Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World

In the dimly lit living room, a faint flame gently danced on the wick of a candle.

The candlelight brought a sliver of brightness to the room, casting a glow on the youthful and spirited face of a young man.

He was leaning over the table, staring motionlessly at the candle flame, his face devoid of any discernible emotion, resembling a statue.

Suddenly, the flame in front of him changed. It no longer flickered gently but began to rise upwards, thinning as it did, like a small piece of dough being stretched into a noodle by a chef.

The youth, fixated on the flame, showed a slight change in expression. His eyebrows furrowed slightly, and his gaze sharpened, but he continued to stare intently at the light.

The "stretched" flame underwent another transformation. It began to bend, the upper half tilting slightly to the left of the youth, then to the right, then left again, and right again, in a continuous, cyclical motion.

If another person were present and observing closely, they would notice that the youth's eyeballs were moving in sync with the direction of the flame's tilt.

It seemed as if the young man was controlling the flame before him.

The speed of the flame's tilting increased, but just then, a creaking sound of a door opening abruptly stopped the movement of the candle flame.

The room plunged into complete darkness as the candle did not reignite.

"Damn it, Edward, I felt I was about to make a breakthrough in controlling the flame, and you just had to interrupt! Couldn't you have knocked before entering?" the young man controlling the flame said, clearly annoyed.

Then, with a snap of his fingers, the extinguished candle suddenly burst into flame, burning down to half its length in an instant before settling into a normal flame.

The youth looked at the half-length candle and sighed sorrowfully.

"Shut it, Nathan. You usually fail at the slightest noise. Was my knocking really that quiet?" retorted Edward, a man with an eagle-like sharp gaze, though his tone carried a hint of frivolity.

"This time was different. I was so close, I had confidence… Never mind, let's not talk about this now," Nathan, the young man, shook his head and then asked, "So, did you bring back those books?"

Edward picked up a water jug from the table and took several hearty gulps. "There were some complications, but it's all good now. Sanel is overseeing the unloading at the docks. However…"

"However, what?" A female voice interjected, followed by a woman descending the stairs.

She appeared to be in her late twenties, radiating a mature charm. Her dignified and beautiful features, elegant figure, and striking, almost dazzling, red hair made a profound impression. Her hair, neatly arranged into a bun at the back of her head with two strands falling over her shoulders, contrasted starkly against her pale, milky skin. Her pupils were an extremely rare shade of red on the continent.

"Mom!" she was called by the young man.

"Lady Mariana!" was Edward's respectful address.

To an outsider, Nathan's reference to the woman might seem confusing, as she looked more like his sister than his mother due to her youthful appearance.

Unlike Nathan's casual address, Edward's tone was filled with reverence.

For Lady Mariana was not only a powerful female spellcaster but also held another significant position – she was one of the ten members of the highest authority in the Arcane Society.

Edward had only recently learned the lady's name – Mariana. Previously, he had been instructed to refer to her as the "Red Lady," likely due to her striking red hair.

He promptly responded to the lady's earlier question, "Our supplier has raised the price for subsequent orders, charging an additional 200 Ordo copper shields per book."

"Why?" Mariana asked.

Edward explained, "According to Sanel, the local church has influenced the lord, and now they can only transport the books through certain special means… like smuggling, basically. They can't deliver to us openly anymore."

Mariana immediately inquired, "How did the local church influence this? Did they cause any trouble for the lord there?"

"No, my lady," Edward replied. "As far as we know, the church people simply brought the book to the lord's attention, and then he ordered a ban on it."

Mariana continued, "If our supplier keeps using these 'special means' to provide us with goods, will it cause any trouble for the lord there?"

"Trouble? Definitely," Edward said. "For instance, he can't tax these goods anymore."

"I meant in terms of his relationship with the church."

"Not really. Which lord can control all the outlaws in his territory? Everyone knows it's just for show. The local church probably just wants to make a statement."

Mariana seemed to ponder for a moment, with a flicker of worry crossing her eyes. But quickly, she said, "Alright, Edward, regarding the supplier's price increase, that's not a problem. Meet their demands. This is not the time to worry about small profits."

"Yes, my lady," Edward nodded.

"Also, here's a sample from this batch."

He took out a book and handed it to Mariana.

She gently caressed the new book, still smelling of ink, with its title "Record of Injustices" written in large Horn Bay language characters.

After a while, she spoke with a hint of wonder, "I still don't understand how our supplier does it – almost all the books have identical fonts and handwriting. Is it copied by the same person? But one person obviously can't handle such a large volume of work, and even if it were the same person, it's impossible for two copies to be exactly alike."

Edward quickly said, "Oh! My lady, I might have some insight into that."

"You?"

Mariana looked at him.

"Yes, I heard it from Sanel. He saw it from a distance when he was in the Northwest Bay – how this book was made."

Edward's face showed disbelief, "Amazing, truly amazing. It's not manually copied, but produced from some kind of machine."

Nathan, puzzled, asked, "The books are made by a machine?"

"Yes," Edward replied. "I also thought these books were copied by organizing a large number of people, and I was puzzled why every book's handwriting… even the arrangement of letters was exactly the same. But Sanel's description solved all my doubts. Manufacture? No, no, the professional term should be 'printing'."

Edward corrected Nathan's misunderstanding.