Chapter 368: Chapter 365: Seems a Little Too Urbanized
Rorschach figured out the general structure of the device.
The front of the Airship cabin was the scene of the confrontation between the Priest of Song Rank and the Chief Mage. To balance the weight, the heavy device was naturally fixed in the middle section. By the time the avatar rushed into the crashed Airship, the core metal sphere was no longer a nearly perfect sphere. Joseph Rorschach used the Decomposition Skill to cut open the outer shell and investigate.
What he saw were large Oscillation Crystals embedded between onion-like spherical shells, arranged in a staggered pattern. At the very center was a clear Crystal Lens. Though it had been "upgraded" to a battle-damaged version and was shattered to pieces, he could still tell it had been a high-end model when it was manufactured.
Then, a dense Breath of Death began to gather, forcing Rorschach to head to the scene of the confrontation between the Priest and the Mage. Seeing Richard was a pleasant surprise, but unfortunately, it was impossible to acknowledge each other at that time.
’I never expected the army’s Chief Mage to be a big shot in Necromancy. I wonder how much Rick learned from him.’ However, Rorschach quickly recalled his avatar possessing a corpse and was momentarily speechless—he was pretty much the same.
Back in the Bayern Kingdom, Rorschach’s main body opened a window. He was currently at the edge of a massive pit, the entire tower clinging to a cliff face. The pit was an abandoned coal and stone quarry. In this era, the first wave of people with environmental awareness had all died out, and the next hadn’t been born yet. As a result, abandoned open-pit mines were all left exposed, like scars on the earth.
However, Jansen found the sight particularly familiar, as similar landscapes were common in Dwarf territory. He proposed they could follow the Dwarves’ example and build a new Steel Factory on the foundation of the great pit.
Therefore, one could now see blast furnaces built along the reshaped cliff face. With the support of the rock strata, the furnaces could be built taller to meet the requirements of the new process without needing Magic reinforcement. Rorschach was very pleased with this.
Not far away, the coal mines—no longer limited to shallow surface deposits and now delving deep underground—were using new Steam Engines and even Magic Lamps that didn’t pose a risk of explosion, continuously extracting the "black sustenance" for the industries to come.
An exhausted little bird flew in. When it was face-to-face with him, Rorschach could sense his avatar had returned. He extended a finger, and Magic Power flowed into the bird’s body. The small creature’s eyes regained their intelligent gleam, and then... it dropped a sticky glob onto Rorschach’s desk.
’Living Aquatic Microorganisms? They seem to be dead.’ Rorschach gathered the microbial remains in disgust and incinerated them. The little bird flapped its wings again... and coughed up a grayish-white Soul, which drilled into his main body.
’So it had vomiting and diarrhea!’ Rorschach offered water and grain to this unfortunate "courier," but the bird, having been thoroughly tormented by humans, showed no gratitude and hurriedly flew into the sky.
The Mage quickly sorted through the memories and calmed the newly merged Soul, then sketched out a diagram of the Forbidden Magic Device. He didn’t need to truly replicate it; after all, he had [Great Splitting Technique] and [Reversing Beam]. What he needed was to research techniques to counter "Counter Magic." Perhaps he could build a small prototype, solely for verifying his countermeasures.
Of course, they were on the Empire’s side now. Before all that, it was more important to finish the task at hand.
"You’re here, Teacher." Andre was at the bottom of the pit. After a drainage system was installed at the base of the circular crater, the plan was to construct a Central Tower-shaped building. Andre hoped to install a massive Transmuting Dust conversion device in the center of the pit.
"Did the relocation go smoothly?"
"For the most part. The original town had twenty-six blast furnaces in total. Seven owners were unwilling to move. Among those who were willing, five had furnaces that couldn’t meet average production capacity or were in disrepair. We determined they weren’t worth retrofitting, so we just integrated their personnel into the new factory and made other arrangements for them."
Rorschach wasn’t too concerned about the seven uncooperative owners. For one, there would always be odd jobs in the market that smaller factories could fill. For another, once they achieved economies of scale and lowered the price of finished goods, these small workshops would collapse on their own in a price war. Other than Valuva, Rorschach had yet to see a consumer market mature and affluent enough to praise "small-batch, master-crafted" goods.
"Good. The workers from the original workshops must be broken up and assigned to different sections and workshops, unless they’re a master-apprentice pair. Also, recruitment must happen concurrently. Every master craftsman needs to train newcomers. As for how many new Apprentices to add, we’ll need to do some research and fully solicit and consider the opinions of the veteran masters."
"Understood." Andre was acting more and more like a professional secretary. As for whether Rorschach was a professional candidate for the lamppost... that remained to be seen.
At least he had a conscience now. Mr. Hasse had negotiated with the Kempson City Hall and, under the pretext of "industrial land" and "Royal Family sponsorship," acquired a huge plot of land. The former farmers and shepherds discovered their fields, forests, and pastures had been completely overturned by a group of terrifying Earth Giants, after which simple prefabricated houses were built on the land.
The former Lord, now dressed in a stylish outfit with a tall top hat and a monocle, happily announced that everyone was now a city dweller!
Both the Empire and Bayern had remnants of serfdom, but with the arrival of the "Great Saint" Rorschach, Kempson made tremendous progress and immediately abolished it. Their former masters banded together to start a newfangled thing called a "human resources company" and greeted the serfs:
"As of today, you’re free! However, I and my ancestors spent money to buy you and your ancestors, so you need to pay off that debt."
The old farmer, of course, wept and wailed, "My Lord, we have no money! You can pull out my teeth and sell them if you want!"
"Why would I ask you to repay it like that? I’m not some kind of Demon! I recently learned the latest business model from Mr. Hasse, who came from the city..." Then, the great benefactor—who had evolved from a Lord into the CEO of a human resources company—pulled out stacks of contracts the old farmers couldn’t read. It didn’t matter if they couldn’t write; they just had to stick out a thumb, dip it in ink, and stamp the bottom right corner. That was it.
"What? You’re a freeman? No problem. My land is no longer available for you to farm. It’s not growing crops or grass anymore, it’s growing houses now! If you want a big, beautiful house and want to become a noble city dweller, just sign this contract. All you have to do is work at the new Steel Factory next door for a few decades, and the house is yours."
After signing a labor contract for up to 50 years came the home purchase agreement, which contained a line of small print: *The buyer will obtain the right of residence for this house for 60 years.*
It wasn’t that Rorschach and the merchant guild were being stingy. To rush construction, aside from the timber and steel structural supports, the walls were all single-piece panels mass-produced by an [Earth Shaping Skill] Magic Array. Don’t ask if they were sturdy; as long as they were better than the mud huts the old farmers built themselves, it was a victory.
So, the 60 years was the warranty period. If something went wrong, the homeowner was eligible for after-sales service... as long as they survived.
All in all, the reasons behind it all were so heartwarming they could raise the winter temperature in Bayern by more than one degree.
The new residents marveled at the spacious houses, touching the whitewashed walls in amazement. There were even stoves that burned gas instead of firewood, and water that came from turning a valve. Everyone said it was great in every way, except for one thing: there was no cattle shed, which made it inconvenient to raise livestock.
The detestable former Lord, now the boss, thought to himself: ’Isn’t one family of livestock living here enough?’
Watching the newly urbanized crowd move into their new homes and head off to work with great joy, Rorschach pressed a hand to his thumping heart and mused: ’At least it’s a tiny bit more advanced than sheep eating men. What’s that? Aside from the old workshop employees, all the new hires are dispatched labor? Don’t sweat the details...’
Even if the laws of the Bayern Kingdom were imperfect, Rorschach could guarantee that if a conflict arose between the workers and the people responsible for paying their wages, he would definitely have the boss of the labor brokerage arrested and made a public example of to quell the people’s anger.
That afternoon, the inauguration ceremony for "Kempson Xin" was a low-key affair. Aside from the familiar faces of Andre and Mr. Hasse, the heads of the three factories were also present. The head of the new Steel Factory was the former vice president of the Mining and Metallurgy Association. As for the president, he had recently felt that his age was catching up to him and his energy was lacking, so he took a "happy retirement" at the age of 42.
Rorschach’s first words were: "I have reliable intelligence. The Empire Army has routed the Church Army in Andorrella. All the Holy Knights in the northern part of the Kingdom have been annihilated."
