Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 715: Precious Bird Droppings

TL: Rui88

“Education can make a person’s thinking more agile and receptive to new things. In view of this, I suggest…”

Paul Grayman, the newly promoted Marquis of the Kingdom of Ordo, was writing at his desk. To the right of the desk, a thick stack of paper had already piled up.

He weighed in his mind what could be said and what could not, while his hand transformed the sayable content into words on paper.

Sometimes he would fret over how to express himself, occasionally crossing out a sentence he had already written, or simply crumpling the entire sheet of paper into a ball.

Although this was being written for the king to see, Paul subconsciously treated this act as a form of writing a book, one that would very likely be published in the future. The Marquis did not want people to see even a single sentence with primary school grammar in his book.

Just as he got stuck on a passage for a long time and was rubbing his temples, deciding to end his morning’s work, an attendant came to report.

“Captain Gran requests a meeting with you. There is good news. He has brought back the previously captured members of the exploration team.”

“Gran?” Paul jumped up from his chair. “They’ve come to Crystal Shine?”

“Yes, the fleet is still resting at Port Fran. Mr. Gran took the flagship south to find you.”

“Quickly, show them to the drawing-room.”

A year ago, the Western Exploration Fleet had completed the magnificent feat of the first circumnavigation in the history of this planet’s civilization.

They discovered another unknown continent, inhabited by all sorts of strange races. There were those with bull’s heads, those with cat’s heads; compared to the orcs of the old continent, they seemed to be the true beastmen. But there was also a race with faces identical to humans, only with long horns like a goat’s on their heads. They called themselves the Sirdan, and their level of civilization far surpassed the other races on that continent.

Unfortunately, the exploration team was attacked by the Sirdan, and five members were captured.

After returning to the Northwest Bay and resting briefly, Gran, with Paul’s support, immediately replenished his ships and crew and set off for the other side of the ocean, vowing to rescue the captured team members.

Now, they had finally returned.

Paul hurried to the drawing-room. There were not many people: Gran himself, a few of his deputies, and the five men who had been captured by the Sirdan.

“Thank heavens, you’re all right!” He recognized Vito among them.

After a round of enthusiastic greetings and pleasantries, Gran, as the head of the exploration team, began to brief Paul on the experiences of this voyage.

“We reached that continent again. As I told you before, a strait divides it into northern and southern parts.”

“The fleet followed the previous route straight to the Sirdan port. The official managing that port was very friendly to us and even expressed apologies for the last incident. To be honest, I thought they would meet us with arms from the very start.” 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

“They said their queen had given an order that if we appeared again, we were to be treated with courtesy, and they invited us to be guests in their capital.”

“Out of caution, we did not agree immediately, not until they sent Vito and the others over. Our team members were in good condition, looking well-fed, and had not been mistreated. But according to them, at the beginning, there were indeed Sirdan nobles who treated them as slaves, and it was these people who planned the last attack. But after they were sent to the Sirdan Queen, this ruler restored their freedom.”

Paul nodded, his brow relaxing. “It seems she is a decent person.”

At this, the members of the exploration team exchanged glances. Paul noticed the strangeness in it.

“What is it? Is there something difficult to speak of?”

“Ahem!” Gran cleared his throat and continued, “After some consideration, I decided to go to the Sirdan capital for an audience with the queen. And then…”

His eyebrows shot up, and a look of astonishment appeared in his eyes.

“I saw her. You would absolutely never imagine it, but that Queen was the spitting image of someone by your side.”

“Who?” Paul became interested. Since it was a queen, she must resemble some woman.

“Lady Ladi Sertia Gerard,” Gran exclaimed.

Paul frowned slightly. “Ladi? Oh, well, that is truly a curious thing, hahaha.” He then asked, “How similar could she be?”

Gran said solemnly, “As I just said, identical.”

Vito, at his side, added, “Face shape, eyes, hair colour… any detail you could notice, you couldn’t tell them apart. Oh… except for the horns on the queen’s head.”

Paul could not help but laugh. “You haven’t had much contact with Ladi. When it comes to details, perhaps you should take a closer look.”

He looked at the attendant guarding the door. “Please ask Lady Sertia to come here.”

The green-haired female advisor soon arrived in the drawing-room. She was momentarily taken aback upon seeing the room full of people.

“Good news, the Western Exploration Fleet has returned. This is Captain Gran, whom you know.”

“And this is Lady Ladi Sertia.”

Paul introduced them to each other. Apart from Gran, Vito, and a few others, not every guest had met Ladi.

In unison, almost everyone immediately turned their gaze to Ladi.

“Identical!”

“Truly, identical!”

“For a moment there, I thought I was seeing Her Majesty the Queen again.”

Faced with such an intense barrage of gazes and a chorus of exclamations, the female advisor blushed for a rare moment. She could not figure out what was happening and looked at Paul, somewhat ill at ease.

Paul asked, “Now that you’ve had a closer look, do you still think they look the same?”

Everyone nodded in unison.

“Alright, this is an interesting matter.” Paul explained to Ladi, “According to them, a certain queen on another continent—the Sirdan, you know, the race with horns on their heads—looks exactly like you.”

“Is that so?” Ladi breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought her identity as a wizard had been exposed.

At Paul’s gesture, the female advisor gracefully took a seat. “There are many people in the world with similar appearances. It’s nothing to be surprised about.”

“But…” Vito could not help but say, “You and she are practically twins. No, you’re clones.”

Ladi smiled politely but said nothing.

Paul knew that the female advisor did not want to attract too much attention because of her other identity, so he changed the subject. “Shall we talk about something else?”

“The Sirdan Queen expressed goodwill towards us, allowing us to purchase a property in the port to serve as a guesthouse. She also promised that if we were to trade with them, she would protect our merchants according to the laws of her country.”

“This is a good thing,” Paul said with approval. Transoceanic trade required larger merchant ships; it was time to put some pressure on the shipyards of the Northwest Bay.

“And we left a small detachment to conduct surveying along the coast. When they return, they will bring back detailed nautical charts and hydrological data.”

“Also, we brought back that mineral deposit you mentioned—the one formed from bird droppings.”

Paul exclaimed, “Yes, yes, that’s the one! How much did you collect?”

Gran held up his right hand. “Five full ships.”

Marquis Grayman stood up and began to pace happily on the floor.

“We must send a message to the Administration Council at once and have them organize experiments. If this mineral is indeed a rare and excellent natural fertilizer, the boost to agriculture will be enormous.”