The Mechanical Era

After receiving the message, Alan made sure to wake up and dress up early in the morning. With his new job in place, he hoped to live here for a few years. After wearing his acorn gray suit, he was ready to go.

Alan had rented a place in the downtown area. Although it was very expensive, the amount of pay he would receive would be nothing. He made sure to go down to the bathhouse in the morning before heading straight over to the castle.

Once he arrived at the gates, he was told that his majesty would be waiting for him in Kant's office, where he would be given his first task. Internally, he felt a little excited about what he was tasked to do. Externally, he kept calm and headed over to his office.

When Alan walked into Kant's office, he first bowed down and then asked what he was needed for.

"I came as fast as I could, your majesty. Is there anything you need from me?" Alan asked. Kant whose head was focused on the map on the desk turned to face Alan.

"I do, Minister Fleck. Sit down." Alan obeyed. He walked up to the chair and assumed a straight, serious posture.

"Now, before I get to business, there are a few rules I want you to follow absolutely. It won't take too long. Just a few seconds."

"Alright, your majesty. What are there rules?"

"There are only 2. The first rule is to address me as 'sir' after you have addressed me as majesty.

The other rule is to never ask me how I know how to make things. Alright? If you ever wonder why just tell yourself that it is not important. And if anyone asks from you, reply with 'I don't know.', you understand that?"

"I fully understand sir." Kant smiled.

"Good. Because the last minister asked and well... he is not here anymore, is he?" Alan, looking at Kant's age, thought that he simply fired the man. He would have never believed that Kant had killed the man with his own two hands because he posed problems. Regardless, he would not want to do the same mistake as his predecessor.

"Now, Minister Fleck, for your first task, I require you to prepare and organize an event for a speech I will be delivering. How long do you think it will take for you to make preparations?" Kant questions.

"Hmm... I think I would only need about 3 days. You sir can deliver your speech on the 22nd. I hope that is adequate enough time?" Alan asked.

"According to the treaty I have signed, I will have to denounce the church by the end of next month, so the 22nd is fine by me." Kant coughed a little, before moving on.

"Now, considering a speech will be delivered denouncing the church, I will have to propose an alternative to which the people can read the texts of god. That is why I need you to translate the scripture so that the people themselves would have the chance to read it.

Once you translated the scripture, I want you to use the printing presses to make as many books as you need to, as we are going to need a lot of them. If there are any excesses, then hand them over to a shop to sell."

"Yes sir. I already have an idea of what I need to do. In fact, I know just the guy I need to talk to. I promise you, sir, that I can get you what you need."

"Good. Now, I want you to turn your attention to the city map. Do you see these highlighted areas? In red and blue?" Alan turned to look at the map.

"Yes sir. I do."

"Good. Now, the red areas are where I want schools to be built, while the areas in blue are where I want libraries to be built. As you can see, most of them are in Middletown," Kant pointed out.

"Now, considering that the people would want to be able to read the scripture for themselves, as it is the word of god, we are going to need to build a lot of schools for them to learn, and public libraries for them to read.

I would recommend you use the company DML Designs. Make sure the libraries and schools have the Arteco Architectural style applied to them. Once a library is completed, make sure it is stuffed with scripture first, and other books later. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir. It is."

"Now, on to the main plan. Do you see this area that I have drawn on the map?" Kant asked. Alan's head face down. On the outskirts of the city, to the east side of the fringes, he saw an area separated by a line, with the name "Industrial Zone" in the middle.

"Yes, I see it. What is it?"

"It is a new district I want to be built. It is a part of my Industrialization program. I hope to expand the sewage facility so that steam-powered factories could take route. These sewages would take in the waste the factories would produce, and direct them to a waste disposal center or a purifier, which also would be expanded, where it would be treated before dumping into the river." Kant said while pointing at the area with his pencil. He soon places it down and looks at Alan again.

"Now, Minister Alan, what do you think?" Kant asked.

"Well sir, I think I know a few individuals that be able to build and expand the sewage system. I could assemble a team and get them to design the new sewage system. I can then fund some other stone masons to dig and build the thing. They could use that cement product that has been going around.

In terms of the waste disposal treatment, we could get some retired knights around. The ones that survived the war. Those men are out of a job and their skills, most accurately, the spells of purification, incineration, and so on, would come in handy. All they would have to do is to read a few books, and they would be ready."

"Very good. So, when do you think you can form the group?"

"Realistically, I could assemble a team in 1 to 2 days. I will have to talk to them and see how long it would take to build it. If it comes to it, I will get the use of those retired knights as additional manpower. How long would you like it to take, sir?" Alan asked in the end.

"Um... I would like the sewage system to be built by the end of the month?" Kant replied with a little bit of uncertainty in his voice.

"Alright then sir, I will see what I can do," Alan replied. Kant smiled once again, impressed at Alan's thinking. With that, he moved on to the next step.

"Now, I want to connect the industrial zone with 'lower-east Middletown' using a steam tram. Basically, it is a carriage-like machine that runs on steam power. It is connected to a rail line, dragging more carriages with it. It just goes back and forth into and out of the area, so that people can travel there easily.

Now, the steam tram is just a concept, so I will also need a bunch of craftsmen to help me make one. Then, I would be able to build the rail lines accordingly, to bring people in and out of the area."

"I can arrange a bunch of craftsmen to come to help build a prototype. We could even put a company on top of that to limit the amount of money we could lose. However, considering that sir is aiming to make a new invention, I do think there is an alternative."

"Go on."

"Well sir, why not build a few houses near where they work? You won't have to invest in making the steam tram, as sir calls it, and it could be done a lot faster."

"I did think through that alternative, but there are few things I am accomplishing by inventing the tram."

Alan kept quiet, waiting for his response.

"The first is that I am going to need it down the line when I will expand the city further. Having a public transit method will be key to the development of the city. The second is that it will provide me with a stepping stone to making a train.

A train is basically a tram that can travel at a fast rate while delivering a heavy payload. This could mean resources from other cities or people who would want to travel back and forth," Kant replied.

"Was that answer satisfactory?"

"Yes, sir. I understand now," Alan replied while nodding.

"Good. Now, that is it for the first industrialization plan. I would like you to get these things done as fast as possible."

"I understand sir."

"Good. Now, considering it is your first day on the job, let's go meet everyone else. " Kant replied. Alan and Kant both got off their chairs and walked out of the room. From there, Kant introduced the staff of the palace to Alan.