Oh, Are You a Science Major? (2)
"This is fun! Give it to me!"
"It’s nothing special, really."
"Nothing special? You call this nothing?"
"Administrative Officer!"
The crane that Groblin was throwing a tantrum over, demanding it for himself, was a model only slightly larger than a toy a child might play with.
"Did you build this yourself?"
"Yes. I heard what you said, Administrative Officer, and wondered if it might work. I scavenged some leftover materials from the construction site and put it together. It moves better than I expected. There are still parts that need refinement, though."
Felix bit his lower lip slightly, looking bashful.
"At first, I miscalculated the position of the pulley here. The force wasn't distributing as well as I’d hoped, so I struggled with it for a while, but then I changed it to this side and—"
"Ah, never mind that part."
Even if you explain it, I won't understand it anyway.
Aiden was a man of efficiency.
He figured that if he couldn't grasp physics back in high school despite his best efforts, nothing would change now. He was already sick and tired of the empty formalities he’d endured in his past life—sitting through meetings with mayors, council members, entrepreneurs, professors, and developers, all while pretending to understand everything just to project an image of competence, despite having no interest, no comprehension, and no desire to learn the technical details.
"I’ll provide the support. Build it properly, large enough to be used on the actual site."
"...Pardon?"
"If this crane you built can do the work that would otherwise require dozens of grown men, it will be a massive help. Of course, I’ll pay you royalties for the use of the device."
"Administrative Officer!"
Felix’s eyes went wide.
"But I am your secretary. I can't let my other work inconvenience you—"
"There is nothing more inconvenient to me than work that isn't finished properly, so don't say such things. Besides, if you can do it, you should. Don't you agree?"
It wasn't as if the North had such a deep pool of talent that they could afford to clearly separate "my job" from "your job." If someone capable was standing right there, leaving them idle was a guaranteed loss.
"I’ll be staying near the hot springs for a while, so you’d best start right away."
"High-and-mighty sir, you’re staying here? Really?"
When Aiden revealed he would be staying for a few more days, Groblin clapped his hands in delight.
"I’ve already milked the goats for you! Uhehehe! I’ll bring it to you later!"
"I look forward to it."
It was a humble gift for a Lord (or his proxy), but Aiden liked these kinds of things. Just last year, he’d often be handed a piece of bread or a strip of jerky by the residents as he walked the streets, but that had decreased recently. It seemed that as his role in the Lord's castle grew and he gained a certain level of authority, they felt embarrassed to offer such small gifts.
It was unavoidable, but it had left him feeling a bit lonely. This was a welcome change.
"If you pair my goat cheese with sausage, it’s the perfect snack for beer! That young dwarf who comes by sometimes goes absolutely crazy for it. Hehehehe."
"A young dwarf?"
"You know, that strange one who’s a dwarf but became an apprentice to a human master. The kid who lives by the mine over there."
"Ah!"
It seemed he was talking about the one who, despite being a dwarf, had never held a hammer and had no calluses on his palms—the one who had become old man Faber’s apprentice.
"It seems that dwarf visits the site quite often."
At Aiden’s question, the site manager quickly found a stack of documents and handed them over, continuing his report.
"Since this is the largest construction site in the North, we require quite a lot of tools and materials."
"I suppose iron is needed everywhere."
"Exactly. But since most of the workshop staff are convicts, they can't move about freely. Even with the soldiers and the cat-folk, there are parts that require a technician to come and judge for themselves."
"So that’s why the dwarf was coming and going?"
"Yes, Administrative Officer."
That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Again, they were in a situation where they had to utilize whatever talent they had.
'Still, it is a problem that all the technicians are convicts.'
For now, there were only a few large construction sites, so having one dwarf run errands was manageable, but that couldn't last forever.
'Is it time to build a second forge?'
The first forge, where old man Faber led the convicts to produce iron, had clear limitations. Because they produced soft iron, they mostly made farm tools or parts that didn't require high durability. As the industrial structure of the North became more complex, its utility would inevitably shrink.
They could manage for now, but it was better to have a contingency plan in place.
'It’s better to have a plan ready before a crisis hits, indeed.'
But no matter how he thought about it, the problem always circled back to the labor shortage. A forge was the domain of a master. Since it was the highest tier of technical skill, even if he built a second forge, it would be useless without a master to lead it.
"For now, Felix. Let’s start by building that crane."
He decided he needed to take it slow, starting with what he could do, and rethink the rest later.
After leaving Felix at the construction site, Aiden headed straight for the hot spring complex.
It was a "complex."
In truth, the public bathhouse Aiden had originally envisioned was just a single facility where hot spring water flowed, with nothing else around it. That had been the result of his modern perspective. The North wasn't exactly a consumer city, let alone a tourist destination, and the hot springs were located in a remote area several hours away from the Lord's castle by carriage. He had doubted the utility of building commercial or service facilities there.
Building facilities wasn't everything. Without a steady stream of customers, even the most lavishly built facility would fall into disrepair in no time. That was why abandoned tourist spots in local areas always looked so bleak.
Moreover, since he had provided basic food and beverage facilities inside the bathhouse itself, Aiden hadn't found a justifiable reason to build additional, labor-intensive facilities outside. That was why the bathhouse had stood all alone on the road.
However,
"It’s still surprising to see."
In just a few months, the area around the bathhouse had turned into a wonderland. They weren't even just street stalls. Proper buildings with walls and roofs were packed tightly around the bathhouse.
"Come in for a light bowl of duck soup after your bath!"
"Stay the night today and breakfast is free! We have bread, soup, and wild boar meat!"
"Oh, young man! You should buy some perfume for your girlfriend there! If she applies it to her skin and hair after a bath, it’ll shine and glow!"
From restaurants and general stores to inns.
"The scheduled carriage to the village is booking now, meow! First come, first served, meow!"
There was even a private shuttle bus company.
He had heard that some of the cat-folk who handled the postal carriage operations had quit, but it seemed they had used the experience gained from driving the mail carriages as a stepping stone to start their own business.
'As expected of the demi-humans, they really are the incarnations of capitalism.'
Aiden let out a dry laugh as he looked at the shuttle carriage waiting area, which had the longest line.
At this rate, they’d be running bus advertisements soon.
"Heave-ho!"
"Make sure you stick that on properly so it doesn't fall off, meow!"
"Yes, yes, boss! Don't you worry!"
Just then, laborers were clinging to a shuttle carriage that looked ready to depart for the village, carefully sticking pictures onto it.
The picture on the carriage was,
"Inn advertisements...?"
It was an advertisement stating that customers who used the cat-folk boss’s shuttle bus for a round trip would receive a 20% discount on their room rate if they stayed at the newly opened inn next to the hot springs.
"......"
Aiden sniffled.
Did he even need to tour the surrounding tourist complex and make future plans himself? Couldn't he just sit a few demi-humans down, form a board of directors or an advisory group, and let it run itself?
Well, because of that thought,
"You must be working hard, have some of this while you're at it."
"Oh, ma'am! Thank you so much!"
Just then, a woman with a round, cute expression came out carrying a pile of what looked like freshly baked pies and began handing them out to the customers and laborers.
"The rumors about your apple pie skills are famous all over the North, ma'am! I’m finally getting to try one!"
"Oh, I’m sorry. This isn't apple pie. It’s a meat pie..."
"Meat pie? That’s even better!"
"The apple pie is for me to eat, meow!"
"Honey!"
"Oh my, you two are still so lovey-dovey!"
"What are you talking about? The boss and his wife are still newlyweds, sweet as honey!"
At the laborers' cheeky remarks, the customers and neighbors passing by burst into laughter, and the faces of the newlywed couple—who had achieved a union that transcended species—turned as red as a bursting berry.
'Ah...?'
So, this cat-folk youth who looked like he’d get an A+ in a capitalism test, and the young woman who made meat pies to treat people, were that rumored couple.
Swoosh.
Aiden pulled the hood of his robe over his head to hide his face and took a step toward them. He wanted to see the two people who had turned the North upside down with his own eyes so he could brag about it to Jamie later.
But then,
"But boss. Why is this carriage so expensive? You’re charging one and a half times the fare. Are you pulling it with some incredibly fast horses?"
"The speed is the same, meow."
"No, then why is it so expensive?"
"Because the ride comfort is different!"
"Ride comfort?"
"I had it made by ordering it from a dwarf, meow. The shaking on dirt roads is significantly reduced, meow!"
"...Could you tell me more about that in detail?"
Aiden couldn't hold back and interjected.
'Wait, are they talking about suspension right now?'
The only dwarf in the North he knew was that one person.
'How long has he been holding a hammer to be able to make something like that? Is this for real?'
At this point, what was the difference between a natural-born engineer and a god?
One might think this was an absurd story. But conversely, any modern person might empathize. As soon as summer hits, everyone from teenage boys who are practically half-beasts to seasoned elders who don't usually feel much excitement—they would all agree without objection that "Air conditioning is a gift from God, and the carrier is God."
- Hey, you know what? Starting this year, when I write the ancestral tablet for our ancestors, I’m going to write one for the carrier guy, too.
The fact that his colleague’s rambling didn't sound like complete nonsense was because he had felt with his own body how science and technology could change their lives.
Aiden was a "born-to-be-liberal-arts" man who had believed without a doubt that the humanities would save the world, but today, he felt like he was suffocating from the scent of science radiating from these talents who had popped out of his pocket like an awl.
And he realized.
'Come to think of it, among the five departments of the Administrative Welfare Office, the Department of Technical Labor still doesn't have a department head.'
The perfect time to bring a technical revolution to the North—that time was now.