Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

"How much charcoal did we use?" Sasha asked again.

"For the initial smelting of ore and charcoal, it's a three to one ratio," Carlos calculated and answered.

"What does 'three to one' mean?" Winters asked, once again entering a field he didn't understand.

"It means three parts charcoal to one part ore—by volume," Sasha explained, laughing as he said, "That's actually quite good! My father-in-law mentioned that when they smelt iron, it takes six or seven parts charcoal to smelt one part of ore."

"When can we fire up the forge again?" What Winters cared about was the production capacity. After all, to him, charcoal was free.

"The furnace walls need to be repaired, and I also want to make some modifications to the smelting furnace with Mr. Sasha," Carlos counted on his fingers, "The day after tomorrow we should be able to fire it up again. But by that time, we will need more people for mining, smelting, and even more for charcoal burning."

"No problem, I'll have Samukin prepare them for you," Winters patted Carlos on the shoulder, "And don't you slack off during this time. Although we failed this time, who knows, maybe next time we'll succeed?"

Upon hearing Winters' words, Carlos' eyes widened in horror.

"Senior, the site you picked for the smelting furnace isn't good," Winters turned to Senior Mason, "Look at the blacksmith workshops in Forging Village, each one is situated by the river! Without the river, where would we get the water power?"

Mason was greatly surprised, "Ah? Is there such a thing? Does smelting iron require water power?"

"Water-powered bellows! I also discovered this after a trip to Forging Village," Winters laughed proudly, "All the workshops there use water-powered bellows. Here, however, they use oxen to pull the bellows. Oxen are for plowing, already in high demand. If we keep scaling up, where are we going to find more oxen? We must be near the river."

Senior Mason nodded thoughtfully.

Winters led the young blacksmith to the edge of the hill and pointed down towards St. George River, "I've found a good spot for you. See that? Right there! Go build me another smelting furnace there! If it doesn't work this time, it will the next, and if not the next time, then the time after that. We must make the blast furnace work!"

Winters laughed and patted the young blacksmith on the shoulder, "I didn't actually expect you to be able to smelt iron. In my mind, if you hadn't succeeded, I would revert to using the old smelting furnace from Mr. Poltan's days. High-cost or not, we must smelt iron. But since you succeeded, keep it up!"

Carlos was dumbstruck, on the verge of tears.

"My lord, should we tear down this smelting furnace then?" Sasha asked abruptly.

"Why tear it down?" Winters asked back with confusion, "We're after quantity right now, not quality. Isn't this smelting furnace usable? Can't we just make do with it?"

"I fear there might be a problem," Sasha explained with difficulty, "The number of forges in Iron Peak County is strictly limited by the blacksmith guild. You can have less, but not more, and every forge has an owner. If you want to start another forge, you'd need to purchase another one."

Winters' brow furrowed without him noticing, "Then what's the deal with this smelting furnace?"

Only then did Sasha reveal the truth, "This smelting furnace of Mr. Soria was built after my father-in-law dismantled his forge, using the quota of my and my father-in-law's forges. So there's no problem. There's no forge left in our workshop now."

Winters went silent, raising his hand to salute Sasha, "Thank you."

"Not at all... Not at all," Sasha hurriedly bowed in return.

"But mine is a smelting furnace, and yours is a forge," Winters mused, asking again, "Can't we play some word games here?"

"No," Sasha smiled wryly, "The guild's regulations are very strict. Anything [that uses fuel and fire to process iron and ore, be it melting furnace, forge, or smelting furnace] falls under 'forge' and is subject to number limitation. Every forge has its owner. Just one forge quota is worth a lot of money.

Only a blacksmith recognized by the guild is a blacksmith, and only a forge master registered with the guild can open a workshop."

"Damn, they're pretty thorough," Winters said with a mix of frustration and amusement, "Who made these rules?"

The smile on Sasha's face grew even more bitter and helpless, "My father-in-law—Mr. Poltan."

Andre, who had been silent until now, suddenly spat disdainfully, pulled out his saber, and showed it to Sasha.

With an expressionless face he asked, "Do you recognize what this is?"

Sasha trembled with fear, nodding desperately.

Andre snarled with a fierce grin, "Then we'll start as many smelting furnaces as we want!"

"Put the knife away, Mr. Sasha is a friend. Why are you threatening him?" Winters nudged Andre with his elbow.

Andre scoffed, but obediently sheathed his knife.

"It seems," Winters sighed, smiling as he told Sasha, "I still need to have a talk with your father-in-law."