Chapter 62 — Magic Net No. 1 and the Blacksmith Shop
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 3
The old blacksmith Hammel stood nearby in considerable trepidation, head lowered, listening to the viscountess and the duke discuss their affairs. He felt both honored and nervous that a commoner like himself could stand here and take part in the conversations of nobles. And when he saw Gao Yang's attention turn to him, the old blacksmith truly broke out in a cold sweat all down his back: he could not begin to imagine what it would be like for a noble lord who had never even pulled a bellows to instruct him in building a blacksmith shop, yet he had no choice but to cooperate. So he had already resigned himself to the prospect of Gao Yang proposing a heap of bizarre demands, and of himself having to lead the apprentices in a desperate, all-out effort to fulfill them...
Such things were not unheard of. It was said that in the north, a viscountess had once taken a sudden whim to instruct a gardener in pruning the nursery, decreeing that every goldenwood chrysanthemum should bear two buds rather than three when it bloomed. A dozen gardeners had been flogged for it, until the viscountess lost interest in the matter.
"Don't be nervous," Gao Yang said in a calm tone, seeing Hammel's tension. "Tell me what you think."
"I... I don't have any ideas," Hammel said humbly, head lowered. "The viscountess is truly learned and extraordinarily wise. The things she designs are beyond the understanding of poor folk like us for our whole lives. I have enough trouble just learning to use them—how could I presume to offer an opinion?"
Gao Yang looked at him and shook his head. "You naturally don't understand magic, but furnaces and anvils are what you know best. In that respect you are the expert, and we will all respect your opinion."
Respect... the opinion of a commoner?
For a moment Hammel thought he had misheard. But seeing the utterly serious expressions on the faces of Gao Yang, Hetty, and Rebecca, he finally confirmed it was true—at least, the duke had certainly said so.
So he could only brace himself. "I think... I think that since the furnace will be heated by real magic from now on, then rather than patching up the old furnace, it might be better to start over completely and build a whole new kind of furnace..."
Gao Yang's eyebrows rose. "A whole new kind?"
Hammel scratched his arm, striving to express his thoughts clearly and understandably. "Since we'll be using real magic, the old limits of those runes are gone. First, the furnace can be bigger, so a single melt will produce a great deal more steel. Then, since the magic circle won't crack, the furnace won't need to be shut down and cooled all the time—maybe it could just keep burning, which would save all the labor and time of reheating the chamber. Of course, that would mean using it nonstop, all the time..."
Gao Yang listened very attentively, interrupting only when he came to a point where he thought he could offer a suggestion, while Hammel poured out all his ideas in one breath.
At first he stammered and stumbled from nervousness, but soon he spoke more and more smoothly, and by the time he was nearly finished, he was utterly astonished.
He had not expected Gao Yang to truly be listening seriously to his account. A grand duke—a true great noble, a figure common folk would not even dare imagine—was actually standing in this messy place, listening to the opinion of a commoner like himself. And it was no pretense of listening, for Gao Yang was nodding along as he listened, and even occasionally raising detailed questions and suggestions!
Those questions and suggestions left Hammel bewildered from time to time: was this really a noble lord who had never touched a bellows or a hammer? How did he know so much about steel smelting?