The Water Magician

"Ah, it feels great after doing something good!"

After leaving the Rondo Mansion with the group from the Censorate, which now included a new adventurer, Ryo said this while stretching his back.

"Well, it's not a bad thing, so I guess it's fine?"

Abel shrugged and replied.

"You're always like this, Abel! Just giving those aloof answers. The era of thinking that's cool is over! As his majesty the king, I wish you'd understand the flow of society a bit more."

"Aloof? I don't mean to be."

"I'm going to throw down a challenge to such an Abel!"

"A challenge?"

Abel tilted his head, confused by Ryo's nonsensical logic.

Well, this was typical, so he really didn't mind at all...

But it seemed he was interested in the challenge.

"Abel has gotten pretty good at flying with the Flying Ring."

"That's true."

As Abel said this, he floated up and performed a backflip in mid-air.

"But! Are you ready to challenge the full power of the Flying Ring?"

"Full power?"

Ryo grinned mischievously as he asked.

Abel, not understanding, tilted his head again.

"That Flying Ring doesn't really go that fast, does it?"

"Well, that's true."

Its top speed was only about forty kilometers per hour.

It was about as fast as a slow car.

"But that's because the limiter is set to intentionally slow it down."

"...Ah, is that what you were talking about before?"

"That's right. If you remove the limiter, it can go up to about five times that speed."

"…"

Imagining hitting a wall at five times the speed, Abel shook his head slightly.

"Most people think it's already plenty fun at this speed. It's fun for you too, right, Abel?"

"Yeah, it's fun."

"But... it's difficult to use in battle, isn't it?"

"That's true. It's not something you'd use in close combat."

Abel nodded in response to Ryo's question.

There's really no need to go through the trouble of using the Flying Ring in close combat.

"But if you could fly at five times the current speed, wouldn't that open up a whole new world?"

"It would open up dreams, but..."

"How about it, swordsman Abel! Former a-rank adventurer Abel! Are you willing to challenge the limits of the Flying Ring!"

"Can we start right away?"

"In five minutes."

"Do it."

Abel took off his Flying Ring and handed it to Ryo.

Quick decisions... Is this the true value of King Abel?

Five minutes later.

Abel donned the Flying Ring that had its limiter removed by Ryo.

"Alright, here we go!"

Bang!

With a dull sound, Abel crashed into the wall and collapsed.

"Abel—!"

After that, there is a record that Abel, lying in the garden of the Rondo Mansion, was forced to drink Ryo's special potion...

"It was reckless to go straight to five times."

"I thought I was going to die."

Abel said with feeling.

This was the first time Ryo had heard such a heartfelt "I thought I was going to die."

"Hey, Ryo. Can’t we start with something like two times instead of going straight to five?"

"We can do that."

"I think it would be better to gradually work up to it."

"That may be true. I think it's a very reasonable opinion."

"After almost dying, it's understandable."

Experiencing a collision at two hundred kilometers per hour would make anyone think that way.

However, Ryo suddenly thought.

If a living human were to collide with a wall at two hundred kilometers per hour, they would normally die.

Yet Abel was alive.

Perhaps at the moment of impact, or just before, he had given an order to the Flying Ring with reflexes that were beyond human—a command to stop.

So surely, the speed had to have decreased at the moment of impact... or so he thought.

Ryo couldn’t exactly follow it with his eyes, so he could only speculate.

Ryo took the Flying Ring back from Abel and adjusted the limiter.

Specifically, he just had to input numbers into the relevant parts of the magic formula.

In other words, it had been designed so that anyone with talent could extract the top speed once it was integrated into the magic formula.

Of course, normal people couldn't directly manipulate the magic formula.

Perhaps the creator wanted to say that normal people should not tamper with the magic formula of the Flying Ring...