Chapter 28 – Visiting the lands 1

In the morning, Alex had a quick breakfast with the others, and after changing into a set of clothes full of embroidery made of silver and with precious stones for buttons, he left in a very ostensive carriage pulled by four white horses, a uniformized driver, and a page.
Anika Wright, Wenammy, and Pearl Pearson were with him inside the carriage, wearing rich dresses that the maids chose for them. Wenammy was touching the frills on the straps of her white dress while moving her back, trying to see if the dress got a little loose to make room for her hidden wings.

Alex noticed she couldn’t be still and asked, “What’s the matter, Wenammy? Something wrong with your dress?”

“No... I don’t think so. It just... feels weird. The maids that helped me put this on made a quick change so that I could release my wings, but this dress feels... I don’t know how to describe it. It’s thin and a little see-through, but it’s not revealing any of my private bits. It has this line of silver thread on my waist working as a belt, and the fabric feels nice to the touch, but I can’t quite figure out what kind of material it is. I never saw anything like it.”

Alex made a slight nod and stared at Pearl, who was also touching the sleeve of her light green dress. Anika was playing with the frills on the lowest part of her light blue dress, and Alex explained, “All those dresses are made of a special material that is produced in my lands. It’s called silk. The fabric to make those dresses is extremely expensive because it’s very difficult to make and it takes a lot of work to gather enough thread. Even the looms that were used to work with cotton had a few changes to be able to make such exquisite fabrics. If any of you sell one of those dresses to a Noblewoman, you won’t need to work again for your entire life, just for you to know how expensive they are. The Nobles in Beliersia are crazy about this type of fabric, and they would kill anyone for information on how to make it.”

Wenammy gulped and stopped moving, afraid of ripping her dress. “Maybe... We shouldn’t have accepted to wear these... they seem very fragile. If they are that expensive, you will be mad if we damage them...”

“The fabric is not as fragile as you may think. Despite how thin the thread used to make them is, the finished product is very sturdy. You would need to use a lot of force to rip those straps off your shoulder. Worry not about the price of the dress; you look amazing in it. Anika likes to tease you about your chest, but that dress gives a slight glimpse of your cleavage without showing off too much, and because it is so tight on your waist, it accentuates your hourglass figure in a very sexy way, I might add. Consider the dress my payment for your company today, because knowing the Chamber of Lords like I do, it will be a very stressful day, and I am counting on your help to help me go through it unscathed.”

Wenammy gulped and slowly nodded. “Thanks... for the compliments... I... will do my best to help you in that Chamber, but are you sure I can have this dress? Because not even in my father’s place did I ever see such a dress... It even reflects my Magic in such a way... It looks a bit Magical, really.”

“Yes, that’s why a lot of women would do anything to get their hands on a dress like that. You wouldn’t believe the proposals I got from some of the... eager Noblewomen... and their daughters... Sometimes, with even an invitation to a bed, with both mother and daughter... Women sure are weird...”

Pearl Pearson smiled at the worried face that Alex had and leaned forward a bit, making him gulp at the sight of her bouncing boobs while she touched his knee. “I don’t need a pretty dress to invite you to my bed, you know? Nevertheless, thanks for this dress, it’s really beautiful. I will treasure it forever, or at least until I deserve a new one, and then I will treasure that.”

“Ok... You know, Pearl, this side of you is... interesting, to say the least. I used to have the impression you didn’t like me very much, considering you would rather look at me or speak to me on our last voyage.”

“And whose fault is that, Earl Alex Brim? You didn’t even trust us to talk about your Noble title. Heck, you barely spoke a word for the entire journey! I was rather suspicious of you, waiting to see when you would betray us. Instead, you surprised me with how careful you were when working on our protection. I noticed that during our first Quest, you were always using your Magic to sense everything around us, to be sure we were safe. That made you look rather... I suppose the word is sexy, I guess? And since the last time we met at the Guild, you have become... I don’t know... maybe... difficult to resist?”

Anika frowned and slapped Pearl’s abusive hand, that was still caressing Alex’s knee. “Stop that! You seemed harmless enough, but you are a dangerous temptress, aren’t you? Let’s all try to behave, shall we? Unless I need to fight the two of you right now for Alex’s attention!”

Pearl made a slight smile and stared at her. “I don’t want to ruin my beautiful dress, but if you give me a couple of minutes to undress it, I won’t mind stuffing my fist down your throat, Mermaid...”

Anika turned red in anger, but before she spoke, Pearl tilted her head and continued, “I doubt a fist is the strangest thing you ever put down your throat. Judging by the way you act around Alex, I can imagine one thing you would want him to stuff down your throat, you slutty fish...”

Anika gasped. “Oh... Pearl... Are we using insults now? I miss the quiet Elfian that used to travel with us! What did you do to her?”

“I was always like this, but until recently, I didn’t have to fight a fish or a butterfly for a man’s attention. Since now I need, I guess I should use all the weapons at my disposal, insults included.”

That was the beginning of a never-ending series of insults and threats, with Alex thinking that it was probably a bad idea to take those three women with him to such an annoying meeting like the one he was about to face. Shinatobe was whispering at the back of his right ear, and Alex took a slow deep breath, trying to focus on the control of his Magic, while the women kept on arguing between them. Shinatobe warned him that if he didn’t get used quickly to his overflowing Magic, things were going to get worse.

In the meantime, James Macdonald, Bethany Mathews, Gabriel Dawson, Sarutahiko Okami, and Ghar were inside a simpler carriage, looking at where Olive Andrews was pointing. “Everyone sees that wooden canal at three metres high that is sustained by those poles at every five meters? It starts up North, where a gigantic wheel with baskets attached fetches water from the river and pours at the beginning of that canal. It goes all around these lands, delivering water to the fields and returning to the river, further ahead. That was one of Alex’s ideas so that we could always have a supply of freshwater with no need for Water Magic to gather moisture from the air.”

James Macdonald stuttered while looking up at the never-ending wooden canal. “T-that’s amazing... I-it’s made of what?”

“From the largest bamboo we could gather from the forest on Alex’s lands, near the mountains. Most people use bamboo to make fences or boats, but Alex thought of several uses for that special wood. We are about to reach one of our many breweries. Perhaps you are up to trying a new batch of beer, freshly made? Just a sip, because if you get drunk, you won’t be able to see the rest of the tour!”

James looked to the left side of the carriage where Gabriel was already and heard him ask, “No way... Such a big building... What are those tall, round buildings? They seem like... they are made of metal?”

Olive Andrews looked at where he was pointing and explained, “Those are containers. They are a part of the process needed to make beer. I can’t explain in detail how they are used or why, because that’s a trade secret. We can still visit the brewery, don’t worry, but I won’t show the secretive parts or explain the methods in complete detail.”

Gabriel Dawson nodded while still looking at the metal that was reflecting the morning sun. “Sure, I understand. I heard Earl Alex saying that. Besides, I doubt I would understand anything, even if you explained it to me! All this... is so unbelievable!”

“You think this simple brewery is unbelievable? Wait until you see the building where we make champagne or the one where we make whiskey. I can’t wait to see the look on your face when we go in the afternoon to Alex’s mountain! That is a sight!”

James Macdonald turned to her and said, “I heard him talking something about that with Earl Kayden, but I didn’t quite understand... I am sorry. It was tactless of me to make you remember...”

Olive made a slight smile towards Ghar and was smiled back. “That’s okay, I had time to say goodbye to my dear love, and he even convinced me to make a contract with this interesting Orc right here. So, as I was saying, the mountain. Alex devised a plan to divert the water from the rivers and streams that originate in the northern mountains near his lands and create a massive waterfall several metres high. All that power from the water falling from such a great height generates astonishing energy that is used to rotate at different heights a few wooden wheels with paddles.”

Olive reached out to Ghar and fixed the turban she had on her head to hide her tiny ears and made it do a turn around Ghar’s face to hide her nose and mouth, leaving only visible her inquisitive dark green eyes.

Olive then continued with her explanation, “The centres of those wooden wheels are connected to a long shaft that crosses some buildings from one side to the other, and a single shaft crosses five buildings in a row. The never-ending rotation of those shafts is used on a few bellows, feeding a bunch of ovens in blacksmith facilities. Some shafts are also connected to sawmills, which cut wood to sell and burn in the ovens to make bread. It also powers looms where we make a special type of fabric, rotates a belt where a worker places a product that he built, and that belt travels to the next worker that connects a different part... and so on, and so forth, until the end of the belt where the finished product is put inside a wooden box, ready to be transported to the market or one of our several customers. All of this with no kind of Magic.”

“That sounds like a complicated thing... How did he think about that?”

Olive shrugged. “Beats me. He looked at the map of his lands one day, went for a ride to the mountains, and spent the rest of the evening drawing on the map. The next morning, he went to the mountains with Kayden, me, and his father, and told us his plan. We all thought he was nuts at that time, but now... Well, I still think he is nuts, but in a good way.”

Bethany Mathews pointed to the plateau at a distance, with the Windmills at the top, as they were exiting the carriage to visit the brewery. “What about that? He said it was to grind flour. Can we go see that afterwards?”

“Sure, that is not a secret. It’s quite easy to understand, actually, because it works similarly to the shafts on the waterfall, but instead of water making the movement, it’s the wind. Most farmers use horses to make two rock wheels rotate to grind the flour, but in there, a shaft is connected to the mill sails that collect the power of the wind. The worker just needs to pour the sacs of cereal in a particular place, and the movement of the shaft takes care of providing the rock wheels with the cereal and grinding them. It even has a wooden shelf that collects the flour and a rotative belt that delivers the flour to the packaging section of the Windmill. On each windmill, only two workers are needed, and on top of that plateau, there are five Windmills. More than enough for all the cereal we harvest.”

Bethany Mathews kept on staring at the rotative constructions on top of the plateau, wondering how Alex could think of such a thing. The way Olive explained it was easy to understand, but the knowledge and creativity required for such buildings was something she couldn’t even dream of.

As they were about to enter the main door of the brewery, James Macdonald asked, “Is it possible if you, later on, showed us some of those devices that are used in the fields? Earl Alex told me they help the workers with taking care of the fields and harvest, but I don’t get it how they are used.”

“I think we can go see because it has already started the harvest of the wheat fields. Those devices are quite interesting. We also have some apparatus that are used to plough the fields to prepare them to be cropped, another one to put manure, and another one to put the seeds and bury them. We keep those inside a large barn because it’s not time to plant anything, but I can show you those as well. All those devices are from Alex’s mind. With them, we can take care of an immense field in a matter of hours instead of days if we only used manual labour or Magic.”