Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Patent
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I headed to the Grand Duchess's office with the forms I'd printed using the woodblock.
The reason? To make government offices use these forms, I needed the Grand Duchess's command.
The Grand Duchess's office, still unfamiliar to me.
The knight at the door saw me and knocked on the office door.
-Knock knock.
-Who is it?
"Secretary Aiden has arrived."
Luna's calm voice came from beyond the door.
-Let him in.
The door opened soon after, revealing the Grand Duchess's office.
Just as I'd seen a few days ago, she was reviewing documents on her desk without even looking up at me.
"What is it?"
"I have a favor to ask."
She looked up at my response.
Her expression was deeply furrowed, as if she didn't want to see me.
Seeing Luna so openly uncomfortable with me, I felt my own mood souring, but I tried not to show it.
So you hate me coming here that much? Then why did you hire me?
"Not for next time, but I've made these document forms right now. I'd like to change everything to these, so I need your approval."
Luna asked with a puzzled look.
"Forms?"
Explaining forms would be a hassle, so seeing is believing.
I spread the forms out on her desk.
She picked up the papers and examined each one.
"Ho? This is neat. The lines and spacing... whoever made this has excellent craftsmanship. But what do you want to do with these?"
"From now on, all documents should use these papers, filling in the sections as needed."
What do you think? Genius, right?
But Luna's red eyes gleamed as she furrowed her brow even more.
"How much time and manpower would it take to make even these simple papers? Is that why you came here?"
Only then did I realize she'd misunderstood, and I hurriedly spoke up.
"Time and manpower? It doesn't even take a second to make these."
"What?"
Luna scrutinized the paper.
She glared at me with cold, hardened eyes.
"Don't lie. The spacing between lines shows it was clearly made with a ruler. There's no way drawing lines on each sheet like this takes only a second."
"Then what if I make one in a second?"
Did she think my words were insolent?
She rubbed her forehead, exuding a chilling aura.
"I'll revoke your death sentence."
The unexpected mention of a death sentence caught me off guard.
"Pardon?"
"You didn't think you could deliberately give me a false report and get away with it under the ruler of the Grand Duchy, did you? Now get out. I'll let this slide just once."
With that cold dismissal, Luna turned back to her documents.
"Fine. I'll show you I can make one in a second right now. Actually, three seconds should be plenty."
Inking and stamping on paper...
I was in such a rush that if I went too fast, the ink might splatter and not come out neatly.
"Sigh, are you really willing to risk your life just to annoy me? Truly staking your neck on it?"
I hadn't expected to risk my neck over forms.
But...
"Good. If I do it within three seconds as I said, you'll approve using these forms for the Finance Ministry documents, right?"
She carefully examined the documents.
"This does look neat. Alright. If it's really that easy to make, I'll have the Finance Ministry reports use this format."
My original goal was achieved.
"Then let's head to my office."
She stood up from her seat.
A moment later.
My office, now with Luna.
I gestured to the ink tray and said,
"Watch closely. I do it like this..."
I picked up the woodblock, lightly dipped it in ink...
-Thud.
Stamped it on paper and showed it to her.
"See? Doesn't even take three seconds."
Luna looked at the paper I'd given her with intrigued eyes.
"This... it's exactly the same as before. Can I see that wooden block?"
"Here you go."
I handed her the woodblock, and she flipped it over to inspect.
Her face was full of curiosity.
"Ho, so the ink sticks to this part, and you stamp it on paper to make it easily?"
I nodded at her words.
"Exactly. So, as promised, we'll switch the document forms to these?"
Luna gazed at me intently.
Why? You're making me nervous.
As I thought that,
She cleared her throat and spoke.
"Ahem, since I promised, of course. But... Secretary Aiden."
Suddenly calling me so seriously.
"Yes?"
As I looked at her quizzically, her eyes sparkled as she said,
"While we're at it, make forms for all the departments too. You seem to be the one in charge of this."
"Pardon?"
"Have forms for the other departments ready by the end of the week. The old methods were too messy anyway."
At Luna's words, I instinctively knew I was screwed.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The Grand Duchess's office.
Luna was in a good mood today.
Ever since Aiden started working in the Grand Duchess's palace, she'd always been in low spirits.
But for some reason, she felt good today.
'I wonder why?'
The only difference was that it was the first time she'd seen him since appointing him as secretary, but...
She wasn't aware of that fact.
"That aside... this is really convenient to look at. How did he come up with this?"
Documents here were basically written in narrative form.
So it was hard to grasp the key points.
Some people got straight to the point from the start, while others rambled on with useless stories at the beginning and only revealed the main point at the end.
Even higher-ups had to read everything to understand what the writer meant.
In contrast, Aiden's forms were simple and intuitive.
From the top: writer, date, and purpose, followed by the message.
And for longer content, subsequent pages had pre-ruled lines, considering even summaries.
As a ruler, she welcomed such forms.
No need to read every document from start to finish.
And even more astonishing was
That these weren't ruled by hand one by one, but mass-produced with woodblocks.
"Woodblock printing..."
It was the first time she'd seen the technology in her life, but its versatility seemed huge.
Books here were extremely expensive.
The reason being they had to be copied by hand one by one.
With such a tool, wouldn't manual copying be unnecessary?
"If we make hundreds of those blocks to produce books..."
For a moment, Luna thought of printing presses.
But she soon shook her head.
The blocks were too bulky, and storage would be an issue.
So she concluded they could only be used for simple purposes.
Tsking her tongue, Luna held up the printed paper to the light.
"But how did he come up with this idea?"
Luna had never heard of such a technique from travelers to the Eastern Continent.
She grew truly curious about Aiden's identity.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A sudden order from the Grand Duchess to the Finance Ministry.
Everyone was baffled by the command to use these forms for documents going forward.
"What's this?"
"Name and... date in separate fields?"
"Do we really need to do this?"
As everyone puzzled over the sample forms,
"Did they hire a bunch of scribes?"
"Yeah? We'd need dozens or hundreds of these forms made every day..."
"But no approval for that kind of funding?"
The Finance Ministry officials, who handled the Grand Duchy's finances, realized there'd been no mass hiring of scribes and tilted their heads.
Then a boy entered the Finance Ministry.
In his hands was a tray stacked with multiple woodblocks.
"From the Grand Duchess's palace. I'm Jin, squire to Sir Charles."
Sir Charles was a knight of the palace.
The Finance Ministry staff, familiar with his squire, greeted Jin warmly.
"Oh? What brings you here?"
"To show you how to make the forms."
"Make the forms?"
"You'll see if you watch. Do you have any ink?"
At Jin's words, an official handed over an ink bottle, and Jin poured ink onto the tray.
"Spread the ink evenly like this..."
Jin picked up a woodblock and inked it.
"Don't dip it too deep or it'll get messy, he said. Just give me a blank sheet."
Someone handed him blank paper, and he stamped the block on it...
"There, that's how you make the forms easily! I'll leave these here. Use them as much as you want!"
The Finance Ministry staff were stunned by Jin's bright smile.
"This is...?"
And as officials gathered in groups to examine the woodblocks and ink,
"Isn't this a revolution?"
"We could get rich making books with this."
Then, someone called out to stop Jin.
"Wait! Jin!"
Jin paused as he was leaving the ministry.
"Yes? What is it?"
"Who made this?"
"Oh? It's Secretary Aiden, the new Financial Secretary."
Question marks filled the officials' faces at Jin's answer.
"Secretary Aiden?"
"That... Aiden, the former Guard Captain?"
They'd all heard stories about Guard Captain Aiden at least once.
"The Guard Captain came up with this?"
"Yeah. If he'd patented it, he'd be filthy rich..."
To them, the woodblock looked like money, but Aiden hadn't thought of patents yet.
And... a few days later.
"Aaaah! Stop chasing me!"
Old men pursuing me relentlessly, ignoring my screams.
Madness gleamed in their eyes.
"Secretary Aiden! Add this too!"
"Hey! The Justice Ministry is busier! Make forms for our trial records!"
"No cutting in line! Interior Ministry first! Aiden Secretary! No, Captain Aiden! You haven't forgotten our old ties, have you?!"
Who are you people?
Watching the ministers bicker in front of me, my head throbbed.
I'd made the forms to make work easier...
But now I had even more work.
"Sigh..."