NOVEL NEXT Chapter 79: Unveiling (3)
「Ohh, a futon. Does this mean I can sleep inside as well?」
「That’s correct. If you move the table to the side, you should have enough space to lay it down.」
Mira turned around to ask that, and Doug happily replied as he stood smiling watching from outside. That futon had been built specifically with Mira’s height in mind.
「We thought there would be a time in the future when you have to camp outdoors. You can add as much furniture as you may need as well, but that’s something you can enjoy doing yourself. What do you think? It’s like a moving house, or maybe a secret base would sound better?」
Solomon’s face peeked below Doug’s, a childish smile on his face. The wagon had been designed more as a transportable place where she could live rather than a mere vehicle. It was any man’s dream to have a space only for himself after all, so that was the main focus of the wagon.
「Mhm, it’s the best!」
After closing the closet, Mira replied satisfied as she walked around running her fingers along the wall adorned with white brushstrokes. Doug was feeling just as satisfied as well.
(It looks much more relaxing than my house with my wife.)
Thinking that, Doug began planning on building something similar for himself.
Once she was done looking at everything, Mira sat on the small chair to check how it felt. Just as she did that, the plant on top of the kotatsu entered straight into her view.「By the way, what plant is this?」
At first glance, it resembled a Japanese morning glory, but it had no flowers. It was just inside a small white planter spreading its leaves along a mesh set up on it. There were no particular features to the leaves, but since there were no other furnishings apart from the kotatsu and the chair, it was weird that only this plant would be added, so Mira asked that. Doug promptly gave her an answer.
「That plant is called Thin Mist Grass, and it grows wildly mostly near volcanic zones. This type has been bred to excel at photosynthesis and air purification, so even if you were completely isolated inside there, as long as you had light, it would produce enough air for one person to breathe.」
「That sounds truly useful.」
In other words, it was a natural air purifier. Thinking how thoughtful they were to add it there, Mira poked at the Thin Mist Grass leaves while saying 「Nice to meet you」 to it in her mind.
「They are really easy to breed too, and the light equipped with the wagon is enough to activate it. You can read more in those papers over there. It’s pretty much the wagon’s manual, so make sure to look at it.」
After Doug mentioned that, Mira turned to look again and saw a few papers beside the pot, so she nodded while saying 「Alright.」 and then stood up.
「Next you should find a place to park it. You can go outside with it when we’re done looking at it. You can’t just leave it here all the time after all.」
After Solomon said that, Mira jumped out of the wagon and the workers promptly got to work moving it.
「A place to park it, huh. I can’t just turn it into an item and store it in my Item Box? That sounds like a faster option.」
As they followed the wagon being pulled away, Mira asked that. Solomon quickly began shaking his head.
「That’s one thing you can’t do. Wagons get categorized as vehicles, so they’re not regular items. Apparently there are other items that can’t go inside there either, depending on their size and weight.」
「Hmmm, so it’s not as all-purpose as I thought.」
As the two conversed like that, the wagon crossed the large gates of the workshop and was carried outside. The sky had already begun turning into the colors of dusk. When Mira looked around, she spotted the stable just beside there. Further along that direction was their current destination, the parking lot which was filled with multiple small sheds lined up which stored the carriages. It felt like a scenery of only carriages one after another as far as she could see.
「This will be the exclusive shed for your wagon, Lady Mira.」
The shed she was led to was the furthest to the left. It looked quite similar to the other sheds, and the workers pushed the wagon inside.
「The next time you arrive in it when going to the castle, it’ll be carried here, so make sure you remember this place.」
「Mhm, I’ll remember it.」
Solomon and Mira stood in front of the shed with the wagon, their arms crossed and watching with relaxed faces how that dream had materialized.
「His Majesty, Lady Mira.」
Doug called to them from behind. His earlier excited tone was gone, sounding more calm and serious now.
When Mira and Solomon turned to see what he wanted, they saw all the workers lined up in a straight line with only Doug standing in the middle and one step in front.
「It would be no exaggeration to say that this wagon was the best product we’ve ever built to this date. We’re convinced we’ve all been able to better our skills through this experience. You two have our most heartfelt gratitude for believing in our skills, trusting us by letting us pour everything we had into this project. Thank you.」
Doug brought an end to his speech like that and bowed to them, the men behind him followed suit before joining their voices in a loud 「Thank you very much!」. When they lifted their faces again, the place was filled with awkward manly smiles.
(…How curious. We asked for this without much thought, as a casual request, so I wasn’t expecting them to thank us like this. Or rather, it should be us thanking them for fulfilling all our requests.)
「You worked well. I want you to keep working like that for this country’s future.」
「We will wholeheartedly spend all our strength to accomplish that.」
Solomon proudly looked at the workers before saying that, to which Doug replied magnificently.
「What do you think about the workers of my country? They’re amazing aren’t they?」
Solomon spoke triumphantly as the corners of his lips lifted. Mira had already met other workers before, and thinking of them too, she agreed saying 「Yes, they’re amazing.」
After that, they still spoke about how the maintenance for the wagon had to be carried out, if they would be allowed to gather data from it given that it was basically a conglomerate of new technology, only finishing by the time the sun had set.
「I think I’ll call it a day now. It’s already so late.」
Once the two of them were the only ones left in the parking lot, Solomon returned to his usual tone of voice. Mira looked at the lights around them absentmindedly, wandering her eyes along the walls of the castle, heading up towards the sky and the Milky Way running along it like a crack of light in the sky and only replied with 「That sounds like a good idea.」
After that Solomon returned to his office to wrap up the work he had left, while Mira decided she would hand out the gifts she had left before the day was over and headed to the maid chambers. She actually felt like a pervert sneaking into the girls’ dormitories, but in reality, there was no problem. When she asked for directions to reach the maids’ chambers, everyone kindly guided her. When she arrived there and crossed the ‘no men allowed’ sign, there was still no one who stopped her. It was perfect.
(I somehow feel like there’s a really good scent wafting in the air.)
Mira strutted along the maids’ chambers looking like she owned the place as she looked for Lily or someone she knew. After a short while, the situation became just the way Solomon had described. As the word spread that Mira was there, all the maids began crowding around her, and amongst them was obviously Lily.
After they took Mira to the break lounge, Mira relayed how she went all the way to Alispharius, and then placed all the gifts she bought on the table saying they were a token of gratitude for everyone involved in making her magic robe set. Lily promised she would take some to the people who were not present there as well.
Next, the maids that had finished their duties took Mira to the bathroom with the water fountain where she had been before, to relieve the fatigue built up during the day. With Lily in the front, the maids all went straight to squeeze Mira, causing a bit of a nuisance for her, but since Mira had already gone through a number of experiences, her old appearance of only being toyed around was gone and now her eyes were shining.
Once they were done with the bath, Mira was given a change of clothes since her magic robe set was put on the laundry to be washed. It was a simple sky-colored one-piece dress made to let the materials shine their best.
Dinner was being held in a lounge beside the office, and while they headed that way together with Lily, they ran into Luminaria who was also going to join them for dinner. Since Mira had been in the bath before, Luminaria noticed the way her cheeks and jaw hung loosely and somewhat full of lust, so she mumbled 「Did you have fun?」 to Mira’s ear, to which she replied with 「To my heart’s content.」 A dark, blacker than coal tar smile spread on both their lips after that.
That day’s dinner was carried on by letting the maids and servants stay outside, so the three good friends spent a good time being reunited after so long. They began talking about random idle topics, then switched to more tough state-related stories, and then to how the development was going for the doll made with the glittering seeds she had harvested once. They also sprinkled some talks about the other players between the idle topics. From how animated they all were, it was impossible to guess that this was in fact a dinner overloaded with top state secrets.