Chapter 88
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: A Friend's Wedding Dress
-----------------------------------------------------------------
She spoke calmly, sweeping her gaze over the girl called Lilia.
Lilia clutched a pure white dress in her hands.
"What's that outfit?"
"Ah. I wanted to show it to you first. It's the dress I'll wear for the wedding."
It was a pristine white and beautiful dress.
Melissa narrowed her eyes and asked,
"You're showing someone a wedding dress before even holding the ceremony?"
"You're my friend, so it's fine. Besides, I haven't worn it yet."
The girl spoke matter-of-factly as she took Melissa's hand and pulled her along.
"Come on, sit down. We have so much catching up to do, right?"
"We do."
For a fleeting moment, she felt uneasy about Leon, whom she'd left behind in Cascadia, but she brushed it aside.
-Come on! Move it! We're finishing this today!
-Let's go!!! The Count's taking responsibility anyway!!
-This ain't our problem!!
Of course, she had no idea what was unfolding back in the territory.
Lilia, thrilled to see Melissa after so long, poured out stories like she'd been holding them back forever.
Melissa responded with a faint smile, struck by her friend's pure, untainted innocence.
Back in their academy student council days, Melissa had made several connections, but Lilia Berner had been her very first friend.
"Ahaha. Remember Siger Reden? From that imperial Reden Count family."
"Ah. That creep?"
"Your big brother turned him into complete mush. You know that guy has these periodic freakouts now? He keeps ranting about your brother coming for him. It was insane at the banquet hall that day."
"You saw it?"
"Yeah, from a distance. Even from afar, it was terrifying..."
"Wait, that lunatic caused a scene there?"
She was utterly dumbfounded.
"Don't say that. Your big brother snapped because he heard that Siger Reden trash-talking you. Honestly, it was pretty cool of him."
"Because... of me?"
"Yeah, you know? That pervert had this creepy look whenever he stared at you. Apparently, he was blabbing in front of Young Master Leon about how he'd knock you down or whatever."
Ah, then he did well. She'd witnessed Leon's prowess enough times to have zero doubts.
As their casual chatter warmed up the mood,
Lilia said slowly,
"We've been engaged for a while, but now that I've come of age after my birthday, we're holding the wedding right away."
She spoke plainly as she lifted her teacup.
"On the Count's orders?"
"Who cares? We're nobles. What right does a noble lady have to choose her marriage anyway? I just hope the married life isn't too rough. I'm one of the lucky ones."
She smiled brightly.
"I heard your fiancé is a prince."
"Right. Prince Dorn Ru Pascalia. He's kind and warm. He's my first love, too."
That was heartening news.
In high society, Dorn Ru Pascalia was commonly known by the mismatched title of "cadet imperial prince."
He occupied a uniquely imperial position.
A cadet branch member, not a direct son of the Emperor, yet granted the name of prince.
A figure bestowed the prince's title due to special duties.
Different from a bastard in many ways—purely by blood, he was part of the imperial family.
Of course, barring any major scandals, they'd live ordinary lives and die without issue.
Watching Lilia Berner's face flush red like a ripe persimmon, Melissa smiled faintly.
"Congratulations on the marriage."
"Since I was little, I always thought if I had to marry someday, it'd be someone kind. Prince Dorn is the man I love, so honestly, I've been looking forward to this wedding a bit."
She didn't seem displeased at all. Quite the opposite—she welcomed it.
"Well, if you're happy, that's what matters. What about the academy?"
"I can't focus on it after marriage, so I'll have to drop out. But I'm more worried about you. You're still on leave. What are you going to do?"
"What can I do? I'm a count now. Going back isn't simple."
"There are rare nobles who hold titles and still attend the academy, you know?"
Melissa let out a short sigh at her friend's bashful smile.
She'd enrolled to inherit the countship, but now that she had it, was there really any need?
"I'm not sure. Now that I've inherited the title, I don't see the point in returning."
Lilia didn't press on Melissa's dilemma.
"What I regret is never getting to see the western continent's ocean. No chance now."
She seemed genuinely wistful about being unable to go after the wedding.
Mulling it over, Melissa pulled out an artifact for beach enjoyment.
The western beaches she mentioned were probably as stunning as artifact recreations.
She had a spare prototype anyway—the one Leon had planned to scrap. No issue gifting it.
"Let's go to the sea."
"What?"
"I'll show you. My big brother made it."
"An artifact?"
"Heh, you'll be amazed."
Melissa found herself puffing out her chest proudly.
It wasn't forbidden tech, so no real problems.
Though she had no clue yet how much attention Leon's artifact—or his tech level—would draw.
While Melissa was off visiting her friend ahead of the wedding,
I was reshaping the territory on a massive scale.
"Hey!! Pull harder over there!!"
"One, two!!!"
Dozens of burly men yanked ropes with all their might, hoisting a colossal structure into place.
These weren't the territory folk's usual line of work.
But the pay was decent for not-too-grueling labor, so the idlers with nothing better to do dropped everything and swarmed in like it was manna from heaven.
Melissa wouldn't be back anytime soon.
She'd likely handle her friend's wedding and negotiate with Pascalian merchant guilds or mage towers.
She clearly didn't want Cascadia stuck as some backwater watching the Demon Realm.
Which meant we couldn't slack off either.
"Don't worry! Forgiveness is easier than permission!"
"Charge!!!"
I grinned in satisfaction at the workers echoing my chant as they raised the structure.
We'd cleared a huge plaza in one corner of the village for this massive build.
And what was it?
A statue.
Of Melissa, hands on hips, chest puffed out proudly.
The smug expression on the statue didn't suit her at all—no cuteness whatsoever.
If Melissa saw it, she'd throw a fit trying to smash it to bits.
[High probability she'll try to tear you apart upon seeing it]
"That's exactly why I'm doing it."
[Cannot identify motive. Related to special city walls somehow?]
"If I knew that, you wouldn't be talking so stiffly. And who're you calling a pervert? Bet you Melissa can only grind her teeth and do nothing about it."
I didn't rally the territory folk for this statue on a whim.
Turns out Melissa was surprisingly popular here, so pranking her like this was the perfect move.
"This is it!"
"Wahahaha! Look at our princess, so majestic!"
The villagers cheered without restraint as the intricately crafted statue—powered by the Machine God's heart—rose up. It was music to my ears.
Proof she'd been tending to their hearts all this time.
Even the out-of-town mercenaries were giggling at it.
A few other buildings had gone up too.
The first was a striking structure with four legs curving from the ground toward the sky.
"Leon."
Luna approached and asked,
"Can you actually make that thing work?"
"Yeah, possible."
Teleport magic was supposedly the domain of 7th-circle mages and above.
But were there any 7th-circle mages on the continent? Hardly any confirmed records.
History had a few, but consensus was none now.
Mage Tower might have one.
Key point: I wasn't a standard mage—I was a 6th-circle necromancer.
Ironic, making a teleport device when I couldn't even teleport myself.
"Know the flaws in continent teleport devices?"
"Nope."
"More holes than you'd think. Security issues mainly."
Most were relics from ancient archmages.
I wasn't knocking their genius, but standard magic lagged in security compared to necromancy, in my view.
"Necromancy then?"
"Hybrid with magitech and necromancy."
Necromancy excelled in security for spatial stuff, even if not tops in the field.
Current necromancers ignored it, but the stark gap I'd seen between necromancy I knew and enemies' elemental magic was there.
Still, 6th-circle limits meant borrowing magitech.
"Here's the crux. In your view, does spatial transfer come from magic first or natural phenomena?"
"Hm? Natural phenomena, obviously... Huh?"
She widened her eyes mid-sentence.
Magic was humans mimicking, structuring, and tweaking natural phenomena, after all.
"Right. 7th-circle means replicating those phenomena solo."
So, with aids for the concept itself, it was doable.
Existing devices needed archmage skill, but mine didn't require that peak.
"Plus, broader applications. Solo teleport magic has tons of variables."
Though past that realm, limits vanished anyway.
"Materials'll be tough to source."
"Nah. Moonstones. Tech covers level gaps, magic covers materials."
"Moonstones again?"
"They're like single-crystal silicon—top efficiency everywhere. Honestly weird how undervalued they are."
Steel was pivotal in human history.
In magitech, top two resources? Moonstones and mana crystals, naturally formed with mana.
Moonstones' value lay in storing mana-infused patterns and data. Issue was they weren't mineable.