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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“That’s the end of it.”
I looked down at the most perfect wheelchair in the world, completed after 7 trials and errors.
This wasn’t an exaggeration, but a fact.
After all, Patrasche was the only wheelchair to begin with.
It was simultaneously the worst-made and the best-made wheelchair.
A product guaranteed by me, a one-week wheelchair craftsman.
“…It’s so different from when I saw it before? It’s become more elaborate? There are more attachments too-”
“I remade it 7 times.”
Renny seemed quite surprised by the wheelchair’s appearance, as if she was meeting a childhood friend after 10 years.
It was understandable.
I had redesigned it from the frame up.
I had to invest almost all of the treasures I had scraped together from dungeons just to make this one wheelchair.
Considering the strength, it would have been better to make it out of solid iron, but that would have been too heavy, and using mithril, the best metal in fantasy, to make a wheelchair would have required too great a cost.
Given the amount of materials needed for the wheelchair, if I had made it with mithril, it would have cost an amount equivalent to raiding dungeons 100 times.
To begin with, obtaining that much mithril was like reaching for the stars.
The yield was too low, and it was mostly bought up by high-ranking nobles or nations, so only the black market had any in circulation… and according to Sif, the prices were exorbitant, so I couldn’t buy it either.
In the end, the method I came up with was… hydra bones.
Hydra bones.
The remaining bones, which were in an awkward position for use, were all used as materials while I was at it.
It was a material tougher than steel and slightly lighter.
The potentially grim appearance was mitigated by covering it with leather.
I had to use silver, iron, and rubber to make the wheels since I couldn’t make them from bone.
I redesigned it with a round handle-like rim on the outer surface of the wheels so Karina could roll it herself, and solved the body part, where comfort was most important, by purchasing and layering several pieces of cloud fox fur, famous for its softness.
That was how Patrasche Mark 7 was born, sturdy enough to withstand even a troll’s stomp.
“Johann! Johann! Now that you’ve finished Patrasche, make mine too!”
“Alright, so stop hanging on me.”
I’m not a pull-up bar, so please get off.
I peeled off Millia, who was hanging on my neck with her arms wrapped around it, and told Renny to take the wheelchair.
It would be right to try it here, but I had already tested it myself, so there shouldn’t be any problems with the wheelchair at Karina’s weight.
For now, this was the end of Patrasche’s production.
“Well then, I’ll be going, so don’t skip meals like last time. Lady Karina is worried.”
“I got it.”
“…You really will come, right?”
Renny, holding the wheelchair like a duffel bag, glared at me.
I did skip a lot of meals, but what could I do when time flew by so quickly while I was making it?
“This time, I’ll bring him!”
“Alright, Millia… don’t just come by yourself to eat and leave.”
“But Johann doesn’t listen even when I tell him! And I brought food and put it directly in Johann’s mouth!”
Is that… so?
It seemed like half of it went into her own mouth though.
At Millia’s excuse, I glanced at her, and the red-haired dullahan with a big appetite avoided my gaze and hummed a tune.
Renny, finding Millia’s behavior cute, chuckled and patted her head before opening the workshop door and disappearing.
So this concluded the first production.
Next was collecting edible caterpillars… no, I should make something for Millia.
I looked at Millia, who was racking her brains at the workbench with a sulky expression, and asked,
“Millia. Is what you want a vehicle?”
“I want a wheelchair too!”
“There’s something more fun than a wheelchair.”
“Really?”
Her expression changes in an instant.
I took out a piece of paper I had put away in a corner and placed it on the workbench.
What I was going to draw was a simple sketch of the item I would give to Millia as a gift.
It was a much simpler object compared to the wheelchair.
I picked up a pencil and drew out the object from my memory onto the paper.
Something everyone had ridden at least once when they were young.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a toy I’ll make for you.”
“This?”
Millia narrowed her eyes with her head upside down on the desk.
Can she really see properly like that?
I marveled at the bizarre posture only a dullahan could achieve.
“You’ll know what it is as soon as it’s actually made, so wait.”
“Okay!”
I checked the remaining materials and estimated the cost.
Honestly, it was a much easier object to make compared to the wheelchair, which required complex and delicate processes.
It wouldn’t take even an hour to make.
“Crafting.”
I made a long board out of wood, and created a long body like an iron bar and a Y-shaped handle.
For the wheels, since there was no plastic, I made them by wrapping rubber around chunks of iron… the long body and handle, and the brake… wait, how should I make the brake?
I don’t know how to make brakes.
Ah, whatever.
I’ll figure it out as I make it.
I started to earnestly craft the toy for Millia.
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“How do you ride this?”
“Hold the handle, put your foot on the footboard, and push off the ground with your other leg.”
“Like this?”
Millia followed my instructions, putting her foot on the footboard and pushing off the ground.
With a slight scraping sound, Millia’s body slid forward.
Millia gradually increased her speed.
She pushed off the ground with all her might, and at some point, put both feet on the footboard and moved around.
“Johann! This is incredibly fast!”
“Be careful not to fall!”
Millia instantly became a dot in the distance.
Was a kick scooter originally this fast?
I honestly couldn’t remember since it had been over 10 years since I last saw one.
Even then, I had only seen electric scooters as an adult.
I folded my arms and watched Millia approaching after making a U-turn.
Though it felt a bit roughly made compared to the wheelchair, it should be enough to play with at this level.
While it looked clumsy and unattractive, that could be refined later.
“How does it feel to ride?”
“It’s awesome! I’m going for another round!”
“Don’t go too far!”
“Hey, what kind of object did you make this time?”
At the familiar voice, I turned my head to look at the female knight with attractive brown skin.
She looked at Millia disappearing in the distance with an incredulous expression.
Was a kick scooter… surprising?
It was understandable to be surprised since there were no kick scooters here.
In this world, the only things that rolled on wheels were carts, carriages, and rickshaws.
“It’s a toy. It’s not that fast.”
“You make all sorts of interesting things…”
“Do you want one?”
“No, it might be convenient, but it seems like it would be hard to respond to emergencies. And you can’t ride it unless the ground is as smooth as it is here, right?”
She hit the nail on the head.
As expected of an experienced female knight, she accurately pointed out the disadvantages of the kick scooter.
Still, I wanted to see her ride it once.
Imagining Renny riding a kick scooter, the corners of my mouth turned up involuntarily.
A skateboard might be better for Renny.
For a knight of Renny’s caliber, a skateboard that left the hands free would be more useful.
“Then I’ll make something else for you.”
“If possible, I’d like something in the weapon category.”
“Understood.”
“Thanks, Johann. But hey, don’t you have anything else to do now?”
“Something else to do… huh.”
I scratched my chin and fell into thought.
Was there anything else to do?
I had made the wheelchair and the kick scooter for Millia.
I didn’t have the materials to make things like poison needles or other equipment right now.
That would have to wait until I could order through Sif.
So was I now going to guard Karina?
Guarding with a shovel seemed odd, maybe I should make a decorative sword to carry-
Wait.
I quickly lowered my head and looked down at the ground.
I could see the ground full of green, but what I wanted to see wasn’t the ground.
Not the ground, but underground.
The tunnel I had made.
My secret passage.
“Renny. I’ve found something to do.”
“What? What is it this time?”
I slung the shovel I had leaned against the workshop door over my shoulder and pointed at the ground with my other hand.
As Renny’s gaze followed my finger to the lush grass, I immediately answered.
“Tunnels.”
“Ah. Tunnels? The ones you made before? But why?”
Renny made a puzzled expression, quickly understanding what I meant since I had told her about it before.
“I’m going to dig tunnels throughout the entire Academy.”
“What?”
Renny looked at me with a face full of obvious surprise upon hearing my words.
Did she not understand what I said?
I looked up at the sky for a moment to organize my thoughts, then continued to explain to her.
“An invisible path is the most terrifying.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m going to make tunnels so we can escape immediately no matter what happens.”
“Can’t we just run away normally?”
“A hidden path and an exposed path have different levels of risk. Think about the wyvern. Do you think a wyvern could follow us underground?”
If enemies surrounded us without any gaps, where would we escape to?
A frontal breakthrough?
Even if we managed to break through the encirclement, we’d be subjected to endless pursuit.
That would only drastically reduce our chances of survival.
To avoid repeating the chase with the wyvern, we needed an invisible escape route.
An escape route that monsters attacking from the air couldn’t touch, and that escape route could only be tunnels.
“I kind of get what you mean. You’re saying you’ll dig tunnels all over the Academy to evacuate Lady Karina in case of emergency, right?”
“Correct.”
There was no more perfect means of survival than an invisible escape route.
This was the fourth rule of survival.
An escape route is crucial.
“Ah… okay. I understand. I get what you mean, but… we don’t have the budget to hire people for this. It’ll be hard to get permission too.”
“I can do it alone. I’ll get the permission myself.”
“Right, you alone… What?”
I met Renny’s suspicious gaze that seemed to say ‘Did I hear that correctly?’ head-on, and thumped my chest.
“Trust me.”
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[My boi legit just built a fuckin wheelchair and scooter dude when tf is he gon start buildin fighter jets and tanks]
Tanks and fighter jets aren’t as simple as children toys. Unless you want just toys in their shape and not the real thing. It costs lots of money just to have the materials necessary. And the ability to drive/pilot them that he doesn’t have either.
Ah yes, the natural progression from scooters to fighter jets x)
I’d say he needs to make a simple firearm before moving on to something as large as fighter planes and jets. It was mentioned in earlier chapters that there’s rudimentary muskets in the world, meaning gunpowder exist that can be further refined/put to better use with the right frame. While he certainly won’t have modern guns he can probably improve the muskets tremendously.