Chapter 9
◆ Establishing Schools
Ten grain‑husk paper‑making machines were completed, and full‑scale mass production began.
Grain husks were obtained free of charge from farmers.
Only transport and labor costs were needed, making production extremely cheap.
The price of paper was set at 1 G per sheet, and it sold rapidly.
As inexpensive paper spread throughout the towns, people began to realize they needed someone who could read and write.
Demand for literacy grew naturally.
Around that time, a message arrived from the king:
permission was granted to educate the citizens.
Teachers were recruited first.
Among the workshop staff, those who could read, write, and calculate became instructors.
A school building was constructed, and operations officially began.
◆ Movable‑Type Printing
The next step was to produce books in large quantities using movable‑type printing.
This world had no such technology yet.
Until now, printing required carving wooden or clay plates by hand.
Ink was applied to the carved plate, and paper was pressed onto it.
But carving plates took time, and each plate could only print one specific text—no versatility.
Movable type, where individual characters are arranged freely, was far more suitable for printing on paper.
Yoshio introduced movable‑type printing to this world and began mass‑producing books.
Before long, the literacy rate of the population began to rise.
◆ Spread of the Abacus
Yoshio continued his daily work as a merchant, and the scale of his finances grew rapidly.
Income and expenses became more complex, and calculations took longer and longer.
He wondered how the people of this world handled their accounting.
For small purchases, change was simple enough.
But for large sums, everything was calculated by hand on paper.
Hand calculations were slow and prone to mistakes.
Dishonest merchants could easily exploit errors—practically a form of fraud.
This world had no calculating tool like the abacus.
So Yoshio created one.
He introduced the abacus to the workshop staff and the school teachers, beginning formal abacus training.
Everyone reacted with surprise and fascination.
Their calculation speed increased dramatically, and mistakes disappeared.
Teachers made abacus training mandatory for all students.
Soon, abacus calculation spread among merchants across the kingdom, and high‑value transactions became far more active.
The king himself took interest in this “abacus” calculating tool and once again praised the newly established schools.
◆ Issuing Banknotes and Establishing a Bank
As the economy developed, the volume of goods in circulation increased.
Workers’ wages rose as well.
One day, Yoshio was summoned by the king.
The king addressed him:
“The nation’s production has grown, labor costs have risen, and prices are soaring.
Our current currency—gold, silver, and copper coins—can no longer be minted in sufficient quantity.
The mines are nearly exhausted.
What should we do to increase our money supply?”
Yoshio bowed.
“Your Majesty, there is no need to increase gold, silver, or copper coins.
We should create paper money—banknotes.”
“Banknotes? What are those?”
“They are trustworthy certificates made of paper.
For example:
A copper coin becomes a 100 G note.
A silver coin becomes a 1,000 G note.
A gold coin becomes a 10,000 G note.
They must be impossible to counterfeit.
Banknotes are printed on paper, larger than coins, and easy to carry.
With this, we no longer need to mine gold, silver, or copper.”
The king thought for a moment, then asked his ministers.
They agreed—it was a sound idea.
The king ordered:
“Produce a prototype of these banknotes within one month.”
Yoshio added:
“Your Majesty, I have one request.
I would like portraits of Your Majesty, the Queen, and the Princess.”
“What for?”
“I intend to print them on the banknotes.
10,000 G will bear Your Majesty’s portrait,
1,000 G the Queen’s,
and 100 G the Princess’s.
Additionally, each note will carry the royal seal for anti‑counterfeiting.”
The king nodded.
“Very well. I look forward to seeing the prototypes.”
Plate‑Making Work
Yoshio visited Bertini, the label craftsman.
Perfume labels had already shifted from leather to paper.
When Yoshio explained the plan, Bertini was stunned.
“You’re turning gold, silver, and copper coins into paper money?”
“I’ll prepare paper of this size.
Please carve printing plates just like you do for labels.
Use gold, silver, and copper plates.
And carve the royal seal as well.
These will be unique, priceless items—only one set will exist in the entire kingdom.”
He promised to bring the portrait designs later.
Prototype Completed
One month later, the prototype banknotes were completed on schedule.
Black ink was made from minerals, red ink from natural stones—two‑color printing.
The greatest challenge was the watermark.
By varying the thickness of the paper during production, the design would appear when held to the light.
This was advanced technology far beyond the current era.
But magic existed.
Yoshio used magic to create the watermark effect.
The king was overjoyed when he saw the banknotes.
“With this, our nation’s currency is secure.”
Establishing a Bank
Yoshio spoke:
“Your Majesty, this nation has no banks.
I recommend establishing one.”
“A bank?”
“A bank safely stores the wealth of nobles and citizens as deposits,
and lends that money to those who need funds.
This will further develop the nation.
As domestic wealth grows, a safe institution is needed to store and lend money.
Banknotes will circulate throughout the kingdom,
and I propose establishing the National Happiness Bank.”
The king approved the plan.
Thus, banknotes entered circulation,
and the National Happiness Bank was founded.
However, foreign trade still relied on gold, silver, and copper coins.
◆ Opening the 100G Paper Shop
Paper could now be produced in various thicknesses—thin, standard, and heavy stock.
With different uses, the possibilities of paper became limitless:
Toilet paper, tissue paper, kitchen paper
Masks, paper towels, sanitary napkins, diapers
Paper cups, plates, straws, aprons
Wrapping paper, paper bags, cardboard boxes
Wallpaper, shoji paper, fusuma paper
Newspapers, drawing paper, bookbinding paper, notebooks
Pencils (graphite rods wrapped and hardened with paper), colored paper, calendars
And countless other items
These paper products—unknown in this world until now—were sold for 100 G each.
Shops were opened not only in the royal capital but also in towns and villages across the kingdom.
Each product came with a usage manual.
Paper goods sold at an astonishing pace.
The nation’s hygiene improved dramatically, and outbreaks of disease decreased.
People’s daily lives advanced rapidly.
Furthermore, as literacy increased, citizens began reading books.
New publications appeared:
newspapers, cookbooks, hygiene guides, magic manuals, practical guides for swordsmanship and archery, textbooks, law books, dictionaries, novels, magazines, and more.
These books were priced between 100 G and 5,000 G—a bit expensive, but widely purchased.
Knowledge was no longer a privilege of the nobility.
◆ Establishing Corporations
In this world, the concept of a corporation did not exist.
Royalty, nobles, merchants, farmers, and craftsmen all operated businesses individually.
Yoshio therefore approached the Merchant Guild, the Paper Guild, and the Workshop Guild to propose the establishment of corporations.
At first, none of the guilds were willing to listen.
But after repeated discussions, they began to show interest in the idea of receiving investments from capitalists and citizens, and distributing profits as dividends.
With approval from each guild, Yoshio sought permission from the king—and received it.
Thus, several corporations were founded:
Perfume Trading Corporation
Recycling Corporation
Universal Paper Corporation
Wyvern Aerial Transport Corporation
Each share cost 50 G, with annual dividends ranging from 1% to 5%.
Both nobles and commoners could invest.
To build trust, the first investors were the king and the royal family.
Stock certificates were issued featuring portraits of the King, Queen, and Princess.
Gradually, trust in stocks spread, and many new corporations were established.
Eventually, the National Securities Company was born.
The kingdom’s economy flourished, and the people enjoyed increasingly prosperous lives.
◆ The City of Arts
The economy of the other world continued to grow.
However, art and entertainment were still scarce.
People sang, drank, and celebrated.
They decorated with flowers.
Paintings existed, but only in black and white—like ink wash paintings.
There were no color pigments.
Yoshio visited Bertini, the label craftsman.
He requested, “I want to use red, blue, and yellow inks for labels,”
but Bertini explained that no color inks existed.
Yoshio began to wonder whether pigments extracted during perfume production could be used to create ink.
During the perfume extraction process, certain dyes appeared as by‑products.
Color ink required two main components:
pigment and binder.
Pigments were fine particles of color, which could be extracted from roses, morning glories, lavender, marigolds, and other plants.
Binders were liquid adhesives.
The challenges were:
fading and discoloration from acidity or alkalinity
mold and decay
developing a method to precipitate pigments and grind them into powder
In Yoshio’s original world, lake pigments were made using alum and baking soda:
Alum: potassium aluminum sulfate
Baking soda: sodium bicarbonate
To prevent mold and decay, drying agents, preservatives, and penetrants were needed.
Yoshio experimented to see whether magic could replace these chemical processes.
After much trial and error, he finally succeeded in creating the three primary pigments:
magenta, cyan, and yellow.
He entrusted the pigments to Bertini and asked him to produce ink.
However, Bertini struggled—the powdered pigments kept sinking to the bottom.
Yoshio suggested boiling gum arabic into a viscous liquid and mixing it thoroughly in a mortar for a long time.
With this method, the pigments dispersed evenly in the liquid and no longer settled.
At last, color ink was completed.
Color ink was used for watercolor paintings, oil paintings, home decoration, wallpaper coloring, and more.
Banknotes were also printed in color, making them vibrant—and harder to counterfeit.
Artists across the kingdom began painting portraits, nature scenes, and landscapes.
Nobles commissioned portrait paintings to decorate their estates.
As artistic skill improved, domestic artworks flourished, and merchants prospered through trade with other nations.
The kingdom eventually became known as the City of Arts.
◆ An Endless Otherworld
Each day had been busy.
The setting sun dyed the streets of the royal capital in shades of red.
On his way back to the inn, Yoshio noticed a familiar figure—
an old man sitting on a bench in a back alley.
It was the same informant from whom Yoshio had once bought magic stones.
The old man noticed him.
“Well now, lad. You’re lookin’ prosperous these days.”
“How is the town?”
The old man grinned.
“The whole place is in an uproar.
Even with just what reaches my ears, I’ve heard three or four things.”
His wrinkled face twisted with amusement—
the instincts of an informant clearly working overtime.
He raised a finger.
“First: movement along the eastern border.
Just a skirmish, but still.”
“Second: a swarm of monsters appeared in the southern trade city of Berga.”
“And third…”
His eyes sharpened suddenly.
He lowered his voice.
“The third is trouble.
A ‘Ancient Dragon’ has awakened in the northern mountain range.
The blacksmiths are terrified.
There’s a dwarf settlement near that mountain, y’see.”
None of the information could be ignored.
Military tension in the east, monster activity in the south,
and in the north—a legendary being.
Each one was a matter that could affect the fate of the kingdom.
The old man looked up at Yoshio, not asking for payment,
just smiling knowingly.
Yoshio tossed him 100 G and walked away.
The old man caught it and called out:
“Take care, lad.”
The words were short, but carried a strange weight.
On the way back to the inn, Yoshio mulled over the three pieces of information.
The eastern skirmish, the southern monsters, the northern dragon.
None were immediate threats to him—
yet the phrase “Ancient Dragon” lingered in his mind.
Remembering that enormous magic stone,
he could easily imagine the power a dragon might possess.
He entered his room and sat on the bed.
Outside, the sunset had vanished completely, and night had fallen.
Tomorrow would bring more work:
paper mass production, new paper products, school operations, perfumes, potion development, art sales—
the list was endless.
Yet at the same time, he felt the blood of an adventurer stirring.
Unknown dangers, unexplored lands, powerful beings.
A world that a merchant alone could never fully experience awaited him.
A night breeze drifted through the window,
making the lamp flame flicker.
Another long day in the otherworld was coming to an end.
The End
◆ Afterword
The tale of the Otherworld Merchant ends here.
But the merchant will continue to buy and sell many more goods.
He will also continue to act as an adventurer.
Those episodes will be written next time.
— Yoshio Aizaki, Otherworld Merchant
"Please let me know if there are any mistakes in the translation."
