Have you ever touched a cloud?
A white, fluffy cloud, soft as down.
In this world where I was born, I often used to lie in places like a spire or the castle’s back garden and stare up at the sky.
I suppose I was savoring the leisure and the vastness of nature that I’d never been able to feel when I lived in the city in my previous life.
Of course, in the Prach Domain where I was born, there was nothing to do in one’s free time besides hunting or gathering, so with my personality—hating anything that required physical effort—I deliberately did nothing for leisure except lie around and look at the sky.
In any case, until I came of age, whenever I had time, I would lie in places that only people in managerial positions, like the butler or head maid, were allowed to enter, and look at the sky.
And if you look at the sky, you naturally end up looking at the clouds.
They stand out the most, and their shapes change quickly.
Clouds shaped like apples, clouds shaped like the buildings from my previous life, dragons, rabbits, ships, and so on.
When you look at the many creations nature has made, you lose track of time and keep falling deeper into them.
And if you spend that long staring at clouds, anyone would end up imagining the same thing.
That they want to fly through the sky and touch a cloud.
In my previous life, if I paid money, I could have gotten on a plane, gone skydiving, and entered the clouds, but the world I was born into now was clearly a fantasy world at a glance.
There was no way a place like this had airplanes.
They say everyone feels regret over their life before they die, don’t they?
I had no regrets up until the moment I died, but only after dying did I have no choice but to swallow my regrets over the things I hadn’t done in my previous life.
“What are you thinking about so intently?”
“…The clouds are soft.”
But didn’t someone say that the ways of the world are impossible to know, even when you think you understand them?
It was exactly as they said.
Flap! Flap!
The Heavenly Horse beat its pure-white wings powerfully, riding the wind as it flew through the sky.
Riding on the Heavenly Horse’s back, we surrendered ourselves to the wind it created.
We were high, high up in the sky.
Riding on the back of a Heavenly Horse summoned by the mage, we were flying.
“Isn’t it fascinating? Everyone who flies for the first time is surprised that clouds are soft.”
“…Are they supposed to be like this?”
Soft.
I placed my hand on the downy cloud floating above us and pressed against it.
And yet, according to the common sense I knew, a cloud was merely a gathering of water vapor, so the moment I put my hand into it, it should have dispersed. But the clouds here pushed my hand back as though they truly had substance.
“…How does this even make sense?”
“Is it really that surprising? You can pass through clouds with low density easily enough, but dense clouds like this one won’t collapse even if a person stands on top of them. Why do you think rainclouds fly so low? Isn’t it because they’re all heavy?”
No, even if she explained it so kindly, to me, bound by the scientific knowledge of my previous life, it just sounded like nonsense.
What, a cloud with a sufficiently high density could support a person standing on it?
What kind of absurd talk was that?
Prrrrrr!
“Oh my, it seems the Heavenly Horse wants to take a rest. Well, we have been flying without stopping until now, so we should look for somewhere nearby to rest.”
“It must be tiring, flying while supporting the weight of two people.”
“Is that so? Since a Heavenly Horse flies by using aether, I don’t think it takes much physical strength. Mental strength, perhaps.”
Holding the reins, the mage imparted her knowledge to me.
She said the Heavenly Horse’s wings resonated with aether and pushed away the surrounding wind.
Therefore, whether the Heavenly Horse flew alone or with the two of us riding it, the physical burden on it wasn’t particularly different.
Unlike other creatures, weight was not a factor in what allowed a mystical creature like a Heavenly Horse to fly.
“You’ll be entering Academia soon too, so you’ll be able to build up knowledge about mystical creatures like these. You probably won’t dig into it as deeply as I do, but it’s still better to learn at least a certain amount.”
“Is it something you absolutely have to know in order to become a mage?”
“I can’t tell you in detail right now, but… well, just think of it as advice from a senior who entered before you.”
A senior, huh.
Now that I thought about it, the identity plaque she had shown the guard before had clearly said she was a mage affiliated with Academia.
I still didn’t know exactly what kind of social position mages held in this society, but judging from my father’s case, it didn’t seem to be very low.
It felt as if they were treated almost like lesser nobles.
“Ah, there are people gathered by the river over there.”
“Where?”
“Oveer there.”
I craned my neck toward where the mage was pointing, and just as she had said, I could see people gathered around several carriages lined up along the river.
It was the first time I had seen such a large merchant caravan since being born into this world.
“Hmm, it looks like one of the caravans supplying goods to the Holy Capital. Since this is the western part of the empire, they have caravans made up of several large wagons like that? How interesting.”
“If they don’t transport goods by wagon, what do they use?”
“Usually ships. The Holy Capital has a district with docks where huge ships gather.”
I see.
Come to think of it, from the indirect information about the Holy Capital that I’d inferred through the newspapers, I had thought it would be impossible to transport the resources consumed by such an enormous city with mere wagons.
So it really did have docks?
If I ever had the chance later, I wanted to go see them.
“Good. Let’s go down there and rest. There aren’t any suitable places to rest nearby, and since it’s a caravan of that size, at the very least they won’t be startled by us.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than the Heavenly Horse lowered its head and began descending.
Whoooosh.
The wind brushed past my cheeks and eardrums, rushing by quickly.
With a humming sound, the caravan that had looked like tiny dots grew larger and larger in the blink of an eye, until its figures became discernible.
—…! …!!
As we gradually drew closer, I saw several people in the caravan look up at the sky and point at us.
We were still too far away to hear what they were shouting, but judging by their expressions and movements, they were extremely surprised.
Flap! Thud!!
“Phew… Good work.”
Prrrrrrr.
We landed near the rear of the caravan procession, where it seemed the caravan master might be, and under the dazed gazes of the people watching us, we climbed down from the Heavenly Horse’s back.
“Rest for a while. We still have a long way to go, so let’s set off again around dawn.”
Prrr.
“Um… are you perhaps a mage?”
While the mage was informing the Heavenly Horse of our schedule, a man who appeared to be a caravan manager cautiously spoke up.
“Yes. Would it be all right if we rested here for a while? There wasn’t anywhere suitable to rest nearby, so we had no choice but to land here.”
“Ah… that is fine, but… that horse? The being you rode here on, Lady Mage—what do you intend to do about it?”
The thin-mustached man asked the mage in a tone that carried the nuance of, How could we possibly stop you from doing what you want, but what about that strange creature you brought with you?
“Ah, don’t worry about the Heavenly Horse. It isn’t the kind of violent creature that kills people for no reason.”
“I-is that so?”
“Yes. Unless someone tries to kill it, or attacks it while it’s sleeping or resting, it will simply ignore them.”
“I see.”
“And is this caravan perhaps on its way to the Holy Capital?”
The man briefly tore his gaze away from the Heavenly Horse, which was staring at him sullenly as if to say, What are you looking at? and nodded at the mage’s question.
“We were transporting grain collected from the western regions. This year was especially bountiful, so even we had to carry out two large-scale transports.”
“I see. If there’s anything you need a ‘mage’ for, please call me. We’ll be leaving tomorrow at dawn, so if you make a request before then, I’ll resolve it without compensation as thanks for giving us a place to stay.”
“…”
After saying that, the mage smiled broadly and tugged at my arm.
“We’re tired, so we’ll set up nearby and get some rest.”
“Yes, understood.”
Step, step.
And so, having received permission that wasn’t quite permission, we walked toward a space between the enormous wagons.
Of course, the Heavenly Horse also followed us slowly with a bored expression.
Step.
“Mm, this place will do.”
“Are we going to sleep outside here instead of borrowing a wagon?”
“Hm? There’s no need to sleep outside. Ta-da.”
At my question, the mage smiled and took a wide piece of cloth out from inside her clothes.
Then she picked up some branches nearby and made a small tent.
“Mm… I only need to make the entrance properly… so this much should be enough.”
“You’re going to live in this cramped tent?”
“Tent? No, what I made is simply an entrance. No matter how omnipotent magic may seem, it still needs proper rules to function.”
She looked at the crude tent she had made with satisfaction, then led me over and lifted the entrance flap.
“Go on in. It’ll be cozy.”
“What do you mean by—whoa.”
When she lifted the door of her shabby-looking tent, a room with a peaceful atmosphere appeared inside.
Faced with a vast space that I could by no means believe was inside a tent, I had no choice but to let my mouth fall open.