Chương 72: Chapter 2.9: Price of Progress

The next day started with a surprise. While on the way to the workshop, fast footsteps could be heard in the melting snow behind them.

"Wait!" cried a young boy. The siblings and the cultivator spun around, and Favius raised an eyebrow as he saw Marius. Urania grinned broadly.

"What are you doing here? Did you run away from Hesnia?" Caliga sniffed.

"No. She would never allow her prey to escape," she murmured in a voice too low for Marius to hear. Marius stopped before them.

"Hesnia allowed me to come with you. After all, I want to see what you promised to show me. What you are doing in the workshops." Favius shook his head. Is he acting as a spy? Well, easy to fix that. Favius leaned forward and adopted a serious expression.

"Marius, we will take you along." A grin spread over the kid's face.

"But there's one thing you need to do before."

"All right," he ventured, squinting at Favius.

"Do you know what an oath is?" he asked. Marius nodded seriously.

"Yes. It's when you use your honor and virtue to make a promise. Cassian taught me about them last week." Favius maintained a gentle smile.

"Did he also tell you why it's important never to break an oath?" Marius nodded eagerly, but Brutus stepped forward.

"This is very serious, Marius. Maybe the most serious thing anyone has ever talked to you about." Marius straightened, then nodded solemnly.

"And you want me to swear an oath?" he ventured. Favius nodded.

"Yes. Whatever you see or learn in the workshops, you're not allowed to tell Hesnia or talk about it with anyone except us." He rotated his finger.

"Especially not Hesnia."

"No matter how many sweets she gives you," interjected Caliga. Marius swallowed hard and nodded.

"I... I understand," he said hesitantly.

"Yes, I think you do," said Brutus after a short while. He held up two fingers.

"In that case, follow after me."

"I, Marius Ovinius Loran—" After the oaths had been sworn, Favius couldn't help but smile. His little brother led the procession, his chest thrust out proudly. When they entered the workshop, the usual round of greetings followed. Favius looked around and saw Arryn carving away at a piece of wood in concentration, but before he could investigate, the twins approached.

"Young Dominus, we have done as you asked." They exchanged a quick look.

"I hope," Veren continued, "our efforts were sufficient to satisfy you." Favius grinned.

"Let's see." They walked out of the workshop into a storeroom that clearly had been emptied recently. Several large tables were all that remained, and the group barely had space to squeeze themselves in between them. All of them were covered in small sheets of paper, each of them a quarter of their usual size. Favius slowly studied the orderly pattern. Well, it looks like they were systematic about it at least. He leaned in and studied one of the sheets.

There were several lines of handwriting on it, a number and letter indicating its position in the grid, and a few comments and small arrows indicating something Favius couldn't make out right away. And they even documented everything. Marius was the first to speak up.

"What's this? Why are you making little pieces of paper? Is this for a game?"

"There are no games that are played with paper," said Brutus before looking over at Urania and Favius.

"Unless you're a Cultor Mentis, of course." Favius tilted his head to the side and hummed.

"Well, there aren't any games played with pieces of paper yet." Brutus gave him an odd look, but Favius smiled mysteriously. Maybe I should really think about introducing poker and opening a casino here. Well, let's consider unethical business ideas later. He ran his hand over the coarse rag paper. It isn't as smooth as modern paper. There are clearly visible fibers, and the quills seemed to catch on some of them. He leaned in closer. Hm, there the ink feathered out along a fiber... But it's all legible. He nodded.

"Well?" Caliga addressed Veren, her usual partner in woodworking crime.

"Explain what you did." The newly minted Cultor straightened with a broad smile.

"We produced the first two sets just as the Young Lord ordered." He pointed at the two tables closest to the door.

"One for handwriting, the other we tested with Arryn's printing stencils." Favius leaned in and nodded. Looks like he's gotten better at making smooth surfaces. But he's far from perfect. We need to ensure everything remains level. This kind of carving... He shook his head.

"Then, as per your previous instructions, we selected the best sections." He pointed toward two regions of the paper grids that had large Xs at the bottom. Favius and the girls leaned in and studied the papers. Urania moved her head systematically, turning her neck in her inhuman, owl-like fashion.

"Yes, this looks good." She gestured to the side.

"At this point the ink still runs along all the bigger fibers, but here..." She pointed roughly to the center.

"The effect is barely noticeable. At most..." She leaned forward.

"A minuscule part of a finger's width." If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. She poked at some point.

"Indeed. We repeated the same process by reducing the variation of the fractions, and that produced these other tables." They moved inward to the final versions, and Favius couldn't help but nod in approval. There was very little feathering in the ink, and the absorption had only happened where the quill or wood stencil had touched the paper. Favius smiled at his sisters.

"Well, girls, how do you think our dear woodworkers did?" They exchanged a look, and Caliga spoke with some haste.

"I think they did perfectly. Like, I couldn't think of what we would have done better." Urania narrowed her eyes briefly, then let out a breath and nodded. She looked at the twins.

"My sister speaks the truth. You have indeed done well." She looked at Favius and gave him a sweet smile.

"I'll ask Serran to pay out a bonus to everyone in the workshop."

"We thank the Young Mistress." Both of them bowed, and Favius couldn't help but grin. They walked back to the woodworking workshop, and Brutus stepped close to him.

"So they got everything done to your satisfaction?" he said loudly enough only for his sisters to overhear.

"Absolutely. Urania, do you see why this was necessary?" She sighed and smiled.

"Yes. We cannot do everything ourselves," she replied quickly before shaking her head. As they entered the woodworking workshop, Favius raised his voice.

"Everyone, well done! I was impressed by the results of the sizing and polishing of the paper. Do not forget what you did here. In fact, to ensure that all of you understand the process and can teach it to others, you will have a week for figuring out the best mixtures for writing and printing ink." He smiled at the twins.

"I trust that shall prove no issue." The two of them nodded, and happy murmurs and looks were exchanged throughout the workshop. Favius took in a breath of the woody, resinous air. Despite the smell, it was fresh and cold due to the open windows. Never thought about it on Earth, but I guess electrical lighting did as much for saving fuel as better insulation, because even in winter they need to keep windows and doors open to see properly. He shook his head.

As the others spread out over the workshop, Marius had attached himself to Caliga, asking question after question about the beehives. His older sister was answering them enthusiastically, only sometimes taking a look at Veren to get help with a difficult question. Favius let a breath with a sprinkling of pneuma run through his body and smiled. The murmur of low conversation and gossip, the sounds of tools scraping and shaping wood, the oily and resinous smells...

He ran his fingers over a workbench and let sawdust run through them. A memory of the other world came to his mind. The absence of a man who was with him in a similar yet also different workshop. Was that my grandfather? Favius looked at the wooden figure on the workbench in his memory. Not carved, but assembled from twigs and pieces of wood. An elephant. I remember this. I had this entire collection of wooden animals. Played with them in the stairwell of the farmhouse.

He grinned, and, still smiling, walked over to Arryn. The older boy sat hunched over a piece of wood, carefully moving one of several sharp, long bronze blades by fractions of millimeters. Favius slowed his steps and tried to breathe quietly. I don't want to ruin yet another piece he's working on. He looked over the other stencils. Smooth plates of wood with text carved into them. Some of them even held more complicated patterns. Wood blocks definitely work for printing, but...

He looked at what was almost an entire page assembled from different pieces pressed into a wax board. We just need to keep the different pieces flat. That way a single failed letter doesn't ruin the entire manuscript.

"Allfather's shriveled ballsack," hissed Arryn, and Favius cleared his throat. The boy spun around, knife still in his hand, and swallowed.

"Young Master, I didn't notice. I—" Favius laughed.

"It's fine. Don't worry. Cursing is a sign of caring." The woodworking boy chuckled, and Favius stepped forward. He pointed at the page of assembled wood blocks and wax.

"I see you managed to get that working during the last few days." Arryn snorted in disgust.

"Yes, Dominus. It's just..." He trailed off until Favius motioned him to continue.

"I can see it's a clever solution, but part of me feels like not making a complete piece of wood without errors is a personal failing." Favius nodded and stroked his chin. Looks like I need to channel my wise inner master now. What to say?

"See, Arryn, perfection certainly has its place, but working hard and learning how to recover from mistakes is way more important than being great at everything." The other boy hummed, then nodded.

"As you say, Dominus." Favius squinted. Favius picked up two different pieces of wood and sniffed them. One was much richer and more resinous, while the other barely had a smell.

"You've been experimenting with different kinds of wood." Arryn nodded eagerly and pointed at another pile of wood blocks, all of them stained with ink.

"I'm all but certain that softwood is simply not workable." He pointed at the piece in Favius's hands before gesturing at the one before him.

"And I think smaller-growing trees work better than anything big." He held up the piece of wood.

"This is applewood. It works best." He leaned in and smiled.

"Veren told me that the most favored wood for carvers is boxwood, but we don't have that here at the estate." Favius leaned over and touched the letters carved into the piece of applewood.

"You worked with the grain again?" he asked, mild disapproval in his voice. Arryn grimaced and pulled up another piece of wood. A single look told Favius that the letters had been carved into a section cut across the grain.

"I thought we agreed that carving across the grain was going to give us a better structure," Favius said. Arryn swallowed, and Favius quickly smiled. God damn it. He's always this nervous about any criticism I make.

"The wood..." the boy began after a moment.

"Well, I still agree with that conclusion, Dominus. It's just..." He gestured to the knives.

"If I carve across the grain, a single slip tears out the wood around the letters. I keep sharpening them after every few letters, but..." He swallowed, then thrust his chin forward.

"But you told us to experiment. Based on what I tried, we'll get better results overall working with the grain." Favius picked up one of the thin-bladed bronze knives. It's almost like a large needle, but yeah. They are rather thick. He leaned in.

"I assume you also played around with the letter size." Arryn nodded eagerly.

"Indeed, Dominus." He smiled carefully, which made Favius wince silently behind the boy's back.

"If I get any smaller than this, too many letters break." Favius studied the implements in silence for a minute. At this font size, with all of this...

"Still no good with the type carving?" a girl's voice could be heard behind him. Favius made a disgusted noise as he turned around, meeting first Brutus's, then Urania's eyes.

"Yeah, it's just..." He let out a long breath.

"It's not that it's not going to work, but with this type size the books are going to get much longer than they are supposed to be." Urania gestured Arryn to the side and studied the work.

"Well, maybe we really need to hire an actual Collegium woodcrafter for this. Someone with cultivation insights to do fine carving." Favius gave a pained expression, looking briefly at Arryn, then at Urania. Before he could respond, Brutus sniffed.

"We discussed that already, and nothing has changed." Favius nodded.

"Letting a stranger into this kind of project? It'll only spell trouble." Urania sniffed.

"Yes, but..." She trailed off, then shook her head.

"Well, it's your project anyway." She gave him an apologetic smile before returning to the soap-making section of the workshop. Favius sniffed the air and nodded. Looks like we're making lavender soap today. He gave Arryn's woodworking pieces and the bronze carving knives a final look. Maybe Urania wasn't wrong. Maybe it needs more power, magical power, to get this right. Favius's eyes fell on the subtle rainbow glitter of Brutus's steel axe.

"Brutus?" Favius ventured, and the Rexionii aristocrat narrowed his eyes.

"Yes?" he said, his voice almost comically careful.

"Let's go outside." They left the moderate warmth of the workshop and were embraced by the cold, fresh winter air, and after their steps sloshed through the melting snow of the courtyard, they found a quiet corner. Favius looked around and spun a finger in a circle. Brutus nodded, and in an instant Favius felt the stinging electrical aggression of Brutus's aura around him.

"I hesitate to ask what it is," said the Magnicultor, "but unless I'm mistaken, you've had an idea." Favius swallowed and looked first at the axe, then at the cultivator. Well, he already made one donation, so...

"So, Brutus," Favius began, and the cultivator's eyes narrowed comically.

"So, Favius," he growled theatrically.

"You've already given up one iron dagger." Favius gestured at the rigging on the man's chest plate.

"I assume iron daggers aren't all you have." Brutus clutched his assembly of bladed weapons protectively.

"Let's say I have something better than an iron dagger," Brutus ventured, and Favius couldn't help but wince.

"I'm really sorry to ask you this, but for the wood carving—""You want arcane steel," Brutus finished, and Favius nodded. The cultivator stood there for a long moment, his face an expressionless mask. Favius's heartbeat sped up, and he let out a breath. Sorry I asked. I know how much a weapon means to a warrior. But Brutus raised two fingers, his expression devoid of his usual humor.

"You are correct that this is not something that should be asked of a warrior—"