Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 423: A Letter From Home

TL: Etude Translations

“Thank you, sir.”

Kevin expressed his gratitude with a heartfelt look to the man dressed as a merchant standing before him. He took out a handful of copper coins from his pocket, saying, “You’ve had a long journey, please accept this small token of my appreciation.”

“It was no trouble at all, just a matter of bringing a letter along the way. How could I accept money for that? We both hail from the Northwest Bay of the Kingdom of Ordo; it’s only right that we help each other in a foreign land.”

Despite his repeated refusals, the man eventually gave in and accepted the money from Kevin.

Watching the man’s retreating figure, Kevin thought self-deprecatingly: Perhaps he really didn’t care for that handful of copper coins.

From prior introductions, Kevin knew that the man was in the capital of the Gabella Empire to trade porcelain.

That was a trade of extremely high profits!

The porcelain from Kevin’s homeland, the Northwest Bay of the Kingdom of Ordo, had become a craze in the upper echelons of Gabella society in recent years.

Nobles and the wealthy were enamored with this exquisite new commodity, eagerly purchasing it for decoration.

Initially, the porcelain reached Gabella through Horn Bay merchants via transshipment trade. However, as overseas trade from the Northwest Bay thrived and the shipbuilding industry boomed, many merchants from Ordo started bringing porcelain to Gabella themselves.

In addition to the sea route heading south and then eastward around Horn Bay, some traveled through the Nerodan Corridor in the northeastern part of Ordo, crossing the vast desert with camels to reach the northern part of Gabella. Still, due to the convenience of sea transportation, most preferred the maritime route.

The letter from home Kevin received today had been brought by an Ordo sea merchant.

Of course, these merchants brought more than just porcelain. Other popular items included beautifully printed books, bundles of lightweight paper, cheap iron tools, and unbelievably affordable textiles.

Kevin mused that his lord must be making a fortune. After all, these emerging commodities were all connected to him, especially the method of making porcelain, which was his unique secret. Even after the patent laws were introduced, he never disclosed it.

In his mind’s eye, Kevin pictured Paul Grayman, his lord, bathing in a pile of gold coins like a nouveau riche.

Although a long time had passed since the Salt Village uprising, and he had been pardoned by his lord, Kevin still harbored resentment towards him.

Carefully holding the family letter, Kevin returned to his room, treating the envelope like a treasure.

Indeed, it was precious. The journey from the Northwest Bay to the capital of Gabella took several months at sea, with all sorts of potential mishaps along the way.

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Upon opening it, Kevin found two letters inside. Oh, it seemed his parents had a lot to say.

But he quickly realized that they were written by two different people.

From the signatures and writing styles, it was easy to discern. The neatly written letter came from the child of Kevin’s neighbor, while the sloppy one was from his father.

To promote education throughout the territory, Lord Grayman had started spreading the advanced educational practices of Lakeheart Town, overseen by the Administration Council. Schools were being built everywhere.

The education targeted not only children but also adults. To avoid disrupting their work, adult education was mainly conducted at night, referred to as “night schools.” Although these schools only taught basic literacy and simple arithmetic, Kevin believed they immensely benefited the populace, as evidenced by the letter in his hands.

A year ago, his parents, who could hardly recognize a few words, had to rely on their neighbor’s child—who wrote the other letter in the envelope and was receiving formal education at the lord’s school—to write to him. Now, his father could personally pen a letter, even though it was filled with crooked writing and many spelling errors.

This was the aspect of Lord Grayman that Kevin admired. Unlike other lords in the Northwest Bay and even throughout the Kingdom of Ordo, who believed that their subjects were naturally foolish and the more foolish, the better, Grayman educated and enlightened them. He almost forcibly liberated his people from ignorance.

Kevin excitedly unfolded the letter from his father. As expected, it was filled with the family’s expressions of longing for him. Despite the rough writing and unembellished language, it moved Kevin to the brink of tears.

After reading and rereading his parents’ letter several times, Kevin turned to the one written by the neighbor’s child, Hicks. Hicks was just two years younger than Kevin and used to always follow him around in their childhood.

When Kevin was learning under Mentor Mond in their hometown, he would always share his newly acquired knowledge with Hicks. This not only helped Kevin reinforce his understanding but also satisfied his desire to share.

This had laid a good foundation for Hicks, who consistently ranked among the top students in the school established by the lord. Hicks was very grateful to Kevin and always mixed in his own thoughts when writing on behalf of Kevin’s parents.

Now that Kevin’s parents could write themselves, Hicks still wrote his own letter and included it in the envelope.

After a warm greeting at the beginning, the latter part of Hicks’s letter piqued Kevin’s interest.

“Dear Brother Kevin, as you requested, and I am eager to share with you the developments in our hometown during this period…”

“…As I mentioned in my last letter, the Administration Council continues to implement a series of measures to develop the economy of our territory and strengthen urban infrastructure and road construction: building mills, improving water supply, and increasing the production of minerals and metals. Besides the inventions of our lord, traditional commodities like wine, flax, and cotton are also seeing a rapid increase in production.”

“These changes have attracted a large number of people from other areas to settle under our lord’s rule, including many scholars such as machinists, naturalists, alchemists (now referred to as chemists), and medical heretics eager for corpse dissection…”

“Lord Grayman has spent a lot of money to recruit and settle these people. In recent years, he seems particularly interested in chemistry (alchemy), organizing his chemists to compile numerous textbooks and introduce related courses in various schools.”

“People in schools take every step of chemical experiments seriously, carefully observing the treatment of various liquids, planting, material collection, mixing solvents, and trying different substances. They collect experimental data and make comparisons. To provide enough experimental equipment, a specialized industry has emerged, involving men and women across the territory.”

“Under Lord Grayman’s leadership, researchers agree that ‘nature is specific,’ focusing on experiments and observations rather than general abstract knowledge.”

This struck a chord in Kevin’s heart.

“Different disciplines are now interconnected, like chemistry and pharmacology. The medical reformer of Port Fran, Wald, has a large number of followers, directly contributing to the flourishing field of pharmaceutical chemistry. They began consulting butchers, fishmongers, spice merchants, jewelers, and dyers to learn their skills, even incorporating burnt ocher clay into medicines.”

“The pharmaceutical process involves hands-on work, utilizing all human senses. The materials include various natural substances, and sometimes one can add personal elements like urine. The entire process requires personal involvement, experimenting with a wide range of natural materials, with some formulas potentially derived from human sources, like the aforementioned urine.”