CH 166

Chapter 166 – Improved Airboard

After much deliberation, I decided to build two improved airboards the size of a horse-drawn carriage. I wanted to make them somewhat compatible with the carriages in terms of parking space and road width. It would be difficult for all of us to ride in a carriage the size of a horse-drawn carriage. After all, there are eleven of us in total.

If I tried to make one vehicle that could accommodate all of us, it would be much bigger than a carriage. It would probably be the size of a large bus or something. Grande and Ms. Zamir would take up a lot of space with their tails, and Shumel and the others are simply too big.

“I want to make sure that it’s comfortable to ride in. It’s a long ride anyway.”

“The ride should be less bumpy than a horse-drawn carriage. If the seats are made properly, you can even sleep in them.”

“The fact that the carriage can run regardless of the ground conditions means that it can run without problems even if it is raining, right? If that’s the case, then I think we should make it so that it won’t be a problem even if it rains.”

I see, it’s true that an airboard should be able to run without any problem even on a rainy and muddy road. It should be able to run regardless of the rain.

“I agree that it should be protected from the wind and rain. Besides that, I wonder what we should do about safety. Wouldn’t it be easy for bandits to shoot arrows at us if we were in full view?”

“In either case, we’ll deploy a wind magic barrier to keep out the wind, rain, and dust. It’s possible to cover a whole carriage. The only problem is the cost. Whether to take the manufacturing cost or the running cost.”

According to Isla, the question is what to do about the quality of the wind barrier generator. If I use more mithril and increase the production cost to improve the performance, the fuel consumption will be better. It is possible to make a magic tool that deploys a large number of wind barriers by using a smaller amount of mithril, but the performance will be lower, and the fuel consumption will be worse.

“If we eventually want to operate hundreds or thousands of them, I think the cheaper the running cost, the better.”

“Wait, since the weight can be ignored to a certain extent with the levitation system, wouldn’t it be cheaper to use wood walls and steel plate armor to protect the crew space? It would also be much cheaper to maintain. For example, if you make everything using magic tools, it will be too difficult to maintain.”

“If we are talking about ease of maintenance, then airboards that use a lot of magic tools are inferior in terms of ease of maintenance. In any case, the serviceability is bad, so it’s better to go through with it anyway.”

“I agree with Kosuke’s idea. In some cases, we may have to camp out, and considering such cases; I think covered wagons or box wagons would be easier to use for camping. It would be an untitled use of magic to leave the wind magic barrier up until the time of encampment. Shouldn’t the wind magic barrier be used only to keep the carriage from being agitated by the wind? If you just want to protect yourself from the wind and dust, you can wear a mask or something.”

“That’s right… Isn’t it necessary to rely on magic tools for everything just because they are convenient and can do a lot? Let’s do the things that can only be done with magic tools through magic tools.”

“Hmm, I get it. If we’re going to make two wagons, we should make one box wagon type and one covered wagon type.”

“Is that so? Sure. It would be better to build two of them with slightly different performance and test them in operation.”

The number of seats, controls and propulsion systems are exactly the same, but the floating device of the boxcar type is a large single-engine type, and the floating device of the covered carriage type is a small four-point type. As for the magic tool that deploys the wind barrier, I made it a variable output type with a normal mode to reduce air resistance and assist movement and an emergency mode to protect against being shot by a bow and arrow. It would be reassuring to know that it could provide protection in case of an emergency.

Despite her size, Tozume was very dexterous. She had a good sense of design and knew roughly how to make covered wagons and box wagons, so she contributed greatly to constructing the airboard chassis.

“Tozume is amazing. You could work not only as an adventurer but also as a craftsman.”

“I can’t compete with a professional in that field. I can only make things that are related to the adventuring business.”

If the quality is this good, isn’t it good enough? When I touch it, the construction itself seems to be quite robust, and there seems to be no problem with the quality.

As a result of thinking about the ground brake, I decided to make it look like a big box sled or a big covered sled. In order to prevent the flotation device attached to the bottom of the airboard from being crushed by the airboard itself when it touches the ground, the legs of the sled are used to gain a little height. Also, I installed a separate ground brake that the person can operate like a side brake.

“It’s done.”

“Hmm, it’s done.”

“Will… Kosuke and Ira each do the test run?”

“I guess so. I’ll do that, and I want you to get in the back of one of them.”

“Then… I’ll ride with Kosuke.”

We got on the improved airboard that had been made, and we each activated it using magic crystals as fuel. I’m on the boxy large single-engine airboard, and Isla is on the small four-point airboard with a hood.

“Let’s drive safely.”

“Got it.”

I tucked both control sticks outward to gain a little altitude, then tucked both sticks forward slightly to start a slight forward motion.

“It’s a little heavy to start with because of the extra weight.”

“The slower you start, the harder it will be to stop. I think braking early will be important.”

“That’s right. If you don’t, you could have a serious accident.”

While replying to Tozume, who was talking to me from behind, I carefully accelerated and took control. This time, I also installed a directional rudder that can be operated with a foot pedal. Stepping on the right pedal makes it turn to the right, and stepping on the left pedal makes it turn to the left. In addition to this, the left and right propellers can be used to turn by adjusting their power.

The test run was successful without any problems, and the large single-engine type consumed less magic power when moving at roughly the same speed.

“What do you think?”

“What would happen if we deliberately made one of the four-pointers malfunction and let it run?”

I suggested that one of the four levitating devices be deliberately disabled, and although the lack of one of the levitating devices caused it to sway and tilt, it was still able to run.

“When one of the levitation devices broke down for some reason, the four-point system could barely run, which was a strong point. If one of the levitation devices breaks down, you’re dead in a single shot.”

“The same is true for carriages, though, isn’t it? If an axle or wheel is damaged, the carriage will be stranded unless there is a spare.”

“I don’t think it’s practical to have spare levitation devices in every carriage.”

“But if it’s a military item, we should avoid sudden trouble that could put us out of action, and we can’t repair it locally. No, I don’t think it’s something that can be easily broken in the first place… In fact, what about durability?”

“It’s not something that breaks down that easily. However, you have to keep it running while driving. The only way to know what kind of load will cause it to break is to actually operate it and check it frequently.”

“That’s a concern that can’t be solved overnight.”

The only way to test the durability of components is to actually use them until they break. I guess we’ll just have to make a lot of them and keep them in operation.

“Also, regarding the manufacturing cost… I think it’s enough to consider the cost of materials for Kosuke to make it, but if a craftsman actually makes it, one large levitation device will take less time than four small ones.”

The scales fell from mine and Isla’s eyes at Tozume’s point.

If I were to make it myself, I could prepare the materials, reserve the craft on the workbench, and in a matter of hours, it would be ready. However, if a craftsman, mages, and alchemist were to actually make these levitation tools, it would take less time to make one large levitation device than it would to make four small ones.

For example, if you want to write the magic formula for levitation on a mithril alloy base, which is the core of a magic tool, the number of letters to be engraved on the base is the same whether it is a small levitation device or a large one.

In other words, the work time required to run a single airboard is four times as long as a simple calculation for a small four-point system.

In reality, engraving on a large board may take a little more time than the engraving on a small board, but between four small boards and one large board, the work time for one large board will be shorter.

“I guess we should just do the technical development and let Melty or the Research and Development Department take care of the cost considerations.”

“Hmm. It’s a little difficult for us to decide whether to focus on material cost or productivity. I’ll write a report on material cost, productivity, and maintainability, along with Tozume’s opinion.”

“Please do so.”

Let’s take the stance that we should leave such difficult matters to those who understand them. I think it would be better to have an expert examine the cost and operation. In the first place, we’ve just built the system, and we haven’t evaluated the reliability of the components yet.

Anyway, let’s just run it and get some data.