Chapter 225 Printing houses
Chapter 225 – The Printing House
This was a room in a workshop located on the southern shore of Lake Wise, inside there was a strange machine on display, besides the machine, there were stacks of paper of different sizes, the workers were busy, they laid the paper on the machine, and after a series of operations, the paper appeared on the surface of the paper with densely written words.
In the middle of February, after overcoming the technical difficulties of ink and metal type, the first printing factory in Arda – and arguably the first printing factory in the world – was finally established.
“Sam!”
In a corner of the workshop, a voice containing anger rang out.
“Yes, Mr. Director, I’m on my way!”
A typesetter panicked and jogged all the way over to the workshop director’s side, feeling from the director’s tone that he was about to be in big trouble.
Sam was a refugee who had arrived in Arda a year ago, he recognized a few words, and while looking for a job he had wanted to take the Council of State’s clerk recruiting exam, but he had unexpectedly been brushed off with a failing score.
He had no choice but to take a second step to work in a factory, and secretly resolved to use his spare time to try to read and write, and next time to fight the examination. Alda is not like other places that require you to be related to the lord’s family or something, as long as you can pass the exam, you can become a high ranking officer in the eyes of the commoners.
After cautious and careful comparisons, Sam found that those whose job offers included the requirement to be able to read were obviously much better paid. So he became a typesetter in a printing house. At first he didn’t know what a typesetter did, let alone what a printing press did, but when he actually entered the factory and began to encounter the working environment, he realized that it was such an amazing place.
In his previous knowledge, books were copied out word by word by copyists, yet this place called the printing factory had a magical machine that could mass produce books in a jaw-dropping way.
Sam cherished the job, becoming a typesetter was a great opportunity to exercise and continue learning while working. However, at the current stage, because of his limited literacy, he was only assigned some simple tasks, such as typesetting some literacy pamphlets compiled by the Education Department for the purpose of literacy.
His heart was now trembling with anxiety as to whether he had gotten something wrong again, provoking the workshop director to lose his temper so drastically.
“You lowly, stupid foreigner, big sloppy walker who doesn’t have eyes!”
A series of expletives came out of the workshop director’s mouth as he pointed to the plates already lined up on the table, which were Sam’s handiwork from earlier.
“Idiot! Take a good look with your eyes, are the letters of this word in the wrong order?”
Sure enough, it was his previous work that was besides the problem, and Sam looked warily at the word the director was pointing at and realized that the word was indeed in the wrong order of letters.
“Mr. Director, it’s my fault! I’m sorry! I swear I’ll be careful in the future!”
He drooped his head and apologized repeatedly, regretting in his heart why he hadn’t checked a few more times.
“If I remember correctly, this isn’t the first time you’ve made this mistake! If I hadn’t improvised and checked once, another batch of books would have been spoiled!”
The workshop director waved his fist, looking as if he was going to punch him, causing Sam to be scared for a moment. But even if the director really wanted to beat him up, he didn’t dare to fight back.
“Need I remind you? You are still on probation! I, the workshop director, have the power to tell you to get the hell out of here straight away!”
“Sir, please give me another chance, I swear I’ll never make another mistake again!”
Sam’s voice took on a sobbing tone, afraid that he would lose the job.
Seeing that his intimidation had worked, the workshop director was secretly satisfied. He actually didn’t want to fire Sam, it was still difficult to recruit a worker who could read and write, even if it was this half-baked goods in front of him.
But still to put the words to the heavy, he would not allow his workshop printing books with typographical errors, this phenomenon must be eliminated.
He threatened viciously: “Alright, I’ll give you one more chance, but I swear, if you make such a stupid mistake one more time, I’ll kick you out of my workshop, and if the other workshops don’t want you either, you can just roll out.”
“Aye! Aye! My lord, thank you old man! I will definitely never do it again.”
Sam nodded and bowed repeatedly, thankful that he hadn’t been dismissed.
“This month’s paycheck is docked in half!”
“Huh? Mr. Director …… Yes, yes, whatever you say.”
Sam’s heart secretly ached, the probationary salary was already not high, and half of it had to be deducted.
“My goodness! There are so many books here!”
A clear, lark-like voice rang out from the doorway, drawing the crowd in the workshop to look at the door in unison.
“Ah~ It’s so beautiful!”
Sam also looked at the doorway and found the director of the printing plant walking in accompanied by two women.
The one walking in front had long, blonde, eye-catching hair and a face full of liveliness and surprise.
The one in the back had green hair, and her face was a bit more composed than the one in front of her, and she was also looking around at the layout of the workshop, her eyes revealing curiosity.
These two girls were both very beautiful, with extraordinary temperaments, the workers coincidentally stopped what they were doing and couldn’t move their eyes stupidly.
The factory manager accompanying the two girls put on a majestic face and yelled at the workers, “What are you all stopping for? Get back to work for me.”
The workshop director immediately kicked Sam’s ass hard, “Lay out your plates properly, and don’t forget what I just said.”
Sam rubbed his ass and concentrated on his work, he couldn’t afford to make another mistake.
The workshop director remembered, the factory director had said that two big shots from the Council of State were coming today, and looking at the courteous way the factory director came in, it was 80% likely that these were the two people.
I didn’t expect it to be two young girls, but their dresses didn’t look like they were from an ordinary civilian family.
After the factory manager finished yelling at the workers, he changed into a smile and introduced the two girls next to him, “Supervisor Diaz, Counselor Sertia, this is our largest printing workshop, we plan to print the samples you sent here.”
It turned out to be the new “Acting Head of the Department of Education”, and the rumor was spreading because the Acting Head was actually a woman. This was the first time a woman had been appointed to an official position, and many people thought the lord’s move was ridiculous.
The workshop director hurriedly came over.
“Heavenly Father is above! I’ve also never seen a book that can be ‘made’ so easily.”
Erin was filled with incredulity, although she had heard Paul talk about the idea of the printing press, she was still amazed to see the book printing process in person.
(End of chapter)