"Navis!"
Luke's voice sharpened. "I'm assigning you a task. I'm ordering you to develop that sound transmitter as quickly as possible."
Navis instinctively snapped to attention and answered, "Yes!"
…Huh?
A beat later, she froze.
Why did it feel like she'd accepted a mission without even realizing it?
"I'll be waiting for good news," Luke said with a grin.
A sound transmitter—now that was a good thing.
Once it was finished, he could install one at home. Then whenever he woke up with a dry throat, he wouldn't have to get out of bed—he could just call out to Yurna.
So all that talking wasn't wasted!
"Your Highness… I heard you were looking for me for something else, too," Navis said after she came back to herself, her voice returning to its usual soft, low-energy tone.
"Oh, right." Luke remembered his real reason for coming. "I'll explain newspapers to you again."
This time he didn't need to say much—just the core idea.
After listening, Navis let out a sigh. "I've had a similar idea before. But when I brought it up back then, a lot of people laughed at me… and I didn't have the money to prepare for it."
In present-day Demacia, most documents were made through hand-copying, along with rigid, inflexible block printing.
Official notices were usually copied by specialized scribes, then posted outside for the public to read.
As for block printing, it mostly worked for books—because a book's contents were fixed. You only needed to carve the set text, ink it, press it onto paper, then bind the pages together and wrap them in a prepared leather cover.
The whole process was exhausting and time-consuming.
Luke and the others might look like they had books to read every day, but in reality, books among ordinary people were outrageously expensive.
There was even a profession dedicated to copying books and writing on commission.
So if you wanted to seriously expand printing, the early stage would definitely burn money.
Paper, equipment, manpower—everything cost a fortune. And Luke's three thousand gold coins probably wouldn't even last long.
That was why he'd pulled Lux, Fiora, and Kahina into the project.
Without being certain it would explode in popularity later, nobody would dare to try so lightly.
Logically speaking, Navis was a young lady of House Menck—she should've had the conditions to do it.
But in reality, she didn't.
Because her mother hadn't listened to the family back then, and had married an ordinary craftsman on her own, Navis and her mother weren't particularly welcome in House Menck now.
Even though her name carried "Menck," some people still treated her like an outsider.
Looking at the girl lowering her head, Luke said, "You don't need to worry about that anymore. Go ahead and do it—boldly—based on your own ideas."
Navis raised her head to look at him, still lacking confidence. "But… can I really do it? Why don't you find someone else?"
In terms of talent, she didn't think she was the most outstanding in House Menck.
She was always making inventions that didn't seem useful, and a lot of people in the family thought she was the dumbest one.
She didn't have any strengths at all…
Luke looked her up and down and said seriously, "Because everyone else looks harder to talk into."
Navis: "???"
She went completely blank on the spot.
What kind of reason was that?!
"Then it's settled." Luke brought it down like a hammer. "From now on, you work for me."
"H-hold on…" Navis finally snapped out of it and tried to say something.
She hadn't even said whether she agreed yet.
Luke stared at her, gave a cold snort, and said, "What, you want to refuse me? I'll ask you again—are you willing or not?"
Under the gaze of those star-bright eyes, Navis felt a heavy pressure crash down on her. She lowered her head in nervous panic, her face flushing red. She didn't have the courage to refuse, and in the end she squeaked out, "I'm willing."
She looked so wronged she was practically about to cry.
"Good." Luke didn't care at all. It had been a long time since he'd met a girl this easy to bully—no way he was letting it go. He doubled down. "Don't worry. I won't make you work for free. If I'm in a good mood once in a while, I can pay you a salary of ten gold a month."
Navis lifted her head blankly, even more stunned.
Ten gold a month.
And only if he was in a good mood.
She suddenly felt like her life had turned completely gray.
"Enough. Stop bullying her!" Lux couldn't take it anymore. She charged up and punched Luke, then glared at him hard.
Then she pulled Navis away and comforted her. "Don't be scared. I can secretly add another five gold for you."
Navis: "…"
Where did you two devils come from?!
Is ten gold and fifteen gold really that different?!
In the end, Kahina played the "nice one," soothing Navis's emotions a bit.
But even by the end, Navis still hadn't clearly said whether she wanted to do it or not.
Either way, she'd gotten dragged onto the ship while half-asleep.
And all four of them realized something: Navis was really easy to bully.
She was so honest it was almost absurd—physically weak, and personality-wise she just endured whatever came her way.
Of course, among everyone present, only Luke was shameless enough to bully her like that. And now he didn't have the chance anyway, because Navis was temporarily being protected.
At the moment, they were changing locations.
Because House Menck was a family of craftsmen, the estate included a large workshop complex—basically their internal industrial base.
Most research and development happened here.
With Navis guiding them, they headed over.
When they arrived, Luke saw an open plaza. In the center stood a three-to-four-meter-tall statue, shaped like a leopard—or maybe a lion.
Looking closer, it seemed to be made of petricite, and it had a sense of history to it.
Luke flipped through his memory from the books he'd read. The statue's name was something like… the "Anti-Magic Petricite Siege Beast."
Rumor had it that on ancient battlefields, these petricite statues were used to charge and break enemy lines.
It made Luke think of the giant outside the city—Galio.
It had the same kind of story: ancient people had used it to oppose mages. Whenever it appeared, the battles were one-sided, and countless Demacians worshiped it as a heroic colossus.
But now, all of that had become legend.
In people's impression, the colossal statue outside the city had never moved—not once.
Later on, those stories were considered embellished. They weren't forgotten, but nobody really believed them anymore.
After all… what kind of statue moves?
Pulling his thoughts away from the siege beast, Luke looked around. Steel buildings formed a ring around the area, and the whole place carried a strong mechanical feel.
"This is it," Navis said.
She stood in front of an iron door twice her size, pressed her body against it, and pushed hard.
Luke reached out and added a bit of force.
"Th-thank you…" Navis said carefully when the door opened easily, then went inside.
The others followed. The space inside was large too. At a glance, there were all kinds of steel components, and the craftsman equipment was complete—everything you'd expect.
"Your Highness, about newspapers… can you tell me your thoughts?" Navis asked, standing there, wanting to hear his view.
Earlier they'd only confirmed that their underlying idea matched.
Now the real problem was how to start.
Luke was prepared. He asked, "Do you know movable type and letterpress printing?"
"Oh, here we go again!" Lux and the other two immediately rolled their eyes.
They could already predict what was about to happen.
So instead of standing around uselessly, they decided to go outside to look at the scenery.
After all, they couldn't understand it, and they couldn't join the conversation even if they wanted to.
Navis also didn't understand this time. "Could you explain in more detail?"
"As for movable type and letterpress printing…" Luke didn't waste words. He launched right into an explanation again.
Navis stood across from him, listening and nodding, her expression extremely serious.
Lux and the other two wandered outside into a nearby garden, planning to come back later.
"I'm starting to suspect he secretly reads behind my back!" Lux walked along, looking both annoyed and baffled.
How did this guy know so much? It was like he knew a little bit about everything.
They went to class together. It wasn't like he ever looked especially serious—he ate, he slept, he lazed around.
But what he was showing now was nothing like what you'd expect from someone who always coasted through everything.
Something was off. Extremely off.
It gave her this sudden feeling of betrayal.
They'd agreed they were going to slack off together!
So what was this nonsense about him secretly working hard?!
Kahina smiled. "Maybe His Highness is just especially gifted."
Luke had amazed her again today.
Because of her personality, Navis stayed home year-round and never attended the academy.
But as her friend, Kahina knew Navis's knowledge already surpassed a large portion of people their age.
And yet today, that same Navis had looked like an apprentice in front of Luke.
It made Kahina realize again how extraordinary Luke was.
She couldn't help thinking of the gift she'd decided on last night, and her mind drifted.
"Heh." Lux let out a cold laugh, about to argue—when a flash of light suddenly caught her attention. She turned her head and noticed the necklace at Kahina's chest, briefly revealed as it glinted.
It felt strangely familiar. Lux muttered, "Why does it feel like I've seen that necklace somewhere before?"
Hearing that, Kahina snapped back to reality, lowered her head, and hurriedly stuffed the necklace back under her clothes. Then she forcefully changed the subject. "What did you just say?"
"I said the neck—"
"No. The sentence before that."
"What did I say before that…? Right! Luke's secretly working hard behind my back!"
"Is that so? Then His Highness is too mean!" Kahina immediately took her friend's side, putting on an indignant expression.
That cranked Lux up even more.
The two of them instantly started unloading on Luke together.
Off to the side, Fiora—who didn't join in—calmly withdrew her gaze from Kahina's neck, as if she'd understood something.
Half an hour later, the three girls returned.
By then Luke was basically done as well. He didn't need to explain much more.
Because he'd realized Navis's talent was high, and her base knowledge was substantial. Most things clicked for her the moment he pointed them out—she could even extend the idea further on her own.
It made Luke's job much easier.
It felt like he'd found an excellent employee.
At this point, Navis had understood clearly.
"So that means we should start with movable type—represent Demacia's letters as individual pieces of lead-and-iron type, and then arrange them in different combinations. Whenever we need something, we just pick out the specific type we want."
Navis said it to Luke.
"Yeah. That's basically it," Luke nodded.
He noticed Navis still wanted to keep talking, raised a hand to stop her, then patted her shoulder. "You're a qualified working stiff now. Learn to research on your own. For those ten gold coins, work hard."
Navis: "…"
The moment she heard "ten gold," she suddenly wanted to phone it in.
Of course, it was only a thought.
Right now, she was bursting with motivation. She could barely wait to start researching printing.
She didn't care about salary at all. What Navis loved was craftsmanship itself—what she truly valued was what she gained in the process.
She sneaked a glance up at Luke.
Honestly… His Highness really was incredible.
He'd given her so much inspiration today.
After settling her confidence, Navis lifted her head and asked carefully, "Then, Your Highness… I'll start according to my own ideas?"
Luke's expression stayed flat. "Sure. Do whatever you want."
Navis nodded, then turned and walked toward the workbench.
Luke looked at her back for a moment, then withdrew his gaze.
It wasn't that he didn't care—after talking with her a few times, he genuinely believed that sometimes Navis's ideas were even better than his.
So in moments like this, he wouldn't control her.
Otherwise, what he'd found wouldn't be an excellent employee—it would be a puppet.
At that moment—
Fiora was wandering around the workshop when she noticed something and walked closer.
She crouched down. In front of her was an iron figure? A mannequin? It was slumped there like a heap of scrap metal.
She studied it for a few seconds and realized the inside seemed packed with components.
Curiosity rose immediately.
She stood and asked, "Navis, what is this?"
Navis looked over and answered, "That's something I was researching recently. I call it a training dummy."
Seeing the curiosity in Fiora's eyes, she jogged over.
"Can you help me hold it?" Navis asked. "I'm having trouble lifting it by myself."
Fiora nodded and easily lifted it with one hand.
Navis continued, "Help me move it over to that open space."
Once they reached the open area, Navis took a wind-up key she'd already been holding, found the slot, and inserted it.
Then she cranked it several times with all her strength.
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