When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 712 The Secret of the Hollow Earth
As the chief of the gendarmerie, Rafael could not keep Leonardo for too long. After all, after inventing the hydraulic winding mechanism and clockwork cannon, he had become a senior engineer at the Royal Academy of Engineering of the Mechanical Palace.

Leonardo said goodbye to Rafael and walked out of the cafe and onto the sidewalk outside.

Pulling his hat down to block the wind and frost, the military police guards outside immediately arrived and stood beside Leonardo.

Considering that several senior engineers and dwarven craftsmen of the Holy Court were attacked and robbed after the New Year's Eve dinner, Horn had to step up his protection of them.

Looking up, Leonardo looked at the city in front of him.

The red sun reflected the rays of light from the stained glass, casting a golden red glow on the river and the bridgehead.

The channel of the Para River was crowded with ferries. The boatman stood at the bow and yelled at the top of his voice. The boats carrying vegetables, cargo and people collided with each other, creating ripples on the water.

But there were always one or two small boats that could accurately pass through the gaps between the ships and disappear from sight before the insults caught up.

It was already past six in the morning, and there were many more people going to work than before.

These groups of workers gathered at the dock, waiting for the next ferry to the factory area downstream.

They wore thick velvet hats, tweed coats, woolen scarves and gloves, and their thick beards or sideburns trembled as they shouted.

With the influx of massive amounts of wool from Gravelfield and yarn from South Moundshire, the garment industry in the Holy See also flourished.

Combined with the workers' not-so-low wages and indulgences, almost everyone could afford a tweed coat to keep warm in the winter.

The low price of wool allows women to knit a wool vest or scarf for their husbands, fathers or brothers at home.

In such a cold winter, the workers took off their coats and scarves, ran to the green grass nearby, posed and started doing push-ups.

To be precise, the knight breathing method is practiced by using push-ups or single and double bars.

With the development of pickled meats and rich forest and fishery resources in mountainous areas, it is normal for citizens to have meat for one meal a day, although not every meal has meat.

Maybe just a few eggs and two sausages, but enough for the average person to learn at least one section of the breathing technique.

Basically every day they would set aside twenty minutes to an hour to practice breathing techniques. After all, the invading sword of the Kingdom of Leia was hanging over their heads and no one knew when it would fall.

If necessary, they will take up swords, put on armor and fight for their country.

It is precisely because of the huge threat posed by Leia and the Ni Army that almost everyone in Qianhe Valley is practicing breathing techniques and learning military knowledge.

In rural areas, during the winter when farming is idle, the captains of the crusaders would call out the villagers to practice marching in formation, spearmanship, breathing techniques, and some knowledge on identifying terrain directions.

These captains of the crusades are basically the place where disabled retired veterans are placed.

Of course, some of them were arranged to be mail coach drivers or public coach drivers.

Just like the driver of the public carriage that Leonardo is about to take, he is an old black champion retired soldier.

Standing next to the bell at the bridge head, a two-story carriage pulled by two chestnut horses slowly approached.

Looking at the seven or eight scholars and monks sitting in the carriage, Leonardo smiled and greeted them: "Laune, you are a little late today."

"There was a blind thief who wanted to steal something, but I shot him and broke his leg. That was why we spent a lot of time." Laune raised the brim of his hat, "Get in the car."

Leonardo got on the carriage with his briefcase, but he did not pay any money. As a senior engineer, he could ride public transportation for free.

If you are an ordinary craftsman or engineer, you will have to pay about half a dinar for the fare.

After getting on the carriage, Leonardo saw an old acquaintance: "Mr. Kelburn, what a coincidence, why are you here so early today?"

Maester Kelburn was used to working at night due to his previous hiding. He was a night owl.

So he always went to work in the afternoon and returned home in the early morning. It was quite rare to meet this alchemist at such an early time.

Kelben raised his head with bloodshot eyes, and seeing that it was Leonardo, he showed his rotten yellow teeth and gave a creepy smile: "What a coincidence, Leonardo."

Although Leonardo belonged to Senius's camp, he was not Senius's true student after all.

Therefore, the bad relationship between Senius and Kerburn did not affect Leonardo's friendship with Kerburn.

After all, when Leonardo was designing and manufacturing machinery, whenever he encountered any material problems, he would either ask alchemists or dwarves to solve them.

Squeezing to Kerr's side, a strong smell of tobacco and coffee entered my nose.

Leonardo sniffed and asked uncertainly, "Did you stay up all night? Or is it the problem with the hollow soil?"

"Smart guy... Ugh, cough, cough..." Maester Kelburn started coughing violently with a hoarse voice as soon as he opened his mouth. Leonardo hurriedly patted his back.

Pushing Leonardo's hand away, Maester Kelben calmed down before continuing, "I spent the whole night studying yesterday and finally solved the problem of hollow soil!"

The so-called hollow soil is the gravity anomaly caused by the red soil that Horn had collected in Black Snake Bay before.

Even Leonardo was excited now: "You are such a genius. Can I ask you what hollow soil is all about?"

"Hehe, my friend, before I tell Her Highness Shilov and His Majesty, you are not qualified to hear its secrets." Kelben proudly raised his chin and pouted his lower lip. "I can only say that other alchemists have always thought that it is the same as swamp soil, with only peat in it, but you know what? They are wrong."

After saying this, Kerben revealed a mysterious smile, which made Leonardo feel itchy.

You know, any new breakthrough in his machinery depends to a large extent on breakthroughs in materials and power.

With curiosity hard to give up, Leonardo simply did not go to the Engineering Academy, but followed Kerr to the Mechanical Palace.

"Is Your Majesty up?" Kelben asked the guard at the door.

"Your Majesty is having breakfast..."

"Who else is dining with us?" Kelben interrupted the guard at the door.

"Um, Her Highness Shiloh and His Excellency Senius..."

"Wu - it feels so good." Before the waiter could finish his words, Kelben rubbed his hands and rushed into the door impatiently.

Looking at the guard's confused eyes, Leonardo had no choice but to nod politely, picked up Kelburn's heavy suitcase, and walked into the yard with difficulty.

When he arrived at the restaurant sweating profusely, he saw Horn wiping his mouth helplessly and turning his body to Kelben: "Okay, okay, I won't eat anymore. Go ahead and talk. I'm listening."

"Your Majesty, the task you assigned to me has been completed." Kelben opened his arms, "I have cracked the secret of the hollow earth and extracted more than one kind of metal, some of which have never appeared in this world!

At this time, someone wrote in a paper, "Metal ores can only grow in hard rock mountains!"
Who is it? Who is it? Well, guess who?

Oh, it turns out that it is our learned and great scholar, Sir Senius, who thinks he knows everything!"

Without looking at Senius, whose face had turned from copper-green to iron-black, Horn suppressed his laughter and turned to look at Kerben: "You know I require the results to be reproducible, right?"

"Of course, I replicated it three times, all successfully." Kelben turned around, took the suitcase from Leonardo, put it directly on the ground and opened it.

Inside were various soybean-sized or fist-sized pieces of metal that were shiny but unrecognizable.

"Wait." Horn suddenly stood up from his chair. He walked quickly forward and picked up a piece of metal: "This... this is... Mithril?!"

(End of this chapter)