episode_0052

52. My Wife Went to Her Parents’ House

The world truly seems beautiful.

The refreshing chirping of birds I never noticed before, always drowned out by busy work.

The natural music of rustling grass swaying in the mansion’s courtyard.

Even the fantastical village visible outside the window.

“This is para… no, this is heaven.”

For a moment, I remembered being relentlessly sucked dry by Vivian over the past three days and hastily changed my metaphor.

Whether it was because of my size down there, an unexpected talent for nighttime activities… or perhaps her sensitivity…

Though I easily dominated her in bed, Vivian clung to me with sheer determination and stamina.

In the end, during those three days of war preparations, not a single drop was left—she drank it all.

Anyway, the memory of that night puts me in a good mood, but it also sends shivers down my spine, like I was attacked by a beast.

Let’s move on to another topic…

“The water’s warm and nice.”

I was currently enjoying a half-body bath in my tiny room inside the workshop.

Soaking in a tub made of iron and wood filled with freshly boiled water felt absolutely delightful.

Why am I slacking off like this, you ask?

Don’t I have Erica’s assignments left to do?

“I finished them all ages ago! Woohoo!”

If Erica overlooked one thing, it’s the fact that I was a grad student who endured the professors’ revolving demands.

Writing papers on brakes trained me in stretching explanations across dozens of pages packed with technical jargon.

Besides, isn’t everything in this world based on my inventions anyway?

Who cares if I don’t use technical terms, citations, or experimental results?

As long as I describe how it works practically and use good analogies, it’s done!

So, I completed Erica’s assigned “Write an invention thesis on parchment” task within three days.

On top of that, humans are learning creatures.

Having learned that finishing one task just spawns more, I decided not to report it.

As a result, I now get two months of sweet rest—what’s not to love?

Cheers.

In the midst of my ecstatic frolicking in the bath,

Aetria’s voice came from outside the bathroom door.

“I brought clothes! I’ll leave them out here!”

“Thanks, Aetria!”

“No problem!”

I heard the bright footsteps walking away.

After soaking for about two hours, I got out, drained the water, and stepped outside.

Changing into the fresh clothes left in my room, I dried my hair vigorously with a towel and headed to the workshop.

There, Brook and Aetria sat on the sofa by the window, chatting while snacking from the table laden with sweets.

Brook, the older of the two adorable dwarf sisters, greeted me cheerfully as soon as she saw me.

“Yo, kid, you’ve gotten some life back in you. A week of solid rest treating you well?”

“Hell yeah! This is the life.”

“Quit the nonsense… Wanna go grab some beer?”

Suddenly, Brook suggested hitting the tavern.

I joined them on the sofa, nibbling on snacks and joining the conversation.

“A tavern? Never been… Do they sell non-alcoholic drinks?”

“Sure. For limp-dicks like you, they serve milky butter-topped drinks!”

“Oh, that sounds kinda good?”

“She’s screwing with you, kid.”

I laughed, stuffing my face with a cookie from the table.

I don’t drink in the first place.

If you asked why, it’s because of what happened during my college retreat…

Back then, I tried alcohol for the first time—two shots of soju—and blacked out immediately. Since then, I’ve avoided it.

Haven’t tested whether this body handles alcohol better, but… no interest in finding out.

Just then, Aetria, sitting beside me, stared at me intently.

She looked like a puppy silently begging for attention.

“Thanks for the clothes, Aetria.”

“Hehe…”

When I patted her head, she melted into a puddle of happiness.

Unlike her sister, she’s painfully shy, bottling up even her smallest desires.

It’s cute how weak she is to praise, but…

“Hey, Cain. Don’t you have a house?”

“A house?”

“Yeah, kid. Never seen you go home.”

The day after they moved into Grace Mansion,

Erica gifted the two blacksmith sisters a two-story house.

Their overjoyed, bouncing celebration flashed in my mind…

“Hey, spacing out again!”

“Huh? Oh… Well, she offered me one, but I didn’t take it.”

Erica had once offered me a house as a gift.

A three-story mansion, at that…

She claimed it was the third largest and finest plot after Grace Mansion and Adelle the business genius’s place.

Hearing this, Brook scowled like it was nonsense.

“Why’d you refuse?!”

“But it’s a bit of a walk to Grace Mansion for work… and it’s so big cleaning or moving around would be a hassle…”

“Normally, mansions like that hire maids or butlers, you know.”

“Why bother? I can just sleep in the workshop.”

(Workshop Blueprint)

Erica remodeled a large room into a workshop and studio for me.

She even added a small bedroom for naps, but I just ended up living there full-time.

Maybe it’s because I got used to living out of my college lab with a foldable bed?

Or maybe after 20 years in a tiny countryside house in this world…

With Brook and Aetria around—no piano repairs to work on—we killed time chatting.

Then—

*-BAM-*

A woman burst through the workshop door.

Alice scanned the room frantically, panting, until she locked eyes with me.

Rushing over, she clasped my hands between hers.

“Ca… Cain…! No, my lord!”

“Huh?”

The sudden honorific threw me.

Wait, isn’t Alice the daughter of a prestigious count?

“Please, enlighten this foolish one with your wisdom!”

What on earth is going on?

────────────────────

Alice was hard at work with administrative tasks today.

Trapped in a hellish pile of paperwork alongside the “chafflings” Cain often mentioned,

she worked tirelessly—no, joyfully—scanning documents.

“Hehe… Everything’s running smoothly.”

Of course it was.

Normally, problematic reports would flood in, but all she saw were positive updates.

Increased operations at the poultry farm, factories, and feed production plants.

Reports of booming population growth in the capital promising hefty tax revenues.

Or how guano fertilizer skyrocketed agricultural yields beyond belief.

Exhausting, but Alice worked happily.

Her desk held stacks of documents alongside a tightly packed bento of rice, bread, and soup.

“You eat all that by yourself?”

“Of course. I’m hopelessly slow-witted, so I need to eat a lot to keep my brain working.”

She smiled sweetly at her colleague’s question, never pausing her paperwork.

These were tasks Erica had handled alone before Alice arrived.

(Alice’s little secret: Erica was ecstatic about reclaiming three hours of sleep after delegating authority.)

Mid-task, one chaffling frowned and reexamined a document.

“Uh, we might need to review this part together.”

“What is it?”

“Hmm…”

Alice took the document and read carefully.

True to her reputation as one of Erica’s dual prodigies alongside Cain, she instantly spotted the flaw.

“This is odd. Despite the population surge, theft and public order reports haven’t changed.”

Normally, overcrowding inevitably worsens public security.

Suspicious, Alice launched an investigation—unearthing shocking results.

“Kill me…!”

The guard captain had deliberately underreported crime rates.

No torture needed—he spilled everything freely.

“There are too many people! Land is scarce, housing’s impossible, and pickpockets swarm everywhere!”

With crowds come those harboring ill intent.

“Without farming opportunities, many turn outright to crime!

I didn’t want to disappoint Lady Erica Grace, so I falsified reports to manage the situation.

Please, execute me!”

Alice postponed his punishment.

The exploding population demanded immediate solutions.

Left unchecked, desperate souls would loot crops, ruining farms.

Worsening security might drive away the capital’s gathered geniuses—the worst-case scenario.

Wealthy, skilled talent could relocate easily.

But if only penniless loafers and incompetent commoners remained, recovery would be impossible.

No one moves to a lawless slum.

Alice scrambled for solutions all night with the chafflings but found none.

Dawn broke, sunlight streaming through the window as she rubbed her sleepless eyes.

She sipped coffee, straining her weary brain, when—

Laughter echoed from the workshop entrance inside the mansion.

“…Lord Cain.”

The heaven-sent genius famed for solving impossible problems with unthinkable perspectives.

His inventions served not just nobles and armies but the people too—could he help now?

Creating livable space for masses required land, a physical impossibility.

Despair clouded Alice’s face.

“But…”

What if he succeeded?

So she barged in and begged him.

“Ca… Cain…! No, my lord!”

“Huh?”

“Please, enlighten this foolish one with your wisdom!”

Her plea to save Erica from disappointment and the suffering masses.

────────────────────

I’d heard everything.

I summarized the situation to ensure I understood.

“So, overpopulation’s tanking public order and city conditions.

You need space to house masses efficiently, mostly laborers here for factory work?”

“Exactly! Do you have any ideas…?!”

I sank deep into thought.

Alice watched anxiously, gulping under the pressure.

“Come to think of it, Lady Erica gave me a task…”

Back at the ball, furious for unknown reasons, she’d ordered three inventions:

1. A perfectly tuned, flawless instrument—the piano.

2. Superior architectural material in clay form.

If I made that, maybe I could solve the territory’s crisis…

“Seems possible.”

“My lord…!”

Alice’s eyes shimmered with gratitude—and pressure.

Normally, I’d flaunt finishing Erica’s tasks and tell her to shove it, but…

I loathe work, but I never reported completing the parchment thesis.

If she survived the war, that clever woman would exploit that loophole to work me to death.

Since things turned out this way, I decided to finish the earlier requests.

Doing something nice might shut her up.

Maybe even get my resignation accepted.

“Let’s make it, then.”

Agricultural revolution.

Livestock revolution.

Now, it’s time for a housing revolution.

Let’s build some sleek apartments—complete with cement.