The next day, Paul once again invited Quiller Foster to the hall. The members of the Lichman Adventurer Group came with him.
Quiller happily guessed, "My friend, I imagine you're going to show me those 'little toys' of yours today, right?"
"That's right!" Paul snapped his fingers and turned around, calling loudly, "Come in!"
Two servants came over carrying two trays and placed them on the table. The trays were covered with cloth, so no one could see what was inside.
Quiller grinned. "Hmm? You've certainly built up the mystery." The adventurers also began showing curious expressions.
"Take a good look!" Paul suddenly lifted the cloth from the first tray. "The first one: 'paper.'"
"Paper?" Everyone looked puzzled. You made such a big mystery out of it just to show us paper?
Regiment Commander Meilu looked indignant. "Lord, are you making fun of us?"
Paul shook a finger. "Don't be so hasty, everyone. This paper of mine is no ordinary paper. It isn't made from sheepskin, but from extremely cheap raw materials. The production process is simple, saving a great deal of labor and resources. Its price is far lower than parchment."
Queller had already heard Paul talk about New Type Paper at Franklin Harbor, so he wasn't very surprised. He picked up a sheet and rubbed it between his fingers, praising it. "This 'paper' really is quite good. It can replace parchment. If it can truly be mass-produced as you said that day, its prospects should be very promising. By the way, what is it made from?"
Paul refused outright. "Sorry, that's a trade secret. I can't tell you, even though you're my friend."
"Hmph! How stingy. Then what's on the second tray?"
Paul lifted the cloth from the second tray. "Everyone, open your eyes and look carefully! I call this thing 'porcelain.'"
"Oh!" The sight of the object on the tray drew a chorus of astonished exclamations.
It was a porcelain dish, pure white and crystal clear. That was everyone's first impression upon seeing it.
Much like medieval Europe, most people in this world used pottery vessels. Those with somewhat better means used metal vessels, such as copperware, while upper-class nobles used silverware.
Yet no matter how well metal products were maintained, they could never escape the problem of rust. After some time, they would lose their original luster. Porcelain looked far better. Compared with yellowish pottery and copperware, its appearance was on an entirely different level.
Paul proudly introduced it. "How is it? Pretty, right? And it won't rust!"
Back then, Europeans had gone to great lengths to obtain the secret of porcelain production. In the end, it was the French missionary Père d'Entrecolles who infiltrated JDZ and spent more than a decade undercover before obtaining the raw materials and secret formula. After sending them back to Europe over a great distance, Westerners were finally able to produce local porcelain comparable to Chinese porcelain.
In truth, the core secrets of porcelain were just two things: kaolin, or porcelain stone, and high temperatures.
Fortunately, kaolin had been discovered not far from Lakeheart Town. Paul summoned a group of potters, built a kiln, and began experimentally firing porcelain.
The results were poor at first because the temperature was difficult to control. Firing porcelain required temperatures above 1,200 degrees.
To solve this problem, Paul had glassworkers make the world's first mercury thermometer. Though it had some margin of error, it was barely usable. Of course, they couldn't simply stick it into the kiln to measure the temperature, or it would inevitably explode. Besides, mercury thermometers couldn't measure temperatures above 400 degrees.
They used the thermometer to measure the temperature around the porcelain kiln, then combined that with Paul's recollection of the spitting method for measuring temperature—spitting toward the mouth of the kiln, where the saliva would turn into bouncing droplets before evaporating, then judging the temperature from how high the droplets bounced. At last, they succeeded in producing a sustained, stable temperature above 1,200 degrees.
Before loading the kiln for firing, there was another important step: glazing. Without glaze, porcelain could still be fired, but it would be relatively rough.
The glaze was made by mixing water infused with pottery clay and plant ash, stirring it evenly, and filtering it before use.
This step had a major effect on the finished product's appearance, but they hadn't worried too much about it during the trial production. The craftsmen would have to slowly work out the proper glazing techniques.
When Paul reconquered Franklin Harbor, the craftsmen of Lakeheart Town had conducted countless experiments and finally produced their first decent batch of porcelain.
The porcelain dish before them was one of the trial pieces. It had none of the beautiful pictures commonly seen on porcelain from Earth, because the formulas for coloring porcelain were closely guarded secrets. Paul was afraid that using the wrong mixture would affect the firing, so the trial pieces had no paintings on them. For now, they would solve the problem of producing porcelain at all; the craftsmen could slowly research the painting techniques later.
The trial piece was not actually perfect and had quite a few flaws. It was nowhere near deserving the description "pure white and flawless," but it was already enough to shock Queller and the other natives of this other world.
Queller asked excitedly, "Y-You're going to sell this kind of thing?"
Paul proudly nodded. "Of course. This is only an early experimental product, and it still has quite a few flaws. It's nowhere near perfect. What I plan to sell in the future will be even more beautiful, with all sorts of lovely patterns painted on it."
The young master of the Foster family sighed. "This is going to cause a storm!" No matter how much Queller disliked his family's business, he had still inherited a few of their commercial instincts.
Seeing the members of the Lichman Adventurer Group staring blankly at the porcelain dish as well, Paul announced loudly, "I declare that everyone present will receive one piece of trial porcelain as a gift. I will issue certificates in the name of the Greiman Family, proving that these are the first batch of porcelain in the world. Although this batch of trial pieces is far from perfect, if porcelain becomes a huge success, their collectible value will be incalculable."
Dean hurriedly said, "How could we accept this? This thing is far too valuable. We can't possibly take it. Ouch—" Regiment Commander Meilu had given Dean's foot a vicious stomp.
Meilu put on an adoring expression and said to Paul, "Lord Greiman, I'm sorry. I deeply regret misunderstanding you before. It turns out you're neither lecherous nor sleazy, nor timid and cowardly. You're actually a generous, kind man who cares for his people!"
Paul folded his arms across his chest and puffed out his chest proudly. "Heh heh! Have you finally seen my true nature?"
Wait, that's not right. Is that really how you saw me before? Well, I'm in a good mood today, so I'll let it slide.
He put on a stern face. "This isn't a gift for nothing. Once you return south, you'll have to promote it for me."
Queller and Meilu readily agreed.
One of them promised, "The merchants where we live will definitely compete to ask you for agency rights."
The other's eyes shone. "We're going to get rich! We're going to get rich!"
Well, the son of a powerful figure on the council and a renowned adventurer group should be able to generate quite a bit of advertising.
Before you continue