Herald of Steel

Alexander overall was very pleased with Azijak after touring all the different workshops of the paper plant, finding everything to be to his satisfaction.

The only thing that he had ruminated about changing was instructing Azijak to replace the log cabins with buildings similar to what he had told Harun.

But on second thought, after finding the living quarters of the workers to be adequate for the time, and thinking that the bricks and cement could be better used elsewhere, he decided to hold off on that for the time being.

Alexander himself would be the first to admit that the communal worker quarters were no symbol of benevolence and generosity, as lots of families were still cramped into a large communicable space, with many husbands, wives, and children having to stay in that one huge shared space.

But still, it was at least better than what most others provided and not the abject horror show that many of the other places were.

Alexander would even be somewhat confident in saying these conditions were the best in Adhania.

And it was not like the workers had not found a workaround for these problems.

When Alexander had toured these currently mostly empty sheds, as almost everyone had gone to work and only left a few women to take of the children and infants, he had an additional decoration in many of them

They were huge curtains that were hung between many of the beds, acting as a kind of screen and thus allowing the family inside them to have some time alone away from prying eyes, while also making it possible for a couple to have some privacy and get intimate.

And so Alexander decided to let the workshop carry on with this slight inconvenience.

With these thoughts inside his head, Alexander was about to move on to the next workshop, when Azijak raised one last concern from the back, saying, “My lord, there was one last thing I wanted to let you know. And it is that we have mostly met all our orders. So, we really don’t know what to do with the all paper we are now producing.”

“Hmmm, this is indeed a problem,” Alexander loudly admitted with a nod, as he then voiced out his thoughts, “At 10 A2 sheets a ropal, it is too expensive to sell to the regular public. And so our customers can only be wealthy merchants and the nobles.”

Though, it had to be said that the regular public was never the target customer for this product.

Most of them were completely illiterate, only being able to recognize some rudimentary symbols for their day-to-day use.

So what use would they have for paper other than to wipe their buttocks perhaps?

Hence, from its very inception, Alexander’s customer base for the paper was the rich and learned, who both had the dough to purchase this fine product, and also the literacy to appreciate its creation.

And thus the problem for Alexander was actually finding these fat sheep, for he was basically an outcast among the nobility, while the merchants were only just starting to trickle in as the news of the plague abating had slowly begun to spread.

‘Hmmm, I should get to making that printing press as soon as possible,’ Alexander once again reminded himself to not dilly dally and get on with that epoch-changing invention.

He just had not just had the time to design that new machine until now as he was so busy with everything else.

And he knew that once this machine was invented, the demand for paper would skyrocket, as instead of manually writing on it, entire pages could be stamped on it, making printing books magnitudes times easier.

While Alexander was spinning such new ideas, Azijak ruminated on his lord’s loud musing, and then thinking Alexander was stuck on how to sell this brand new product, he thus decided to input his own thoughts about all this.

Azijak consoled, ‘Master, I believe we only need to find the appropriate buyer for this paper,” afterward adding, “As a former papyrus maker, I know better than most how well this new paper will sell. So please trust me when I say that we just need to get this new thing out there and we will be able to sell it like hot bread.”

This was a local phrase with the meaning being exactly as ‘sell it like hotcakes.’

Azijak said the line as he thumped his chest, which admittedly surprised Alexander a bit.

He honestly had no idea about the kind of demand there was for papyrus, and was thus internally relieved that the market seemed to be large enough to accommodate his new product.

For according to the prices Alexander had set for himself, he would need to sell eighty thousand (80,000) sheets of A2 paper or its equivalent every single day just to recoup his running cost.

That was 2 and a half tons of paper products every day, which was no small task.

And decreasing production was also not really an option, as the workers would still need to be paid regardless, and the daily production of hundred thousand (100,000) sheets was very near the base necessity.

“Also, my lord, I think we can charge 5 sheets for 1 ropal. This new paper is that good,” Azijak then additionally said, feeling that the rich customers would be willing to fork over much more coin to get this better, lighter, and much more durable product.

“Mmmm, okay, I will be sure to market this product accordingly,” Alexander hence promised Azijak.

And then quickly some of that marketing idea came to his head, which he immediately let the man know.

“Azijak,” He called to draw attention, saying “My wedding is in two weeks. And I want to showcase this paper in a number of ways.”

Alexander then took out a piece of paper from his pocket and folded it like a napkin, as he said, “First I want to make some paper of this size which would be used as disposable napkins.”

Then Alexander made a boat, using the skills he had learned at one origami orientation class, which made Azijak go wide-eyed as he could not help but praise, “My lord, what an ingenious way to fold paper. May I learn from you?”

“Haha, okay, see it again,” Alexander chuckled as he showed the folding again, and then made another folding, this time of the famous crane, and then instructed, “I want you to make a few of these kinds of foldings and color the boat blue and the crane red. They will be used as wedding venue decorations.”

“Ohh, that’s genius my lord, absolutely genius,” Ajiajk literally jumped up into the air as he said this, producing a smile so big that it seemed to threaten to spill of out his mouth.

The reason for such a reaction was not lost to the smart men around, as they all were certainly sharp enough to understand what Alexander had done.

He had taken a thing that was of relative distaste for the general populace and transformed it into something that was highly desirable.

And this feeling only increased as Alexander showed him more decorative designs, such as festive festoons, curtains made of paper, and vibrant chains constructed of the thin substance and held together by glue.

‘These things will sell even better than hot bread,’ Azijak’s eyes glowed with the color of gold, as his ears seemed to hear the clanking of silver, knowing perfectly well how much the people would love these new inventions.

This was because, humans being the curious creatures they were, somehow always had a fascination with shiny and colorful things.

This was why gold and silver were so valuable, for they were rare and shiny, and which was also why people tend to decorate themselves and their houses with such objects.

But most did not have the means to decorate as such, leaving them to just suck it up. ｂ𝚍ｎｏ𝚟ｌ.

Until now.

Now, with Alexnader’s beautiful designs, Azijak was sure paper, which was a much cheaper alternative, would soon become the mainstay of every poor and less affluent household’s marriage.

They could even become festive decorations like the new year’s or other religious holidays, if Alexander pushed for them using his temple.

Alexander also knew these, which was why he soon intended to introduce such shops to Zanzan.

But for now, Alexander decided to show Azijak one last decoration.

“This last thing is called a fanush, or a sky lantern” He introduced, and then drawing a picture of it, Alexander helped describe it, “Basically it is a cylindrical piece of paper with a hollow bottom. There a wick with some wax is attached using metal wires, so even the wick is lit, the hot air makes the lantern fly into the sky.”

“Oh, that’s so cool my lord,” Azijak could only imagine how nice such a scene would be, as anything that flew had always driven the human imagination for millenniums.

“Mmm, I will send the appropriate people to help you make these. Just be sure to have the right sized paper,” Alexander at last ordered, which got a rapid nod from the man.

‘With it being the lord’s wedding, I will need to be extra attentive’ Azijak pumped himself up.

And finally, with all these said and done, and after trying to exit the paper workshop multiple times but getting held up every time, at last, Alexander managed to bid Azijak goodbye and make his way to the next workshop, the soap plant.