Early morning.
"Chirp, chirp..."
A few birds landed on the windowsill, preening their feathers. Winter had passed, and the migratory birds had returned. The Forbidden Mountains now had more and more animals, and the birds were back as well.
"Ngh..."
An alluring moan came from the room, startling the small birds on the sill into flying away. An intermittent 'slap, slap' sound could be heard—someone was "applauding for love."
"Master, I can't take it anymore... Ah..." The cat-eared girl's bashful plea for mercy rang out, immediately followed by a long, shy moan.
"Huff... huff..." Lucas lay there, breathing heavily. Getting up to indecent things so early in the morning. He had gotten back too late last night, just washing up and going straight to sleep. He had to make up for it this morning.
"Pff... pff..."
"Hooo..." Lucas squinted, letting the blanket rise and fall. The cat-eared girl couldn't handle his stamina, so she could only satisfy him in another way.
Half an hour later, Mina emerged from the blankets, her face flushed. She threw on a robe, covered her mouth, and dashed into the washroom.
Ten-some minutes later, the cat-eared girl, blushing, burrowed back into the blankets and snuggled into Lucas's arms. She whispered, "Master, should we call Nicole over?"
Smack!
Lucas laughingly slapped her pert bottom and rolled his eyes. "It's the crack of dawn!"
"Heehee... crack of dawn, but didn't Master just... does that mean we just can't in the morning? Then what about tonight...?" Mina was too embarrassed to finish.
"Ahem..." Lucas coughed awkwardly.
"Master, after last night's auction, there will probably be a lot of people showing up at the door today, right?" Mina cleverly changed the subject, nuzzling her cheek against his chest.
"Don't worry about them. If that Pichu fellow comes with his invitation, however, we can see him," Lucas said with a faint smile. Last night's auction had earned him over 13,000 gold coins. He hadn't expected the final ten treasure maps to fetch such a good price, either. People really were enthusiastic about treasure maps; the cheapest one sold for two hundred gold coins.
"Master, what about those three groups? Should we send people to capture them? I just feel like they're going to stir up trouble," Mina said in a muffled voice, her cat ears twitching, brushing against Lucas's chin.
"They're still useful for now. Let them be." Lucas's eyes glittered. "Just keep a close watch on them. Don't let them interfere with the land development and construction."
"Okay," Mina nodded, tracing little circles on his chest with her finger. She had an extremely bad feeling about those three groups. If the Master hadn't told her to stand down, she would have thrown them in the "little black room" long ago.
Creak...
The door was pushed open. Nicole walked in, her pretty nose twitching. Her face flushed red; she knew exactly what that smell was.
"Nicole's here." Lucas stretched, sitting up and revealing the upper half of his body.
"Master, aren't you going to rest a little longer?" Nicole blushed. She looked at Lucas's body; having seen it so many times, she was somewhat immune to it now, not like before when she was too shy to even look.
"No need. I didn't use much energy this morning," Lucas said meaningfully, a mischievous smirk playing on his lips.
"Master~~" Mina whined, her cheeks crimson. She shot an embarrassed glance at Nicole, her look clearly saying, When are you going to come and help?
The cat-eared girl's stare made Nicole turn her head away, though she stole a glance at Lucas.
"Alright, I'll stop," Lucas chuckled, waving his hand.
Thump, thump, thump...
Suddenly, the sound of rapid footsteps came from outside, and Helen's tall figure burst in. She froze upon seeing Lucas's body, her cheeks and neck visibly flushing beet red.
"M-My Lord! Th-this is an urgent message!" Helen stammered, her face crimson. She placed a letter by the bed, tugged on her rabbit ears, and fled in embarrassment.
The rabbit-eared girl had never imagined she would burst in to see the Lord's body, still unclothed, and Mina's pale white shoulders. As someone who had read many books, Helen knew exactly what they had been doing.
"Heehee..." Mina giggled, covering her mouth. The rabbit-eared girl's expression just now had been hilarious.
"Why was Helen in such a hurry? That's not like her," Nicole frowned.
"Let's see." Lucas gave a wry smile, reaching over to grab the envelope. His fingers deftly broke the seal, and he pulled out the letter to read it.
"Eh?" Nicole was astonished, staring blankly at the words on the paper:
Steam engine is complete.
"Master, what does that mean? 'Steam engine'?" Mina tilted her head, leaning against Lucas's shoulder.
"Hooo... Hahaha!" Lucas took a deep breath and then let out a hearty laugh. He suddenly grabbed Nicole and, to her utter shock, kissed her right on the mouth.
"..." Nicole stared with her eyes, looking at her smiling Master. How long had it been since she'd seen him laugh so happily? He was so excited he'd just kissed her.
"Master, what is it? What made you so happy?" Mina's curiosity was piqued, her cat tail rubbing against Lucas's thigh.
"You'll find out soon enough. It's hard to explain right now," Lucas said, a smile on his lips.
How could he not be happy? The steam engine! One of the very symbols of the Industrial Revolution's beginning! He had never imagined they would build it so quickly. He had previously assumed it would take until the end of the year.
"Then should we go see it now?" Mina scrambled out of bed, grabbing her clothes and pulling them on, seeming even more anxious than Lucas.
"No need to rush. It's not going anywhere," Lucas said as he got up, allowing Nicole to help him get dressed.
He was also eager to see this other-world version of the steam engine. He wondered if they had managed to build it according to the blueprints. Had they overcome those few technical hurdles?
The steam engine was a thing he had always wanted. Now that it was suddenly complete, it felt almost unreal. He knew, after all, that this was an era with zero industry. Even with his guidance and the materials he provided, they were still starting from scratch.
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