Cars Vs Carriages

As soon as Zay'in asked the question, she simply walked off without waiting for an answer.

"Um- yeah, I guess." Vincel said as he followed her. "What are we buying?"

Zay'in looked back at him with a smile.

"Everything you need, of course"

'Not sure what that means' Vincel thought but he said nothing.

He and Zay'in walked for five minutes. Their pace was normal but considering they were now at an area of the Estate that Vincel had not been to so far despite his recent walks, the size of the Estate was put even more into perspective.

Eventually, they arrived at yet another flat-roofed structure but when Zay'in opened it, Vincel found that this was not empty like the training hall. Rather it contained multiple Cars all with different designs.

The car designs went from sleek and sporty looking to large bodies like heavy-duty humvees used to drive and protect a head-of-state in a tense dictatorship.

The designs of the cars, just like the three Vincel had seen earlier in the compound, were different from what Vincel had ever seen on Earth whether in person or on TV.

The cars in the Garage looked mostly like old-fashioned carriages that had just been tweaked with more heavy-duty/sleek-looking parts to allow them to move without being drawn by horses or cows.

They didn't even have windshields or car windows. Transparent or tinted. The windshield and car window part of the car just seemed like the rest of the body and not a way to see out of the car.

'I wonder how they see where they are going?'

Where there would be plate numbers in the cars on Earth, there was just an extravagantly designed sign that read 'Harkness'.

'I'll count that as a similarity. There were VIP plate numbers on Earth too'

The cars still looked impressive, Vincel just found them weird looking considering they were not what he was ordinarily used to.

Zay'in walked between the cars with her arms spread with a look of admiration.

"Welcome to the Sorceress' Collection of Mana-powered Carriages. Impressive right?"

Vincel walked close to a blue sporty one and placed his hand on it to be immediately amazed at how warm and 'alive' it felt.

"She drives this?"

He found it funny that Agatha, Elderly looking as she was, would seat inside something so sporty.

Zay'in smiled as she could hear the slight mockery in Vincel's tone.

"Well, she usually flies"

Vincel raised his head.

"She can fly?"

Of all the incredible things he had so far seen that were possible in this world, someone flying somehow took the cake.

"I meant, she usually uses her private Avion Carriage. It gives a more impressive look of wealth and prestige than a sporty carriage."

'Private Avion Carraige? 'Avion' must mean Airplane. My goodness, Why not just call it a private jet?' Vincel wondered.

"Lady Agatha CAN fly on her own, of course. It's just sometimes more Mana-saving to ride an Avion Carriage instead. Unless she wants to make a terrifying entrance, of course"

As Zay'in spoke, she walked over to Vincel and the Carriage he was still touching.

"You like this one?"

Vincel shrugged.

"It looks nice"

'It looks like a Lamborghini without a windshield. A sweet ride'

Zay'in pressed her hand against the car and passed Mana into it.

The car gave off a hum and the door on Vincel's side unlocked.

"We'll take this one then. Get in" Zay'in said with a grin.

Vince got into the right side of the car and Zay'in got into the left.

Just like a Lamborghini, the car only had two seats with such luxurious and premium materials that Vincel's back and buttcheeks were cheering.

The moment he was seated, Vincel felt strangely secure. Like the rules of gravity had been bent and he would not be shaken no matter how the car moved.

'So warm'

The car felt cozy and the interior was properly ventilated despite a lack of windows. It even had a sweet scent that Vincel could not quite place.

There was nothing on the dashboard in front of him. No blinking lights, no speedometer, no radio, no stereo, no nothing. Not even a steering wheel.

The dashboard was just cushioned and soft to the touch.

"How do you drive this?"

Just as Vincel wondered out loud, he saw Zay'in's hand go between their seats to be placed above a small platform.

The moment Zay'in's hand touched the top of the platform, it lit up, and so did several other parts of the car.

A wavy motion passed over the part of the car that should have been a windshield and it became transparent. Allowing him to see outside the car.

Also, almost half of the two doors became transparent.

Vincel took a step out of the car and looked out to see that the exterior of the windshield and the doors had not changed. Somehow, they were only transparent from the inside of the car. The outside of It still looked like every other side of the car.

'That's impressive magic but why not just make it transparent from the start? Surely this will cause issues with traffic'

The garage door in front of them opened and the car started moving towards it to the outside.

"How is it driving?" Vincel asked.

He had half been expecting a steering wheel to pop out of the cushioned dashboard.

Zay'in smiled at him and gestured to the platform she was touching between them.

"This is the Carriage Console. By placing my hand on it and kickstarting it with Mana, my brain becomes connected to the Carriage and I can control its movement and changes with my thoughts.

"Watch..."

To put things even more into perspective, Zay'in caused the wavy motion to return and the windshield and doors stopped being transparent but the car kept driving.

"We're going to crash!" Vincel said in worry.

Zay'in chuckled.

"I can still see out of the Carriage. My brain is connected to it. The only one who is blind right now, is you" she said.

"Oh. That's incredible"

Zay'in smiled and then made the windshield and doors transparent again.

"It is. But being mentally connected to the Carriage for too long can be demanding.

You didn't have Carriages in your world?" Zay'in asked Vincel.

"We did. We call them Cars. But it's not really like this.

Our cars (gestures to the front of the car) have transparent windshields and car windows" Vincel said.

"You mean, it always transparent?"

"Yeah"

"Interesting. What else?" Zay'in asked, curious.

"Well, we have a steering wheel protruding out of the dashboard"

"You steer with a wheel?"

"Yeah"

"You don't have Carraige consoles?" Zay'in asked and Vincel shook his head.

"No, we don't."

"Alright. What else is different?"

"Well, the dashboard also has other things. Mostly lights to know when the car needs repairs or needs refueling" Vincel said.

"Refueling with what?"

"Gas. That's what we call petrol or diesel. Natural resources mined from the earth" Vincel explained.

"Hmm, I see. Here, we power Carriages with Mana capsules." Zay'in said.

"What's that?"

"Well, Mana is abundant in the air so rather than have you exhaust yourself powering carriages with your own Mana, there are companies that mine Mana from the atmosphere and seal them inside capsules for use.

One Mana capsule can power a carriage like this for a two-day non-stop trip" Zay'in told Vincel.

"So- You're not powering this Car yourself right now?" Vince asked.

"Gods no. Haha. That would be too exhausting.

No, I only use my Mana to kickstart it. To connect my mind to it. The Mana capsule powers it not me.

The Carriages in the Estate have all been imprinted by every loyal member of the Harkness household so that they recognize any of us should we want to take any of them out. For official business of course."

"Cool," Vincel said.

"How do you power your 'Cars' in your world?" Zay'in asked.

"We use a key"

"A key? How primitive." Zay'in said shaking her head.

At this point, they were at an impressive Gate to exit the massive Estate.

The Gate opened for them the moment the car got close.

"Well, sometimes we use buttons" Vincel added with a shrug.

Zay'in paused.

"Buttons are better. I wonder if your world will ever reach the level of operating objects with gestures" she said.

Vincel's mind immediately went to smartphones and all other touchscreen appliances in his world despite the lack of magic to make things 'easy' and he smiled.

"I think we are getting closer to that level."

They left the Estate and got out of its territory completely before Zay'in sighed.

"'Cars' as a name does sound better than 'Carriage'. It's less of a mouthful" she admitted.