A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 191 Rorschach Gives Important Instructions

Until Rorschach left Würzburg, Barth, after his marriage, only met with him once, reminding the culprit, with dark circles under his eyes, not to forget how the mage tower collapsed.

Rorschach also saw Amelia, who looked radiant, and wondered why she didn't have dark circles under her eyes. To his friend's resentment, he could only promise to do her one last favor: "I was forced to dismantle the tower because I took a hit for you! Alright, alright, I'll come back before returning to the Holy Kingdom to help you design the defensive array for your mage tower."

"It's a deal." Bart certainly wasn't asking Rorschach to pay him back; he was just waiting for this statement. He had already witnessed Rorschach's ability to draw scrolls, and the [Blue Light Barrier] had left a deep impression on him.

Bart shook Rorschach's hand absently to say goodbye and arranged for the merchant's carriage to take the boy to Lanshte.

If he were to go directly to the Tower of Arcane Arts, Rorschach could hitch a ride with the tower's mages and apprentices, but this time he didn't want to leave empty-handed, so he naturally couldn't go empty-handed and had to go to the Lanshte Factory to pick up the goods first.

What is it that mages of the Arcane Tower cannot refuse? This was a question that Rorschach pondered throughout his journey.

At least we can prepare the resources we can offer, such as more passivation and transmutation dust. I wonder if the mages have thoroughly studied these small blue crystals.

When rushing to complete the wedding celebration, the "Fonda" factory imported and installed two steam engines, which not only greatly improved the filling efficiency, but were also used to generate electricity, convert it into ether, and then input it into the transmutation dust collector.

This secret unit was built by apprentices in the research and development department. Rorschach didn't care what secrets he stole; the topological array was beyond the comprehension of ordinary apprentices, and the magic circuits were all recorded inside the machine. As long as the machine kept running, the apprentices would be unable to peer inside.

The only thing that gave Rorschach a headache was that, due to the Tower of Arcane Arts' disregard for alchemy, it was actually quite difficult to arrange for the people he had recruited to develop beverages.

"I can't possibly write my own textbooks to teach them 'three transmissions and one countermeasure,' can I?" The thought alone sent shivers down his spine, his fur standing on end. And then there was his headache: he simply wanted to get the latest output from the collector, but he was immediately entangled with problems the moment he entered the factory.

"Lord Rorschach, you're finally back at the factory!" Pierre, swaying his belly, jogged down from his office to greet him upon hearing the guard's report. Some of the workers, personally recruited by Rorschach, also sized up this excessively young "boss" upon hearing the voice.

"Mr. Pierre, please don't call me 'sir'. Let's address each other by our official titles at the factory."

Rorschach couldn't help but chuckle when he heard titles like "Master" or "Sir" used on him, especially when it came to middle-aged men like Pierre. Pierre used to be called "Mage" or "Sir," but at some point, he was only addressed as "Sir."

"Yes, Lord Rorschach," Pierre Newsingan replied, then paused for a moment, "Uh, what position would you like to hold?"

Strictly speaking, he should be an independent director of "Hercules" if he wants a position where he can get paid without doing any work, but as "Fonda" is part of the Mage Tower, Rorschach decided from the beginning to have deep control over it. "Let's talk to Mr. Hassai."

After Mr. Hassel unexpectedly brought a big business from the Holy Kingdom, he was promoted by Bart's father to a senior partner of the Bardorom Chamber of Commerce, specifically in charge of the beverage sales network jointly operated with "Hercules". If Pierre returns to the Holy Kingdom, he will be the temporary head of "Fonda".

These days, there aren't many distinctions like CEO, CIO, CFO, COC, CR. The main model is still family business plus partnership. Hercules was the first to become a multinational corporation, but its personnel structure was somewhat chaotic.

Rorschach didn't understand these things and didn't want to get involved. He believed that, at least for now, Mr. Hassai was a trustworthy partner, and he had just become the other party's savior, and their interests were aligned.

Their own strength was also a guarantee. Pierre and Hassai couldn't possibly not understand that the benefits of maintaining a good cooperation with Rorschach far outweighed the benefits of "kicking Rorschach out and at least having an archmage as a bodyguard to ensure safety."

Thus, the meeting that decided to take over Rorschach's position, and also the meeting where Rorschach decided the future direction of the company, was held. Rorschach was hired as an advisor to "Fonda" Company, and in addition to dividends, he would also receive an extra long-term income.

It fully respected Rorschach's desire to get money simply by talking.

As an advisor, one must do the work of an advisor. Rorschach announced the company's next goal: "First, in the short term, we need to develop other flavors based on the purple soda that have lower costs. They don't necessarily have to be energizing; they just need to taste good."

Hassai, who is familiar with the local produce, analyzed: "Bayern's grape production is basically consumed by the winemaking guild, and apples and thick-skinned citrus are mainly eaten fresh now, but we can consider purchasing them to make beverages."

Pierre, a seasoned wine and medicine merchant, immediately chimed in: "We can buy apples to make Cider?" Valois and its southern regions produce sparkling fruit wines from pears or apples, which are called "Cider" in the Aberdeen language.

"No, no alcohol. We don't need to further provoke the brewing guild." Rorschach shook his head. "We can extract juice to make new soda, and it would be best to add coloring so that people can immediately associate it with fruit flavors, while also taking advantage of our glass bottles."

This is just a short-term goal; what Rorschach said next was the key point: "And the projects that will be developed in the future will be food."

"Food?" The two merchants were unaware of Luo Xia's intention; the logistics guild only dealt with the concept of "food" in bulk commodities.

Processed foods are not yet widely accepted in Valuwana. There are only bakeries everywhere. Even candies, which are convenient to transport and store, can only be bought in tea houses and pastry shops. Valuwana, which consumes the most sugar, does not have its own candy factories.

"We need to develop standardized foods that can be stored and transported for a long time." Canned food and convenience food are technologies that are easy to point out. Perhaps the "Pasteur experiment" in the previous life had already been discovered by natural magicians in this world. However, Rorschach observed that the magicians' understanding of microorganisms had not been applied to production.

Rorschach took the two to the R&D department and explained the principles of the "Pasteur experiment" to the apprentices. However, even if they "knew the reason why", it would still take continuous design and accumulation to transform it into a mature process and be able to stably produce products.

"We have sufficient glass production capacity. Once the soft drink production line is stable, we can develop canned food." Simply put the boiled food into glass jars, then seal them with cork and wax to keep them airtight, and the most basic canned food is ready.

Tin can manufacturing can be discussed later. Currently, only the alchemists of the Istani and the Northern Dwarves have far superior alchemy technology, and the cost of metal cans in Bain is still too high.

"Even if it is developed, who will buy it?" Pierre, a discerning merchant from Valois, had already foreseen that this thing would not taste very good. People who could accept the taste could not afford it, and those who could afford it would only eat it in restaurants. Even if there was a market, he expected that customers would only be interested in something new.

This is where the difference in martial virtue between the Holy Kingdom and the Empire becomes apparent. Furthermore, given Hassa's background as a logistics merchant, he immediately realized Rorschach's true target customer: "The army!"

"That's right. In order to maintain combat effectiveness, the army needs to consume a certain amount of meat, eggs, dairy products, and even fruits and vegetables." Rorschach was very satisfied that Mr. Hassai could keep up with his pace.

The world's intelligent people have vaguely recognized the relationship between sepsis and other symptoms and diet. Countries also understand that in addition to weapons and training, being well-fed and clothed is essential to maintaining combat effectiveness.

Rorschach continued, "These kinds of supplies are very prone to spoilage during transport, so the military is happy to accept slightly higher costs as long as our products have a long shelf life."

However, Mr. Hassai looked worried.

(End of this chapter)