Farming in the Magical World

So, this thing is called a "dust mask"?

Melinda looked at the blueprints in her hand, considered the options in her mind for a moment, and then tentatively asked, "Can we use linen? How much do we need?"

"Don't you have gauze? Like the kind of gauze used for the lady's dress!" Lanny was a little confused. He had clearly said that he wanted a breathable and very dense material, so why was he using the most ordinary linen?

"Young Master..." Melinda hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.

"Don't worry, I'm not an unreasonable person. Is the gauze too expensive?" Seeing the other person's hesitant manner, Lanny could only patiently nod and smile to encourage him.

Looking at Lanny's arrogant attitude, as if he were the most reasonable person in the world, Melissa thought to herself, "You weren't exactly reasonable six months ago; you've only become reasonable in the last few months."

However, seeing that Lenny seemed genuinely confused, she reluctantly began to explain the reason.

"The castle hasn't had a mistress for many years. The kind of lace you mentioned is too expensive and not suitable for this, so... so..."

I see. It's because he's poor, and since there's no demand from the mistress, August probably wouldn't have bothered buying this kind of thing in the past.

However, seeing that Melinda seemed to have misunderstood him, Lanny waved his hands repeatedly, "No, no, no, I didn't mean the decorations on Madam's dress, I meant the fabric, the fabric that looks very breathable, the main fabric of the dress!"

"Oh, you mean Bauhinia cotton!" Hearing that it wasn't lace fabric, Melinda wasn't relieved and still stammered, "But..."

It's awkward that the castle doesn't even have this!

Bauhinia cotton, also known as Bauhinia long cotton, is a specialty of the Bauhinia Kingdom. It is thinner, softer, and more durable than ordinary cotton, and also much more expensive. Although it still cannot compare to lace, it is generally used by nobles for formal wear, and ordinary people cannot afford it.

Unfortunately, the Wells family has been struggling financially in recent years, and the Laney father and son haven't had new clothes made for many years. Naturally, the castle doesn't have any of these expensive cotton fabrics in stock.

After listening to Melinda's explanation, Lanny rubbed his forehead in distress and asked helplessly, "Then you must have regular cotton cloth, the kind used to cover the dining table, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes..." Melinda nodded hurriedly, as if she had been granted a pardon.

She was worried that the young master might be angry and blame her, even though it wasn't her fault. But since she was the one who usually took charge of mending the castle, she was concerned.

"Alright, let's use regular cotton cloth, and no need for three layers, just two layers will do!" Seeing Melissa nod, Lanny had no choice but to give up his initial idea.

Since the ventilation was poor, he could only apologize to Iron Hammer and his apprentice in his heart, letting them suffer a little.

It's not that I don't care about your health, it's just that we're short of materials. The castle is poor, and there's nothing I can do about it.

Lanny waved for Melinda to go about her business and picked up the blueprints in front of him again.

He planned to finish the structural diagrams that he hadn't completed yet, figuring out how to make the movable wheels work under the existing conditions.

Strictly speaking, what he made is called a one-way wheel. Bicycle pedals use one-way wheels, which transmit power when you pedal forward and disconnect power when you pedal backward. This prevents your ankles from being injured by the pedals spinning rapidly downhill.

However, he couldn't make the one-way wheels for bicycles that rely on precision machining. It wasn't for any other reason than that the machining precision wasn't high enough. These wheels are made by using precision machining to create two sets of embedded, inclined gears.

He vaguely remembered a simple one-way wheel design with a spring, but the ridiculous thing was that he couldn't make the spring himself.

After thinking for a long time, he felt that he could try using a reed to make a limiter. Springs were difficult to make, but reeds were simple and seemed to be able to be made with difficulty.

Not enough elasticity? No problem, as long as it's elastic enough. Insufficient rigidity? No problem, just thicken it.

Everything is based on the premise of achieving functionality, so being bulky, ugly, and crude is not unacceptable!

I've been busy for a long time without much result, mainly because I didn't have any clear ideas. If I had ideas, it would have been much faster.

When he finished processing his thoughts and looked up again, it was already late, and Cody still hadn't come to find him.

Has the preparation work not been completed yet?

Lanny turned his neck, thinking this as his neck bones cracked.

He had originally planned to try out the plan today, but looking at the current sky, it was clearly impossible. He didn't know what had happened at the workshop.

I was thinking of sending someone to urge him, but then I thought better of it. Since Cody didn't come to report, something must have happened, otherwise Cody wouldn't be so unreliable.

Pushing aside the messy design drawings piled up in front of him, he closed his eyes and cleared his mind. After a busy afternoon, he felt like his brain couldn't function anymore!

After a long while, he finally found the unfinished manuscript of "The Sword of the Warrior" and placed it on the table.

After working on blueprints for so long, I'm writing a novel to clear my head and relax.

"Knock knock knock..." Suddenly, a knocking sound came from the door.

Is it Cody who's here? Why did you have to come at the perfect time? Just when I was about to take a break, you showed up. You really know how to pick your timing.

To his surprise, when he said "Please come in," it wasn't Cody who entered, but Tim.

Tim, holding something in his hand, handed it over as soon as he came in. "Here, this is the castle defense plan. Take a look!" Then he slumped into a chair, looking exhausted.

"Did you make this?" Lanny asked, somewhat surprised, as he picked up the object in front of him.

He hadn't expected Tim, as a knight, to think of such a thing; he just didn't know how good it was.

This is indeed a castle defense plan, including setting up guard posts at the back and front gates, as well as night patrols. Overall, it is quite good.

After glancing through it, Lanny put down the plan in his hand and looked at Tim with gratitude and satisfaction.

As a knight, Tim really did a good job. He hadn't even thought about starting to pay attention to defense, yet he had already begun to make arrangements.

“Since the Earl’s hostility towards us is so obvious, even to the point of driving the Grummans to attack the castle, I think it’s necessary to take precautions.” Tim didn’t mind Lanny’s question, and instead brought up the matter of Earl Enno, his tone full of worry.

Although the kingdom's laws are inclined to protect the stability of the noble circles, Earl Enno, as a higher-ranking noble, has too much of an advantage over Baron Lanny, who is of lower rank. It is unlikely that he would resort to any underhanded means, but we still have to be on guard.

He had traveled the entire continent with August and was quite knowledgeable, so he could certainly come up with a defense plan.

However, in Lanny's opinion, this plan could only be considered mediocre. After all, Tim's travels across the continent were still somewhat lacking and thin compared to the knowledge he had accumulated over thousands of years.

First of all, the guard duty is arranged on a daily basis. Other nobles might not see this as a problem, since everyone does it this way. But Lanny sees this as a big problem, as it clearly doesn't take into account the issue of human fatigue.

Secondly, there's the issue of patrol arrangements. The patrol route includes the castle gate and the backyard workshop, which is fine in itself. However, if we add the requirement to pass through the castle to enter the backyard, then it becomes a big problem.

If patrols were conducted according to this patrol schedule, wouldn't that disrupt life within the castle every day? That would be incredibly inconvenient for the women living in the castle.

While reviewing this plan, Lanny had already started thinking about security issues.

He plans to adjust the guard duty time to 2 hours and patrol around the castle to keep dangers away from the castle.

Since the castle isn't very big, clearing out the surrounding trees and paving the roads will basically be enough.

In addition, he felt that it was necessary to establish surveillance of the entire territory, deploying controls in several directions, otherwise they wouldn't even know if a large force attacked their door.

Previously, the defense and arrangements of the surrounding area mainly relied on the exchange of information among nobles, forming a piecemeal defense network.

For example, Baron Brant, who lived closer to the Grumman Mountains, would immediately send someone to notify the Wells family of Caster Ridge if his territory was attacked, and vice versa.

However, the current situation clearly means that this mechanism can no longer be relied upon. Enemies may not only appear outside the borders, but may even appear inside the kingdom. Therefore, Lanny must establish his own defense mechanism in Caster Ridge.

On the one hand, they had to guard against the Grummans coming down from the mountains to plunder, and on the other hand, they had to guard against the count's tricks.

As he was about to speak, Lenny hesitated. He was reluctant to dampen Tim's enthusiasm, but he also felt that the plan needed improvement.

"Just tell me, is there a problem?" Tim waved his hand. "I've never done this kind of work before, I don't have much experience, so it's normal to make some mistakes!"

Seeing Lanny's expression, Tim immediately realized that perhaps there was something wrong with his plan. He was well aware of his own abilities; he had never done security work before, and he made no attempt to hide this fact. He had also anticipated that the plan might have problems.

"Then I'll be frank!"

Seeing that Tim had thought things through so clearly, Lanny stopped being polite and began to explain his ideas, pointing to the plan.

"Overall, this plan is quite good. It includes guard duty and patrols, and the arrangements are quite detailed." Out of consideration for Tim's feelings as his uncle, Lanny gave his approval first.

"However, let's broaden our perspective a bit further..."

Just when Tim thought he had done a really good job, he suddenly took a dramatic turn, starting to point out the shortcomings of the plan and adding some of his own ideas.

Lanny's idea was to set up small outposts at the major entrances and exits of Caster Ridge, with two people per post. Since there weren't many exits, one to three squads could take turns, so it wouldn't have much of an impact.

Secondly, the castle's guard posts need to be improved. The changing of the guard should be changed to 2 hours instead of 1 day, which would prevent slackness due to fatigue to the greatest extent.

The patrol routes also need to be changed; patrols must never pass through the castle hall.

This is not only unsafe, but a security risk, and it is also very inconvenient for the people living in the castle.

The patrol route needs to be changed to circle the castle. We will arrange for people to tidy up the area around the castle and make a road, which will serve as both a barrier and make it difficult for people to hide. It's a win-win situation.

He even wished he could build a wall around the castle, with barbed wire. He'd hang bells on it, add a ring of traps, and even better, tripwire warnings.

But thinking about it, doing this seems a lot like the "blockhouse" that some small country built at Tokyo University?

He shook his head, dismissing his wild thoughts. Damn it, what bad luck! Why did I even think of that disgusting stuff!

Watching Lenny's lips move as he rambled on for a long time, discussing everything from the establishment of the outpost to the patrol times and schedules, Tim was utterly astonished. "How afraid of death must you be? This isn't the first time you've thought about these things," he thought.

But he had to admit that it was indeed much more comprehensive than his own defense plan.

"You were terrified at Dragon Ridge last time, weren't you?" After the two finished talking, he walked to the door but didn't leave immediately. He turned around and looked at Lanny with pity.

"Don't worry, as long as I'm here, I won't let anyone hurt you. I promised your father, and I will definitely keep my word!"

"Pfft..."

Lanny had been talking for so long that his throat was dry, and he was just picking up his teacup to drink some water when he heard this, he spat it out with a "pfft".

"No, I'm not... ..."

He opened his mouth to speak, but was greeted only by Tim's departing figure and the sound of the door slamming shut.

Ah, that's it!

Lanny was speechless. So, knowing more makes me seem like I'm the one in the wrong?

Listening to Tim's footsteps receding into the distance, Lanny sighed and gave up on explaining. He thought to himself, "Let it be a misunderstanding. With a knight who cares about my safety, I can sleep more peacefully. It's not a bad thing."

"Ah~~~"

He picked up the unfinished "Sword of the Hero" again, but let out a sigh.

However, the tea that had just been spat out had all spilled onto the surface, and the top part had already spread into a mess.

Well, this one is no longer usable; he has to rewrite this part.

I had just picked up my pen to finish my first novel when I suddenly remembered the Cinderella story I had talked about with Tiffany.

If I told this story to Tiffany, I wonder if it would make her feel better?

Thinking of this, he perked up, immediately took out a new piece of paper, leaned over the table and started writing, while also helping himself recall the relevant details.

After all, it had been a long time since he heard the story, and he couldn't quite remember some of the details.

The story of Cinderella is not complicated, but it's impossible for him to write it down word for word. However, he didn't intend to copy it completely, but rather to make some artistic modifications and rewrite it according to his own understanding and memory.

Having recently written "The Sword of the Warrior," he found his writing skills had greatly improved, and he wrote with unusual ease. In addition, since the book was not very long, he finished it very quickly.