Technology Is Built Upon Investment (1)
In truth, it wasn’t as if the Department of Technology and Labor had been completely idle. Because technology and manpower were critical issues everywhere, there were temporary department heads and their subordinates who were running themselves ragged at this very moment.
They had done everything from improving farming tools to establishing labor standards for the North, and they frequently provided support to the Chamber of Commerce and the credit unions.
Nevertheless, the reason they remained in an ambiguous position, often dismissed as merely a "support department," was simple:
Even the officials at the Administrative Welfare Office would tilt their heads in confusion when asked about the department's representative achievements. This is why, whether it’s a person or a department, you need a flagship accomplishment. That is the only way to avoid being ignored wherever you go and to introduce yourself without hesitation.
"It’s certainly good, I’ll give you that."
"Right?! It was hard work developing it, meow!"
Aiden, who had paid a premium to take a ride in the carriage that was rumored to have excellent suspension, expressed his admiration. The young Feline youth puffed out his chest, looking incredibly proud—even though he hadn't been the one to build it.
'Is this the result of spending a fortune just to see if I could raise a prodigy?'
Aiden pondered silently. How much money had gone into that young Dwarf? He didn't know the exact figure, but he was certain a significant portion of his own private funds had been poured into it. Raising a master blacksmith was a much more expensive endeavor than he had initially anticipated.
He had heard that blacksmiths only improved their skills by burning through expensive minerals, but this young Dwarf was a being who far surpassed the speed of any human artisan. Perhaps his thick skin and hands allowed him to ignore not only the heat of the forge but also the exhaustion of the hammer. While his colleagues—all former prisoners—struck the heated iron a hundred times, the young Dwarf struck it three thousand times without even wiping the sweat from his brow.
- Perhaps the greatest talent of a Dwarf is that tenacity.
It was a level of persistence that even Old Man Faber would shake his head at in disbelief.
"Administrator. Shall I bring the Dwarf to you?"
"I should meet him at least once."
Until now, Aiden had no intention of meeting the talents he sponsored—not until their potential had fully blossomed, or even if they were already exuding talent like breathing. That is the nature of talent-nurturing projects. The moment the government intervenes and demands dozens of pages of paperwork to prove the results of their support, the talent withers and the inspiration dies.
'The government needs cause and effect, but geniuses are beings who have no need for such things.'
It was useless to ask them why they conducted a certain study.
- I did it because it was fun. Why else would I?
Geniuses are the types who make administrators clutch the backs of their necks by saying things like that. You’d be lucky to find one in a hundred geniuses who knows how to draft a report that would make an administrator smile.
Therefore, what is the usual end of a government talent project?
'It was a battlefield of greedy squabbles where "genius-pretenders" devoured blind government funds.'
They would talk about the motivation for the research, the purpose, the development process, the budget, the manpower, the time and resources invested, and finally, the projected employment effects in various fields... The reason these self-proclaimed geniuses could run rampant, drafting pages of unrealistic reports, was ultimately because the decision-makers at the top of the government, who held the power to continue or scrap projects, loved such tidy paperwork.
In fact, Aiden thought there was an unavoidable aspect to it. The government's budget is public money, and if you are going to spend it, you certainly need such documentation. Even if you are supporting a genius, the ones evaluating the project's success are, in the end, ordinary people. And why are ordinary people ordinary? Isn't it because they find it difficult to understand things even when presented with evidence filled with letters and numbers?
That was why, when proceeding with the prodigy project, Aiden hadn't expected results from the start. Since he was now in a position to do things he couldn't do in his previous life, he decided not to demand too much from the geniuses.
"If the Dwarf feels uncomfortable with the meeting, don't force it—"
"Oh, come on, why would he? Every time he creates something new, that young Dwarf always says the same thing."
"Hmm?"
The official in charge of supervising the hot spring district began to recount what he had heard, asking why the Administrator would say such a thing.
"He says, 'I need to learn the technology quickly and pull my own weight so the Lord will call for me,' and 'I still have a long way to go,' and 'I have to work hard to repay the favor...' You know, things like that."
"······."
Aiden stopped in his tracks at the unexpected words.
'Repay the favor?'
In the cold, romanticism-devoid 21st century, a story that would only appear in children's fairy tales was actually existing here in the North.
"I greet the Administrator!"
"Nice to meet you. I hope I didn't drag a busy person away from their work."
"If the Administrator calls, of course I must go anywhere! I’ve been waiting so long...! I really wanted to thank you in person...!"
The meeting with the Dwarf boy happened in an instant. The Dwarf, who had been on a business trip to the hot spring district, had stolen a donkey and ridden it over the moment he heard the Administrator wanted to meet him. Apparently, Felix had been dragged along in the confusion.
'So not all non-humans speak in weird ways.'
However, Aiden’s impression was somewhat dry. It was a stark contrast to the Dwarf, who acted like a teenage boy meeting his long-awaited idol. It was only natural, as this was the first time Aiden had seen a Dwarf in person. The only non-humans he had seen so far were the Feline tribe, who ended every sentence with "meow," and the Goblins, who seemed to have a terminal illness that killed them if they didn't laugh "Uhehehe" while using formal speech. A Dwarf capable of normal conversation was quite unfamiliar.
'I was nervous because he was a genius. But he just seems like a normal kid.'
He had been secretly nervous, not knowing how to treat a genius, but now he felt a sense of relief.
"I heard you successfully improved the carriage performance after receiving a request from the Feline tribe."
"Ah—! I, I am sorry! That, that is..."
"?"
Aiden had intended to praise him, but the Dwarf boy made a face as if tears were about to burst from his round, glistening eyes.
"I, I just took the request because they said they would give me mo, money if I performed it well... Ah, it’s not that the money you send every month is insufficient! It’s just... when I do research, I’m always short on money... I, I know that the support fund is a huge amount of money, of course...! I, I am sorry."
The dejected boy seemed to believe that Aiden had called him there to reprimand him.
'Well, come to think of it, there are quite a few projects that forbid external requests or economic activities while receiving support funds.'
The reason the Dwarf’s bowed head wouldn't rise was likely the fear that he might have disappointed Aiden, whom he considered his benefactor, over a mere few coins.
"It costs a lot of money, doesn't it?"
"...Yes?"
"I don't know much about blacksmithing, but I’ve heard that even making a single new alloy requires an astronomical amount of money."
"Th, that is..."
"I’m not trying to reprimand you. I’m asking out of pure curiosity."
At the soft voice, which seemed intended to ease his tension, the Dwarf boy’s tightly hunched shoulders slowly returned to their natural position.
"Actually, blacksmithing does cost a lot of money every time I try something new. It’s not just alloy experiments; every time I introduce a new refining process, study forging, or craft equipment, failures are repeated, and it’s difficult to reuse most of the minerals used in those attempts."
"So, it’s money in the end."
At Aiden’s mutter, the Dwarf boy nodded, then hurriedly added:
"But thanks to you, Administrator, I’ve been able to make things like this now."
He then pulled a fist-sized object made of iron from his pocket to show him.
'A spring?'
Aiden recognized it immediately. A spring. Something so familiar to a modern person. Although Aiden was a liberal arts major through and through and had never once successfully fixed a broken ballpoint pen, he knew just how difficult it was to manufacture this.
"By mixing alloys into the steel and maintaining a certain ratio of specific components, then keeping the temperature just right during the tempering process, and applying even force to a specially crafted twisting plate—that’s how this spring is made."
Aiden chuckled, thinking that even if he was young, a master is a master, seeing how he was accustomed to using vague words like "specific," "just right," and "special" to protect his technology in a world where patents didn't exist.
"Actually, I used all the support funds you sent so far to make this. Ah, it might seem like nothing, but its uses will be truly limitless! The improvement of the Feline carriage this time would have been impossible without this spring. And it can be used here, and here..."
"Stop."
"Ah..."
Aiden cut him off, signaling that he didn't need to say any more. However, the young Dwarf seemed to take that as a reprimand: 'You spent all that money just to make something like this?' It was clear, given how his head, which had finally met Aiden's eyes, immediately dropped back to the floor.
"I’m not trying to reprimand you. It’s just that I wouldn't understand even if I looked at it, so there’s no need to explain it to me. I’ve already ridden the carriage you made using that spring. I don't know the principles, but I’ve confirmed the performance, so I’m not at the stage of regretting the cost. It’s just..."
"Just...?"
"I think I’ve caught a glimpse of how to run the Department of Technology and Labor from now on."
He still had no intention of attaching grand words like "technological innovation." However, he felt he could now provide a vision so that the Department of Technology and Labor, which had been nothing more than a hollow support department, could lead the lives of the Northern people in a better direction.
"Felix."
"Yes, Administrator."
"You said you had more ideas, like the crane, right?"
"...As for ideas, yes, I do have a few. Things I thought would be useful at construction sites... But I don't know if they will work as intended. It’s hard to say for sure."
"So you mean you have to try it to know?"
"Yes."
Okay, that’s enough.
"Mr. Dwarf? Ah, I’m not sure what to call you."
"It’s Aimhand."
"Ah, Mr. Aimhand. Do you intend to make more things using the spring you showed me earlier? Or perhaps a new type of technology? Well, that’s not important. You do want to continue your research and development, right?"
"Of course! ...Though it will cost a bit of money..."
That was also okay. The conclusion was reached.
"The Department of Technology and Labor will have to be the place that receives the most budget support."
The vision for the North's technological development.
[Money, lots of money, and even more money!]
That was it.