh? Is that a horse? That's a horse!"
"…Of course it is."
"Gyah ha ha! That horse just said brrr! It said brr! Oh, wow! I don't think I've ever seen a horse this up close before! Let me get a picture!"
"No, don't take out your cell phone, you idiot! The flash will scare the horse! And you shouldn't use your cell phone while driving!!"
"Okay, here goes."
Ching-a-ling-a-ling! With a ridiculous electronic noise, he took the picture.
Elizard reflexively made her perfect queen's smile that she used for photos.
"Aw, shit. The horse is all blurry. You can't tell what it is at all. It looks like the old woman on top is ascending into heaven or something. Wait…? I think I've seen you before. Are you one of my aunts or something?"
"…"
Still smiling, Queen Elizard reached for Curtana Second.
The ceremonial sword may have only had a fifth of its power left, but it could still slice something as trifling as a dimension.
With a slicing noise, the convertible's radiator was cut clean off and the coolant leaking out led to the engine burning out.
The queen gave a "hmph" of triumph in the direction of the convertible that had stalled and would no longer start.
"Aww. You ruined the car I waited so long for."
"Kh! Oh, no! I could have saved a lot of time by taking that car and heading to London!!"
Hearing Laura's words, Elizard now regretted what she had done, but she turned her thoughts back in a positive direction.
She grabbed the horse's reins again.
"Well, I suppose I can't just leave you behind here."
Elizard and Laura Stuart headed off in the direction of London.