Chapter 221 – Stress Test

Chapter 221 – Stress Test

In the past few days, while Sasha was working on creating the typewriter, I went to visit my Father with Mikan. This time, it was just the two of us because we were implementing the first tattoo of our knightly order. Even though he was the very first of the Knights and the senior member of my Roundtable Hold, there was no ceremony to be held for the occasion. I knew him well, and if he hated something, that was to start fussing about things instead of cutting straight to the chase. He had already chosen the place where he wanted it, so applying it to his left shoulder didn't take long, completely locking down the Lion before anyone else's hands.

After we tested it, it worked perfectly. The mech remained offline when Mikan or I tried to use it, and the formation within the machine didn't react at all to our commands and inputs. It remained dormant and only came to life when my Father sat in the pilot's chair, functioning as intended.

Of course, hearing the success, it was Yuri's turn to get one. Because she insisted on its location, she got her formation tattooed right under her navel, around the area where her babyroom was located... Aaaand she immediately began showing it around, making it hard to force her to wear regular clothes for a while.

Luckily, she was preoccupied with Lancelot, so she never really left the palace grounds to cause me a bit of a headache. By now, she had settled into her role as a mum instead. It was good to have a big family because while Sasha and I were working, there was always someone to care for the kids, and even if all of us had to be elsewhere, my Mom was always available.

On one such day, when I had to be away since morning, I stood in our secured logistics yard, looking at the white, filtered water vapor escaping my locomotive's chimney as it slowly came to a halt, carrying the heaviest load we probably have for it... for now. Although we announced that the train's test would be carrying passengers, of course, that was more for a show. In reality, that test was happening right now as the Avalon Arrow was arriving at the lot, pulling behind it a long and wide cart with the completed, newest mech lying on it. I knew that my train could do it, but it was the first time that my people also realized what it really meant. What it would offer to my merchants and to our military logistics. Of course, its speed was severely reduced, slugging along at 15 or 20 kilometers per hour with that heavy load attached to it. It was consuming a quadruple amount of coal to get here, but it did it without the help of magic to boot.

This was the actual stress test of my locomotive and the railway itself. Its results made it clear that we needed to improve our train's driveshaft, wheels, and the track itself, which were deformed at multiple places while it got here. All of those had to be replaced before the train could be used again. But it was a great success nonetheless because it showed our limits. Plus, whenever it is going to come down to carrying such a heavy load, we will use weight reduction magic, as our military is too important to be pedantic about it.

With the newest mech in place, I got into it, making it stand up before exiting its cockpit and letting my workers continue their jobs. With great efficiency, they erected scaffolding around the barebone machine in under an hour and started to pull off the rest of the cargo from the filled train carts. It was time to armor it and attach the weapon systems, mimicking my Father's mech, giving it long-range capabilities. It was what Mirian asked for, and it made it much easier to produce. While watching them work, I was thinking about which would be better... Contact her to tell the Empress that her order is completed, or wait and stretch it out? Probably the latter... It is best if she believes manufacturing one machine takes a long time. Plus, she still owes me those three cores she promised; I just used up my last one that was eligible to power a mech...

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Within the capital city of Ishillia, the old monster under the palace was sitting in an old armchair, reading the reports his agents delivered to him only a day ago. They were written not only in a coded language but also in one that was considered old and lost, belonging to the very first Emperors, spoken thousands of years ago, in the Days of Glory. It was something that, by the time the Emperor of Magic got to rule Ishillia, was no longer in use, archaic, and forgotten.

"A hundred and fifty-eight..." He mumbled, counting the small and big families his people had already infiltrated and were being nudged to his side.

"There won't be any issues, believe me!"

"You turned out to be the most optimistic guy~ Was it my influence?"

"Maybe?" He chuckled, no longer able to think about his life differently. He was not only enjoying Mirian and her antics but also loving her. Truly. When she was not a little assertive demon, she ended up acting cutesy and purring like a kitten in his embrace, just like now. "Want to take a bath? You have been touring the southern regions for a month now."

"I do feel tired... I think I will take a break, shut myself in our bedroom, and do nothing but hang on you~!"

"For how long?" He asked with a chuckle, picking her up to bring her over to their private pool and indoor bathhouse.

"For a week!"

"Damn, can we last that long?"

"I only need your nutrients, fufufufu~!"

"What about me?" Milan shrugged, smiling, letting her hang onto his neck, snuggling up to him.

"We can share..." she whispered, licking his skin and giggling. "I love your taste... Let me also lick something stiffer... and hot. Miri wants her popsicle~!"