Chapter 318 (1/2)

Chapter 318 Unknown

Roland scratched over the surface with the brush, writing a long paragraph on paper.

Before he came to this world, he had only drawn mechanical blueprints using the computer. At that time he had already thought that there would only be small chances where he would ever need to write characters using a pen, never did he expect to have to use this kind of ancient form of recording ever again.

Two papers filled with text laid next to his hand, containing the next plans for what he wanted to implement.

One plan was the large-scale production of sulfuric acid and the new equipment that was needed, made by the hands of Anna and Soraya. Instead of using lead for the reaction vessel, they would use the more robust and reliable iron together with an anti-corrosion coating. Furthermore, the vessels would be made three times larger than the previous trial version’s.

Considering that at the present stage there was fundamentally no way to collect or purify the produced industrial waste gas (mainly used from combustion of sulfur and leakage of nitrogen oxides), Roland decided to place it at the southern end of the industrial park – far enough away from the residential area and the Redwater River. Furthermore, he planned to use stones so as to better isolate the building and also erect a chimney to raise the altitude at which the emissions would be released.

Increasing the output of sulfuric acid was of great help to enlarge the scale of concentrated nitric acid, so putting this equipment into production would be the most important task at present. The content of the document were instructions to Kyle Sichi to select a group of disciples who will be specializing in the production of sulfuric acid. In addition, Barov also needed to recruit some reliable local residents who could work as auxiliary handyman, raising the number of staff required for the chemical plant to around 100 people.

The second document was the formation of a public health care system.

To be honest, Roland wasn’t familiar with this subject. Talking about it, he didn’t even understand a single thing about modern medicine. However, this didn’t prevent him from using his common sense to develop a plan which meets all of their current needs.

First of all, the biggest task of this department would be to give publicity to modern scientific discoveries. Things such as boiling the water before drinking it, the fact that meat has to be fully cooked before eating, the cause of illnesses and how they manage to spread, the difference between parasites and microbes, and so forth… Thanks to his growing prestige it wouldn’t be difficult for him to get people to do what he wants, but if he wanted them to understand why they should do something, he would need someone to do the publication and education for him. It would be useless if they only spoke once about these things. Instead, it had to be repeated seven or eight times, maybe even dozens of times, like those slogans that were hanging at the edge of the field. If they continually spoke about it, their view would always become accepted in the end.

The second part was encouraging the birthrate – since the City Hall only had a limited number of staff, Roland did not want to set up a separate family planning department. Thus he temporarily also placed this under the public health care’s responsibility. The population was always the most scarce resource in this era, and the best way to confront this was by leading people to give birth to more lives. Nana’s ability completely erased the risk of giving birth and many of the other thorny problems. And with her help, the post-natal survival rate would almost be around one hundred percent. In order to avoid the abandonment of baby girls, as well as restricting any changes of something like that happening in future, Roland developed a full subsidy and punishment policy. For example, the subsidy for baby girls was slightly higher than for baby boys, subsidies would be given in installments, and the abandonment of babies would be punished with fines or imprisonment, and so on.

The last point was the regulation of payment. Except for fertility treatment, the hospital would charge a fee in accordance with the amount of magic that Nana needed to use. This way it would reduce the little girl’s burden as well as lay the foundation for the future hospital system. Roland had also already found the first person he wanted in charge of this department, Viscount Tigu Pine, Nana’s father.

The third document, was currently in the state of being written, and was the most complex and far-reaching plan – it was the plan to establish Border Town as a city.

It was related to the problems created by the expansion of Border Town and the later merger with Longsong Stronghold. When that time came about, there would definitely be a demand for new laws concerning the governance of these two places, and both the judicial system and the public security system would have to be implemented. However, if he wanted to make these points watertight, merely relying on his own knowledge wouldn’t be enough, thus Roland intended to draft a list first, and later discuss all the details with City Hall Premier Minister Barov.

After finishing the introductory part, Roland felt some pain in his wrist from all the writing so he went to the window to take a break.

Today’s weather was very gloomy, and from morning to afternoon he had yet to see the sun. The sky was consistently being covered with dark clouds, and gave the impression that torrential rains would soon be coming. The chilly autumn wind swept over the castle backyard and Roland heard the olive leaves rustling.

At this moment, a black spot appeared on the horizon, flying in the direction of the castle.

“It’s Lightning,” Nightingale’s voice came from behind him.

“She probably went to the Concealing Forest to pick some mushrooms again,” Roland said with a smile. Usually, when they weren’t on investigation duty, the goal of Lightning and Maggie’s practice was left up to themselves. Therefore, it was entirely reasonable for them to not come back to the castle to eat lunch. According to the two, they would often be somewhere in the woods looking for some eggs and honeycombs, or catching some strange animals to barbecue and eat. It was likely that all explorers would ultimately transform into Bear Grylls.