Even after I left the trading house, the landowner’s groans still lingered in my ears.
For a moment, anger surged up inside me and my fist clenched tight, but I took a long, deep breath and forced it down.
‘In the end, that old man is just a powerless commoner being threatened by one of Pelua’s great merchant guilds.’
There was nothing to gain from blaming the weak.
Now that I knew exactly who the true culprit was—the one blocking my path—I could simply deal with that bastard Muller directly later and pay him back with interest.
“As if that’s the only plot of land near Pelua.”
Without hesitation, I turned away and unfolded the map again.
Then, following the Rene River, I found another site located a little farther upstream from the downstream plain I had originally marked.
The terrain was somewhat uneven, and the road leading toward central Pelua was narrow, so the civil engineering work would cost more. But it perfectly satisfied the essential requirements: abundant water and bedrock.
“Good. This is where we’ll go.”
I immediately sought out the owner of the new site.
And this time, I didn’t give him even a moment to try anything foolish.
“Three silver coins. I’ll pay above market price. In exchange, you will sign this parchment right now.”
What I took out was none other than a low-grade oath document imbued with the authority of the God of Contracts.
It was a lower rank than the absolute oath document I had made with Aila, but when the landowner saw me presenting a sacred oath document for a mere land transaction, he was horrified. Even so, he could not resist the temptation of the hefty sum of gold and stamped his seal.
Flaaash—!
As light seeped in, signaling that the contract had been established, I finally smiled in satisfaction.
Now, even if it wasn’t the Muller Merchant Guild but the mayor of Pelua himself who came threatening me with a blade, the ownership of this land was perfectly mine.
After completing the land purchase and returning to the Golden Fleece Merchant Guild, I sank deep into the sofa in Aila’s office.
We talked about how things had gone and what had happened.
“So the Muller Merchant Guild interfered in the middle of it?”
After hearing my report, Aila sharply furrowed her brow and slammed her desk.
“That greedy pig dares! He knew perfectly well that you received investment from our guild, and he still pulled this? This is a clear provocation against the Golden Fleece Third Merchant Guild!”
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down. We found a proper site upstream anyway.”
“Still! You lost that perfect plain your father left behind! Are you really all right with this? I’ll send out our private soldiers right now and turn that old man’s trading house upside down…”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry.”
I chuckled and waved my hand.
“It’s not as if we’re going to spend our entire lives digging into this one cotton textile business anyway, right? It might actually be fortunate that land didn’t come to us right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Once this textile business becomes a massive success, we’ll have enough capital in our hands to buy all of Pelua. When that time comes, we’ll crush the Muller Merchant Guild, take back that land, and build something there that can’t even be compared to a cotton mill.”
At my words, Aila’s emerald eyes glittered with curiosity.
“Something else? What is it? There’s a business even bigger than devouring the entire cotton textile market?”
I tapped my temple with my index finger and answered slyly.
“It’s still a secret. Well, just think of it as a giant monster that spews steel and fire.”
The knowledge of Gang Ujin was drawing an enormous blueprint inside my head.
Trains that would race across the continent while belching hot steam, colossal furnaces that would refine iron, and a true heavy industrial complex.
That vast plain my father had left behind was destined to become the continent’s greatest industrial district one day.
But it was still too early to reveal that grand master plan.
“Hmph, slipping away like a sly old serpent again, are you? Fine. On the day you scrape up every last gold coin in Pelua with those machines of yours, I’ll hear that precious secret.”
From that day on, construction on an unprecedented scale began along the Rene River on the outskirts of Pelua.
Thanks to Aila’s immense financial power, hundreds of laborers and carpenters were mobilized day and night, and enormous red-brick buildings began to reveal their majestic forms.
And at last, when the framework of the factory was complete, I rolled up my sleeves myself and began overseeing the interior design and machine layout.
“The main shaft on Line Two over there! If the level is off even a little, friction heat could start a fire! Align it again!”
Holding the blueprints, I ran around the interior of the factory like a madman.
This was not simply a matter of lining up several machines.
I transplanted, exactly as it was, the concept of “factory automation layout” from the modern engineering Gang Ujin had learned into this fantasy world.
“The huge waterwheel outside, driven by waterpower, turns the central main shaft. Then dozens of leather belts are connected to the long rotating axle crossing the ceiling, distributing power simultaneously to the spinning frames and looms!”
A centralized power system, where gears and belts meshed together organically.
Not only that, I thoroughly established a unified flow line that took raw materials in and sent finished products out.
When cotton entered through the receiving area on the left side of the first floor, the powered spinning frames would run without rest and draw out thread.
The thread that was spun would be immediately delivered by rail carts to the central loom line, and the cloth woven by the looms was designed to flow naturally into the dyeing and packaging area on the right.
There would no longer be any need for workers to carry heavy loads and waste movement by going back and forth against the flow.
In addition, to prevent fires and respiratory illness caused by cotton dust, I built a massive ventilation structure into the ceiling and walls, and thoroughly covered the high-speed gear sections with safety guards.
It was a mad forced march to secure efficiency, safety, and overwhelming productivity all at once.
“At last… it’s finished.”
One month later.
Standing with Aila on the manager’s balcony on the second floor of the factory, I looked down at the vast forest of machinery spread out beneath my feet.
The sight of hundreds of spinning frames and looms lined up in perfect rows was magnificent in itself.
“Elpanso. Shall we begin?”
Aila, her face flushed with excitement, gave me the signal.
I drew in a deep breath and shouted to the factory manager waiting on the first floor.
“Open the sluice! Engage the main gear!”
Ruuuumble—!
The enormous sluice outside opened, and the rough current of the Rene River began striking the house-sized waterwheel with tremendous force.
Creeeeak—clang!
With a heavy metallic sound, the rotational force of the waterwheel was transmitted to the main shaft in the ceiling.
At that moment, the hundreds of leather belts connected inside the factory were pulled taut all at once and came to life.
Clank! Swish! Clank! Swish! Swish!
It was as if hundreds of percussionists had struck their instruments at the same time in accordance with a conductor’s gesture.
Thousands of gears meshed and turned at perfect ratios, and shuttles darted between the warp threads like lightning, beginning to spit out white fabric.
“My word…”
Aila gripped the railing tightly, utterly mesmerized by the overwhelming roar of machinery and the sight of explosive production.
Though dozens of unskilled laborers merely stood before the machines checking belt tension, tying broken threads, and arranging the cloth pouring out, the output was faster and greater than all of Pelua’s existing handicraft workshops combined.
The clattering of the machines struck my ears like a grand symphony.
With every turn of the gears, a new era was being woven.
“Now all that remains is to sell it.”
*
Pelua Central Square.
Ordinarily, this place would have been bustling with countless crowds, but today it was splendidly controlled with great curtains and red carpets.
The Muller Merchant Guild, a major power in Pelua’s cotton textile market, had gathered heavyweight peddlers and distribution merchants from other countries and territories to hold a large-scale “wholesale auction.”
Considering the immense amount of gold spent to rent the central square, one could clearly see the strength of the Muller Merchant Guild, which was hosting such a grand event.
The guests realized that the Muller Merchant Guild, which had arranged this splendid festival, was a merchant guild with powerful influence here in Pelua.
“Now, now! Honored guests who have come from afar, raise your glasses!”
Head Merchant Muller, standing on the platform, wore a haughty smile across his oily face.
Behind him, expensive cotton textiles made by squeezing Pelua’s finest artisan weavers to the limit were piled up like mountains.
Muller lightly swirled the crystal wineglass in his hand and leisurely began his toast.
“I’m sure everyone here knows better than anyone that Pelua’s handmade textiles are the finest on the continent. This shipment has turned out absolutely splendid as well. Top-quality goods without a single flaw!”
“Ohhh, as expected of Head Merchant Muller.”
“The goods are truly fine. I’d like to take them to our territory at once and sell them to the nobles!”
At the merchants’ fawning praise, Muller’s nose rose higher and higher, as if he knew no sky above him.
He continued, putting on airs.
“Ah, recently, an amusing little farce has been unfolding in our Pelua. Do you know Elpanso, the legendary fool who ran the Carnoble Merchant Guild into the ground?”
At the mention of that name, snickers broke out among the merchants.
“How could we not! Is he not the greatest prodigal on the continent?”
“What has that idiot done this time?”
“Well, apparently he built some crumbling red-brick building out in the countryside on the outskirts and has been squandering money while calling it a ‘factory’! He claims he’ll weave cloth with scraps of machinery untouched by human hands, or some such nonsense! Hahaha!”
Rumors.
The rumors spread by those Elpanso had hired had reached Baron Muller’s ears.
Those who had seen him in person realized that this time was different and spread the rumors accordingly.
But people like Muller merely snorted, saying such things happened every day.
‘Are baseless rumors anything new in this business?’
The true essence of the rumors.
It was nothing more than the fact that Elpanso Carnoble was doing something foolish.
As Muller’s belly shook and he burst into loud laughter, the square instantly became a cauldron of mockery.
“Tsk, tsk. Poor Head Merchant Aila of the Golden Fleece Merchant Guild. She’s been caught by that scoundrel and is throwing precious gold into the gutter.”
“Indeed. Cloth, by its nature, only has value when a craftsman turns the loom stitch by stitch.”
Once the mood had ripened, Muller’s eyes flashed with a sinister gleam and he revealed his true colors.
“Now, let us leave the laughter there and move on to the main matter. I will be handing these excellent goods over to you today, but there is one condition.”
At Muller’s gesture with his chin, his subordinates began distributing parchment contracts to the merchants.
“It is a clause stating that for the next three years, all cotton textiles handled by your trading houses will exclusively be goods from our Muller Merchant Guild. The unit price will be thirty-five coins. That is about twenty percent higher than last time, but well, you cannot do business without our goods, so you will simply have to bear that much.”
A unilateral price increase and the forced imposition of an unfair long-term exclusive contract.
The merchants’ faces twisted in an instant.
But if they offended Muller, who controlled Pelua’s cotton textile production, they would immediately lose the goods they had to sell.
The merchants, with no choice but to swallow their tears, picked up their quills.
It was precisely at that moment, just as Muller was about to take a sip of wine with the smile of a victor.
Dugudugudugu—!
From the entrance of the square came the thunderous sound of horses’ hooves shaking the ground and the rough rumble of cartwheels.
“W-what? Who dares enter my auction house…!”
The moment Muller shouted with a frown, a massive procession tore violently through the curtains surrounding the square and charged in.
Dozens of large cargo wagons drawn by sturdy warhorses.
And in the cargo bed of the wagon at the very front stood Elpanso and Aila, arms crossed and smiling leisurely.
“I-isn’t that the flag of the Golden Fleece!”
“Head Merchant Aila? The man beside her is Elpanso!”
Amid the merchants’ murmurs, the wagons stopped in the center of the square.
Muller’s face flushed red and blue as he pointed accusingly.
“Y-you bastards! How dare you barge in here! I’ll call the guards at once…!”
“Shut your mouth, Muller.”
“S-shut my mouth? How dare you, here? This is my auction house!”
“Is it? To be precise, isn’t it the Pelua cotton textile auction? You couldn’t have rented Pelua’s central square for such a reason otherwise, could you?”
“…Be quiet!”
Although the Muller Merchant Guild was hosting it, this was an auction with a public purpose, so I, too, could participate.
Of course, that was only the pretext. In reality, it had been the sole stage of the Muller Merchant Guild, which held Pelua’s cotton textiles in the palm of its hand.
Only a few small merchant guilds, decorative ornaments meant to make him shine, had participated.
However.
‘I’m here.’
With powerful competitiveness capable of trampling the Muller Merchant Guild underfoot!
When I snapped my fingers, the coachmen all at once flung back the enormous canvas sheets covering the dozens of wagons.
Whoooosh—!
In that instant, everyone gathered in the square stopped breathing.
On top of the wagons, mountains of plain cotton cloth were piled up as if they might spill over—so vast that the stock in Muller’s warehouse looked laughable in comparison.
Top-quality fabric, white as spring snow and perfectly woven without a single flaw.
It possessed an overwhelming uniformity and density that could never be produced by human hands.
“M-my heavens… Just how many bolts is all that?”
“Look at that sheen! The weave is unbelievable! There isn’t even a single stitch out of place!”
The eyes of the foreign merchants who had been praising Muller’s handmade textiles only moments ago grew so wide they seemed about to pop out.
Muller, too, stood with his mouth hanging open, unable to tear his gaze away from that tremendous volume of goods.
“W-what in the world is all that…”
Completely ignoring Muller as he panicked and raged, I looked down from the platform at the foreign merchants and grinned.
“Welcome, great merchants of the continent. Since you came all the way to Pelua, I thought I should hurry a little and show you the genuine article.”
Behold.
This is real fabric.