Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World

"Printing?"

Mariana and Nathan heard this term for the first time.

"Yes, printing. I never thought that books could be created in this way. In the past, they had to be transcribed word by word, and it was easy to make mistakes. Now with this machine, one can do the work of hundreds of scribes, and it's accurate."

Edward explained excitedly, "When entering the workshop to get a book, Saner saw from a distance that they applied a liquid that seemed like ink on a flat plate engraved with text. Then, they placed a sheet of paper on it, followed by pressing down a top plate against a bottom plate, pressing the paper and the engraved text together. The paper then had clear text on it. Thinking about it, this process is indeed much faster than copying word by word, and as long as the text on the plate is correct, there's no need to worry about errors. It's a clever method."

Seeing his companion's excitement, Nathan frowned, "Edward, I admit it's ingenious, but I must remind you, you are a spellcaster, don't get so excited over mere mortal inventions."

Edward shook his head, "Nathan, that's prejudice. We shouldn't be concerned whether it's a caster's or a mortal's thing, as long as it's useful."

"Nonsense!" Nathan scoffed at Edward's view.

"Mariana, Edward is making sense. You are too arrogant. Imagine if we applied this idea to scroll-making, what a breakthrough it would be," Mariana chided.

"Uh… making scrolls is not just about getting the words on it," Nathan retorted without conceding to his mother's criticism.

"Yes, Lady Mariana. We already have very effective… 'distributors' in major towns, so you can rest assured," Edward assured her.

The lady turned to her son, "How are things at the church?"

Nathan smirked, "Haha, the church must be in agony now, like sitting on a bed of needles."

…

In a spacious and bright hall, many people solemnly sat around a large conference table.

The Archbishop of Horn Bay, Elvis, sat at the head of the table, his face ashen.

To his left, all clad in clerical robes; to his right, all in the lavish attire of secular nobility.

"Archbishop!"

A clergyman close to Elvis spoke with concern, "Out of the twenty coastal states, five remain undecided, but the other fifteen have begun to openly oppose us. If we don't take strong measures, the Horn Bay Church will forever lose control over the coastal areas."

Upon hearing this, Elvis slammed his hand on the armrest, "These foolish heretics, the Lord of Light will soon bring down divine punishment."

How did it come to this?

Ever since the first "thrown out of the window" incident, other cities followed suit, leading to a series of similar events.

Elvis once ordered the churches to send ninety percent of their collected tithe to the Horn Bay Church headquarters in Collins, but among the twenty coastal states, only three complied.

It wasn't that the other churches disobeyed the Archbishop's command, but they were hindered by the strong public opinion locally, almost indefinitely delaying the remittance of the tithes.

In short, the Archbishop's plan had been thwarted.

Since the beginning of the year, an even more serious event unfolded: a book named "Record of Injustices" quietly began circulating in Horn Bay.

Archbishop Elvis had come across this book, but he trembled with anger after reading just two pages!

Blasphemy!

Complete blasphemy!

This vile book was an utter act of desecration.

He immediately ordered the banning of the book throughout Horn Bay and mobilized all resources to investigate its authorship.

The search for the book's influence almost rivalled a witch hunt. Under such pressure, several "authors" were identified. Elvis, without trial, executed those with the most suspicion publicly, while the rest were thrown into prison.

The church's method of banning books was to burn them, just like burning witches.

However, it wasn't just this book that was burned. The book burning extended to other volumes as well. Any book reported to criticize or express dissatisfaction with the church, or even suspected of doing so, was added to the banned list.

As the banning continued, the list grew longer.

The streets and alleys of various towns in Horn Bay were filled with the ashes of burned books.

Some extremist religious fanatics even called for followers to keep only one "Holy Scripture" at home and burn all other books.

They believed that one "Holy Scripture" was sufficient for spiritual needs, and any further exploration was shameful decadence, a sign of weak faith.

The Horn Bay Church began increasingly interfering in the lives of ordinary people.

The original witch hunts, prolonged and damaging to both the economy and public welfare, were now compounded by more and more restrictions, piling one after the other. The resentment of the people of Horn Bay had reached a boiling point.

People began to question the legitimacy of the Horn Bay Church and its capacity to represent the authority of the Lord of Light on earth.

Yet, despite this, "Record of Injustices" continued to emerge, its content updating and becoming more "rich" with each new edition. This drove Archbishop Elvis to desperation, leading to orders for even harsher measures.

Under intense suppression, a backlash finally erupted. The independent territory of Messiah experienced a riot.

During a book-burning event where a clergyman announced punishment for owners of banned books, a rotten egg hit the loud-speaking clergyman.

Church knights immediately drew swords and demanded the egg-thrower step forward for punishment.

However, the rotten egg and the knight's command were like a spark that instantly ignited people's dissatisfaction.

A barrage of stones, rotten vegetables, and other trash was hurled at the clergy.

Enraged, the church knights engaged in conflict, leading to a bloody incident.

The conflict quickly escalated into a city-wide riot. Even the local lords couldn't suppress it. Churches in various areas were attacked, and the outnumbered clergy of Messiah were overwhelmed by the surging mob, many injured or killed, with the survivors detained.

Some terrified clergy swore allegiance to their cities rather than Horn Bay Church, earning their release. Those still loyal to the Horn Bay Church were brutally beaten and mercilessly expelled from Messiah.