kscans

Chapter 116 - Until We Meet Again 1. The Night Before

On the night before Yuri and the others were to depart from Laurenzen, Adon, the master of the mansion, was sharing a parting drink with his old friend, Old Man Audel.

"We certainly ended up staying for quite a while, didn’t we?"

"You say it was a long stay, but to be honest, it still wasn’t enough for me, you know?"

"That may be so for you, but Yuri-kun and the rest of us have fields to tend to. We can’t stay any longer."

"I know that, so I won’t try to stop you. But... I would like to see you again soon. As early as this winter ends, if possible."

"Hmm... you seemed to be working on something lately... Is it about that knife?"

"That matter can’t proceed until I can secure an Earth Magic user. I’m more focused on that writing tool called a pencil... though I don’t understand why it’s called a ‘lead’ pencil when it doesn’t use lead..."

"Well, you can just decide on a new name when you put it on the market. So, are you making progress with that?"

"It’s only been ten days since Yuri-kun taught me all those methods for information security. You can’t expect it to be done so easily."

"True... he did suggest deliberately splitting up the departments..."

After hearing Adon grumble that as the pencil, or rather, the charcoal pencil, became a major source of profit, the efforts to uncover its secrets would surely become fierce, Yuri had proposed a method for information security. He suggested deliberately dividing the manufacturing-related departments into several units and keeping the work of each one a secret from the others.

The manufacturing process for the pencil roughly followed these steps.

1. Refining the graphite (charcoal powder in this case) and clay.
2. Mixing them in the proper ratio.
3. Forming the lead by extruding it through a thin hole with a core press.
4. Firing the lead.
5. Storing the fired lead in oil or something similar to make it write smoothly.
6. Placing the lead into a groove carved in a wooden slat, then fixing and pressing it with animal glue.
7. Cutting and shaping the wooden body.

This was the procedure. Yuri suggested carrying out these steps in separate locations and preventing employees from different departments from interacting with each other, thereby keeping anyone from grasping the full picture of the manufacturing process. Of course, doing this would drastically reduce production efficiency. However, he hinted that by concealing just processes two, four, and five, for example, it would become difficult for others to create a product of the same grade. How much of this to accept would be up to Adon, the business owner.

Incidentally, Yuri also taught Adon about holders used for pencils that had been sharpened down to a stub. He also explained that pencils were originally supposed to use graphite and that using charcoal was a last resort. He shared this information with a full understanding of how valuable it was to Adon.

"I haven’t even finished securing the manufacturing sites yet. I’m trying to proceed with a small batch of prototypes separately... but I’ll be lucky if I have a prototype by the new year."

"Hmm... so that’s why you want to see Yuri-kun early next year."

"That’s one reason. By then, the matter of that knife should have progressed a little as well..."

The two old men toasted each other in silence. After a short pause, it was Old Man Audel who spoke.

"You seem to be putting a lot of effort into this... Do you expect it to be that profitable?"

"Who knows."

Old Man Audel raised an eyebrow in question at his friend's unexpected reply, but the answer that came back was just as surprising.

"No... to be honest, I don’t expect it to turn a profit that quickly. In fact, I don’t mind if it doesn’t bring in any direct profit right away."

"...What do you mean by that?"

"Even if not immediately, this pencil will one day change the world. What’s important is that my company is holding the reins when that happens."

"Hmm... an investment with an eye on the distant future, is it. ...Is that why you’re so concerned with maintaining secrecy?"

"Well, yes... though it seems I’ll manage that thanks to Yuri-kun..."

"You really are indebted to Yuri-kun, aren’t you?"

Adon just grunted, "Muu," at Old Man Audel’s question and didn't answer. The reply that eventually came was...

"Audel... what sort of items pleased Yuri-kun... what caught his interest?"

Glancing at his friend Adon for the sudden change of topic, Old Man Audel searched his memory.

"Let’s see... gold coins are meaningless where that boy lives, and he wouldn’t use them. As for what he sought to buy... he bought a fair amount of metalware."

"Weapons and such..."

"Not those, but ordinary kitchen knives, chisels, saws, and the like. It seemed he bought a full set, so he probably doesn’t need any more, right?"

"...Anything else?"

"Well now... he bought a decent amount of cotton, cloth, and thread... but Adon, can you procure any cloth superior to that wool from the monster called a Tyrantbot?"

"...Impossible. Anything else?"

"He looked at medicines and magic tools quite intently. But considering where he lives, that’s to be expected, isn’t it?"

"Muu... Salt-Sour Mountain..."

"However... whether it was medicine or magic tools, he would pay eye-popping sums of money for them without a moment's hesitation. He had the look... you know, of someone who understood their value and was buying them for that reason."

Was his sense of money warped because he had been holed up on Salt-Sour Mountain ever since his grandfather passed away when he was a child? It seemed that if he determined something was necessary, he paid for it without any concern for whether it was expensive. Or perhaps... because he didn't have a normal sense of money, he purchased things based solely on necessity, not on whether the price was high or low.

While Adon puzzled over this, Old Man Audel continued speaking.

"Other than that... he seemed to have a reasonable interest in vegetables and fruits... Oh, that’s right, he was asking all sorts of questions about seasonings."

"Ingredients, you say... It’s true, he seemed to know about various foods and ways of eating..."

"He also seemed interested in whether he could grow them in his own village."

"Hmm..."

Adon had been thinking of preparing items that Yuri might like to win his favor, but this was proving to be quite a challenge.