"City Lord, everyone who arrived yesterday has been properly arranged. Many people are grateful for your generosity, city lord."
Max reported on the task situation. The new slaves who arrived yesterday, after seeing the assigned houses and wheat, were so moved that many of them knelt down in gratitude.
This startled him, and he quickly scolded them, bringing up Lucas and praising his goodness. He told them to be well-behaved and to work hard.
"Well done!" Lucas put down the documents, which contained material data and some basic information about the slaves. He hadn't expected that over 400 of the slaves were beastkins.
Lucas couldn't help but sigh. The prince named Santner was really ruthless—he had treated the beastkins like slaves in order to disguise his movements.
"By the way, are many people going to the school to learn to read now?" Lucas asked Max. The literacy rate was something he needed to focus on.
"A lot. There are many people going during the day now," Max replied excitedly. He hadn't expected so many people to be willing to learn to read.
"So, do you think, after this winter, how many people will be able to read?"
Lucas interlaced his fingers and asked, "Do you think half the people in Sedona City could know how to read?"
"Well..." Max furrowed his brow as he mentally calculated the number of people who had learned to read at the school. Finally, he shook his head and said, "Lord, by the end of winter, only about 20% of the people should be able to read."
"Is it because there aren't enough schools?" Lucas asked.
"Yes, the school can only accommodate fifty people at a time. If there are more, there won't be enough space for everyone to practice writing." Max sighed. After all, the sand table takes up space, and the biggest issue is that people don't have books.
Right now, only the elementary school has books. The others can only practice writing in the school, and they might forget everything after going back home, which wastes a lot of time.
Lucas also realized this issue. The movable type printing was just one step away from being perfected—the ink was the problem.
For example, the books printed by the elementary school had a high cost, mainly because the ink's raw materials were scarce. The research department was currently working on a cheaper ink, and it was already in the experimental stage.
Once the cost is lowered, it will be time to promote it. Otherwise, if a book costs a silver coin to make and is sold for several silver coins, how can common people afford it?
"Bang bang bang!"
Just as Lucas was contemplating how many more schools to establish, there was a knock on the study room door.
"Come in!" Lucas said softly.
"Creek!"
Mina walked in, holding an iron box. She had just returned from the research department, as some confidential documents had to be delivered by her personally.
"Young master, the research department has something for you," Mina placed the iron box in front of Lucas, then sat on the desk, swishing her cat tail.
"Oh?" Lucas raised an eyebrow, thinking about what might have been created. He turned the combination lock, opened the iron lid, and saw two or three items inside.
"Eh? It's this," Lucas smiled, "This is just what I needed. It's like a timely rain, whatever I'm missing, it arrives right when I need it."
He took out what appeared to be pencils from the box—no, they were actually charcoal sticks, made from paper rolled up into charcoal.
"Young master, what is this?" Annie, who was recording nearby, leaned over, looking at the small sticks and the square wooden block in Lucas's hands.
"This is called a charcoal pencil. It's a great thing that can solve the problem many people have when writing." Lucas waved the charcoal pencil in his hand.
"This thing can write?" Annie took one and examined it, puzzled. "Young master, both ends of this are flat, how does it write?"
"That's where the pencil sharpener comes in," Lucas picked up the small wooden block beside him. The principle and construction of the pencil sharpener were very simple.
The charcoal pencil was inserted into the sharpener, and with a twist, paper shavings fell out. Soon, the tip of the pencil was sharpened. Lucas pulled over a piece of paper and began writing, and a line of elegant black characters appeared.
"Wow? This..." Annie stared in surprise with her eyes, picked up the sharpener, and began sharpening her own pencil. Soon, it was ready, but when she wrote, she applied a little too much force, and the tip broke.
"Don't apply too much pressure." Lucas chuckled, casually handing the pencil to Max to try as well.
"This is amazing! It's so convenient..." Max praised it repeatedly after trying it himself.
"You can use this to erase writing," Lucas picked up two small iron pieces, the size of a thumb, and handed them to Annie and Max.
"Eh? What a magical pencil," Annie said, using the iron piece to easily scrape off the writing, her surprise growing.
"City Lord, if we have these pens, everyone could copy the characters and take them home to practice," Max said excitedly.
"Of course, this kind of pencil isn't very expensive," Lucas nodded. He couldn't make regular pencils since they required graphite, which was a material he didn't have.
As for ballpoint pens, that's something he shouldn't even think about. It's fine to use them in his castle, but if they were to be mass-produced, it would probably wear him out. He didn't want to be a laborer running around fetching supplies—today it's ballpoint pens, tomorrow pencils, and the day after something else.
Therefore, Lucas believed that creating things that could be produced and promoted in this era was the most practical. As for Earth's goods, it would be fine if only his people used them.
The ballpoint pen tips on Earth are high-tech items, and that was one of the things that truly stumped him.
As for fountain pens, the research department was still testing the nibs, figuring out ink formulas, and addressing the issue of sealing the ink, etc. It would likely take a long time before they could truly perfect it.
These two options didn't work, but charcoal pencils were still viable. Charcoal was ground into powder, mixed with clay, stirred, and molded into shape using special molds. The result was the charcoal pencil.
Compared to using charcoal directly for writing, the charcoal pencil produced darker writing due to the addition of clay. The writing was also smoother because the overall density of the charcoal was lower than that of the charcoal pencil.
Although it wasn't as good as reed pens or quill pens (which were dipped in ink), it was still better in terms of practicality. The drawback was the quality of the writing, meaning the characters were harder to preserve.
In comparison, the charcoal pencil excels in being cheap and simple, and it isn't limited by the issue of ink. After all, ink is something that commoners can't afford; it's a luxury only nobles and wealthy merchants can use.
"Max, I will open two more schools, and the charcoal pencils will be provided soon. By next spring, at least half of the people in Sedona City must be able to read." Lucas said seriously.
"Yes!" Max responded respectfully. With this amazing pencil and the addition of two more schools, this task was definitely achievable.
Every time he faced a tough problem, he realized that when the city lord took charge, it was always resolved quickly.
Now, he could go back and boast to his grandson. I wonder how that little brat is doing at school today. He better not be bullying other students again!
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