When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

After a moment of silence, Horn stepped back and turned his gaze to the miniature model of the Crystal Palace commercial street beside him.

Even though the exposition was a spontaneous construction, this Crystal Palace commercial street was built with the emergence of the ether clock.

Originally, this was only planned as an ordinary commercial pedestrian street with just a few dozen shops.

The only advantage was that it was backed by a small garden, and behind the garden was the Mechanical Palace.

Later, when the ether clock appeared, allowing the regulation of the spring mechanisms throughout ry Court Barracks, the half-built commercial street began to be renovated again.

The focus of its reconstruction was to quickly create enough eye-catching and attention-grabbing wonders.

Horn immediately set his sights on two things most abundantly produced by the Holy Alliance and with currently low production in the Empire.

Transparent flat glass and steel.

Although it was a copy, the spectacle of the 19th century first World’s Fair "Crystal Palace" flashed through Horn’s mind.

This kind of spectacle was relative; buildings like the glass curtain walls of skyscrapers in later generations are based on similar principles as the Crystal Palace.

But for the Imperial people who had only seen earthen huts and tile houses, a roof made entirely of glass was truly magical.

The glass roof can let the sunlight in and still keep out the rain!

Many wealthy citizens even bought two tickets, visiting once on a sunny day and once on a rainy day just to experience the feeling.

More importantly, it was affordable!

Flat transparent glass was a bit pricey, but the most important steel production site of the Holy Alliance was within ry Court Barracks.

Even though the technical requirement wasn’t high, it could be completed quickly in nine months and still give a great sense of wonder.

Of course, if Falan or Leia tried to replicate this spectacle by what you see is what you get— it couldn’t be done quickly.

The reasons were simple; first, they didn’t have glass that was as strong and transparent, and second, Horn had a small ingenious idea.

Those visible steel frameworks of the glass domes seen from the ground were mostly ordinary thick steel frames.

As for the very top, it was mithril steel alloy frames, which appeared no different other than being slightly lighter in color.

Without the support of the Holy Alliance’s structural and material mechanics, Falan and Leia must suffer glass falling from the sky before learning the lesson.

If they could truly master the whole set, Horn would admire them; heroes of the world are like crucian carp crossing the river, given as given.

But whether they could set aside their pride to learn from scratch and learn in a short time, remained a question for Horn.

Looking downstairs again, many people dressed in luxurious clothing were asking questions to tour guides or hall docents.

Most travelers asked if the glass dome was safe, and once the docents explained, they understood.

Some travelers were curious about the price of such a glass dome.

The emerging nobles of Falan loved to embrace such indie contemporary styles to distinguish themselves from common folk.

As for the lords of Leia and Norn, especially those in the northern regions, they were salivating excessively.

They desperately needed such sunrooms as there was too little sunlight and it was too cold in the north.

Horn savored the taste of pepper in his mouth and picked up the Crystal Palace commercial plan beside him.

This plan served as a reference for the new four-year plan, or rather, the construction plan for the north bank of ry Court Barracks.

According to this plan, the south bank would serve as an administrative and residential area, while the north bank would be divided into research and commercial zones and more.

The industrial area, however, was located on the outskirts of the city, relying on spring locomotive shuttles.

The focus of this plan was on the north bank, representing the opinions of a large number of public delegates.

Technically speaking, it was a grassroots transformation plan for ry Court Barracks.

And the point of transformation was to turn ry Court Barracks into a city that never stops ticking.

Relying on the energy supplied by the ether clock, within the scope of ry Court Barracks, all large-scale spring mechanisms could be made incredibly small.

As the number of difference engines increased, energy supply would continuously improve.

Despite conceding the lunar mercury technology at Black Snake Bay, the Holy Alliance constructed a large number of lunar mercury workshops in ry Court Barracks.

But it would still take some time to use it on a large scale, especially since although lunar mercury damper fluid could be rotated and used,

the amount required was extremely vast, bearable when used for spring locomotives and public facilities (tap water stations, underground water systems, military facilities).

Civilian? Private? Don’t even think about it!

As for the relay tower that Horn had high hopes for, it remained futuristic warriors long invested with hopes.

After all, the relay tower essentially converts the ether field into a linear path.

It’s not that it cannot transmit, but under current material conditions, it could at most relay to the line between Joan of Arc Castle and Hot Spring Castle.

Going beyond that would be too excessive.

Even cities on the periphery like Joan of Arc Castle and Hot Spring Castle only receive about 20 to 30 percent of full ether transmission, and beyond that who knows how much would remain.

It’s foreseeable that a large number of satellite towns will emerge around ry Court Barracks in the distant future.

Those who do not understand still marvel at the wonder of clockwork technology, while those who understand have already applied to the Holy Alliance Government to purchase land and recruit engineering teams.

Touching the coarse paper, Horn couldn’t tell if the emotion on his face was a smile or helplessness.

In other places, using spring mechanics required laboriously obtaining lunar mercury damper fluid, while in the Holy Alliance, only a clock tuner was needed.

And these clock tuners could be made to be incredibly small.

The only drawback was needing mana as the initial driving force.

But on the side of ry Court Barracks, most people who could afford personal spring mechanisms had already widely adopted mana or so-called holy power.

Those public spring machines, in turn, were operated by specifically re-trained veterans.

Thus, as long as the ether clock’s word continued, the entire ry Court Barracks would become a city of perpetually moving springs and gears.

One simply needed to apply to purchase an interface for an ether frequency and update it once every quarter by paying.

Then by purchasing a clock tuner, they could almost unlimitedly obtain such abundant resources.

Automatic machine tools, spring elevators, and even spring vehicles could be on the agenda.

Then without much thought, a large number of industries and residents would naturally migrate toward ry Court Barracks in the future.

Drawing the lifeblood from the entire Holy Alliance with a single city was not Horn’s intention.

Yet the natural endowment of ry Court Barracks was simply too dazzling, and the effect of this remotely infinite energy transmission on boosting productivity was self-evident.

Capital would not flow to the freest country, but the one where it could appreciate the most.

And ry Court Barracks not only would become the most prosperous city in the Holy Alliance but also the most prosperous city north of the Nao’an River.

The Salvation Army, which traversed the arduous road of blood and sweat back then, probably never imagined that such a temporary foothold would achieve this grandeur.

Unfortunately, as of now, beyond mountain copper, Horn, and the others have not found suitable ways to conduct and store ether.

This ether seemed tied to mountain copper,

like coal’s binding with the steam engine.

Until some new materials and power systems appear in the future, a generational replacement can be completed.

For instance, how internal combustion engines and electric motors on Earth replaced steam engines.

Looking at the plan in his hand, even though he had mentally prepared himself, Horn still felt like it was a dream.

This ether-spring system was too absurd, too far ahead of its time.

This technology should have emerged only after the Holy Alliance had developed industrially for a hundred years.

With the star-forged gears, as long it’s within the ether clock’s range, even if the Mechanical Palace stood up in the future, it would not be impossible.

But Horn always felt something was wrong; his intuition had always been accurate, and after the seed of the Holy Tree entered his body, it was even more precise.

What exactly went wrong?

As Horn stared blankly at the miniature model of the Crystal Palace commercial street, a sudden commotion came from outside the window.

"Quick, get out of the way!"

"Get out of the way! The mechanical horse has gone mad!"