Reincarnated as Napoleon II-Chapter 121: Test Drive Part 2

With the guards seeing who was inside, they immediately opened it.

The vehicle carrying the Emperor and his staff entered the wide boulevard.

Coach drivers slowed instinctively. Some pulled their reins tighter as their horses flicked their ears and shifted uneasily. One driver stood halfway from his seat just to see better. A delivery cart nearly drifted too far toward the tram tracks before its driver corrected himself.

On the pavements, pedestrians stopped.

Men in coats turned their heads. Women paused mid-conversation. A newspaper boy froze with a stack under his arm, mouth slightly open. Two workers who had been repairing a section of stone curb straightened up and wiped their hands on their trousers just to stare.

The automobile moved past them with controlled speed.

Napoleon II kept both hands firm on the steering wheel as he guided the machine forward. The wide boulevard gave him space. The rebuilt Paris, with its straight avenues and measured design, felt almost as if it had been waiting for this.

A woman near a bakery squinted toward the windshield.

Then recognition spread.

"It is the Emperor!" someone shouted.

Heads turned faster now.

Several men removed their hats. A few bowed from the pavement. Others simply stared at the strange machine that carried him instead of a carriage drawn by horses.

Napoleon II glanced briefly toward the crowd without losing focus on the road. He lifted one hand from the steering wheel and gave a small wave.

The gesture was enough.

A ripple moved through the crowd. Some waved back hesitantly. Others called out words of respect. Children ran along the pavement for several steps, trying to follow the moving vehicle before falling behind.

"Where do you plan on taking this automobile, if you don’t mind me asking, Your Imperial Majesty," Lemaine asked.

"Hmm, I’m thinking of La Place de l’Étoile," Napoleon II II.

"Hmm, I’m thinking of La Place de l’Étoile," Napoleon II II replied.

He pressed the accelerator slightly and shifted into third gear. The engine tone changed, smoother now, less strained. The boulevard opened ahead of them, lined with uniform façades and rows of young trees planted at equal intervals.

Horse-drawn carriages kept to the side as the automobile advanced down the center lane. A tram rolled along its rails ahead, sparks faintly visible at the overhead contact line. Napoleon II adjusted his speed, easing off the throttle until the tram cleared the next junction.

The steering remained steady in his hands. The road surface, laid with fitted stone and compacted foundation beneath, allowed the suspension to work without excessive bounce. The long wheelbase helped keep the body level even as they crossed shallow joints in the pavement.

Inside the cabin, no one spoke for a few seconds.

They passed a row of cafés. Patrons seated outside rose from their chairs. Some pointed openly. One waiter stood frozen with a tray mid-air. The engine’s sound drew attention before the shape of the vehicle did.

Charles leaned slightly forward from the rear seat, looking at the passing scene.

"They are clearing the road without being told," he observed.

Napoleon II nodded once.

"Because they do not understand it yet."

They approached an intersection where mounted police usually directed traffic. The officer on duty stepped forward at first, arm raised out of habit. Then just like in the guards, he recognized the Emperor and saluted.

Napoleon II guided the automobile through the junction and increased speed again. The speedometer needle climbed to forty kilometers per hour.

There they could see the Arc de Triomphe rise ahead of them, centered at the convergence of the avenues.

Napoleon II eased off the accelerator as they approached. Carriages entering the circle slowed, drivers uncertain whether to proceed first or yield. Horses stamped and tossed their heads, uneasy at the sound of the engine echoing off stone façades.

Napoleon II shifted down to second gear.

Clutch in. Lever back. Clutch out.

The engine responded smoothly, revs controlled. He guided the automobile into the outer lane of the circular plaza. The steering required steady force, but the front wheels followed the curve without delay. The long wheelbase kept the body level even as lateral forces increased.

They completed one wide arc around the monument.

On the second pass, Napoleon II increased throttle slightly while maintaining the curve.

"So, what do you gentlemen think of this new invention?" Napoleon II asked, eyes still on the road as he held the curve around the plaza.

Nicéphore exhaled slowly, still watching the engine temperature gauge out of habit.

"I think," he said, "that we have built something extraordinary. That is out of this world. But of course, it’s your design, Your Imperial Majesty, which made me wonder how you are able to come up with such revolutionary technology left and right?"

Napoleon II chuckled. "Well you can say that I am a genius. There is no denying that, if you object then let us go to a challenge. But seriously, as long as you have a deep foundation of engineering and sciences, you can build anything you can imagine. It won’t be perfect in the first try, well with an exception to this, but it can be perfected during the design process."

"As for me," Claude leaned forward from his rear seat. "I’d say that this is the beginning of new inventions in the field of automobiles. This automobile gave us a glimpse of its potential and I’d see in years later that we will be seeing more types of automobiles on Paris’s roads."

"This will change transportation more than steam locomotives," Lemaine chimed in.

Charles-Louis glanced at him.

"More than locomotives?" he asked.

"Yes," Lemaine replied firmly. "Locomotives move goods and people between cities. They require rails, infrastructure, and fixed routes. This—" he tapped lightly on the door panel, "—moves anywhere there is a road. It does not depend on a track."

Napoleon II shifted slightly in his seat as he guided the vehicle into another arc.

"Exactly," he said.

Charles-Louis leaned forward, looking through the windshield at the wide boulevard extending ahead.

"When you first explained it, I did not understand," he admitted. "Now I see it. It won’t be a horse-drawn carriage dominating the roads, it will be the automobile. And I would certainly want one, Your Imperial Majesty, if it comes available commercially."