Samuel Clark nodded. “Ethan did say that, but don’t go too far. If you leave the manor, be sure to bring enough attendants—with the current state of Jin, it’s not safe for the The Carter Family.”

William Carter nodded. “It’s impossible to use chariots in the mountains, so I plan to travel on horseback, and I’ll bring ‘Ethan’ and ‘Henry’ with me. But I’m afraid those warriors won’t listen to ‘Ethan’. Please give them instructions: I plan to travel for a few days and bring back some old items from the mountains. For now, only ‘Ethan’ and ‘Henry’ know the way, so the warriors must follow the commands of Ethan and Henry.”

Samuel Clark replied, “No problem—the lord has been reading late into the night these past few days, so it’s time for a break, to relax a bit… Ethan sent over twenty warhorses and two light chariots. Even if the lord doesn’t plan to use the chariots, you still need to practice your driving skills.”

William Carter muttered in a low voice, using modern language, “It’s only after seeing those crudely made war chariots that I have to retrieve my own things. These chariots don’t even have axles—the wheels are mounted directly onto the frame, so all the weight of the body rests on the wheels. Chariots like these…”

That noon, William Carter didn’t even have time to rest before hurriedly instructing Ethan and Henry to lead the warriors into the mountains—Samuel Clark had asked William Carter to bring enough men, but now that the Carter clan had declined, it was impossible to gather enough attendants of suitable status. In the end, Samuel Clark reluctantly allocated five hundred warriors to William Carter. He felt deeply ashamed at this small number, but William Carter felt very differently about it.

Five hundred people—this made William Carter, who was used to the staff size of modern small companies, secretly click his tongue in amazement. By modern standards, having five hundred security personnel would make you a multinational company, with annual revenue in the billions at least—yet the The Carter Family were dissatisfied with this number… What kind of era is this!

William Carter’s astonished expression was written all over his face, which made Samuel Clark secretly look down on him. After William Carter left with his men, Samuel Clark still wouldn’t let it go, and mocked to Simon Clark, “So petty—definitely the descendant of a minor ruler, never seen the grandeur of our Jin nobility. Only five hundred people…”

Simon Clark shook his head of white hair and interrupted Samuel Clark with displeasure, reproaching, “He will be your and my feudal lord in the future—how can you be so disrespectful?”

Samuel Clark shook his head and blurted out, “It’s not decided yet… let’s wait until he passes the coming-of-age ceremony.”

Simon Clark asked in surprise, “What? What do you mean by that?”

Samuel Clark immediately covered up, “I mean: he must be recognized by the ruler at the coming-of-age ceremony before he can regain his fief, right?”

…

With Ethan and Henry, who were familiar with the mountain paths, leading the way, William Carter and his group moved quickly. When they were about four or five li from the place where William Carter had his “incident,” William Carter had “Ethan” lead the warriors to set up camp on the spot and hunt nearby, while he took “Henry”, leading the pack horse with the cloth, and continued climbing into the mountains.

Finally, they returned to the cave. William Carter began to check each part one by one, then wrapped all the parts in cloth. “Henry” helped at the side, his face full of amazement. When William Carter had dismantled the car before, he had been absent-minded, and “Henry” hadn’t dared to ask any questions. Now, after living together for several months, communication was no longer a problem. So, Henry, touching the smooth parts, carefully as if touching a piece of burning coal, gently asked, “Master, is this the Heavenly Emperor’s carriage? …It’s truly wondrous!”

William Carter shook his head. He couldn’t explain the car that “Henry” saw, so he simply didn’t try—after all, nobles have that privilege. “Henry, what you saw today must not be told to anyone else. This is our secret; no one else can know!”

Henry nodded, then said, “Master, are we really going to haul this thing back? If we bring it back, people at the manor will see it—won’t they ask questions? What should we say?”

“You don’t know anything, so what could you say… Just say you know nothing!” After giving his instructions, William Carter continued wrapping the car parts—the removed wheel hubs and steel rims were too heavy for Henry to move alone, but William Carter could easily carry one in each hand…

…

It took a full two days for William Carter to use whole bolts of cloth to wrap each part into large bundles. In the end, only the car’s chassis frame was left. Facing the seamless frame, William Carter didn’t know where to start.

Strangely, the paint on the car body had been worn away, and logically, after so long exposed to the elements, the body should have been covered in rust. But it seemed the wormhole had coated the metal surface with something, and the shiny metal showed not a trace of rust. Looking at the chassis, William Carter sighed, “The rest of the work will probably need a welding torch. What a pity—it’s all good steel.”

Turning around, William Carter pointed at the bundles all over the ground and instructed, “The rest of the work is up to the two of us. We need to carry these bundles about two li out of the mountains, then pile them up on the ground. Once all the parts are moved, I’ll stay to watch over them, and you go call the warriors to come carry them.”

This was to prevent the warriors from discovering the cave here, or the car chassis left inside.

Henry looked at the car frame with great interest and asked again, “Aren’t we taking these apart… The lord doesn’t have time to come here often, but maybe I can handle them. In the future, when I come to play, I’ll take a piece apart each time and slowly carry them home.”