“Well, you wasted no time in getting to the point,” Alan said.
“You are welcome to place Moira in charge,” Chris told me. “Get mother as involved as you can. We’ll need her influence to help spread the word.”
The only ones who said anything in response were my brothers. Rex was too busy laughing at everyone’s horror to do anything useful. Brad was only here in his capacity as a valet so he couldn’t contribute to discussions pertaining to the company...but even he was laughing.
“Glen, you were a traveling merchant, yes?” I pushed forward with my speech regardless. There was no time for dillydallying. If I took too long, I’d end up forgetting everything I wanted to bring up.
“Yes, Lady Deirdre,” Glen managed.
“In the countries to the south, is there any tree sap with strong elasticity?”
“What? Uh, I’ve heard that there is something like that in a small country far to the south, beyond Luftanen.”
“Acquire a sample, please.”
“O-Okay...” he stammered, clearly still flustered.
“The underwear women have to wear right now are a pain to deal with, and I’ve heard that it gets freezing cold during the winter soirees in the capital. Unmarried men likely have no idea what the underwear situation is like, but there are a lot of girls whose legs are bare. So I say we do away with bloomers and make way for stockings that cover your legs up to the thigh.”
It would be impossible to make tights or pantyhose like we had back home, but surely some thin stockings would be fine. For the panties, they could use the granny-style ones that went up to your belly button. I would make sure that they encased our bottoms so well that they felt like girdles. Without that, the uptight noblewomen would never wear them.
In this world, women rarely showed even their ankles until they were married. Lightly touching an unmarried woman could be enough to get someone a right telling off, even if it was only their shoulder or hand. Now imagine a man in a society like that lifting his wife’s dress to discover formfitting underwear and a garter belt instead of the usual bloomers! The birth rate would skyrocket.
“Are you all keeping up?” Chris asked the room, chuckling slightly in a way that lightened the mood.
“I’m starting to think I need to focus my full attention on this meeting,” Glen said.
Hugh nodded enthusiastically to Glen’s response. “This is amazing, honestly. I’m glad I came.”
At least the two merchants had managed to quickly adjust to the conversation. You can do it too, our former valets.
“Chris, you managed to get the kitchen built in the company annex, didn’t you?” I asked.
“Mm-hmm, just as you requested. We’ve also carefully selected several cooks to work there.”
“I want us to have a proper store eventually, so once the first cooks have learned the recipes, have them teach the others,” I instructed.
“A store?” Chris asked. “Shall we reserve some land for it?”
“Not yet. We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves before we’ve even finished building our new company headquarters.”
“That’s true. Where shall we begin, then?”
“There is one thing I wish to get started on with haste!” I excitedly raised my hand and announced, “I want to modify our carriages.”
“But...what happened to everything else you just suggested?” Chris’s brow was wrinkled.
“What part of them are we modifying?” Moira asked.
“I want to get rid of the wheels.”
I truly had a talent for bringing conversations to a standstill.
“No more horses either.”
“But then it’s not a carriage!”
Perfect comeback, Miss Moira. I think I’m gonna like you.
“I’m going to summon my spirit beasts, so don’t be scared, okay?” After that warning, I had my beasts materialize.
“Oh my... These are much bigger than the spirit beasts I’ve seen before,” Glen marveled.
“I’ve never seen one so close before,” Hugh said, eyes wide with a similar fascination.
They were looking at my beasts in amazement, but they had their own spirits too. Glen was a commoner, yet he had an earth spirit and a wind spirit. Our domain was slowly becoming a haven for these little guys.
“Your spirits are always floating around, right? Well, beasts can do that too.” At my command, Ifri and Levvy both floated off the ground. “They can make me float too.” My body rose into the air while I remained in a seated position. “And they can levitate the sofa.” They floated the sofa that Alan occupied until I too sat on it, in midair. “So they should be able to float a carriage. Right?”
Ifri and Levvy were nodding in agreement, and above them, my two other little balls of light moved up and down in unison. It seemed they were starting to gain their own sense of self, so I’d need to forbid them from entering the baths with me from now on.
“You’re kidding,” muttered Nick, the sly-looking, bespectacled valet.
That’s how you speak? I didn’t realize you’d just be a normal guy.
“May I ask some questions?” Hugh spoke up then.
“Of course. Status is of no importance here. Speak whatever is on your mind.” Chris circled around behind our chairs and settled himself on a love seat there.
“Okay. In that case, could I first ask if the maximum possible height is about where you’re floating now?”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “We aren’t flying, just floating. I want to make it possible to move smoothly across rough terrain. If we want to fly up to high places, we’ll need to establish aviation laws.”
“Aviation laws?” Hugh repeated.
Chris’s eyes lit up in understanding. “Oh, of course. It wouldn’t be good if, say, military bases ended up being trespassed on. If castle walls can be flown over, then there’s no reason for them to exist. We’d have to create no-fly zones around the imperial palace and the castle.”
His fast-working mind really made conversation so much smoother.
“I see, I see.” Glen was nodding.
“What is the mana capacity required for floating?” asked Hugh.