Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Paving the Way
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"Yaaawn. Slept like a baby."
Eric stretched luxuriously as he rose from bed.
There hadn't been a single vibration or noise all night.
Perfect, honey-sweet sleep.
Creak.
As he threw open the window and greedily inhaled the crisp morning air.
Alfred burst in, his face flushed with excitement.
"Young Master! It's a m-miracle! Just look at this!"
"The evil aura that shrouded the mansion is completely gone! The air is unbelievably clear and invigorating now!"
Eric responded with bored indifference.
"Obviously. I plugged the hole."
With the high-pressure mana leak sealed shut, the poison was gone, leaving only a faint, pure mana afterglow.
Ignoring the butler's fussing, Eric peered down at the garden.
'It's an eyesore.'
The lime slurry the workers had poured was splattered in ugly patches here and there.
Probably because it was their first time handling the stuff.
"Hmm. Those sloppy streaks on the ground are an eyesore."
"You mean the lime marks, Young Master? Shall I have the gardeners cover them with sod?"
"No."
Eric's brows furrowed.
He vividly recalled the agony in the carriage on the way back to the mansion yesterday.
The bumpy road had nearly made him carsick and puke.
"While we're at it, let's tear up all the surrounding ground too."
"What do you mean?"
"Let's make it perfectly smooth and flat."
"Y-You're talking about the entire surrounding land?"
"Yeah. Might as well do it right.
I hate motion sickness with a passion."
Alfred gulped.
Leveling this vast expanse of land just because of a bit of nausea?
As always, rumors spread faster than words.
It started with the imperial magic engineers who'd visited the mansion blabbing at the tavern.
"It wasn't ordinary lime. I saw it with my own eyes, I tell you!"
A drunk mage spat as he ranted.
"It had to be a special sealant mixed in the golden ratio to perfectly block mana backflow! How else could it subdue an ancient evil spirit in one shot?"
The nobles in the tavern perked up their ears.
"Heavens, the ancient evil spirit that even the Magic Engineering Bureau gave up on—gone in one night?"
"All because Young Lord Eric got involved?"
The rumors ballooned and twisted in no time.
'Young Lord Eric purified the ancient evil spirit's curse with holy power, turning it into the world's greatest geomantic treasure land.'
It morphed into a full-blown legend.
And that very afternoon.
"Young Lord!"
"Please, just grant me an audience!"
The mansion's front gate was mobbed.
Real estate brokers, speculators, even nobles.
Eric was trying to enjoy his coffee leisurely when the racket outside grew too loud.
"Ah... what the hell is this?"
Unable to stand it, Eric stepped out to find people clinging to the iron gates, clamoring.
"Young Lord! Sell me even a scrap of the estate land! I'll pay ten times the market price!"
"Fifteen times for me! All in cash!"
"I heard the curse is lifted and it's prime land now... Please, just sell me a hundred pyong for a villa. Name your price!"
Eric let out a massive yawn and picked at his ear.
"Not selling."
"Young Lord, I beg you! Anything you want!"
The crowd pleaded desperately, but Eric just snorted.
'Idiots. Ten times is chump change?'
His mind was already picturing the scene years from now.
A magic train station built here, the heart of magitech sprawling across the continent.
A hub teeming with hundreds of thousands.
Land prices would skyrocket at least a hundredfold then.
Maybe even more if things went right.
'Crazy to sell now. This golden goose.'
Eric scoffed derisively.
'Time to show 'em what real land speculation looks like.'
He waved them off lazily.
"You're too noisy. All of you, scram. Guards, what are you waiting for? Sprinkle salt."
"Salt, sir?"
"Yeah. They're bad luck. Lay it on thick."
As the gates shut and salt rained down, the crowd screamed and scattered.
"Real estate's all about holding firm."
Eric grinned in satisfaction when.
As the commotion died down, a real uninvited guest arrived.
A lavish carriage emblazoned with the imperial crest pulled up.
It was First Princess Iris.
Moments later, the two sat facing each other in the drawing room.
"Impressive. Solving what our imperial mages couldn't with mere lime slurry."
Iris stared piercingly into Eric's eyes as she began.
"Rumors say it involved ancient alchemy ingredients. Is that true?"
But Eric shrugged with the utmost laziness.
"No way. Pure luck."
"Luck?"
"Yeah. I saw the hole in the ground and just plugged it."
Eric casually picked up a cookie.
"Coincidence. A tiny one."
"I see. Then hand this land over to me."
"..."
"Thirty times what you paid. Enough to live off forever without lifting a finger, like you always wanted."
A staggering offer.
But Eric didn't hesitate for a second.
"Nah."
"Why? Wasn't freeloading your dream? Thirty times would more than cover it."
She glared sharply at him.
"Don't tell me you're aiming higher?"
Eric sighed and stood.
"Your Highness, too annoying to explain. I'll just show you."
Eric led Iris to the balcony.
"Look over there."
He pointed beyond the garden to a vast wasteland.
Hundreds of workers swarmed like ants.
Boom. Boom!
They were flattening the ground as surveyors marked straight lines with string.
Smoothing the uneven terrain, filling swamps.
Anyone could see it was groundwork for something massive on wheels.
"What is this?"
Iris's pupils trembled.
"Your Highness, you hate bumpy carriage rides, right?"
Eric asked lazily from beside her.
"Y-Yes."
"Same here. Motion sickness is the worst."
Eric gazed contentedly at the site.
"So I'm building a super smooth, fast road. For my own comfy use."
A vast plain reshaped into a road just to avoid nausea.
But to Iris's ears, it rang entirely different.
Lies. A mega-project for motion sickness? No way.
Her brilliant mind spun, piecing the puzzle.
He's laying infrastructure to span the continent beyond the Empire?
Iris stared blankly at Eric again.
Overwhelmed by the colossal ambition hidden behind his sleepy eyes.
Freeloader? Don't make me laugh. You're plotting to devour the entire Empire.
She swallowed hard.
Can't make an enemy of this man.
Must pull him to my side, make him mine.
After the stunned Iris departed.
A minor disturbance erupted at the construction site.
"Let go! Let me go! I need to check this!"
Guards were dragging out a grubby vagrant.
Matted beard, grease-stained work clothes.
A dwarf with mad eyes.
"What's going on?"
Eric approached, and the guard bowed.
"S-Sorry, Young Lord. Some crazy dwarf barged in and was yelling with his ear to the ground."
The dwarf shook off the guards and rushed to Eric.
"Hey! You the owner here?"
His eyes gleamed with mania.
"Yeah."
"I've been hearing it my whole life searching for—the sound from deep underground!"
"What's that?"
"Immense mana pressure bursting from the depths. You don't feel it?"
The dwarf stomped the ground hard.
"Harness that high-pressure mana for power, and I could make iron fly to the skies!"
Eric's eyes lit up.
Using mana pressure as power.
Wait. This is...
Eric spotted the faded emblem on the dwarf's clothes.
Hammer and cogwheel.
The mark of the legendary dwarf magitech guild.
The world had no mana engines yet, the heart of magic trains.
And here was an engineer come knocking to build one.
"What's your name?"
"Torvan. Engineer Torvan. Kicked out now 'cause no research funds, but..."
Torvan huffed.
"With funding, with this high-pressure mana, I could finish my mana amplification engine design... Why won't anyone believe me?!"
Everyone called him crazy.
But to Eric, it looked different.
Fate favors the bold.
Necessity disguised as coincidence.
Eric grinned and brushed dust from the dwarf's shoulder.
"Hmm. An engine."
"A revolutionary machine that burns mana for power."
"Couldn't make it without money?"
"Yeah. Called it a pipe dream, no investors."
Torvan's head drooped.
"Perfect timing, Mr. Torvan."
"..."
Eric clapped his shoulder.
"Let's build it together. A steel carriage a hundred times faster than any horse-drawn."
"A hundred times faster...?"
Torvan's eyes bulged.
"Unlimited funding. Keep at it till it works."
Eric pulled a fat pouch of gold coins from his pocket and pressed it into Torvan's hand.
"One condition, though."
"Wh-What condition?"
"Ride comfort. Has to be insanely smooth. I get wicked motion sickness."
Torvan glanced between the pouch and Eric's face.
The one investor who saw his dream.
"Sniff... Young Lord! I'll grind my soul to craft the ultimate engine for you!"
Tears like chicken droppings streamed from the dwarf's rough eyes.
"Counting on you. Big time."
A pleased smile curved Eric's lips.
Perfect.
Land, money, and now the tech guy.
Just finish the engine, and I'll rake in cash sitting pretty.
With their handshake, the magic train project that would reshape the Empire quietly began.