Chapter 72

### Evening.

Sanziro returned to the harem a little earlier than usual. He changed into his usual casual attire of bare feet, a T-shirt, and cotton pants, and lounged on the sofa in the living room.

He had become accustomed to hosting Prince Francesco and Princess Bonna recently, so the fatigue from work was not too severe. Instead, what troubled him now was the "concubine issue" that Aura had told him about last night.

Rationally, he understood that "what was to come has come," but emotionally, his reaction was to "try to find a way to escape."

"Since Aura is an exceptionally capable wife, our family life has been harmonious so far, but I'm not someone who is particularly good at handling women..."

Sanziro leaned back against the sofa, gazing up at the dim ceiling.

Of course, Sanziro knew intellectually that it was common for high-ranking nobles and royalty to have multiple consorts. Especially in the southern continent, where the royal family is synonymous with "bloodline magic," it could be said that the royal family's primary duty is to produce as many children as possible.

Furthermore, since Sanziro is the only male royal in the Carpa Kingdom who has reached adulthood, even he cannot deny that the domestic nobles' insistence on "first, focus on producing children" has some validity.

However, understanding something intellectually and being able to execute it are entirely different matters.

Aura believes that Sanziro is "emotionally not in sync," but it's more than that. More accurately, he is also uncertain about his ability to handle the role of a husband with multiple consorts.

One could say he knows himself well. Maintaining a harmonious relationship with multiple women is not an easy task.

Aura, being the queen, is usually out of the harem during the day, which is an exception. Generally, once a woman enters the harem, she rarely leaves.

On the other hand, although Sanziro has been working more in the palace recently, he still spends much more time in the harem compared to Aura.

As a result, it is predicted that there will be many instances where Sanziro and the concubines are left alone in the harem without Aura.

Of course, even if they live in the same harem, the concubines do not necessarily live in the same building as Sanziro. However, as a concubine, if they are in the same harem and have free time, they might expect to meet him.

However, spending more time with the concubines than with the queen, Aura, would be problematic in terms of public perception.

"In other words, when the concubine arrives, I need to show respect to the concubine while also appearing to be more affectionate towards Aura. But I also need to avoid upsetting the concubine... It's impossible, such a super difficult interpersonal relationship to build."

There needs to be a visible difference between the queen, Aura, and the concubines. On top of that, he needs to avoid upsetting the concubines. If he could do that, Sanziro would have the talent of a legendary host.

Of course, Sanziro, who lacks such talent, would prefer to avoid such a difficult situation.

"However, if Aura's prediction turns out to be spot on, it seems that I might not have to take a concubine in the end, so I don't need to be too pessimistic. Besides, since Aura has approved the concubine, she must be a capable person."

Despite saying this, Sanziro lacks confidence in his own words.

He is not doubting Aura's aesthetic sense or her consideration. However, Aura is the queen of the Carpa Kingdom before she is his wife.

Even if a woman causes some inconvenience in Sanziro's life, if her presence as a concubine would bring significant benefits to the Carpa Kingdom or the royal family, there is a good chance she will be taken as a concubine.

"Oh, it seems my position is really becoming like that of a 'princess in a deep palace'..."

The complaint that slipped from Sanziro's lips was somewhat serious.

### ◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

No matter how many difficult problems one faces, dwelling on them all the time can be suffocating.

After finishing dinner and before preparing for a bath, Sanziro spent time with his wife, Queen Aura, in the living room, watching TV.

On the screen, a young idol group was playing a large-scale "can-kicking" game in the city, facing off against a hundred ghosts.

The rules of can-kicking are simple. If a ghost finds a hidden participant and steps on the can, the participant is caught. Conversely, if the participant kicks the can before the ghost steps on it, all the captured participants can escape. The ghost must pick up the kicked can and return it to its original position before resuming the search for participants.

In essence, it's a combination of "hide and seek" and "tag."

This game is easy to understand even for someone who doesn't speak Japanese, as long as Sanziro explains the rules. Thanks to this, Aura, sitting next to Sanziro, seemed to be enjoying it.

"Ah, they've been found. Will they be caught this time? Oh, they're running... Oh, it seems they failed again. How many are left now?"

"Um, I think... two more, maybe?"

Sanziro, who wasn't watching very attentively, tilted his head and answered uncertainly.

Spending time watching TV together as a couple is valuable and fulfilling.

Just feeling the warmth of his wife's body on his right shoulder made Sanziro feel happy. Putting his arm around her shoulder would be fun, but they were about to take a bath together, so it was better to wait a bit.

"Still, the tools they use are quite interesting. They light up and make sounds when someone approaches, alerting others to the presence of others. Such tools would be very useful."

"No, those are only effective because both parties have agreed to use transmitters and receivers. They don't automatically detect human presence. They might not have many practical uses."

Sanziro chuckled and replied, even as he considered the practicality of the tools.

"Hmm, I see. However, no matter how many times I see it, I am overwhelmed by the city you lived in. Honestly, it's hard to believe that all those buildings were made by human hands."

The screen showed the city center, with its high-rise buildings, completely paved roads, and countless vehicles. To Aura, it almost seemed like a world from ancient times.

Although this conversation had happened several times, Sanziro couldn't help but feel a bit proud when his homeland was praised, and he smiled slightly.

"Yeah, the world is different here. I also felt the same way when I saw dragons and experienced magic here."

Seeing a running dragon, which is more than twice the size of a horse, being controlled by humans, and humans using fire and creating water without tools, seemed far more unbelievable to Sanziro's "common sense." It was truly a world of legends and stories.

"Literal differences in the world. However, I understand that it's a matter of wanting what one doesn't have, but I still envy it. Especially the automobiles. If we had just a hundred large trucks, it could revolutionize logistics."

Sanziro, noting the queen's serious tone, suspected she might be genuinely interested and decided to set the record straight.

"Well, I have no idea how to make them. With this country's metallurgy technology, it might not even be possible to recreate a steam engine, let alone an internal combustion engine."

"Indeed. I don't understand the details, but I can tell that it's incredibly complex."

"Yeah, someone with an engineering degree might be more helpful, but my knowledge only goes up to high school. Honestly, even the principles of a bicycle are beyond me."

"A bicycle? That's the one you were riding when you first came to this world, right? I showed it to scholars and engineers, and they were very surprised."

"Oh, really? Is it useful as a reference?"

"Yes, while replicating the bicycle itself might be difficult, the technologies used in it have been very educational. They might be applicable in some way."

A bicycle is a collection of various technologies.

The 'crank' mechanism used in the handlebars and pedals, the 'chain' mechanism connecting the pedals to the rear wheel, and the 'brake' mechanism connecting the handlebars to the wheels. Many of these technologies are unknown in this world.

The crank mechanism, in particular, is extremely simple and can be easily replicated here. In its simplest form, it is a straight iron rod bent at two points to form a 90-degree angle, with the first and third sides parallel. This is the crank mechanism. A hand-cranked handle, a pedal operated by foot, and with further development, a crankshaft that can convert circular motion into linear motion (or vice versa) can be created.

The crank mechanism used in the handlebars is similar to the rudder of a ship, which can already be seen in this world. However, the idea of converting foot power into circular motion with pedals is still absent in this country. In the near future, it could become a significant source of human power.

The advantage of the chain mechanism is that it can connect two circular motions in the same direction. If gears were used, they would rotate in opposite directions, requiring at least three gears. However, the chain mechanism requires multiple parts of the same shape and size with sufficient hardness, which might be difficult to implement practically.

In that sense, the brake mechanism might be the closest to practical implementation. The brakes currently used in dragon carriages are primitive, involving pulling and tightening a rough rope wrapped loosely around the wheel axle.

Originally, dragon carriages, unlike automobiles, rely on the running dragons (or slow dragons) for acceleration and deceleration, so the brake mechanism is not as important. However, relying on the dragons for deceleration and stopping puts a significant burden on them.

While it's not as crude as a dragon carriage stopping and hitting the dragon's rear, the inertia of the carriage would still put a burden on the dragon if the brakes were not applied.

In this sense, improving the brake performance, while not dramatically enhancing the performance of the dragon carriage, would not be meaningless. It could reduce the burden on the dragons pulling the carriages.

As time passed, a report from the bath attendant informed Sanziro that the bath was ready.

"Alright, let's go."

Sanziro stopped the DVD with the TV remote, stood up, and took an LED lantern from a nearby shelf with his right hand. Then, he took his wife's right hand with his left.

"Alright."

Without a word, their hands were firmly clasped together.

The royal couple, hand in hand, walked to the bath.

### ◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

After finishing his bath, Sanziro sat in front of his computer, having sent Aura to the bedroom first.

It was his study time for magic and writing before bed.

"Alright, let's get started."

Sanziro, sitting in front of the computer, was working on word registration in a word processing software.

A while ago, Sanziro had registered the characters of this world as external characters, allowing him to display them on the computer.

However, typing sentences in this world's language on the computer was still very time-consuming. For example, if there was a five-character word equivalent to "apple," he would need to convert each character individually by pressing the key registered for the external character and converting it.

While this might be manageable for short texts, it would be very tedious for longer ones.

To solve this problem, Sanziro was diligently registering frequently used words in the word processing software.

Initially, he registered personal names like "Sanziro," "Aura," and "Carpa." Next, he registered articles equivalent to "the" and "a" in English, prepositions like "of," "to," and "in," and conjunctions like "and," "or," and "if."

By gradually registering words whenever he had free time, he had made significant progress. Now, many words could be converted as a whole, rather than character by character, significantly increasing his typing speed.

Sanziro, who was more accustomed to keyboard input than handwriting, found this particularly helpful. While writing by hand is more effective for memorizing words and grammar, he preferred typing on a screen.

Additionally, he created a simple dictionary using a spreadsheet, adding katakana readings and Japanese meanings to the words of this world.

While the dictionary currently contains only a few hundred words, it has become somewhat useful for his independent study. His goal is to eventually be able to read any book by referring to the data in the spreadsheet.

Of course, it would be even better if he could achieve the necessary language skills without needing the dictionary.

As he was working, the computer emitted a mechanical alarm sound.

"Oh, it's time already."

This was the sound of an alarm app he had set up on the computer, indicating that the specified time had passed.

Since there were countless words to register, he had to set a time limit to avoid overworking himself. Therefore, he limited his nightly study to one hour, regardless of how much progress he had made. Sanziro, who was already accustomed to a night owl lifestyle due to late-night work, needed to be careful not to fall back into his old habits.

With practiced movements, Sanziro opened a different spreadsheet file and video data from a digital camera.

The video data was of Aura demonstrating magic, and the spreadsheet file contained the results of his previous magic attempts.

Initially, the data was filled with Xs, but recently, it has been mostly Os.

The magic with the closest required magic power to Sanziro's, and thus the easiest for him to cast, was the "Simple Barrier." He had not failed to cast it recently.

Aura had also given him the seal of approval, saying, "In a general sense, you can say you have 'mastered' it." The qualification "in a general sense" was added because while he could easily use the magic in a calm situation, it would fail if he was under physical or mental stress.

To cast magic, one needs "correct pronunciation," "correct magic power," and "correct recognition." The issue here is "correct recognition."

If one cannot vividly imagine the state of the magic being cast in their mind, the magic will not work. In simpler terms, any distraction will cause the magic to fail.

In practical terms, with Sanziro's current level of practice, the magic would fail if he encountered a situation that put any physical or mental strain on him.

However, since Sanziro generally does not plan to leave the harem and the palace, it is more important for him to focus on mastering the next magic rather than getting used to casting magic under stress.

"Alright, let's start. First, a review. 'From the tip of my fingers, cut the world in a spherical shape. As a trade-off, I offer 359 magic points to the air spirits.'"

The incantation worked as expected. A faintly glowing barrier formed around Sanziro, who was sitting at the computer. This was the "Simple Barrier" magic, which he had mastered to a level where it could be considered "learned." However, he still reviewed it whenever he had free time, just to be safe.

"Alright, it worked fine. The problem is the next one..."

Next, Sanziro furrowed his brow and recited the "second incantation."

"Marvalzum..."

He thought he had pronounced it correctly, but the incantation did not work. This meant he had made a mistake somewhere.

"Oh, as expected, it didn't work. The success rate is low..."

Sanziro sighed and marked an X in the spreadsheet. So far, he could only correctly pronounce the second incantation once in twenty tries.

"For a while, I need to focus on pronunciation practice. Adjusting magic power output and visualization training can wait."

While he had made some progress with adjusting magic power output, it was useless if he couldn't pronounce the incantation correctly.

His initial goal was not to "cast magic" but to "recite incantations that work with the power of words." With this in mind, he kept his magic power output at a steady stream and focused on pronunciation, reciting the second incantation.

"Alright, let's try again... Muvalzum... No, it didn't work. One more time, Marvalium... This didn't work either."

In the end, ten Xs lined up neatly in the spreadsheet for that day.