372 – Leisure Time

Sundays are difficult days to translate, you know that 😛

Anyway, here’s 372, 373 and 374 coming soon.

I had some doubts about the cards here. Since tbh, I don’t remember the last set of cards that Soraya made, but from the context, the first ones were ones with pictures of “knight”, “archer”, etc, sort of an strategy game, the new one is poker, and i went to check about the number of cards used in Fight the Landlord and noticed it also uses the two jokers (Hence, the 54 cards).

Enjoy. And I also want to welcome all the qi readers posting here, everyone know who they are (:

 

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A week later, Border Town received the last month of autumn with a heavy snowfall.

As Roland walked towards the window to observe the sight outside the office, he could see contrasting figures over the white and snowy roofs moving busily—it was a work that the townspeople needed to do every day, shovel the snow from the rooftops, in order to avoid it crushing them down.

To this date, it had been one full year since he came to this world, this time it is extremely cold compared to last year’s autumn, and from here, last year’s view was not so crowded with all those orderly-placed houses.

It was no surprise that there was talk about the town being abandoned back then. Surrounding the public plaza, there were some round, seemingly presentable cabins, but further out, they were all houses practically in ruins and thatched huts. The residences of the nobles were also mostly concentrated in the plaza area, and the only stone road was the one leading from the plaza to the castle, aside from those locations, the rest of the town was not really located in flat ground per se, and excrement from either people or animals could be seen everywhere.

But now, all the roads were transformed into secure ones resistant to water—even without a layer covering them, the roads were firm and had a very good quality. These dark lines divided the silvery-white town into squares of different sizes; The sides of the wide main road were planned to be used as a business district in the future, with a residential area in its outskirts.

Adding to that, Border Town’s industry had gradually began to take form, or more accurately, the workshop’s production finally achieved a self-sustaining manufacturing line—of course, this was only limited to the steam engine so far. The blast furnace area can produce enough iron ingots to satisfy the manufacturing needs, while in the steam engine factory, they can be processed into parts and components.

The blacksmiths were no longer a stranger to all the new kinds of machinery tools, which in turn led to a large number of apprentices joining, and although the steam engine bases, which needed to be highly precise, still relied on Anna to make them, Roland thought they were taking a step forward nonetheless. After all, the only tool this group of people had ever touched was the blacksmith’s hammer, or they were simply just miners or hunters.

But this was almost like saying that the workers were manufacturing the steam engines on their own.

In addition, ordinary people also took care of all the arrangements necessary during the production of bullets and gunpowder. The guns themselves still needed Anna to produce them personally, all of this, just because the town’s blast furnace was unable to produce a consistent quality of steel, but this issue was already among the problems Roland would be solving in the next stage of his plans.

The chemical breakthroughs were much more surprising, since he honestly did not expect much from them, any outcome was an unexpected joy. Sulfuric acid and nitric acid had now begun production, and the chemical explosives were also being made, so as long as the bullet production increases, the implementation of the new generation’s repeaters was not that far in the future.

It was not important that the method of production was a little primitive, by taking into account the town’s current situation, it was far more important to solve the problem. And until Paper’s ability stabilizes, and she can precisely control her own magic, maybe then, the industry can reach a new peak.

In essence, no matter whether it was production, education, or construction, Border Town was now walking the path of a favorable development phase. So long as time was enough, the growing number of educated people would bring about breakthroughs in all areas faster and faster.

He turned a barren land into what it is today in the span of only one year, this gave Roland a sense of accomplishment deep within his heart. As he stared at the town from the window, Roland felt like he could spend the whole day doing this.

At this moment, he heard a clear ringing bell sound coming from the northwest, a warning indicating the attack of the demonic beasts.

After the arrival of the Months of Demons, the alarm rang once every three or four days. But the way the First Army dealt with this situation was already perfect, and Roland no longer needed to go to the walls himself to supervise the battle—although only a year ago, he felt like if he didn’t show up and was in sight of the militia’s eyes, they might have dropped their weapon and fled in terror.

“Another demonic beast attack, you want me to go take a look?” Nightingale’s voice resounded near his ear.

“Please,” Roland nodded, “but take care.”

“Don’t worry, they can’t touch me.”

As he heard these words, he felt a warm and gentle touch on his cheek, followed by the voice gradually vanishing in the distance.

Roland helplessly shook his head. In such a snowy day, the witches were probably bored, so she might just be looking for something to do, with the excuse of observing the situation. Especially, the several combat witches brought to the town by Tilly, at times like this, they would be the first ones to go to the wall and watch, and in the case of some hybrid species of demonic beasts reaching the wall and trying to climb it, they could show off their skills. After she heard of this, it also piqued Nightingale’s interest, and as soon as the bell rang, she would also go to the wall, maybe looking to compete with someone and finding out who was the strongest combat witch.

Roland gave out a long sigh, If only she were this interested in her studies.

However, since by fighting shoulder to shoulder, the understanding between ordinary people and witches could be improved, he decided against stopping them. The current revolving rifle used was effective against ordinary demonic beasts, but when facing the wolf-lion hybrid species, it still lacked in firepower. Therefore, by having a powerful combat witch watching over the scene, a stable line of defense could be created, effectively reducing the likelihood of casualties the army might suffer.

An example of this was that, so far, the First Army have not had a single death in battle.

Nightingale’s departure amused Roland, finding out that the combat witches had found their own entertainment. However, the support witches on the other hand, did not have many fun things to do. So maybe, it was time for him to create some recreational activities for them.

After thinking up to this point, he called for Soraya.

“Your Highness, do you have a new job for me?”

Soraya, the painter who had made great contributions to Border Town, seemed to be in high spirits, the freckles on her face along with her refreshing smile gave off a childish vitality that she did nothing to conceal.

Her unexpected question made Roland feel slightly sorry, Why do I suddenly feel a sense of guilt?

“Uhh, have you been busy with your work recently?”

“No, why do you ask?” Soraya moved aside the hair on her forehead with her hand, “Since there have been fewer people working at the factory lately, my coating work can be completed in half a day, although it was somewhat busy when Mr. Kyle, the master alchemist, came with the strange metal boxes…” as she said this, she paused for a moment and with a smile plastered on her face, she continued, “But comparing this to the days in which we had to spend camping in the Cooperation Association, I very much prefer this fulfilling life I lead now, and I’m also very happy that my ability can be of help to you.”

Oh… her smile is quite dazzling.

Roland couldn’t help feeling sinful thoughts about to emerge, cough, cough, “I called you here to draw some new cards.”

“More collectible cards?”

“No, you’re probably already tired of them,” he waved with his hand, “After all, the rules are very simple, and if you know the cards in your opponent’s hand, you can pretty much take advantage of it.”

“Yeah, there’s that…”

“Take a look, the new cards are like this one, fairly simple,” he pulled out a piece of paper and drew a rough sketch on it, “they are divided into four colors, from one to 13, with the last being a king and a queen, and including two jokers, red and black, gives a total of 54 cards.”

The current ability of Soraya had made huge leaps in progress, after drawing directly on the bottom of the sketch, quickly, rigid cards made out of coating was produced, “What kind of game do you play with these?”

“It has many ways of being played, but let’s start with something simple,” Roland tried touching the cards, and immediately felt a familiar sensation from before coming to this word. At New Year, the usual routine a family had was, sitting with their feet inside a hot barrel, watching the Spring Festival show, playing poker all night, and igniting firecrackers until the first light of dawn peaked out, welcoming the arrival of the spring.

Compared with another traditional game like mahjong, playing poker did not require a special table, all you needed to start playing was a board to place the cards, and its gameplay was very diverse, making it one of the most popular games in the world.

“Go and call for Anna,” Roland smiled and said, “I will teach you how to play ‘Fight the Landlord’.”

 

 

 

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