Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 359 - 358: Entertainment and Gawain’s Dilemma

The entertainment of this era is extremely monotonous and scarce.

Even before the time travel, Gawain had seen descriptions of the scarcity of ancient entertainment in various novels and films, which could be called a cliché, but after the time travel, he still had to sigh—this statement is indeed not just empty talk.

In this world, entertainment activities are not only scarce, but also highly restricted by social class. For the upper aristocrats, their greatest leisure activities are probably appreciating operas, music, hunting, and balls. Although in Gawain’s eyes, these are still quite boring, they can be considered as colorful lives. Yet, the lower-class populace obviously cannot afford such luxurious lifestyles, so the lower down the social hierarchy, the scarcer the entertainment options available to people.

Going to bars to drink and fight, engaging in a few crude forms of gambling (which often eventually evolve into fights), listening to street bards’ rap (though here they call it epic poetry)—these are almost the only relaxation avenues for the common people after their hard work, aside from making babies at home—even so, their leisure time is still pathetically limited.

Owing to low productivity and, more importantly, the exploitation by aristocratic leaders, the vast majority of commoners have virtually no free time. They must put 80-90% of their efforts into work just to barely maintain a subsistence living. Beyond filling their stomachs, most people have no extra energy or strength. This is precisely the scenario most aristocratic leaders are happy to see: commoners burying themselves in work, having no ”improper thoughts,” no disruptions, no laziness, which naturally results in a harmonious society.

However, in the Cecil Clan, things have changed—

The people have filled their bellies; in fact, not only have they filled their bellies, but they also have surplus money and leisure time.

Such a situation, which was entirely natural to Gawain in his previous life, is unprecedented in this world, leaving the administrators caught off guard.

”After a period of construction, the territory’s infrastructure is complete, survival is no longer an issue, and the pressure of factory production has begun to ease, which means we have entered the next stage,” Gawain slowly tidied up the chess pieces on the table while speaking to Aunt Heidi, ”Previously, everyone in the territory had to go all out for survival, and no one had leisure time, so order was maintained, but now we no longer need that; people are beginning to get reasonable rest, and food supplies have become plentiful. Therefore, well-fed and well-rested residents naturally need to do something to expend their energy. According to common ’rules,’ they would only run to the bar to drink and then fight in the streets. Those with more spare money would seek out some bodily pleasures or gather for gambling... and the security would gradually worsen in this process. But this cannot be blamed on them.

”We cannot let people work continuously without break, as the accumulated stress would only worsen public order. Therefore, we have to provide some entertainment for the people.”

Gawain packed up the chess box and looked into Aunt Heidi’s eyes.

”Chess is a good thing; it can pass the time, exercise the mind, determine winners and losers, and is quite entertaining in the process. But relying on a chess set to solve public order problems is unrealistic; we must do more.

”We should take ’making people feel satisfied and happy’ as a responsibility. This satisfaction is not limited to merely keeping them well-fed and clothed; it should also allow them to enjoy their rightful spiritual life.

”Besides chess, I have also improved the rules of the King’s deck. The original rules are too complicated, suitable only for more educated individuals, and not suitable for promotion to everyone. So I simplified it, making it accessible for the common folk. I’ve named it ’the Leader’s deck.’ Additionally, I’ve thought of several indoor games that are easy and fun. Moreover, the existing dice games used for gambling can also have their gambling elements removed or limited for promotion and advertisement.

”I plan to open such game rooms in the territory, which can be integrated with bars but only serve low-alcohol drinks and bittersweet floral water. The primary function is to provide relaxation and entertainment for people. Moreover, the production cost of these games is very low; we can open this up to the craftsmen and merchants to produce and sell, thus adding some income to the territory and making residents’ home lives a bit richer.

”Besides this, for those who do not like indoor entertainment, I’ve envisioned several outdoor activities that can both release excess energy and make our people stronger and more agile—not polo and hunting, which only nobles can afford. I will explain the specifics to you once I’ve prepared everything.”

Listening to Gawain’s thoughts one by one, Aunt Heidi increasingly agreed with these plans, and deeply realized her previous oversight in managing the territory. Finally, when the ancestor finished speaking, she couldn’t help but ask, ”Ancestor, does it mean... you thought of these things long ago?”

”I indeed thought of them a long time ago, but when the territory was in its initial stages of development, everyone had trouble just getting enough to eat, so there was naturally no need to consider these things,” Gawain nodded with a smile, ”Don’t underestimate these things; they play a much larger role in maintaining territorial order and enhancing people’s happiness than the machines in factories do.”

Seeing Aunt Heidi nod repeatedly, Gawain exhaled softly and continued, ”Providing inexpensive and easily satisfying entertainment is just part of enhancing people’s happiness and maintaining order; in addition, the construction of the security force remains very important, which you should not overlook.”

”Yes, I understand.”

After Gawain arranged everything, Aunt Heidi left the living room, while Gawain sat quietly on the couch, thinking to himself.

The number of people on the territory will only increase in the future, and along with the continual development of the magical industry, supplies on the territory will only become more abundant. Thus, enriching people’s entertainment becomes a natural matter—after all, entertainment is a basic need for humans after their hunger and warmth are met. If you don’t provide what they want, they will naturally find ways to satisfy themselves, such as drinking, fighting, rioting, and gambling.

However, what Gawain intended to do was not merely promoting a few entertainment activities, providing places for residents to play after eating and drinking.

With more people, expanding cities, and an increasing number of literate individuals in the territory, something long brewed is also time to be implemented.

He got up and returned to the study.

A large mechanical blueprint was spread out on his desk.

This blueprint had begun to be drawn up a few days ago. Since most of the structure was not too complex, he had already completed most of it, except for the most critical part, which was still unclear.

This was a bizarre-looking machine. It had a transmission structure for conveying paper and a large ”drum” located at the center of the machine. Its transmission structure could send paper under the drum and allow the paper to move in sync with the rotating drum. Above the drum, there was an ink wheel connected for transferring ink and a container for storing ink—this was a simple-structured, technically primitive printing press.

A machine capable of continuous printing, capable of changing the world.

Gawain knew that if the people’s material life was satisfied but their mental life could not be promptly fulfilled, society would inevitably descend into chaos, and the more severe this mismatch between mind and matter, the greater the chaos would be.

So upon realizing that the population in the land was constantly increasing and the well-fed residents needed mental stimulation, he quickly thought of entertainment programs like chess, the leader’s deck, and billiards to relieve the mental stress caused by high-intensity continuous work and to improve everyone’s happiness living on this land.

But merely having entertainment is not enough.

Through the forced implementation of general education, more and more people on the land had a basic literacy, and with the increasing population and expanding cities, relying on the original town center bulletin boards and soldier preaching for ideological propaganda was clearly insufficient. Thus, Gawain thought of the necessity of enhancing the cultural construction on the land and increasing the intensity and means of propaganda.

Since everyone was literate, he would give them text—this was Gawain’s most straightforward idea.

The land was not devoid of printing technology. In fact, this world not only had mature papermaking techniques but also relatively mature block printing technology. The labels on the alchemical potions produced in the Alchemy Factory and the textbooks used by students at the Cecil General Academy were made with this printing technology. For the early stage, and even for the current phase of cultural promotion construction in the land, these technologies were sufficient, but they were far from enough for the future that Gawain wanted to achieve.

He needed more convenient, easier-to-edit and realize technologies suitable for large-scale industrial mass production to replace these two ”workshop technologies.”

So he designed such a continuous drum printer according to his memory and imagined appearance, but now he had to solve a problem—how to make a printing plate.

How to convert the edited content into embossed text on the drum in the quickest and most convenient way and then print it out?

The speed of traditional engraving plate making was obviously too slow, and it did not meet his requirements for ”ease of operation, ease of editing, and low cost.”

Honestly speaking, although Gawain could conceive most of the structure of this printing press, he had no idea how to realize the key technologies within it. Even though his memory had been enhanced and he could recall all the knowledge he had seen in his past life, he couldn’t imagine out of thin air things he had never encountered—and he felt that even knowing those key technologies might not help, whether they could be realized in this world with its strange physical rules was another matter...

He had to think from the perspective of magic to find a solution, but unfortunately, he had not yet figured out a way.

After pondering for a while in front of the desk, he raised his head and called out to the outside of the study: ”Betty!”

The young maid immediately pushed the door open and entered, bowing deeply: ”Master!”

”Go call Rebecca.”

A moment later, the young viscountess of the Cecil Clan arrived in Gawain’s study.

Gawain lifted his head from the blueprint and saw Rebecca looking at him with curiosity. Her sleeves, hands, and face were still smudged with black stains, as if she had just come out of a workshop. He couldn’t help but laugh: ”Did you get scorched by your own fireball again?”

”No!” Rebecca quickly waved her hand to explain, ”I just came back from the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute and haven’t had time to wash my face—I was researching the ’Gearbox’ you mentioned before...”

”Alright, I’m not blaming you, you’re doing proper work,” Gawain shook his head with a smile and gestured for her to come closer, ”Come over here, I have a task for you.”