Chapter 96

Chapter 96

#96 Growth and Distribution (2)

Even if he were the son of one of the three great superhumans of Lenslet…

Even if he were a high-ranking minister of the High City…

What cannot be forgiven, will not be forgiven.

In fact, because they are at the very top, they must be even stricter.

“The matter regarding the factory to be established in Cadia will be discussed soon in the upcoming royal court meeting.”

“Ooooh… so…?”

“But the land in question will definitely be excluded from consideration.”

Arad was thoroughly principled in this matter as well.

He simply treated the logistics minister with respect since their ranks were similar (and military supplies were involved).

“Why?!”

“Because if we make an exception, similar crimes could be exploited in the future. His Grace the Duke has also agreed to this decision.”

For a moment, Sun, who was standing beside Rock, turned his gaze toward Mary.

Mary deliberately avoided his eyes.

However, Sun seemed satisfied, as if this were the right course of action, and gave his lord an encouraging nod through his gaze.

“Instead, we’ll do our utmost to strip the accused and their family clean to compensate for the damages as much as possible.”

Unaware of the exchange between Te and Mary, Arad maintained a polite attitude, steadfastly upholding responsibility and principle.

“Aaaah…!”

As everything went horribly wrong,

Rock, who suffered the greatest loss among those present, let out a scream.

“You… you bastards!”

His malevolent glare shifted toward the employees who had defrauded him.

No matter how much they were stripped bare, it wouldn’t cover the losses incurred by Rock and his Kadan family, since he had taken loans from various merchant guilds to buy the land.

Considering the loan interest alone, it was clear that his pockets would feel the pinch for quite some time, even with maximum compensation.

“Uaaaaaaa!!”

Rock Kadan could only shout in frustration, unable to do anything else.

Though he wanted to slash at the fraudsters with a sword out of sheer anger, doing so might mean losing all the money altogether.

“What gives you the nerve to talk big?”

“A-A father!”

Unable to bear it any longer, Sun finally spoke up.

“I apologize for causing inconvenience due to my unbecoming son.”

“No, it’s not your fault. I should be the one apologizing for failing to properly manage the employees.”

Te bowed slightly to Arad, who in turn bowed even deeper to Sun.

“So, what will happen to those guys? Looks like quite a few are from noble families?”

“There will be no exceptions. Anyway, they’re mostly second or third sons. Their families have already begun cutting ties with them.”

The scammers were generally clerical staff who had dabbled in ink.

Of course, there were a few production line workers too, but compared to the clerks, both the scale and severity were smaller.

It was about getting free meals or drinks under the guise of hiring production staff, or buying a few boxes of scarce factory products at cost and reselling them for profit before getting caught.

The bigger scandals like land speculation and supply fraud were orchestrated by those who knew how to read and calculate.

“Honestly, I’m curious… Did they really think they wouldn’t get caught?”

On the side, there was also the question of why they pulled such stunts. They continued attending work brazenly until the day they were discovered.

“Uuuuuuuh…”

“Well, we made mistakes…”

Arad’s question went unanswered by those responsible. Now fired and no longer employees of Arad, these individuals had been subjected to public torture appropriate to the times and were half-ruined.

“After reviewing their statements, it seems they thought they could escape with some clever wordplay.”

At that moment, Manager Te answered Arad’s question while reading blood-and-flesh-stained documents.

“Wordplay?”

“They avoided making clear promises, pretending to offer help in recruitment or supply deals in exchange for bribes. If things worked out, great; if not, they’d try again next time.”

“And the land?”

“They assumed rumors would be dismissed.”

“Are they idiots? They bought the land in their own names first and then sold it at inflated prices, yet they thought it’d be dismissed as hearsay?”

From the perspective of Arad, who came from a world of scams into this one, such amateurish fraud was hard to believe.

Of course, from the viewpoint of the employees who committed the fraud, they had something to say too.

The North wasn’t accustomed to this kind of scam yet. Initially, there was hardly any awareness that this was even considered a crime.

‘The side effects of rapid growth are already starting to show.’

Despite finding it absurd, Arad had to admit he had been complacent.

“Those bastards felt off from the interview. Guess my instincts were right after all.”

“Yeah, sure~ That’s how it is.”

Hearing Arad’s muttering, Mary responded in a way that clearly conveyed her lack of trust.

“…You’d better head home. Don’t forget what I assigned you.”

Embarrassed by Mary’s reaction, Arad awkwardly urged her to go home.

That evening,

The office lights of the Arad Workshop stayed on all night.

All executives except Mary, who left early to deliver messages, gathered together with Arad to brainstorm.

“On the heels of this incident, we’ll establish Public Relations, Security, Audit, and Intelligence divisions. We’ll handle what we’ve been loosely managing in the Management Office more professionally. I’ve already arranged to hire many retired agents from Frosthaven.”

In reality, whenever Arad proposed a plan, everyone just wrote it down.

“The PR division is necessary to inform people of the company’s stance, but don’t the Security, Audit, and Intelligence divisions seem redundant? Aren’t they essentially doing the same thing?”

But they didn’t just write it down without questioning.

From time to time, executives like Manager Te asked Arad about concerning parts.

“Manager Te is correct. Security, Audit, and Intelligence will indeed overlap somewhat. That’s intentional.”

“Can you explain why?”

“So none of them can run amok.”

Each time, Arad happily explained the reasons to the executives.

“And… we’ll restructure the company too.”

“Do you mean the organizational restructuring currently happening in High City?”

“Something similar. Just tailored for a business. In a conglomerate format.”

“Conglomerate?”

“We’ll create separate companies based on industry types and group them accordingly.”

“Like having separate companies for ceramics and fine arts?”

“Exactly. From now on, the Arad Company will be known as the Arad Group.”

* * *

The next day,

One of Arad Workshop’s factories, still buzzing with yesterday’s chaos.

Factory No. 50 was bustling like any other, with machines and workers operating tirelessly.

Whirrrr Chikchikchik

The steam engine continuously spewed steam and heat.

This energy moved the belt’s cam, and the top roller transferred ink to the lower rollers.

Then, the mechanical arm attached to the equipment swept across the etched plate, evenly applying ink.

Once the rollers’ turn ended, the mechanical arm rotated, placing the paper it held onto the press in sequence.

Puckchuck Puckchuck Puckchuck

As the paper was placed, the press machine stamped it firmly, printing faster and more accurately than ever before.

Capable of producing hundreds of sheets per minute, this printer originated from Earth’s Letterpress-style Columbian Press.

It could print intricate images and was suitable for both book and newspaper production.

“This printer is called the Arad Printer.”

“Of course?”

Naturally, that was only its name on Earth.

Here, it would be called something different.

“Naming it after the developer is only natural.”

“It feels like the whole world might soon become ‘Arad’. Hahaha!”

Arad and Entaire burst into laughter during their conversation.

Professor Arad Jin had no idea that his creation resembled Earth’s Letterpress-style printers or that it was similar to the Columbia Press.

He barely knew anything about Earth’s printers.

He merely created it by applying MAX-level mechanical engineering.

Thinking that human minds are generally alike,

100 years later, Arcanepunk-era printers and Earth’s printers were largely similar, differing only in their power sources.

“What exactly are you, Mr. Jin? I’m curious and excited about your limits, but also a bit scared.”

“I’m just a skilled magitech engineer.”

“Really… do you expect me to believe that?”

“Don’t overthink it. The Empire or Kingdoms also have similar printing techniques, right?”

“They might, but they’re newly developed. They take immense time and cost to produce. Above all, they can’t print madly using a steam engine like this.”

Entaire, who was about to return to the Empire, postponed his schedule by a few more days.

He had no choice. The contract in front of him was so massive that even changing his schedule by a week or a year wouldn’t matter.

“But what’s even more revolutionary than this printer is that over there.”

Entaire’s attention was more drawn to the series of processes happening in the adjacent factory rather than the Arad Printer.

“What good does printing do if paper remains expensive? But with that paper-making method…?”

Kakakakakak

Entaire’s voice was drowned out by the machinery noise.

The paper-making process he marveled at was similar to Earth’s mechanical pulp-making method.

A steam-powered machine ground wood to produce pulp.

“Beautiful…”

Watching the printer and paper-making process, Entaire’s eyes gleamed like a love-struck youth.

‘With this, I can increase the literate population in the Empire. Information and ideas will spread faster, though the Empire’s fragmentation might accelerate too. Let’s revolutionize this world!’

‘With this, I can publish the weekly gazette daily instead of monthly. And at incredibly low prices. I’ll control the public opinion of the Empire!’

The looks and thoughts of the two men observing the printer and pulp-making process were strikingly similar.

After silently watching the sacred production process for a while, Entaire asked Arad with eyes brimming with emotion.

“So, are you selling these two machines again?”

Though phrased as a question, the tone implied an expected affirmative response.

“Yes.”

And Arad’s answer met Entaire’s expectations perfectly.

Though anticipated, hearing it filled Entaire’s eyes with excitement.

“Will the payment terms be the same as last time?”

“You may choose your preferred method—lump sum or installment payments. Oh, royalties are separate.”

“I’ll go with installments.”

“Understood.”

This guy doesn’t know the terror of installment interest, does he? Arad had to consciously maintain his composure.

“And I have one additional request.”

“Anything from Mr. Jin, please speak freely.”

Arad had too much to do right now.

But the situation was ambiguous. Especially, manpower and talent issues kept tripping him up.

“When adopting the pulp-making process, I’d appreciate it if you could prioritize selling paper to the Northern Region first.”

“Paper? Isn’t timber abundant in the North?”

“The problem is the harsh weather. Moreover, the dense Great Forest borders the Magic Realm, where monsters and wild beasts abound.”

“Aaah, understood.”

Currently, aside from Arad Workshop, the Northern Region had too many job opportunities.

They needed to mine traditional valuable minerals, hunt monsters and beasts, protect their territory from barbarians and the Magic Realm, gather herbs, farm, expand the church, supply materials requested by Arad Company, and build roads and structures.

Even estimating the working-age population from 15 to 50 years old, labor was insufficient among the 1 million Lensretians.

“The North is great in many ways, but manpower always holds us back.”

To Entaire’s statement, Arad nodded without denying it.