Months after Ibraim got permission from his father to begin construction of his railways and foundries, they were mostly complete, a few more weeks are needed for the foundries to produce the parts needed for the locomotives and mining equipment for his modernization efforts but soon, the foundries would come online, albeit at a limited rate as production slowly ramps up. He was currently sat within his room, designing some more equipment that was going to be made in the future. Such as the plows, seeders and phosphate fertilizer from the slag produced from his foundries for the farmers. But first, he'll have to introduce the 4-field system to make sure none of his people go hungry from working in his future industrial empire. But for now, he'll let the foundries get to full production.
Soon, he left his room, deciding to visit the foundries as they first started up. Eager to see the progress he and Ourmar had been working on for months come to fruition. As Ibraim left his room, he immediately felt a pair of eyes watching him, despite no one being in view, he knew he was being spied upon the moment he left his room. Were they his mother's spies? Only time would tell if he could figure it out. Once he left his family's castle, he walked towards the city's new industrial district. Viewing the smoke lightly pumping out of the smokestacks, he could only imagine what it'll look like when they finally reach maximum capacity.
He stops at the buffer and turntable for the end of his railway, one that does not have locomotives operating on it. But alas, he could already see how it would look. The tiny but formidable 0-6-0 locomotives bringing coal and iron by the train load, the sound of the whistle as it departs back to the mines, and the smell, oh the smell. In his past life, he was always a heavy enjoyer of steam locomotives, not even a railfan foamer could describe him when it came to steam engines. Many of his friends would call him a train addict, and right now, it seems about right. Perhaps, that was the entire reasoning for building a railroad and not using the river as a means of transportation for the ore and coal. But such thoughts can be pushed aside for now and left up to the future historians of the world.
As he steps inside his foundry, he views the limited workforce pouring several test batches of iron into molds. The variety of molds mainly consisted of ingots, plates, and the plethora of parts needed for the new mining equipment and rolling stock. As the young lord watched his, Oumar decided to have a little bit of fun with him. The old bastard snuck up next to Ibraim and gave him quite the scare.
"Oumar! You bastard! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
All the old man could do was chuckle in response.
"Apologize, my lord. I was just having a wee bit of fun."
Upon hearing this, Ibraim gave him a small but mischievous smile.
"Very well then! I shall get you back next time I am here."
He would not. But the engineer did not spoil the boy's fun.
"Of course, my lord. I expect no less from you."
Moving on from this brief bout of fun, Ibraim immediately gave Oumar a quizzical look.
"Oumar, I have a question. Why do we not have a full workforce within our ironworks? I know we are not operating at full capacity yet but it would be nice for people to show some initiative and be here anyway to learn about the process."
Oumar gave the young lord a grim expression before relaying the disheartening news.
"Unfortunately, many of the peasants of the city cannot work here, especially when considering your strict guidelines of being physically fit. There simply isn't enough food to go around that everyone can get a good meal to keep them healthy. Along with the fact that many of them are forced to work in the farms to provide for themselves and the realm."
When Ibraim heard this, obviously, he immediately became concerned about the state of the Viscounty and the Empire as a whole. It was a very good thing that he had finished drafting the blueprints for the plows, seeders, and the fertilizer made from the slag produced in the ironworks.
"Oumar, immediately after our mines are modernized, I need you and your engineers to produce these designs that will help our farmers. I will have my work cut out for me as I will have to get someone to convince our farmers to transition to a 4-field growing system."
Ibraim immediately pushed his designs towards Oumar and gave him a minute to look them over.
"My lord, these designs are genius! We will be able to increase our agricultural output by ten-fold and our workforce by 20-fold! I will get these into production as soon as possible, my liege."
Ibraim clasps his hand on the old engineer's shoulder, as he has done many times before. Telling him the same message he said for the past few months.
"My friend, try not to work yourself to death! I still need you alive for much of my many plans."
Though he was joking about how he viewed Oumar only as an asset for himself, it was still very true. Oumar was possibly the brightest person in the empire, or maybe in the entirety of Africa! Even if that's not the case, Oumar is still very important to the heir's plans.
"Well then. I will allow you to integrate my designs to be ready at a moment's notice when we reach our minimum production throughput! For now, I will be joining in with the workers to aid them in their work."
Those words greatly shocked the old man as he could never imagine the heir of the viscount to ever join in on such dirty work, but Ibraim in his past life was always on to work with his hands, no matter how dirty it may get, and that passion did not die out when he did. Before Oumar could object, the young lord had already taken off his coat and rolled up his sleeve as he joined the workers in smelting, casting, cooling, and eventually shaping some of the ingots into different shapes that were not yet in a cast.
As the sun began to set, Ibraim felt he had been there long enough, and that he had gotten dirty enough. He thanked the workers for their hard work, gave them a bonus in the form of 10 silver coins each before departing back to the castle.
Once inside, he immediately felt the familiar sensation of being watched. From where? He still did not know, but he would pretend he did not notice until he got his own spy network running throughout the city. As he walked through the halls, he ran into his older sister, Yuri. Though she was very beautiful, he did not feel any ounce of attraction towards her. Though, as his sister eyed the boy, she immediately saw all the soot on his clothes and skin and thus, decided to inquire how he got so dirty.
"Little brother… just what have you been up to that has gotten you so dirty? Surely you're not playing around in the mud as if you were an infant once more."
Ibraim immediately decided to play a little joke on his big sister.
"Do not worry Yuri, I was simply digging around in the garden like a dog looking for a buried toy."
His sister's face immediately scrunches up at his response, causing the boy to laugh.
"I'm kidding! I'm kidding. I had joined the workers at my new iron production facility in the creation of several different batches. Unfortunately, we don't have many workers due to the ongoing famine in our city. Though I do plan to rectify that by introducing new tools and systems that will aid our farmers in producing enough food to fill every man, woman, and child in our city. But I simply do not have the time to go down into the farms myself and introduce the new technologies and systems…"
Now, if something were to surprise Ibraim about his sister, it would definitely be that she knew a lot, and I mean, a lot of farmers around the city. She could easily introduce new ideas and technologies with sufficient evidence. And being the big sister that she is, why wouldn't she help out her young brother?
"I believe that I have a solution to this problem of yours, little brother."
"You do? Please, do tell."
"I know quite a lot of the farmers and peasants of the city, I could easily get them to adapt your new ideas, but I will require a sort of payment."
"A payment? What do you wish for?"
"Mother plans to kill you and our father. You may be asking, how do I know this? It's because I run the largest intelligence network in our city. No one expects the Viscount's eldest daughter to be the mastermind of espionage and intrigue. So, all I ask for, is when you are officially appointed viscount, I become the head of our intelligence sector."
Ibraim stared in shock at his sister, since when did she have a spy network?! But of course, taking the situation for his advantage, he agreed.
"Very well then Yuri. When I am officially appointed Viscount, I will name you as the head of my intelligence department."
With the deal done, and some very valuable information given out to the young heir, they went their separate ways for now. A confident smile on Ibraim's face and a satisfied smile on Yuri's.
(Story is available here and on Wattpad! Go check it out if you want.)