Chapter 45 - 045_Wedding
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045_Wedding
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The long winter finally ended, and spring arrived. At last, the wedding ceremony of Rodney and Yulin was held.
The invited nobles also blessed the couple's departure.
"Lord Rodney, Lady Yulin. Congratulations. However, to be able to take such a beautiful woman as your wife, Lord Rodney is a fortunate man."
"Thank you very much, Your Excellency Banyusas. I myself also think I am a fortunate man."
"Ha ha ha. You're showing off your love."
The lace cape set off her hip-length shining blonde hair with a mysterious beauty, and Yulin, clad in a pure white dress, was beautiful like a goddess of beauty.
"Your Excellency. From now on, along with my husband, I ask for your continued favor."
"Of course, Lady Yulin. Come visit my castle sometime."
"Thank you very much."
They received words of congratulations from many guests.
For today, they had purchased expensive Banyusas ware and called in chefs from a famous shop in Bassam to prepare the cuisine.
"Rodney! Well done! With this, the Forvas House is secure!"
"Gramps, you're too intense."
"I'm happy!"
Hacklehoff was as intense as ever.
"Yulin, congratulations. I want a nice boyfriend too."
"Lady Shima. Thank you very much. If it's you, you'll find a good person soon."
"Do you really think so? Grandpa is... you know?"
The two looked at Hacklehoff clinging to Rodney. Yulin also knew about Hacklehoff's doting on his granddaughter. If Shima got a boyfriend, they could picture him saying, "As long as these eyes of mine are black, I won't allow it!" and they smiled wryly.
"Yulin-san. Please take care of Rodney."
Aman, Rodney's grandmother and Hacklehoff's wife, took Yulin's hand with a soft smile.
"Likewise, I ask for your favor. Lady Aman."
Rodney and Yulin received blessings from many guests.
Appearing before them with an awkward expression was Santas, Rodney's uncle.
"Well... I'm sorry about that time. Please forgive me."
After declaring he was cutting ties with Rodney, he was beaten up by Hacklehoff and had been training as a regular clerk without any position at a shop in the royal capital. Hearing rumors of Rodney's success there, he keenly realized that he had been wrong and that he had no eye for people.
Reflecting on how he had been full of himself as the son of a great merchant, he applied himself seriously to his work. Santas had recently been returned to Bassam.
"Thank you for coming today. I look forward to your continued guidance, Uncle."
Rodney deliberately said nothing else, only conveyed his gratitude for coming to the wedding. Santas also gave a stiff smile, but looked relieved.
"Lord Rodney. Next is a male heir."
"You're jumping ahead, Rodmel."
"What are you saying? If a son inheriting Lord Rodney's wisdom and Lady Yulin's martial prowess is born, the prosperity of the Forvas House will last for decades. All of us vassals hope for that."
Rodney smiled wryly, thinking he was the same as always.
"Now now, Lord Rodmel. Lord Rodney is probably thinking about that much already."
Hortus the squire dragged Rodmel away, saying let's drink merrily.
Everyone enjoyed themselves and celebrated. That made him very happy, and his heart was full.
"Rodney, that was good. Take good care of Yulin, you hear?"
"Yes, Master. I will strive not to make Yulin sad."
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The day after the wedding, he was taken by Sage Daguldor. It was to build a railroad.
Sage Daguldor, who took him out regardless of his honeymoon, was faithful to his desires.
Bajis, who had been steeped in magic all winter, laid the ballast, and Rodney applied pressure with a ground-compacting tool called a taco to level it. When Rodney activated [Steel Arm] and struck with the taco, the ballast tightened.
Even setting aside the honeymoon, it was time to enter the labyrinth, but for laying the railroad, Rodney worked just like a common day laborer.
Rodney and Bajis laid about 20 kents (4 km) of railroad. This increased Bajis's magical proficiency, and his magic activation became quite smooth.
"This is good. Master, preparations are complete."
"Hmm. Then let's run the automobile right away!"
He said automobile, but it was closer to an electric train. Rodney thought it didn't matter either way.
Rodney and the Sage boarded the simple vehicle, which was just a generator and motor mounted on a trolley-like platform.
There was something like a drawer in the box-shaped generator, and he pulled it. He placed one Life Light Stone in it. This Life Light Stone was of Godoris, which was most commonly obtained in the Abandoned House Labyrinth, and could be obtained in unlimited quantities.
Originally, craftsmen who handle Life Light Stones—Light Stone Item Craftsmen—are strictly controlled by the state. However, there are exceptions. That is, the head of a noble house themselves.
If the head of a noble house is a Light Stone Item Craftsman, they are removed from national jurisdiction.
In the first place, the head of a noble house dabbling in craftsman work is not very commendable. There's no law prohibiting it, but it's only a rationale of "since it's considered a lowly act, they probably won't do it."
When he turned on the generator switch, power was supplied to the motor. He adjusted the power to control the motor's rotation speed.
A quiet sound indicated the motor had started turning. The wheels rotated, and the automobile slowly began to move.
"Ooh! It moved, Rodney!"
"Since I'm making it move, it's only natural."
"Don't you have any sense of wonder!?"
Rodney brushed it off with a "yeah, yeah" and further increased the rotation speed. As the rotation increased, the speed also increased, and Sage Daguldor's excitement rose even higher.
"This feels great! So this is an automobile!?"
"Master, please sit down. It's dangerous."
There was no speedometer, so the exact speed was unknown, but when they reached about 30 km/h, Sage Daguldor stood up in excitement. Since this was the moment they succeeded in running the first automobile or electric train in this world, his excitement was understandable.
"Rodney. Make it go faster."
"This is the top speed. Since it's a prototype, I wasn't that particular about speed."
"Make one that goes even faster next time."
"I understand, so please sit down."
He touched the motor with his hand, but the heat generation was less than expected. To increase the rotation speed further, he would probably need to consider cooling.
While thinking about such things, he saw the end of the track, so he cut the power and pulled the brake lever to stop the automobile.
"Rodney. Make the track longer."
"Since this is just for test runs, isn't this enough? Besides, Master, you're thinking of making an automobile, not a train, right? In that case, I think you should look for a material for tires."
"But there is no such thing as rubber, is there?"
"Even if not rubber, we just need to find a material similar to rubber."
Even so, he couldn't imagine rubber trees or similar plants growing in a cold region like Dedel Territory.
"If it's a warm place like the south, we might discover it."
"Hmm. Then let's go to the south!"
"I can't. I have territory management, and I need to build a port."
"Hmm hmm hmm."
"Oh, I have a request for you and Bajis. I want you to help build the port."
"Construction work is boring."
"Don't say that; please listen to your cute disciple's request."
Sage Daguldor reluctantly accepted the port construction.
They reclaimed a rocky area near the coast. Here too, Bajis did good work.
After reclaiming up to where the ship had run aground, Rodney used [Shape Processing] to turn it into a pier. It also served as a breakwater, so it was quite a large-scale project.
They recovered the stranded ship into a Storage Bag and also repaired the seabed. Fortunately, there weren't that many stranded points.
There was nothing of value on the recovered ship. Because it had already been salvaged by the sailors of the Sarjan Empire. He thought it wouldn't have hurt if there had been something valuable.
After sending Princess Erimerda to the royal capital, a letter of thanks and a gift arrived from the Sarjan Empire.
It seemed that this year, that Erimerda would come as a bride. Rodney also received an invitation, so he would soon head to the royal capital.
"You've built quite a splendid thing."
"I plan to build a lighthouse out there. That will complete the port development."
"After that, you'll develop the automobile, right?"
"First, I need to build a shipyard before automobiles. Having a port but no ships would be putting the cart before the horse."
"You can just buy ships. You could even hunt pirates and steal their ships."
"Stealing ships from pirates? That sounds like we're the pirates."
"Stealing from pirates is for the world and for the people. Ha ha ha."
The shipwrights that Hacklehoff introduced would come to Dedel Territory. That would be this summer. Rodney wanted to build a shipyard for the shipwrights to use.
He would build that shipyard within the port grounds. Here too, Bajis's magic was useful. Rodney's [Shape Processing] could do nothing without materials. Bajis provided the stone that became the materials with his magic.
Rodney named the port Beck. It was the name of his deceased father.
His father had been unremarkable as a lord, but it was the name of a kind father who loved Rodney and his family.
He gave this name hoping that Beck Port would watch over the development of Dedel Territory.
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