Mixed Blessing System

Upon hearing Gomeric's question, Lothur put his doubts aside and replied. "Viktoria naturally knows everything and agrees."

"Oh? The Frost family sees no problem with you being so close to someone in our family?" Elke's father asked, curious to know the status of this young man in that organization.

"Besides Viktoria and Annaliese, no one else knows about Elke and me..."

Hilda realized that Lothur seemed to be not so close to House Frost and tried to prospect further. "Sounds like you're not so comfortable there, huh? Have you ever thought about leaving that family? It can be hard for a son-in-law to do that, but there are alternatives..."

Lothur negatively shook his head. "I have thought about it, but since I have a perfect relationship with my sister-in-law, I no longer see myself doing that."

Elke closed her eyes as she heard this, annoyed that he considered Annaliese so much.

'Hmm, that makes sense... So, the second Miss Frost seems to be as close to him as our daughter...' Hilda remembered the information about those three walking around Peters City together.

"Then, you are already connected to House Frost..." Gomeric sighed.

Lothur realized the problem and then asked. "Is there any enmity between the Frost and Becker families?"

"No, but there is not a friendship either..." The patriarch did not want to say much since this matter did not concern the younger generation.

Lothur and Elke were just two children in this man's eyes, two people without much talent, who probably would not need to worry about such thorny matters.

In this case, leaving them out of the local plots was the best. Besides, in his view, even if there were problems, the simple friendship of these two did not have much potential to be affected by these issues. Hence, he calmly answered without showing the troubling reality that the Frost family was in.

Lothur then commented. "There isn't a friendship, but does that mean there can't be one? I'm sure even enemies can sit at the same table with the right incentives."

Gomeric smiled, seeing that this little friend of his daughter's had something more than just his good looks. "Indeed, when it's convenient, forming new friendships isn't bad..."

Hilda then asked. "But what would be a good incentive for that, young Lothur? The good relationship between two juniors is not enough to move whole families."

As he tasted some of the food on his plate, Lothur thought for a moment as he was watched by those two, and Elke touched one of his thighs. He then said. "Well, I don't get involved in the affairs of the Frost family, so I don't know what they might have to forge a friendship with House Becker."

"But I am willing to use some of my plans to help that family on Anna's behalf." He looked into Hilda's eyes and said. "It's some of those plans that could become that incentive."

"Oh?" The couple made an equal sound, surprised by the confidence of the young mortal in front of them.

'Is he talking about that technique Elke said she was learning from him?' Hilda remembered the previous conversation.

Gomeric remembered that since that was why he already liked Lothur and even welcomed this young man so well at this dinner.

Lothur then said. "I don't want to sound too confident, but I have plans to revolutionize some aspects of daily life in our province."

"Elke already knows one of my intentions, but I have other projects in mind."

The two looked at Elke, and this woman then said. "Lothur wants to use our city's transportation problem to develop his own business."

'So, that's it...' The two realized that Lothur had also noticed the local transportation problem.

Obviously, every significant organization in this place knew about it. After all, they had watched this place for hundreds of years at the very least. So, how could they not notice something so simple that even a young man like Lothur could see after only a few days in this place?

It would be ridiculous to think that he had such incredible eyesight that only he would notice such an opportunity...

But all the local powers and even those in the capital had failed to solve or take advantage of the transportation problem. So, Gomeric asked. "Young Lothur, why do you think you can succeed at this?"

He did not believe that an ordinary young man of his daughter's age would be able to take advantage of this opportunity. But since he had a good impression of Lothur and did not want to offend a friend of Elke's for so little, he decided to take a 'soft' approach.

Hilda agreed with how her husband handled it and watched the young man smiling beside Elke.

"I think I will succeed because I will solve the problem that prevented my predecessors from taking advantage of this opportunity. The high costs!" He said as he placed his forks on the table and gestured.

"Hmm, the problem of the high cost of maintaining carriages and animals is the biggest obstacle to that..." Gomeric commented on this point that many surveys had caused local powers to give up trying to get involved in local transportation.

"Yes, keeping animals, two, three employees to maintain a single carriage, and other costs make it difficult." Lothur thoughtfully looked at the couple in front of him. "But it just so happens that I have the method for something that will completely replace the use of animal power in the means of transportation in Concordia!"

"I don't yet have the test vehicle to prove my point to you since it takes time to do that, and I only recently got the minimum to begin with. But I already have a model that proves my point."

"You already have?" Elke asked in surprise since, unlike Annaliese, she had not been following Lothur's progress on this.

He looked at her and smiled. "Yes, I will have a miniature to test my project in about a month. But by now, I have become a 1-star formation master and have produced the first model."

Elke's parents watched the two curiously, positively surprised to discover that Lothur was a formation master. But not only that, it seemed that his plans regarding this matter were going very well, or he would not speak so much to them.

'Is this young man the real deal, or is he trying to impress us?' Gomeric pondered on this. 'Well, he said all that to show us this so-called model. So let's see what it is.'

"Can you show it to us, Lothur?" He asked.

Lothur smiled upon hearing this and not only decided to take the piston model connected to the previous wheel but also put on the glove he produced earlier.

He walked away from that table and then said. "Patriarch, this is the first model of the automatic motor that will be in each of my vehicles in the future."

"That may look simple at the moment, but that's because I don't have the miniature of my vehicle to make something more sophisticated. But I will have it in a few weeks."

"So, if you are interested, I can show you my project again when I put the inscriptions on that miniature." He said as he put the wheel on the ground.

"Oh?"

"Well, I don't mind seeing your project when it is closer to the final product. You know, right? I'm not an expert, so I have a less abstract idea of what I'm seeing to understand your product." Gomeric commented as he dubiously looked at the thing.

Meanwhile, Hilda and Elke were watching Lothur with curiosity, especially this young redhead, since she knew how capable her lover was.

But as Lothur prepared himself, husband and wife did not fail to notice that his glove looked a bit special.

'What is it? I've never seen something like that with those properties...' Gomeric probed that with his spiritual sense.

He could not see the information that Lothur could see with the system. But he could feel some of the main characteristics of the glove on one of this young man's hands.

Lothur then began. "Patriarch, by using this cylindrical device with the formations I have inscribed, I can generate a force that will move this wheel."

He then pressed on the symbol for the movement to begin, making the typical piston motion appear in that makeshift syringe, slowly moving that wheel.

Then, under the stares of those three, he pressed another symbol, slowly stopping the piston movement, resulting in the wheel's speed slowing down.

Gomeric felt uncomfortable watching that and moved around in his chair, trying to find a more comfortable position. "Let me get this straight. Is your idea to make the wheels of a carriage move by themselves? With this device?"

Lothur looked at him and nodded.

"But..." Gomeric felt that, while interesting, it was fragile. "Will that little device of yours hold up? I mean, carriages are heavy, and we cultivators are not light either. Even some mortals can considerably increase the weight of a vehicle..."

"I understand what the patriarch means..." Lothur was not uncomfortable with that man's doubt. "But this thing I'm showing you is just an initial model. I improvised it myself, so it is truly fragile."

"But in the future, I will have carpenters and blacksmiths producing the components of my vehicles. Also, a vehicle will have many devices similar to this one..." He raised the syringe in one of his hands.

"Oh?" Elke's parents' eyes widened in interest.

Hilda then commented. "That's interesting. But I want to see that miniature you said before we see if this can be the incentive to move noble families..."

She then smiled and looked at the glove on one of Lothur's hands. "But I am interested in knowing more about it. Where did you buy it?"

...