When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 684 - 642: Another Later

The contents of natural theology still need some time to ferment. It is foreseeable that the Thousand River Valley this winter will not be as peaceful as imagined.

At least within the Holy Machinery Court, Lupher could see more and more debates about the right to freedom in taverns and on the streets.

On the issue of "whether one can voluntarily become a slave," she also submitted an article that was accepted.

Unfortunately, before she could see it published in the newspaper, Lupher had to leave.

"Yesterday's 'Servant of Two Masters' was truly exceptional." Standing at the pier on Autumn Dusk Island, in the gap between boarding the ship, Leonardo smiled and praised Lupher, "The manager at Branded City's Tulip Theater would surely die of shame upon seeing your play."

After all, he was a major patron, and Leonardo owed a favor to her mentor Quivarin. Although Lupher did not invite him, he took the initiative to come to the pier to see her off.

"Actually, I'm just borrowing others' wisdom."

Speaking of it, Lupher felt a little embarrassed, as many of her dramas were adaptations.

These dramas were mostly from the classical period of the El Empire, and records were also available in the Mechanical Palace's library.

Unfortunately, the great library was burned once, and the large collection of play scripts was all reduced to ashes, leaving only summaries and catalogs.

Most of Lupher's plays were developed from a brief summary, like this time's 'Servant of Two Masters,' adapted from the story of two citizens of the ancient El Empire and their shared slave.

However, she changed the setting to the more familiar Imperial City market scene and added many life scenes and humorous elements.

Leonardo is someone with a high sense of humor, and even he laughed heartily when watching this play for the first time, often smiling knowingly at the witty remarks in the drama.

This was the unique theatrical culture gradually arising in Langsande County or perhaps the entire Thousand River Valley—moving away from the classic ancient and theological narrative, and turning towards modern and everyday life storytelling.

It even replaced the complex singing and vocal style with simpler colloquial language, catchy verses, and folk songs.

Works like Horn's own creation, 'Saint's Grandson Expedition Records' tetralogy: 'Saint's Grandson Battles the Bishop,' 'Cangshan Blood Path,' 'Blue Blood Orphan,' 'Battle of the Long Bridge,' are popular in the rural areas of the Thousand River Valley.

'Saint's Grandson Battles the Bishop' is a pure comedy, 'Cangshan Blood Path' and 'Blue Blood Orphan' have a happy start but sad end, while 'Battle of the Long Bridge' has a sad start but happy end.

Besides entertaining the masses and enhancing their own ruling legitimacy, secretly history is rewritten to amend unfavorable black histories for the Saint's Grandson.

According to Horn's arrangements, in several Hundred Households District counties, each village would have two to three theatrical troupes performing these four plays at various manors and villages.

Every fair would see the performance of these four plays at the market in two days, and watching them all at once would have a better effect on the masses than the education by the Saint Father's Association.

Lupher wasn't without seeing these four plays, but she always felt they were overly deliberate and coarse.

But she couldn't deny that these simple plays opened a new world for her.

She had a vague premonition: These contents and themes would inevitably stir up a frenzy along the coastal regions, aside from the too simplistic and rough performance form of the Thousand River Valley plays.

"Mr. Leonardo, are you planning to stay at the Holy Machinery Court?"

"Of course." Leonardo turned his head towards the Mechanical Palace, "Although it's not a real perpetual motion machine yet, it's closer than any of my mechanisms, which is enough to keep me here."

"Can you access such core secrets now?" Lupher couldn't help but be curious.

Leonardo shrugged: "No, first I have to faithfully teach for a year; secondly, I must be an engineer at the Mechanical Palace's Royal Engineering Academy."

Lupher smiled playfully: "Isn't this a piece of cake for you?"

"Can't say it's a piece of cake, saying that seems a bit arrogant, perhaps medium difficulty." Leonardo replied, "Have you thought about what to do after you return?"

Now, all the River Island Royal University students under Quivarin had moved to Windmill Land for classes, and Lupher would also head there.

Even though Lupher would eventually marry, the El Nobility had always pursued art and academia regardless of cost.

If it weren't for the unique circumstances in the Thousand River Valley, Lupher could have been a teacher at the Holy Machinery Court Pope University.

"I think newspapers are good." Lupher said, lifting her small case while it pressed down on her thick flannel winter dress skirt, "Maybe when I get to Windmill Land, I'll start a newspaper."

"Like the Truth Times?" Thinking about the structure of a clockwork engine, Leonardo could still multitask and converse with this wealthy patron.

Lupher, however, denied it: "No, Prime Minister Lorenzo would never let me publish a newspaper like the 'Truth Times,' so I plan to publish some folk newspapers related to citizen life, art literature, and business."

Lupher was a young lady from a noble family, but she was also one of the few female college students and even a philosophy master's degree holder of this era, quite intelligent.

After coming into contact with the Holy Machinery Court newspaper system, she quickly found this mode more convenient than the original printing and handwritten booklet models.

Being a member of the El Clan, Lupher was quite familiar with commerce, in which nearly the top three resources were information.

Due to various limitations of the Empire, information spread extremely slowly, not to mention predicting the future, even what was happening now would take a long time to spread.

Consequently, whoever could know what was happening now in advance was equal to predicting the future because it would take others a long time to react after receiving the news. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

If she occasionally inserted advertisements like those in the 'Truth Times,' Lupher believed it would definitely be profitable, whether in academic art or commerce.

Windmill Land is not far from the Holy Seat City, and through the Lakin family's channels, Lupher could get a lot of cheap quality paper.

Once the Thousand River Valley trade association is established later, with Lupher's family connections, she could easily insert some of her own people into it.

By then, it would be possible to support her newspaper industry with low-tax large imports of affordable yet high-quality Joan paper.

Moreover, there were many commercially developed towns along the coast, and newspapers could be quickly transported by sea, offering faster timeliness and greater scale than those handwritten booklets.

"Citizen life content?"

"Yes, just like the dramas I directed at the Half Moon Theater, not focusing on nobility, priests, demon hunters, and gospel stories, but shifting the view onto citizens."

Lupher had staged plays for two months at the Half Moon Theater and was well versed in writing such content.

Furthermore, she believed that compared to the overdone nobility and gospel themes, such content was more relatable and resonant with people.

"However, I will also reprint some articles and reviews from the 'Truth Times.'" Lupher said with a smile, "Catherine sister told me she just got permission recently to start a business newspaper, we can mutually republish."

"But I remember, isn't it forbidden to purchase movable type printing machines for export?" Leonardo puzzled, it wouldn't be possible to achieve the efficiency and effect of the 'Truth Times' with mere handwriting copies.

"I signed an agreement not to expose these printing machines randomly, besides, someone who couldn't come to see me off opened a small loophole for me." Lupher smiled playfully, "But this loophole wasn't free, I bought 2000 pounds sterling of bonds."

Leonardo was momentarily speechless, no wonder it's one of the richest few noble families in the Falan Kingdom, such a big move right out of the gate.

As for who gave Lupher the loophole, Leonardo could guess it must be the youngest Cardinal Armand.

"If there's a chance in the future, I must read it." Leonardo watched the gradually crowded dock, "Have you named this newspaper?"

"The ancient El Empire called the place where art classics were gathered the Art Forest, and my newspaper aims to uphold this." Amidst the continuous ringing before the ferry departed, Lupher combed the hair blown by the morning breeze behind her ear, "I've thought about it; it's called 'Art Forest.'

Waving goodbye to Leonardo, Lupher turned and walked towards the ferry, followed immediately by three or five guards and servants sent by the Meigedi Commerce Association.

After taking one last look at the small town in the mountains, Lupher's deerskin boots stepped onto the ferry, and in the sway of the long oars, her silhouette slowly disappeared into the dispersed morning mist.