21 Paper 

Ch21. Paper

Wu Tingfang, still shaken from everything that happened today, mustered up the courage to approach Senjougahara Kou's three adjutants, hoping to persuade them to release her. She looked at Xue Jun with pleading eyes, hoping to evoke some compassion from him.

"Mister Xue Jun, right? I'm grateful for what you did. If not because of you, I would end up dead in his hand." she looked toward Xue Jie with a slightly horrified expression.

"Don't misunderstand girl, I didn't do it for you ..." answered Xue Jun nonchalantly.

His word got an affirmation from Xue Jie who smiled evilly, "Just so you know ..., your life is worthless, but if the opportunity persists, I will take it anyway."

"Please, great Sirs. I beg of you, release me," Wu Tingfang said in a trembling voice. "My family will pay any ransom you ask for. Just let me go."

Xue Jun looked at her coldly, his expression unchanged. "Our loyalty cannot be bought with promises and words alone. We answer only to Lord Senjougahara, our Master. If he orders us to release you, then we will. Until then, you will remain here. You have to work like everyone else."

Xue Ming, standing next to Xue Jun, chimed in with a mischievous grin. "But who knows, maybe we can make a deal. You're a pretty little thing, maybe you have something else to offer us?"

This caused Xue Jie and Xue Jun to look at him in disbelief.

Wu Tingfang recoiled in horror. "I will not entertain such a proposition. I demand to be released at once!"

Xue Jie, who had been scowling in silence up until now, spoke up with derision in his voice. "Demand all you want, but you are at our mercy now. Our Lord is a reasonable person, but he will not release you if that's what you seek. So, you might as well make yourself comfortable and get used to your new surroundings."

Wu Tingfang realized that her attempts to convince the three men were futile. She felt helpless and scared, trapped in the brigand's base with no way out.

"If there's nothing else to say, you may leave now ..." Xue Jun said as he took a last sip of wine from his glass.

But the girl didn't plan on leaving so soon.

"Say ..., why you follow that young man? You three misters have great strength and your martial arts attainment is quite decent. Why did you decide to follow Senjougahara Kou?" Wu Tingfang asked a bit puzzled by this situation.

From her observation, their leader Senjougahara Kou was only a young man no older than her. Then why these people who might be capable of becoming a commander in the army followed that man with such fervent loyalty?

The three Xues' expressions turned ashen, as they recalled the gore and horrifying scene where that very same smiling young man slaughtered their comrades. That scene was still vividly imprinted in their mind. Despite now they already surrendered their life to follow him, they were still somewhat afraid of him.

"Girl, do not doubt Lord Senjougahara's power."

"He is beyond us. In front of him, we were just powerless mortals. I don't know what Xue Jun has shown you, but I can say for sure that whatever he did, our Lord can do it as well effortlessly. Besides, this power ..., we receive this all from him."

"Enough Jie, Ming ... there's no need to divulge anything further to her. It's not like, she needs to know everything. Girl, I suggest you return to your place and rest. Just like our lord has previously said, if you want to return back to the city then you have to wait for a month. Or wait for someone to fetch you here. Now, leave." Xue Jun chased Wu Tingfang, the girl bowed her head to them and left.

"Anyway, have you guys seen Lord's wife?"

"The tall and pale lady?"

"Huh? What are you guys talking about?" Xue Jun who haven't seen Yuki in person asked curiously.

The Xues started chatting and soon enough, the others started gathering around them after they helped the tribesmen and refugees to settle down.

---

I took a midnight bath after having a long session with Yuki. I did this because cold water also helped me calm down my unnatural sexual urges. I don't know why, but I always have this insatiable feeling of wanting to have sexual intercourse. The more I did it, the more lustful I become. Though, I know when to stop and feel sorry for Yuki because even with her inhuman physique, she couldn't cope with my libido.

After finishing cleaning my body, I changed into simple garb and went to the study room. My subordinates held a small party downstairs. Maybe to commemorate the new arrivals, well I'll let them be for now. I just hope they didn't empty the wine stock.

I opened the crafting system and synthesized the item that I wanted to make but was unable to previously because of a lack of materials. I want to make an Elegant Gem, the precursor for this item is Vitality Crystal, Power Crystal, and 2 Gold Ingot. I melted down some of the gold coins that I minted previously to get that 2 ingots and the crafting started.

It took around two minutes to get the final product. The gem is a blue chunk of stone roughly the size of a tennis ball. The shape is uneven and there was some kind of engraving inside.

/---

[Elegant Gem]

[Descriptions: A high-grade alchemical creation that combined Power and Vitality aspects into one.]

[Stats: +300 Health Point, +380 Mana]

[Unique: <Gift> "Regenerate 20% Health Point and Mana within 5 seconds after leveling up." <Conversion> "Naturally take mana from the ambiance and convert it into a usable form."

[Durability: 10.900/10.900]

[Materials: Power Crystal x1, Vitality Crystal x1, Gold Ingot x2]

/---

This ... what the hail? Was there's unique passive like this in the Elegant Gem? I know about the first passive, but that <Conversion> is something that I've never heard of. Converting the mana from the atmosphere and then turning it into usable mana?

The term 'usable' here is kinda vague ..., even normal magicians have their own innate mana regeneration. Besides, if needed they can hasten the speed of their regeneration by meditating, so what's the difference then? And what's more, when I wear it I found out that the gem didn't add any stats with the Mana regeneration.

Or maybe I'm thinking it wrong ..., it's not for mages. Maybe to empower a device. A magical device. Yes, that's actually possible. The Elegant Gem is the material for crafting the [Clock of Destiny], which in itself is a very powerful artifact that can harness the power of time and get a glimpse of the future. Surely that artifact needs a lot of energy to power it.

But ..., hmmm, a magical device? I immediately remembered that Papermaking machine. That thing has been kept in the inventory because I currently don't have an energy source. While it's not necessarily a 'magical device', I would see whether it can accept this Elegant Gem as a source of energy.

I placed the machine in the living room after moving the table and chair to make space, this thing is huge, it took a quarter of the sparse living room. The machine took shape like a block of metal with a big tank on the top, the size is roughly 5x4x4 meter cubic. I integrated the gem into the power supply of the machine, and it wasn't long before it heat up and was ready to run. The machine hummed to life, powered by the gem's natural energy.

I placed the materials needed to craft a paper, a fibrous pulp extracted from wood. I had to craft this pulp through the system and it cost me around 100 Mana to change one unit of wood into pulp. It was pretty costly for processed material. I think I need to build a watermill and let those guys operate the mill to process these woods into pulp. The pulp is mixed with a solvents and the machine is ready to operate.

I look at the control panel of the machine and set up some parameters. After setting it to make a 100-meter-long and 3-meter-width paper roll, I clicked the start button. The machine started to work automatically, I can't see how the hell it was made but it took five minutes before a spiffing hot paper baked from the oven rolled out on the other side. I keep watching the machine, I re-poured the pulp into the tank whenever it was about to run out.

The machine while it gave a low frequency hum, the noise is not that bearable. And the clean energy of the mana didn't produce emission gases. I suppose this is one of the advantages of using Mana as a source of energy.

It took almost four hours until the machine finished fabricating one roll of paper. I stored them all, the machine and the roll of paper. I then turned the paper roll into sheets, I made it into various sizes starting from A5 to A1. I don't know if the dimension is correct, but I made it similar to the previous one is twice larger as the next.

I divide the 100-meter roll equally into 5 rolls of 20 meters and then started working from there. I got around 4 reams of A5 paper, 2 reams of A4 paper, a ream of A3, around 240 sheets of A2, and a hundred and twenty sheets of A1 paper.

Hmmm ..., now with this, papermaking is done, then the next would be printing, yes. It's thousand years earlier for the widespread use of the printing press, but why the hell not? With the newly made paper, I started designing a simple printing press.

---

Wu Tingfang woke up with a slight headache, the reason for her headache was lack of sleep.

Last night, these people started a party and she couldn't join their festivities and only watched from the side. It was unlike how she had imagined. They grilled meat, started a fighting competition, and some had a drinking contest. In short, they all had a good night.

Though she didn't join them and she didn't let the women that got kidnapped go out also. After all, who knows what would these men do once they get drunk and saw them? It was still a pleasant surprise that there were none that tried to approach their tents.

"Young Mistress ..., after this, what should we do?"

"..."

Wu Tingfang went silent at that question from one of the comfort women who got kidnapped. She never registered their name, after all, why would she bother about them? However, seeing that she got trapped in this place with them and they perceive her as their leader of some sort..., she felt somehow responsible for them.

"We can only follow what these people had to say. And perhaps, we can try to get closer to their leader. Senjougahara Kou, that man is still young and inexperienced. Maybe if we give ourselves to him, he would listen."

"... is there really no other way?"

Ting Fangshi bit her lower lips as she somehow remembered the man that showered her with love and affection. While their meeting was nothing but short, but that valiant and charming man has been imprinted deeply inside her mind.

"Why so reluctant? Isn't that what you always do?"

GONGGG

Before Ting Fangshi could respond to that question, there was a loud banging sound outside. Alarmed, all of them went out of the tent to see what was all about.

Senjougahara Kou stood on a raised platform with a tall lady standing beside him. She had a large, flat, circular bronze instrument on her. Perhaps that was where the loud sound coming from. Before long, the empty courtyard filled with people, waiting for his words.

"Good morning everyone, I hope you have a wonderful rest." the young man greeted with a smile, "Now, let's get to work ..., but first."

Senjougahara Kou stretched out his hand and put on aiming with his thumb and index finger.

Wu Tingfang and some people got curious and then followed his line of sight. But there was nothing there aside from barren field. But then, suddenly a box-shaped building appeared in that spot as if it was always there in the first place. Wu Tingfang don't know how and why, she even checked whether her eyes working perfectly or not.

"Hey ..., did you see what I see?"

"Y-yes, Young Mistress ..., that building shouldn't be there previously."

"So why ...,"

"Long live Senjougahara!" the first batch of followers of Senjougahara shouted out their fanatical chants.

And the newly arrivals people had two distinct reactions, the first was awe and amazement ..., looking at his figure with fervent belief thinking that perhaps he was a god descended from Heaven. The second was fear, it was those who provoked him on their first meeting and those who had the thought of scheming against him. They were afraid of what is this young man capable of doing.

"Hmm ..., that would do." Senjougahara Kou nodded seeing the prison that was erected about 2 km from the Ramwell. "Xue Jun!"

"Here, my Lord!"

"You will be the first warden of that prison. Go and bring Huo Xing there to serve his sentence. And you will be responsible for the security of that place from now on." he throws a series of bronze keys to Xue Jun.

Xue Jie and Xue Ming looked at each other and the latter shrugged his shoulder. They thought that this might be Xue Jun's punishment.

"I am at your command, I will fulfill this duty."

"Good, now move out!" Senjougahara Kou nodded at his readiness. "Next up, does anyone of you know how to write?"

Hearing that question, Wu Tingfang raised her hands and shouted. "Me, I learned how to write!"

"Master Senjougahara, I know how to write." another woman called out.

There were three other people who raised their hand but said nothing. One was the spiritual leader of the Lisu Tribe, an elderly man, and then the leader of the refugee, An Ying.

"Come forward ... and state your name, starting from you!"

"My name is Bou Shiyi, I'm the seventh shaman of the Lisu Tribe. All my life has been dedicated to engraving an oracle on a turtle shell." stated the elderly woman with a face full of tribal tattoos.

Senjougahara Kou just looked at the next person and gestured with his head.

"This old man is Yan Daiche, I've learned under Master Hou of Mohist School."

"An Ying, Sir, I learned how to write when I serve Lord Bai of Guishi plain."

"Wu Tingfang, it is compulsory for a lady with a good upbringing such as me to know how to write."

"Shu'er has learned how to do calligraphy since early childhood, while it's not the best ..., I hope it won't disappoint you."

"Alright, first let me see your writing ... here take this and write something." he pull out a few sheets of paper and charcoal pencils and then distributed them to everyone.

After marveling at these thin sheets as they never see something like this thing before, they started writing something on the paper. Kou looked at their writing and found that their stroke are different, while still in the same language family but it was different. Just like how Hanacaraka differs from Javanese to Sundanese, and Balinese.

But it might be sufficient for now, he had the cheating ability of Omnilinguist that made him able to understand every language. But he sees the need to standardize the writing text. Most of them are characters blind, they never learned how to read in the first place. It would be much easier to teach them language from zero rather than make them adjust to the new one.

"This is plenty enough. Let's move on ..., five of you will help me record their biodata. Just fill in according to this list."

After coordinating what they need to do, Senjougahara Kou along with Wu Tingfang, Shu'er, An Ying, Yan Daiche, and Bou Shiyi started writing down their biodata. The others line up and waited for their turn, Yuki on the other hand asked for some of the ladies to help her prepare for breakfast.

-—- Author's Note -—-

I'm sorry for this quite long inactivity. My life was in such a mess, I had trouble that need to be addressed and I got no time to write. Fortunately, it all has passed. And perhaps I will write more in the future as I now had the time and energy to do it. Thank you to Urban_Goose69 for your continuous support and everyone else who keeps throwing this story stones even though I left this story un-updated without any notice.