THE PRINTERS OF HERALD TIMES
"The Church's influence in Drachia kingdom diminished greatly after the apostles retreated from Starri city. Mithridocus is a major family, and their influence remains strong especially in Eloora city. It wouldn't be easy for the Church to wipe them out", Anitor told us.
"What does the Mithridocus family wants with your father?" Eless asked me.
"I don't know yet", I replied to him.
"Don't worry, my sources have already located Orol and he is safe. The Mithridocus family kept him as a guest in the family", Iras told me.
"I will need to go to Eloora city", I said to them.
"Do you need any help? Our Control Freak sect can help you", Iras asked if I needed his help.
"You have your hands full with prosecuting the crimes of the Ivior sect. I can deal with this and besides, it's about time to meet the King", I said to them.
"What are you saying? You want to meet the King of Drachia kingdom?" Iviar asked me.
"I believe I would be invited to the palace in Eloora soon", I replied to him.
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Eloora City, though not the grand capital of the Drachian Kingdom, held immense significance as the seat of the king and his esteemed Royal court.
Nestled upon the lofty plateau of a towering mountain, its strategic elevation afforded it natural defenses against both terrestrial foes and the formidable creatures that roamed the kingdom below.
To approach Eloora City on foot meant embarking on a journey of arduous ascent, scaling the majestic stairway that wound its way up the rugged slopes of Mount Eloora.
Spanning thousands of steps, this path was not merely a utilitarian climb. Rather, it was imbued with life, adorned by buildings that clung to the mountainside like stalwart sentinels.
Along this vertical thoroughfare, shops and dwellings offered respite and sustenance to weary travelers, breaking the monotony of the climb with their bustling activity.
For those who found the trek taxing, leisure and rest awaited in the form of inns and hotels strategically positioned along the staircase, providing solace amidst the toil.
Here, amidst the humble abodes of the common folk who inhabited the lower reaches of the mountain, the pulse of daily life thrummed steadily.
Yet, upon cresting the summit and beholding the vista that unfolded before them, visitors were greeted by a spectacle of unparalleled grandeur, where the humble dwellings of the ascent gave way to the splendor of Eloora City, a realm unto itself.
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"Why did we set up the printers here along the stairs to Eloora? We could establish our newspaper in Eloora city where the facilities are much better", Chash asked me as we inspected our printers on a building along the stairs of Eloora.
"The stairs of Eloora are where the people live. We can grasp the pulse of the people here unlike in the city where the opulence blinds us to reality. We are in the business of making news, we should plant our foot where the real people are", Raegeon, our publisher replied to him.
"But you only make fake news, it doesn't matter where you make them", Ratatouille said to Raegeon.
"We do not create fake news, mostly, although we report it from different angles", Raegeon replied to him.
"Come on, we did not come to question the prudence of our Chief Publisher", I told my golem friends to stop their questioning of our publisher.
Along the floors of the printers, there were artists who busily crafted masks on printing plates, carefully transferring their image into the plates.
"What are they doing to the metal plates?" Meera asked me curiously about the printing process.
"They first create a mask on the printing plates by drawing on it with magical ink. Later when the printing plates goes through our off-set printer, ink will be attracted to the image on the plates before it is transferred to a rubber roller. Later the image is printed to paper", Reageon explained to us our printing process.
"Who could have invented this method of printing? We have never heard about printers before in the Ten-Kingdoms", Cassandra asked.
"Many people contributed to the technology although Sara is the one who amalgamated magic into its operations", I replied to her.
"This rude Sara is a remarkable person", Meera said to us.
"Yes, even I must admire her intelligence although not her character", Cassandra told us.
We witnessed the process of printing our newspaper and the production process from masking the printing plates to the distribution of the newspaper.
"Did we come just to see your newspaper?" Ratatouille asked me impatiently because he wasn't interested in technology and manufacturing.
Ratatouille was more interested in stealing and plunder. Actual work bores him.
"I came to see Raegeon", I replied to him.
"Come this way", Raegeon asked me and brought me to a room.
Then Raegeon turned off the lights in the room.
"Do you want me to light up the room?" Chash asked us.
"No, keep your helmets on", I replied to him.
Suddenly, Chash's offer of lighting the room became moot when Raegeon turned the lights on again. But these weren't the lights on the ceiling. The light came from a projector that shone on a large screen in front of us.
"What is this?" Meera asked me curiously.
"This is a projector in a primitive form. With engineering, we can turn this into moving pictures", I told her.
Soon, images were projected on the screen one by one. The images were the reflections from the magical ink on printing plates that gave us a preview of the prints on screen before their actual printing.
"What kind of news are these? These are not news at all", Cassandra said to us and asked.
"The King of Drachia adopts a magnificent unicorn from the forests of Tarah city."
"Illustration of a magnificent Unicorn resting his head on the King"
"The favorite gowns of the Concubines of the King"
"How to please a king, by Concubine Shelly"
Many clippings of the news were shown in our projector and most of them are related to the gossip of royalty.