"A Postman?"
Archie was somewhat surprised when he received the task.
This job was different from that of a coachman. Although both held low social status, at least a postman needed to be able to read and write.
When Archie was a child, he had attended the Church school for two years, but he only learned a few basic words. To truly become a postman wasn’t an easy task.
But the God of Machinery had designated a specific post office for him to apply to, and if he succeeded, he would earn fifty silver coins. Regardless of the outcome, he had to give it a try.
While thinking about this, he looked down at his shabby clothes and thought that, before the interview, it might be a good idea to buy something new. Also... for the little ones.
He raised his head and looked at the three children on the wooden bed.
Today, he had spent one silver coin to buy milk and chicken. The children finally tasted a long-forgotten delicacy and were now smiling in their sleep.
As long as they could grow up healthy, Archie would do anything.
With a smile on his face, he gently pressed his fingertips to his forehead and placed his palm on his nose, praying devoutly, “May the God protect you all!”
The Next Day
Following the address provided by the God of Machinery, Archie went to the post office on the Never-Top Street in the southern district of the capital.
Upon arrival, he saw a middle-aged man with a shiny forehead and a reddened nose, standing at the entrance and looking around.
Taking a deep breath, Archie stepped forward and was about to speak.
Before he could say anything, the man with the shiny forehead spoke first:
“Are you here to apply for the postman position?”
This caught Archie off guard, and he stood frozen for a while before nodding and replying, “Yes, sir.”
“Come in!”
The middle-aged man took out a pipe, bit down on it, and gestured for Archie to follow him down a hallway to his office.
Once inside the post office, Archie looked around and saw that, despite the vast space, only three people were working. Some areas had letters scattered around, but the three workers seemed uninterested in organizing them.
Entering the office, the middle-aged man closed the door behind them and warmly invited Archie to sit down.
Archie was a bit taken aback by the sudden warmth, and quickly responded,
“Um... sir, my name is...”
“You’re Archie, right?” the middle-aged man interjected.
After a brief pause, Archie nodded, “Yes, sir.”
“It was the God of Machinery who sent you here, wasn’t it?” The middle-aged man didn’t waste time with pleasantries and asked directly.
It took a moment for Archie to realize that the God of Machinery had already made all the arrangements for him. He took out a letter and handed it to the middle-aged man, saying,
“Yes, sir. This is a letter from the God for you.”
Last night, when Archie had received the “divine instruction,” he was also given this letter. The God of Machinery had instructed him to present this letter during his interview.
The middle-aged man quickly took the letter, opened it, and inside he found a piece of parchment and ten dark-element coins. Holding his breath, the man read the letter:
"Mr. Simon,
This is the first phase of investment from the Church of the God of Machinery to your post office. We believe this will help you recover from the brink of bankruptcy.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s letter, the Church of the God of Machinery is dedicated to advancing mechanical industries and increasing wealth. We are eager to invest in promising companies, such as your post office, and have therefore provided funding.
Moving forward, the relationship between our Church and your post office will be managed by our envoy, Archie.
He will also deliver the monthly investment funds to you.
Furthermore, please treat him as an ordinary employee, and refrain from asking him about the affairs of the Church of the God of Machinery.
We will not interfere in your operations but will send regular letters offering advice. Based on the performance of your post office, we will decide whether to continue the investment.
We wish your post office great success and prosperity!"
After reading the letter, Simon leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh of relief.
For the past six months, the operation of his post office had been increasingly difficult. He was deeply in debt, and the post office was on the verge of bankruptcy. Desperate, Simon had even considered taking his own life.
But then, yesterday, a letter from the "Church of the God of Machinery" brought him a glimmer of hope. The letter mentioned the Church’s philosophy and expressed their willingness to invest 10,000 gold coins over ten phases, in exchange for a 5% stake in the post office.
Under normal circumstances, Simon would have dismissed such strange offers as fraud. However, with no other options left, he clung to this last lifeline. That’s why he had been waiting outside early this morning, hoping for Archie’s arrival.
Turning to Archie, Simon was about to ask him more about the Church of the God of Machinery, but then remembered the letter's warning, so he refrained and instead asked,
“Mr. Archie, are you here to apply for the postman position?”
“Yes!” Archie nodded firmly.
Since the letter from the God of Machinery had instructed Simon to treat Archie as a regular employee, Simon proceeded with the interview as usual:
“Do you have a certificate issued by a guild school? A basic level certificate will do.”
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Guild schools were institutions in the Kingdom of Durant that provided education for artisans, specializing in different trades. A basic certificate from a guild school would prove that the applicant had the basic skills for a trade and could read and write.
Archie looked a bit embarrassed and replied,
“I... I don’t have a guild certificate. I only attended two years of basic education at the Church. I can only recognize a few simple words.”
“Ah...” Simon was caught off guard. Normally, applicants without basic literacy would not be considered. However, Simon waved his hand with a smile and said,
“No worries, being able to recognize a few words is enough.”
Quickly brushing past the skills question, Simon moved on to the salary discussion:
“For this postman position, we can offer a monthly salary of 30 silver coins. What do you think?”
Normally, a postman would only earn 15 silver coins, but Simon, out of respect for the God of Machinery... oh, I mean, out of financial consideration, doubled the salary.
30 silver coins!!
Archie was somewhat stunned. When he had been a coachman, his monthly salary had only been 8 silver coins—now it was three or four times that amount!
“I have no objections, sir!” Archie said, smiling and nodding. He shook hands with Simon, officially confirming the job.
Simon then led Archie out of the office and introduced him to the other staff members. However, the three staff members stood there like wooden statues, their gazes vacant, moving like zombies.
Seeing their condition, Simon took a puff from his pipe and confidently said,
“There will be a meeting this afternoon... and... the pay is coming!”
At that, the three staff members raised their heads and looked at Simon, their eyes suddenly lighting up!
At this moment, Karien was inside Red Leaf Academy, continuing his research.
In fact, Karien had conducted a thorough investigation into the post office investment just yesterday.
While drinking coffee at the coffee tavern across from the herb purchasing spot, Karien was both checking whether Archie had successfully delivered the white-leaf orchids, and gathering intelligence.
The coffee tavern, located in the Magic Trade Market, was a popular gathering place for many of the city's magic masters and high society. They often met there to socialize and discuss recent events, most of which were related to magic or business. Additionally, the tavern offered a large selection of newspapers, which Karien took advantage of.
It was there, listening to the conversations of the upper class and reading the reports in the newspapers, that Karien learned that the post office managed by Simon was about to go bankrupt.
The post office, known as the Never-Top Post, had once been a large business. Two years ago, when Karien was working as a research assistant at the Gallon Institute in the capital, he often used the post office to send letters to Red Leaf Academy. Back then, Never-Top Post was quite large and had operations not only in the capital but also in several large cities around it. They even handled deliveries to the Palo Magic School, which was over a thousand kilometers away.
However, six months ago, Simon's business partner betrayed him, taking large sums of money and also luring away the trade caravan that the post office had relied on for years. Without the caravan’s help, the post office struggled to send heavy items, and some remote areas could no longer be serviced. This led to a significant reduction in business.
Eventually, the post office's operations shrank to only handling deliveries within the capital and its surrounding cities. They were facing financial difficulties and were on the brink of bankruptcy.
A company that had once covered most of the kingdom with its services was now nearly bankrupt within a mere six months. Naturally, this caught the attention of the newspapers and became a topic of conversation at dinner tables and taverns.
When Karien had first interacted with Never-Top Post, he had been impressed. The post office's efficient delivery services had also helped him further his own plans. So, he decided to invest in Simon’s post office.
A monthly investment of 1,000 gold coins may have seemed like a small sum to Simon back in the day, but now, it was exactly what he needed to solve his urgent financial troubles.
Of course, for Karien, 1,000 gold coins wasn’t a small amount either, but the investment was worth it. Through this post office, Karien could further establish his presence in the capital and expand his herb distribution network. Additionally, it would give him a chance to interact with the upper echelons of the city, offering potential new opportunities.
It was a highly profitable investment, but the returns would take time.
For now, however, Karien’s attention was focused on a new project in his hands.
It was a crude firearm.
The main structure of the firearm was crafted from Lan iron, a metal Karien had designed the blueprint for just a few days ago. He had commissioned three different magic tool shops in the capital’s Magic Trade Market to build the various components. The shops in the trade market were home to many skilled craftsmen, and making small parts like gun barrels and stocks was a trivial task for them. It could even be seen as overkill.
However, Karien had deliberately chosen to spread the orders across three different shops to prevent the design of the firearm from being leaked. He also personally crafted some of the simpler parts.
After assembling all the components, Karien engraved reinforcement magic circles that combined earth and dark elements on several key parts to prevent the barrel from bursting.
The core of the firearm was controlled by a dark-element coin. Dark elements, with their inclusive nature, helped the magic circle endure longer. The mosquito coil structure of the element coin was used to activate or deactivate the magic circle.
As for the ammunition, Karien used essence stones and engraved an explosion magic circle combining fire and wind elements on the tail end of each bullet. This created the effect of instant combustion, simulating the explosion of gunpowder.
Inside the sealed barrel, the shockwave from the explosion magic circle was even more exaggerated than gunpowder.
Taking the firearm in hand, Karien aimed at a tree trunk thirty meters away and activated the mosquito coil structure with his mental power, triggering the explosion magic circle.
Boom!
The firearm fired, and the bullet shot out.
From a distance, the thick tree trunk first showed a hole, then was blasted in half at the waist.
This result exceeded Karien’s expectations. Even some second-tier magic spells didn’t have this much power.
The reason for this immense force was twofold. First, the shockwave from the explosion magic circle was stronger than that of gunpowder. Second, Karien had also engraved several smaller explosion magic circles on the bullet’s surface, each wrapped in dark elements to delay the activation time. The delayed explosion occurred mere moments after the bullet was fired, and once it hit the target, it triggered an internal detonation, amplifying the damage.
This firearm was more than sufficient for dealing with low-level magical beasts.
However, it did have some drawbacks.
Firstly, it was expensive to produce.
Lan iron (3 kg) cost 300 gold coins.
Essence stone (2 kg) cost 150 gold coins.
Crafting fees for the components were 30 gold coins.
One wind element, one fire element, and two dark elements cost 500 gold coins.
Altogether, the total cost was close to 1,000 gold coins.
Additionally, there was a limited supply of bullets, with only 50 rounds available at the moment.
Secondly, because the components were made separately and not standardized, the accuracy wasn’t very high. It worked well within a range of 20 to 30 meters, but beyond that, hitting the target would be difficult.
The third and most important issue was that the user needed to have mental power. Unlike traditional firearms that are fired by pulling a trigger, this firearm was activated by the mosquito coil structure of the dark-element coin.
This was the same problem Karien encountered with his jetpack design earlier.
Of course, these flaws didn’t stop Karien from continuing his research and development. For now, his funds were secure, and as the technology improved, costs would decrease. The issue of accuracy would be solved once industrial production was set up.
Karien planned to use his current funds to establish a factory in the capital, where he could hire craftsmen and magic tool experts to standardize production.
As for the third issue, Karien was confident he could solve it eventually. He and his students had practiced meditation since childhood, and even if they couldn’t use magic, their mental power was more than sufficient to operate the firearm and jetpack.
The successful development of the firearm gave Karien even more confidence.
Now, he was ready to take on even bolder designs.
For example, he could make the firearm... bigger.