"Well then, your orders have been delivered..." (Mitsuha)
"Oooooohhhh!!" (Everyone)
The King, the Prime Minister, the diplomats, and all the ministers cheered with joy.
Yes, it's very late, but the delivery was finally completed.
...A carriage made on Earth, light and sturdy, and wouldn't hurt your bottom.
Sabine-chan saw my carriage some time ago and asked for the same as a loan payment.
As expected, the debt wasn't worth enough to justify a specially ordered carriage, so I declined, but she said she would cover the costs, so I agreed.
And, because I needed to convince them to cover the costs, I had the King, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, and others test-drive my carriage, letting them experience how it felt and explaining how sturdy it was... and then I received additional orders.
In addition to the original one for Sabine-chan, there were four more: one for the King, one for the Prime Minister, one shared by the ministers for official use... and one for diplomats who often went on long journeys...
Sabine-chan's share was to repay a debt, so I got no profit from it.
But I got a proper commission for the other four.
Because it's a special order, I had to make various arrangements with the manufacturer, which is quite a hassle.
And of course, regular maintenance and repairs after delivery were charged separately.
If the third princess, Sabine-chan, was going to have her own special carriage, it was only natural that the first and second princes (Luchen-kun), as well as the first princess (Ue-nee-sama) and second princess (Chii-nee-sama) would also want one, but the order was placed without the knowledge of those four.
…sure the four of them would be furious when they find out about this.
Well, I guess there's nothing I could do about it.
This special carriage was very expensive.
It's expensive even in Earth currency, but here, where the exchange rate made it seemed like it's four times as expensive, even if it's for royalty, it's an amount that I couldn't even imagine as the price of a carriage.
It's now so much cheaper to buy a luxury car...
So, while Sabine-chan had a natural right, it seemed the other princes and princesses could not be given their own exclusive rights.
Apparently, when needed, they should borrow either the King's or Sabine-chan's.
Well, unlike Sabine-chan, other princes and princesses probably didn't go out alone very often.
If this carriage became known, I was sure I would get orders from high-ranking nobles, but it's troublesome so I intended to turn them all down.
No, I understand, you know? For the sake of face as an aristocrat, you really want it.
And it's not just about reputation, as someone who frequently traveled between the royal capital and their territory, if someone saw a carriage that didn't hurt your bottom and that you could even sleep in, you would definitely want one...
Ah, but as a manufacturer, would it be nice to receive an order?
It's a small company with a limited customer base.
But there's probably a limit to how many could be produced.
Even if they wanted to hire more employees, they would need special skills, and if they stopped receiving orders from me, they would end up with surplus staff and would be in trouble, so they probably didn't have the courage to hire more staff or make capital investments.
Right now, the craftsmen were probably on vacation, exhausted from the simultaneous production of five special carriages.
Maybe, combined with their regular work, they were probably pushing themself to the limit, or even a little beyond.
What happened was that instead of delivering the units one by one as they were completed, they decided to deliver five units at once.
Although each one was customized for its purpose, many of the parts were the same, so for efficiency reasons, the parts for five units, including the one for Sabine-chan, were made at once, and they were completed almost simultaneously.
Many of the parts were almost handmade, rather than mass-produced by automated machines.
Also, carriages were not mass-produced to begin with, so there was not much excess production capacity. Small factories made them in small batches, and they were mostly made to order, so if you suddenly get a special order for five carriages, it's only natural that you had to wait a long time. I had to wait a long time when I got mine.
Well, there were a lot of special requests, like bulletproof features.
For Sabine-chan and the King, safety came first.
For diplomats, speed and comfort were the top priorities. Of course, defensive power in case of attacks was also not overlooked. It could protect against arrows and javelins. Of course, it wouldn't be effective if rocks were dropped from the top of a cliff...
...But I didn't think Sabine-chan would have many opportunities to use her own carriage.
When she went far away, she usually went with me.
So, we would either teleport, ride in my carriage, or use the Big Lorry...
When traveling around the royal capital, Sabine-chan used a mountain bike.
...Huh? It looks like Sabine-chan's carriage is going to be reserved for her older sisters only?
The Sabine-chan one looked cute and delicate, so the princes would want to ride the King's one.
No, it just looked delicate, but in reality it's much sturdier than the normal carriages here.
The frame was made of titanium and polycarbonate, making it lightweight and sturdy.
The body of the vehicle was made of aramid fibers such as Kevlar and Twaron, and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers, and the windows were fourth-generation bulletproof glass.
...Well, it took a long time to manufacture and was obviously extremely expensive.
I was asked many times by the manufacturer who would use a carriage that was so obsessively focused on defensive capabilities.
It might be possible if it was a bulletproof car for super VIPs, but this wouldn't be the case for a horse-drawn carriage...
Well, normally, if a place was dangerous enough that something like this was necessary, you'd go by car rather than by carriage...
"Oh, everyone, please don't brag too much about this carriage. Even if nobles or other countries say they want it, I won't be able to accommodate them. Also, going around commenting on the defensive capabilities of the carriage you're riding in is the same as telling your enemy how to attack. That's what a fool would do." (Mitsuha)
"......" (Everyone)
Yes. It's like showing your enemy the floor plan of your castle.
Well, they're not all stupid. I was sure they could understand that much...
Ah, if you didn't need a specially made carriage with heavy defenses, and just want something that's comfortable to ride in and didn't hurt your butt, you could probably buy a ready-made commercial product or a second-hand carriage.
If so, you'd get it soon.
If I were asked to do so by someone I couldn't refuse, such as royalty from another country, I would probably just run away...
I was not going to go out of my way to suggest that here, of course.
Okay, done!
Now that one concern was resolved!
"Ane-sama, let's take it for a test drive right away! Let's took a quick tour around the royal capital..." (Sabine)
Sabine-chan said that with a smile, but...
"What's here now is just the delivered carriage. How can we test drive a horse without a horse or a driver? Besides, the horses have to get used to the different type of harness, and the driver has to get used to the performance of this carriage. Even a professional rider won't be able to handle it freely on their first ride unless they get a feel for the weight, stability, turning radius, and other things." (Mitsuha)
"Ah……" (Sabine)
Even Sabine-chan, as expected, seemed to lose her composure due to her excitement. The usual Sabine-chan would notice something like that.
When I explained it to her, Sabine-chan immediately understood and made a surprised face.