Chapter 239

If you head east from the capital of the Yuri  Empire, the Divine City of Yuritania, there is the city of Ulysses, a lost city that is always crowded with explorers using the Labyrinth.

The distance between the two cities is only 20 kilometers, which is close enough that you can get there in less than two hours by using the regular horse-drawn carriages, or you can walk for about five hours if you want to.

However, the trade route between the two cities gets muddy when it rains, making it somewhat difficult to travel by carriage or on foot. There seemed to be a problem with the geology of the area, and Yuri was having a hard time dealing with it.

However, every time Yuri hears about it from the merchants, such as Rubetta, Ados, Erin, and Aurence, she always feels that she has to do something about it.

It is for this reason that Yuri has asked the children of the three troops bearing the name of the rose―――the <Red Rose>, the <Yellow Rose>, and the <Blue Rose>―――to try and lay out a trade route.

Yuri knows that she can leave the laying of trade routes to <Kikyou>, the construction team, and they will complete it perfectly. <Kikyou> tends to have her hands full just engaging in city building.

If the children of the <Red Rose>, <Yellow Rose>, and <Blue Rose>, who are combat troops, can lay down trade routes without any problems. Yuri hoped that the development and maintenance of the country would be able to proceed at a faster pace than now.

There are a total of four surrounding villages on the outskirts of the two cities of Yuritania and Ulysses.

There are four of them:『 Notoku 』, which is mainly engaged in animal breeding;『 Shirin 』, which is mainly engaged in forestry;『 Erat 』, which specializes only in agriculture; and『 Kolt 』, which raises and breeds horses.

Of these, the trade route from the capital city of Yuritania to Notoku was entrusted to the <Red Rose>, the trade route to Shirin to the <Yellow Rose>, and the trade route to Erat to the <Blue Rose>. ―――Recently, there has been a development in this.

As a matter of fact, until the first half of this month, that is, around the 20th day of the spring month, it seems that the laying of the trade route, which is being done by each of the three units through trial and error, was not going well at all.

It seems that they were able to use spirit magic and sorcery to lay a road that was solid enough. Within a few days, the road surface was cracked, and in some cases, it even caved in.

There was no way that a defective road that could cause problems in just a few days could withstand regular use.

However, no matter how many times the road was rebuilt, the same problems kept occurring.

What saved the day were the children of <Kikyou>, who had just finished their 20-day vacation ordered by Yuri.

They observed the three troops laying out the trade route and immediately recognized that the defective road surface was caused by the fact that they had only built the top of the road.

―――When Yuri received that report, she also thought, (I see.)

A road is only stable when it is built in layers. For example, a road that is often used in Japan has four to six layers in its structure.

It is not as simple as simply laying down asphalt to complete a road. It is well known that if such a rough construction is used, the road surface will soon collapse on itself due to the inability to withstand the traffic load.

Yuri, who used to work for a landscaping company when she was living in modern Japan, naturally had some knowledge of the subject. So, Yuri immediately understood what Kikyo meant.

After receiving advice from <Kikyou> children, the three teams first dug down into the ground where the trade route was to be laid, and used magic and sorcery to construct a hard, compacted roadbed about one meter thick, like sand that had been plastered.

On top of that, a roadbed half as thick as the roadbed is built, and a base layer is also built on top.

Finally, a less uneven surface layer was added to make it possible for carriages to travel without swaying. For the first time, the troops were able to successfully build a trade route.

With the help of Rubetta and Ados, the three units have completed their trade routes, and have had their wagons loaded with goods run along with them many times. So far, no problems seem to have occurred.

Thinking that this might be practical, Yuri ordered three units to work together to build a trade route from Yuritania to Kolt.

Yuri also asked <Kikyou> children not to interfere in any way with the work, just to make sure that the three units could do it on their own.

The village of Kolt is located almost exactly 20 kilometers south of Yuritania.

With the cooperation of the three units of the <Red Rose>, <Yellow Rose>, and <Blue Rose>, the trade route for that 20km stretch was completed within just four days of the start of work.

Of course, we have been checking the durability of the wagons on this trade route by sending them back and forth with full loads. So far, no problems have arisen at all.

The fact that they can lay out the trade route at a pace of 5km per day is a great improvement.

If this is the case―――it would be interesting to have them try a larger trade route.

Thinking so, Yuri immediately contacted Fleur, the governor of the Republic of Aneka.