Published: July 4, 2025
Two days after the wedding ceremony of his highness Lyun, the sixth prince, and Princess Shio Fen.
That day, there would be a public presentation of the couple for the citizens of the imperial capital, followed by a banquet at the Imperial Palace in the evening.
In the morning, Ryo and Abel were busy with their respective tasks in the training grounds of the Dragon Spring Residence.
It was something they hadn’t been able to do since becoming Von Dobre’s bodyguards…
Abel was practicing flying with the Flying Ring.
At first, after such a long time without practice, his body seemed to have forgotten how to fly, and he wore a face filled with despair.
However, after repeating the movements again and again, he finally managed to remember...
“Alright!”
Though low, he was able to fly steadily forward.
“Abel, height is also important. To see the public presentation procession from the Dragon Spring Residence, you probably need to rise quite a bit higher,” said the water attribute mage, who was fiddling with his Flying Ring and had just said something quite shocking.
“...See the procession from here?”
“Yes. It seems like it’s going to move around quite a bit through the imperial capital, so if we’re up here, we should be able to see it when it gets closer.”
“Can’t we just go out to the street normally?”
“If a shady swordsman like Abel is watching from the street, there's a chance he’ll be apprehended by the guards.”
“Not a chance!”
Setting aside Ryo's nonsense, Abel indeed wanted to rise higher.
For Abel, his image of “flying” meant soaring high in the sky.
After that, Abel practiced with single-minded determination.
And finally...
“Oh...”
“You’re flying higher than the roof of the Dragon Spring Residence!”
“I did it... ah!”
Abel fell.
However, just before he hit the ground, he was caught by Ryo using the water jet thruster.
“Sorry.”
“No, it was a bit dangerous. If you hit the ground wrong, you could die even from that height.”
“I’ll be more careful. I realized I suddenly tilted, but why did that happen?”
“Probably a gust of wind.”
Ryo responded to Abel's question.
Previously, Ryo had analyzed the magic formula of the Flying Ring, understanding that it could lift off by sending downward winds from four points like a multirotor drone, and that the strength of those winds controlled movement in all directions.
But that meant that even a gust of wind could throw off the balance and cause instability.
If it were a drone with almost perfect symmetry, it might not have been a problem, but flying with the Flying Ring is done by a person.
Making a person hover in an upright position or move forward in a tilted position requires quite advanced calculations in the magic formula, but there are certainly limits.
“I think that once you get used to it, you’ll be able to recover before falling even if your posture breaks once.”
“True. I’ll practice more.”
Abel said cheerfully.
He genuinely seemed to enjoy being able to fly.
Practice makes perfect.
Surely, he would soon be able to fly freely.
Ryo had no doubts about that.
While they were having lunch in the dining hall of the Dragon Spring Residence, Wei Feng arrived.
“It seems that the public presentation procession will reach the street in about thirty minutes.”
“Oh!”
“Shall we go see it?”
However, perhaps because they took their time eating, by the time the two stepped outside the gate, the street was already crowded with people.
“It’s because Abel is eating slowly.”
“It’s because Ryo said the procession wouldn’t run away and asked for seconds on dessert.”
The blame game between the mage and the swordsman was destined to happen.
“Oh, I can see it!”
A voice came from the right side of the street.
“Well, it can’t be helped. You can’t put your back against your stomach.”
Ryo said this and returned to the grounds of the Dragon Spring Residence.
“Come on, Abel, over here.”
“Hm? What are we doing?”
“We’re going to watch the procession from above. Ice Bamboo Shoot!”