The Amber Sword

Chapter 106 – Trentheim and the young lord (6)

“Well then, my lord, you said you had a new idea?” Bosley took out a pipe and was about to light it when he recalled that Brendel disliked the smell. He put it back after a moment of hesitation.

“Ah, you will see what I mean in a moment. What about that matter that I requested?” Brendel asked.

Bosley took a moment to think what the youth was talking about.

“You mean the suits of armor? We’ve crafted two hundred sets, and the workshop is going full-time on them. However, our workers and the workshop’s size are still insufficient. I believe we need to have at least a hundred men and above before fulfilling your demands on time.”

[Two hundred suits of armor, that’s slightly below my expectations. But finding additional experienced workers and adding Magicite machines are impossible tasks right now.]

“I can try solving other problems if you have them, like the lack of certain materials, but Firburh is unable to sustain a big workshop. Even if we have the Macsen region it’s still insufficient. There are not enough machines—” Brendel said.

Another idea came into his mind. “If only we can make our own Elemental Forge.”

“Elemental Forge?” Bosley’s head snapped to Brendel’s direction.

He had used all kinds of furnaces in his work, and while he had not heard of that term before, he could roughly guess what it was.

“An Elemental Forge can directly absorb the Elements in the air and add to the smelting process,” Brendel explained.

It was a revolution in terms of forging techniques, but that was invented approximately twenty years later by an Elementalist born in a noble family. In that generation, there was a strong outburst of Mana throughout the continent, causing countless heroes and heroines to be born. There were numerous inventions to utilize the Mana as well.

[Unfortunately, I’m not the type of player to create inventions in the game. If my senior was here, she would be able to create one...... She’s an expert in this. Hmm. Was that inventor from Arreck or Vieiro? Maybe I can get that person like Amandina.] TL lol

“My lord, what exactly does it use for fuel? Charcoal? Or other types of specialized fuel like Magicite? By infusing the Fire Element, would it mean that the fire produced will be very clean? It’s not just an improvement by removing impurities in the flames because there’s an infusion of lements into the metal?” Bosley’s eyes lit up and his face flushed red.

He could almost imagine what it meant just from the name.

“...... Yes, I saw it from an ancient book. I believe it’s a lost technique made by Galbu Wizards.” Brendel lied through his teeth.

“Galbu’s techniques? My lord, but Galbu’s wizards use Mana Enchantment to forge items. They shouldn’t be using forges. Did they change their methods in the past few eras?” Medissa frowned slightly and raised an objection with her soft voice.

Brendel was momentarily stunned and realized that he made a mistake. He could craft random lies he wanted in the past when Medissa was not around, but now that she was sticking to him closely as a bodyguard, she saw through his lies easily since she was part of the Silver Alliance, just like the Galbu Wizards.

He took a while to think about the history of the Silver Alliance before finding a lame excuse with much difficulty:

“Oh. Then I’m not sure where it came from. I mean, I’m just someone who learned from the Black Tower’s wizards.”

Medissa nodded and looked at Brendel curiously: “Since my lord brought this up, I did think of one possibility. This sounds like what the Miirnas would do. The technique of Elemental Forging was lost long ago before the War of the Holy Saints. I believe that the book you saw was Galbu Wizards’ record about their old enemy’s techniques.”

Brendel’s lips jerked a few times when he heard his own lie getting fixed by Medissa. He nodded a few times to acknowledge her words. Bosley said a little emotionally:

“My lord, do you know how to construct it?”

“...... I understand the principals behind it but constructing it might be difficult.”

“Perhaps we can try building one?” Bosley immediately brought out papers and writing tools.

The idea of a new furnace was too much of a lure for him. He patted his chest with excitement:

“These old bones don’t have any other skills other than building things. I dare say that I’m unmatched in the whole of Aouine. Please go ahead and tell me about it, perhaps we can really recreate it!”

“It’s not that simple. The concept is easy enough, but there are a few major obstacles. First, we need a Mana Core and Mana Conductor to provide power. Second, we need to find a method to gather the Elements in the air and separate the Fire Element. Third, conversion of the Fire Element into flames.

The first obstacle requires the technology of utilizing Magicite. The second obstacle requires an Elementalist to research on the Magic Formations or handle it directly. The third obstacle requires an alchemist to design it.

I believe you can resolve the design of the furnace, but are you able to resolve these three obstacles?”

Bosley opened his mouth but no words came out.

“The collection of the Elements in the air. It’s not a difficult problem.” Medissa said.

“What? You know how to solve it?” Bosley blurted in a loud voice and even gave a little jump. His voice attracted the gazes of the blacksmiths and apprentices; he was slightly embarrassed but he could not hold back his enthusiasm: “Quickly tell us, girl, this thing is too important to us—”

Brendel secretly disagreed.

[It’s just a furnace. Sure, it solves the problem of our lack of fuel, and it can smelt metal better, but Trentheim doesn’t really produce any workable metal. How much can Cold Iron be gotten from Schafflund before it runs out? The fastest I can expand the workshop is after I make a trip to Ampere Seale.] (TL: Ampere Seale is the place with lots of markets in the north, if anyone can’t remember.)

But Brendel apparently did not expect his subtle dismissive expression to be caught by Bosley, and the grandmaster chastised him gravely:

“My lord, do you really understand the worth of this furnace? Based on your explanation, it sounds like the flames reach a higher temperature. Just based on this alone, I will be to remove more impurities. I don’t know if you can imbue the weapons and armors with Elements, but the equipment we created can be sold for more because of its quality. You can even sell a lesser version of the furnaces to the nobles, and I can assure you that they will be bought even if you quote them a high amount, which you can recruit more men into your army with the money gotten. Without a proper army, how can you protect yourself, and how would you be able to help the princess when your own life is suspect? The tension in the north is getting increasing every day. I don’t think Her Highness would be able to wait for you to get ready.”

Brendel felt a headache coming on when he heard Bosley’s nagging, but he immediately realized that the grandmaster blacksmith was right. He was still debating over what goods he should bring to Ampere Seale and it seemed like there was a good choice in front of him. He nodded and said:

“Please go ahead and tell your ideas to Grandmaster Bosley, Medissa.”

Medissa smiled and said: “The method is resolved through Magic Formations.”

“Magic Formations? But you can’t absorb the Elements and release only the Fire Element because the related Magic Formations don’t stack. Bridging them together with the Fortification Magic Formation won’t work because the Absorption Magic Formation is too restrictive in its conditions. Dividing the Magic Formations also won’t work because you need to separate the Elements so that the Fire Element can be released. Absorb, separate, release. You can only have two Magic Formations working at any given time here.”

This time it was Brendel who brought up his questions. Even in the past, he had not heard of a method to separate the Elements properly. The only exception was an Elementalist manually separating the Fire Element. If a single furnace needed to be used for twenty-four hours to make something, then one would need six or seven Elementalists, and these Elementalists had to be Iron-ranked and above. It made Brendel how the Elemental Forge worked in the game.

In any case, this investment was a little too much if the forge needed Elementalists.

“My lord, you forget that I’m a silver Elf.” Medissa’s voice was very quiet.

Brendel looked at her with crooked lips. What did the Magic Formations have to do with a Silver Elf?

“Boy, I wanted to ask you for the longest time, is that little Silver Elf girl who’s always following you a member of the royal family?” Orthlyss’s voice suddenly came up.