So before that, they'd publish the paper around the Illuminators' church and the nearby neighborhoods.
In the early stage, the paper could even be free—because it's just a trial-run flyer, and at most it can test market reaction.
They could also run a few small ads to pave the way for what comes next.
Once the paper can be printed at scale, they'd switch to a paid model and finally start turning real profit.
The blueprint Luke laid out in words made everyone present feel like they could already see a bright future.
But then Navis raised a question, and a new problem surfaced.
"Your Highness—forget the whole capital. Even if it's just one third of the city… if we rely on people delivering the paper by hand, how do we make sure it reaches everyone quickly?"
She lifted a hand and shared her concern.
The question immediately pulled everyone into thought.
From the start, they'd known Luke planned to have the church kids act as paper runners. The work wasn't too hard, and it would let them earn money with their own effort.
Of course, not every kid at the church would be delivering papers—only a portion who were capable.
After all, they couldn't exactly send three-, four-, or five-year-olds running around delivering newspapers.
Even if they picked older kids, maybe it'd be fine if they only ran nearby routes.
But newspapers were meant to cover a wide area. With children's stamina, how could they guarantee delivery across such a big region in a short time?
Even one third of the capital was still huge.
Riding horses was one option, but setting aside whether the kids even knew how to ride—horses weren't cheap.
At that point, the investment and the return wouldn't match at all.
"I already figured out how to solve that," Luke said, clearly prepared for the question.
If delivery was slow, then they'd speed it up. Simple.
It was nothing more than a transportation problem.
Luke couldn't build a four-wheeled car—but would a two-wheeled one really stump him?
Everyone looked curious.
Luke gave a confident, expert-like smile and led them back to Navis's office.
He found paper and a pen, got into the groove, and immediately started sketching.
Navis, Maylee, and Korsen took one look and realized Luke was drafting blueprints for… something.
Lux, Kahina, and Fiora watched with curious eyes.
Luke's hand didn't pause. The shhk-shhk-shhk of his pen echoed through the room. Blueprint after blueprint appeared, and his eyes were like a ruler—he didn't even need to hesitate before putting pen to paper.
Maylee and Korsen were stunned.
It was the first time they'd ever seen someone draw blueprints without even needing a draft—no measuring tools, no straightedge, nothing—just straight into clean lines and precise structure.
So this was the prince?
Why was the gap between people so huge?
Behind Navis's glasses, her eyes were overflowing with admiration.
Lux and the other two didn't understand the drawings, but they still sensed Luke was doing something ridiculous.
Navis and the two siblings were staring at the blueprints.
Lux, Kahina, and Fiora were staring at Luke's focused side profile.
Twenty minutes later, Luke lifted his pen and declared the work done.
Lux asked curiously, "What did you draw?"
Luke answered simply, "I call it a bicycle."
"Is it… that impressive?" Lux asked, honestly confused.
Luke didn't answer. Navis—who'd already been scanning the pages—answered for him.
"It's extremely impressive!"
Her tone rose as her attention locked onto the blueprints. She flipped through them rapidly, one page after another.
Every time she finished a sheet, Maylee and Korsen snatched it up to look too, gasping as they went.
"So amazing! As expected of Your Highness!"
"If there aren't any mistakes, then there's no doubt this bicycle could change everyday life as a mode of travel."
Unlike Navis's calm focus, Maylee and Korsen looked like they wished the blueprints were theirs. Their respect for Luke hit absolute worship levels.
They were craftsmen. Maybe they weren't true inventors yet, but they understood the value of what was in front of them.
This bicycle—if it wasn't just a fantasy drawing—might not fully replace horses and carriages, but it would absolutely be many times lighter and more convenient than either.
Most importantly, it would be cheap to make, and could be mass-produced and sold.
This might be a design on the same level as the hand-cranked printing press.
The only tragic part was that the blueprints were too perfect. Every detail was labeled. There was basically nothing left for them to contribute.
When Navis improved the hand-cranked printing press, she still needed them as assistants, so their names might be mentioned later.
But for the bicycle… their job was just to take a hammer, shape pieces of iron to match the diagrams, and assemble them.
The most jaw-dropping part?
A blueprint this good was created in only twenty minutes.
If that got out to the wider craftsman world, nobody would believe it.
Lux ended up in that state of: I don't understand it, but it feels insanely impressive.
Kahina's bright eyes stayed on Luke's face.
Fiora's gaze also refused to move. The layer of mystery around Luke never faded in her eyes—if anything, it grew stronger with time, like gravity pulling you in.
Luke's lips curled into a satisfied smile.
Only Lux caught the tiny bit of smugness hidden in it. She couldn't help pouting.
Seriously… this guy really flexed again.
At that moment, Navis finally surfaced from the blueprints and said, "Then we'll need to expand manpower again."
Manpower—especially skilled manpower—was always expensive in an era where industry wasn't developed.
If they wanted speed and quality, the upfront hiring would be substantial.
This workshop might not even be big enough.
Luke thought for one second. "That can wait. Come with me to the royal palace in a bit."
He'd realized his little wallet might not survive this kind of spending for long.
But it wasn't a big problem—because someone else would pay the bill for Luke.
Maylee and Korsen immediately leaned in shamelessly, smiling in pure flattery.
"Your Highness, could you possibly take your humble servant along to the royal palace?"
"Your Highness, can I come too?"
Luke glanced at them and didn't refuse. "Sure."
They'd been working hard lately—letting them see the world a little wasn't a bad thing.
The "meeting" ended, and everyone prepared to go handle their own tasks.
After tidying up, they all left the workshop together.
At the entrance—
"See you later, everyone."
Kahina waved goodbye. Before climbing into her carriage, she seemed to remember something and looked back at Luke.
"Your Highness—if you have time, you can come visit my home. My sister and mother both said they want to meet you. Or if it works better, someday I can bring my sister to visit you."
Luke nodded, saying either was fine.
Kahina's mother—Lady Lestara—was Barrett's wife, and she was known as a respectable, traditional woman in Demacia.
If she wanted to meet him, it was probably because she'd heard about Luke from Kahina.
What puzzled Luke a little was why Kahina's sister—Sona—also wanted to meet him.
After the palace banquet last time, he hadn't seen Sona again. Even that one brief conversation had been minimal.
Still, even with the curiosity, Luke didn't think too hard about it.
He figured that when he had time, he'd go sit down with House Buvelle.
Kahina's carriage soon rolled away, heading straight for the Illuminators' church.
Lux and Fiora, meanwhile, planned to go to the commercial district.
So the group split for now. Luke took Navis and the other two, heading straight for the royal palace.
The carriage traveled for a while before stopping at the palace entrance.
"Your Highness."
The guards at the gate saluted.
Luke nodded, leading the three of them inside without obstruction.
He first went to see King Jarvan III, paid his respects, and then asked to leave.
He hadn't come to the palace for his father.
He was here for someone else.
Before long, they stopped in front of the High Marshal's office.
Staring at that door, Navis, Maylee, and Korsen all felt their nerves spike.
Luke casually knocked and called out, "Auntie, you in there?"
"Come in!"
Tianna's irritated voice snapped back immediately, like whatever good mood she'd had all day had just ended on the spot.
Luke pushed the door open and walked in.
Tianna sat behind her desk, lifting her eyes like she was about to tell Luke not to call her that—but then she noticed the three people behind him and simply asked, "What is it?"
"Didn't you say last time, Auntie, that once the printing press was done, I should come see you?" Luke said with an easy smile.
Hearing him call her "Auntie" so smoothly, Tianna sighed internally and didn't bother correcting him. "Let me see."
The whole printing press thing had started because of that "intercom pipeline" visit to the workshop.
At first, Lux had said they were working on something.
Tianna had assumed it was kids messing around—until she saw the intercom with her own eyes and started taking it seriously.
Then at the workshop, she realized the intercom was just something Luke had thrown together on the side.
Which was absurd.
After pressing him, she learned he was trying to build a machine that could print quickly.
So she'd told him: once the printing press was completed, come to the palace and show her.
Luke handed over the newspaper samples he'd prepared, about forty pages. "These were printed right before we came. It took one minute."
Tianna took them. The ink scent was still there. She studied them carefully, page after page.
Her expression grew more and more serious.
"One minute for forty pages?"
"Yes," Luke replied. "Navis said the improved version could be even faster."
As he spoke, he stepped aside, revealing Navis hiding behind him.
Navis jumped, then nodded rapidly, trembling. "I-if it goes the way I expect… the improved version should be able to print eighty pages a minute."
Ten minutes would be eight hundred pages. One hour would be four thousand eight hundred.
And that was just one machine.
Ten machines would be forty-eight thousand pages in an hour.
Tianna's eyes glittered. And with her sharp mind, she could immediately see why Luke had come.
She looked at Luke. "You want to borrow manpower."
Luke nodded.
Tianna said, "I can lend you people from the Research Institute. But there have to be terms. The official side needs to have the printing press too—including the improved version."
Luke stared at her, speechless. "As if you wouldn't come claim it even if I didn't borrow people."
Tianna paused, then laughed. "Right. Almost forgot—you're one of us."
The "official side" was basically everything centered on the royal family, radiating outward through the government.
Tianna represented that authority. Don't think "High Marshal" meant she only handled battles—she also dealt with plenty of things outside the army.
And Luke, as King Jarvan III's son, was as "official" as it got.
Luke asked, "So now it's easier to talk, right?"
Tianna nodded. "I can lend you twenty people. Half a month."
"Only twenty? Auntie, I'm not begging for scraps." Luke shook his head and held up a hand. "Fifty. One month."
Tianna shook her head too. "Twenty-five. Still half a month. The Research Institute is full of talent. One of them is worth far more than an ordinary craftsman. Twenty-five is already a lot."
"Even if they're geniuses, it's still only twenty-five sets of hands. I'm borrowing labor, not renting brains. Forty-five. One month."
Luke's stance didn't budge.
Tianna frowned, and a heavy pressure rolled off her like a blade. Calmly, she said, "Thirty. Half a month. Final offer."
Navis and the other two were practically shaking in place.
"Stop scaring people," Luke said, completely unfazed. "Forty. One month!"
Maylee and Korsen stared at Luke's back with open admiration.
As expected of the prince—only he would bargain like this with the High Marshal.
Tianna saw intimidation wasn't working and eased off, smiling. "Thirty is my last concession."
Luke frowned. "You're stingy even with family?"
"Even family keeps the books straight," Tianna shrugged. "If I give you everyone, what happens to the Research Institute?"
This old witch, Luke muttered internally.
Then he reached into his coat, pulled out the bicycle concept drawing, and slapped it onto her desk.
"And what if you add this?"
Tianna's eyes sharpened with interest. She picked it up, scanned it, and her expression slowly changed.
A few minutes later, she looked up at Luke seriously. "This can be built too?"
Luke smiled. "We're basically one step away from starting production."
With Luke wearing that confident look, Tianna couldn't doubt him anymore.
Because there was no end to the little secrets he was hiding—he'd already produced the intercom and the printing press.
This bicycle was probably just another one of them.
She thought for a moment, about to counteroffer—
But Luke calmly smiled, took the drawing back, and stated a condition she couldn't ignore.
"Seventy. One month."
Tianna immediately laughed and cursed, "Why don't I just hand you the Research Institute outright?!"
Luke considered it. "That's not impossible. I even already picked the director."
As he said that, he glanced at Navis.
Tianna looked over too.
Navis instantly started trembling harder.
Tianna chuckled. "She's still too young. Give it a few years. Fifty people. One month. That's it—no more bargaining."
Tianna did recognize Navis's ability.
And she truly hadn't expected House Menck—a family that had been fading for years—to produce such a promising girl.
By Luke's side, in just a few years, Navis might actually have the qualifications to be director of the Research Institute.
And what was the Research Institute?
It was where Demacia's inventors and engineers gathered—almost everyone inside was top-tier talent.
That was why Luke was fighting so hard for the numbers.
Borrowing one person from there was like hiring two from outside.
More importantly, the borrowed people didn't need Luke to pay them—royal funds covered their wages.
"Fine. Fifty people. One month." Luke thought it through and accepted.
Getting fifty talents for free for a month wasn't bad at all. Now he just had to figure out how to squeeze every drop of productivity out of that month.
Watching Luke grow thoughtful, Tianna tossed him a silver plaque. "Go. Take this to the Research Institute and choose your people."
Luke caught it. This worked like a command token—token in hand meant orders carried weight.
"Thanks, Auntie," Luke said with a grin.
As he turned to leave, Tianna could only smile helplessly.
Maylee and Korsen had been holding their breath the entire time. The moment they stepped out of Tianna's office, they finally exhaled hard.
It was unbelievably tense.
After they caught their breath, they immediately looked at Navis.
And in their eyes, there was already the faint, desperate urge to latch onto her as a future powerhouse.
This was the girl the High Marshal had basically singled out as a future Research Institute director. That was insane.
"Navis, did you hear that? Work hard—someday you'll be the director of the Research Institute," Luke said as he walked ahead, casually flipping the silver plaque up and down in his hand.
Navis lowered her head and said softly, "I don't want to be the director."
Maylee and Korsen froze.
Listen to yourself—are those words even human?
A position House Menck—and inventors across the entire country—would dream of… and you don't want it?
Luke looked at her too. "Why not? At that position, you'd be covered in honor. People would respect you everywhere you went."
Navis said quietly, "I just want to stay by your side, Your Highness."
It wasn't a confession.
Just a simple wish.
She'd set herself one simple life goal:
To use everything she learned, without holding anything back, to help the prince.
Luke was surprised. He stopped tossing the plaque, caught it, and held it out to her with a smile.
"Then don't be the director."
Navis accepted the plaque and nodded gently.
Only then did Maylee and Korsen finally understand.
They'd been thinking too small.
Who cared about being a director?
What mattered was having the prince's favor.
They sighed at themselves—turns out they'd even lost to Navis in the art of "picking the right side."
But their thinking changed immediately.
Forget clinging to the prince's leg—if they could cling to Navis's, that would work too.
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