What Was I Here to Do in the First Place?

"What are we here for?"

"Uh... Frederick made Maria sad, so we're here to teach him a lesson."

"Did we teach him a lesson?"

"..."

The air in the carriage suddenly fell silent.

Dalberg quietly looked out the window and saw the cargo ships gathered in the middle of the Main River, carefully making their way upstream against the current.

"What do you think of Weissen?" he asked.

Philip replied in a deep voice, "He is very formidable."

"At first, I thought there was someone behind him actually controlling everything, but the people assisting me at the camp found that he always handles various problems himself, and he handles them almost perfectly."

"He seemed to lose 500 Florins just now, but the cost of a machine like that is estimated to be no less than 50 Florins. With the protection of the Patent Law, he'll make it back immediately and even make more. This decisiveness surpasses many people."

Dalberg let out a soft "Hmm" and continued to look out the window.

"The year after next," he suddenly said, "in the late autumn of 1026, to celebrate my 80th birthday, organize a large-scale hunting event."

"Two years is enough time to see clearly."

Philip immediately understood the Grand Duke of Mainz's meaning.

Everyone was licking their wounds now. A large-scale hunt with a quasi-military nature was the most intuitive way to announce the recovery of their strength.

If the Wessen Territory could show enough strength at that time, the Duchy of Mainz would proactively extend an olive branch.

"William is also old," Dalberg said in a low voice. "He's old, so he's anxious."

"Rudolf is a good boy. Although he grew up in the deep palace and is a bit soft-natured, at least he doesn't make us dislike him."

"If you want him to gain some experience and establish some authority, that's fine, but there's no need to drag us into it."

"Now look, the lowlands are all lost, and Rudolf is so scared... Slimes are braver than him."

"Philip, you will need to travel frequently next year."

"At this time, there's no need to do much, just maintain the friendship."

"Bring the young people with you, let them also travel and see more."

Philip immediately accepted the order.

Dalberg sighed and said, "Before William dies, if Rudolf, this good-for-nothing, doesn't change, the Rhine Alliance will exist in name only once William is dead, and we Germans will not have our own independent country."

Philip remained silent after hearing this. As a high-ranking court official, he deeply understood the Grand Duke's thoughts. The Grand Duke of Mainz had dedicated his life to establishing a nation for the Germans themselves.

However, in this era, due to the feudal system, people were more divided by their local and regional ties. Nationality was merely a term outsiders used to refer to people in a certain area who spoke the same or similar language and had similar customs. They rarely referred to themselves as such internally.

There was only a hint of nationalism budding in Dalberg's thoughts, and he himself didn't know how to make the scattered Germans reach some kind of consensus.

"Huh?" Dalberg suddenly noticed something. "This carriage of yours isn't bumpy at all, and it's quite fast."

Philip immediately replied, "This was originally Frederick's carriage. He knew that Sophia's health wasn't good and she couldn't tolerate the bumpy carriage, so she rarely went out. He then gave it to us."

Dalberg pondered and said, "How did he make the carriage so comfortable?"

As the sun set, Frederick arrived at the castle in Lohr Town and witnessed an incredibly rare sight.

Baron Ertal stood beside the carriage with a helpless expression. A thick carpet was laid under the carriage, and the Grand Duke of Mainz was squatting under the carriage, studying the bearings on the axle.

"Come here!" Dalberg waved at Frederick from under the carriage. "Tell me, what is this thing on the axle?"

Frederick naturally didn't crawl under the carriage with him. Instead, he opened the trunk at the back and took out a wooden box. Inside the box were two spare bearings wrapped in oiled cloth.

Dalberg crawled out from under the carriage, glared fiercely at Philip, and then picked up the greasy bearing to examine it.

Philip looked innocent. He only rode in the carriage; he didn't handle repairs. How could he know if there were spare parts in the carriage?

"This is a bearing," Frederick said from the side. "The beads inside are like wheels, which can reduce friction and make it easier for the horses."

Dalberg held the inner ring of the bearing in one hand and spun the outer ring with the other, playing with it.

"A very clever design," the Grand Duke of Mainz exclaimed. "The principle is very simple, but why didn't anyone think of it before?"

Frederick replied, "There were some before, but due to processing problems, they could only make wooden beads, which couldn't be used on carriages. They would be crushed. They could only be installed on door hinges to make opening and closing doors easier, so they weren't widely used."

Dalberg nodded, playing with the bearing in his hand. He walked to the side of the carriage and pointed at the black rubber on the wheel, asking, "What is this black rubber?"

Frederick again took out a large, flat wooden box from a compartment under the carriage. He opened the oiled cloth package inside; these were two solid tires made of black Slime Gel.

"These are the outer tires of the wheels," he said. "This material is elastic and wear-resistant, like putting shoes on the wheels."

"However, the size of the wheels is different, and the tires for regular carriages need to be specially ordered, which is very inconvenient."

"Now the carriages in the Wessen Territory are being modified to standardize the axles and wheels, so it will be convenient to replace parts in the future."

Then he pointed to the place where the axle and the carriage body were connected and said, "The boards sandwiched in this area are also made of this rubber, so sitting in the carriage doesn't feel bumpy."

Dalberg looked at the carriage again and said, "Get me one too."

Frederick thought for a moment and said, "I only sell the carriage frame. I don't have the capital to make the decorations."

A regular four-wheeled carriage costs only 10 Florins, but the carriages of these great nobles are extremely luxurious, with no upper limit on the price. It is said that the King's carriage cost 2000 Florins, making it the top luxury car among carriages.

Dalberg also realized this and said, "No problem, but I have one request: reduce the bumps as much as possible. We old folks can't stand that kind of suffering."

"Alright," Frederick agreed. "But it will have to wait until next year. Our master carriage builder is currently busy constructing the new factory."

Just as Dalberg agreed, laughter drifted over. Maria, hearing Frederick had arrived, had been waiting in the toy room for a long time without seeing him, so she came out to look for him.

"You're here!" Maria said with a smile. "Come and play checkers with me!"

With that, the little girl tugged on Frederick's sleeve and headed into the castle.

Frederick paid no mind to the two men whose faces were frighteningly dark and followed Maria into the castle, stopping halfway to his assigned room to change clothes.

He had been running around the camp all day and had worked up quite a sweat.

Tarot had already returned ahead of him. She dipped a cotton towel in warm water and helped him wipe off the sweat on his body and clean his face, then helped him put on clean clothes.

Dalberg had arrived in the toy room earlier, his face full of kind smiles, listening to Maria introduce the various toys Frederick had given her, such as Chinese Checkers, the Wooden Dragonfly, and Parcheesi.

Maria pouted and handed Dalberg a Rubik's Cube made of mammoth ivory and six-colored gems, saying glumly, "Godfather, I can't put this cube back together."

Dalberg took the Rubik's Cube and looked at it, asked how it worked, and then attempted to solve the scrambled cube.

When Frederick appeared, the Grand Duke of Mainz glared at him and said fiercely, "Did you give Maria a broken toy to fool her?!"

Frederick's mouth twitched. He reached for the Rubik's Cube and, while solving it, said, "How could I dare? Many of these toys were originally meant for your great-grandson, but I didn't expect you to be at the hot springs, so I gave them all to Maria."

This Rubik's Cube was meticulously handcrafted by the skilled artisans under Aumert who originally made jewelry. Coupled with the Weissen Family's stock of mammoth ivory and the inexpensive gems on the six sides, it could already be sold as a luxury item in aristocratic circles. Trading for a few ordinary carriages was not a problem.

As he spoke, he solved the Rubik's Cube. After showing it to Maria and Dalberg, he suddenly turned his back and scrambled it again.

Dalberg glared fiercely at Frederick, then said softly to Maria, "Would you give me this toy?"

Maria thought for a moment, then pointed at the dagger on his belt and said, "Okay, but you have to trade this for it."

The scabbard of this dagger was made of gold, and instead of gems, it was inlaid with high-quality Magic Crystals. The dagger itself was also a magic weapon, and selling it for dozens of Florin Gold Coins was not a problem.

Dalberg said softly and gently, "Oh dear, this dagger is too dangerous. Can we trade for something else?"

Maria began to act spoiled.

Maria got the dagger.

Maria gave the dagger to Frederick.

Frederick's reputation with Dalberg became "No psychological pressure to beat him."