Chapter 13.1 New Beginnings

As I approached my new house, it had finally dawned on me how far I’ve managed to get. Once again on my new knowledge. Once again on something besides soap.

In hindsight, it did make sense. A new product might attract merchant attention, but the soap was already well-known here. I just brought something from being expensive and far-away, to local and cheap. The ideas that I’ve shared were truly revolutionary. The only reason why I could say that because I knew they weren’t mine. But I had no issues profiting from them.

If the knowledge I’ve had was forbidden it would’ve had better locks on it. And the stuff I shared wasn’t even the worst of it. I knew how to make gunpowder, TNT, and many other explosives. Most of these were easy to create. I had knowledge of weapons and weapon systems capable of wiping all life from this planet. I knew how to split atoms and collapse space-time into wormhole bridges. I also knew that I will keep this knowledge hidden to the best of my abilities.

I wasn’t just given knowledge. It came with a bit of wisdom as well.

I chuckled. Perhaps this knowledge did have locks on it. They just didn’t look like locks.

“What's funny?” Irje asked.

“Nothing, just thinking how far I’ve come”

As soon as I knew where I would live, I decided to drag her as well. I wanted her to know the location, I also had healthy assumptions that I would have visits from her in the future. I also couldn’t make heads or tails out of Sulla’s directions and needed a guide.

“Hmmm, to become a teacher at such a young age. If that was me I would’ve been grinning like a loon for a tenday too.” She agreed, smiling as well.

“Well, I can’t complain. In few weeks I’ve got myself a sexy assistant, and a cushy job. I guess the only thing left is to conquer the world, eh?” I retorted cheekily.

She laughed and smacked me. “Behave yourself. No evil plans for the foreseeable future! I need enough time to enjoy the perks of being your ‘sexy assistant’ to the fullest first. I do remember where your fingers were roaming the last time. Should I bring oils next time?” She said with fake innocence.

“What? Eager to explore that much?” I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at her, making her blush.

“Hey, we came here to see your new place! It should be nearby. Whoa!”

Whoa, indeed. I couldn’t tell if the place assigned to me was due to my own status, or the general status of teachers. Although, from what I heard from Virnan and Aikerim, educators in Emanai were held in rather high esteem. There were internal rankings of course, with the lowest being wet nurses and child teachers all the way to the rhetors of the likes of Virnan Shah. But even the lowest rank garnered respect.

And the said respect was clearly seen in my lodging. First of all, I was assigned a personal building, with similar houses nearby. Probably lodgings of other educators, or other respected slaves. Like the inner compound, the location was immersed in greenery making it look like a quaint village in the forest.

Very ineffective as a village, however. My house was just a single room, a bed to sleep and a place to store all my earthly possessions. The other buildings looked similar as well. There were no barns or mills or any other necessary village architecture. All of that was located in the workshops where I’ve spent most of my time prior to now.

Still, it was a good place. Mine.

Even if I had nothing to fill it with at the moment. All I had currently consisted of a shirt, a tunic and a pouch with some cuts. Apparently, Domina’s reward stayed with Sulla, who told me that I could buy things through him, or request a small amount if I wanted to head out myself.

Once again my lack of arguing rather surprised him. Poor guy, it looked like he prepared for hours to defend this position. Instead, I ignored his mutterings about wasteful youths and simply nodded in agreement. It was a win-win situation for me as I thought it through. I didn’t have to worry about keeping the money safe, especially here in a new spot. Nor did I have to worry about carrying large lumps through the city. Eyeing every urchin on the streets as a potential pickpocket.

And this was Domina’s money. Sulla knew that she gave me that. And I had her ear in private now. If he tried to cheat me and I managed to tattle on him, well his ass was grass. Unless Domina was siding with him but if she did then she could just take my money anytime anyway.

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by a bronze-skinned missile with a very precise trajectory.

“There is a bed!” Irje screamed, bouncing.

The bed screamed under her in agreement.

I shook my head at her antics. “Is it a first bed for you as well?”

She nodded, smiling and stood up, pulling me closer. “Feel how soft it is! It’s soo much better than the hay!”

My hand touched the clean linens feeling the softness inside. Feathers. I’ve never slept on feathers before. The softness of the bed was probably the most solid proof of how far I managed to get so far. This wasn’t a necessity anymore. Or some sort of standard. It was luxury.

Irje laughed nervously. “Just don't mention this too much okay? I don't want to compete with scores of girls fighting to sleep in it every night.”

I bent lower and took a sniff. Freshly cleaned. “Can you smell it?”

“What?” she came closer and tried to smell it herself. “What is wrong? I can’t smell anything.”

“Exactly.” My arm shoved her hard forcing her to bend over the bed.

“Wha?”

I yanked her skirt upward, exposing her naked ass to me. “Erf?”

“The problem is, that I grew used to a particular smell over the last few days, and it is missing,” I spoke nonchalantly pulling my own dick out. “It helps me sleep y’know.” My hand went around her body, sliding over the stomach and moving deeper.

My fingers raked through her fuzz at her core, as she started to pant. Her back arched downward pushing her slit out in the open. Making it easier for me.

“So in the future.” My hand grasped her hairs, making her gasp. “If you don’t plan on sleeping in my bed that night. You will provide a sufficient amount of your flavour.” And slammed myself into her as she screamed into the pillow.

She was wet enough already not to make it painful, but only barely. Making my rough entrance extremely intrusive. Impossible to ignore. Just the way she liked it.

I could feel her coming down from the initial rush of sensation so I pulled out and plunged myself again, Spreading her cheeks apart this time. Giving her a new aching feeling.

“Will you do that for me?”

“Ye-Yessss!”

“Good girl.” My hands let go of her as I started to gently caress her reddened flesh. My shaft slowly spreading the deluge of her juices all over her core. I let her rest as she recovered from the whiplash of sensations, as my fingers softly massaged the knots in her thighs and her butt.

Speaking of which. “Ah, you should bring the oils next time around too.”

“I…I will.” Her legs buckled as she squirmed around me, I could feel the muscles around her core tensing and relaxing from anticipation.

“My, what a naughty kitten you are.” I pushed Irje forward making her lie down on my bed.

I bent forward, close to her ear, straddling her ass, my shaft firmly inside of her. “Now, Please bite the pillow, I don’t want to scare my new neighbours.”

XXX

Fortunately for Irje, the next couple of days were a flurry of activity for both of us, leaving us exhausted by the time the night arrived. As such any new explorations of Irje’s body were set aside until the pileup of work was tackled. The lonely bottle, standing on the table beside my bed, never failed to force a blush out of her.

Irje found herself tackling the logistical nightmare of a large scale lye production and bickering with potters trying to make water bath pots. In the free time she had she was stuck training the new crew.

Yeva ended up being extremely helpful to her in this transitional time. My hunch was correct. I had seen how quickly she memorized the layout of the working area to be able to walk by herself, how quickly she started telling us apart, and from a distance too. The girl had amazing memory in addition to her keen senses. All she needed was a way for her to flourish.

And flourish she did. Irje offloaded to her most of the information that she already knew, while I filled in the gaps as well as teaching her future venues to consider. She learnt the smells and tastes of various reagents while memorizing the optimal ratios we have discovered so far. Making her an irreplaceable assistant to Irje herself.

All of which made great progress in her self-esteem. She was still not very social, but this time it felt like a personal preference instead of escapism. I also heard Yeva laugh talking to someone else for the first time too. Although it was most likely Irje. Well, baby steps.

I was busy as well. My time was split between assisting the girls and other small tasks like learning the language.

The teacher I was assigned was no-nonsense male wer, who came to my first lesson well prepared. And his preparation solely consisted of something closely resembling a rattan cane. What an unsurprisingly archaic system of education. Apparently, children, even of a higher rank were all subjected to a rather harsh learning regiment, with very little room for error. You either got the answer right or suffered the consequence.

My remarks that it wasn’t an effective method were dismissed right out of hand. This time I wasn’t dealing with a merchant seeking to gain a new edge, or the wise man seeing to learn something new, I was dealing with tradition. And traditionally all children were raised this way. There was nothing to compare it to.

Hard to argue when there was no evidence to support your cause. Even if the lack of evidence was caused by the lack of attempts at it.

Unfortunately for them, that meant the bulk of their population grew up resenting to learn new things. Stunting the intellectual progress even more. Some pursued intellectual careers further, seeking not knowledge but fame and status. With very few doing it out of passion.

Fortunately for me, I knew how the brain worked. And I could affect mine to a much greater degree than anyone. Non-magically at least.

One of the greatest abilities of our brains is the ability to forget and ignore incoming information. Every second of our life or mind is bombarded with an enormous amount of inputs gathered from the entire body and its senses. Processing everything and retaining it all would quickly overwhelm us. So brains pick and choose.

And the picking and choosing mechanic has developed millions of years ago. As such it kinda forgot about such crucial parts of life like knowing historic dates and memorizing sets of squiggles that represent sounds.

To bypass the junk filter in our brain we have developed techniques to make memories easier to record - relating them to something else. In a way of mnemonics, method of loci, and others. Or we had to repeat the process over and over until our brain got the idea that this might be something important if it shows up that often.

Emanai educators chose the latter.

I just overrode it.

The confusion and disappointment of my teacher were evident when I learnt how to read and write in a matter of hours. I still got punished of course. Apparently, for wasting his time, since I obviously already knew all that. I thought of retaliation as I ran away from his yells, but decided to drop it. He did teach me the Virtana and his hits were only uncomfortable.

Besides running to Domina after each small slight only made my position weaker.

And now I stood, once again, in her office. With Domina and the carpenter, she had found, peering over my drawings. The carpenter was clearly a part of the Kiymetl family line, by the name of Wrena. As she mulled over the design Aikerim was actually busy looking at my letters.

“Impressive.” She murmured, making Wrena jump and glance at her with slight unease and then stare back at the drawing with newfound intensity. Domina didn’t notice, her eyes glancing at me. “How long did it take you?”

I saw the carpenter’s ears perk up at our conversation, As the rest of the household, she had red hair and foxy ears, although without a tail. Most likely wer. Her clothing was tougher than the usual streetwear but was still embroidered with a plethora of symbols and designs. The scales being one of them. She was a member of this manor.

“Two days at most, my Domina,” I answered properly. deciding to add my own practice later to make it sound more plausible. We were, after all. in public.

She hummed in response, pleased. And turned to the other person in the room. “Can you make it?”

“Y-yes my Domina!” she blurted out. Clearly not comfortable with this level of scrutiny. “He is right, certain parts are better done with metal, but once these are done I can finish it within two days!”

“No.” Came an unexpected answer.

“Domina?”

“This is not a rush job. Make sure it is done properly and notify me only then.” Aikerim response managed to unwind the tension in her.

“Thank you, I will make sure it is made exactly like this.” She bowed, and turned to me, pulling a multicoloured whip of sorts. “I have a question for you.”

“And I probably have an answer, er please don’t hit me.” I didn’t want to spend the next few hours with my back itchy again.

“Wha-” She gawked and glanced at Domina, who was grinning at me. Did I make a wrong assumption?

“This is a measuring rope! And I won't waste it even on my apprentices!” She cried out at me, emboldened by Domina’s mirth.

“Ah is it? My apologies. What did you want to know? And why is it a rope?” Upon closer inspection, I could see evenly spaced marks along its length.

“What are the measurements of this design? And how else would I measure things if not with a rope?” she answered my two questions with her own.

I scratched my head. “I am not well versed in the local measuring system, so I assumed it would’ve been better to leave it under your expertise. I tried to make the drawing as big as they should be made.” The size of Aikerim office floor was large enough for that. Unfortunately, the lines were rather thick so I had to make few enlarged drawings as well. “And I thought people measured things with rulers, long straight pieces of wood. or metal”

She scoffed. “Do you have any idea how long does it take to cut a piece straight? A rope is much cheaper and faster.”

“But rope sags as well.”

“Your mind sags! It just means you aren’t pulling hard enough.” She retorted vehemently.

I looked at her, my thoughts flying around, eventually, it all clicked together. “Your tools are not precise.”

“Watch your tongue, merk! I am one of the best artisans in this city. I can carve hair-thin runes into my work!” She growled only to flinch almost instantly. “My deepest apologies, my Domina, to yell in your presence.” She bowed and glanced at Aikerim, who was looking at me silently.

“Domina?” she ventured.

“Go on,” Domina said. Not to her. To me.

“My Domina?” I mirrored Wrena’s question.

“I know that look by now. You have something. Spill it. She swore an oath of silence.”

Ah.

I turned to Wrena first. “I would like to apologize, first. My words had no ill intent. In fact, I would even call it praiseworthy for you to achieve precision without the help of the tools, for it is done purely with your skill.” As soon as she looked mollified by my response I turned back to Domina.

“Precision is an extremely important property of every tool. Right now, as far as I could tell, the tools I’ve already seen don’t look precise.” I noticed Wrena shuffling and continued. “They are accurate, however.”

“And what is the difference?” Domina replied.

“Repeatability. Right now the tools can get you close to the target, but if one needs to make ten of something there will be small variations in the results. Higher the precision less variation there is between two products. It can go far enough where it is possible to make items indistinguishable from one another.”

“Who needs that.” My ears picked up a quiet mumble.

“That is a great question. And the loom we are making is a great example of it. It makes weaving more automatic, relying on the machine to make the product, instead of the weaver's hands. The more precise each motion - the more uniform fabric gets.”

That drew nods from both of them, but I wasn’t done.

“But just how precise machines can make precise products, they can also make more precise machines. Spare parts that can easily replace originals, because they are identical. And what is extremely important - the machines learn once. Compared to us they won't forget, and they work from the moment they are built.”

I took a breath and continued. “From there you have mass production. You need a single beautiful trinket - ask for an artisan. Do you want a thousand, a hundred thousand, a million? Ask a machine. Precision is the foundation of the industry. The more precise your tools get - the more exquisite things can be made with them for bronze cuts.”

“Sounds far fetched.”

I shook my hand in a so-so gesture. “It is and it isn’t. I know that it is possible, but it isn’t a miracle pill. Just like with almost anything I’ve said so far, it requires effort to see the results. The only difference is that now you know the possibilities.”

It was time for Wrena to scratch her head. “But how would that make it easier to make piles of things?”

“Well, precision gives rise to another opportunity - complex automation. Knowing and being able to make precise components means that you can make a machine move and work in the exact way you need. Add in raw power from water, wind, or fire and you can have a machine that works by itself. Without sleep or rest.” I turned to Domina. “If you need proof, wait for the prototype, and then imagine it working ten-twenty times faster without stopping. Producing cloth as wide as two of me.”

“My, you know just the things to say to entice a lady.” Aikerim smiled, her tail slowly swishing back and forth. But soon, that smile turned predatory. “Make sure you don’t embellish your tales too much, or I might decide to test them with The Orb.”

I blinked as Wrena sucked in a breath. Was it really that big of a deal? In my case, The Orb of Truth has been nothing but a great boon so far. Just a single conversation with it active and she dropped most of her suspicions. She hasn’t even pressed me for the origin of my knowledge at all since then, making my preparations unnecessary.

“Sounds like a great idea really.” My answer made her stumble, for the first time in my presence. I didn’t know Wrena that well so her choking could be anything.

Domina gaped at me for a second, then rubbed the forehead sighing. “Just start working on this, I have other things to attend.”

And left us standing.

“So… do you still need my help?” I eventually said, ending the awkward silence.

“Ah, yes please.”