We exited the carriage about a 15 minute walk from the actual market since we were going in disguise as mercenaries. My butt was still in pain from the short carriage ride.
A small tear was forming and I pouted slightly, "Hey Becca, is it going to be this bad of a riding experience when we take a whole day to get to your parents house?"
Becca sympathetically patted my back, "it will be better because this is a short trip carriage and the one we will use tomorrow is a long trip carriage. They have bigger cushions and other things I don't know about that make the ride smoother. It isn't perfect, but it is a lot better."
I put my hand on my chin when I thought about what extra technology they could be using to increase the comfort. The first thing I thought of was how a coil spring suspension system would do a lot to help the comfort of the ride for a wooden carriage.
"Do you know if they use steel coil springs for the suspension of carriages?"
I could tell that Becca was confused. "What is a spring? My father's shop makes most steel items, but I have never heard of a coiled spring."
I wasn't sure when coil springs were first invented, but it looks like they are not used in this Kingdom yet. If I revealed this information, it would be a revolutionary jump in technology. However, I don't know too much about springs themselves. I just know the basic shape and some of the properties of good springs. I shook my head as I regretted not studying mechanical engineering instead of civil engineering. But how would I know I would be transmigrated to a medieval world?!
I started to explain to Becca as best I could. "A coiled spring is an invention from my world. It's really good because you can apply force to it and hold it in place and store kinetic energy for later. Once you need the energy, you just release the spring and it will shot out with a lot of force that you can utilize.
The reason it is good for suspensions is because when you apply force to it. It will displace and change shape, but once the force is gone, it will return back to its original shape. That way all the forces on the carriage that we feel will be instead transferred by the spring first and dampened significantly.
Honestly, I have never made a spring or a suspension myself, so I don't really know exactly how to make it work. I just know the basic idea around it and how a spring looks. If I want to make a spring coil suspension system on carriages a reality, I will need to work with some experts to hammer out the details. If we ever perfect it and bring it to market, I am confident it would sell like hotcakes. It might be in every single carriage within a few years. Do you think I should tell your father about it? It's the kind of invention that could make people's lives a lot better. Do you think someone would believe me if I had the idea?"
Becca had no hesitation. "That is the kind of invention that we have to bring to market! It will make everyone be more comfortable and make us a lot of money. You need to make sure that my father doesn't give you the short end of the stick on the deal! You came up with the initial idea so you should get at least 60% of the profits! I'm sure he will try to offer you something ridiculous like 30% of profits. Also, about the believing that you came up with the idea, just tell him that your researchers came up with the theoretical idea and you are coming to him because he is an expert in steel product fabrication. He has his own team of researchers working at all times trying to find the next steel item breakthrough. He will be overjoyed to hear about a potential product that could end up in all the carriages in the Kingdom."
"Ok, we can negotiate with him when we see him next week. I really only want to introduce it to the Kingdom so that my butt won't hurt as much when we are going somewhere."
Becca laughed at me. Then she walked in front of me and pulled my hand. "Don't worry, you will get used to the carriage rides after a while. Look over there, the city market area is coming into view!"
I looked to where Becca was pointing and saw a lot of people walking around enjoying themselves and shopping in the distance. There was an area near the city walls made up of exclusively stalls. This is probably where you can buy food or interesting trinkets. Deeper into the city, there where commercial looking buildings that left a walkway in the middle for customers to window shop. One of those building was probably the bookstore that we came for.
Then the most breathtaking thing about the city was an open resting area near the middle of the shopping center with a huge water fountain. The center piece was two stone mermaids shooting water out of both of their hands. I could see children running around playing as well as performance musicians playing music for a crowd people who were dancing.
I spoke my thoughts out loud, "wow, the water fountain looks amazing."
Becca smiled, "it is the pride of the capital city of the Duchy. They say that if you throw in a copper coin and make a wish, it will come true. People come from far and wide to give it a try. We can go after we pick up what we need from the bookstore."
My excitement was at an all time high. I sped up to return to being side by side with Becca and put my arm around her shoulder.
"Becca, let's have a lot of fun on our first date out of the mansion."
Becca snuggled into my body, "yeah, let's make it a day we won't ever forget."