Shield of the Rose

With a soft clatter, a massive heap of yellow, white, and multicolored items poured out from a seemingly tattered and dirty sack.

The yellow ones were gold bars, the white ones were platinum wires and platinum mesh, and the multicolored items were banknotes from various countries.

Richie’s father, mother, and Aunt Ling stared at these things, completely dumbfounded. Although they had made quite a bit of money over the past half month, it was nowhere near this amount.

“This is probably worth hundreds of thousands,” Aunt Ling said, grabbing a handful of banknotes.

While Aunt Ling grabbed the cash, Richie’s mother held a gold bar in one hand, her eyes sparkling. Recently, she had been quite obedient to Richie regarding one matter: buying jewelry. She had bought a lot of it, mainly gold and diamonds, because these two were the easiest to convert into cash. However, all the gold and diamonds she had bought combined weren’t as valuable as these two gold bars.

“Do you guys have any channels to exchange these banknotes into foreign currency?” Richie asked.

The three of them hesitated for a long while. There were many smart people in this world, and many sensed the situation going south. Right now, exchanging foreign currency into the Republic’s currency was very easy, with an excellent exchange rate. However, the reverse was exceptionally difficult, and the rate was incredibly low—almost only one-third of the official exchange rate.

Seeing their expressions, Richie immediately knew it would be tough. Fortunately, he had a solution.

Of course, he didn’t plan on owing anyone a favor; owing a favor for something like this would be absolutely foolish.

His idea involved the genius girl, Trisli. Trisli had worn this combat suit before and knew its effects clearly. Through her, they could easily take some foreign orders.

“Can the factory’s production capacity be further expanded?” Richie turned to ask Aunt Ling.

“That depends on how much you want to expand. The only potential problem is the raw materials. Seal skin is the highest grade of leather, and the trading volume has always been small. The trading volume determines the inventory. I’ve pretty much bought up half the seal skin in Peines. But these seal skins can only make about three thousand suits at most.”

Aunt Ling had a clear ledger in her mind and calculated everything perfectly.

“Haven’t you tried using other leathers as substitutes?” Richie asked.

Aunt Ling blushed. How could she not have tried? If she could find a cheap leather substitute for the expensive seal skin, the profits would definitely be much higher. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be done.

She could only shake her head with extreme grievance and deep regret.

Richie didn’t mind too much. If it couldn’t be substituted, then so be it. At most, he would let Trisli handle the raw materials herself. Within the Alliance, the Rossoto Empire was located in the north, with most of its territory inside the Arctic Circle. Ninety-nine percent of seal skins came from there. As long as Trisli stepped forward, raw materials definitely wouldn’t be an issue.

“Since exchanging foreign currency is so difficult, you guys should spend the money as soon as possible,” Richie sighed. “Give some to Dad; he has a major use for it.”

“Give it to him? So he can go out drinking and find women?” Richie’s mother scowled. Aunt Ling quickly nudged her with an elbow secretly.

Richie saw all of this, and also noticed his father’s face redden slightly. He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. The saying ‘men turn bad when they have money’ was truly spot on. It seemed that recently, his dad was not only having sweet dreams but wet dreams as well.

But he still had to help his dad out. Richie hurriedly said, “Let Mom handle the spending. Since the factory and the shop are gradually getting on track, let Aunt Ling manage the two factories, freeing Mom up to help Dad.”

Richie’s mother looked puzzled. She didn’t know what this father-son duo had been discussing, but she guessed it must be something major.

“Actually, Mom, I’m quite worried about you. I’m afraid you don’t have the capability, whereas Aunt Ling is quite suitable. However, given the situation between Aunt Ling and Dad… many things are hard to say.”

Richie deliberately used reverse psychology. He knew that although these two sisters stood united against outsiders, they often competed with each other in private. Saying his mom couldn’t compare to his aunt would definitely make her jump up and desperately prove her competence. Besides, he also said this because he was worried his mom wouldn’t be willing to let go of the factory. She had never managed so many people before, and that kind of prestige wasn’t something one could give up easily.

Sure enough, upon hearing this, his mother immediately got upset. “Son, I raised you all these years for nothing! How do you know I can’t do it? You dare look down on your own mother!”

“Alright, alright, I believe you. Dad will tell you what needs to be done,” Richie took the opportunity to concede.

Seeing that this side was finally settled, he breathed a sigh of relief. He understood his parents well. His mother was short-sighted and vain, which were indeed weaknesses, but she also had many strengths. First, she was good with people and easily built good relationships with those around her. Second, she was excellent at careful calculation; money in her hands could be put to its maximum use.

There was another reason: behind his mother was Aunt Ling, her strategist. The two sisters had helped each other since childhood, yet secretly competed—an absolutely fascinating dynamic.

After settling all the family affairs, it was nearly nine o’clock. Going to Emily’s place now was obviously too late, so Richie decided to sleep at home for the night.

The room was ready. Haigert was very good at currying favor; with a few connections, he had acquired this entire building and gifted it to Richie’s parents. This building originally belonged to the Knight Headquarters, serving as a reserve warehouse. It had been empty for a long time, so naturally, no one would deny Haigert’s request.

After acquiring the building, Richie’s family immediately renovated it. The bottom floor was still used as a warehouse to store the finished combat suits. The second floor belonged to Aunt Ling and his cousin, though it wasn’t fully furnished yet and still reeked of paint. The top floor, of course, was prepared for him. Although he wouldn’t be back most of the time, the room would still be kept for him.

Richie took a lamp and went to his room.

The fourth floor was actually an attic. Richie felt he had quite an affinity with attics; he used to live in one back in his hometown, and now it was the same.

All attics shared the same flaw: low ceilings. This one also had a dormer window. You could see outside from it, but there were only dirty rooftops with nothing worth looking at.

By the windowsill was a wooden desk, exactly like the one in his old home. There was no bed here either, only a single mattress.

He didn’t plan on sleeping just yet.

Placing the lamp on the desk, Richie lifted the other sack and shook it out. This time, out tumbled booklets as thick as city wall bricks.

He had only skimmed them hurriedly in the storage room earlier, not examining them carefully. Now he finally had time to sort through them properly.

Picking out the four booklets that left the deepest impression on him, Richie started flipping through them. The first two he had found were among these four. He vaguely sensed that someone had organized these materials before; it seemed he wasn’t the only one who recognized their value.

He cared most about the first booklet. The Knight who left it had clearly put a lot of thought into it, and this person’s design was the most reasonable.

Richie flipped to a specific page he had folded earlier for easy access.

Drawn on this page was an extremely streamlined Magitech Armor. Just like the new standard Magitech Armor currently being tested by the Norman Alliance, this armor was composed of several parts.

Richie understood the Norman Alliance’s new standard armor very well. Espol’s assistant, the pudgy Yiluo, had thoroughly explained the brilliance of its design to him.

With that foundation, looking back at the armor drawn in the booklet, Richie immediately felt the difference between an amateur enthusiast and an expert. Although both designs shared the same core concept, the creator of this booklet was far inferior to the Great Craftsman when it came to detailing.

He originally thought of letting Emily complete this design, perhaps winning a place in the design competition. But now he felt a bit discouraged.

Even if Emily won a place with this, it wouldn’t be of much use, because it simply couldn’t provide any inspiration to Espol and Madame Shar.

Richie turned the pages one by one, occasionally stopping to ponder a design for a long time.

He was definitely no amateur when it came to Magitech Armor. He had initially acquired knowledge in this area for Emily. Later, after meeting Espol, he spent a lot of effort studying it to build a closer relationship with the Great Craftsman.

Although he hadn’t designed an armor himself, he could still discern the quality of a design.

The more he read, the more astonished Richie became. Many of the designs in this booklet had actually appeared on relatively new Magitech Armors. He strongly suspected that if the person who left these designs hadn’t been a Knight but an armor manufacturer, would the world have gained another Great Craftsman?

Unfortunately, flipping all the way to the end, he didn’t find a single design that met the requirements of a standard Magitech Armor.

From the designs, it was evident that the Knight was very meticulous, so his designs carried that trait. And being meticulous often meant being complicated.

Richie casually opened the other three booklets. All three had an unconstrained, imaginative flair to them. This was the style of most amateur Magitech Armor enthusiasts. People like the first guy, who were meticulous and strove for realism, were absolutely rare.

Suddenly, Richie’s ears twitched. He heard soft footsteps, followed immediately by the door opening.

It was his cousin coming up.

“I’m busy,” Richie sighed. He obviously knew what his cousin wanted to do up here.

“You do your thing, I definitely won’t get in your way,” his cousin giggled.

Richie rolled his eyes. Like hell you won’t get in my way.

“I really don’t know what’s going on with you Knights. It’s so hot, yet you’re wearing a leather suit and you’re perfectly fine.”

With such an obvious hint, how could Richie not understand? Helplessly, he took off his uniform along with the combat suit underneath. Now he was completely naked.

“I’ll go fetch a basin of water and wash you,” his cousin was inexplicably attentive.

“Forget it, I don’t want water splashing everywhere,” Richie hastily stopped her.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. Just wait and enjoy,” his cousin chuckled and walked out.

When it came to the women in his family, Richie was completely powerless. He had to move the remaining booklets onto the mattress.

A moment later, the stairs creaked again. His cousin came up carrying a basin of clean water, a bamboo mat, and a small stool.

Spreading the bamboo mat on the floor and placing the small stool on top of it, she made Richie sit down. “Just do your work. I will serve you very comfortably.”

Richie could only let her manipulate him, but soon, he became infatuated with this manipulation.

Holding a very soft towel dipped in the basin, his cousin slowly washed his body. As promised, not a single drop of water spilled.

Her technique was brilliant, her movements very light and gentle. She started from his spine, then moved to his shoulders and armpits, gradually shifting to the front, occasionally pressing her body against his.

The first time their skin touched, Richie was surprised to find that his cousin was completely naked.

Reaching back, Richie felt a soft, hairy patch.

She wasn’t even wearing those pantyhose.

“Do you want it?” his cousin asked with a cloying smile. Her body pressed even tighter against him, blowing air into his ear.

Richie felt a ticklish sensation. Not only his ear, but his heart was itching even more. “Can I?”

“Of course not,” his cousin suddenly turned firm. “Unless you marry me, I will absolutely not give this to you.”

Richie immediately fell silent. Marrying his cousin was something he wouldn’t even consider. Like Ginny, she was a captivating temptress—perfect as a lover, but absolutely unsuitable as a wife.

Not to mention he was now a Knight. Knights and commoners couldn’t intermarry.

His wife would in all likelihood be Margaret.

“What are you looking at?”

Having just promised not to disturb him, she threw her promise out the window in the blink of an eye. His cousin casually flipped through the booklet Richie was reading. “Wow… Magitech Armors are quite pretty too! Not just a bunch of cold iron lumps.”

Richie truly had no way to handle this woman. But the more important reason was that he quite enjoyed this ambiguous closeness.

With so many women, having sex was no longer a rarity for him. Right now, he wanted to find some fresh sensations.

“This one is the prettiest, I really like it,” his cousin pointed at a rough sketch of a Magitech Armor.

It was indeed a sketch, showing a forty-five-degree oblique perspective view of the armor, along with an exploded view of its components.

With just one look, Richie smiled wryly. No wonder women liked it; this armor was indeed extremely beautiful. The lines were long and elegant, with a narrow waist and a broad back, absolutely meeting aesthetic standards. Its helmet was also exceptionally well-designed, sharp at the top with a forward-thrusting spike, flanked by two upright pointed horns.

“This thing looks like a lobster,” his cousin pointed at the spike on the helmet and the overlapping, lobster-shell-like plates around the waist.

The similar designs Richie had seen before resembled the belly of a Pit Viper. Such designs were excellent for flexibility, but the gaps between the plates became weak points in defense.

Looking at the overlapping plates, the inward-curving design resembling rose petals or a lobster’s back shell, Richie’s eyes lit up.

The person who drew this armor might have only considered beauty, but he gained a spark of inspiration from it.

Curving inward and then connecting with the next plate—this design was indeed far superior to the snake-belly design. The connection points weren’t flat either; they were slightly complex lines with curves. Even if an attack hit the gap, it would easily be deflected.

“The only drawback is that it’s troublesome to manufacture,” Richie muttered to himself. The reason the Norman Alliance’s new standard armor was so formidable wasn’t because of its outstanding performance, but because it was simple and easy to produce.

“I don’t think it’s difficult,” his cousin pointed at the petal-like plates and the seemingly complex helmet. “I don’t know how to build Magitech Armors, but I know how to tailor clothes. These look similar to fabric cutouts. Despite the complex shapes, the difficulty isn’t much higher. Besides, these cutouts are mostly uniform, which makes it even easier. The easiest thing to do in this world is repetitive work, and none of these cutouts are very large. You don’t know this, but when making clothes, the hardest part is handling large pieces of fabric. In men’s clothing, the back line adjustment is the hardest; in women’s clothing, it’s the waistline. Only skilled workers with ten years of experience are qualified for those two tasks. Conversely, places like collars and cuffs, which look flashy and complicated, aren’t actually that difficult. Anyone with a year or two of experience can handle them.”

Richie listened quietly, observing the drawing as he did.

He only then realized that, just as his cousin said, this armor didn’t have a single large plate.

No wonder the thing was dazzlingly beautiful; its disassembled parts looked like a pile of petals.

Assembling such an armor would definitely require a lot of work, but his cousin was right—manufacturing each individual component would be very easy.

Suddenly, he recalled some of the designs he had just looked at.

He hastily grabbed the first booklet and flipped through it quickly.

Relying on his memory, he soon found what he was looking for.

It was a Magitech Armor, but what truly interested him was one of its concepts.

The spine of this armor completely mimicked a human’s, assembled from segmented steel ring-shaped vertebrae, with a thick steel cable threading them together in the middle. This thing could bend and twist just like a human spine.

Usually, Magitech Armors used a rigid, columnar spine made of two or three segments, which was absolutely inferior to this design in terms of flexibility.

Flipping another two pages, he found another armor. The reason he remembered this one was because of its plating.

Each plate was made of three thin layers fused together. The top layer was super-hard alloy steel, followed by a layer of soft steel, and below that, a slightly thicker layer of ordinary steel.

Richie’s thoughts surged out like floodgates opening.

The soft joints used in the ‘Valkyrie’ were casually adopted, the steel-bone glider wings on the back were naturally indispensable, and the roller-skating apparatus must also be included.

Richie took the newly bought notebook and started drawing on it.

Seeing Richie’s intense concentration, his cousin knew this was absolutely not the time to interrupt him. Thus, her hand slowly moved down, gently grasping his long, thick cock.

Wiping it clean thoroughly with the wet towel, she moved the basin aside. She lay on the bamboo mat, holding Richie’s member with both hands, lightly licking his testicles.

The stool was missing a piece in the middle. As she licked, her tongue slipped down to Richie’s anus, its sharp tip slowly boring inside.

Richie was busy sketching his concepts in the new notebook. The sudden stimulation made him feel a wave of dizziness; his hand trembled, nearly leaving an ink blot on the paper.

A surge of fury hit him first, but after it passed, Richie really had no way of dealing with his cousin. He sighed, put down the ink pen, and switched to a pencil so it would be easy to correct mistakes.

“Does it feel good?”

His cousin kneaded his two testicles with her hands, smiling sweetly as she asked. “You just focus on your work. I’ll serve you wonderfully.”

Saying this, she played the ‘poison dragon drill’ again, her hands continuously teasing his groin.

Other women had done this trick before, but from them, Richie only felt stimulation. Right now, however, he felt incredibly comfortable.

“Did you learn this from school too?” Richie was very curious.

“Of course. At school, we started doing these things out of curiosity, then for the thrill. But in the end, it was all because it feels good. Women are different from men. Men have a desire to conquer, so they seek the intensity of a climax and the momentary glory. But we women care more about the duration and frequency of pleasure.”

As she spoke, she proved her point with action. She slowly swallowed Richie’s massive penis into her mouth, though not deeply, only keeping the entire glans inside.

She didn’t vigorously bob her head, nor did she pump back and forth. She merely sucked gently with her mouth, using the tip of her tongue to lightly scrape and slowly lick the glans, the slit, and the coronal sulcus. Her hands also cared for his manhood with extreme gentleness—one moment stroking the shaft, the next kneading the testicles. Sometimes, she would lightly scrape the area near his anus with her fingers, or gently tickle the space between his testicles and his anus.

Richie took a deep breath. He felt amazing.

In terms of sexual techniques, Nora was definitely the most formidable. Having sex with Nora was like tasting a grand feast prepared by a master chef—an enjoyment unmatched elsewhere. But his cousin took a different approach. She sought flavor in lightness, a sensation one could endlessly consume without ever feeling satiated.

Suddenly, his cousin released his glans. She shifted her body forward, slightly lifted her buttocks, and, holding Richie’s penis with one hand, slowly inserted it into her anus.

His cousin’s sexual techniques obviously couldn’t compare to Nora’s, but she had her own ultimate move.

Richie felt as if there were many soft folds of flesh inside her anus, constantly swirling and lightly brushing against his glans.

“How are you doing that?” Richie asked in astonishment.

“It’s a secret. Why are you asking so many questions? Just enjoy it, won’t you?” His cousin kept her lips sealed. She lifted Richie’s two feet and placed them on her tender breasts.

With his feet stepping on two soft globes of flesh, and his member thrust inside a tightly contracting, narrow meat hole, he could enjoy the most exquisite pleasure without even having to move. There was truly nothing more comfortable than this.

“You keep doing your work. Leave everything to me,” his cousin chuckled softly.

“You’re serving me now; I’ll serve you later.” Richie always believed in returning favors.

“Forget it, forget it. I don’t care for your kind of service! Actually, right now is great. Making you feel good makes me feel extremely good too,” she hurriedly said. She was actually a bit worried that Richie would drive her out of her mind and take the opportunity to claim her virginity.

Richie really couldn’t understand this woman. But on second thought, it felt very natural. From his mom to Aunt Ling, and then his cousin—none of the women in his family were people he could figure out.

When Richie woke up early the next morning, he found himself slumped over the desk. His left foot was still resting on his cousin’s breast, and though his member had gone soft, it remained tightly plugged inside her anus.

They had actually spent the entire night like this.

Richie looked down, admiring his cousin’s nether regions.

Her pussy looked incredibly tender, with a thin membrane of flesh at the pink vaginal opening.

This was the treasure his cousin guarded with her life, refusing to let him touch it.

Richie was quite tempted to play a prank and just pierce through that membrane.

However, he only dared to think about it; he wouldn’t dare act on it. If he did, his mother would never let him off the hook. More importantly, she would force him to take responsibility for his cousin, and that would be the biggest headache of all.

Carefully picking his cousin up and placing her on the mattress, Richie packed up the things on the desk.

The only thing he needed to take was the design he had completed last night. As for the booklets taken from the Knight Headquarters’ storage room, they were naturally repacked into the sack and left at home.

After packing everything, Richie realized it was still a bit too early.

He was used to waking up early, but everyone else in the house was still asleep.

Putting on his clothes and leaving a short note for his parents, Richie headed out.

Naturally, he went to the hospital to report first.

He had thought it through last night. As a Knight, he would have plenty of opportunities to “travel” in the future; he would skip this vacation.

What surprised Richie was that Margaret had arrived even earlier than him, though the military folding bed in the corner explained why.

“So you can spend the night at the hospital,” Richie’s eyes darted around slyly.

“If you were a woman, you could indeed spend the night here,” Lina said with a wicked smile. “How about I do your makeup? I guarantee no one will suspect your gender. That way, you can legitimately spend the night here.”

One absolutely could not get angry with Lina. Richie knew very well that this woman was shameless; bickering with her would only result in him being infuriated to death.

Since he was at the hospital, he couldn’t just take one look and leave—that would be too impolite. So Richie stayed in the ward chatting with Lina, Merlin, and the three sisters.

Suddenly, Richie stopped. He saw a familiar old man standing at the door.

“Father, why are you here?” Lina asked in extreme surprise. In her memory, her father had never cared about her this much.

“I had a meeting today, so I dropped by on the way,” the old man was clearly not good with words; his brief sentences offered no warmth.

“Congratulations on defeating a Knight of Honor. Especially you. How does it feel to successfully kill a Knight of Honor?” The old man looked at Richie. For him, this was already a rare expression of goodwill.

Unfortunately, Richie was still holding a grudge about what he had heard yesterday!

“It was alright. This is just the beginning. What’s one Honor? Maybe I’ll even take out a few Glorious Knights in the future! Speaking of feelings… my feeling is quite sorrowful. Fighting desperately on the front lines, yet in the rear, someone was desperately scheming against my family.”

Lina’s father choked on Richie’s words. When he convinced Espol back then, he didn’t know Squad 105 had a mission. In his eyes, his choice wasn’t wrong. In fact, even now, he stuck to his viewpoint, but Richie’s words left him feeling a sense of loss, while also giving him a massive headache.

This was absolutely a taboo subject. If Richie spread this matter outward, it would definitely deal a huge blow to morale.

“I had to make that choice for the interests of the nation. I hope you can understand,” the old man sighed helplessly.

“Unfortunately, the inside story I know isn’t like that.” Richie was a common citizen, and common citizens always looked at things straightforwardly.

In the eyes of Lina’s father, if a wrong act benefited the nation, then even if it was wrong, its existence could be tacitly approved. But to a common citizen like Richie, wrong was wrong—especially since this wrong act harmed his interests.

It was precisely for this reason that he harbored such deep resentment toward Lina’s father.

The old man sighed heavily. He didn’t intend to argue further.

“I have other matters to attend to. I will come to see you all again tomorrow.”

Richie felt incredibly uncomfortable with Lina’s father around, so he simply stood up to take his leave.

Lina’s father also felt somewhat bored. “You should stay here. I have a meeting, so I won’t linger.”

Richie, of course, wouldn’t listen to the old man. If he stayed just because the old man told him to, wouldn’t he lose face?

So, he headed straight for the ward door.

Unknowingly, the two walked out of the hospital one after the other. After thinking for a long while, Lina’s father still felt it necessary to explain things to Richie.

Unexpectedly, before he could speak, Richie turned around and asked, “Mr. Bosrovar, you have always prioritized the Republic’s interests above all else. I have a question: if one day it is proven that you yourself are the greatest threat to the Republic’s interests, what will you do?”

A hint of anger instantly rose on the old man’s face. No one had ever spoken to him like this. Even those from the Junior Army, though arrogant, would at most turn their heads and ignore him.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Richie actually regretted them. He knew he had thoroughly offended this man.

Although he had never received any direct benefits from him—it was always Lina helping him—Lina’s ability to help ultimately stemmed from this man’s influence.

Unfortunately, spoken words couldn’t be taken back.

The two stood deadlocked at the hospital entrance.

After a long while, Lina’s father turned toward the Red Palace. After taking five or six steps, he said indifferently, “If that day truly comes, I will use my own power to offer my final bit of strength to the Republic. You will see me charging at the very forefront of the battlefield.”

The old man walked slowly, fading into the distance.

Looking at the old man’s back, Richie felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of desolation in his heart…

Hailing a carriage, Richie headed toward the lake in the suburbs.

Those wooden cabins had now become exceptionally lively, with people walking everywhere.

There used to be a patch of woods by the lake, but now it had been bulldozed into a wide, open clearing. Seven or eight Magitech Armors were placed there, all disassembled. A dozen or so people were gathered around, arguing intensely. From the sound of it, the debate was fierce.

While still on the carriage from a distance away, Richie already knew exactly who these people were.

He had heard similar arguments many times.

The carriage stopped far away. Ever since these VIPs started frequenting the place, the upper echelons of the Republic had designated the area a high-security zone, with sentries posted at the intersections.

Fortunately, Richie had a pass. Thanks to Espol and Madame Shar, his pass was of a very high clearance level.

Richie didn’t come empty-handed. Tucked under his arm was a quarto-sized notebook containing the results of his entire night’s work.

To find Emily, he naturally had to head where the noise was coming from.

From afar, Richie spotted Madame Shar waving her umbrella—the old lady’s habitual gesture.

As Richie approached, a Knight from Internal Affairs immediately turned around. He was an unfamiliar face; Richie had never seen him before.

Luckily, at that moment, Emily happened to glance over, and the young girl excitedly waved and shouted, “You’re finally here!”

With her shout, the others naturally noticed too. The old men turned to look, and the pudgy Yiluo even nodded in his direction.

Seeing this, the Internal Affairs Knight naturally knew this was someone he couldn’t mess with, and quickly slipped away.

Richie walked up to Emily, and the two hugged.

The Internal Affairs Knight was clearly astonished, because Knights absolutely never went out of their way to be intimate with commoners of the opposite sex; it was a habit ingrained in them since childhood. However, the people around didn’t care in the slightest. Naturally, Richie’s relationship with these girls couldn’t be hidden from their eyes. Given their status, investigating the stories behind Richie and these girls was effortless. Thus, even an ardent feminist like Madame Shar turned a blind eye to it.

After his intimate greeting with Emily, Richie’s attention shifted to the Magitech Armors. He recognized all of them.

These were all considered highly successful standard Magitech Armors, among which was a ‘Valkyrie’. But what interested him more was a row of models placed nearby.

These were all perfectly scaled miniature models, about half a meter tall, looking like exquisitely crafted toys.

Richie walked over and fiddled with the models. Remarkably, every single component could be taken apart. The joints were movable, and the internal skeletal structure and seats were scaled down flawlessly.

He could only recognize about a third of them. These models were all older armor types, some even dating back centuries.

These armors had once dominated history for decades, causing countless slaughters while cementing many legends.

Of course, they were all standard armors.

After his conversation with Haigert, Richie specifically looked up military history. Indeed, just as Haigert had said, in the mid-to-late stages of a war, standard armors became the main force, while the miscellaneous, specialized armors gradually faded away.

“Does it take a lot of effort to make a model like this?” Richie asked Emily quietly.

“Not much effort. If I work fast, it takes a day; if slow, two or three days at most,” Emily said breezily.

Richie handed over the notebook in his hand. “Then help me make one too.”

“This is your design?” Emily took it and immediately flipped through it. “It’s quite pretty!”

This praise was somewhat insincere. Much like Richie in the beginning, Emily had gotten used to seeing the works of master craftsmen lately—especially the Norman Alliance’s new standard armor. It had left a deep impression on her mind: a successful standard armor must have a simple structure.

The thing Richie designed, at first glance, seemed as complicated as it could possibly be, almost as if it had been deliberately overcomplicated.

The two Great Craftsmen and the others all glanced at the notebook from the corners of their eyes. The convoluted structure immediately extinguished their interest. Only the pudgy Yiluo strolled over. He also felt that this complex design wasn’t suitable for standard armor, but the endless argument over there made him realize there wouldn’t be any conclusion anytime soon.

“It’s quite pretty. Your design?”

Like Emily, the pudgy man offered a perfunctory compliment. In his eyes, the only commendable thing about this armor was its appearance. He also doubted if it was Richie’s design. He figured that after being around them for so long, Richie should understand perfectly what made a flawless standard armor; he couldn’t have come up with such a baffling contraption.

The pudgy man even secretly suspected this was yet another design produced by one of Richie’s secret lovers, because the armor looked far too much like a girl’s creation.

“Let’s build it and see!” Emily was actually quite suspicious too, so her tone inevitably carried a hint of sourness.

Materials were nearby, piled up everywhere.

Richie watched as Emily manipulated a lump of white clay.

“What’s that?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Soft clay. We use this to sculpt the individual parts, then make plaster molds from them. Once we have the plaster molds, we cast the actual parts using molten tin. After trimming, polishing, and sometimes drilling holes, they’re ready to be assembled.” Emily explained as she worked. “Real Magitech Armors are roughly built the same way, just with many more steps.”

“But I don’t plan on doing it that way.”

Richie rummaged through the pile of materials, found a copper wire the thickness of a straw, and quickly began bending it.

To draw that diagram, he had stayed up until around two in the morning last night, so the impression was incredibly deep. He didn’t even need to look as he casually bent out the general outline.

He was bending the internal skeleton of the armor. This wasn’t someone else’s idea, but his own original concept. There was a time when straw weaving was extremely popular in Glasslovar, and he had learned the craft back then. While designing the armor last night, he inadvertently thought: could an internal skeleton be formed by bending a single continuous metal strip? That would eliminate tasks like casting and welding.

“How can you do that? Are you really treating this like a toy?” Emily complained.

“It’s not entirely impossible,” the pudgy Yiluo, standing nearby, managed to discern some merit in it. “Using weaving methods to create an internal skeleton—someone has done it before. Skeletons made this way are exceptionally lightweight, but the drawbacks are numerous. Bending the metal strip causes internal damage; if untreated, structural integrity is compromised. But treating it is too troublesome. Furthermore, a skeleton made this way requires additional reinforcement at stress concentration points, which means extra manufacturing steps. Unadvisable, unadvisable.”

The pudgy man shook his head repeatedly.

Richie ignored him completely. He skillfully bent the copper wire back and forth. For a copper wire this thick, an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to bend it without pliers. But in his hands, it was no different from a blade of cattail.

Soon, a rough shape emerged.

Yiluo, who was just shaking his head, gradually became focused.

This was not the kind of internal skeleton he had imagined. The skeleton before him wasn’t a single, rigid piece, but rather composed of three separate sections: chest-back, waist-abdomen, and pelvis, with each of the three sections overlapping one another.

Richie put down the woven skeleton, picked up a copper sheet with his left hand, and grabbed a pair of scissors with his right.

The pudgy Yiluo almost completely understood Richie’s train of thought. This time, all thoughts of contempt vanished. He took Richie’s design again and scrutinized it carefully.

“Laminated armor… someone seems to have used this before too. The performance is superb, but the manufacturing is a bit complicated.”

Suddenly, Yiluo’s eyes lit up. He gradually grasped Richie’s idea.

Following this line of thought, everything suddenly became clear to the pudgy man.

Soft joints, flexible load-bearing points, intricate and fragmented designs, flexible connections between the skeleton and the armor plates, a semi-soft spine, numerous parts that looked completely identical…

This was fundamentally an armor design with a complex structure but a simple manufacturing process.

The more Yiluo looked, the more he realized that mass-producing this Magitech Armor would actually be very simple. Most of the parts could be manufactured in town-level ironworks, and assembly wouldn’t be difficult because the parts could be carried by hand. The assembly workshop would only need a pushcart and a pulley system.

The only problem was that producing this armor would require a massive number of workers. However, during wartime, that hardly seemed like a problem at all.

The pudgy Yiluo stared intently at Richie. He really wanted to study the structure of this guy’s brain to see how he could come up with such an unfathomable design.

But one thing was certain: if this design could truly be realized, as the original designer, Richie would undoubtedly earn the title of an Honorary Master Craftsman.

Yiluo immediately walked toward his teacher, holding Richie’s design in his hand.

Richie, of course, had no idea his design had been taken away; he was still cutting the copper sheets.

Emily was beside him, taking the cut copper sheets and attaching them to the internal skeleton. She too increasingly felt that this design indeed had its rational points, not just because it looked good.

The two focused completely, and the model gradually took shape.

Since it was made of brass sheets, the model sparkled dazzlingly. Its exterior was already beautiful, and the blinding gold added an intimidating aura to it.

Looking at the gleaming, mirror-like model, Richie zoned out slightly.

He suddenly remembered something.

Something had been troubling him all along—how to handle his ultimate move, “Mirror Reflection.” Discarding it would be a huge waste, but not discarding it meant he couldn’t break his reliance on it, even though he already understood its limitations and dangers.

But right now, looking at the gleaming golden model, an idea popped into his head.

Why couldn’t he turn the armor plates all over his body into mirrored surfaces?

For others, doing so would be of little use, but for him, it would be entirely different.

His “Mirror Reflection” could still be put to use, only changing from reflecting other people’s attacks to enhancing his own defensive power.

As long as he added a thin layer of mirror-finish steel, he could wear Light Armor while possessing the defensive capabilities of Heavy Armor, or even stronger.

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. He couldn’t wait to find an armor to test it out.

Richie couldn’t help but look around, only to realize that at some point, Espol and the others were standing nearby.

“You designed this? Very beautiful.”

When the elderly Great Craftsman spoke, he echoed Emily and Yiluo. However, there was absolutely no insincerity in his words. Even though he already understood the design philosophy of this armor, his first reaction upon seeing it was still its beauty, because that trait was simply too prominent.

Although this was plagiarizing someone else’s work, Richie didn’t mind at all.

“My family makes clothes. Although building Magitech Armor and making clothes are two different things, many aspects remain common.” Richie brazenly took the credit, anticipating further praise from Espol.

Unfortunately, the old man just stood there frowning, lost in thought. Madame Shar did the same, while the others either pondered in silence or whispered among themselves.

Richie was deeply disappointed.

He didn’t know that these Great Craftsmen and Masters were actively perfecting his design in their minds and conducting a preliminary evaluation of its feasibility.

Truth be told, this thing he rushed out in half a night couldn’t be considered a true design; it could only be called an accumulation of concepts. To turn it into a real design, there was still a very long road ahead.

But what Espol, Madame Shar, and the others needed were exactly these kinds of concepts that could provide them with inspiration.

Half an hour later, Madame Shar was the first to snap out of it. She patted Richie’s shoulder with her parasol. “Kid, interested in changing careers? The Knight profession is far too dangerous, and there’s really no technical skill to speak of.”

The librarian-like uncle standing nearby coughed repeatedly, seemingly reminding the old lady of his presence.

“I plan to give this design to her.” Richie pulled Emily over. “There shouldn’t be any problem using this as her competition entry, right?”

Casually giving away a design concept and treating honor as nothing was an absolute insult to Magitech Armor manufacturers. Hearing this, several Masters were already preparing to lecture Richie, but they immediately remembered Madame Shar was present.

Everyone knew that this old lady, who had never married in her life, was ironically extremely sensitive to matters of love and romance.

Sure enough, the old lady didn’t say a word, offering her tacit approval. Naturally, the others didn’t dare say anything either; they were afraid that if they misspoke, that parasol would come crashing down on their heads. The old lady had always had a terrible temper, and her status among Magitech Armor manufacturers was exceedingly high, so they would just be beaten for nothing.

“It’s a pity, this design is only suitable for Light Armor,” Espol muttered to himself.

“I believe this war will be the stage for Light Armors to show their prowess,” Richie said casually.

Espol paused. He stared at Richie and asked seriously, “Why do you think so?”

Now Richie was in a bit of a bind. He wasn’t talking nonsense; his recent operation had given him this exact realization. The problem was the gag order from above.

“This… this involves some military secrets,” Richie shrugged.

Espol knew that Squad 105 had recently headed south with the investigation team, and he also knew that upon returning, most of the squad ended up in the hospital. With his experience, he naturally could guess what had happened.

He turned and waved at an Internal Affairs official in the distance, who immediately ran over.

Espol whispered a few words into the official’s ear. The official glanced at Richie, looked extremely troubled, and ran off. About fifteen minutes later, he came running back, holding a formal order.

With this lifting of the gag order, Richie could finally state his reasons. Of course, Emily had to leave, because she was not included within the scope of the declassification.

“Not long ago, our squad executed a mission. Without any supplies, we marched nearly two thousand kilometers. Originally, we worried that a long-distance raid would be very difficult, but the reality proved it to be very easy. Furthermore, I personally experienced the Battle of Morena. In that instance, because we failed to detect the enemy’s long-distance raid, we were put in an extremely passive position right from the start, ultimately leading to a disadvantage in the overall battle situation.”

“I suspect that long-distance raids and ultra-long-distance raid missions will become more and more frequent in the upcoming war. And what this kind of combat requires is exactly agile, lightweight, and highly mobile Light Armors. During this operation, I felt that the role of Medium Armors wasn’t obvious; instead, they were somewhat burdensome, dragging down the overall operation.”

Espol suddenly developed a profound interest in this operation.

A good Magitech Armor manufacturer absolutely possessed a deep understanding of warfare. Someone like Espol had a grasp of war that was hardly inferior to those high-level staff officers in the military.

Therefore, when he heard that a completely new tactic had emerged, his first thought was to figure out the details.

“There should be records of this operation, right?” Espol wasn’t entirely sure, because he knew many secret operations kept no records for fear that if the mission failed, the records would fall into enemy hands.

“Yes,” Richie replied. At the very least, he had submitted the records when he returned. As for whether the higher-ups had destroyed those records, that was not something he could be certain of.

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