Free Web NovelChapter 81: The Preliminary Data
Four days later, the office of Helmarte Soap Works had become significantly busier.
The steam engine had created a problem that neither Ernest nor Hollen had anticipated. It wasn’t manufacturing. It wasn’t financing. It wasn’t even competition.
It was paperwork.
The large table in the office was covered in maps, ledgers, sheets of paper, and rough sketches. Several clerks moved in and out of the room carrying additional documents while a kettle of tea sat forgotten in one corner, having gone cold hours ago.
Hollen looked around the office and sighed.
"I miss soap."
Ernest didn’t even look up from the papers he was reading.
"You say that every time we start a new business."
"Because every new business gives me more paperwork."
The forge owner dropped himself onto a chair and stared at the stack of documents before him. There were reports from Northport, letters from suppliers, payroll records, and now three separate files containing information about flour mills, sawmills, and mining operations.
The company wasn’t even called Helmarte Machine Works yet.
Construction was still underway.
And somehow, they already had clients.
It felt absurd.
A knock interrupted his thoughts.
"Come in."
The door opened, and all three businessmen entered together.
Sebastian carried a thick ledger under one arm. Edgar had several rolled-up drawings tucked beneath his shoulder. Thomas arrived carrying an entire wooden box.
Hollen looked at them.
Then at the papers they carried.
Then at Ernest.
"Oh no."
The young businessman smiled.
"What?"
"I know that look."
"What look?"
"The one where you don’t sleep for several weeks."
The three businessmen looked confused.
Ernest ignored him.
"Did you bring the information I requested?"
All three men nodded.
Suddenly, they looked like students reporting to a teacher.
Sebastian approached first and placed his ledger on the table.
"My mills. Production records. Number of workers. Existing equipment."
Edgar followed.
"Sawmill layouts and dimensions."
Thomas carefully placed the wooden box down.
"I brought maps of the mines."
The room became quiet.
Ernest’s eyes practically lit up. freeweɓnovel.cøm
Hollen saw it.
And sighed.
"Gods help me."
The young businessman sat down and immediately opened the first ledger.
For several minutes, the room remained silent except for the turning of pages.
Sebastian’s largest flour mill operated four millstones, each nearly one and a half meters in diameter. They were driven by a waterwheel that barely produced enough power during summer. Production frequently slowed, forcing him to reject orders.
Ernest quickly began making notes.
Four millstones.
Potential expansion to eight.
Additional sifters.
Grain conveyors.
Storage elevators.
His quill moved continuously across the paper.
Meanwhile, Edgar unrolled his drawings.
The sawmill was surprisingly large.
Three saw frames.
Two storage yards.
One drying area.
A river running directly beside the property.
The owner pointed at the drawings.
"Every winter, production drops by almost half."
Ernest nodded.
The river froze.
Simple as that.
The sawmill owner continued.
"Workers manually drag logs from here."
He pointed toward one section.
"Then they move them again."
Another section.
"And then again."
Another.
The young businessman blinked.
"Your workers move the same logs three times?"
Edgar looked confused.
"Is that unusual?"
"It is horribly inefficient."
The sawmill owner frowned.
"I thought that was normal."
"It is."
Ernest smiled.
"That’s the problem."
Hollen laughed.
There it was again.
Another industry about to discover that Ernest had opinions on efficiency.
Then Thomas opened his wooden box.
Inside were rolled maps, sketches, and handwritten reports.
The mining representative spread everything across the table.
The room immediately became serious.
Because the maps showed tunnels.
Shafts.
Flooded sections.
Abandoned excavations.
Areas marked in red.
Thomas pointed toward one location.
"This mine closed seventeen years ago."
Then another.
"This one, twenty-one."
Another.
"Twenty-three."
He looked at Ernest.
"All because of water."
The young businessman remained quiet as he studied the maps.
Deep shafts.
Large ore deposits.
Flooded sections.
Actually, there was a fortune hidden underground.
A massive fortune.
And everyone in the room knew it.
Thomas folded his arms.
"If you can solve this problem, Eastgate Mining Company will never forget it."
The office became quiet.
Finally, Ernest leaned back.
Then he smiled.
"Alright."
All three men straightened.
The young businessman grabbed three blank sheets of paper.
One.
Two.
Three.
He wrote names at the top.
Ravenford Milling Company.
Byrne Timber and Sawmill.
Eastgate Mining Company.
Then he looked at each man in turn.
"We’re going to treat these as engineering projects."
Silence.
"Each project begins with surveys."
He pointed toward Sebastian.
"I need to inspect your mills personally."
Then toward Edgar.
"I need to inspect your sawmill."
Then Thomas.
"I need to see the mines."
The mining representative looked surprised.
"You’ll go into the mines yourself?"
"How else am I supposed to design an engine for them?"
That was fair.
Very fair.
Ernest continued.
"After the surveys, I prepare designs."
He wrote another line.
Survey.
Design.
Construction.
Testing.
Commissioning.
The businessmen watched quietly.
The process looked almost military.
Structured.
Organized.
Methodical.
Nothing like the way most workshops operated.
Sebastian frowned.
"How long will all of this take?"
Ernest thought for a moment.
"Months."
All three looked disappointed.
The young businessman raised a hand.
"But."
They immediately looked up.
"You’ll have the first steam engines in the kingdom."
Silence.
The statement hung in the air.
Because it was true.
The first.
The advantages that came with being first were enormous.
Thomas was the first to speak.
"I’ll wait."
"So will I," Sebastian said.
Edgar nodded.
"I’ve waited years for my river to stop freezing. I can wait a few more months."
A smile slowly appeared on Ernest’s face.
Then another thought entered his mind.
A dangerous one.
He looked toward Hollen.
The forge owner immediately frowned.
"What?"
"We’re going to need more workers."
"No."
"We’re going to need draftsmen."
"No."
"We’re going to need surveyors."
"No."
"We’re going to need machinists."
"Absolutely not."
The three businessmen looked between them.
Ernest folded his arms.
"We’re becoming an engineering company."
Hollen looked horrified.
"We make soap!"
"We also make steam engines."
"We accidentally make steam engines!"
Laughter immediately filled the office.
Even Thomas couldn’t help smiling.
Eventually, the room calmed.
Ernest looked at the papers spread across the desk.
Three projects.
Three industries.
Three custom machines.
The scale of the task was enormous.
But underneath the challenge was something else.
Excitement.
Because this was precisely what he had envisioned.
The steam engine wasn’t merely a product.
It was a solution.
A flour mill needed torque.
A sawmill needed steady rotational power and material handling.
A mine needed pumps.
Every industry had problems.
And engineering existed to solve problems.
Outside the window, workers continued building Helmarte Machine Works. The sound of hammers echoed across the yard while carts delivered timber and bricks. Construction had only begun a few days ago.
Yet inside the office, orders were already arriving.
Customers were already waiting.
Projects were already being planned.
Hollen followed Ernest’s gaze and slowly shook his head.
"I still can’t believe this."
"What?"
The forge owner pointed outside.
"We haven’t even finished building the company."
He pointed toward the papers.
"And we already have work."
Ernest smiled.
The same realization had occurred to him.
The market had spoken.
And apparently, it wanted steam.
A lot of steam.
