Knowledge is Power (1)
It had been a fortnight since the railroad reached Eisengrad and the trains started rolling. The massive resources pouring out of the mines were shipped across the empire via the Roselin Trading Company's distribution network, and in return, gold coins were piling up nonstop in the domain's vault. Everything seemed perfect.
But right now, I stood by the office window, rubbing my temples with a grave expression.
Screeeeech—!!!
A sharp screech echoed from outside. Far off on the tracks, a freight train was shrieking to a halt. Sparks flying from the wheels were visible even from the office window.
“...Again?”
My brow furrowed involuntarily.
“What is it this time? Another herd of cattle? Or drunks?”
Butler Thomas, standing beside me, reported with a troubled look.
“Well... this time, farmers drove their oxcarts right onto the tracks.”
“Oxcarts?”
“Yes. The roads turned to mud from the rain, so they said the hard, flat sleepers were easier to walk on... Even when the train blew its whistle, they got mad and yelled, 'The road's for everyone—why make a fuss?'”
I let out a deep sigh. And this wasn't the only issue.
Yesterday, the lubricant on the track switch was gone—turns out the village elders had scraped it off, believing “oil from the steel monster cures arthritis.” The day before, kids nearly got hit playing a dare game to see who could stand in front of an oncoming train the longest.
I'd dragged the hardware up to Industrial Revolution levels, but people's mindsets were still stuck in the Middle Ages.
“Sigh... What's the point of good machines when the users are primitives.”
Bam! At that moment, the office door flew open as if it might shatter, and oil-soaked Grody stormed in, fuming.
“I quit! This is too filthy—I can't take it anymore!”
Grody hurled his goggles to the floor. The dwarf's eyes brimmed with rage and aggrieved tears.
“What now, factory chief? Pay too low?”
“Pay my ass! Listen, lordling—I'm going on strike! Shutting the factory down starting tomorrow!”
“What happened?”
“I told a new apprentice to lube the gears, right? But the idiot can't read, so he grabs the glue canister next to it and dumps it in!”
“...”
“The whole gear assembly seized up! Spent all night prying it apart and cleaning—couldn't sleep a wink! Am I fixing machines or cleaning up after morons?!”
Grody tore at his hair, howling.
“I can't do it alone! Production, maintenance, repairs—ten bodies wouldn't be enough! Give me someone who can at least read, or just melt me down in the furnace!”
I had nothing to say to Grody. In this domain, only he and I fully understood and could handle the tech. Everyone else was just simple laborers following orders.
This won't do.
Money and resources could build structures and install machines. But sustaining it all came down to people. The bottleneck of human resources unable to keep pace with technological progress—that was Eisengrad's biggest obstacle right now.
As I rubbed my dry face, the butler cautiously spoke up.
“My lord. Um... Lady Serina requests an audience.”
A short while later, Serina entered the office, looking drained. Her expression was a complicated mix.
“Investigation's done, right? Here for travel money on your way out?”
She didn't smile at my icy jab. Instead, she placed a crumpled letter limply on the desk.
“A reply from the Imperial Ministry of Environment.”
“Oh, the report I sent? What'd they say?”
“...False reporting. They claim the frontier count bribed me, and I've been ordered to stand by indefinitely until a full investigation.”
Serina gave a self-mocking smile.
“Effectively fired. The Magic Tower wants my lab cleared out too.”
To the imperial bureaucrats, Volfsberg had to remain a wasteland. A green rookie investigator daring to report “that land's revived” was an affront—they'd slapped her with charges of impropriety.
“Tch, idiots. Won't believe the truth even when it's handed to them.”
I tsked sympathetically on the surface, but inside, I was cheering. The empire's top elite mage was now adrift thanks to their own bungling.
Can't let talent like this go to waste.
Leaning back in my chair, I asked,
“So, pack up and grovel back home? 'I was crazy, that place is still a shithole'?”
“...A mage has pride. I won't lie.”
Serina bit her lip.
“But it's true I have nowhere to go. Stripped of my imperial investigator status, I can't just leech off someone as a guest...”
“Who said free room and board?”
I pulled a pre-prepared document from the drawer and slid it over.
“No place to go? Work here. I'll give you meals and a lab even the Magic Tower lord would envy.”
“...A job? What could I do? Monster extermination?”
“No. Swords are for the army. You wield the pen.”
I straightened up, looking at her earnestly but with unwavering confidence.
“Serina von Ludwig. Let me make this formal offer.”
“An... offer?”
“Eisengrad Engineering Academy. I want you as its inaugural dean.”
“Ha, dean? What's an Engineering Academy?”
“A school. Mixing my knowledge with yours to churn out geniuses the dumb empire can't even imagine.”
I locked eyes with her wavering gaze.
“The empire discarded you. But I need you. Go back to the Tower and fetch for old fogeys? Or flip the empire's common sense with me?”
Serina glanced between the offer letter and her dismissal notice. Mage curiosity and spite toward the empire that tossed her aside. Her decision didn't take long.
“...Pay's good?”
“Better than your investigator gig.”
“Deal.”
She gripped my hand firmly. The empire lost a capable official; I gained a perfect... er, reliable dean to put to work.
That afternoon, I called an emergency meeting. Attendees: Roselin, Serina, and Grody, dragged in wearing work clothes.
“Time for education.”
Their reactions varied. Serina, briefed in advance, crossed her arms leisurely. But Roselin immediately tapped her abacus with a scowl, while Grody looked on the verge of tears.
“My lord! We just started stacking coin in the vault—are you planning to blow it all?!”
Roselin fired first, waving her ledger in disbelief.
“We finally caught our breath, and now you're gonna scatter the gold back to the dirt?!”
Her objection was valid. To a merchant, unprofitable investment was a sin.
But I shrugged nonchalantly.
“Roselin. Remember?”
“Huh? What?”
“A few months back, when I took in those starving refugees and fed 'em for free. You said the same thing. 'Insane.'”
Roselin's mouth snapped shut.
“But what happened?”
I pointed out the window.
“Those bowl-of-gruel survivors are running the furnaces and laying tracks now.”
“...That was.”
Roselin couldn't retort.
“Roselin, we don't earn to hoard gold in a vault.”
“Then why?”
“To spend on awesome stuff like this.”
“...Haa. Can't argue with that mouth.”
Roselin was dumbfounded. Utter nonsense by merchant logic—but irrefutable, since that lord earned the gold in the first place.
Now Grody slammed the desk.
“I'm dying from lack of apprentices already—waste time teaching kids letters? Screw that, tighten one more bolt!”
“Grody. You just ranted about that apprentice dumping glue instead of lube.”
“Yeah! Nearly wrecked the gears!”
“Not 'cause he's dumb. He can't read.”
“...”
“If he could read blueprints and labels?”
Grody fell silent. I stood and wrote big on the blackboard.
“Not building some fancy university. We need a boot camp to pump out field techs now.”
I pointed at Serina beside me.
“Serina von Ludwig here is our inaugural dean, effective today.”
“Huh? This lady?”
“The imperial investigator?”
As Roselin and Grody gawked, Serina shrugged.
“Yup. Got canned by the empire, reemployed by the lord. A mage teaching science is kinda funny, yeah.”
“Serina'll teach basics—math, science, theory—from my textbooks. Solid pedagogy from a proven elite mage, right?”
Roselin couldn't argue against verified credentials. Finally, I turned to Grody.
“Grody, you're the practical instructor. Serina handles theory; you teach hammering and machine ops.”
“What?! I'm swamped—no apprentices, and now teaching?!”
Grody jumped up.
“Train hammer-happy guys to boss around. Scrub gears in agony forever, or run the factory with competent underlings?”
Grody's eyes wavered. Solo grease monkey vs. dapper chief barking orders. Answer was obvious.
“...Fine. Pack it with skilled hands.”
Grody flipped instantly. After twists and turns, the academy negotiations closed.
But the biggest hurdle remained: Would domain folk, scrambling for daily bread, choose school over work?
“Even free tuition—they won't come. Bread today trumps all.”
As the meeting wrapped, Roselin noted coldly.
“Why sit at a desk when factory shift means extra silver?”
She was right. To the poor, learning was luxury. Knowledge solving no immediate hunger was pie in the sky.
But I grinned leisurely.
“That's why I prepped the bait.”
The next day, a single poster in the town square flipped Eisengrad upside down.
• Age: No restrictions
• Gender: No restrictions
• Benefits:
1. Tuition fully free
2. Textbooks & supplies provided
3. Lunch included (meat dishes, unlimited portions)