CH 100

February 5, 2022 by danmeiheaven

The letter that Xia Zuoyi sent to Orville was quickly received. The Grand Duke wrote in the reply that he hoped to visit the Desinian Territory at the end of summer and exchange some experience of raising wolves with him at that time.

The words in the letter are sincere and fully express the wishes of the Archduke.

Xia Zuoyi naturally agreed.

When late summer approached and early autumn was near, Orville arrived at the castle with the wolf cub and his subordinate Robert. Coincidentally, the fluff balls went into the forest to hunt separately. Xia Zuoyi left behind the two cubs to play in the cabin built by the lake. Rice Cake is sleeping on the cushion inside, while Eggy is vigorously chasing after the fluttering butterflies and insects in the grass.

Next to the cabin were chairs and a table, with a pot of scented tea and rose cake specially prepared by Xia Zuoyi. The sweet aroma lingering in the air and the fragrance of grass and trees undoubtedly relaxes people’s mind and body.

The wolf cub Orville brought has some light gray fluff from the tip of his ear to his back. His small brush-like tail is placed on top of the Grand Duke’s shoe. At this moment, he’s lying sideways and is staring at Eggy curiously, which means he wants to join.

“What’s his name?” Xia Zuoyi asked.

“Snow.” After eating a whole piece of rose cake, Orville took another sip of the scented tea to moisten his throat, “He’s very naughty. He had already torn off three of my clothes and five pairs of shoes with his claws. It’s just as of late that he became sensible.”

Probably hearing his name, the little wolf cub raised his head and purred twice, with one of his front paws tugging at the hem of the Grand Duke’s clothes.

Orville pinched Snow’s little ear.

Just then, Eggy suddenly barked in the direction of the mountain forest. He excitedly stepped on his little paws and stood up from the ground, his tail wagging happily.

Xia Zuoyi also smiled and pointed somewhere behind Orville, “Ice Cream came back first.”

Orville turned his head.

—A white wolf ran towards the direction of the castle, bathed in the unoffending late summer sunshine. The sunlight sprinkled mottled patterns through the treetops and glistened in the grass and fields. The next moment, the light and shadowy patterns were trampled on and quietly climbed on the white wolf’s hair with no trace of variegation, and silently passed again with the breeze.

Orville looked at Ice Cream with an imperceptible surprise in his eyes. Snow couldn’t help but get up and run a few steps forward, his tail swaying slightly, “Ao!” 

Ice Cream ran towards Eggy but then stopped, his icy-blue eyes staring at Snow.

Snow couldn’t help but whimper again.

Orville watched Snow slowly approach the white wolf until he finally began spinning around the white wolf. He said softly, “Did you know that the Powell Kingdom believes in the white wolf king on the snowy mountains? On its flag is a snow-white wolf.”

Xia Zuoyi nodded suspiciously, and said, “I know.”

“You mentioned in the letter before that Snow is the descendant of the white wolf king in Powell Kingdom.”

Although the letter didn’t mention much, he can also perceive in a few words what cooperation or transaction the Grand Duke had made in private with the king of Powell. Otherwise, how could he get a precious wolf king cub?

Orville turned to look at Xia Zuoyi, his light gray eyes glittering under the sun, “On the highlands and snow-capped mountains of Powell and even in the extreme north, there has never been a wolf with such pure fur as Ice Cream.”

“It has an irresistible charm for the people of Powell, you know?”

Xia Zuoyi understood, “Powell believes in white wolves. Is the Grand Duke worried that they would want to get Ice Cream?” 

Orville is noncommittal. Faith can give birth to everything. Powell has a reputation for being fierce and savage, so it’s not surprising that they’ll do anything to get the white wolf.

Xia Zuoyi pondered for a while, “I know what the Grand Duke means, but don’t worry.”

Orville: “It’s good that you can understand it in your heart.”

“The king of Powell, Gena Kozmo, has great ambitions. He wanted more than to occupy the far north. The existence of the white wolf was a way for him to unite his conviction… Maybe you will meet him at the exchange meeting in winter.”

Gena Kozmo, the second male lead in the original book.

Xia Zuoyi was a little surprised, “Will His Majesty personally go to the Saint Airo Empire?”

Orville nodded.

He remembered that the heroine and the second male lead in the original story would meet for the first time after the epidemic completely disappeared… He wonders if they would meet each other in advance in the empire.

The plushies came back from the forest one after another. It’s also especially obvious that Snow likes Ice Cream very much. He kept following the white wolf, causing Eggy to pounce on him and bite him several times, but Snow easily avoided it.

Orville did not stay in the castle for long. He left the Desinian Territory three days later.

On the way, Robert spoke, “Grand Duke, the king of Powell is a fierce lone wolf. The cruelty of the extreme north has created his character. In case the king knows that a white wolf king appeared in Desinian Territory… He’ll probably find it himself…”

Orville stroked the drowsy Snow and said slowly, “Don’t worry about it. Maybe…”

He recalled what he had said to Xia Zuoyi during his stay in the castle.

Robert pricked up his ears. ‘Maybe what?’

The Grand Duke suddenly smirked but said nothing.

No matter how fierce a lone wolf is, he will meet a clever hunter who knows how to set a trap, even though the hunter didn’t set the trap specifically for him.

Shortly after Orville left, Segalot sent a letter to Xia Zuoyi with a list of famous alchemists and doctors on the Western Continent. It also noted the factions and forces they belonged to.

This record plays a very important role for Xia Zuoyi. Immediately, he wrote a reply to His Holiness the Pope to thank him.

Although all alchemists belong to the Alchemist Association, they’re divided into different parties due to different research directions. Some factions are even hostile to each other. Of course, most alchemists are independent or look for a wealthy noble to financially support their research. In turn, they contribute their study results to the noble in some aspects.

Long ago, Xia Zuoyi was already famous in the Alchemy Association for developing herbal medicines and ointments. And because he’s also a noble lord, he really attracted many alchemists who came to defect.

The research direction of these people is similar to that of Xia Zuoyi. In alchemy, they tend to study the philosopher’s stone, the holy medicine of immortality, which can cure all diseases and disasters.

The other guilds are mostly “turning stone into gold”, studying all sacred things, such as some kind of stone containing powerful power… Studying alchemy to make copper and iron turn into gold in certain ways, and even places this change on the ability to inspire the mind, and so on.1

Or alchemy research that is biased towards mathematics and physics, but there are very few physics-oriented experiments compared to “chemical-oriented” ones.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between an alchemist and a doctor. An alchemist may be a part-time doctor, but it’s hard for a doctor to become an alchemist.

So, even though this exchange was named after alchemists and doctors, the status of the latter was at the bottom.

Xia Zuoyi’s alchemy research in the direction of medicine actually more deviates from the doctor, which also polarized his reputation in the Alchemist Association.

But he didn’t care about this. Except for his initial need for an alchemist’s badge, he never paid attention to the Alchemist Association. But recently, he heard that the association began to form a force headed by Chebman Norton.

His main research direction is also to create the philosopher’s stone.

Xia Zuoyi remembered that the other party was from the Ed Chamber of Commerce, and according to Archibald’s words, he explored the formula of herbal medicine and ointment and invented a plaster for hemorrhoids.

He thinks that Chebman Norton is indeed very capable and talented. Although he still doesn’t know what kind of person he is, he could meet him in the Saint Airo Empire.

Before the arrival of late autumn, Xia Zuoyi sold the manufacturing technology of cement concrete road to the Archiayoli Territory and the Anas Kingdom.

Cement soil pavement includes various categories, including plain concrete pavement, reinforced concrete, fiber soil, block soil, and so on…

Xia Zuoyi selected several types of road surface suitable for the existing technology, including plain concrete. It’s an ordinary concrete pavement poured on-site, with low technical requirements and fast construction.

—Cement concrete roads are more widely applicable than asphalt roads.

The asphalt concrete road can be used for some key sites, while the cement one is for various traffic levels, such as roads between cities, main traffic roads, etc.

Road maintenance and cleanliness also help people develop good sanitation habits.

A long time ago, Xia Zuoyi began to ask the Craftsmen’s Guild to study the pavement laying steps in detail. The most important of which is the concrete roadbed cutting seam, which has also been tested on one road. However, if the time between the joint cutting is too long or too slow, it can easily cause road problems, such as road cracks or burrs.

A lot of time will be wasted in between.

But fortunately, Conrad and his eldest son Darren explored this aspect in depth and solved many problems.

For this reason, Xia Zuoyi specially asked Renault to develop a small concrete mixer with iron wheels, rollers for smashing the road, and many more. In view of technical limitations, many aspects of the machine have been improved and innovated. From electric to manual labor is a process of reduction. On this basis, they should pay more attention to grasping the work efficiency and be more adaptable to the current work equipment.

Although there was no deliberate publicity after the cement road began to be laid in the Archiayoli Territory and the Anas Kingdom, its stability, durability, skid resistance, cleanliness, and other characteristics were gradually revealed. As a result, it inadvertently made Xia Zuoyi’s fame spread even further.

Translator’s Notes:

So sorry for not updating on time, just RL matters. Glad it’s okay now tho hehe. As promised, this is a three-chapter update. Stay tuned for the last chapter posted today because I’ll have some announcements to make~~