"Ghostwriters" and literary giants

The three Lithographic Plate Makers, eager to impress the King and Crown Prince, each took a slab and began to work with great seriousness.

All three were printing experts. And Lithographic Printing was indeed incredibly convenient and simple. They all succeeded in their first trial print.

The oldest Craftsman, however, looked at the dried ink peeling off the stone slab and suggested:

"Your Highness, perhaps it would be better if the base ink were a bit thicker."

Joseph nodded. "We'll have to trouble you to adjust the specific viscosity."

He only had a rough understanding of the technical process of Lithographic Printing; the details of the process still needed to be perfected by these three experts.

The Craftsman immediately began to discuss:

"We should add some Bitumen."

"Yes, you could also try adding Resin..."

"Your Highness, there's another question," a middle-aged Craftsman suddenly said. "The methods of Lithographic Printing printing. For example, the pressure and angle of the printing are different, so the old printing presses probably can't be used directly."

"This..." Joseph was taken aback. He was an outsider after all and hadn't really thought about the printing press.

He looked at the Craftsman and asked, "Can you modify the printing press?"

The Craftsman immediately shook his head.

Just as Joseph was pondering whether he should approach the Workshop that manufactured the printing press, a shy yet extremely confident voice came from beside him. "Perhaps, I can be of help."

Joseph turned his head and saw Louis XVI looking at him with an eager expression.

His eyes lit up immediately. This man was a top-notch mechanical Craftsman, and his lock-making "assistants" were renowned masters. Modifying the printing press's operation would be a piece of cake for them.

He immediately bowed with his hand on his chest and laughed, "You have truly saved Lithographic Printing! I suggest this new printing press should be named the ' King Printing Press '!"

Afterwards, Joseph, seeing the bustling activity in the Royal Workshop and realizing he couldn't get involved, returned to his Bedchamber. He needed to start preparing the content for the publication.

He summoned his scribe, gave him a brief outline, and asked him to write a novel based on it.

The clerk accepted the order and left, only submitting the draft after dark.

Joseph looked at the manuscript and was speechless—the sentences were indeed fluent and the logic clear, but the character portrayals were stiff and there was no sense of immersion.

He sighed in relief; this gentleman's specialty was writing standard documents. It seemed he'd have to find a professional writer for his novel.

He had no choice but to instruct Eman to find several Writers as soon as possible.

Eman was quite efficient. The next day, Joseph had just finished breakfast when four Writers of different ages and appearances appeared before him.

Of course, this was also mainly because these Writers originally lived in the Versailles Palace.

After the men exchanged greetings, Emmanuel introduced them one by one to Joseph: "Your Highness, this is the renowned Parisian writer, Count Beaumarchais."

Joseph was somewhat surprised. "Beaumarchais? The Marriage of Figaro?"

The elderly man, with gray hair and wearing thick glasses, immediately bowed slightly.

"I never expected Your Highness to have read my Drama; it is a great honor."

Joseph was somewhat amused and exasperated. He had simply wanted to find a few Ghostwriters, but Eman had directly brought in a literary giant.

He quickly praised the great writer.

Eman then introduced the next person, "This is Viscount Saint-Pierre..."

"This is Barre..."

None of them are mediocre; they are all prominent figures in the France literary world today.

Joseph was also at a loss. Since everyone was already there, he decided to let the literary giants take the lead as the best performers.

He looked at the four masters and smiled, "I need someone to help me turn the story I've conceived into a novel."

"Once the novel is published, the royalties will be entirely yours, and I will pay an additional 2 Livre for every 500 words. What do you all think?"

Regardless of their true feelings, the Writers still had to give face to His Crown Prince, so they all bowed and nodded, saying, "It is an honor to serve Your Highness."

They were all quite curious about how many stories the Crown Prince had to write, that he had actually brought four people with him.

Joseph wasted no time. He went to the Study with the others, mentally sorted out the most enjoyable novels he had read in his previous life, selected a few, and then began to assign tasks.

"Viscount Saint-Pierre, you are writing about a person named..."

Joseph almost uttered that familiar name, but immediately realized he needed to appeal to the France Volkswagen, so he changed it to. "The coming-of-age story of a boy Hunter Xiao."

Saint-Pierre recorded the events with some disinterest, not believing that the thirteen-year-old Crown Prince could come up with any interesting stories.

Joseph continued, "Hunter Xiao was born into a Alchemy Aristocratic Family."

"He possessed exceptional Alchemy talent from birth, far surpassing his peers in the family."

"However, when he was 12 years old, he accidentally put on a Ring, and everything changed after that."

His Alchemy abilities continued to decline. Three years later, during Alchemy Test, he was barely rated as "Alchemy Third-Level." His family members also began to ridicule and discriminate against him.

Saint-Pierre blurted out, "That's really unfortunate. What's wrong with that Ring?"

"We'll talk about that later," Joseph said, keeping everyone in suspense. "What Hunter Xiao found most unacceptable was that his fiancée, Elizabeth, a genius girl from the Alchemist Knights, came to his house one day and asked to Engagement Dissolution in front of all his family members."

"Because she felt his talent was too poor and he was not good enough for her."

Hunter Xiao was deeply insulted and argued his case. To avoid the annulment of the engagement affecting her family's reputation, Elizabeth proposed Alchemy Duel with Hunter Xiao three years later; if he lost, the engagement would be annulled.

Hunter Xiao bravely accepted the challenge and uttered words as firm as steel. "Thirty years Seine River, thirty years Seine River! Do not humiliate a young man because of his poverty!"

After the farcical annulment of the engagement, Hunter Xiao suddenly discovered the secret of his Ring...

Saint-Pierre was captivated by the story and asked anxiously, "Your Highness, what happened next?"

Joseph smiled slightly, "Write this down first, and I'll tell you what happens next."

Saint-Pierre nodded helplessly, then exclaimed, "Your Highness, this is truly a magnificent story! I will certainly do my best to write a text worthy of it. Oh, by the way, what is the name of this novel?"

Joseph pondered for a moment and said, "Let's call it ' "Refining the Firmament" '."

Viscount Barré, who was standing nearby, immediately moved closer after Saint-Pierre left, hoping to hear a fascinating story himself.

Joseph said directly, "You are to write a story about a lady."

Her name was Claisse. One morning, she woke up with a terrible headache. Opening her eyes, she found herself slumped over her desk. On the open Notebook beside her was a sentence: "Everyone will die, including me..."

Thank you so much, Zeriah_, for your generous donation to Joseph. On behalf of His Crown Prince, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude. His Highness says you are a sincere and tasteful gentleman, and also his best friend.

(End of this chapter)

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