Chapter 93

The injuries Oliver Bach sustained while being attacked weren’t all that serious. It didn’t look like he needed any medical treatment.

“I see, so you’re an engineer!”

I was so happy to have found the engineer I’d been looking for that I couldn’t help but beam at him, but Bach cast a suspicious look my way. It seemed I had scared him.

“Thank you very much. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be going…”

I hurriedly held back Bach as he tried to scurry away.

“Wait just a second. Take a look at this.”

I pulled a flashlight from my pocket.

“What is that?”

I figured if I showed an engineer a piece of technology they weren’t familiar with, they would surely become curious.

“Just watch.”

The back alley, which had already started to grow dim, was suddenly illuminated in white by the light of the flashlight.

“O-O-Oh…”

He was so astonished he couldn’t even form words. His curiosity must have completely overridden his fear. Even though he had been trying to run away moments ago, it seemed that now, Bach could only focus on the flashlight. When I held it out, he reached for it timidly.

“It’s bright, so don’t point the light toward anyone. You shouldn’t look directly into the beam, either.”

That was a flashlight of a caliber officially adopted by the military. It possessed several times the brightness and durability of standard consumer models. Bach seemed nervous, yet he kept peering intently at the light, observing its materials and construction.

“I guess you really are interested, huh?”

“Yes. This is an incredible piece of equipment.”

There was no lie in that “yes.” I didn’t even need to use “Judging Truth and Falsehood.” I could feel an extraordinary level of excitement radiating from Bach.

“What exactly is this? It looks like a magical tool, but I haven’t the slightest clue what principle it uses to shine.”

“It’s a tool from another world.”

“A tool from another world!?”

“Yep. Because I’m from another world, you see.”

Bach seemed unable to even speak. But he was certainly interested in me. Or, to be more precise, in the tools I possessed.

“Why don’t you come with me? I can show you even more interesting things than this.”

I never imagined that the first time I’d ever “pick up” someone, it would be a man.

“I have a room at Hotel Berilin. I’m sure there are plenty of things there that would pique your interest.”

I worried that inviting him to a hotel so suddenly might be a bit much, but there were many things I couldn’t easily show him out in the open. Plus, it would be problematic if he found out the location of my apartment at this stage. I decided that the hotel room where Yoshioka was staying would be the best option. If Bach turned out to be talented, I could entrust various technologies to him, and even if that didn’t work out, he might be able to introduce me to other skilled engineers.

I took out my walkie-talkie and contacted Yoshioka.

“That’s sudden. Is it an emergency? Over.”

“I found an engineer. I’m bringing him over there, is that alright? Over.”

“You serious!? I’m in my room, so it’s fine for you to come by. Over.”

“Roger. Heading there now. Out.”

“Roger. Out.”

Bach was staring at the handheld radio in a daze.

“This is a communication device. I don’t think we could develop this overnight, but I have other technologies, too. There’s something called a printing press, you see—”

As I started walking while talking, Bach followed me without a word. He was listening to my story with rapt attention. I could feel a lump of pure passion coming from him. He tried to pull some parchment and a pen from his bag to take notes, so I gifted him a small memo pad and a water-based ink pen. These were much easier to use.

“What kind of day is this…” Bach muttered, staring at the pen and memo pad.

“I think it’s the guidance of Lord Seraphim.”

I truly felt that might be the case. Although, the “Handsome Guy” hasn’t said a word to me.

In the hotel room, I introduced Yoshioka to Bach. Yoshioka had rented a new room while still disguised as Kawagoe. Ever the cautious one, it seemed Yoshioka had wanted to avoid meeting in his own room. I wish I could have disguised myself as Shonai, but I had been in my Hinoharu form when I rescued Bach from the thugs, so a disguise would be pointless now.

“This is Oliver Bach, 22 years old. He’s an engineer working in Dresden. Bach, this is a merchant acquaintance of mine named Kawagoe.”

After the introductions were finished, we immediately decided to begin explaining the letterpress printing process. What we took out was the miniature letterpress machine from the “Hobby Science Magazine.”

I placed the miniature I had previously assembled with Lady Clara onto the table to begin my explanation.

“This is a miniature letterpress printing machine. It’s a device that allows you to print the same text in massive quantities.”

Since seeing is believing, I decided to demonstrate it for him right there. Bach couldn’t hide his excitement as he watched the characters being printed onto the paper.

“The type currently in the machine is in the script of my homeland, so I’m sure it’s hard to read, but if we can produce something identical to this using your local characters, it will cause a revolution in how we record information.”

It would accelerate the accumulation and diffusion of knowledge at an exponential rate.

“Hinoharu, what exactly are you hoping to achieve?”

Bach asked in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.

“We’ve been tasked with printing the scriptures.”

“Printing the scriptures… You mentioned you were tasked with this, but by whom? Could it be a cardinal of the Temple? Or perhaps… the Pope himself!?”

No, it was someone far higher. Not even a human being.

“It was Lord Seraphim.”

Bach was sweating buckets.

“It’s such an unbelievable story, yet I can’t find even a shred of doubt that you’re telling the truth. Starting with that flashlight earlier, the communication device, the pen, the notepad, and now this printing press—after seeing all of this, I find I cannot doubt you.”

I activated “Judging Truth and Falsehood.”

“Will you cooperate with us?”

“Of course! I am a believer in Nordism as well. I take meeting you, Hinoharu, as a divine revelation. Besides, as an engineer, how could I not be inspired by being given such a wonderful opportunity!”

There was no lie in Bach’s words. Although, I’m not actually a believer in Nordism myself. It would only make things complicated, so I decided to stay quiet about that for now.

Since I had already acquired a small, desktop-sized printing press in Japan, I decided we would start by casting the Saxens characters for the type. At the same time, we would move forward with creating a prototype of a Saxens-made printing machine.

“Start by using this to grasp the general overview of letterpress printing. I’ve written the translations for the characters on this paper.”

I handed him a fresh, unopened issue of “Hobby Science Magazine.” Bach began reading it with incredibly serious eyes. He didn’t have to read it right this second, though.

“You can read the instruction manual while you assemble the kit, too. I think that will help deepen your understanding.”

“Understood. I don’t think I’ll be able to get a wink of sleep tonight! I want to go home and assemble it right away!”

He was absolutely brimming with motivation, which was great to see.

Since Bach had his own residence and workshop, we decided to drop him off there after we finished eating. I wanted to see the workshop for myself, and I also needed to deliver the desktop letterpress machine I had in my Spatial Storage. After all, the main unit weighed over 50kg, making it extremely difficult to carry alone. Furthermore, it came with a wide array of peripheral equipment. Since it involved handling inks and oils, I couldn’t just open it up anywhere. In that regard, a workshop was perfectly fine, and Bach himself insisted that he wanted to keep it there.

“We will provide all the necessary development funds. However, for any transaction exceeding 100,000 Marques, I ask that you go through either Kawagoe or myself for the time being.”

Bach’s discretionary spending limit was 100,000 Marques per month. Within that range, he was free to spend it however he liked. It would make our work a bit more complicated, but it was a necessary step to avoid trouble. We agreed that if he needed to hire other craftsmen or if the cost of consumables exceeded expectations, we would discuss it beforehand. Eventually, I’d like to hire someone reliable to handle the accounting.

“That is perfectly fine. I will look for a workshop that can cast the type and get an estimate by tomorrow.”

He was showing an incredible amount of drive. For the time being, as long as we had the type, we already had the printing machine, so it seemed we could begin printing soon. As for the bookbinding, Bach agreed to check with his acquaintances to see who could handle that as well.