novelraw Chapter 168 : Chapter 168
Chapter 168 : Chapter 168
Chapter : 168
CREAK. THUNK.
CREAK. THUNK.
As the lever turned, the printing press spat out parchment without stopping.
Unlike before, the letters did not smudge and ruin the printing. Rather, the speed became faster, but the stability doubled. It was all thanks to newly developing ink for printing.
“How is it, Lord?”
“It is excellent.”
I answered in a very satisfied voice. At this level, it seemed like we could print books rapidly without any big problems.
“I will allocate more budget, so make several more machines. Ah! And I will establish a Printing Office separately as well. From now on, publishing will be handled exclusively by that institution.”
Since I was starting anyway, I should produce it very systematically. In truth, the best thing would have been for private civilian facilities to emerge, but the market was not that big yet.
And right now, it was the period of [The Great Famine], so the economy was greatly contracted.
For now, I could start with an official operation and slowly privatize it later.
Thinking that, I sought out Magician Agpiel.
“So, you called?”
“Yes. Sage. Do you have anything you plan to publish separately?”
“Publish? Me?”
“Should you not publish a book in the name of Magician Agpiel? You are called the Great Sage of the Forest, so how regrettable would it be if that great knowledge simply rotted away.”
The meaning of publishing was, in the end, the mass distribution of knowledge. If this tremendous magical knowledge was compiled well, it would surely become an outstanding legacy that could be referenced again and again.
‘They say learning mysteries is difficult, but the wisdom magicians have piled up over their lives is very important.’
Who knew?
What if people read the book Magician Agpiel left behind, awakened to mysteries, and magicians started coming out smoothly?
Even just the mystery of magic that accelerated plant growth had enormous value.
“Huh…. You….”
Of course, separate from my black intentions, Magician Agpiel clearly looked deeply moved.
“Uh…. Why are you so moved. Haha. You have helped me along the way too. So speak comfortably. I will assign people to help you make the book.”
“I do not think I have ever received a gift like this in my life. Hehe. I am truly happy.”
Hm. I did not expect him to be this happy.
There was no need to break this emotion, right. Probably? Yeah, probably.
---
“It has opened. It has opened.”
As with everything in the world, once you finish one thing, you have to solve something else in succession. It would be nice if everything went easily, but it did not, so it was hard….
This time, the problem that grabbed my ankle was the problem after the printing press.
The paper problem.
“With the amount of parchment currently produced, it is difficult to meet the volume you requested, Lord. Besides, the price is far too expensive. You are not thinking of ruining the domain’s finances just to make books, are you?”
At first, I was excited and printed books using parchment, but when I saw the domain finance report that came up after a long time, I was startled.
Because expenditures had suddenly increased enormously.
Due to the nature of parchment made from animal hide, the more books you printed, the more massive the cost became.
Anyway, I could only sigh at how these barbaric people still had not developed paper.
‘Mmm…. Then I have to make paper….’
The problem was that I did not know how to make paper.
I was not an expert in that field, so how could I know everything. The only thing I knew was that it was made using the trees that were everywhere in my domain.
I vaguely remembered the hanji-making method that had appeared on television, but I was not sure if it was really the correct method.
‘Is there not anything good?’
What would be solved by worrying alone like this?
I had to try something first and then think.
“Call the dwarf craftsmen.”
In the end, I summoned the all-purpose-key dwarf craftsmen again. If I worked them hard, would something not come out? Had not our great King Sejong also ground Jang Yeong-sil down and continuously produced tremendous things?
Maybe if I kept grinding the dwarf craftsmen too…?
“Mm. That will be difficult for us too.”
“To make something to replace parchment…. Ahem. You are not asking for papyrus, right….”
But the problem was that even the dwarf craftsmen did not know anything about this issue.
After all, they had worked only with parchment their whole lives, so what would they know.
“Lord. The Moor who settled in our domain last time says he wants to see you.”
“???”
Just when I was racking my brain, an unexpected helping hand arrived.
“Lord. We heard that things have been difficult lately. We wish to gladly repay the favor we received. Paper, one among us is a production craftsman.”
It was the Moor who had come along when I recruited Professor Vesalius.
So, across the sea, in the Eastern Empire, they really did use paper. To think there was a technician who knew papermaking! I felt like raising both hands and shouting hooray.
After that, paper development proceeded very quickly.
The wood, which was essential for making paper, was overflowing in my domain’s Great Forest, and craftsmen who could make mechanical devices using water power instead of manpower also overflowed.
Thanks to that, at last I!
-Ding-a-ling!
[Paper, printing press, scholarship!]
[You have finally completed a structure that enables large-scale publishing. With this, the cost of producing books will be dramatically reduced. The exchange of knowledge will become active, and society will develop faster.]
-Ding-a-ling!
[You have made the first printed book. A great achievement! People will gain great intellectual curiosity toward this wondrous object.]
I could finally make what I had wanted so badly.
I was satisfied. I was so satisfied!
It truly was a very good thing.
Hohahahaha!
At last, an era of propaganda was opening in this [Pangea Universalise]. I planned to mix all kinds of miscellaneous ideologies together and cause great chaos.
---
“Meee~. Looord!”
When I had finished sorting things out and was finally starting to feel relaxed, Goat beastman Bishop Marco suddenly came to my office.
“Hm? What brings you here?”
“Meee! Looord. Looord! I heard you made a machine that prints books!”
“Oh?”
This guy who knew nothing but money was suddenly interested in the printing press?
Had the sun risen in the west?
“And?”
“Meee! What do you mean, and. I need a printing press too. Mehr. Give me a printing press! Meee.”
“???”
What kind of nonsense was this, like a dog chewing grass? Was he trying to do business with the printing press?
But the answer was unexpected.
“Meee. I will print. Our bible! Mehr.”
“Huh…?”
For a moment, I blinked as if I had misheard, but the goat beastman Bishop Marco standing before me did not change.
Then that meant he was serious….
‘Well. He was originally a bishop too. Since he is a bishop in name, if he gets the chance to spread God’s gospel widely, he would like it, but….’
Still, why did it feel so off and unreliable? But I could not just drive him away. If he had such pious thoughts, I should praise him.
“It seems you plan to hand out books to the faithful? Excellent. The faithful will like it very much too. It is a very good thing, to seek faith rather than money for once. Bishop Marco.”
But then Bishop Marco the goat beastman suddenly shouted when he heard that.
“Meeeeee! What are you saying. Looord! Faith? Mehr.”
Bishop Marco the goat beastman blinked his distinctive square eyes and snorted sharply as if he was frustrated.
“Of course it is money, is it not? The bible. If I just put one bible into each believer’s hands, how much is that! Meehhehehehehheh. Money lumps will be printed and come out!”
And at the end, he suddenly grinned and bleated.
“…….”
Yeah, of course it was.
Thanks to that, I could only let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
If I expected faith from our cute greedy goat beastman, I would be in trouble.
‘This bastard…. Is he not going to get divine punishment at this rate?’
Of course, I was quite worried about this goat beastman Bishop Marco.
From what I had experienced, this was a world where God existed.
What if he got scolded by an enraged god….
I could only click my tongue.
“Meee. Why, then. Looord. What is that look. Mehr.”
“It is nothing…. I just thought it was good how consistent you are, that is all.”
“Mwa?”
Bishop Marco tilted his head.
Would this goat beastman even know my worries? Sigh…. Clicking my tongue, I continued speaking to troublemaker Bishop Marco.
“If money is what you want so badly, huh? Then why not translate it into the common kingdom language instead of the Ancient Empire language and sell it? Even common peasants will come running with their eyes on fire, wanting to buy it.”
The bible was written in the Ancient Empire language. The problem was that the Ancient Empire language was a dead language no longer used in daily life. At most, nobles used it to boast of their bloodline, and it was also used when learning academic fields like law.
But if you changed the bible into the common kingdom language and published it?
It was certain to be a massive hit.
‘Of course, if we did that, we would get hit by the iron mace from The Holy See.’
It had long been The Holy See’s policy that the contents of the bible must not be freely reinterpreted.
If errors occurred in the translation process, there was a high possibility of heresy arising.
So what I said was actually half sarcasm.
Sarcasm about thinking of making money off the bible. But then….
“Meee! Looord is a genius!?”
“……?”
It felt like our goat beastman Bishop Marco was about to cause a huge incident.
His reaction…. Somehow…. Somehow….
He had taken it far too seriously.
---
Deep within The Holy See.
A villa where the pope rested, known only to a very small number.
Cardinal Adriano was, for the first time in a long while, sweating as he was having an audience with the pope.
[So. The Margrave of Bellua is publishing a bible translated into the common language?]
“Yes, Your Holiness. Shall we stop them immediately? They say Bishop Marco is responsible for the publishing, but…. In truth, behind the bishop stands the Margrave of Bellua.”
Translating the bible recklessly!
It was truly a serious matter. Thanks to that, Cardinal Adriano fell into distress. He was the one who had recommended the Margrave of Bellua so strongly all this time, but if this drew the pope’s wrath, who would take responsibility?
But fortunately, the pope viewed the Margrave of Bellua far more favorably than Cardinal Adriano expected.
[Hoh hoh hoh. He is a truly devout man. He is not like a great noble.]
“Yes…?”
[Is he not saying he will personally help the lambs who wander without knowing the proper gospel?]
“B, but if translation is done recklessly, mistranslations will arise and cause problems….”
[Hey now. That is something we can help with. Think about it, is it not truly admirable? To spend his own money on such a grand undertaking, you see. Hoho.]
The pope could not imagine at all that this had begun from Bishop Marco, blinded by greed for money.
He only thought it was something the devout Margrave of Bellua was doing out of pity for common peasants.
Well, from far away, you could misunderstand it like that, but it still felt like interpreting dreams rather than the dreams themselves.
[Rather, we should use this opportunity well. Cardinal Adriano.]
“What do you… mean?”
[Surely the Crusader Knight Order might view it badly as you do, might they not?]
“Ah?!”
Only then did Cardinal Adriano understand what the pope meant.
To use this incident to drive the Crusader Knight Order into excommunication.
They would certainly not tolerate the bible being translated. Even if it was done with the pope’s name in support.
And if they took the bait and dared to oppose the pope’s authority….
[Deliver word to the king of the Elang Kingdom. Tell him the time for the hunt is approaching.]
Those Crusader Knight Order bastards would face ruin.
“Understood. Indeed, the hunt is best in early summer, when spring has passed and it starts to get warm. The king of the Elang Kingdom will be pleased, Your Holiness.”
Cardinal Adriano thought that and bowed his head to the pope.