Volume 4 Chapter 2.2
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Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「If we added in the cost of security, I think we might be able to use it as a mine, but……」
「True, the parts we dig up will resurface after a time, so the conditions have become preferable to before with not having to worry about drying out.」
「Ah～、so the production amount for magic steel ‘n all that’s goin’ up.」
「Aye. The production of iron is lower than half what it was before. Thanks to that, we have an abundance of magic steel and mythril.」
Hiroshi could sense the gravity of the situation from the elder’s sour face. He had anticipated this to an extent, but it seemed that mine workers at Crest Cave were too skilled and had actually contributed to the lowering of the iron supply. Also, magic steel and mythril could not be processed so easily, not even with Forre’s technology.
They had a resolution for magic steel and mythril processing, but mentioning that would be a bit too risky.
「If we can at least refine the extra ore, the processing will have a fair amount of reserve power to back it up……」
「Is refining magic steel and mythril all that hard？」
「Not only do ye need a large amount of mana, ye have to keep the fire on at a delicate level. Balancing the two of them is quite laborious……」
「I see……」
Magic steel products being so expensive stemmed from the issue of ore refinement.
「If we could at least make do with mana, we’d have a prospect of replacing twenty to thirty percent of the equipment circulating within Forre to magic steel……」
「Can ya make do with mana？」
「Do ye have a plan or something？」
「Leave me to my discretion and it’ll sound complicated, but I do got an idea.」
Hiroshi began showing his hand from the get-go, not hesitating to wield his authority (despite trying to avoid that previously). They hadn’t even been to this country before, and yet Azuma Workshop’s name had spread throughout. Hiroshi had probably figured that there wasn’t much of a point in keeping their skills confidential.
Then again, the main reason why Hiroshi had given in was definitely due to what he had heard from Igreos.
「What idea？」
「Leave a smeltin’ furnace ‘n forge right there on the feng shui ‘n then make a smeltin’ furnace that draws out mana and a building with a barrier that can be used fer processin’ the mana of the feng shui then yer mana problem’s solved.」
「……True, Master Azuma. It does not seem to be a resolution that we can manage with your discretion.」
「With the feng shui, we’d need permission from the temple, and for makin’ the smeltin’ furnace we’d need the cooperation of the Darl house and Igreos Temple, or else findin’ ingredients gonna be tough.」
Hiroshi brought politics into the conversation, and the guild leader just groaned, unable to figure out what to do.
「We have intermediaries in Darl and Igreso Temple, so if ya provide some gifts as representing Forre then I can help ya git somewhere. But remember that the temple over here ain’t got nothin’ to do with it, so even if I talk to ‘em about it, it’ll take everything just to get the Farlane priestess princess and Darl priestess communicatin’.」
「Either way, we cannot do much about it today.」
「I reckon I agree. Makin’ enough smeltin’ furnaces would take several months, plus ya ain’t gonna be able to supply land to go along the feng shui right away.」
The guild leader calculated a careful conclusion based on Hiroshi’s appealing, yet not immediately implementable proposal.
「I am certain that they will sanction it soon after I consult them, but I do not quite have enough materials in order to go before their majesty. Master Azuma, could ye perhaps make one or two trial products consisting of that smelting furnace and smithy？」
「If that’s all ya want, then as long as ya can resolve the site and the temple issues, two days in one place fer ingredients ‘n a half a day fer the smeltin’ furnace, and if ya need a building then that’s one or two days.」
「Then I and the adventurer association will go to talk with them, so might I ask that you proceed with the ingredient side of things？」
「Roger that.」
There seemed to be a course of action now. Once again, Hiroshi would be getting busy on something other than adventuring, but heck, this always happened, so he didn’t care. In fact, the only time Hiroshi ever did anything adventurer-like was in the dungeon at Ortem and Darl’s underground ruins, in addition to the rescue mission at Sweltering Tower when Aearis and the others had been captured.
And so Hiroshi and friends once again became involved in a matter directly related to the core of the country despite not strongly identifying as adventurers or as guests from the unknown continent.
At the same time Hiroshi was speaking with the adventurer association and ore guild leaders, Haruna and Mio were borrowing a furnace and forge set for smelting and forging practice.
「……Yet another crack……」
Haruna’s shoulders sank as she saw the huge crack in the small throwing knife used for practice. This would make the third time she failed at quenching.
「This is the first time it’s gone tis horrible……」
「Haru, you just need to keep practicing.」
「I know, but after failing ten times in a row, you get kinda down……」
Wiping her sweat off from the forge heat, Haruna sighed at slow progress. Four items she failed at smelting with too little flame, three broke in the process, and three had too much flame in them and broke.
Right now, the only completed forged item that Haruna could use was the one that Hiroshi had instructed her in all the way. Incidentally, Haruna’s first product had a bad shape at the end of the forging process, as she had failed with the whetstone, unable to cut or stab (rendering the knife pointless) so they had made it over again. Everything else she had consisted primarily of arrowheads and devices.
「Mio-chan, is forging really this difficult？」
「If you managed to even make five completed products without anyone’s help at proficiency 50, you essentially still have luck on your side.」
「Wow……」
Haruna just groaned at what Mio said. The difficulty was heartrending.
The ranks were all ultimately severe, but novice was especially tough with forging. The reason was simple: there were no “easy” products to make. Not even arrowheads were all that easy, hardly any different from molding a knife if you wanted to make something that stabs when shot; truly devilish.
In addition, even if you could make arrowheads like that, you couldn’t go up more than 20 proficiency. Also, proficiency 20 still meant the success rate for knives was practically the same as 0 proficiency. If so, then growth would increase the most by starting from knife practice, as you could learn everything you needed to know about forging from there.
Then again, there wasn’t really a proficiency in novice where you levelled up by failure. You had to become fairly adept at it so that you realized why you failed, probably, but failing at low-success rate work truly yielded nothing, which had broken the hearts of many a player aiming to be a blacksmith. Though it was still a lot better than the other crafting skills where you don’t rise at all with failure, it was hardly reassuring to get only a tiny bit up.
This world was different in many ways other than physics, but this particular element seemed to not have changed. So Haruna wouldn’t have any clue as to what went wrong in the forging or quenching process just with three failures.
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