The development of the mine in the Restio Mountains, located at the northern end of the Earlkvist territory, was progressing smoothly, aided by Noein’s extensive preparations in all directions.
At the foot of the Restio Mountains, houses for engineers, laborers, and slaves, along with facilities to support their lives, were being built. This base for mine development was gradually beginning to function as a village.
In this mining project, the discovery of veins of iron and copper ore had brought significant results. The production of these two essential ores within the territory greatly enhanced the industrial capacity of the Earlkvist domain.
The one who benefited most from this was Damian, the chief blacksmith of the Earlkvist territory.
Having recruited blacksmiths who had arrived as refugees into his workforce and expanded his workshop with additional labor slaves, Damian was freely engaging in the development and mass production of iron products. This was possible thanks to the affordable and abundant supply of iron within the territory.
“This is how we’ve improved each part to make assembly simpler and reduce malfunctions! What do you think?”
Damian enthusiastically explained the latest prototype ballista to Noein.
The ballista had proven its overwhelming power in a battle against bandits, easily cutting through heavily armored foes. It was acknowledged by Noein as a powerful weapon for siege warfare and defense against large monsters.
Since then, Damian had been working to refine the ballista into a more sophisticated weapon.
“Hmm, the performance is excellent… Let’s consider this complete for now. You’ve done a great job. Thank you.”
“Complete!? Really!? Yes!”
Damian, receiving Noein’s words, expressed his joy with full enthusiasm. His outbursts of excitement each time something was accomplished had become a familiar sight.
“For now, I’d like you to produce three more as weapons against monsters and as demonstration models for the northwestern faction of nobles. After that, we can start mass production as orders come in from the military units of each territory… We might need more manpower for that.”
“Indeed, I think I’ll establish a dedicated team for ballista manufacturing… Please introduce me if any blacksmiths among the immigrants come by!”
“Understood, I’ll make sure to do that.”
Ballista production requires more skill than crossbows. Replicating from samples isn’t an overnight process, so for a while, the Earlkvist territory would be handling production for the northwestern faction.
“How’s the mass production of crossbows going?”
“Perfectly smooth! Incorporating Christy’s idea made a huge difference!”
Noein hoped to provide every adult resident of Earlkvist territory with a crossbow if possible.
However, given that some crossbows had already been sold to the northwestern nobles and with the growing population, it wasn’t easy to keep up. Damian’s team couldn’t meet the production demand.
This is where Christy unexpectedly stepped in to help.
Both Damian and Christy had been assigned private rooms at the Earlkvist manor and often exchanged words in the dining hall and other places.
Upon hearing of Damian’s struggles with crossbow production efficiency, Christy realized the primary delay was in manufacturing iron parts.
“In that case… What about creating a tool similar to a press to apply pressure at once to form parts? Might that work?”
To create strong iron parts, forging — heating and hammering iron — is typically used. However, the key to this process is “applying pressure to the iron.”
Christy proposed casting molten iron into molds and pressing it down to form parts in one step. Her idea stemmed from her experience with a press during soybean oil experiments.
Taking Christy’s advice, Damian implemented mold forging.
Although this method lacked precision, requiring fine finishing by craftsmen, it significantly sped up the production of each part, greatly enhancing the crossbow production rate.
“I was surprised when I first heard the idea… I never thought Christy would come up with something related to blacksmithing.”
“It’s a unique idea from someone without a background in blacksmithing! I was trapped in the mindset that ‘blacksmithing means hammering iron by hand’… I can’t believe I missed this!”
Damian felt a bit regretful, but Noein thought it was beneficial that the team was open to collaborating and innovating together.
“If we use mold forging, other iron products can also be made more efficiently, right?”
“Yes, but it depends on the item. There’s a limit to the pressure that can be applied manually, so larger items might lack strength. Smaller iron products and parts are more feasible.”
Currently, large and strong slaves like minotaurs and lionmen were handling the mold forging, but even they had their limits.
“If someone as skilled in puppet magic as you, Noein-sama, could use a golem for mold forging, that would be a different story.”
“I’m afraid I don’t have enough time to dedicate to that…”
Although mass production of iron products is crucial, Noein, as the lord, couldn’t dedicate himself solely to it. Besides, there were few puppet magicians as adept at handling golems as Noein on the entire continent. Damian likely wasn’t serious in his request.
As their conversation shifted from testing the prototype ballista to casual chatting, Pence arrived.
“Lord Noein, may I have a moment?”
Whenever Pence approached Noein like this, it was usually to discuss the arrival of new settlers.
“Another group of immigrants?”
“Yes, and apparently, they know of you as well… They’re from the southeastern region of the kingdom, specifically the Kivileft Count’s domain.”
Pence’s words brought up a name that Noein had left behind for good—his birthplace. The unexpected mention caused Noein to frown.
“…But in Kivileft, hardly anyone should know I was banished here and had Arkvist territory thrust upon me.”
His wretched father, Maximilian, had gone to great lengths to keep Noein’s expulsion a secret, making sure the rumor wouldn’t spread within Kivileft’s borders. That this newcomer knew about it suggested they might have some connection to the Kivileft count’s household.
However, it didn’t seem likely they were a spy sent to investigate Noein’s activities. If they were, they wouldn’t openly claim to know him. The whole situation was rather strange.
“I thought it was odd as well, but there didn’t seem to be any hostility… And they mentioned that if I said the name ‘Daphne Alessandri,’ you’d understand.”
“What?!”
At the unexpected name, Noein’s voice rose in surprise.
“Do you know her?”
“Of course… Daphne is the magic tool craftsman who created my golems.”
