"Wow! Let’s go!"
Lenny threw his fist into the air excitedly.
The cold wind brushed against his face as he leaned halfway out of the window, his eyes shining with excitent while Rogers calmly drove the Phantom Rolls around the large field surrounding Ezra’s mansion.
The black vehicle moved smoothly across the now snow-covered ground.
Its wheels rolled steadily.
Its body remained stable.
Even at higher speeds, the carriage showed none of the awkward shaking common among many Steam Carriages.
"The car is moving perfectly, Master."
Lucy said with a satisfied smile.
Her gaze followed the Phantom Rolls as it circled around the field.
Not long ago, it had only existed as drawings and calculations scattered across workshop tables.
Now it was real.
And sohow it looked even better than the image she had built inside her head.
Ezra sat beneath a large umbrella.
The long handle had been pushed deep into the soil beside his chair.
Above him, the wide canopy blocked the snowfall that had gradually begun covering the mansion grounds in white.
His eyes remained fixed on the moving vehicle.
"It ca out well."
His reply was calm, almost too casual.
Yet his eyes lingered on the Phantom Rolls longer than usual.
There are still things I would’ve liked to add.
Ezra thought quietly.
His gaze drifted across the vehicle.
The suspension could be improved, also the engine could beco quieter and I could have made the interior to be more advanced.
Several ideas imdiately surfaced within his mind.
Unfortunately...
Going too far would ruin the purpose behind this invention.
The entire point was to create sothing groundbreaking while remaining believable.
Anything beyond that would draw unnecessary attention.
The Phantom Rolls continued moving across the field.
Rogers skillfully guided the vehicle through several turns before smoothly bringing it toward Ezra and Lucy.
The carriage gradually slowed, then stopped perfectly in front of them.
The engine quietly settled.
Rogers switched it off.
The sudden silence made the earlier engine noise feel even more impressive.
"This is really cool."
Lenny jumped out imdiately.
His face carried the satisfaction of a craftsman who had personally participated in the creation of sothing remarkable.
His eyes repeatedly moved over the vehicle.
The front.
The doors.
The polished body.
Every part made him want to look again.
"I don’t know what you plan on doing with this invention once the whole of Britannia sees it."
Rogers stepped out of the driver’s seat.
This ti, his expression beca noticeably serious.
The usual cheerful smile disappeared.
"For soone with talent like yours, you shouldn’t settle for less."
His voice carried genuine concern.
"I’m sure that once the video spreads far enough, carriage production companies will start fighting to recruit you."
Rogers folded his arms, his gaze remaining fixed on Ezra.
"But you’re an Ashenlocke."
The words carried a different weight.
"The Main Family doesn’t directly involve itself with carriage production."
He paused briefly.
"Still, they can try and influence your decisions."
His expression darkened slightly.
"They might pressure you into signing contracts that benefit them more than they benefit you."
Snow slowly fell around them.
The cold air carried Rogers’s warning clearly.
Ezra listened quietly, with his expression remaining unchanged.
"Make sure you get the best deal possible."
Rogers eventually raised a thumb, then his smile returned.
"You did well, kid."
Ezra bowed politely.
"Thank you."
Rogers imdiately waved the appreciation away, then his expression changed once again.
The serious atmosphere vanished instantly.
"Now tell ."
His eyes sparkled.
"How are the people reacting?"
The sudden transition almost made Lucy laugh.
"It had around one hundred views the last ti I checked."
Ezra answered casually.
"A few likes, with a few comnts."
"Eh... Master."
Lucy suddenly tapped his shoulder.
Her eyes remained fixed on the Starlix 11 in her hands.
Sothing in her expression had changed.
"It increased."
Ezra turned toward her, his face remaining calm.
"What happened, Miss Lucy?"
Lenny imdiately rushed over, with curiosity filling his face.
When Lucy showed him the screen...
His mouth slowly opened.
"Damn."
The word escaped naturally.
Rogers quickly joined them.
The mont he saw the screen...
"Haha..."
A low laugh escaped him, then the laugh grew louder.
"Hahahaha! Hahaha!"
The numbers displayed on the screen had exploded.
The hundred views Ezra ntioned earlier had beco more than one hundred thousand views, with over thirty thousand likes and more than ten thousand comnts.
And the numbers continued climbing.
Every refresh brought more.
Every second brought more attention.
The video was spreading throughout Britannia at a frightening speed.
Lucy stared pleased at the sight of the video going viral, so did Lenny, while Rogers continued to laugh joyfully.
anwhile...
Ezra simply observed the three.
To him... the result wasn’t surprising.
It was expected.
The invention itself guaranteed attention.
Soon, the three began reading through the comnts.
***
"Phantom Rolls... What a cool na."
Noble_Son_of_Maya
"What sort of creation is this? My eyes can’t stop looking at this piece of art."
Lady_Tallulah
"I’m sure Eclipse will want to sign this kid. No, they must!"
My_Na_Is_Young_Master
"Amazing invention."
Ysre
"Is it really that good? It doesn’t even have gems or gold decorations. Why is everyone acting like sothing this plain is beautiful?"
Bastian
"Wait... isn’t that the boy from the Ashenlocke Duke House that caused the commotion at the Unveiling Party?"
Green_Alchemist
"It’s actually him."
Pink_34
"So, he’s a craftsman and a combat Alchemist? Wow!"
Night_Worker
***
The comnts continued flooding in, like a river after a dam had broken.
So people praised the design.
Others praised the courage behind introducing a completely different approach to carriage aesthetics.
Many craftsn appeared fascinated.
Several comnts discussed the future of carriage manufacturing.
Others debated whether this invention would force existing companies to redesign their products.
And of course...
Not everyone liked it.
Several nobles openly criticized the design.
To them, luxury ant gold.
Luxury ant jewels, and luxury ant excessive decoration.
But the Phantom Rolls challenged that belief entirely.
As a result, argunts quickly erupted inside the comnt section.
Supporters fought critics.
Critics fought supporters.
The discussion beca increasingly heated.
The popularity only grew further.
"What the hell?"
Lucy suddenly frowned.
She had encountered a particularly rude comnt aid at Ezra.
"How dare they."
Lenny frowned as well.
His expression beca visibly annoyed.
"You two shouldn’t worry about the comnts."
Ezra stood from his chair.
The umbrella shifted slightly as he picked it up.
"What matters is that Britannia is aware of the invention now."
His voice remained calm.
"The rest will co naturally."
He folded the umbrella.
"Soon, interesting private ssages will start arriving."
Ezra began walking toward the mansion with the chair resting against his shoulder.
"So, relax."
The three stared at his back blankly.
For a mont...
Nobody spoke.
"He knows he’s currently trending across Skynet, right?"
Lenny whispered.
Lucy nodded slowly.
"I know, Master doesn’t get surprised easily."
Her eyes remained on Ezra’s retreating figure while her cheek rested on her palm.
"But I didn’t know it was this bad."
Lenny couldn’t help laughing.
"He’s not even bothered by the comnts."
Rogers laughed loudly.
"Whether they’re praising him or insulting him."
The old blacksmith shook his head.
"Ezra’s confidence is really sothing."
With that said, Rogers climbed back into the Phantom Rolls, and he parked it inside the garage before eventually returning to the mansion.
While Lucy and Lenny had already gone inside.
And just like that...
The day passed.
The usual morning routine soon ca to an end.
The exercise session was completed.
Everyone had cleaned themselves up, and Breakfast had been eaten.
The mansion gradually settled into a relaxed atmosphere.
Inside the living room, everyone occupied a spot.
Lucy sat comfortably on one side of the couch with her Starlix 11 resting in both hands, while both Rogers and Lenny stood behind her.
Both of them leaned forward slightly, their arms resting on the back of the couch while they peered over her shoulders.
Their attention remained fixed on the screen.
anwhile, Ezra sat on a separate couch.
The Starlix 11 rested in his hand as he prepared to properly check the progress of the Phantom Rolls video.
The previous day had been exciting and all, but now was the ti to see the actual results.
Ezra calmly opened the Linsta application.
His thumb moved across the screen.
One click.
Then another.
Soon, his profile page appeared.
The mont the post loaded, the updated statistics appeared before him.
The numbers had changed drastically.
The views had already surpassed one million.
The likes continued climbing, and the comnts continued increasing.
The post was still attracting massive attention every minute.
Lucy imdiately smiled upon seeing the post.
Lenny looked pleased, and even Rogers couldn’t stop himself from nodding repeatedly.
The old blacksmith looked as though he personally owned the invention.
anwhile...
Ezra’s expression remained the sa.
Calm.
Plain and unchanging as always.
It wasn’t because he disliked the result.
Quite the opposite.
The video performing well had been part of the plan from the very beginning.
The popularity.
The discussions.
The argunts.
The praise.
All of it had been expected.
After all, an invention like the Phantom Rolls was designed to attract attention.
Still...
This wasn’t the real objective.
The views themselves didn’t matter, likes didn’t matter and comnts didn’t matter.
Those things were simply requirents.
Conditions that needed to be fulfilled before the next stage of the plan could begin.
And judging from the results...
The condition had been passed perfectly.
Ezra clicked on his private ssages.
The screen imdiately filled with notifications.
One after another.
The list continued downward.
Every major carriage-producing company in Britannia seed to have contacted him.
So nas were familiar.
Others were famous enough that even ordinary commoner citizens knew them.
Then...
There was the best of the best.
The Eclipse.
Even they had personally contacted him.
The majority of the ssages carried similar intentions.
Invitations.
etings.
Partnership proposals.
Requests for demonstrations.
Contract discussions.
So companies had already started discussing signing fees.
Others invited him to properly present the Phantom Rolls before their board mbers before negotiations could begin.
The larger the company...
The more careful their approach beca.
Apart from the carriage manufacturers, there were also ssages from noble families.
Power and influential noble families.
Families’ wealthy enough to purchase entire industries if they wished.
Unlike the companies, however, their goals were slightly different.
Many wanted to purchase exclusive rights.
So wanted ownership claims.
Others simply wanted to acquire the invention before anyone else could.
The list seed endless.
Ezra’s gaze remained fixed on the screen.
His thumb steadily scrolled downward.
ssage after ssage passed by.
The nas alone were enough to make most people lose sleep from excitent.
If another young inventor had received such attention, they would probably be celebrating.
They would be imagining their future.
Dreaming about wealth.
Thinking about status.
Yet Ezra simply continued scrolling.
Ignoring almost every ssage.
This isn’t what I want.
The thought crossed his mind naturally.
He leaned backward, then completely laid down across the couch.
One arm rested beside him.
The other held the Starlix above his face.
His eyes calmly scanned the growing list.
Nearby, Lucy, Rogers, and Lenny remained focused on the comnt section.
Their reactions occasionally shifted.
Sotis they laughed.
Sotis they beca annoyed at criticism.
Sotis they proudly read praise aloud.
None of them noticed that Ezra wasn’t paying attention to the comnts at all.
He was searching for sothing specific.
Then...
His thumb suddenly stopped.
The scrolling ended.
A particular ssage rested on the screen.
A relaxed look appeared in his eyes.
"Found it."
His voice carried a hint of satisfaction.
Lucy imdiately looked over.
"What did you find, Master?"
Ezra slightly tilted the screen toward himself.
The sender displayed on it was simple.
BNC Broadcasting Group.
The exact group he had been waiting for to contact him.
The reason was simple.
Ezra had never planned on signing himself away to any company.
Not even if the paynt looked tempting.
Not even if the contract promised enormous wealth.
Nor did he intend to imdiately sell the invention to a noble family.
No.
Doing that would certainly earn him money.
A lot of money.
But it wouldn’t help him achieve his actual objective.
His secondary goal.
The goal of creating a massive and sustainable source of wealth.
To accomplish that...
He needed sothing bigger.
Far bigger.
And that was why BNC mattered.
BNC Broadcasting Group wasn’t simply the largest broadcasting organization in Britannia.
It also controlled one of the most influential segnts in the entire Kingdom.
The Auction.
A place where extraordinary things appeared.
Rare ores.
Luxury fashion.
High-grade Alchemy weapons.
Top tier Alchemy scrolls.
And newly exclusive inventions.
Anything valuable enough could find its way there.
The Auction wasn’t simply a marketplace.
It was a stage.
A place where wealthy nobles, major corporations, influential Alchemists, and powerful organizations competed openly.
And naturally...
Not everyone could enter.
An item needed recognition.
It needed montum, and it needed visible expectations.
The entire Kingdom needed to be talking about it.
Only then would BNC consider accepting it.
That was why countless inventors failed.
No matter how good their work was, if nobody cared about it, the Auction wouldn’t care either.
Fortunately...
The Phantom Rolls had already crossed that barrier.
The popularity was visible.
The discussions were everywhere.
The excitent was real.
And now...
BNC had finally noticed.
Exactly as Ezra planned.
A faint smile almost appeared on his face.
Almost.
Because this ssage represented sothing far more important than views.
Far more important than likes.
Far more important than contracts.
This ssage represented the beginning of the money-making plan he had prepared from the very start.
And now...
The first major piece had finally fallen into place.
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