Chương 460: 454. Progress Check - III

Cedoron chuckled.

"Yeah. I need to make the scorpion parts. Again. I think we got enough steel in this first batch to make two or maybe even three scorpions. The next batch of steel will be ready in another week, with a new batch coming every week after that." Duvas raised his eyebrows.

"I know we're buying much more iron than we need right now to stock up on it because of the low prices, but I still didn't expect we would be getting that much steel every week. I'm not even sure we have enough use for it all..."

"Of course we do," Kivamus said.

"Nearly all the weapons of our guards can eventually be upgraded and remade with steel, and that alone will give them an edge in any fight. But we also need more scorpions, and even more crossbows. It's true that for the moment we'll be getting more steel than we can immediately use, but any surplus will be forged by Cedoron into ingots and kept here in the manor for safekeeping. The three cementation furnaces give more steel than we need right now, but before long, we'll be short of it again."

"But how?" Duvas asked, looking genuinely surprised. The blacksmith and the captain were watching him closely too. Kivamus just smiled.

"You'll see. In time." Duvas nodded.

"Earlier I was thinking that perhaps we could even sell some steel back to the visiting merchants to earn some revenue, but if you say we will be short on it soon, then maybe it would be better not to do that..."

"There is no way we can risk selling it," Kivamus remarked.

"Iron may be selling for cheap right now, but steel is still very valuable, and rare. The news of a new source of steel coming in the market would immediately reach the ears of all the merchants and foundries in the dutchy, as well as any nobles whose domains produce it and earn a profit from it. So we simply can't risk anyone else finding out about our capacity to make steel.

It helps that all that process is being done away from the village near the dam—which no one else knows about—and only trusted workers are sent to work in that area. Even if a visitor to the village notices the higher than expected availability of steel here—like a guards' sword—they would likely assume that we just bought it from somewhere else." He shrugged.

"Anyway, our primary use for steel is only for weaponry right now—scorpions, swords, spearheads, daggers, and so on, which means no visitor can examine them from up close, which will keep our secret safe for a while. Of course, our current scale of steelmaking is negligible compared to what the foundries of Ulriga produce, but it is still not a good idea to sell it. Just be glad that no one is noticing our high purchases of iron ingots because its demand is low these days." Duvas nodded slowly.

"I understand." Kivamus turned back to Cedoron.

"After you finish all the steel components for the first scorpion, hand them over to Darora so he can assemble it and we can test it again. He has already crafted the wooden parts for two more scorpions by now. But you shouldn't make any more steel components before the testing is done, in case there's some problem during the fitting and assembly." Once the blacksmith nodded, Kivamus continued, "In the meantime, you need to start making the components for the first lathe.

You already have the blueprints, and you've had weeks to study them. Can you do it?" Cedoron nodded immediately.

"Of course. I know how much the trip hammer is helping in forging already, so I want to see how much a lathe improves things too. The scorpion components will be easy enough since I've already made them before. The lathe components are new, so I'll probably need a few tries to get them right. But I think I can finish one set of scorpion components in around three days, and then the lathe components in another week after that."

"That's good enough," Kivamus said.

"Darora can assemble the scorpion while you're forging the lathe parts, and we can do a proper round of testing at that time. If everything works well, and once the lathe components are ready, Darora can assemble the lathe next, since he already has the wooden parts for the first one completed. While we test that, you can go back to making scorpion components in bulk after that, since they will already have been tried and tested."

"Of course, milord," Cedoron said.

"I'll do as you say. Since we have steel now, I'll get started on the Vernier calipers too from that blueprint, which'll be needed for a lathe to work. It'll take me some time to catch up on the steel components for the scorpions and the lathes. But after that I can start making steel swords, daggers, and other weapons as you wanted, as long as we have the raw material—which we should, if we keep getting this much steel every week."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Kivamus smiled.

"Yeah, that works. The full benefits of using steel will not be apparent immediately, but in the long-term, your maintenance workload will go down because the steel parts will break or wear out far less often. Once we are making steel at an even larger scale, we can start replacing our mining tools with steel parts, which will reduce the upkeep there while also increasing the productivity of coal mines. That will give you more time to work on other important stuff like steel weapons and armor." Hudan grunted.

"That'll give a nasty shock to enemies trying to fight us!" Kivamus looked at the burly smith.

"Talking about armor reminds me, what do you think about making chainmail now that we have steel? We already talked about it in the past, and it will give a real boost to our guards' survivability." Cedoron nodded.

"Of course. I can do that too. It's not possible immediately—my workload is getting high again with all these new orders, even with the new apprentices I've hired—but once I've caught up on the more urgent work, we can certainly try making chainmail here. Now that I have two forges, as well as a triphammer helping me and my workers, I should start catching up with the regular orders of mining tools and repair work within a month. So, give me maybe... two months...

to make the scorpion components for all six of them, and lathe components for a few machines, and then I'll try to make a chainmail here."

"Perfect!" Kivamus grinned. Cedoron added, "It would help a lot though if you brought an armorer here. He would already have the experience for making chainmail and other types of armor, so I can just supply the steel wire to him and he can do the rest." Kivamus nodded.

"We are already doing our best to attract all kinds of craftsmen here. I can't say if we'll be able to get an armorer to move here anytime soon, but let's hope we get lucky there." The blacksmith gave a nod and gathered the steel bars from them to return to his tasks, but he paused and looked at Kivamus.

"I have to say though, I didn't expect you to keep me and the other craftsmen on your own payroll even after you started paying everyone else in coins." Kivamus frowned slightly.

"I've been paying you directly for months now. Is there a problem? Are you unhappy with your wage?" Cedoron shook his head at once.

"Not at all. In fact, this is better. Now I don't have to worry about how to pay the apprentices, or to keep a ledger for all that. Sir Duvas handles it now, since he pays all of us. That lets me focus on the only thing I actually want to do, which is smithing. And I have no complaints about the wages either." He shifted the bars in his hands.

"I've asked around already. I don't think anyone here earns more than me, do they?" Kivamus glanced once at Duvas before answering.

"I can't give you the full details of what I'm paying everyone, but all the master craftsmen—like you, Darora, and Taniok—are on the same rate of 25 coppers a day." Cedoron nodded.

"I know that much. Taniok already told me. And I think you'll be tight on money these days, now that you've started paying so many people at once. But no, I have no complaints. Leah earns 12 coppers a day too, and now she's getting proper wages as well, so with both our incomes together we probably make more than most households in Tiranat anyway—apart from the merchants, of course. I can hardly ask you to pay me more." He gave a short shrug.

"And this is a wage, not my smithy's revenue. From the revenue, I'd have to pay apprentices and buy raw materials, but this wage is pure profit to me. Since I get the full wage without any cut, twenty-five coppers a day adds up to 7 gold and 5 silvers a month. Add Leah's income to it and it goes above 10 gold monthly." Kivamus nodded.

"Yeah, it is somewhere around that." The blacksmith shifted again, this time with a more serious look.

"It's true that in the past there were some months when I made more than 10 gold in profit, but that was years ago. The past few years weren't easy, and the year before you arrived I was mostly doing repair work for the manor, because the previous baron bought most of the tools from visiting merchants. My profit back then was barely two to three gold a month." He looked Kivamus in the eye and smiled.

"Compared to that, what I'm earning now feels like a noble's fortune. So I'm more than satisfied. I know you're trying your best for everyone, even if it can't be easy to manage this village. Thank you for that." Kivamus returned the smile.

"I'm just doing what I need to do to make this village safe and my people content." Cedoron nodded, gave a quick bow, and took his leave. Hudan watched him go, then looked back at Kivamus with raised eyebrows." Chainmail? I never heard about that... I had no idea you were even thinking of it." Kivamus snorted.

"I think about a lot of things. We just rarely have the skill or raw materials for them in Tiranat. But once we've made enough scorpions and lathes, we can start drawing steel into long wires and try making chainmail. It'll be very labor intensive though—even one suit would take a great deal of work. But let's leave that for a couple of months till Cedoron gets some free time for that. Or, until we get an armorer to move to Tiranat." Then he looked at Duvas.

"Did you get time to tally all the deposits we received for our banking system?" Duvas nodded.

"Yeah. I haven't fully added it all yet, since manor residents still keep coming to me to deposit their savings at all times of the day, but I think most of those who wanted to deposit have already done that. I think there will be a few more people who will do that in the coming days but I have an estimate now. And trust me, the news is surprising."