Enlightened Empire

Chapter 471: Easy Rider (1)

Today had been a great day. First, Corco had woken up next to his wife, by himself, with the rising sun. With how busy both of them had been for years now, that much was already a rare enough occurrence. From there, things had only gotten better.

In a genius move, Corco had hidden away from Fadelio the previous evening already, which meant there was no one who could read him his schedule in the morning. In the first place, most of the important work had been finished a while ago. After the end of the war, there had been many issues left to resolve. Now however, things had calmed down again, and all big problems had either been dealt with, or could not be dealt with at all for now.

Thus, he was just being kept busy with irrelevant crap that didn't matter day after day. Surely, now that the kingdom would no longer collapse without his presence, he could be allowed a single day off. Maybe Fadelio had understood as much as well, since he hadn't come over to Maci's quarters to find him first thing in the morning.

Originally, Corco had planned to just stay inside and spend a lazy day with his wife for once, making music, cocktails, and love. However, even better news had still forced him outside in the end, against his own desires. Still, this issue was too important, and not something he could put off.

At last, after months of hard work, the mass-produced bicycles were finished and ready for the final inspection. Once this last test was deemed successful, they would reign in a massive transportation revolution, and change the world forever.

After seemingly endless back and forth, Nabo had finally gotten things right. Egidius' little apprentice had grown to the point where he could barely try to fulfill Corco's wishes, though the necessity for constant adjustment throughout the building process proved that he was still a bit too green for this type of work. After all, the king wasn't asking him to make a back scratcher, he was asking him to invent world-changing items. Though through perseverance and persistence, Corco could finally reap the reward of the talented clock maker's work.

Thus, the king had enjoyed the morning by riding around various models and versions of their life-changing invention, rather than enjoying the company of his wife. Although he had invited Maci to come along with him, the girl hadn't shown any interest for the new invention. While she had shown understanding for the necessity of his work — as she always did — Corco knew that she had been disappointed that their plans had been dashed. Still, this wasn't something he could just push back. The invention of the bicycle was too important to ignore, even for his wife. He planned to make up for his mistake later in the evening.

Thus alone and unloved, the king had appreciated the progress they had made throughout the many iterations of bicycles they had designed — as well as the brilliance of the final product. To heal his injured heart, he had also enjoyed the wind through his hair as he rode circles through the yard. He had tried to ride along the street as well, but the guards had claimed that it would be a bad idea for the king to ride around by himself like that. Maybe, Corco thought, he should try again later. After all, this yard was far too small for a proper test, and he was the king after all. Couldn't his guards just cordon off a street for a bit? In this manner, Corco planned to spend all day getting familiar with his newest toy, as he tried to forget the guilt he felt towards Maci.

Yet when he saw Fadelio watch him from the yard's entrance, he realized that reality had already caught up with him once more, and it wasn't even lunchtime yet. Still, his attendant hadn't come here if it wasn't important, so the work still had to be done. Thus, he drove up to the entrance and braked sharply in front of the attendant. As usual, his boring friend just stood there, and wouldn't even pretend to be scared or upset, not even out of courtesy.

"Morning, buddy." Undeterred by his failed prank, Corco smiled as he sat back down on the bike's saddle, with one foot resting on the pedal and the other on the ground for stability and style points.

"Good morning, Master." Fadelio's response was even drier and stiffer than usual in its delivery, despite Corco's strong pose. "There are important matters to report."

Since the news didn't seem to be of life or death importance — otherwise Fadelio would have told him immediately or at least shown more urgency — Corco decided to indulge in his hobbies for a bit longer. After all, the invention of the bicycle was an important matter for the future of their kingdom as well. It was only right and proper for the kingdom's prime minister to be informed about such an epoch-making invention. For the moment, dragging out his return to work had become the top priority for southern Medala's king.

"Later, check this out first," he thus said, and motioned towards the bicycle underneath him with one hand, the other still left on the handle to maintain his pose. "Look, our newest version bicycle, and the final manufactured version. Well, not exactly. This version was specially designed for me, so it's got a few extras."

As he got back onto the pedals and rode around Fadelio in a small circle, Corco could feel himself grinning like an idiot, but his attendant's attitude remained boringly impassive.

"Very nice," he commented, without even properly looking. He didn't as much as turn his head to follow the king's path.

"Isn't it?" Corco barreled through his attendant's indifference as if it didn't exist. He had worked hard for this kind of levity, and had even risked his marriage. His workaholic attendant's sarcasm wouldn't ruin his mood. Rather, he felt inspired to show off even more.

Once again, he stopped in front of Fadelio, this time to point out the features of Medala's newest invention. "Look, in the end we landed on one hollow metal frame, no separate parts. Those modular ideas were neat, but proved too unstable. The metal's so thin that it's hardly heavier than wood, and it's a lot more sturdy as well. And with mass-production, we even managed to keep the cost in check. It's barely more expensive than wood, but much more functional. Though the wheels are still made out of wood and covered in leather."

As Corco was describing the newest creation of Saniya's innovative craftsman class, Nabo —the one craftsman who had actually created it — had walked across the yard to join the conversation. The skinny, young clock maker with the shaggy beard smiled as he added to the explanation.

"We considered adding metal sheets to the outside, like one might see on a wagon wheel," Nabo said. "But for that, we will need to make more long-term tests on wear and tear, to see if such an increase in cost is necessary. After all, a bicycle is far lighter than an ox cart."

"Of course, we're gonna replace all the wheels with proper pneumatic tires... as soon as I've figured out where to get some rubber," Corco added in the end, more to himself than to anyone else. After all, no one here knew what rubber even was, let alone where to find him a rubber tree.

Corco was quite annoyed that the most important plant for industrialization was absent in this world. Although Atau had scoured the globe for plants based on Corco's descriptions, rubber trees were still nowhere to be found. At least they had cotton, which would serve them well for quite some time during the early stages of industrialization. Still, the constant need to work around their lack of rubber and look for alternative had become quite the hassle.

"Very nice," Fadelio just repeated his earlier comment, and in the same dry tone as well. Clearly, he was just humoring Corco until the king was tired out from his enthusiasm and ready to listen to whatever boring politics stuff the prime minister had brought with him. However, Corco was far from being done gushing about his shiny, new bike.

"Isn't it?" he repeated as well, and grinned even wider as he slapped the bike's metal frame for emphasis. "By the way, the frame was made by the Veteran Arms Company. You know, the one that made us some trouble a while back. They have plenty of capacity to do iron work, and they're almost done with their big military contract for the bayonets, so they had spare capacity we could use. Luckily we decided to keep them around, or we might still be stuck looking for ways to save money on mass production."

"Yes, that is fortunate," Fadelio finally gave a proper reply beyond one or two words. "Not to mention, they have really helped solve the problem of veteran employment for us."

"That's right," Corco admitted, though his enthusiasm was limited. While it was true that business ventures like the Veteran Arms Company had helped make sure that they got most of their veterans from the last war off the streets and into employment again, they had congratulated each other for their decision more than enough already. Thus, Corco just decided to claim all the credit for himself, and annoy Fadelio off the topic in the process. "That truly was a genius move by me, if I am allowed to say so myself. Which I am, because the king can allow others to say whatever he wants, even when it comes to himself."

In response to Corco's brilliant meta joke, Fadelio just stared, which gave the king an excuse to drive another circle around the attendant, before he once again came to a sudden stop in front of his face.

"Anyways, check out those contact breaks," he showed off, as if it hadn't just been a cheap excuse to annoy his attendant some more. "Those were finicky until we got them right, but now they're both cheap and reliable. And as the piece de resistance:"

All this time, he had held back for the grand finale, but now, Corco finally rang the little bell screwed to the handlebars. The light ringing sound made Corco feel nostalgic for a past he had never really lived through. To be honest, they had wasted far too much time to get the sound just right, just how he remembered.

"And what is that?" Fadelio asked in a mildly intrigued voice. Though of course, Corco could only offer disappointment to still such intrigue.

"It's a bike bell," Corco explained as if it was self-evident. "No bike is complete without a bell, of course."

Unfortunately, they hadn't found the time to paint his bike bright-red, or add playing cards to the wheels. Otherwise, it would have been able to go even faster.

"So these 'bike bells' will be on every single one of these?" Fadelio ignored the king's jokey tone and seriously inspected the bell, a critical frown on his face. "That seems like a waste of money and materials."

"No, of course not," the king said as he suppressed a sigh. "They're only on this special version that's been made specifically for me. It's the luxury edition, if you will. It even has some experimental gear shifting, look."

As Corco operated the gear shift on the handle, he stared down and slowly turned the pedals, to make sure the chain properly jumped over into the smaller sprocket one over. After all, the technology was a bit wonky, so the chain still had the habit of jumping out of the gears every once in a while.

Only when he finished the gear shift without any incident did he look back up, proud of his achievement as if he had been the one who had built it. Luckily, the one who had actually built it stood to the side and was pretending like he didn't exist, still nervous in the presence of such important people. Thus, Corco could brag about Nabo's achievements with reckless abandon.

"King Corco, all of this is very impressive, no doubt," Fadelio replied in a voice that proved he wasn't impressed at all. "However, I have serious concerns about the practicality of this invention. You have already spent so much time on it, and yet you are still the only one who can ride it. Can our runners truly learn how to operate this machine?"

"It's not that hard. See?" Once again, Corco used the excuse to drive more circles around his attendant.