The next day.
The storage room on the mountain behind the commercial street was a hive of activity. All the students present had changed into their academy uniforms, making final preparations for the establishment of the newspaper office.
The newspapers printed overnight were neatly laid out in the drying room. Tables and chairs had been wiped down repeatedly. Everyone’s heart was filled with excitement and nervous tension. A festive atmosphere permeated the air, making even the pale winter sunlight seem a bit more enthusiastic.
“Sister Lijie, is it okay to hang it like this?”
“No, it’s crooked. Move it a little more to the right.”
In front of the office, Lijie was directing the students to hang a sign with the words “Kingdom Times” above the door. Although she didn’t understand why Lulumia didn’t hang something shaped like a newspaper to be more eye-catching, she did as she was told since it was Lulumia’s decision. After all, Lulumia was the president.
After seeing the “divine power” of the printing press with her own eyes, Lijie felt that the prosperity and wealth Lulumia promised could definitely be realized.
It wasn’t that she had the same business foresight as Tilan, but rather that she had personally seen students at the academy working part-time to help people transcribe books. A job that took others several nights of hard work to finish could be completed by the printing press in a single day. Wouldn’t they be making money constantly if they just kept printing?
Not just Lijie, but everyone in the office shared the same thought, which made them work exceptionally hard.
While Lijie was busy, Lulumia wasn’t idle either. Although she insisted on hanging the “Kingdom Times” sign on the eaves, she didn’t invite Sandel and the others for a ribbon-cutting ceremony or anything too formal.
When a workshop was established in this world, the owner would usually take gifts and go door-to-door to neighbors while promoting their workshop. But a newspaper obviously couldn’t be handled that way, so Lulumia made two sets of preparations.
First, she gave a portion of the newspapers to Tilan to be placed in the Cassandra family’s jewelry store for people to read freely. Those who frequented jewelry stores were often wealthy or noble. They frequently had to wait a long time in the shop while purchasing jewelry, and the newspaper could kill the boredom—much like magazines and newspapers placed at the entrance of old-fashioned barbershops.
However, this promotion method was slow. For that, Lulumia had a second plan.
Newsboys.
Having students who were still attending Saint Estell Academy act as newsboys definitely wouldn’t work. Students were thin-skinned, and it felt like a waste of talent. So Lulumia asked Eino and Tilan if they knew anyone with relevant experience. Unexpectedly, Eino provided the answer.
It was the lolicon Holy Son, the foster son of the Tanbull family: Lante Tanbull.
Compared to the Cassandra family, which drifted between the Heimheda Kingdom and the Oenhelm Holy Kingdom, the Tanbull family had a very solid foundation in the royal capital. Their family industries were extensive, one of which was operating shipping.
At places like the docks, the flow of personnel was complex. Loading, unloading, and selling goods to traveling merchants required the skill of shouting. When Eino placed Lulumia’s newspaper in front of Lante and had Lulumia explain her intent, Lante’s eyes immediately lit up. He agreed to help Lulumia find people to sell the newspapers.
Now, the three of them trailed at the end of the line. Twenty meters ahead of them were two neatly dressed, sharp-eyed young men whose appearance suggested they were very smooth talkers. Each carried a bamboo basket, and inside those baskets were the newspapers.
“Lante, are you sure this won’t be a problem?” Eino said with a frown. “If things get messed up, I’m holding you responsible.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take responsibility if anything happens,” the handsome, blond Lante promised, patting his chest. “They usually shout at the docks; selling things is a piece of cake for them.”
“That’s not what I mean. This is the Noble District. Shouting in the Noble District… setting aside whether nobles will think it’s impolite, if the guards drive them out, the reputation of Mia’s newspaper office will be ruined.”
“Haha,” Lante laughed loudly, waving his hand repeatedly. “That’s because you’re projecting your impression of the high-ranking church officials onto the nobility, Eino. Although both high-ranking church officials and nobles have high status, the two groups are very different in their styles and preferences.”
“The clergy focus on church morality; they want to be quiet, peaceful, and undisturbed by the secular world. Nobles are different. As long as it doesn’t insult the family honor, nobles love whatever is rare and interesting. The ones who are particularly obsessed with etiquette are just old fossils, and those people account for less than ten percent of the nobility. Young nobles love novelties.”
Lante picked up a newspaper and unfolded it, his eyes full of praise.
“Look at the content inside. Any random piece is very interesting. Just reading the headlines alone is enough to make those nobles stretch their necks out of their windows to look. As for whether the guards will kick us out, he’d better look at who I am. I am a young master of the Tanbull family. I am a noble myself. Can he really kick me out of my own home?”
The wicked privileged class.
Watching Lante’s wide-eyed, proud expression, Lulumia clicked her tongue inwardly.
However, Lante clearly misinterpreted Lulumia’s stare as something else, and he introduced with self-satisfaction.
“The Noble District has never said commoners aren’t allowed to enter. You don’t see many poor people on the street purely because ordinary people don’t come here for no reason. The surroundings are quiet by habit, so a stereotype gradually formed that you can’t make noise in the Noble District. If a cute magic automaton like Lulumia went out to sell papers, just by standing there, many nobles would be willing to come out and buy.”
“Mia isn’t a toy for people to admire, Lante. Your hand is reaching too far.” Eino frowned unpleasantly. “Reaching too far” here wasn’t literal, but a warning.
Eino and Lante had common interests, and the fact that Lante was a lolicon was actually quite obvious.
Lante managed a bitter smile. “I wouldn’t dare touch your magic automaton; I was just saying.”
Heaven knows what kind of tricks that Master Hion who made her actually used, Lante added in his heart. The most basic attribute of a magic automaton was “living for the master,” being an existence that served the master heart and soul.
Although Lante usually only observed Lulumia from a distance and they rarely spoke, he always felt that Lulumia’s smile wasn’t real enough, and her behavior differed significantly from a typical magic automaton. At the very least, he had never heard of a magic automaton having the idea to start their own workshop. This was already no different from a human, which wasn’t the type he liked.
“Back to the newspaper. Anyway, since there are no other suitable candidates besides me for this promotion, let them try. This ‘newsboy’ thing Lulumia proposed is very interesting. Nothing is more direct than hiring people to shout the content out.”
“There’s just one thing I’m curious about. How are you supposed to make money this way? One newspaper is only 1 silver coin. Even if you sell a hundred copies, that’s only 10 gold coins. After subtracting the costs of the venue, labor, and materials from these 10 gold coins, there’s basically not much money left, right?”
Not quite.
Lulumia really wanted to answer like that. The venue was provided by the church, so it didn’t cost money. The metal type and the printing press didn’t cost much either. The only real expenses were paper and labor, but the expenditure for this part had currently cost less than 3 gold coins. Even if the expenses increased as the students’ news-writing abilities improved, it would at most not exceed 7 gold coins.
Not to mention that the number of people buying the newspaper would only increase, and they could collaborate with businesses to collect advertising fees in the future. It was definitely a guaranteed profitable business.
If there were any potential additional expenses in the future, it would only be setting up newsstands and hiring newsboys. After all, these two parts were currently handled for free by Tilan and Lante, and that couldn’t stay free forever.
What Lante probably wanted to say was the same—there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Lante’s willingness to provide people for free surely meant he had other designs.
For example, he probably wanted a piece of the pie.
Lulumia tapped her chin with her index finger, feigning an innocent look.
“Hmm… we can’t make much money yet. When more and more people know about the newspaper later on, maybe we’ll be able to make money.”
“No, that’s too naive. Your newspaper is easily imitated. Moreover, I’m the one helping you sell the papers now. What if I lose power in the family later and no one helps you sell them? Then the labor costs will increase significantly, and it will become a losing business.”
Hah, the naive one is you, kid.
Lulumia gave a disdainful glance. Given the current environment, who could imitate her in making newspapers? Lante surely thought her newspapers were made by hiring people to slowly transcribe them.
No wonder he doubted the costs.
Speaking of which, Lante had never even seen the printing press. Regardless of Sandel, Klen, or the other church scholars who knew of its existence, they all had a tacit understanding not to publicize the printing press. Consequently, less than fifty people currently knew it existed.
However, from a certain perspective, what Lante said was also true. If she hired newsboys to sell newspapers, the cost would become quite high. After all, selling newspapers was something that required individual initiative. If she gave the newsboys a fixed salary instead of determining pay by the number of papers sold, the newsboys would definitely slack off, and the newspaper office would ultimately bear all the losses. She wouldn’t gamble on human nature.
However, the above premise was based on a “specific perspective.”
As the saying goes, “one generation plants the trees, another gets the shade.” People before the 21st century had already stepped on all the landmines in this industry. Only a fool would use an employment system; selling newspapers was of course done using a buyout distribution system.
Lulumia curled the corners of her mouth into a wicked grin and said, pretending to be ignorant.
“Then… should I represent the office and cooperate with Mister Lante?”
“You mean let me help you sell the papers, and then the office gives a portion of the profits to the Tanbull family?”
Lante’s eyebrows shot up instantly. This was exactly the result he wanted. Once he controlled the right to sell the papers and became the sole distributor, the office would basically be under his thumb in the future. Without him, the office wouldn’t be able to sell a single paper.
“Something like that? In the future, the office will provide Mister Lante with 100 copies at a price of 6 copper coins per newspaper. Then Mister Lante can sell them for 1 silver coin each. The difference in price will be Mister Lante’s profit. How about it?”
“The office can only make a hundred papers a day?”
“That’s hard to say; it depends on the weather. If the weather is good, the ink dries fast and we make more. If the weather is bad, the ink dries slow and we make fewer. But a hundred copies is already quite a large amount.”
Lulumia blinked her eyes, playing Tai Chi with her words.
She would never let Lante become the sole distributor. Only by having them blossom everywhere could she make money.
“Quite a lot, huh…”
Lante slowed his pace, falling into thought. Lulumia had mentioned to him that the newspaper was a weekly, meaning it updated once a week. Producing a hundred papers in a week was already quite a massive scale. It would require hiring at least fifty or more transcribers to produce them, and that didn’t include cases of transcribing errors in the middle.
To be honest, Lante felt that selling the paper for 3 silver or even 5 silver would be appropriate for the cost, but thinking that this might be Lulumia’s method of opening the market in the early stages, he didn’t mind. No one would do a losing business; Lulumia would surely raise the price later.
One hundred copies was almost the entire amount. If it was all packed off to him, then how much it sold for later wouldn’t it be up to him?
Thinking of this, Lante nodded readily.
“No problem on my end. It’s only 6 gold coins; I can afford it.”
“Thank you, Brother Lante!”
It was that uncomfortable, brilliant smile again.
A layer of goosebumps rose in Lante’s heart. At this moment, he had a feeling that he had stepped into a trap.
She’s just a ten-year-old child with a bad track record before; such a person wouldn’t be able to trap me, right?
But what was this feeling that I’ve miscalculated something?
Lante frowned, constantly thinking about which link might have a problem.
But before he could think further, the two “newsboys” ready in front stopped and signaled to Lante that they were prepared.
Lante shook his head slightly, dispelling the doubts lingering in his heart, and mouthed a word.
“Begin.”
A moment later—
“Extra! Extra! The underground serial killer lurking in the capital has been caught! The motive for the murders is finally revealed!”
“Get your paper here! The latest shipping schedule! A large merchant ship is docking soon! Buy a paper for firsthand news!”
As the two newsboys split up, the rising and falling, highly penetrating shouts echoed through the streets. The news quickly spread to every household.
Relying on her excellent dragon eyesight, Lulumia was able to clearly see many noble mansions opening their windows, with people poking their heads out from within.
Initially, she had been anxious, worried that guards would come to take the two newsboys away. But just as Lante had said, after the guards approached and asked a few questions about their identities, they left, and the newsboys continued shouting as they went through the streets and alleys.
Subsequently, one after another, some stewards in black tailcoats and maids in ruffled dresses walked out of the mansions to inquire with the newsboys.
Lulumia had already instructed the newsboys on the key points—only introduce the headlines and never explain the full text or the outcome. If they wanted the full story, they had to buy the newspaper.
One silver coin was a mere pittance to a noble. These servants followed their masters’ orders and readily paid for the newspapers. Judging by how they unfolded the papers while walking back, their faces full of strange expressions as they scanned them, they were clearly full of curiosity about this new thing.
It’s good that people are willing to buy.
Lulumia breathed a long sigh of relief. Although she was 99% certain of the newspaper’s prospects in this world, this was an alternate world after all. It was only similar to the European Middle Ages, not exactly the same. Without putting it to a practical test, no one could guarantee that people would be interested in newspapers.
Seeing the servants heading home in twos and threes with newspapers in hand, she finally felt relieved.
Then, Lante’s voice caught hers and Eino’s attention. Lante pointed at a servant in the distance and said playfully.
“Look over there.”
“What’s wrong over there?”
“That’s a servant coming out of Viscount Bolun’s house.”
Everyone present had read the newspaper and knew what was written inside. Therefore, as soon as Lante finished speaking, the three of them curled their lips into a knowing smile.
Especially Eino, who had already developed a dark, mischievous grin. Half-covering her mouth, she couldn’t help but gently stroke Lulumia’s head as a reward.
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