Chapter 59

Chapter 59: < The Temple and the Art. >

Countless factories were being built in the Wakan Tanka Empire.

And one of the fastest-growing fields was papermaking and printing.

To begin with, a lot of paper was needed to make textbooks for schools and newspapers that came out every month.

Not only that?

All the documents used by various departments of the empire were also made of paper.

The ledgers of the merchants were all recorded on paper.

The demand for paper was enormous.

But as time went by, the demand for paper increased explosively, even considering these factors.

There were several reasons for this.

One of them was the Spirit Temple.

The Wakan Tanka Empire did not originally have a separate time to worship the spirits every weekend.

But as the spirit myths spread widely through the newspapers, and a class of intellectuals who were deeply fascinated by them emerged, the story changed.

“Your Majesty, there are still many people in this world who do not know the holy will of the spirits. We want to guide these people to the right path, with all due respect. Please grant us permission!”

In other words, they decided to become missionaries like the churches in Europe.

To do anything related to spirits, they needed the permission of Kim Ki-woo, the living spirit.

So they came to Kim Ki-woo and strongly argued.

“Hmm…”

Kim Ki-woo looked into their eyes.

The eyes of the missionary hopefuls were very firm.

If Kim Ki-woo accepted their request, they would surely spread across the continent beyond their homeland.

And they would do their best for the mission.

However, Kim Ki-woo knew well that uncontrolled religion was prone to corruption and degeneration, and caused all kinds of problems.

Therefore, he could not just agree to their proposal.

“I understand your thoughts. I also sympathize with your opinions.”

“Then…”

“But!”

Kim Ki-woo immediately added a caveat.

“There is one condition.”

“We will follow anything.”

They did not hesitate at all, even though he had not said the content yet. 

They seemed to accept anything.

“Listen first and then answer.”

“…We will do that.”

Soon Kim Ki-woo began to state his condition.

“I respect your noble intentions. I also think it is necessary to spread the word of the spirits to the world.”

In the Old Continent, wars were still being waged for religious reasons at this very moment.

Religion was more important than anything else in this era.

If the empire’s spirit faith spread to the backward areas of the continent, it would surely be a great help to the empire.

“However, you must not oppress or persecute the indigenous people of the continent for religious reasons.”

“We will not do that.”

“Have you never had such a thought even once?”

“…”

The man could not answer.

It would have been a lie if he said there was none.

They were intellectuals who were most captivated by spirit faith.

That meant they were beings who disliked any other faiths except spirit faith.

So they firmly believed that everyone should believe in spirit faith and had thoughts of preaching it.

“I will prevent this by establishing a Spirit Temple. From now on, anyone who wants to propagate the great words of the spirits must belong to the Spirit Temple. If you do that, I will allow you.”

“Is the head of this Spirit Temple…”

The man trailed off his words.

Kim Ki-woo smiled faintly and nodded his head.

“Yes. I will be in charge.”

The moment Kim Ki-woo agreed.

Their faces instantly turned into ecstasy.

“Oh!”

“We will definitely do that!”

“We will follow your will!”

The men’s reactions were very hot.

It couldn’t be helped.

The head of the Spirit Temple was the only spirit in the continent, so it was ideal in terms of symbolism.

After discussions related to the Spirit Temple passed through the imperial conference,

This news quickly spread.

“Spiritual Temple?”

“That’s right. You don’t have to pray alone at home anymore. Besides, they say they teach you the words of the spirits at the temple. Let’s go together this time.”

“Hahaha! Of course, I have to go!”

The citizens of the empire were ecstatic about the emergence of the Spiritual Temple.

Based on this enthusiasm, the Spiritual Temples quickly increased in number throughout the empire.

After finishing their daily work, the citizens went to the nearest Spiritual Temple to pray for a short time.

Moreover, when the formal worship began, the concept of weekends was born.

Of course, they had given holidays once in a while before, but it was thanks to the Spiritual Temple that they had a regular cycle.

Thus, the citizens who believed in the spirits gathered on the same day and held a large-scale worship service.

As time passed, it became natural that the spirit faith took deep root.

Then, the printed books of spirit mythology began to sell like hotcakes.

When they worshiped together and recited the words of the spirits, they each had to have a book of spirit mythology.

When demand increased, supply naturally followed.

Thanks to that, paper mills and printing factories grew rapidly.

It was truly a boom in the printing business.

The good news didn’t end there.

“Is there nothing to see? It’s boring to come home after worship.”

“Haha. Why don’t you go drink some alcohol instead?”

“I wish I could… But my wife told me not to drink on weekends. Sigh.”

“Then why don’t you buy some other storybooks and read them?”

“Hmm. Should I?”

As weekends were created thanks to worship, the citizens’ leisure time increased.

They started to rest consistently for one or two days a week.

Thanks to that, self-employed businesses such as pubs, tea houses, and restaurants were activated.

The gap between rich and poor in the empire was very small, so most of the citizens were consumers. 

And with the currency being universalized, these businesses became much easier.

But these things couldn’t keep up with the growth of bookstores.

The size of bookstores exploded.

The bestseller of bookstores was undoubtedly spirit mythology.

But people didn’t just buy spirit mythology at bookstores.

Reading spirit mythology meant that they could read letters.

The citizens improved their reading comprehension quickly by reading spirit mythology and newspapers regularly.

After all, spirit mythology was also a storybook.

Moreover, thanks to the literary works published in newspapers, the citizens were familiar with storybooks.

“Did you get The Wolf Princess?”

“Haha. You’re a bit late. The stock that came in today just sold out.”

“Already?”

“It’s very popular, you know. Come back in a week. I’ll set aside a book for you.”

“Sigh, I want to read it soon… Okay. I’ll come back in a week.”

Many storybooks sold out.

Some of them were written by Kim Ki-woo, but there were more new creations.

Stories that had been handed down orally in various regions were adapted and published. And as these writings made money, various writers emerged.

Of course, there weren’t only storybooks in bookstores.

As I said, the citizens considered it a virtue to learn various knowledge.

Thanks to that, books that discussed various scientific phenomena or books that contained thoughts and philosophy also sold well.

In addition, letters, diaries, notes and so on also increased paper demand.

This greatly increased the speed of knowledge exchange.

***

As the economy was activated and many citizens became wealthy, the art of the empire also developed rapidly.

‘I need more instruments.’

Kim Ki-woo had been thinking this since the beginning.

Of course, there were also native instruments here.

But compared to the rich variety of instruments from the old continent, they were pitifully different.

Moreover, since the empire was made up of people from many tribes, those instruments were also inconsistent.

Music plays an important role in cultural development.

Therefore, Kim Ki-woo made instruments that he thought were essential from time to time.

He only knew their shapes but not their structures for instruments. 

So especially carpenters had many trials and errors.

But as time passed, satisfactory instruments appeared one after another.

He also created sounds and notes and established harmony and music basics. 

He tried hard to implement various music in his head in reality.

“Wow. It’s really beautiful.”

“It makes me feel relaxed. It’s a different taste from watching a play.”

“Haha. That’s true.”

As time passed, bands that played music professionally with these instruments appeared.

The theater troupe had already established itself by then.

The plays that performed the overflowing stories were very popular, so people flocked to the theater every weekend.

In this situation, the band came across as fresh to the imperial citizens.

Thus, the imperial citizens enjoyed cultural life as they had material abundance and rest.

They opened their eyes to art.

Naturally, the demand for beautiful ornaments, artworks, and other things also steadily increased.

As time went by, the imperial citizens began to look for aesthetic value, and the artist class grew rapidly.

“The capital is the worst. How can this sacred place where His Majesty resides be like this?”

“Sigh. Who doesn’t know that?”

And among the many imperial citizens, including the newly emerged artists, there were many who disliked the sight of the capital.

All the buildings in the capital looked similar and were arranged regularly.

Of course, there were also artists who praised this standardized beauty, but they were only a minority.

The level of architects had already risen to an unrecognizable degree, and buildings of beautiful styles were built all over the empire.

But the capital, which was the heart of the empire, was in this state.

The artists couldn’t help but lament.

But they couldn’t tear down all the brick houses that were built in the early days just because they didn’t like the appearance of the capital.

If you don’t like the temple, you have to leave the middle.

“I’m thinking of leaving the capital too.”

“Are you going to Deer’s Echo too?”

“Yeah. Don’t you want to come with me this time?”

“Hmm. I still like the capital.”

The artists who were fed up with the bleak sight of the capital gathered and created a city full of their desires.

That was Deer’s Echo.

Deer’s Echo was a relatively underdeveloped area that was quite close to the capital.

But as the artists created a beautiful city, countless imperial citizens began to live in Deer’s Echo.

The most advanced architectural styles were implemented in Deer’s Echo first, and numerous artworks such as sculptures, paintings, treasures, etc. were created here.

Thanks to this, artists wanted to work here and constantly attracted artists from nearby areas.

This created a virtuous cycle that further developed the art city.

“Damn it. This won’t do. I have to make a more amazing work.”

As many artists gathered, there were many attempts to make more amazing artworks than others.

This naturally led to development.

Thanks to this, various styles of artworks were created every day, and outdated styles disappeared.

It was truly a renaissance of art in the Waktanga Empire.

< The Temple and Art. > The End