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"Anton, have you thought about how to prevent the same thing from happening again?"

Anton nodded with a face full of guilt.

"Your Highness, I believe it would be best to isolate such factories, keeping them far from residential areas. That should ensure a certain level of safety."

"Mhm, I was thinking the same thing. However, winter has already arrived, so we can't start construction yet. Once spring comes next year, building an industrial zone will be our priority."

As she spoke, she looked at the dwarf.

She had already reviewed some of Anton's records.

Though they weren't particularly detailed, she could vaguely guess his true identity.

It would be a pity to let someone like him waste away in obscurity.

"Anton, I recall that all dwarves are excellent craftsmen, correct?"

"It's not an absolute rule, but most dwarves are indeed good craftsmen."

Luo Li nodded.

"Then, do you have any interest in leading a group of people?"

"Your Highness, do you mean..."

Anton asked, appearing somewhat uncertain.

"How about this, Anton. I'll arrange a position for you. If you're willing, you can form a team specifically responsible for matters related to craftsmanship. What do you think?"

Luo Li watched Anton with interest, anticipating his reaction.

To be honest, becoming an official in a human kingdom was no easy feat for an outsider.

No matter the country, people rarely employed other races when it came to official positions.

After all, there were still many conflicts between the different races.

More often than not, these outsiders found it impossible to balance their loyalty to their new home with their heritage.

Gradually, no racial nation was willing to hire people from other races anymore.

However, Anton was an exception.

She didn't need him to go to the battlefield, nor did she need him to act against the Dwarven Kingdom.

He just needed to work for her quietly.

Anton pondered for a moment before looking up at Luo Li with a serious expression.

"I understand what Your Highness means, but I have one condition."

"What is it? Feel free to speak your mind."

Conditions were good; anything could be negotiated.

If he had no conditions at all, it would instead make one suspect he had hidden motives.

"Your Highness, can you guarantee that no matter what happens in the future, you will not invade the Dwarven Kingdom?"

Anton's words took Luo Li by surprise.

Truthfully, she hadn't expected Anton to propose such a condition.

Her first instinct was to simply agree.

But on second thought, if she agreed so bluntly, she wasn't sure if Anton would believe her—she wouldn't even believe herself.

After hesitating for a moment, Luo Li cleared her throat.

"I understand your concern. Let's do this."

She paused to organize her words, then looked at Anton and spoke slowly.

"I guarantee that as long as the Dwarven Kingdom does not invade my Kingdom of the Moon, I, Luo Li, will never be the first to strike. How does that sound?"

Anton didn't seem surprised by her counter-offer.

In fact, it seemed he had already prepared himself to accept such a condition.

Upon hearing this, Anton's expression relaxed slightly.

"In that case, I accept Your Highness's appointment. From this day forward, I am a citizen of the Kingdom of the Moon."

Luo Li nodded and turned her gaze toward Lola.

"Lola, starting today, Mr. Anton is appointed as the Minister of Infrastructure. Draft an announcement and release it tomorrow."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Lola nodded and then turned to look at Anton.

"Mr. Anton, we will be working together from now on. I look forward to your guidance."

Anton quickly bowed his head.

"The pleasure is mine. It is an honor to work alongside Bishop Lola."

After the two exchanged pleasantries, the three of them spent some time discussing the planning for the industrial zone.

Finally, Luo Li brought up the most important issue.

"Mr. Anton, how is the trial railway coming along?"

For a train to run, it first needed the train itself, and second, the railway.

Yet, as of now, the railway didn't even have a prototype.

Crucially, these things needed to be mass-produced.

This meant that machine tools were a necessity.

If they relied entirely on manual labor, not only would it be impossible to maintain mass production, but the consistency of the details could not be guaranteed.

The advantage of a railway lay in the ability to replace and repair parts at any time.

If they couldn't even achieve that, the cost of the railway would be even higher than that of an airship.

"Reporting to Your Highness, the trial railway is still in testing. I've tried several methods, but the cost is high. It primarily requires mana stones for heating, while using metal rollers to press and shape the metal."

Luo Li nodded. Anton's idea was no different from a standard machine tool.

In fact, from what she knew, the earliest prototypes of machine tools were quite simple.

The principles weren't particularly difficult.

She didn't need to personally guide him; as long as she provided a general direction and some suggestions, this genius craftsman would naturally find a way to solve the other problems.

"However, the cost of heating is very high. The required temperature is more than an ordinary mana stone can withstand, and the number of mana stones consumed daily is enormous. So... how to save energy has become the key issue."

Anton reported the specific situation.

The explosion at the workshop had even brought the steam engine to a halt.

But that didn't matter.

Luo Li hesitated and glanced at Anton.

"Mr. Anton, why don't you discuss this with Camilla first and see if she has any solutions. As an alchemist and a mage, her understanding of mana stones far exceeds ours."

Electricity would be the ideal solution.

However, the process of developing a power grid from scratch was simply too long.

While it would eventually be a necessity to improve the people's living conditions, what was needed right now was to get the railway running as soon as possible.

Mana stones, an energy source unique to this world, were the best solution for the time being.

Anton nodded, agreeing with the suggestion.

They discussed a few more details before concluding the morning's business.

"Ngh~"

Luo Li let out a long stretch.

She hadn't rested at all this morning, making it one of her busier days lately.

"Nara~ what's for lunch today?"

Looking at the heavy snow falling outside the window, Luo Li suddenly began to miss hotpot.

Sliced mutton... sliced beef... Haidilao!!

Ugh, she was starting to drool just thinking about it.

"Your Highness, lunch today is pan-seared steak, fruit salad, and soft bread."

It was still the same boring menu, but... why pan-seared?

"Wait, why pan-seared? Is there no black pepper?"

Luo Li froze for a moment and instinctively turned to look at Nara.

She saw Nara's expression tighten as she looked directly at Luo Li.

"Your Highness, according to the calendar, it should be around today. Therefore, for the next few days, your meals will be light. Spicy seasonings will cause discomfort."

"According to the calendar? What day is it? A holiday?"

Luo Li's mind went blank; she didn't react for a moment.

Seasonings were already pitifully scarce in this world. Black pepper steak was one of the few delicacies she could look forward to.

What happened today?

Why couldn't she even have black pepper?

Nara looked at her bewildered Highness and couldn't help but press a hand to her forehead.

"Your Highness, you haven't forgotten your own cycle, have you?"

As she spoke, she suddenly pulled out a... strangely shaped object.

The moment Luo Li saw it, her face flushed a brilliant red.

"Oh, it's that day. Never mind then."

Her mouth twitched as she looked down at her lower belly.

Even though she could only see a little through the gaps in her clothes, she remembered what day it was.

Ever since the first time it happened, her cycle had become very stable.

It always came for four days, starting around the seventh or eighth of the month.

Thinking about it, today was already November 7th.

It was about time.

She suddenly wanted to die.

Luo Li blinked and collapsed onto the sacred bed with a look of utter despair.

The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became, and she began to roll around on the bed.

"Ah~ why! Why does such a boring thing even exist!"

Watching her Highness wriggle and roll around on the bed like a giant caterpillar, Nara couldn't help but cover her face with her hand.

Fortunately, her Highness still had some sense of dignity and didn't show this side of herself to others.

Otherwise, the Temple would lose all its prestige.

"Your Highness, you're a grown woman now. You shouldn't make such unseemly movements. What if someone sees you?"

"I don't care! I'm going to roll! Waaah~ why is this happening!!"

"Your Highness, this is a normal physiological phenomenon that all women must accept. Please don't say things like that. Look, the young nuns are already giggling!"

Looking at the young nuns nearby who were lowering their heads and giggling behind their hands, and then at the princess rolling on the bed, Nara suddenly felt that her job was exceptionally difficult.

Come to think of it, her Highness really didn't act like a girl sometimes.

Even her sitting posture was a problem; if Nara didn't guide her and remind her from time to time, this Highness would occasionally reveal a careless side that was hard to look at.

"Your Highness, be good. Change into this first, or it will be trouble if it leaks later."

"No! I won't!!"

Luo Li, like a stubborn child, flatly refused to change.

She even pulled up the duvet on the sacred bed and crawled under it.

Peeking half her head out from the dark blankets, she looked at the isekai sanitary pad in Nara's hand with utter disdain.

"I'm not changing. That thing is uncomfortable! It's stuffy and feels awful!"

"Your Highness, listen to me. If you don't change, what if there's side leakage again?"

The duvet suddenly covered half her face, and a girl's reluctant whimper came from under the blankets.

"Ugh!"

"There aren't just us nuns in this hall. If a knight comes in and sees..."

"I'm not changing! I said I'm not changing! Take it away! I'd rather die than change!!"

Nara's eye twitched, and a flame called 'anger' began to burn in her heart.

"Your Highness, if you won't listen, I'll have Bishop Lola and Lady Hilda come in to help you change."

The tightly wrapped duvet suddenly gave a violent shudder.

Nara continued to add fuel to the fire.

"At that time, you'll have to change in front of those two. Now, do you want me to call them, or will you come out yourself?"

The duvet wriggled a couple of times, but there was still no sound.

It seemed she was still silently protesting Nara's tyrannical behavior.

However, her small act of defiance was quickly crushed by Nara's overwhelming pressure.

"Someone, go invite Bishop Lola and the Guardian Knight Hilda."

"No need!"

With a rustle, the duvet was thrown aside, and the expressionless silver-haired girl rose from the sacred bed.

With a gaze that looked firm but was actually hollow, she turned and walked toward the rear hall.

Thirty minutes later.

Luo Li sat blankly on the sacred bed. The feeling of that thing pressed against her was stuffy and uncomfortable, making her squirm involuntarily.

Normally, she tried her best to ignore the differences between genders.

But today, it seemed impossible to keep ignoring it.

After all... no man ever needed to pad his bottom with such a thing.

Her meal had already been laid out before her.

To help calm her mood, Nara had specially prepared some extra desserts.

However, even these couldn't make Luo Li feel better.

If they wanted her to feel better, at the very least... they should have served hotpot or barbecue.

Forget it, she wouldn't think about that for now.

She lay on her side, and a young nun immediately brought soft pillows to place on the bed.

Luo Li leaned against the soft pillows and began to think about what to do next.

The current Brilliant City was full of things waiting to be rebuilt.

The current Kingdom of the Moon was in a state of reconstruction rather than development.

Development would mean moving forward based on the Kingdom of the Moon's existing foundation.

However, the current institutions of the Kingdom of the Moon were complex and the distribution of authority was a mess.

Aside from the national policy that prevented the Kingdom of the Moon from discriminating against other races—making its racial diversity the highest among human nations—it seemed to have no other advantages.

Military, administration, finance, technology—none of them were worth building upon as they were.

To develop, the first thing to do was to tear down the old rules and reconstruct them.

"Nara, bring the map of the Kingdom of the Moon."

"Yes, Your Highness."

She thought that if she wanted to build a city with standardized rules, the first step was urban planning.

The map was soon spread out before Luo Li.

The reason it was 'spread out' rather than 'handed over' was because the map was roughly five meters long and five meters wide.

The advantage of Brilliant City was that its layout was very regular.

From the beginning, it seemed the city had been designed with a very organized grid.

The entire city was divided into four districts: North, South, East, and West.

It was like four squares dividing a larger square.

At the center where these four squares met were the Temple of the Central District and the Central Square.

Each of these four squares contained four smaller sub-districts.

Among them, the North Gate and East Gate were the most densely populated, followed by the West Gate, with the South Gate having the fewest residents.

The Kingdom of the Moon did not use the term 'provinces'; all regions were named after their capital cities.

For instance, Brilliant City was the capital of this region.

In the northeast region, there was no capital city, only the Great Wall.

There were two other situations similar to the northeast.

The girl lay on the map, carefully studying the sixteen small squares that made up Brilliant City, lost in thought.

She would hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss redrafting the rules...

"Your Highness, the airship carrying the Saintess of the Sun has arrived outside the city."