‘When Lakrak first discovered the hard iron, I thought it would make good armaments.’

However, when Sung-Woon checked the information on the hard iron pieces, he found out it would be difficult to do anything with it at the current stage of civilization. It wasn’t impossible, but it wouldn’t be efficient. So they either had to tell the truth about the iron and sell it at a lower price, or they could pretend it was a normal piece of iron and make fraudulent trades.

Lakrak was aware of both choices, but found another way to go about it.

‘The ancient people knew ways of making better iron. Why can’t we do that?’

Lakrak asked tribes with high technology levels if the iron pieces he had could be smelted. Automation was just one of the tribes he had consulted. Lakrak hadn’t expected much at first. However, Hwee-Kyung was a person with an innovative idea.

‘There are many people with ideas like mine. Even a beggar in the corner of the market may have an idea to help people produce more grain in a small plot of land, or a way to preserve food longer. But they don’t have as many assets as I do.’

Not only did Hwee-Kyung have an innovative idea, she also had a wealth of resources,...