Chapter 52: A World With Magic
Although the blacksmith shop is already under construction, it is still too early to be completely completed - and in Gawain's plan, the current wooden house is actually not the same as the "blacksmith shop" that people in this world know at all. However, in order to facilitate everyone's understanding, he temporarily called this place a blacksmith shop.
According to what he meant, he was going to name the place "Cecil Steel Works"...
As the only blacksmith in the territory at present, Old Hammer was also quite puzzled by the "blacksmith's shop" ordered by the Duke. In his opinion, this building really took up an unnecessarily large area, except for a surprisingly large one. In addition to the board house, it also includes an open space with a length and width of 100 meters and a wooden shed with only a few brackets erected at present. He didn't dare to say that the illustrious founding grand duke was a layman who did not know how to pretend to understand blind command - although he really thought so in his heart, he absolutely did not dare to say it.
After all, he is just a commoner, and the other party is a great noble who can be on an equal footing with His Majesty the King.
And because of the staggering footprint of this "smithy", it could only be placed on the eastern edge of the camp, with its "great yard" extending into the wasteland outside like a bulge out of a neat wooden fence So funny, and the guys brought from Tanzania are so little in this huge blacksmith shop: they only occupy a corner of the wooden house, and the only iron furnace is still placed When we got to the open space outside, we covered it with a simple wooden shed to prevent the wind and rain.
As for Gawain, he arranged the reserved land for the blacksmith shop so large, and it was close to the edge of the territory, just considering the future production capacity demand and the convenience of expansion - those traditional and one of the era. A master with a few apprentices, a hut with a furnace, a smithy with a clink of iron was not what he needed at all.
But he couldn't explain it all to the old blacksmith and his stupid apprentices now.
In addition to the consideration of production capacity and future expansion, Gawain did not intend to directly set up a pile of earth blast furnaces in this yard like the traveler predecessors in the novels he had read, although he did think so. , but after seeing Hetty use the power of magic to dock the raft and reinforce the foundation of the camp a few days ago, he temporarily suppressed this idea and turned to the only blacksmith in the territory, Hammer, to build it in the yard. A traditional furnace.
He came to the blacksmith's shop, where Rebecca was already waiting, as well as the old blacksmith Hammer with gray hair and beard, several of his apprentices, and a few other commissars in short shirts standing in the yard, In the big basket under their feet was the first shipment of ore.
Gawain walked straight to the traditional melting pot.
It was a furnace that looked rather crude. It was about one meter high and was divided into two distinct upper and lower parts. The lower part was an enlarged hemispherical structure, and the upper part quickly contracted into a cylinder. On the lower hemispherical structure You can also see two openings, one below, where fuel is apparently added, and the other near the cylindrical structure, where ore should be poured.
These parts are nothing fancy, just a normal furnace, but its special place is on the side.
There are three runes lined up there.
All three runes are inscribed on a pitch-black slab of stone, and all three slabs are apparently meticulously polished and carefully repositioned before being mounted on the furnace to ensure they are perfectly spaced and have parallel edges. The bottom stone piece is engraved with a triangular symbol, and there is a wavy line in the symbol, which is the starting character representing the element of fire in the magic book; the middle stone piece is a square with a diamond inside it. It is the initial character of the earth element; on the upper stone piece is a swirling symbol,
That is related to the wind element, but not the starting character.
In addition to the three stone flakes, some fine, sparkling dust could be seen in the material of the furnace body. Gawain knew what it was: quartz sand, the quartz sand of "this world".
Quartz sand is a material with magical properties. Although its effect is extremely weak, it is widely used because it is cheap enough to be used by ordinary people.
Gawain raised his head and glanced at the old blacksmith: "You built this stove?"
"Yes, yes sir..." When the old blacksmith heard the lord's question, he grabbed the hat in his hand nervously, and hurriedly lowered his head to answer, "Oh, half of it was made by me, half of it was by me directing the apprentices. made..."
Gawain nodded, but there were no more questions.
Magic is an extraordinary power, and it does not belong to the realm that "untouchables" can touch, but in this world full of magic, even commoners who cannot cast magic actually have shadows of magic in their lives.
Some basic uses of magic do not require knowledge and ability to cast spells - everyone has magic in their bodies, and as long as a specific material is used and a simple symbol is engraved on a material of a specific shape, everyone can slightly inspire those who are not. Wonderful power everywhere.
This is not a spellcasting at all, and its effect is so weak to those who are truly "extraordinary" that it is almost ridiculous. This kind of borrowing is like picking up a stick on the ground to use as a crutch, and picking up a stone everywhere to smash walnuts. Without any technical content, even illiterate civilians can remember how to draw a few symbols with weak effect, but it is this little bit of power that determines that this world is completely different from the hometown that Gawain is familiar with. place.
It's like the one degree Celsius that the water is boiling.
With those three runes, this "traditional furnace" can smelt molten iron without the aid of a blower and without optimizing the structure of the combustion chamber, using only wood as fuel.
If the rune of the element of fire is engraved on a piece of mithril, the stove can even be fueled with straw!
However, it is precisely because of the existence of these ancient runes that the human beings in this world have not considered how to improve the efficiency of the furnace from the perspective of improving the fuel combustion efficiency-the only thing they are constantly improving is the material used to write the runes. , and the format of the rune itself.
Therefore, Gawain did not build any earthen blast furnace, but first observed this primitive and backward traditional furnace.
The old blacksmith Hammer looked more and more nervously at the great noble in front of him. He didn't know that the other party suddenly asked a question and then studied the purpose of the furnace. He didn't know if he did something wrong. He only knew that the noble It is powerful and moody-although the lord Miss Rebecca and the previous lords are kind and generous, this one is the legendary pioneering hero, a thorough warrior, and a duke. , what would be the character of such a great aristocrat?
And just when the old blacksmith was uneasy, Gawain finally straightened up and asked him a second question: "In such a furnace, how much iron can you smelt every day with a sufficient supply of ore? "
Hamilton breathed a sigh of relief: finally asked a normal question.
"If you use that kind of ore over there, you can make 50 catties of iron every day." The old blacksmith said proudly.
However, when Gawain heard this answer, he couldn't help frowning: "So few?"
With the help of those runes, how much is the output?
"Isn't that too little?" Hammer couldn't help but said, and then he made up for it nervously, "I'm not questioning your judgment, sir, but..."
"It's okay, don't be nervous talking to me," Gawain reassured the old master, "I am the lord who protects you, not the robber who came to kill you."
"Yes... yes sir," Hammer wiped his sweat nervously, and then explained, "but this is really the limit. The furnace looks big from the outside, but the space inside is actually limited, and every time you practice After finishing a furnace, you have to rest for an hour to let the runes outside the furnace cool down. In this way, the furnace must be completely cooled down, and then the fire must be re-ignited... After going back and forth like this, you can make 50 pounds of iron every day. It's the limit!"
"Let the runes cool down?" Gawain frowned.
"Yes," explained Hammer, "it's just a little trick of our people carved on black stone, it's nothing compared to the real magic runes of those master mages, it's easy to break, especially fire runes, with fire Elemental contact will crack for a long time, even if it is replaced with a stronger material, it will not work. Once the rune cracks, the whole furnace will be useless, so when making iron, it is absolutely impossible to continuously burn... "
"What if you make the stove bigger?" Gawain asked again.
"That can't be helped," said Hammer worriedly, wondering how the Duke could ask such a difficult question, "The rune can only provide so much firepower, and if the furnace gets bigger, the firepower will not be enough, and the ore will not be refined. Hot metal, and the earth runes will also fail, and there will be more impurities in the refined iron ingots, which will be completely unusable..."
Gawain pinched his chin: "So the restriction on production is entirely because of these runes?"
The old blacksmith blinked, but he didn't really understand what it meant by restricting production, but he nodded quickly: "Yes, yes, it's runes."
Gawain looked at Rebecca: "Do you think that if you replace the runes with... um, why don't you call Heidi over..."
Rebecca immediately blushed: "Lord Ancestor, I also understand magic theory! It's just that I can't build a spell model..."
"Theoretical knowledge is okay?" Gao Wen raised his eyebrows, "Then how do you think we should solve this problem?"
Rebecca thought hard: "Since you said that the rune is a shortcoming, then replace the rune?"
"Replace with what?"
Rebecca continued to use her brain: "Actually, the functions of these runes are very simple, nothing more than raising temperature, controlling airflow, controlling impurities, etc., and they are the ones with extremely weak effects, if they are replaced by real magic circles. , the efficiency can be improved many times - and the magic circle can channel energy by itself, and continuous operation will not cause self-destruction..."
Gawain raised his eyebrows: "Carve a magic circle on every iron furnace?"
"But actually not," Rebecca stuck out her tongue, "Aunt Hetty and I can help to carve a few magic circles, but... Blacksmiths and blacksmith apprentices can't use them!"