Chapter 16 Progress

Landon looked at the tiny stone building in front of him. It was one of the few stone buildings in the Central region of Baymard.

As he walked in, he observed a short looking who seemed to be fully immersed in making something.

The man looked to be in his late 40’s, having deep green eyes and whiskers that curled at the tips. His over grown beard and mono-brow made him look like a dwarf fairytale character. Landon decided to sit and wait for him to be done while observing the tiny workshop.

There were also 6 other people at the back, who seemed to all be around the ages of 18-25. They were also fully submerged into their own works. Landon could tell that they were the old man’s apprentices.

Once the man was done, he looked up and was shocked to see that someone was sitting down waiting for him. He hurriedly wiped his hands on his apron and rushed towards Landon.

"Sorry customer..I didnt see you there....I hope you didn’t wait for long...I’m Tim Mayers, the owner of this workshop...How may I help you?" the man said with a forced smile.

Landon could tell that Tim was a kind hearted man. He could easily see that Tim felt guilty for making him wait.

"It’s alright, I didn’t wait for long anyways. I’m here because I want you to aid me in making school supplies", Landon said with a welcoming smile.

After observing that Landon was truly not angry, Tim visibly relaxed and had a genuine smile on his face.

"Are you talking about Slate-boards and slate pencils sir?"

"Yes....but I’m talking more about chalkboards."

Tim was confused. He didn’t know what chalkboards were.

In this era, schoolchildren used slate-boards to practice handwriting and arithmetics without wasting paper. Slate-boards were made from slate stone. The boards were about the size of a laptop back on earth. They were portable, usable and disposable.

Since, paper was very expensive in this era, it was more reasonable to write on slate stones.

As for slate pencils, Landon really didn’t need them as a planned to use chalk instead. Slate pencils were made from softer pieces of slate rock.

At the end they came up with a price range for all the products. Each slate-board would cost 7 copper coins and a Chalkboard would cost 4 silver coins.Landon thought those were pretty reasonable price ranges. It was also concluded that a month from now, all the boards would be available.

For the chalkboard paint and the actual chalk, he needed the mineral ores in the caves.

The next day he gathered 300 men and appointed Lock Wiggins as the supervisor for digging the ores out, making the paint and also making the chalkboards.

He agreed to pay each worker 400 copper coins, while chief Wiggins would get 600 copper coins per month. He also arranged for all workers to have meals during their lunch break which would be cut from their salaries. A plate of food would cost 5 copper coins...so they didnt really mind.

A week passed by and Landon realized that they had collected quite a lot of ores. It was finally time to show chief Wiggins how to make chalkboard paint and chalk.

From the group of 300, 20 men were selected to make blackboard paint while 80 men would make chalk. Chief Wiggins also appointed 3 new Supervisors under him.

Hail Verno would supervise ore extraction, Charles Mopey would supervise paint manufacturing and Javon Stern would supervise chalk making. Of course chief Wiggins would oversee everything. Their salaries were also upgraded to 500 copper coins.

The last estate Landon went to last time in the lower regions was cleaned and used as the storage facility for all ores and the manufacturing industry for both chalk and paint.

The ores were put into different buildings according to their types and the amount deposited registered at the end of everyday day.

Landon also appointed 5 cooks and 30 knights to guard and protect the workers in case of any unforeseen incidents.

Once the first batch of chalkboard paint was made, Landon sent it to Tim Mayers. As well as a sample of chalk.

Landon knew that this chalk would be used by both teachers and children. For now he decided that chalk should be free...but once the economy picked up, he would sell 12 pieces for 10 copper coins.

Time flew by very fast, and before he knew it..the last week of the month was here.

Just when Landon was about leaving the upper region of Baymard, he saw Waldo running towards him.

"My king, the plants have bore fruits"