"Lord Roster, are you really going to teach these commoners, even slaves, how to read and count?" In a castle not far away, Viscount Roster watched all this with a smile, but the old man beside him had a face full of worry.

Since ancient times, knowledge had been exclusively for nobles. Many great nobles even used their family libraries to show off their family's status, history, and wealth.

But now, Viscount Roster actually wanted to teach knowledge to these commoners for free, and even... if they learned fast enough and well enough, Viscount Roster would also give these people some coins.

This... was just too much... This was, to some degree, going against the natural order.

If another noble did something like this, this old man would definitely curse them out immediately, then storm off in a huff. But facing Viscount Roster, he absolutely couldn't do it. Two-thirds of his fortune was currently invested with Viscount Roster, and his family's main source of income was dividends from Roster.

Plus, Viscount Roster was also the kingdom's Finance Minister.

"Factory machines need workers who can read and count. Do you think it's easier to have minor nobles become workers, or to teach these workers to learn some simple letters and numbers?" Viscount Roster glanced at him. "Plus I don't think letting these people master certain knowledge has any negative impact on me."

This old man was the Kingdom of Dawn's recognized Grand Scholar, the spiritual leader of all scholars. To get more territorial lords to accept and start teaching commoners—at least workers who'd already been converted into magic-tech industrial population—he was an ideal breakthrough point.

As long as this Grand Scholar changed his mind, then he could change most nobles' views. At the very least, it would make people feel that this matter itself didn't have any major problems, that it was definitely something that could be done, something beneficial to the noble class.

"Factories need these people to read and count? When I went to the factory before, I didn't seem to notice this." The Grand Scholar looked at Roster suspiciously, wary of this guy lying through his teeth.

"Those were first-generation Magic Conductor machines. Now we're at the second generation. One worker familiar with mechanical equipment can produce about ten times what they could before." Viscount Roster's tone was calm. "This is just the beginning. Future Magic Conductor equipment will become more and more complex, but efficiency will get higher and higher... Including the Magic Conductor equipment we sell externally, it's all like this. Even the farming machinery we're currently working hard to develop is the same."

The calmer Viscount Roster's tone was, the more restless the Grand Scholar's heart became.

Honestly, he was a firm believer that knowledge should be monopolized by nobles and supernatural beings. But in this moment, he wavered. Not for any other reason, just for the huge productivity increase, for the appearance of a golden age. Definitely not because he had a tiny bit of stock in various factories in Viscount Roster's territory, let alone because his territory couldn't be effectively farmed year-round and there were just too many slaves slacking off... At least, that's what he thought, instantly putting on a high and mighty protective shield for himself.

Anyway, suddenly he felt that teaching these lower-class commoners and slaves some knowledge seemed like a pretty good choice. He even wanted to rush back home and start teaching mode on some slaves in his territory.

When there was profit to be made, often even the most rigid person wouldn't continue being so "set in their ways." At the very least, anyone who could reach the position of Kingdom Grand Scholar and stand out from countless scholars wouldn't be a rigid person.

"Let's go, we'll go take a look..." Roster was about to say something when suddenly a servant ran in from outside. "Lord Roster, Lord Berion has something he wants to discuss with you. Please come to the palace as soon as possible!"

"Berion?" Roster was slightly stunned.

Why was the Hand of the King suddenly looking for him at this time?

"Grand Scholar, I must go to the palace first. How about I have my steward take you to tour the night school? If you're interested, he can also take you to see the factory at night... After all, it's also your property."

The Grand Scholar was naturally very interested in this.

Legend had it that Roster territory's factories could operate 24 hours non-stop. This simply exceeded his imagination.

If his own family... Well, his family didn't have anything that needed to run 24 hours. Just endless farmland. At most, he'd make them keep working at night when harvesting wheat.

But this didn't affect his anticipation!

Viscount Roster's words just now had already planted a seed in his heart. He'd already had the sprout of an idea about wanting to industrialize too, at least had this kind of expectation. For this bit of expectation, he really wanted to go take a look and experience it.

Rushing non-stop to the palace, Viscount Roster's thoughts never stopped along the way. Sometimes thinking about what exactly happened that made the Hand of the King so urgently call him over, sometimes thinking about whether his words just now had moved the Kingdom Grand Scholar.

Since receiving enlightenment from the God of Technology that day, he'd been constantly busy, constantly thinking. He'd thought of many things he'd never thought of before.

It seemed his understanding of the Magic Conductor industrial era had gained another puzzle piece!

That was, everyone should be literate. At the very least, most people should be able to learn to use relatively common and simple Magic Conductors, to use the Magic Net. Only this kind of Magic Conductor industrial era would be a complete industrial era!

The carriage ran fast, but it still took a full two hours to get from Roster territory to the capital. As soon as he entered the conference hall, Roster discovered that the kingdom's group of seven at the pinnacle of power were all already here.

When the king wasn't present, these people could decide all affairs within the kingdom.

"Since everyone's here, let's begin... Large numbers of Church of the God of War missionaries have appeared in the southern territory."

The moment Berion opened his mouth, several people present were completely stunned. Large numbers of missionaries appearing—did this require them to handle it? What this world had no shortage of was churches. If not a thousand, then eight hundred. These churches preached every day, trying every way to expand their believers. Missionary activities could be said to be the most frequent activity in this world.

Even if it was the Church of the God of War, there probably wouldn't be any problems, right? It wasn't like they were a dark church.

No wait, even if it was a dark church it actually didn't matter. As long as there wasn't large-scale blood sacrifice or massacring some territory, it really wasn't worth these seven people discussing.

It couldn't possibly be those beastmen coming over to proselytize, right? Those beastmen had already been beaten into what shape—if they appeared in the southern territory, it was probably the Church of War from the Gray Fort Empire, right? The Church of War there was still quite powerful.

"Lord Berion, I wonder what's special about this missionary activity?" Viscount Roster was the first to react. Perhaps because he himself was a believer of the God of Technology, he was relatively sensitive to these kinds of things.

"At first they were just a few missionaries. But as they kept operating, they've become more and more excessive. They formed a so-called 'Missionary Knight Order.' Wherever they go, everyone must believe in the God of War. Those unwilling to change their faith get looted clean. Those willing to change their faith need to hand over two-thirds of their fortune to the Church of War to complete their redemption!"

Berion's face was cold. "Plus they're smart. They won't touch great nobles or knight nobles. They specifically pick weaker nobles and territories to operate on. During this process, they constantly absorb serfs and farmers. Now there's even a so-called 'Holy Army.' I don't know if it's an insider supporting them, wanting to swallow more land, or if the Gray Fort Empire sent them over wanting to wear down our national strength. But we absolutely can't let them continue."

Don't believe and get slaughtered. Believe, and you need to hand over two-thirds of your fortune as a redemption fee. You didn't even need to think hard to imagine just how massive an amount of money these missionaries had already taken.

Huge funds would inevitably bring even greater power, more people joining this activity. Before long, it would probably cause massive internal chaos.

"Sir, I wonder when this started?" The kingdom's general's face was ice cold. "What about the Southern Grand Duke?! Why hasn't the duke's family reported this matter!"

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