Worker Theus sat at his desk, expressionlessly watching Nini before him.
Nini looked utterly awkward, the tip of her tail scraping against the floor until it quickly dug a small hole into the concrete.
Theus felt that if he left her alone any longer, she might dig herself a three-bedroom apartment, so he finally sighed helplessly.
"Tell me. What exactly happened?"
"Well, I didn't think it through." Nini's face fell. "My plan to use novels to bring down the Holy See was actually perfect. It just ran into two little problems."
"Oh?"
"First, the literacy rate among the Holy See's people is just too low. I sent the novels over, but they couldn't understand them."
Theus slowly nodded. "Have you figured out why?"
"They don't want to build schools. It's not like they need factories anyway."
"It's more than that. It also counts as a form of protection for the people."
Nini froze, then her eyes widened slightly. "You mean Cognitive Interference?"
Cognitive Interference was an extremely dangerous thing. It appeared without any warning—just like soap. The craftsmen merely thought it was edible, and that triggered Cognitive Interference. They hadn't exactly gone around loudly spreading that idea!
Theus—or rather, Castel—had chosen to provide universal education. Every worker on a production line had to thoroughly understand the underlying principles before participating in manufacturing, and people conducted regular spot checks to monitor whether anyone's cognition had drifted.
That was why it had been so difficult for Theus to develop industry in this world. Even after controlling the entire Storm Ocean and Northern Territory, he had only managed to establish two major cities: Blood Port and Castel.
In an ordinary world, he would have long since started building everywhere, with factories blanketing the land and an army of steel rolling forth.
Wasn't it