A huge crowd was blocking the road.

They all reached out to Abel earnestly, begging him not to leave.

Most of them were poor people who got jobs and houses thanks to the multi-family group.

However, it was not necessarily the case that only people from the lower classes had gathered.

Even the nobles were moved by the sight of their country changing and were shedding tears.

It felt as if all the people of the Duchy of Crawford had come out in droves.

"Huh… Right."

But rather than joy, a sense of burden came first.

Being loved so passionately by the public meant having an added sense of responsibility.

The higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

If he did something wrong, he would be heavily criticized.

They would probably feel extremely disappointed.

'Are you afraid of maggots, so you can't make kimchi?'

Still, it was a path he had to take.

Abel smiled brightly and grabbed people's hands one by one, hugging them and patting them on the back.

As he slowly waved his hands, the square suddenly became quiet.

"I will return to the Empire, but I will leave my heart in the Duchy of Crawford. I will spare no effort in supporting you through the Dappan Group so that you can live well."

"Haaa!"

The speech wasn't even over yet, but cheers were already erupting.

Abel left his last words, looking into people's faces.

"So, please be happy."

That day became a national holiday for the Duchy of Crawford.

* * *

The first news Abel received upon returning to the Empire was of a rather surprising kind.

—Kiya! There was a day when the human peacock left. That day is now National Reconstruction Day. I guess they have a day off and a festival.

—The Duchy of Crawford has a new public holiday. Our captain is amazing.

Shugle and Peltron seemed to be in a very good mood these days.

If they could even give him that kind of compliment.

Actually, the reason they did that was simple.

The day Abel left the Duchy of Crawford, he was met with tremendous respect.

Thanks to that, he was able to gain a lot of spiritual energy.

That was why they said such things in such a soft voice.

"It's noisy. I'm busy, so don't disturb me."

—Okay. Hehe!

—Wow! Since I don't have to do paperwork, my life is so comfortable.

When Abel came back after a long time, there was so much to do.

But he couldn't just leave it to those half-dead guys.

The scale of the multi-family group's work was ridiculously large.

It was on a whole other level than Crawford's tiny state office.

If he made one mistake, hundreds of thousands of gold coins would fly away.

Knock knock.

"Sir, Mr. Paul, the president of Dappan Industries, has come to visit."

"Oh, okay. Please let him in."

"Yes."

In fact, this was the office of the mayor of Perias.

But since Abel was so active in so many different fields, he had no choice but to take turns doing different tasks.

So, President Paul was just called to the city hall.

"It's been a while, Chairman."

"How have you been these days? Your face has really improved."

"I guess it's because I don't get much sunlight. I just spend my time inside the factory these days."

"I see. I thought you were putting on some kind of sunscreen."

"Huh? What is that?"

"Ah..."

Abel was trying to answer naturally, but he ended up speechless.

Wasn't this the Middle Ages, when there weren't even proper cosmetics?

For example, you could make eyeliner by mixing fish oil and charcoal.

It was standard practice here to whiten the face with clay melted with vinegar.

There were even cosmetics that used mercury as an ingredient.

This was because it temporarily smoothed the face and had a whitening effect.

Come to think of it, cosmetics could also make money.

Everyone wanted to be beautiful.

The same was true for men, although to a slightly lesser extent.

If he could fulfill that need, people would pay any amount of money.

Rather than letting dangerous cosmetics circulate within aristocratic society, I would rather make safe products myself.

If Abel continued the research with Vargas, it would definitely be something they could accomplish.

As his thoughts about business continued to wander, President Paul opened his mouth.

"I made a safety oven just as you said. Come take a look."

"Oh, yes. That was an important matter."

A four-hole range measuring 60cm in length and width.

Inside, a spirit tree cube was made to be fixed, and the fire could be put out with a cover.

The used fuel was replaced with the cartridge at the bottom.

Abel felt like the product came out much better than he expected.

"How do you control the fire?"

"It's divided into four stages. When you press the button, the number of cubes that are put in changes. Like this."

Bam!

When President Paul tried to manipulate it himself, four cubes actually rose.

When he turned the valve in that state, there was a sound of something hitting, and the fire started.

Knock knock knock! Knock knock!

"It's flint."

"Yes, we have also finished standardizing the parts so that they can be easily replaced."

"Thank you for your hard work."

"No. It was thanks to the Chairman who gave me the idea."

President Paul bowed his head humbly.

But this person's achievements were amazing.

Abel had just suggested the functions based on the form of the gas stove.

The internal design and production were practically all done by Mr. Paul.

I guess I should at least give him a performance bonus.

A few years ago, was he really the same wage earner who had been complaining about unfair treatment?

After the explanation was over, Abel nodded willingly.

"I think it would be okay to launch it like this. It would be good to secure space in advance by linking it with multi-platform construction."

"I will do so."

The meeting ended smoothly.

President Paul bowed and picked up the safety stove.

But as Abel was about to wave his hand lightly, another idea popped into his head.

"Mr. Paul."

"Yes."

"It would be nice if you could make it not only for home use, but also for portable use. Something like this."

Abel roughly drew the shape of a gas burner on paper.

Then, President Paul's eyes changed in an instant.

"Oh! This is!"