Around noon, the sunlight grew a little brighter. Orange-gold light filtered through the clouds and spilled down in scattered patches.
The air had warmed a bit too, making it the perfect time to sit out in the sun.
After lunch, the chairs outside were soon full, everyone stretched out and enjoying the quiet of the afternoon.
That calm was only broken when the sound of horse hooves came from outside the courtyard.
A courier swung down from his horse and stopped at Luke's gate to report, "Your Highness, you have a letter."
At that, Yurna rose and went to the gate to take it.
Once the delivery was complete, the courier mounted up again and rode off.
Yurna handed the letter to Luke, who had gotten out of his chair, and it also drew the attention of several girls reclining nearby.
"Who's it from?"
Lux, being the closest, had already slipped on her shoes and come over, her gaze dropping to the envelope.
The letter itself looked rather elegant, and the golden seal on it had an unmistakable air of grandeur.
"Why are you such a nosy little thing all the time?" Luke gave her a look, then turned his attention to the letter.
That seal alone was enough to tell him who had sent it. As far as he remembered, the only person who used a mark like that was the princess.
Panis Granlott.
Lux recognized the sender too, and in an instant her memory was dragged back to that afternoon, to Panis kissing Luke right in front of all of them before leaving.
Luke had already opened the envelope and pulled out the letter inside, his eyes scanning the page.
"My dear prince, hello.
There has been far too much to deal with lately, but fortunately I've almost finished, and I've finally managed to carve out a little time to write to you.
Although only twenty days have passed, I trust you have not forgotten me already.
To prevent that from happening, I intend to write to you once every week from now on, to make up for the time we owe each other.
Of course, you are free not to write back.
Though if you do that, I may be very heartbroken."
From that opening alone, it was easy to tell that Panis had been in quite a good mood when she wrote it.
"Thanks to the medicine Your Highness gave us, my father's condition has improved. Over the last two days, he has even been able to eat quite a lot.
Also, with the aid of Demacian troops, we quickly brought Marta's family under control. Through that, we learned that my father's illness truly was caused by them.
And they had already secretly formed an alliance with several nobles.
According to their plan, if Marta had not met with an accident, my father would have died this month, and they would have seized the royal authority in one stroke... but please do not worry, their plan has already failed."
So after returning home, that was most likely what Panis had been busy with.
As the heir to the throne, there were simply too many things she had to deal with.
The first of them was the unrest among the nobles, and the rebellion of Marta's family.
Fortunately, because Marta herself had run into trouble, Panis and Dupont, backed by Demacian support, had resolved the matter quickly.
At the same time, her father's illness had been cured, so she no longer had to worry that he would die and force her to inherit the throne and marry immediately afterward.
As a result, Granlott's political crisis had also been resolved.
After that, the letter turned to more ordinary matters.
"I look forward to Your Highness's reply, and please give my regards to Lux and the others. , Panis, October 22."
After reading it, Luke folded the letter shut with casual ease.
Since the matter had been resolved, that was naturally a good thing.
After reading it over from beside him, Lux commented, "I didn't realize something like that had happened in Granlott."
Until now, she had known nothing about it. Only after reading the letter did she understand.
Granlott had nearly ended up in open rebellion.
Of course a reply had to be written, and it would not take much time.
So Luke went back upstairs and began writing a response.
After finishing the letter, he remembered he still had somewhere to go today, so he sealed the reply, came back downstairs, and prepared to head out.
At that moment, Vayne and Quinn were already getting ready to leave for training at the royal guard camp.
Lux and Kahina were also preparing to head out.
For them, a third of their break had already passed, but during that time they certainly had not been idle.
Lux had not forgotten that some time ago she had joined the Church of the Illuminators.
Lately, she and Kahina had often gone there together to help out. From what he had heard, she had been taking the work extremely seriously, even reining in that usual playful streak of hers.
It gave Luke a strange sense that his kid had finally grown up.
Poppy and Fiora, the two with nothing particular to do, stayed in the courtyard to keep Sona company.
Since they were all headed in different directions, the group did not travel together. They split up at the crossroads.
Luke sat in the carriage, lifting the curtain to watch the scenery passing by along the streets.
Compared to when he had first stepped into the capital, the city had changed quite a bit.
Because of the newspaper, many ordinary people now had a broader view of the world. They were able to learn more, see more, and come into contact with more things than before.
Before this, Demacia's rather poor printing technology had meant that books did not circulate especially well among the lower and middle classes.
In a rich place like the capital, that problem was not as obvious.
But if one looked beyond the capital, toward the cities, counties, towns, and villages outside it, the difference became clear.
In some households, people had to save money for quite a while just to buy a single book to read.
Meanwhile, nobles often owned large libraries.
That was simply a matter of class difference. There was not much to say about it.
But now, things were different.
Demacia's printing technology was advancing rapidly, newspapers contained more and more information, and they were not expensive.
Over time, a steady stack of newspapers could turn into one book after another.
And during this period, the officials had not been idle either.
They had not interfered too much with the newspapers themselves. Instead, they had thrown their efforts into printing books.
Now, they had already overcome the difficulties of large-scale book printing and had started producing books in bulk.
The price of books had dropped to the point that even lower- and middle-class residents in other regions could afford them.
Knowledge had a tremendous effect on people. It helped free them from the limits of a narrow way of thinking.
But even so, this was still not enough.
If this was a rainstorm, Luke wanted it to pour even harder.
After some time on the road, the carriage slowly came to a stop outside the office of the Royal City Bulletin.
"Help me send this out."
Luke handed the reply letter to Yurna, then stepped down from the carriage.
He walked into the newspaper office. At this time of day, there were not many people there buying papers, and the moment he entered, he could smell that distinctive scent of ink and paper.
"Your Highness, you finally made it!"
A delighted voice rang out as the Maylee siblings hurried over to greet him.
The two of them were now in charge of the newspaper office. Originally, this had been Navis's responsibility.
But Navis had been busy lately with matters at the Research Institute, so the job had been handed over to the Maylee siblings, who had already started falling behind in that area.
Still, the two of them had some talent for this sort of thing.
And after handing the office over to them, they had actually managed it rather well.
At least, they had not disappointed Luke.
Walking into the rear yard of the office, he saw that the printing press had been moved there.
After repeated improvements, the printing press had now already reached its fourth generation and could be said to be improving all the time.
And before long, it would welcome a fifth-generation version, a semi-automated printing press.
"Sales have been increasing steadily every day, and the new comic section has been especially well received. I expect that over the next stretch of time, circulation will keep climbing at a noticeable rate."
Colin took out a compiled sales report and handed it to Luke.
Luke accepted it and gave it a quick glance.
He never paid much attention to things like this. To be honest, he simply was not interested in money.
At this point, his personal assets and the chain of industries under his name were enough to ensure that the words short on money would never have anything to do with him again.
Once a person became rich, truly rich, they always started wanting to do something to give back to society.
Luke handed the report back to Colin and said, "You can begin preparing for the thing I mentioned last time."
"Yes, Your Highness," Colin answered immediately.
Then Luke looked at the printing press in front of him. "And there's one more thing. Prepare to release the blueprints for the first-generation printing press."
Maylee froze for a moment. "Your Highness means...?"
Luke replied casually, "Make the blueprints public."
This time both brother and sister were stunned.
After a moment, Maylee finally asked, "But... that doesn't really seem to benefit us in any way."
No one knew better than they did just how many people were eyeing the Royal City Bulletin with envy and greed.
The only reason those people could not copy it was that they did not possess the printing technology.
If they released the blueprints for the printing press, would they not just be creating a wave of competitors for themselves?
"Do you only do things if there's something in it for you?"
Luke gave her a sideways look.
Maylee reacted quickly enough, immediately saying, "Your Highness, I was being shallow. My thinking wasn't elevated enough."
"No, actually, your way of thinking is the correct one."
Luke smiled and said, "This doesn't benefit us, that much is true. But it doesn't harm us either. With the Royal City Bulletin's current reputation, this won't affect us much. The real enemies will be the people who get their hands on the blueprints."
At this point, the Royal City Bulletin's fame had spread throughout all of Demacia.
It could be said to be firmly sitting in the number-one position.
Even if the printing technology were made public, it would not really suffer, nor would there be any need to worry about losing its leading status.
After all, in reputation, price, and technology, the Royal City Bulletin would always remain ahead.
Besides, printing technology was not something that could be hidden forever.
Sooner or later, it would become public. Sooner or later, it would become transparent.
Originally, Luke had planned to let the Royal City Bulletin develop a while longer before taking this step.
But now, seeing the paper's current performance and the speed at which printing technology was advancing, he felt the time had come to move forward early.
Once printing technology was opened up, he expected to see a huge number of people rush into this previously uncultivated field.
And that was exactly what Luke wanted.
He needed faster development. He needed the whole society to get drawn into competition.
Only then could industries truly progress, and only then would the products of that progress enter the view of the wider public.
As for the other thing Luke had already instructed Maylee about some time ago, that was that the paper could now begin openly accepting submissions.
Up to now, every piece printed in the paper had been written by designated people, and the format had remained fairly uniform.
Now that the Royal City Bulletin had firmly established its reputation and already shown everyone how it worked, it was time to open submissions to the wider public.
The kinds of material they could solicit were many, poetry, short stories, full novels, and even comics.
The paper's business no longer needed to be limited to ordinary newsprint. It could expand into several specialized sections.
For example, a fiction supplement, a comics supplement, and a poetry supplement.
Once an excellent submission was accepted, it could be turned into money based on sales, and it could also bring the author recognition. It was hard to imagine anyone refusing that.
When the thoughts of ordinary people began to shine openly on a public platform, the effect and influence they could generate would be enormous.
What Luke was doing now was providing that platform.
And while doing it, he did not need to worry about getting blocked by anyone above him.
Because he himself was the one above.
After giving those two instructions, Luke left the newspaper office.
He trusted that the Maylee siblings had the ability to handle it.
And even if they could not, it would not matter, because the officials would soon step in to assist.
Outside, Yurna had already mailed the letter and returned.
Once he got back into the carriage, Luke said, "Next stop."
Before long, the carriage set off again.
An hour later, it came to a slow stop at the Research Institute's development base.
This place was starting to look like a second Research Institute, only with much tighter security. It was not the kind of place just anyone could walk into.
Luke went inside and quickly found Wenward.
"You came at the perfect time. Hurry up and take a look."
At the moment, Wenward was inside a laboratory, surrounded by a group of researchers. Navis was there too.
And not far in front of them all stood an iron machine chugging away with a heavy huffing sound. From a protruding outlet on the machine, white steam was constantly venting out.
It was, unmistakably, a steam engine.
Luke stepped forward and examined it. After observing it for a while, he nodded. "Basically, there's no problem."
What stood before him was very clearly an atmospheric steam engine.
This type of engine worked by drawing steam into a cylinder, after which the valve would be shut and cold water would be sprayed into the cylinder. When the steam condensed, it created a vacuum.
The air pressure on the other side of the piston then pushed the piston forward.
In a mine, that motion could be linked to a rod descending deep into a shaft to drive a pump.
The motion of the steam engine's piston would be transmitted through the rod to the pump piston, drawing water up and out of the mine.
There were still plenty of flaws, of course, and the technology was far from mature.
But even so, this was still Demacia's first steam engine.
Its significance was enormous.
A steam engine was a reciprocating power machine that converted steam energy into mechanical work.
And the importance of the steam engine needed no explanation. It was the starting point of the Industrial Revolution, an extremely important prime mover.
It could also be said to be one of the necessities for a rapidly advancing era, and the early core of transportation development.
Of course, after the steam engine there would still be more advanced systems, steam turbines and internal combustion engines.
Naturally, though, technological replacement also required time.
And right now, Demacia's technological growth was already practically happening at rocket speed.
This first-generation steam engine would probably be obsolete before too long.
At the moment, everyone present in the laboratory wore pleased expressions.
But no one had let this brief success drive them into wild celebration. Every person there knew that they still had a long road ahead.
After inspecting the steam engine, Luke did not remain at the development base for long.
Soon afterward, he was back in the carriage and on his way out.
Inside the carriage, he let out a long breath and stared at the scenery flashing past the window, deep in thought.
As someone witnessing the progress of an era, he seemed to have been drawn into the long river of time before he even realized it.
On the way back, Luke also made a stop at the Church of the Illuminators.
He had not seen Moff in a while. The boy looked taller now and was starting to carry himself with the air of a little grown-up.
Because the newspaper industry had expanded so much, it had also driven demand for paper delivery.
The children in the church were now able to earn enough money to support themselves through their own labor.
Not long after Luke arrived, Lux and Kahina finished up their own work there too.
So Luke had them hop into the carriage as well and brought them back together.
When the carriage stopped in front of the courtyard gate, Lux was the first one out. She rushed straight into the house and, without another word, collapsed onto the sofa, her entire body going limp.
That sofa was like a safe harbor for her.
Even though life at the Church of the Illuminators had been quite fulfilling lately, only when she came back here and lay down did she feel a special kind of peace settle in her heart.
She did not even get this effect going back to the Crownguard estate. It had to be Luke's house.
Once everyone had some free time again, a round of Mahjong naturally began.
They played until it was fully dark outside, and only after Luke had cleaned the table yet again did he finally get up to start making dinner.
After dinner was ready, Quinn, Vayne, and the others returned from training at the royal guard camp.
They finished dinner together in warm, happy spirits, and then it was time for the hot spring.
When it came time to bathe, Fiora was still on Lux's side as usual.
Still, there had been times when the two of them had used the hot spring while no one else was around. In those moments, the white curtain had stayed open, and so had all other restraints.
They had even done a few things adults were very fond of.
They had discovered that in the hot water, where the temperature stayed high, the feeling seemed to come much more intensely, and because of that, it also ended more quickly.
The autumn moon was much prettier than usual.
Soaking in the pool, Luke sipped his wine and tilted his head back to admire the bright moon overhead.
By the time he had slowly finished one pot, he had more or less soaked enough.
When he climbed out of the spring, it was fine as long as there was no wind. But the moment a breeze touched him, it felt cold.
Because of that, Luke had specifically built two changing rooms. Now that the weather was turning colder, coming out of the hot spring bare-skinned and getting hit by the wind made it far too easy to catch a cold.
After the bath, they kept playing around until curfew, and then the girls gradually headed home one by one.
Luke sat in his room, holding a cup and blowing lightly over it.
Floating on the clear surface were little red berries that looked almost like rubies.
As the cranberries went down with the tea, Luke felt a surge of energy rise inside him, though he was not entirely sure whether it was real or just his imagination.
Footsteps sounded outside.
A moment later, Fiora pushed the door open and walked in.
When she saw Luke leisurely sipping his tea, a lovely smile appeared on her face.
Then the door gently closed behind her.
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