Chapter 100
Cyrus received a reply to Orville's letter very quickly. In his reply, the Grand Duke wrote that he hoped to visit the Desinia Territory at the end of summer and exchange experiences on wolf raising with Cyrus.
The letter was sincere and fully expressed His Highness the Duke's wishes.
Cyrus naturally agreed.
As late summer approached and early autumn was about to arrive, Orville arrived at the castle with his wolf cubs and his henchman Robert. Just then, a group of furry creatures went into the forest to hunt. Cyrus left two cubs to play in the small wooden house built by the lake. Rice Cake was sleeping on the soft cushions inside, while Eggy was energetically running out to catch butterflies and insects in the grass.
Chairs were placed next to the wooden house, and on the table was a pot of flower tea and a rose petal cake specially made by Cyrus. The air was filled with a sweet fragrance and the scent of herbs and trees, which undoubtedly made people feel relaxed.
The wolf cub Orville brought had light gray fur from the tips of its ears to its back, and its brush-like tail rested on the Duke's shoes. It was lying next to the cub, staring curiously at Eggy, as if it wanted to join in.
"What's its name?" Cyrus asked.
"Snow." Orville finished a whole rose petal cake and took a sip of herbal tea to moisten his throat. "It's very naughty. It has already torn three pieces of my clothes and five pairs of shoes with its claws. It's only now starting to behave a little."
Perhaps hearing its own name, the wolf cub raised its head and howled twice, one of its front paws tugging at the Grand Duke's drooping robes.
Orville pinched Snow's little ear.
Just then, Eggy suddenly barked towards the direction of the forest, excitedly standing up from the ground on its little paws, its tail wagging happily.
Cyrus smiled and pointed behind Orville: "It turns out that Ice Cream came back first."
Orville turned his head.
A White Wolf ran towards the castle in the gentle late summer sunlight. Sunlight filtered through the treetops, casting dappled patterns that shimmered among the grass. The patterns of light and shadow were then trampled and began to flow silently. The light and shadow climbed onto the White Wolf's pure white fur, before quietly disappearing again with the breeze.
Orville looked at the Ice Cream with a barely perceptible look of amazement. Snow couldn't help but get up and run a few steps forward, his tail wagging gently. "Aww."
Ice Cream stopped running towards Eggy and looked at Snow with her icy blue eyes.
Snow couldn't help but let out two more howls.
Orville watched as Snow slowly approached the White Wolf, finally circling around White Wolf before speaking softly, "Do you know that the Bovell Kingdom worships the White Wolf King of the Snow Mountains? The flag of the Bovell Kingdom features a wolf with snow-white fur."
Cyrus nodded in confusion and hummed in agreement, "I know."
"You mentioned in your previous letter that Snow is a descendant of a White Wolf King from the Bovell Kingdom."
Although the letter didn't say much, Cyrus could tell from the Grand Duke's few words that he had secretly reached some kind of cooperation or deal with the King of the Bovell Kingdom, otherwise how could he have obtained a precious wolf cub?
Orville turned to look at Cyrus, his light gray eyes gleaming in the sunlight. "Never before has a wolf with fur as pure as ice and snow appeared in the Bovell Kingdom or even in the snowy mountains of the far north."
[Honestly, I've been using this app to follow my favorite books lately. It has multiple reading sources, various voice options, and works on both Android Apple.]
"It has an irresistible charm for the Bovell Kingdom, do you understand?"
Cyrus understood. "The Bovell Kingdom worships the White Wolf. Is the Grand Duke worried that the Bovell Kingdom might want to get the Ice Cream?"
Orville remained noncommittal; faith could inspire anything, Bovell Kingdom was known for its ferocity and barbarity, so it was not surprising that they would do anything to obtain the White Wolf.
Cyrus pondered for a moment, "I understand what the Grand Duke means, but there's no need to worry."
Orville: "It's good that you understand in your heart."
"King Gena Kozmo of the Bovell Kingdom is quite ambitious. He wants more than just to dominate the Far North. The existence of the White Wolf is a way for him to unite the faith... Perhaps you will meet him at the winter gathering."
Gena Kozmo, a supporting male character in the original book.
Cyrus was somewhat surprised. "Would His Majesty the King really travel to the Saint Airo Empire in person?"
Orville nodded.
He remembered that in the original book, the female lead and the male supporting character didn't meet for the first time until after the pandemic had completely disappeared... He wondered if they would meet each other in the empire beforehand.
One by one, the fluffy creatures returned from the forest. It was clear that Snow really liked the Ice Cream, as he kept circling around the White Wolf, which made Eggy jump at it several times to bite it, but Snow easily dodged them.
Orville did not stay in the castle for long, and three days later he set off to leave the Desinia Territory.
On the way, Robert said, "Your Highness, His Majesty the King of the Bovell Kingdom is a fierce lone wolf. The cruelty of the Far North has shaped his character. If this king were to learn that a White Wolf King has appeared in the Desinia Territory... he might very well come looking for him himself..."
Orville stroked the drowsy Snow and said slowly, "Don't overthink it, perhaps..."
He recalled the conversations he had with Cyrus during his stay at the castle.
Robert perked up his ears. Perhaps something?
The Grand Duke suddenly curled the corners of his lips into a smile, and then said nothing more.
Even the fiercest lone wolf will encounter a skilled hunter who knows how to set traps, even if the hunter's purpose in setting the traps is not because of him.
Shortly after Orville left, Segalot sent Cyrus a letter with a list of famous alchemists and physicians from the Western Continent, outlining their factions and powers.
This list was of great importance to Cyrus, who immediately wrote a letter to His Holiness the Pope to express his gratitude.
Although all alchemists belong to the Alchemy Association, they are divided into different factions due to their different research directions. Some factions are even hostile to each other. Of course, most alchemists work alone or seek out a wealthy nobleman to support their research, and they contribute their research results to the nobleman in some way.
Cyrus became famous in the Alchemy Association for developing herbal potions and ointments. As a noble lord, she attracted many alchemists who came to join her.
These people shared a similar research focus with Cyrus, leaning towards the study of the Philosopher's Stone —a sacred elixir of immortality that could cure all diseases and calamities—in alchemy.
Other schools of thought largely focused on "turning lead into gold," studying all things sacred, such as stones containing powerful energy... They researched alchemy to transform copper and iron into gold through certain methods, and even attributed the ability to inspire the human mind to this transformation.
Or they might focus on alchemical research with an emphasis on mathematics and physics, but compared to "chemistry-oriented" experiments, physics-oriented experiments are extremely rare.
Sometimes, alchemists and healers are really hard to distinguish; an alchemist may also be a healer, but a healer can hardly become an alchemist.
Therefore, although this exchange was named after alchemists and physicians, the physicians were actually at the very bottom of the social hierarchy.
Cyrus's alchemy research in the medical field actually deviated more from medicine, which led to a polarized reputation for him within the Alchemy Association.
Cyrus didn't care about these things. Apart from needing an alchemist's badge at the beginning, he hadn't paid any attention to the Alchemy Association. Recently, he heard that the Alchemy Association was beginning to form a force led by Chipman Norton.
Chipman Norton's main research focus was also on creating the Philosopher's Stone, a panacea.
Cyrus remembered that the other party was from the Ed Merchant Guild, and that, following Archibald's instructions, he had explored the formulas for herbal medicines and ointments, and invented a plaster for treating hemorrhoids.
Cyrus believed that Chipman Norton was indeed very capable and talented. She wondered what kind of person he was and hoped to meet him in the Saint Airo Empire.
Before late autumn arrived, Cyrus sold the technology for making cement concrete pavements to the Achiyoli Territory and the Anas Kingdom.
Cement-soil pavement includes several classifications, including plain concrete pavement, reinforced concrete pavement, fiber-reinforced soil pavement, block soil pavement, etc.
Cyrus selected several road surface types suitable for existing technologies, including plain concrete, which is a type of ordinary concrete road surface that is cast on-site, has low technical requirements, and can be constructed quickly.
-- Cement concrete pavement is more widely applicable than asphalt pavement.
Asphalt concrete pavement can be used in some critical sites, while cement concrete pavement is used for various traffic levels, such as roads between cities and major urban thoroughfares.
Maintaining and keeping roads clean also helps people develop good hygiene habits.
Long before, Cyrus had the Artisans' Guild study the paving steps in detail, the most important of which was cutting joints in concrete pavement. They even tested it on a specific road, but if the interval between cutting joints was too long or too long, it would cause problems with the pavement, such as cracks or rough edges.
A lot of time was wasted in the process.
Fortunately, Conrad and his eldest son Darren explored this area in depth and solved many problems.
To this end, Cyrus specifically asked Renault to develop a small concrete mixer equipped with iron wheels and rollers for compacting the road surface. Due to technological limitations, many aspects of the machine were improved and innovated. The transition from electric to manual was a process of reduction. On this basis, more attention should be paid to improving work efficiency and adapting the machine to modern tools.
Although there was no deliberate promotion, after cement roads began to be laid in the Achiyoli Territory and the Anas Kingdom, the stability, durability, anti-slip properties, and cleanliness of cement roads gradually became apparent, unintentionally spreading the reputation of Cyrus even further.