Chapter 126
Ciel’s eyes widened.
‘What?’
He rubbed his eyes and looked again, but the numbers had changed!
Arellin continued.
“Instead of a horse, this will make the wagon roll.”
“…?”
“It rolls automatically, so let’s call it an automobile.”
Daniel snorted out loud.
“Who would want to ride in a carriage without a horse? In case you didn’t know, for high nobles, a well-bred horse is a way to show off their power!”
“But even a horse with a good pedigree must be rested, right?”
Arellin smirked.
“My magic engine can run indefinitely as long as I have magic stones, right?”
“… Huh!”
What had started as a small altercation between Arellin and Daniel had attracted the attention of the mages and their colorful illusion spells.
“Now, look at this.”
Soon, a mesmerized crowd of passersby gathered around Arellin and the children, drawn into the illusion of the car.
“Cars are different. If you can get the horsepower engine to run, it can run for days? Months? That’s what a car is.”
“Oh!”
“Now, what if a car like this could drive around the entire continent of Albrecht?”
“Oh!”
“A lot of tops would be able to get around towns and cities faster than ever before.”
“Oooooh!”
The illusion magic was now illuminating the form of a truck carrying a large cargo.
Upward travel with such a vehicle!
The merchants’ eyes immediately sparkled with eagerness.
“In a word, faster logistics circulating between the cities.”
Faster logistics meant more wealth creation. The calculators in their minds raced.
My God, a carriage drawn by horses that never rested!
“No way, that’s not possible!”
Daniel interrupted.
“A carriage, they’re scamming people with something that doesn’t even exist yet!”
A scam.
Arellin snorted.
“It’s called a blueprint for the future.”
Arellin was proud.
She had actually lived in such a world!
“And that’s not all. There’s so much more I can do with this magic engine.”
Arellin ordered another illusion. The car instantly transformed into an airplane.
“I can make it fly.”
This time it turned into a giant ship.
“Or sail across the ocean.”
No matter how much Daniel denied it, the people were mesmerized by Arellin’s words.
“Order today, delivery tomorrow! Faster delivery! We can make it! Thank you.”
“Oooooooooh!”
Thunderous applause erupted.
Soon, everyone at the business fair was listening to Arellin, their eyes dazzled by the vision she was showing them.
Even the Sperom clan!
“This isn’t just a new business.”
“It’s creating a whole new industry…”
“It’s worth the investment.”
“Well, I guess we’ll have to rebuild the roads to match the cars.”
In a world with permanent gates and warp magic, the development of transportation was inevitably slow.
It’s faster for a high-ranking noble to use gates or warp magic than it is to find a faster means of transportation!
But gates and warp magic were inadequate for moving large amounts of goods.
It was this inherent problem that prevented commerce from growing on a larger scale.
“Gates are still not cost-effective for large-scale logistics movements.”
“It consumes as much power stone as the mass traveling through the gate, so it’s unavoidable.”
“But what if it’s a car…”
Gulp.
There was the loud sound of someone swallowing hard.
“Sounds like this is a business that can’t be solved by one or two people.”
If anyone got greedy and tried to swallow it, they wouldn’t even be able to digest it!
“Wow…”
Ciel’s eyes sparkled.
[RRR Horsepower Engine Mrk.1 (Prototype)]
[Value: 9902]
Arellin’s victory was overwhelming.
***
“The value has skyrocketed!”
Ciel exclaimed.
“Ten thousand unit value is only attached to legendary objects that will change the world or influence the world, but to be so close to that number… how is this possible?”
‘Because that’s what the people who are looking at the horsepower engine right now feel it’s worth – I guess.’
Value doesn’t just happen. It’s not just based on objective indicators, but also on people’s subjective needs and desires.
The magic engine was such a great thing.
‘This is magic engineering.’
After all, the future of this planet lies in magic engineering.
“Just one word of conversation…”
“Aspiring merchants…!”
The merchants, overwhelmed by the unexpected presentation, were eager to speak with her, but the arrival of the escorts and the iron walls of the Pession kept the peace.
‘But this,’ she said, ‘I think I could get one in Halbern.’
She’ll have to tell Mehen when she get home!
Suddenly, she had given an unplanned presentation, but that was okay.
It’s one thing for people to hear her vision, but it’s another thing to actually turn it into a business and sell it. She is confident.
After all, cars were the latest in technology, even in the modern era!
Poof.
“What, you want to be a car too?”
Ether kept insisting that she wanted to be a car, too.
That’s ridiculous. You’re a weapon.
‘No. Can a car be a weapon?’
She ignored the Ether’s strong will to help her swallow a single horsepower engine.
But when the Ether becomes a car, it’s a silver car.
‘Wait, if it’s magic engineering, can’t it be a hover car? A flying car!’
Flying cars have been a dream of everyone since ancient times.
As she was speculating on the possibility of a hover car, a wizard who had exhibited a magic engine came up to her with a crying face.
“Huhu, Lady…”
“Eh? Why are you crying?”
“You are my hero.”
The wizard, who gave his name as Leven, thanked her with a sob.
“Everyone dismissed my invention as garbage, but you were the only one to recognize its value.”
“Calm down…”
“I’m a lowly wizard, not even chosen by the stars, and I don’t even have that much magic power, I’m just trying to make things so that more people can benefit from magecraft…!”
Leven sobbed, not sure if he was crying more now that he said it.
“Honestly, I was about to give up on the whole thing, I thought, what could a lowly wizard like me, who isn’t even a star wizard, possibly make anything great…”
She honestly doesn’t know how to appease a man older than her.
“You’ve discovered endless possibilities for my invention that I didn’t even know existed!”
“Uh…”
Because that’s the real world.
“I realized something today.”
“What?”
“That the path I’ve been on hasn’t been wrong.”
Leven looked at her, his eyes burning.
She felt overwhelmed.
Leven bent at the waist at a ninety-degree angle.
More pressure.
“This favor I have received today, I will repay you. I will.”
“Uh.”
“Thank you, My Lady!”
After thanking her again and again, Leven stepped back with a sob. She could see the mages who had cast the welcome spell with him earlier rush over to Leven and hug him tightly.
“Yeah, we can do that, too.”
“Our inventions aren’t junk!”
“Let’s change the world!”
… She doesn’t know, but as long as everyone is happy, it doesn’t matter, right?
As she turned her head to think about it, she saw a wizard crouched down in his robes.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Something doesn’t look right.
What’s wrong?
“… net…”
“What?”
“I have…”
What is he saying?
She scratched her head. She could hear the distress in the voice more clearly.
“Do… Net…”
That moment.
Woosh-woosh-woosh.
Ether that had turned into a button jumped out and became a translucent crystal.
At the same time.
Kwaaaaaaaang-!
With an earth-shaking explosion, the landscape was completely distorted.
