Chapter 91

The mining development that began in the Restio Mountains at the northern end of the Arkvist territory was progressing smoothly, thanks to Noein's prior arrangements in various aspects.

At the foot of the Restio Mountains, houses for engineers, laborers, and slaves were being built, along with facilities to support their lives. Not only was it functioning as a base for mining development, but it was also gradually taking shape as a small village.

This mining development had yielded significant results, with the discovery of iron and copper ore veins. The production of these two essential minerals within the territory greatly enhanced the industrial productivity of the Arkvist territory.

In particular, Damian, the chief blacksmith of the Arkvist territory, was greatly benefiting from this. Having taken in refugee blacksmiths as subordinates and increased the number of labor slaves, Damian had expanded his workshop and was enthusiastically engaged in the development and mass production of iron products, made possible by the availability of cheap and abundant iron within the territory.

"---I've improved each part to make assembly easier and reduce malfunctions! How does it look!?"

Damian was enthusiastically explaining the latest prototype of the ballista to Noein.

The ballista, which had been put into emergency combat use during a battle with bandits and demonstrated overwhelming power by easily splitting heavily armed bandits in two, had been recognized by Noein for its effectiveness as a siege weapon and a defensive weapon against large monsters.

Since then, Damian had continued to refine the ballista to make it a more sophisticated weapon.

"Yeah, the performance is impeccable... Let's call it complete for now. You've done a great job, well done."

"Complete!?! Really!?! Yes! Yes!"

Upon hearing Noein's words, Damian expressed his joy with all his might. It had become a familiar scene for him to raise his voice every time he accomplished something.

"For now, let's make about three as samples for monster defense and to show the nobles of the northwest faction. After that, we'll take orders from the armies of each territory and mass-produce them... We should probably increase the workforce."

"Yes, I think I'll create a dedicated team for ballista production... Please introduce me to any blacksmiths who come as immigrants and any additional slaves."

"Understood, I will."

The production of the ballista requires more technical expertise than a crossbow. It won't be easy to replicate from a sample, so the Arkvist territory will likely continue to handle production for the northwest faction for some time.

"Is the mass production of crossbows going well?"

"Absolutely no problem! Thanks to Christie's ideas!"

Noein wanted to provide every adult citizen of the Arkvist territory with a crossbow.

However, after selling a few crossbows to the nobles of the northwest faction and with the population of the territory continuing to grow, it was not easy to keep up with the number of crossbows needed for the population. Damian and his team's production couldn't keep up.

Unexpected help came from Christie.

Both Damian and Christie were given private rooms in the Arkvist squire's mansion and lived there. They often met in the dining hall and exchanged words.

When Christie heard that Damian was struggling with the efficiency of crossbow mass production and that the main reason for the delay was the production of iron parts, she suggested:

"Why not create a tool like a press and use it to apply pressure to make the parts? It should be possible, right?"

The general method for making strong iron parts is forging—hammering heated iron. The key to this process is "applying pressure to the iron."

Christie proposed creating a mold, pouring heated iron into it, and then applying pressure from above to form the part. This idea came from her experience with soybean oil production, where she had frequently used a press.

Taking Christie's suggestion, Damian implemented die forging.

While this method lacks precision, requiring final finishing by a skilled craftsman, it significantly sped up the production of individual parts, greatly improving the mass production speed of crossbows.

"I was surprised when I first heard about it... I didn't expect a new idea related to blacksmithing from Christie."

"An idea from someone with no connection to blacksmithing! I was also stuck in the mindset that 'blacksmithing is about hammering iron by hand'... How could I have been so narrow-minded!"

Damian was a bit regretful, but Noein thought to himself that it was good for subordinates to collaborate, share ideas, and create something new as a result.

"Using die forging, we can make other iron products more efficiently, right?"

"Yes, it depends on the item. There's a limit to the pressure that can be applied by human strength, so making very large items might result in insufficient strength. It's best for small iron products and parts."

Currently, large and strong slave races like the ox people and lion people are handling the forging dies, but there are still limits.

"If a puppet magic user as skilled as you, Noein, could use golems for die forging, it would be a different story."

"I don't have that much time to devote to it..."

Mass-producing iron products is an important job, but Noein, as the lord, cannot be fully dedicated to it. Moreover, there are hardly any puppet magic users as skilled as Noein in handling golems. Damian probably didn't mean it seriously.

While the conversation had drifted from the ballista prototype to casual talk, Pense arrived.

"Lord Noein, may I have a moment?"

When Pense came to Noein, it was usually to request the reception of new immigrants.

"More immigrants?"

"Yes, and apparently, they know about you... They are from the southeastern kingdom, the Kivireft Earl's territory."

The name Pense mentioned was that of Noein's birthplace, a place he would never return to. Unexpectedly, Noein looked puzzled.

"...There shouldn't be many people in the Kivireft Earl's territory who know that I was forced out of the Arkvist territory."

His father, Maximilian, had gone to great lengths to secretly expel Noein and prevent the news from spreading within the Kivireft territory. If this person knew, they likely had some connection to the Kivireft Earl's family.

However, it was unlikely that they were a spy sent to investigate Noein. If that were the case, they wouldn't have mentioned knowing Noein. It was a strange situation.

"I was also a bit suspicious, but there didn't seem to be any malicious intent... She said that if you hear the name 'Daphne Alessandri,' you'll surely recognize her."

"Huh!?"

Another unexpected name made Noein exclaim.

"Do you know her?"

"Of course... Daphne is the magic tool craftsman who made my golems."