Preparations for the Festival of Longevity were far more of a headache than I had anticipated. The princess had promised to take care of the tribute, which was one less thing to worry about... but the etiquette training itself was grueling. Then one day, the princess appeared and said, "I have thought of a most excellent scheme."
This feeling... it was familiar. It was the same feeling I got before her propaganda speech in the capital, or when she had me clear Barren Mountain for my thesis defense. What was she planning this time?
The princess said, "What do you say to taking a floating stone and flying through the sky with my father?"
"... What?"
"I mean we should offer him the experience of flight as a tribute."
The princess, paying no mind to my bewildered expression, laid out her plan smoothly.
"You just need to recite the lines I will have prepared for you. Then His Majesty will know this was all my doing. In other words, I will take full responsibility should any problems arise."
"Even so, to take His Majesty on such a dangerous..."
"Don't tell me you lack confidence in your universal gravitation spell?"
"No." "Then what is the problem?"
The princess put her arm around my shoulder and said, "Think about it. There has never been anyone like this in the history of the Empire. Search the history books, and the best you will find are those who danced alone with a princess.
They are all commoners. A true legend must be one who flies through the sky alone with the Emperor."
"What could be a more perfect debut into high society than this?"
Heh heh heh. I let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
"You're joking, right?"
"Of course."
"Then what's your real intention?"
The smile vanished from the princess's face.
"With this one flight, when people think of your airship, they will first recall a special experience. Not a military weapon."
"Ooh."
That actually made a lot of sense. As cognitive psychology tells us, first impressions are important.
"If we are lucky, it may become possible to not only avoid the nobles' interference but even sell passage tickets in advance and use that money to build the vessel."
Unbelievable.
To think of selling tickets before it was even built... This wasn't some apartment pre-sale in the Republic of Korea. I stared at the princess, my mouth agape.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"No. I was just thinking... it's a good thing you're a princess."
"Hmm?"
It's a good thing she was born in this era. If she had been born into a time of chaos with this personality, what might she have done... The thought alone was dizzying.
I said to the princess, "Very well. It sounds like an excellent plan, if it succeeds." I had to avoid the airship being known as a weapon from the very beginning if I could.
In that respect, I agreed with this plan.
"However... I'm not sure if His Majesty will accept this."
Emperor Pertinax.
Would he accept such an unconventional proposal?
"It seems everyone overlooks this, but I am his daughter. Trust me. His Majesty will absolutely accept."
"... I see."
It would be rude not to believe her when she put it like that. But why was the princess so certain that His Majesty would accept this proposal? What was the reason?
I would hear the reason from the man himself a few days later, high up in the sky.
"Should I be telling you in yards instead of meters?"
"... No. That will be fine."
The Emperor intuited what kind of person this mage before him was. Isaac was a man far removed from metaphors and rhetoric. Just like the Emperor's own father.
Was that why? The Emperor found the flight with Isaac to be comfortable. He could vaguely understand why his daughter wanted to keep him by her side.
The Emperor looked at Isaac. He had taken off his glasses and was slicking back his once-messy hair, muttering to himself.
"Hoo. I'm finally standing in the sky."
The Emperor hesitated. Was this the right time to bring this up? The Emperor slowly opened his mouth.
"What I am about to say will be met with severe punishment if it is spoken of once we are back on the ground."
"... What?"
"So listen, and then forget."
"I... I understand."
Good.
This was reassuring. The Emperor began to speak.
"The previous Emperor..."
"Yes?"
He paused before he could continue. Here, above the flowing clouds, there were no ears to eavesdrop, no scribes to record. For the first time in a long while, the Emperor spoke the name, not the official title.
"My father... enjoyed celestial studies. Did you know?"
"Yes. He is the one who founded the Royal Observatory and shattered the geocentric theory by discovering stellar parallax, is he not? He also precisely calculated the circumference of the planet and created the meter unit."
At Isaac's answer, the Emperor let out a chuckle.
"You make him sound like a conquering monarch."
As his laughter subsided, a serious look crossed the Emperor's face.
"I heard that you predicted the existence of a new planet."
"Prediction... is a bit strong. It would be more accurate to say I calculated its position."
"What fun is there in doing such a thing? For my entire life, I could never understand why my father was so obsessed with the heavens. Do you happen to know?"
Isaac was silent for a moment.
"Perhaps I devoted myself to the affairs of the earth because I could not understand it."
The Emperor reflected on his past. He had enriched the Empire's wealth and established its laws. He thought he had obtained everything, but all that remained for the Emperor now was a sense of ennui.
'Is that why I often think of my father...?' His father's face, as he gazed at the stars, had always looked happy. The Emperor continued.
"To be honest... I'm not even sure if I am the one ruling the Empire anymore."
"Are you implying the existence of a rebel faction..."
"It's not like that...!"
Hoo.
The Emperor let out a small sigh. He muttered, "Yes. Perhaps this is for the best."
It was better to have someone who didn't quite understand him than someone who understood him so well it made him wary. Isaac thought for a moment before answering.
"Ah. Could that be why Your Majesty agreed to this flight?"
"Hm?"
"Would you please look down?"
The Emperor's gaze turned to his feet. The clouds they had pierced through were already flowing far below.
The ground.
All that met his eyes was the vast, sprawling view of the capital, captured in a single glance. The impenetrable walls, the sky-piercing Magic Tower, and even the majestic Imperial Palace were all beneath his feet. Isaac spoke quietly.
"How is it, seeing it for yourself? Does it feel real now?"
"To have the world at your feet. I thought you might be able to experience that feeling."
The Emperor could not answer. He stared blankly down at the capital and its surroundings. The endless mountains, rivers, and fields.
It was a fantastical sight. To think that things so immense could be taken in so easily at a single glance. To think that the people scurrying about within it felt so small as to be invisible.
'The way they see me is likely no different.' No matter how they looked up at the sky, they would not see the master of all ages or the sun of the Empire. The Emperor felt a sense of relief at that.
For the first time, he felt he could understand his father's heart as he watched the stars. Strangely, his mind felt clearer. The Emperor raised his head and looked at Isaac.
"I seem to have forgotten something important. State your request. I will grant you anything."
"Gasp. Does this mean the matter of punishment for speaking of this is over?"
"... Yes. It is over."
Isaac faced the Emperor and stated his wish.
Whoooosh.
The sound of the fierce wind overlapped with Isaac's words. Fortunately, it reached the Emperor's ears with perfect clarity. It was a wish that, under normal circumstances, he would have deemed useless.
But after ascending to the heavens, his thoughts had changed.
"You are... an incredibly greedy man."
"Very well. So be it. I grant you my permission."
A court mage stared blankly at the sky and muttered.
"Impossible..."
There was a piece of common knowledge that anyone who graduated from the Magic Academy knew. A person cannot fly. Of course, mages could float in the sky.
But that was closer to launching oneself than flying. One calculated the initial angle of launch and landing position, then threw their body with telekinesis. That was how it should be...
"How in the world is he flying?"
Just now, the Emperor had ascended somewhere into the sky, out of sight. 'Is he recasting the spell every single moment, specifying a new position and velocity?' Even the Dean would not be capable of such a feat.
In other words, it was something absolutely impossible for the human brain. He had heard Isaac say it was thanks to a floating stone, but that was even harder to believe. Recasting a spell every moment was at least theoretically possible, but freely controlling a floating stone was impossible in principle.
"His Majesty! Save His Majesty!"
The guards, in a panic, ran around the outdoor banquet hall shouting the Emperor's name. Naturally, it was of no use. How could they save him?
It wasn't as if they could build a staircase to the sky. The court mages and the hundreds of nobles gathered in the Imperial Palace could only stare up at the sky, mesmerized. How much time had passed?
From within the murmuring crowd, a guard shouted.
"They're... they're coming down!"
"What?!"
"His Majesty is descending!"
"Where, where is he?!"
Unable to point at the sun of the Empire with his hand, he screamed "The clouds! The clouds!" at the top of his lungs.
"Where in the clouds could he possibly... huh...?"
Just as the guard had said, two small dots were slowly emerging through the clouds. It was the Emperor and Isaac.
Waaaaaaaaah-! Your Majesty!
Are you safe! The people erupted in a cry mixed with relief and awe. But their descent stopped midway.
"Why... why have they stopped?"
"Could there be a problem?"
"Your Majestyyyyy!!"
Just as the ground grew noisy, the Emperor's voice echoed throughout the entire Imperial Palace grounds.
"Hear my words!"
At the Emperor's royal voice, everyone in the outdoor banquet hall fell silent. All eyes looked up at the Emperor and Isaac, standing in the sky.
The Emperor looked down upon the nobles on the ground and said, "I, Pertinax Arcanus, shall now convey to my subjects on the ground the enlightenment I have gained at the end of this flight. This decision shall not be reversed." The people were spellbound, as if they were witnessing a divine oracle descending from the heavens.
"From this day forth, the private use of disparate systems of units within the Empire is completely forbidden."
The Emperor's words, carried by Isaac's sound amplification magic, reached everyone.
"All length and weight, time and temperature, shall use only one system of units."
The Emperor continued.
"The detailed regulations regarding this will be handled by Isaac Upperhills and the Magic Tower’s School of Magical Surveying."