INTERLUDE THREE

Elizard, Queen of England, was riding a horse.

They weren’t on refined dirt prepared for equestrians but a small paved road leading from Windsor to London. They’d been running through a dark forest until a few moments ago, but now spread out around her was a gently sloping pasture that reached beyond the horizon.

…Truly—the United Kingdom’s flag was made from a combination of flags from England and Scotland as a symbol of our union. Now it’s all in shambles. We certainly will need to recover “it” from London to put it back together…

The approximate movement distance was a bit under fifty kilometers.

Compared to the forests and hills from before, the path wasn’t very complex. In a car, one might be able to arrive in London in about thirty minutes (ignoring the speed limit).

However—

He may be a warhorse, but even he has his limits.

Elizard exhaled slightly, gripping the reins.

Some thoroughbreds of the racing variety could run faster than a car, but that speed was possible only on soft soil or grass. If you made a horse run full speed over hard asphalt, his hooves would break in short order.

Plus, horse races were like short- or middle-range sprints for the horses; the same laws didn’t apply to a long-range run of fifty kilometers.

As a result, the queen needed to keep a speed of about twenty to thirty kilometers per hour and occasionally pause to take a short break so she wouldn’t wear out the horse.

He does still have special horseshoes for public roads, and I’m using a spell to bolster his muscular power and stamina…but I still can’t make him do anything excessive. Things would be simpler if I could use the large-scale circles embedded all along these old roads to strengthen warhorse power, but…obviously, I can’t use them.

Administration of the magic circles built into the old roads belonged to the British government…which meant if she used them, that information would get to the people under the second princess’s thumb. If that happened, she’d get caught up in trouble for sure.

It was an aggravating situation, but there was no irritation on the queen’s face.

In fact, her look was one of pity for the warhorse she’d been overtaxing.

“Sorry about making you come with me for this tightrope act.”

The warhorse couldn’t understand human language, but the words escaped the queen anyway. The horse didn’t show any reaction, of course, but there was no sense of dissatisfaction, fear, or confusion in his burly galloping. Elizard watched the bundle of muscle as he proceeded on and on with her on his back, reflecting on how she truly was blessed with good subordinates.

Then she was lit up from behind by car headlights.

Thinking it was pursuers from the Knights or the Royal Family, the queen focused her mind on the Curtana Second hanging at her waist, but the reality was vastly different.

A gaudy young person driving a gaudy car drove up beside the horse Elizard rode on. And if the man in the driver’s seat was gaudy, then the woman in the passenger’s seat was, too.

Actually, upon closer inspection…

“Heeey! My hitchhiking attempt bore fruit!”

“Y-you can’t be serious! Were you really waiting that entire time for a car to pass you in the forest?!” cried out Elizard in shock from atop her horse.

Laura Stuart smiled and nodded from the passenger’s seat.

Meanwhile, the gaudy youngster in the driver’s seat smirked. “Actually, I was super scared at first, since I thought she was a hitchhiking ghost. But now that I’m thinking calmly, she’s just some pesky weirdo. I was gonna leave her on the side of the road, but if you know her, could you hurry up and grab her for me?”

“I’m sorry about that. She’s an idiot who doesn’t know how the world works. I’ll take her from here.”

After sincerely apologizing, Elizard grabbed one of the arms of the woman in the passenger seat and switched her from the convertible to the back of her horse.

When she did, the man gripping the convertible’s steering wheel seemed to finally notice something. “Wait, what? Hey, that’s a horse. A horse?”

“…It should be obvious.”

“Gya-ha-ha! It just went brrr at me, seriously! That’s crazy! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a horse this close before. Could I snap a photo before I go?”

“Wait, idiot, no, don’t take out a phone or a camera or anything! If the flash goes off, it’ll scare the horse! Also, you really shouldn’t be using a cell phone while driving—!!”

“Okay, say cheese!”

Ka-click, ka-click, ka-click, went the absurd electronic noise as he released the shutter.

Without thinking, purely on reflex, Elizard had put on a perfect anti-picture-taking queen’s smile, but…

“Aw, shit. The horse is real blurry. Nobody’d even be able to tell what this is. Kinda looks like the hag riding it’s about to go to heaven or something. Wait, hang on. I’ve seen her somewhere before. You’re one of my aunts, right?”

“…”

Elizard, queen of England, maintained her smile and reached for the Curtana Second.

It had only about 20 percent of its power left, but the ceremonial sword could still cut a little bit of dimension.

With a slashing noise, she cleanly cut off the convertible’s radiator, and the spurting coolant prompted the engine to seize up.

With the engine stalled, the convertible stopped on the road, and the queen sniffed loudly at him, but…

“Hmm. That seemed to me a waste of an excellent car.”

“Ugh—damn it!” Laura whined. “I could have pilfered the car and used it to head to London to save time!!”

Elizard was now slightly regretful after hearing that, but eventually she turned her thoughts back to the positive.

She regripped the warhorse reins. “Well, we can hardly abandon this boy to a place like this,” said Elizard offhandedly as she and Laura Stuart continued on their way to London.