The day of the festival.
A group of carriages traverse through the forest, escorted by knights on horseback, dragon riders from above and magicians riding shotgun with the drivers.
The road was bumpy and uneven, even if all the carriages were made for extreme comfort it still jolted every passenger of each carriage...
In one particular carriage. Six men sat facing each other, three per side. The four were voicing their concern to a single man. Who was in the middle who kept his eyes closed as he listened to them, beside him is his trusted friend and attendant Howard.
"Your highness, leaving the rebuilding effort to a mere inventor is a..."
"Can that person really be trusted?"
"Majesty, you could've hired someone from Vigan, they have one of the most skillful architects around."
"Also consider the money that they had all spent, for all we know they may be corrupt and had taken it for themselv- ack?!"
The man. Who wore a very expensive-looking attire, bit his tongue as he was about to finish his sentence. It was as if, karma had struck him.
Those four men were all saying bad things about this so-called inventor. Saying that with small useless inventions, she managed to even get the approval of the king.
"Everyone cool yourselves down." [King Alex]
King Alexis, brought out a yellow-green semi-transparent magic crystal and used its power. The powerful wind turned their hair into a mess, except for the king who was wearing the crown. Howard's hair became an afro, one turned into a hotdog-bun-like hairstyle, a guy had his beard tied around his neck forming a noose, another had drill hair which made the old man look like a woman. Then the last... has his wig blown off.
"You're bald Winston?!" [Howard]
"Winston's bald??"
"My eyes!!" {1}
"Bald-bal-"
(Smack!)
The bald man, one punched {2} the dude beside him, knocking the guy out cold.
"You think, that this little invention is useless? While we all sat our butts in our comfy chairs just looking at our subjects who suffer. In just a short amount of time, this thing has changed the lifestyle of our citizens." [King Alex]
No one tried to reprimand him and they all fell silent.
"Road ahead!"
"Are we finally there?"
"Isn't the city, still two hours away? Have they relocated?"
A knight outside shouted, the two men with the king were puzzled and looked out from the window.
The road was wide enough for six carriages to fit side by side. Apart from that, there is a line or marker of some sort at the middle with arrows pointing in opposite directions. Then they saw a merchant wagon going in the opposite direction, leaving the city.
"You there, is the city nearby?"
"No this is only a road, the city is still twenty-three kilometers away." [Merchant]
"They've made a road this far?! Blaspheme!!" [Winston]
"What use could this be, if people rarely traverse this far! Roads like this should only be in the city!"
"Indeed they are wasting money."
"Umm..." [Merchant]
"What is it? Do you have something to say?"
"Speak up."
The merchant had second thoughts on whether he could say something to them after seeing the large group of soldiers accompanying the carriage, but he was asked to speak up and was forced to answer.
"I don't know about you guys, but this road made the bumpy two-hour travel time to just thirty minutes. It helped us merchants pass our goods quickly and since this is a road, we appreciate the smooth travel before and after the bumpy ride, plus having a proper road reduces the maintenance costs for our carriages." [Merchant]
Some of the men looked at each other with a frown as if they wanted the merchant to say something negative but were told about the benefits.
"..."
"This still costs money!!"
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"Err... this road was created by a single person, namely the inventor herself. So this is free." [Merchant]
"Nonsense, are you saying that she has this much energy to cover the whole span of twenty-three kilometers?!"
"Haven't you ever heard of her inventions? She made this using some magic crystals that is imbued with earth magic." [Merchant]
"What do you mean by free? Magic crystals cost money!"
"Yes, but she bought those herself and they could be used again the next day. So your argument is invalid." [Merchant]
While they argued with the merchant. King Alex was inside holding back his laughter saying in a low tone voice: "This guy is savage hahahah."
"You... don't you know who I am?!"
The noble was embarrassed, that a mere merchant outsmarted him. Being one of the king's advisers, he had high pride. To hide his embarrassment he resorted to threats.
"Melvin, stop." [King Alex]
"Your highness?" [Melvin]
"The King?!" [Merchant]
"Don't you see? Even something as simple as making a road is a big help to our people." [King Alex]
"Kuh..." [Melvin]
King Alexis, has hit the mark. Melvin lowered his head and apologized.
"Please forgive me!" [Merchant]
"Raise your head, if it weren't for you skillful merchants, our kingdom may not have had a thriving economy." [King Alex]
"T-thank you for the praise!" [Merchant]
After thanking the King, the merchant hurriedly left with his wagon.
Like the merchant has said the two-hour travel time was indeed reduced to just thirty minutes. It relieved the battered bodies of those who were traveling on the ground.
After some time the convoy went to a halt.
"Is this really Dalio?"
"I've heard that the city was completely destroyed, so they had to rebuild from the ground up."
"This, in just a month?!"
"Apparently the magicians who helped with the retaking were employed, the one leading them was the inventor."
"Oh! That inventor who we saw at the bath?"
"Shhh... don't mention that."
"What is with this chatter? And why aren't we moving?" [Winston]
The knights beside the carriage were talking to one another. Winston, went out to scold them since they had stopped moving.
"A.." [Winston]
"What is it, Winston? Whoa..." [Melvin]
Upon seeing the two's reactions. The remaining four went out of the carriage, they were all astonished at what they saw.
From a small hill overlooking the city of Dalio, lay various structures. Very different and designed in a way, that they have not seen before. The whole area of four kilometers is leveled and covered in concrete.
Even though the area is four kilometers, only about half of it is utilized.
The reason for this is Angelica, left the remaining space to be used for the city's future development or expansion.
"I haven't heard about Dalio having a lake." [Knight 1]
"That is because there wasn't any!" [Knight 2]
King Alexis, was closely listening to his knights. When he looked around, the nobles of the other carriages had also disembarked. They were all mesmerized by the city.
Outside the city was a huge lake, near it is a farmland with towers that had multiple sails moving clockwise.
"Let's move on shall we?" [King Alex]
The king with a smile ordered everyone, to return to their carriages and proceeded to enter the city.
On the far edge of the city, there was a checkpoint manned by knights. Once they had completed the inspection, they were let into the inner city.
They saw how clean it was. The edges of the streets were slightly elevated for pedestrians to walk on, the elevated part also has trees lined up, adjacent to the opposite street and there was a lamppost of some sort.
Every one of them was amazed by the buildings within the city. Some of the carriages accompanying the king were being left behind as their occupants went out to inspect the engineering marvel.
At the city center, they were greeted by a large crowd. People waved at them from the streets. King Alexis, also waved back to them from the carriage's window.
"Your majesty!"
"Welcome!"
"Thank you for helping restore our city!"
They showered him with flowers, praises, and cheers as his carriage went by, despite only ordering to give money for the rebuilding. In fact, he thought that they should praise his granddaughter Angelica more than him. For it was her planning and resourcefulness, that helped this city get back on its knees. Still, he is enlightened seeing that his people are happy.
They got off in front of the city hall. This city hall had a pretty accommodating aura around it, unlike those in other cities and even the capital.
It was neat and tidy. There were various counters, each with a wooden sign on what particular purpose that counter has. An example one is for payment of taxes and the other is for getting and issuing permits and the like.
There are people sitting on wooden chairs waiting for their number to be called. Near them is a pillar that has magic crystals imbued with the wind element, moving a gentle breeze in all directions, keeping the place nice and cool.
In other cities, going to the city hall has always been a hassle for people. They stood up in long queues and there were no directions for where or what counter to go to.
"Ahh, your highness."
He hears a familiar voice, it was his granddaughter Angelica. At the mention of your highness, everyone present showed their respect by standing and then bowing. Upon King Alexis' gesture, they all sat down and continued what they were doing.
"Angelica, good to see you again." [King Alex]
"You to your highness, I am happy that you were able to come." [Angelica]
Despite his busy schedule, the rejection of his advisers and concerns for his health. King Alexis, still went to see the progress and was glad that he did. His granddaughter had inherited a part of her mother's cunning and resourcefulness.
"You must be the inventor." [Melvin]
"Such great accomplishment that you've made." [Winston]
The advisers who previously criticized Angelica all went to greet her. Winston even tried to go and kiss her hand, but Angelica immediately pulled it away and showed a wry smile.
"Howard." [Angelica]
"Miss..." [Howard]
When she glanced at Howard. He bowed to her with his eyes closed.
"Where is she?" [King Alex]
"She?" [Angelica]
Angelica thinks for a bit and then realizes whom the king was referring to.
"She's at the back of the second floor, managing some papers." [Angelica]
Angelica gestured toward a door up on the second floor. Even though she meant papers, it may have been valuable documents regarding the city.
"You come too." [King Alex]
"Me also your highness?" [Angelica]
"Yes." [King Alex]
"What about us your majesty?"
"Enjoy yourselves, you said that you needed some time off didn't you?" [King Alexis]
The three of them went upstairs, leaving the four advisers unattended.
They entered the room when Angelica opened the door for them. Inside, sitting at a large desk fit for a corporate boss was Michelle and the one standing beside her like a trusty secretary was Steven.
"Father..." [Michelle]
"Elaine..." [King Alex]
"Father!" [Michelle]
Michelle stood up then ran towards King Alexis and immediately embraced him.
References.
{1} Reference to a Sponge Bob episode, where the fishmen or what you call them had his eyes burning from the light reflecting off of king neptunes head [https://youtu.be/ADkLBtSGKMo]
{2} Refers to Saitama from One-Punch Man [https://youtu.be/atxYe-nOa9w]