Chapter 70: Successful Papermaking

Hearing the official's call, Wagner finally snapped out of his daze and hurriedly stepped forward to the wooden desk.

"Name?"

"Wagner."

"Age?"

"Twenty six."

"Place of origin?"

"Place of… what?"

"Oh, I'm asking where you're from."

"Soren domain," Wagner quickly replied.

At first, he was a bit nervous, but as the questioning continued, he became more fluent in his responses.

The questions were simple, covering only basic personal information. Wagner didn't know why they needed this information, but he answered honestly anyway.

When the questioning was nearly complete, the two Idar officials exchanged a glance, nodded slightly, and then pulled out a thin, slightly yellowed sheet that was similar to a cicada's wing from the wooden desk…

One of the officials dipped his pen in ink and carefully wrote down Wagner's information. Then, he stamped the sheet with a bright red seal.

"Take this; it's your temporary residence permit in Idar. It records your personal details," the official explained. "Remember, whether you want to join a production team or apply for farmland from Lord Shabi, you'll need this document."

Hearing this, Wagner quickly clutched the thin sheet in his hand and nodded. "Thank you!"

Next, it was Wagner's wife's turn for registration. Before long, she too received a similar sheet…

Although Wagner was just a commoner, he recognized most of the words on the document. Curious, he compared the two cards and found that they indeed contained their basic information.

However, those who passed the registration process weren't immediately allowed to go to Idar City to apply for land or find work. Instead, they were sent to a temporary camp near the ferry landing. Supposedly, this was for "quarantine and inspection"?

Wagner didn't quite understand, so he stopped overthinking it.

...

At the long oak banquet table, Bruno sat at the head seat, while two trembling servants sat beside him.

Being mere servants, they weren't excited about sitting at the same table as the Earl they were terrified.

"Little Joker!" Bruno tossed a playing card onto the table.

Suddenly…

One of the servants sitting nearby began to tremble.

He had a Big Joker in his hand, which, according to his lord's explanation, was the highest card in the game.

But…

If he played it now…

Would his lord be angry?

"If you have the Big Joker, just play it! What are you hesitating for?" Bruno said impatiently, as if reading the servant's mind.

"T-the Big Joker!" Called out by name, the servant had no choice but to play the card.

Then…

"Four Aces…"

"Four Twos…"

"Master, I'm out of cards…"

Bruno: (*￣︿￣)

The playing cards in Bruno's hands were made from the same material as Wagner's residence permit paper.

The first batch of paper produced by the papermaking workshop had already been completed some time ago.

Due to the long distance and the lack of a proper road connecting to the Mann Fortress, collecting raw materials like bagasse was impractical. Thus, the first batch of paper had to be made from locally available resources mostly wild grass and tree bark.

The process started with pulping, where raw materials were crushed and fermented. The resulting liquid was then further processed into a refined pulp.

This pulp was then poured into a boiling iron cauldron, mixed with water, and stirred eventually forming paper pulp.

High-quality papermaking was expensive for a reason. Compared to cheaper methods, this technique eliminated dozens of steps, making the process far more efficient.

And right now, what was the most scarce resource in Idar?

Manpower!

This method produced high-quality paper while minimizing labor and time costs!

However, since the materials used were just wild grass and tree bark, and there was no proper bleaching process, the final paper appeared slightly yellowish.

Still, that was a minor issue. The fact that they had successfully made paper at all was already a huge achievement!

Good resources had to be used wisely. So, Bruno allocated more than half of the first batch of paper to Lister's Immigration Bureau.

By registering refugees and issuing temporary residence permits, Idar could effectively manage the influx of people.

After all, even the residents of Idar had undergone a census, so these newcomers from Soren couldn't be an exception.

As for quarantine and inspection…

Bruno had no idea where these refugees had been before arriving in Idar. He didn't know if they carried diseases, so keeping them in isolation for a while was absolutely necessary.

In this era of primitive medicine, even a single outbreak could be catastrophic.

This was precisely why Bruno paid special attention to hygiene in Idar City.

Whether it was waste collection or street cleaning, the main goal was to keep the city clean and sanitary.

And hygiene…

Was perhaps the only issue in Idar that could be considered more important than building grand wonders.

Bruno had no interest in being bled dry by medieval doctors.

Perhaps… he should start training some competent doctors?

Once this idea took root, it was impossible to ignore.

After all, no one was immune to sickness not even mages, despite their magical abilities.

Although Bruno wasn't a doctor in his past life, he at least had modern knowledge and knew the correct direction for medical advancements.

Moreover, once Namur Fortress was completed, Bruno might have enough glory points to exchange for medical-related items or skills in the system shop.

However, training a qualified doctor from scratch would be no easy task.

Bruno couldn't rely on those medieval "doctors" who only knew bloodletting they would never grasp scientific treatments quickly.

"Sigh… What a pain… Alright! Let's play another round!"