A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 103 Thank you for the invitation, I just disembarked from the airship in the kingdom.

The airship was about to dock at Platform 2 in the central port area in 15 minutes. A waiter wearing a bow tie walked up to a passenger, calling out to him while gently tapping the bell on the table.

The bell, originally used by passengers to call the flight attendants, is now being used in reverse: "Sir, sir, wake up, the airship will arrive in fifteen minutes."

The passenger was asleep, slumped over the table. He was young, his left hand resting on an open book, his right hand clutching a fine charcoal pencil, the paper covered with drawings the waiter couldn't understand, and words scribbled in between.

Sunlight streamed through the porthole, illuminating the boy's profile and highlighting his long, thick eyelashes. Anyone with school experience would chuckle – after Psalm 60, exam season is usually upon us, so this must be a student.

What was displayed openly in public was, of course, "Standard Magic Circle Geometry Analysis," a book that Rorschach wouldn't easily take out from the elven village.

Luo Xia woke up, wiped his mouth, and said somewhat embarrassedly, "The winter sun just makes people sleepy." In fact, this textbook also had the magic of making readers drowsy.

The waiter gave a friendly, businesslike smile: "The fact that you were able to fall asleep is a testament to our success, proving that this journey through the sky was smooth, safe, and comfortable."

"Quite the talker." Luo Xia asked the flight attendant for a cup of licorice tea, and opened the control panel while drinking it.

After the Black Forest God War, Rorschach's dashboard has once again entered a spinning update cycle, and it's still spinning. It's unclear where this increasingly slow update cycle comes from; is the dashboard being maintained by some Indian programmer outsourced by Microsoft?

Another change was that if Rorschach focused his attention, he could vaguely see magical glints, as if [Magic Detection] had solidified into his vision. He wasn't sure if this change was due to his observation of the Primal Layer in his dream.

A quarter of an hour passed, the airship docked at the platform, secured itself, opened its cabin, and the passengers entered the "Sky Tree" building to complete immigration procedures.

While waiting for the elevator to descend from the tower, Rorschach leaned against the airport's observation window. Looking out, he could see the edge of Valuvana's cityscape. He noticed that the area between the capital and the central port area was no longer farmland, but rather stretches of construction sites.

These construction sites stretch along the Seine River, with wooden scaffolding, cranes, and workers the size of ants moving back and forth—a scene of dust and bustling activity.

"Young master, are you from out of town? As you can see, these are all workshops under construction below," Luo Xia said to a friendly man in a trench coat.

It's not surprising that workshops exist here. Most of the machinery used in production now relies on water power, and the river also facilitates the import and export of raw materials and finished products.

Before Luo Xia could reply, the man in the trench coat suddenly opened his wool coat. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't some kind of pervert with unusual fetishes. Luo Xia only saw that the inside of the trench coat was full of documents and color-printed flyers. The color ink used for printing wasn't cheap these days; he was really spending lavishly.

The man pulled out an attractive flyer and handed it to Rorschach. It listed the company's name, address, and various clothing items: "Valuva United Clothing Company, founded by the three largest fabric merchants in the country. Our new factory is at the construction site you just saw. We're currently in the IPO phase. Are you interested in buying shares? Just one share for Saburo."

The stock market frenzy in Valuana has not subsided. Now, when selling stocks, there is no need to mention dividends or rates of return; everyone assumes that stocks are profitable.

"No, thank you." The salesperson was quite clever, coming here to promote his services—passengers who could afford to take an airship to save time were generally wealthy and powerful, and Luo Xia was mistaken for a young master from some family.

When Luo Xia left the port and rented a carriage to enter the city, he found that there were significantly more carriages than when he first came. People on the road were all in a hurry, and the men often carried a leather bag containing documents.

Regardless, has the economy of the Holy Kingdom really improved? Rorschach can only observe the surface now; at least the carriage he is riding in is brand new, and the seats are covered with patchwork cowhide instead of the bare hardwood planks commonly seen in the old rental carriages.

Back at the Tower of Stars, the tower spirit tells the young mage that Kano left a message telling him to go to the research building after lunch the next day.

Damn it, Kano got back to Valuwana before me! Teleportation is really fast!

"Slow down! Back up, back up, back up. Okay, turn left, turn left." As soon as Luo Xia entered the research building, he encountered a group of workers. Four of them were carrying a large bronze cauldron on a wooden frame, while an old man from the alchemy department was casting spells and giving instructions.

Normally, four people wouldn't be able to move that pot; it must have been the alchemy guy who used a levitation technique to reduce its weight.

The lower three floors of the building that Luo Xia saw were empty, with some metal connectors, packaging bags, and wooden crates scattered haphazardly in the emptied rooms and corridors.

"The Alchemy Department ran away?" This was the first thing Rorschach said to Kano when he saw the Archmage, who was reading documents while devouring a lemon tart, a dessert that had recently become popular throughout the city.

"Yes. Oh no, no, the Alchemy Department didn't move. It was the 'Energy Potion' production line that moved. It was just a temporary measure to squeeze in with us."

"Now that the guild's affiliated trading companies are expanding rapidly, they took the opportunity to bring in investment from the alchemy department and built a closed factory for gentian violet." As the master spoke, he got up and led Rorschach out of the office; they were going to the laboratory on the top floor.

Due to the recent economic boom, many workshops have begun to expand, with the most aggressive expansion coming from the merchant guilds under the Magic Guild. Riding on the nationwide investment frenzy in the Holy Kingdom, debt financing has become easy, and factories backed by the Magic Guild are particularly popular with investors.

"Anyway, the currency value is going to fall, so let's borrow money and build the production line first," Kano explained. "We're mainly relying on exports. As long as there are guilds stationed in the cities, we can ensure that goods can flow freely. As the saying goes, wherever the mages go, our goods can be sold."

Rorschach thought for a moment. As a powerful organization spanning the continent, the Magic Guild had numerous subordinate merchant guilds. The most important thing about being backed by a guild was that it could conduct cross-border trade and had channels to obtain physical currencies from other countries.

In the Kingdom of Saint Valois, you can use borrowed money to open factories, buy raw materials, hire workers, and export your products to the Empire, Istani, and the countries on the southern coast of the continent to earn real money. Even though this game is not suitable for ordinary merchants, and money and resources can only circulate within the Holy Kingdom, the name of the Magic Guild can still be used to make money.

The magistrates and merchants were convinced that the Valois paper money would depreciate, and that debts denominated in language and livres would be wiped out after the depreciation by only requiring a small amount of metal currency to be repaid.

This isn't about financing or borrowing money; it's about picking up money by following in the footsteps of the kingdom's top alchemist and finance minister, Mr. Necker.

"So Pascal's been incredibly busy lately. There are so many new workshops being built, and even our low-level mages and alchemists from the Tower of Stars have been pulled in to help. You don't have classes this semester, so besides checking in here, you should also go and keep an eye on things. The pay will be substantial."

"Okay." It's fine for the mentor to ask the students to do horizontal work; what's important is whether the students can get a share of the profits after their hard work.

Kano finished the last bit of lemon tart on the way, rubbed his hands together to clean them. In Rorschach's eyes, a magical light had just flashed between the master's palms.

"But whatever you do, don't mention this in front of your senior sister. Pascal's chances of getting a permanent position are hanging by a thread again. He's planning to work in the Alchemy Department and the guild's affiliated trading company. He had a huge fight with Paulina. They probably argued before I was around too."

"Paulina still hopes that kid can become a formal mage," Kano said regretfully. He sighed and went to the laboratory on the top floor with Rorschach.

As soon as he entered, the junior brother saw Paulina, who seemed to be emanating black energy. Her face was taut, and she was silently adjusting the equipment.

There will be another chapter tonight!

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(End of this chapter)