Helson Viscount smiled and patted his shoulder when he saw this. "The intricacies of paper and pens aren't something I can explain clearly in a short while. I'll go over them with you in detail when I have the time. Let's keep looking around for now. There are stalls selling farming tools and household goods up ahead. If you're interested, we can take our time and have a look."
Barin suppressed the doubts in his heart and turned his gaze back to the dazzling array of metal goods. He could not help glancing at the so-called paper currency in the customers' hands again, and his curiosity and wariness toward Arda deepened further. This is only a trade market, yet there are already so many things I can't understand. What must the workshops and systems supporting all this be like?
The next morning, just as the sunlight had dispersed the morning mist, Helson Viscount took Barin by boat to the north bank. Their morning destination was an Iron Smelting Plant.
Before they even reached the factory district, the towering chimneys in the distance had already caught their eyes. Black smoke slowly rose into the sky, while the faint, searing scent of burning coal drifted through the air. It was completely different from the smoky smell of the smithies in the Rocky Mountains' dwarf clans. This scent was far stronger, and carried a scale that made one uneasy.
When they reached the entrance of the Iron Smelting Plant, Barin was stunned by the scene before him. Huge timber-and-stone factory buildings stretched as far as the eye could see, many times larger than the Iron Hammer Clan's biggest forge. In the open ground outside the buildings, mountains of iron ore and coal were neatly piled up. Several workers were driving horse carts, continuously