Chapter 67 - The Steelworks Plan and Amber’s Return (2/2)

And he associated that with those huge courtyards with lengths of a hundred meters that could hold tens of furnaces. He looked at Gawain with wide guys. “Lord…”

“Steel—steel is the basis of everything. Of course, we will still have to take into consideration all sorts of strange metals,” Gawain said as he pulled out another item from his chest for Hummel. “I’ve asked around. You’re literate, so you should be able to read these.”

Blacksmiths were an upper class amongst the civilians. Though they were still civilians, these people who held hammers had a roughly similar standing to clan warriors or even training knights with swords or whips in hand. Moreover, several generations within the Hummel family had been tasked with smelting steel and forging weapons for the Cecil Clan; their status was all the more exceptional. Hence, Hummel was literate; his father had been very liberal in this aspect.

Taking the sheet of paper from Gawain, Hummel merely glanced through it briefly before his eyes widened in surprise.

“This way—this way, is it still a blacksmith store?”

“No, this is Cecil Steelworks.” Gawain looked the old blacksmith in the eyes, “I want a large amount of steel. It could even exceed the total amount of steel you’ve seen in your entire life. The modern furnace and Magic Web 1 are merely foundations within the foundation. And all of this can only be sustained by a completely new set of production structures.”

This was the change from a workshop to a plant. Even Gawain himself wasn’t sure what results such a rigid, top-down revolution would bring. However, he could not continue waiting in leisure. He could not wait for this society to slowly develop the sprouts of capitalism and an industrial revolution. Even if he was willing to wait, the Heavens might not be.

While you’re caught up in farming and have yet to set up a base, and a flood of aliens and the Dark Wave is thrown at you, can you still go on?!

The progress of Magic Web 1 showed him an opportunity to greatly expand their productivity, or should he say, their productivity had come to a point where it could be expanded considerably. Only, in this world where magical power existed, it had been stuck in place. Magic Web 1 was the hope of breaking these shackles.

Failure could be a magical power. But so could success.

Hummel had sunk into deep thought yet realized that nothing came to mind. This had exceeded his world view; he, who had been forging metal his entire life, could not find a place for himself among the metals for the very first time. “Lord, if we really were to go according to your plan and had this many steel furnaces… how many blacksmiths would be enough? I am the only blacksmith in this territory now…”

“The smelting of ores and steel processing will be separated into two parts sooner or later. For that, I have subsequent arrangements.” Gawain glanced at Hummel. “After seeing the blueprint of the modern furnace, you should know this isn’t some sudden, fanciful idea.”

This dangerous thought had appeared in Hummel’s mind before, but with a reminder from Gawain, he recalled the bold yet logical furnace design.

Several seconds of silence later, Gawain deliberately went on in an even tone. “Did you think I was some foolish aristocrat with my head full of all sorts of naive, funny ideas and a wild imagination but with absolutely no idea of reality?”

Hummel broke out in cold sweat instantly. “No, no, how could you be…”

“It’s only normal if you had such a thought, because I see that more than ninety percent of the aristocrats in this era are seen in the same light.” Gawain chuckled. “Living in castles, superior, luxurious yet naive, unaware of how grains are grown, and without any knowledge about forging, building houses, lumbering… Yet, they love to carelessly give absolutely impossible orders. Am I right?”

Hummel stared speechlessly at Gawain; it took him a long while to keep himself from letting out the two words, ‘soul mate’.

How could this lord from 700 years ago be this incisive in his evaluation of the aristocrats?

“You must be wondering why I’m so sharp in my assessment. Very simple. I am Gawain Cecil. Seven hundred years ago, when this land was still barren, I was already leading pioneer teams here.” Gawain looked Hummel in the eyes. “We weren’t living in castles then. Speaking of production, I’m afraid many craftsmen in this territory are no match for me.”

Hummel’s expression changed slightly, and he slowly nodded.

Gawain rested a hand on the shoulder of this old blacksmith. “So, go do as I say. The first step is to finish building the modern furnace.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw Betty who had jogged the entire way here.

“Lord!” The little maid first panted heavily for air and then bent over clumsily yet exaggeratedly. “Miss Amber is back! She also brought a—a—”

Betty thought hard for a moment and then said loudly, “A dirty old man!”